5 ms·

I don't understand why us humans must necessarily have such a wide and varied diet compared to other mammals. Is there anything in our DNA, gut bacteria, biolog

I don't understand why us humans must necessarily have such a wide and varied diet compared to other mammals. Is there anything in our DNA, gut bacteria, biology etc. that requires this? And do we really have to change our diet as we get older? Besides being reared by their mother in the earliest part of their lives, do other mammals change their diet as they get older?

sysadm1n 4y ago
It's my understanding we eat food for pleasure aswell as nourishment. Cats & dogs don't complain when they essentially eat tripe everyday. We are gustatory folk who enjoy a varied diet. I think humans are wired to vary their diet as much as possible. I know I get bored eating the same things all the time!
- _mhr_ 4y ago
  I can assure you that my family dog, at least, definitely has strong food preferences. Even things that hurt her stomach if she eats too much, like popcorn or broccoli. Her favorite food is chicken and rice, cooked exactly like you would for a human. Maybe food doesn't really get old for her, but I think a desire for novelty is separate from having strong appreciation for the taste of food.
lm28469 4y ago
> I don't understand why us humans must necessarily have such a wide and varied diet compared to other mammals. Because we live long enough (medicine, food abundance, proper shelters, &c.) that optimizing food intake matters if you want to get the best out of your body. You can probably eat bigmacs all your life and make it to 60+, but you'll be far from your potential. The fact that we're mammals doesn't mean we have to live like chimpanzees, but no one is stopping from living like one ("do we really have" -> no we don't)
joshvm 4y ago
Historically, communities have lived on very simple staple diets, like the Three Sisters in the US. You can survive almost entirely on just maize, beans and squash. The Iroquois supplemented with foraged nuts and fruit, plus hunted/farmed meat (which also doubled up as a leather/material supply). https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/721/413 https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/721/... Also potatoes are almost complete if you get sunshine for your vitamin D, but you'd be deficient in at least B12. I think most wild animals eat multiple things so it's not really fair to try and find a single food that fits. On changing diet, your body becomes more sensitive to deficiencies. If you're lacking in calcium, for example, and you break a bone, it's a lot more serious at 75 than it is at 25. The NIH recommends a slightly higher calcium intake in young people (for development) and over 50s (for preventative maintenance). Maintaining a young person's RDA your whole life wouldn't do you any harm though. https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/nutrition/calcium-and-vitamin-d-important-every-age https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/nutri... In the animal kingdom there's the concept of food chains/trophic levels. This is why ecosystems are fairly fragile if a provider species is removed, e.g. by extinction. Humans have learned to adapt to wildly different resources, and we have thousands of years of knowledge and culture about how to prepare food in a way that's nutritionally beneficial. There are several "staple" human foods which we've learned to eat, like cassava, which contains cyanide when raw.

sysadm1n 4y ago

It's my understanding we eat food for pleasure aswell as nourishment. Cats & dogs don't complain when they essentially eat tripe everyday. We are gustatory folk who enjoy a varied diet. I think humans are wired to vary their diet as much as possible. I know I get bored eating the same things all the time!

_mhr_ 4y ago
I can assure you that my family dog, at least, definitely has strong food preferences. Even things that hurt her stomach if she eats too much, like popcorn or broccoli. Her favorite food is chicken and rice, cooked exactly like you would for a human. Maybe food doesn't really get old for her, but I think a desire for novelty is separate from having strong appreciation for the taste of food.

lm28469 4y ago

> I don't understand why us humans must necessarily have such a wide and varied diet compared to other mammals. Because we live long enough (medicine, food abundance, proper shelters, &c.) that optimizing food intake matters if you want to get the best out of your body. You can probably eat bigmacs all your life and make it to 60+, but you'll be far from your potential. The fact that we're mammals doesn't mean we have to live like chimpanzees, but no one is stopping from living like one ("do we really have" -> no we don't)

joshvm 4y ago

Historically, communities have lived on very simple staple diets, like the Three Sisters in the US. You can survive almost entirely on just maize, beans and squash. The Iroquois supplemented with foraged nuts and fruit, plus hunted/farmed meat (which also doubled up as a leather/material supply). https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/721/413 https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/721/... Also potatoes are almost complete if you get sunshine for your vitamin D, but you'd be deficient in at least B12. I think most wild animals eat multiple things so it's not really fair to try and find a single food that fits. On changing diet, your body becomes more sensitive to deficiencies. If you're lacking in calcium, for example, and you break a bone, it's a lot more serious at 75 than it is at 25. The NIH recommends a slightly higher calcium intake in young people (for development) and over 50s (for preventative maintenance). Maintaining a young person's RDA your whole life wouldn't do you any harm though. https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/nutrition/calcium-and-vitamin-d-important-every-age https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/bone-health/nutri... In the animal kingdom there's the concept of food chains/trophic levels. This is why ecosystems are fairly fragile if a provider species is removed, e.g. by extinction. Humans have learned to adapt to wildly different resources, and we have thousands of years of knowledge and culture about how to prepare food in a way that's nutritionally beneficial. There are several "staple" human foods which we've learned to eat, like cassava, which contains cyanide when raw.