Our Pre-Agricultural Ancestors

• Early humans obtained about 50% of their calories from carbohydrates, mostly from vegetables & fruits (not as grains like modern man).
• Human genetic constitution has changed relatively little in 40,000 years. Because it takes many millennia for our genes to adapt to new circumstances, our genes “still assume … we are hunter-gathers …” However, what we eat and how we work have changed dramatically. We now experience illness unknown to our ancestors.*

*Eaton SB, Eaton SB, III, Konner MJ. Paleolithic nutrition A consideration of its nature and current implications. N.Engl.J.Med. 1985;312:203-289.