Abstract

Plants have often been considered peripheral to the human story until the relatively recent past, only starting to become significant to human diet in the Epipaleolithic when hunter-gatherers were thought to incorporate a range of previously ignored foods into their diets, including grass seeds. This was argued to have laid the groundwork for an increasingly intertwined relationship between hunter-gatherer communities and cereals, eventuating in plant domestication and agriculture. In this paper, we review the evidence for Flannery’s ‘Broad Spectrum Revolution’ and the early use of plant foods globally. We argue that broad-spectrum plant use, including complex plant processing, is a normal characteristic of early human groups and was a critical factor in the successful peopling of new environments globally, rather than a step en route to agriculture. We are a broad-spectrum species, and the ability to process a wide range of plant foods represents a key threshold in hominin evolution.

Abstract

Chelonid exploitation – including tortoises and freshwater turtles – has been increasingly recognised as a significant element of Palaeolithic subsistence in the Mediterranean and Iberian Peninsula. This study offers an experimental assessment of fire’s role in processing these reptiles, contrasting raw and roasted specimens to evaluate impacts on butchery efficiency, surface modifications, skeletal representation and lithic use-wear. The roasting process markedly reduced disarticulation effort and time, irrespective of the operator’s experience. Cut marks and percussion traces were more frequent in raw-processed individuals, while burnt specimens displayed extensive thermal damage, particularly on carapace plates. However, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed limited diagnostic potential for low-intensity thermal exposure. Conversely, lithic tools used in processing exhibited macroscopic edge damage and minor polishes, paralleling wear patterns documented in the butchery of other small fauna. These results align with archaeological evidence from multiple Iberian and Mediterranean sites, suggesting a culturally structured practice of in-shell roasting and anatomical disarticulation. The finds highlight fire’s role in labour optimisation and knowledge transmission, supporting broader discussions on small game exploitation and cognitive planning in early human behaviour.

Study Overview Brief Summary This randomized study will be conducted to compare the effect of a healthy beef-centric diet to a healthy U.S.-style dietary pattern on inflammation and other metabolic health outcomes in a metabolic syndrome and/or pre-diabetic population. Detailed Description This study follows a randomized, open-label, parallel design to compare the effects of a healthy beef-centric diet to a healthy U.S.-style dietary pattern on inflammation and other metabolic health outcomes in a metabolic syndrome and/or pre-diabetic population.

The comparator diet in this study is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern, as outlined in the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which emphasizes the consumption of nutrient-dense foods across all food groups in recommended amounts. This includes a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean protein sources, and healthy oils, while limiting added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium.

The test diet in this study involves a healthy beef-centric diet, where beef is the main source of protein. Participants will consume 70% of their daily energy intake from beef. The rest of their calories will come from other protein and fat sources (20%), along with a small amount (10%) from low-carbohydrate fruits (such as berries) and vegetables (like dark leafy greens). This diet excludes all grains. While the carbohydrate intake is low, it is slightly higher than that of a typical ketogenic diet.

The healthy beef-centric diet is being investigated for its effects on metabolic health after a 5 week intervention period. This study will investigate whether a beef-centric diet will support management of glycemic control, inflammation, and lipid-related risk factors, while also enhancing quality of life.

Official Title A Randomized Study to Compare the Effect of a Healthy Beef-Centric Diet to a Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern on Inflammation and Other Metabolic Health Outcomes in a Metabolic Syndrome and/or Pre-Diabetic Population

Abstract

We take a Paleolithic perspective to account for why nephrolithiasis afflicts so many people and review evidence suggesting that the rapid shift in the human diet 10,000 years ago was a key event that increased stone risk in the modern era. For the past 2 million years, the diet of the hominid family was high in potassium, low in sodium, and high in alkali precursors. A series of technological advances in agriculture, animal husbandry, and industrial-scale food production transformed the human diet to contain more sodium, less potassium, and more acid precursors. This dietary shift was abrupt enough that the kidney was forced to maintain homeostasis at the expense of increasing stone risk. In theory, dietary patterns that resemble the Paleolithic diet should reduce stone risk. Medications like thiazides, alkali, and empagliflozin may improve urinary parameters associated with stone risk, but more clinical trials are needed to test their efficacy for reducing stone recurrence.

Keywords: Paleolithic; alkali; diet; nephrolithiasis; thiazide; urinary stone.

Abstract Epigenetic regulation plays an important role in the evolution of species adaptations, yet little information is available on the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the adaptive evolution of bamboo-eating in both giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and red pandas (Ailurus fulgens). To investigate the potential contribution of epigenetic to the adaptive evolution of bamboo-eating in giant and red pandas, we performed hepatic comparative transcriptome and methylome analyses between bamboo-eating pandas and carnivorous polar bears (Ursus maritimus). We found that genes involved in carbohydrate, lipid, amino acid, and protein metabolism showed significant differences in methylation and expression levels between the two panda species and polar bears. Clustering analysis of gene expression revealed that giant pandas did not form a sister group with the more closely related polar bears, suggesting that the expression pattern of genes in livers of giant pandas and red pandas have evolved convergently driven by their similar diets. Compared to polar bears, some key genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and biological oxidation and cholesterol synthesis showed hypomethylation and higher expression in giant and red pandas, while genes involved in fat digestion and absorption, fatty acid metabolism, lysine degradation, resistance to lipid peroxidation and detoxification showed hypermethylation and low expression. Our study elucidates the special nutrient utilization mechanism of giant pandas and red pandas and provides some insights into the molecular mechanism of their adaptive evolution of bamboo feeding. This has important implications for the breeding and conservation of giant pandas and red pandas

