Early chefs left indelible mark on human evolution

[Jivattatva]

This is an interesting read, but I have no subscription to the New Scientist. So if anyone here has subscription maybe he/she can fill us up on the whole article. Thanks


Early chefs left indelible mark on human evolution

22 March 2003 by James Randerson
Magazine issue 2387. Subscribe and save


THE idea that the invention of cooking fundamentally influenced our evolutionary past has been given a boost by a study of modern diets.

A team of anthropologists conclude that this new found culinary talent is the only way to explain the huge change in our evolution 1.9 million years ago, when Homo erectus appeared.

H. erectus was 60 per cent larger than its predecessors, and sported the largest increase in human brain size ever seen. Some experts believe this growth spurt was fuelled by protein derived from eating raw meat. But Richard Wrangham and NancyLou Conklin-Brittain of Harvard University and Greg Laden of the University of Minnesota say it was triggered by cooking plant food such as roots and tubers.

The heat of cooking smashes open cells and breaks down indigestible fibre into energy-giving carbohydrates. The advent of cooking would therefore account for H. erectus having a smaller gut and ...

[harpy]

The idea seems to be that research on modern diets shows you need to eat more raw food than cooked to get a given amount of energy, so the discovery of cooking could have enabled brain growth, as well as having a social impact (since communities would have shared a cooking area). The theory is disputed by other scientists who argue that the use of fire doesn't go back as far as the theory assumes, and/or that there are other ways to increase the availability of energy in food, such as pounding it.

I have a subscription to NS but I can't post the article because of copyright issues - however if you would like to PM me your e-mail address I can send it to you.

[Jivattatva]

Thanks, harpy. Will pm to you shortly.