"We Have Always Been Omnivores: Why Meatfluencers Misrepresent Our Ancestral Diets "

Paul Saladino stands with arms bulging as he works the blade of a butcher’s saw back and forth over a cow femur bone, sawing back and forth until finally cutting into it and seversing the bone with great success – sparking cheers of applause from onlookers watching closely from nearby. He flashed a bright smile before checking to ensure he was being recorded before scooping some bone marrow from one piece of bone with one spoonful. Saladino then gave his offering to an eager young woman as though giving communion from a priest’s holy hands. Saladino is known to advocate an animal-centric diet which prioritizes meat and organs while demonizing vegetables. With videos like the one below on TikTok and his podcast he hosts, he preaches the benefits of eating beef livers, marrow and testicles to millions of followers on social media. Additionally he wrote 2020 book called The Carnivore Code with accompanying cookbook. He founded Heart and Soil, selling organ-specific supplements. Additionally, he co-founded Lineage Provisions that sells protein powder and meat sticks. Saladino contends that the traditional food pyramid, with its wide base consisting of plant foods before narrowing to animal proteins, is incorrect; and that medical establishment’s view that cholesterol causes heart disease may also be incorrect. Saladino asserts that meat and organs are integral for good health, strength and vitality. He’s certainly not alone when it comes to his carnivorous habits – TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are full of influencers who promote meat-centric menus. Like its paleo or caveman diet predecessors, these restrictive eating plans forgo ultraprocessed foods such as potato chips, breakfast cereals, packaged breads, sodas and hot dogs – but are much stricter when it comes to plant foods than their paleo equivalent. Some advocates – Saladino and Bear Grylls among them – encourage eating limited fruit while discouraging vegetables that they believe contain toxic defensive chemicals that could potentially poison our health. Others, including Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and Mikhaila Peterson – his podcast host daughter – advocate for diet consisting solely of meat, salt and water. Many, like social media personality Brian Johnson (known as Liver King ) advocate for eating animal products raw – including dairy and eggs. Meatfluencers often describe their regimens as ancestral — consisting of foods our ancient forbearers consumed. According to them, our bodies were intended to consume what our ancestors consumed; so too should our diet reflect millions of years of evolution of humans and hominoids alike. According to Saladino on TikTok he mentions this being what helps people flourish: align your diet and lifestyle accordingly if that is how humans thrive! Studies of our ancient forbears, observations of living primates, and hunter-gatherer societies refute any notion that humans evolved exclusively as meat eaters. Meat played an essential part of human evolution; yet that does not suggest eating like an animal is human nature.” Real ancestral human diets can be hard to reconstruct exactly, yet are generally much more varied than that of carnivores; this has important ramifications for what people today should consume for optimal health. Online “meatfluencers” often cite this research in support of their argument that being carnivorous will bring health advantages. Attributed image credit: Olaia Salvador via Getty Images). To be fair to supporters of flesh-forward diets, scientists and journalists who write about our origins (such as me!) have generally paid considerable attention to meat consumption throughout human evolution and now. Multiple factors have played a part in driving this trend forwards: Humans stand out among primates by regularly hunting animals that are as large or larger than ourselves, which makes scientists especially intrigued to analyze traits which set us apart from other creatures. Another consideration is that stone tools and butchered animal bones tend to remain more intact in archaeological records than fragile plant remains. Hunting animals – particularly large and dangerous mammals like elephants – is more thrilling and engaging than gathering fruits, nuts and tubers for sustenance. After some web searching, one quickly finds numerous scientific papers and popular articles supporting the idea that hunting and eating meat shaped human origins. Indeed, interest in how meat-eating was integral to human survival has long been present in history. Charles Darwin speculated about its significance in his 1871 treatise The Descent of Man and Selection with Regard to Sex. Carnivory has long played an influential role in human evolution; one line of thought suggests this: around two million years ago Homo erectus, an early member of our genus, started developing modern human body proportions including longer legs and shorter arms with smaller guts, larger brains, and longer necks than previous humans. Stone tools and animal bones with cut marks date to before this period. Their appearance suggests that sharp-edged stone tools were developed at about this time to allow early humans to butcher large animals for food sources and gain access to an abundant new source