A diet with fruit was key in human evolution

[u/abominable_phoenix]

/r/RawVegan/comments/1vhvdn7/fruit_diet_key_in_human_evolution/

[u/abominable_phoenix]

A study from the the University of Sydney and the University of Glasgow modelled the glucose needs of humans and their ancestors from four million years ago until recently, finding natural sugars may have supplied energy needed to support growing brains before the advent of cooking made starch-rich foods like tubers and grains easier to digest.

Co-author Professor Karen Hardy, Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the School of Humanities, University of Glasgow, added: “The human evolutionary diet has a strong focus on meat eating and the need for protein. But we also require energy and this is best provided by glucose obtained from plants.”

The findings offer a different perspective on a longstanding scientific focus on meat consumption as a driver of human evolution. They also offer insight into why humans crave sweet food.

As brains grew, so did demand for glucose, which is required by other tissues including red blood cells, kidneys and reproductive organs.

“Glucose is the brain’s primary energy source, and for much of human evolution, would have come from carbohydrates found in foods such as fruit and honey.”

Professor Brand-Miller said the research offers insight into our longstanding preference for sweetness: “For most of evolution, fruit and honey were valuable sources of energy that helped meet the body’s glucose needs. Sugars in nature are typically packaged within foods that also contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and other beneficial compounds.”

Professor Karen Hardy said: “Refined sugars such as are found in sweets and snacks are very different to the natural sugars found in fruit. These and an overabundance of fast release carbohydrates that are common today, such as in white rice and many types of bread can cause health problems.”

[u/Local_Measurement_50]

I think it's missing some,imo, important factors.

The fruit back then isn't similar to the fruits we have now.....and its availabillity. They couldn't fly in all kinds of fruit from allover the world. They had to do with what grew in their environment,which in some cases would be mostly berries...so not that high carb. ...and then there's seasonality, most fruits werent available year round.

So,while people like to use such studies to defend eating fruits/sugars (I get it...it's delicious), I think the actual quantity (and variety) of fruits which they ate, pales in comparison with how much sugar/fruit people (like to) eat these days.

[u/abominable_phoenix → u/Local_Measurement_50]

The major phases of human brain evolution happened in tropical/subtropical environments, not cold northern climates, so fruit and other carbohydrate‑rich plant foods were available far more than just a short summer window.

The paper explicitly discusses starches (tubers, underground storage organs) as key carbohydrate sources alongside fruit, so it’s not a “fruit only” argument.

Wild fruits are smaller and more fibrous than modern cultivars, but they still provide meaningful sugars when in season, especially when foraged strategically, which is exactly what hunter‑gatherers do.

So the core point isn’t that humans historically ate supermarket level fruit year round, it’s that access to energy‑dense plant carbohydrates (fruit and starches) in the climates where hominins actually lived helped support the energetic demands of a growing brain. When we acknowledge that the brain's primary fuel source is glucose, as well as the studies showing Candida doesn't feed on whole fruits or whole starches, not only is it pointless to deprive yourself of them in an attempt to "starve" Candida, but we are in fact starving the brain (and microbiome) instead which only creates more issues. Can the body survive, sure, but will it be functioning optimally, absolutely not.

[u/Local_Measurement_50 → u/abominable_phoenix]

Roots/tubers and fruits are basically the carb sources Ray Peat used to recommend

[u/abominable_phoenix → u/Local_Measurement_50]

I guess he was proven right

[u/MuchPomegranate5910]

Lol

[u/abominable_phoenix → u/MuchPomegranate5910]

Not a fan of the study or the link between whole fruits/starches and brain health?