of calories. Food that was nutritionally dense required less processing in our digestive systems and allowed energy-expenditure-intensive gut tissue to shrink while calorically dense meat provided fuel for brain development and expansion. An irreversible feedback loop kicked into action: as human brains expanded, our increasingly intelligent ancestors devised more ingenious tools for harvesting energy-rich animal foods – in turn driving further brain expansion within Homo species. Get all of today’s fascinating discoveries delivered right to your inbox.Humans evolved eating a wide range of foods beyond meat alone. Versatility has long been key to human success. If we knew nothing else about human evolution, it might lead us to assume we evolved for meat-eating diets alone. Anthropologists and archaeologists have only scratched the surface when it comes to food origins; even that part of our story has undergone significant revision due to new evidence over recent decades. Fresh fossil discoveries and novel DNA analyses are providing us with unprecedented details of what our ancestors ate millions of years ago. To better comprehend human evolution and diet change since that two million-year mark, let’s focus on those events before and after two million years ago. Let’s go backwards: Let’s go all the way back. Humans, monkeys and apes all belong to a subset of primates known as higher primates that evolved to consume fruit. Our Hominin lineage (Homo sapiens and its extinct relatives such as Ardipithecus Australopithecus etc) dates back some six million to seven million years ago. Fossils of early known hominins indicate they walked upright on two legs but spent much time in trees. Hominins do not appear to have used stone tools and likely subsisted on a diet similar to that of our closest living relatives chimpanzees and bonobos — including fruits, nuts, seeds, roots flowers leaves insects as well as an occasional small mammal or reptile. It appears they remained plant based for much of human history without evidence of meat consumption being left behind as evidence. After nearly 3 million years since our lineage first appeared on Earth, any evidence that they utilized large animals for food emergeds – with Dikika in Ethiopia providing one possible instance. Researchers discovered bones from goat- and cow-sized mammals bearing signs suggesting butchery at least 3.39 million years ago. Australopithecus afarensis was likely responsible for this slaughtering; Lucy fossil is its most famous member belonging to this small-brained, short-bodied hominin species that lived at this time and place. Although no tools were discovered, researchers concluded from damage patterns on bones that Afarensis used sharp-edged stones to strip flesh off bones before striking with blunt stones to gain access to their marrow reserves. Some of the oldest stone tools have been unearthed at Lomekwi in northwest Kenya. These implements date to approximately 3.3 million years ago – more than three million years before our own genus Homo first emerged – and appear instead to have been created by small-brained australopiths. Archaeological evidence also supports this notion that early humans, similar to modern ones, tended to be omnivores. According to paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History who studies meat eating evolution, humans only began regularly incorporating large game into their diet after two million years ago. Kanjera South in southwestern Kenya dates back approximately two million years and preserves evidence of what researchers term persistent carnivory. Homo sapiens initially transported rocks up to 10 kilometers away for use in making stone tools that they then employed in harvesting meat from various mammals inhabiting nearby grasslands, from small antelopes such as gazelles to giant bovids that rivaled wildebeest in size. They used these tools as they did so for harvesting. Some antelopes were probably obtained through hunting; larger animals may have been acquired through salvage operations or salvage. Kanjera hominins would often return to this site repeatedly over generations to butcher animals at Kanjera; these ritualized acts left behind layers of bones three meters thick in sediment layers covering three meters of space in Kanjera itself; their pattern of persistent carnivory wasn’t found elsewhere in their wider region. As would have been predicted under a feedback-loop scenario, consumption did not steadily increase over time. W. Andrew Barr of George Washington University and his colleagues, such as Pobiner, investigated evidence for hominin meat consumption from between 2.6 million years and 1.2 million years ago in eastern Africa’s zooarchaeological record. Although evidence for meat eating increases shortly after 2 million years ago with H. erectus’ appearance – one of the first hominins with modern body proportions – researchers discovered this trend as due to sampling bias; researchers simply collected more archaeological material at this period than earlier intervals. Barr, Pobiner and their co-authors concluded from their findings that meat wasn’t necessary to humanity: “[When I think about changes to our diet over time], the change wasn’t linear,” according to Pobiner. Many changes over the last decade have focused on expanding diet rather than shifting toward being vegetarian or meat eater, she explains. Humans are multivores by nature – always have been. “Kanjera wasn’t just offering meat; their impressive collection of butchered bones wasn’t the only food on offer here either.” Analysis of cutting edges on stone tools found at this site showed that most implements display wear patterns indicative of use in experiments to chop herbaceous plants and their underground storage organs – tubers, bulbs roots or rhizomes produced by plants to store carbohydrates – for cutting. “Humans have always been omnivorous eaters. Briana Pobiner emphasizes in her research on meat consumption that while this topic may have been the central point, that does not imply it was ever the major component of early human diets. “Early humans may have focused more on fat extraction when first butchering animals than meat production. Jessica Thompson of Yale University and her colleagues contend that before humans developed tools suitable for hunting large animals with stone tools, simpler implements may have been used instead to collect abandoned carcasses for their tasty brain and bone marrow content. Wild animal meat, in particular, requires significant energy expenditure to digest, which in the absence of fat in one’s diet can result in protein poisoning and other side effects. Smashing broken bones to extract their marrow could have provided the extra nutrients essential for brain development before our ancestors developed more sophisticated technologies for hunting. Fat and meat from terrestrial mammals weren’t the only possible sources of extra calories available to hungry hominins; algae could have also provided vital energy boosts. Aquatic animals and plants provided sustenance for our forebears who lived along rivers, lakes and oceans. At 1.95 million years ago, Homo sapiens began exploiting aquatic foods, such as fish and turtles, in Kenya’s Turkana Basin for sustenance. Our forebears may have also gained extra calories through cooking processes to increase caloric intake from both plant- and animal-sourced foods. Richard Wrangham from Harvard University suggests that cooking, which makes food easier to chew and digest, may have provided Homo with additional fuel to support his ever-increasing intellect. Researchers announced in 2022 that they had discovered remains of fish likely cooked under controlled heat 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel. Furthermore, scientists can look to ancient human teeth for clues as to their diet. Researchers studying two Australopithecus sediba individuals from South Africa discovered microscopic bits of silica from plants they consumed over two million years ago – such as bark, leaves, sedges and grasses – preserved within their tartar preserved teeth. Ancient teeth often provide insights into what early humans and hominins ate as clues, suggesting an omnivorous diet was prevalent during that epoch. (Image Credit: Drbouz via Getty Images)Neandertals, our robust predecessors who dominated Eurasia for millennia as masterful big game hunters, also consumed plants as food sources. Amanda Henry from Leiden University in the Netherlands and her colleagues discovered traces of legumes, dates, and wild barley in the tartar on fossilized teeth of humans that lived millions of years ago. Researchers led by Karen Hardy at the University of Glasgow have also discovered roasted starch granules in Neandertal teeth, suggesting they consumed cooked vegetables. Some Neandertals might have gone without animal flesh altogether: in a study led by Laura Weyrich from Pennsylvania State University, analyses of DNA preserved from Neandertal tartar found at El Sidron cave in Spain revealed pine nuts, moss and mushrooms — no meat at all! Although researchers have developed other techniques for studying what hominins put into their mouths and chewed upon, such as measuring chemical isotope levels in teeth samples taken from humans found alive today, such as measuring chemical isotope ratios on teeth samples taken from hominin remains; such methods cannot provide details regarding proportion of animal to plant foods eaten. Another study provides valuable information. James Fellows Yates of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and his colleagues conducted extensive analyses comparing bacteria found in Neandertal tartar with that found on modern teeth belonging to modern chimps, gorillas, howler monkeys, and humans. The team found that Neandertals and modern humans in their sample had Streptococcus bacteria present that nonhuman primates didn’t, specifically ones known to feed on sugary roots, seeds and tubers. Neandertals and modern humans ate starchy plant parts at least 600,000 years ago when Neandertals split from modern humans; nonhuman primates consumed mostly nonstarchy plant parts as food sources. Homo had already evolved a taste for starchy food sources before splitting from their last common ancestor around 600,000. Homo sapiens’ rapid brain expansion may have been stimulated by eating an abundance of carbs; other features in their teeth provide additional clues as to the diets they consumed during this eon of human evolution. Ungar, who works at the University of Arkansas as both a paleoanthropologist and evolutionary biologist, notes that when studying hominin tooth morphology over time it becomes clear: australopiths had large, flat teeth with thick enamel — characteristics indicative of being adept at crushing hard foods such as seeds. Homo developed smaller teeth with crests better adapted to eating hard foods, including meat. But we still lack carnivore-style canine teeth for stabbing prey and shearing flesh as well as sharp-edged carnassial teeth with which carnivores attack prey, along with sharpened carnassial teeth for shearing flesh. “Human beings were never meant to be pure carnivores,” Ungar argues. “Our teeth weren’t designed for eating meat.” He notes that our bodies may still benefit from eating animal tissue; cutting and cooking both make eating meat simpler for us — however “anyone who’s ever chewed long enough on beef jerky knows our teeth aren’t designed for such chewy texture, or for raw steak either!” “Food-induced micropits and scratches on teeth show how food affects them in different ways; Australopithecus microwear patterns reflect only specific food sources while early Homo shows more variety.” Later members of our genus exhibit microwear texture patterns indicative of eating even more varieties of food than was seen with earlier members. According to Ungar, while these lines of evidence may not provide conclusive proof, they suggest Homo became a more adaptable eater capable of digesting an array of cuisine. Meat advocates often point to Tanzanian Hadza as evidence of human carnivores; however, anthropologists disagree and prefer alternative examples of such societies as human carnivores. (Image Credits: Chuvipro via Getty Images)Proponents of an animal-rich diet often point to Hadza foragers of northern Tanzania when making the argument in favor of increasing meat consumption, including Saladino and Liver King who frequently name-drop them in their social media videos. “The Hadza are indifferent towards vegetables; they hardly consume them at all,” claims Saladino who once visited on an excursion designed for tourists. However, anthropologists who have lived among and studied these people would likely differ. Herman Pontzer of Duke University notes that for decades researchers have noted that at least 50% of Hadza diet consists of plant foods; they are not alone in this regard. Hunter-gatherers around the globe typically get half their calories from plant sources and half from animal foods on average. But this average obscures the real benefit of hunting-and-gathering strategies: that people can adapt their diet depending on what is readily available at any particular point during a year in their environment. Studies of Hadza populations reveal that during some months their diet may consist mainly of honey; other months they primarily consume plant foods including root vegetables. Humans were never meant to become successful through eating only plants; rather they emerged when humans added hunting as part of their repertoire and reliably produced more calories per day through this technique than any other primat strategy, Pontzer says. Reason being, this approach works because it employs an eclectic portfolio. “Some individuals may focus on finding high-value animals containing lots of protein and fat – which is great,” according to Mr. Mohler; others can target more reliable plant foods instead. Balance between all these aspects is what leads to its success. “Hunting and gathering produce so many calories that humans are able to distribute them among all members of their group – including children who take longer for their brains to mature than other species and need additional time learning how to survive on their own. An individual eating solely plant-based foods cannot do that because while plant-based nutrition offers reliable calories per day, this may not add up to produce an excess. Pontzer observes that strict meat eaters typically suffer long periods without feasts that do not generate extra calories, yet when combined together we generate an excess calorie surplus. He proposes that this surplus, made possible by humans’ energy expenditure for things such as large brains and extended childhood, is what allowed for human evolution to occur. According to fossil, archeological, and ethnographic evidence there is no one diet nature intended for us humans to follow. What our ancestors ate varied significantly across time and space, driven in large part by what resources were readily available as seasons changed, climate shifted and populations dispersed across new ecosystems. Under such conditions of uncertainty, our bodies have gained the capacity to survive and thrive with an impressive variety of foods. Hunter-gatherers around the globe consume diets with diverse combinations of plant and animal foods that seem to protect them from heart disease, diabetes and other forms of illness prevalent among industrial populations. So what should people looking to eat healthily do? “This research suggests you should feel free to experiment with various diets until one suits your personal lifestyle,” Pontzer states, but any advice telling them there’s only one correct approach is wrong and they should stop listening.” This article originally appeared at ScientificAmerican.com with all rights being retained by ScientificAmerican for future publication or distribution if any. Please follow them for updates: TikTok and Instagram as well as Facebook or X and Facebook are great places for this.