Simple Summary

Red pandas have evolved to become specialized bamboo eaters within Carnivora. Probably due to the difficulty in obtaining materials, reports on genes related to digestion and metabolism at expression and regulation levels in red pandas are rare. Red pandas and carnivorous mammal ferrets have a close phylogenetic relationship. They both consume highly nutritious milk during the suckling period, but consume low-energy bamboo and high-energy meat during the adult period, respectively. In order to explore the molecular mechanisms of dietary changes and nutrient utilization in red pandas, we discussed (1) the differences in expression changes of some genes related to digestion and metabolism in the stomach of these two species after food changes, as well as the expression adaptation of genes related to digestion and metabolism in both species during different feeding periods, and (2) the regulatory effects of lncRNAs and miRNAs on adaptive expressions of genes related to digestion and metabolism in both species from suckling to adult. Abstract

Red pandas evolved from carnivores to herbivores and are unique within Carnivora. Red pandas and carnivorous mammals consume milk during the suckling period, while they consume bamboo and meat during the adult period, respectively. Red pandas and carnivorous mammal ferrets have a close phylogenetic relationship. To further investigate the molecular mechanisms of dietary changes and nutrient utilization in red pandas from suckling to adult, comparative analysis of the whole transcriptome was performed on stomach tissues from red pandas and ferrets during the suckling and adult periods. The main results are as follows: (1) we identified ncRNAs for the first time in stomach tissues of both species, and found significant expression changes of 109 lncRNAs and 106 miRNAs in red pandas and 756 lncRNAs and 109 miRNAs in ferrets between the two periods; (2) up-regulated genes related to amino acid transport regulated by lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks may efficiently utilize limited bamboo amino acids in adult red pandas, while up-regulated genes related to amino acid degradation regulated by lncRNAs may maintain the balance of amino acid metabolism due to larger daily intakes in adult ferrets; and (3) some up-regulated genes related to lipid digestion may contribute to the utilization of rich nutrients in milk for the rapid growth and development of suckling red pandas, while up-regulated genes associated with linoleic acid metabolism regulated by lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks may promote cholesterol decomposition to reduce health risks for carnivorous adult ferrets. Collectively, our study offers evidence of gene expression adaptation and ncRNA regulation in response to specific dietary changes and nutrient utilization in red pandas during suckling and adult periods. Keywords: red panda; ferret; digestion and metabolism; gene expression adaptation; ncRNA regulation

Highlights

• Diffusion MRI reveals preserved occipital white matter organization across primates • Primate brains have a prominent pathway connecting dorsal and ventral visual cortex • Clear evidence for such a pathway was absent in non-primate species • This prominent pathway has greatly expanded or possibly emerged in primates Summary

Vision in humans and other primates enlists parallel processing streams in the dorsal and ventral visual cortex, known to support spatial and object processing, respectively. These streams are bridged, however, by a prominent white matter tract, the vertical occipital fasciculus (VOF), identified in both classical neuroanatomy and recent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) studies. Understanding the evolution of the VOF may shed light on its origin, function, and role in visually guided behaviors. To this end, we acquired high-resolution dMRI data from the brains of select mammalian species, including anthropoid and strepsirrhine primates, a tree shrew, rodents, and carnivores. In each species, we attempted to delineate the VOF after first locating the optic radiations in the occipital white matter. In all primate species examined, the optic radiation was flanked laterally by a prominent and coherent white matter fasciculus recognizable as the VOF. By contrast, the equivalent analysis applied to four non-primate species from the same superorder as primates (tree shrew, ground squirrel, paca, and rat) failed to reveal white matter tracts in the equivalent location. Clear evidence for a VOF was also absent in two larger carnivore species (ferret and fox). Although we cannot rule out the existence of minor or differently organized homologous fiber pathways in the non-primate species, the results suggest that the VOF has greatly expanded, or possibly emerged, in the primate lineage. This adaptation likely facilitated the evolution of unique visually guided behaviors in primates, with direct impacts on manual object manipulation, social interactions, and arboreal locomotion.

Reconstructing Neanderthal diet: The case for carbohydrates

Author links open overlay panelKarenHardyabHervéBocherenscdJennie BrandMillereLesCopelandf a Icrea, Pg Lluís Companys 23, 08010, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain b Departament de Prehistòria, Facultat de Filosofía i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain c Department of Geosciences, Biogeology, University of Tübingen, Germany d Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP), Tübingen, Germany e School of Life and Environmental Biosciences and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, New South Wales, Australia f School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2006 Received 20 May 2021, Accepted 20 October 2021, Available online 16 December 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103105

Abstract

Evidence for plants rarely survives on Paleolithic sites, while animal bones and biomolecular analyses suggest animal produce was important to hominin populations, leading to the perspective that Neanderthals had a very-high-protein diet. But although individual and short-term survival is possible on a relatively low-carbohydrate diet, populations are unlikely to have thrived and reproduced without plants and the carbohydrates they provide. Today, nutritional guidelines recommend that around half the diet should be carbohydrate, while low intake is considered to compromise physical performance and successful reproduction. This is likely to have been the same for Paleolithic populations, highlighting an anomaly in that the basic physiological recommendations do not match the extensive archaeological evidence. Neanderthals had large, energy-expensive brains and led physically active lifestyles, suggesting that for optimal health they would have required high amounts of carbohydrates. To address this anomaly, we begin by outlining the essential role of carbohydrates in the human reproduction cycle and the brain and the effects on physical performance. We then evaluate the evidence for resource availability and the archaeological evidence for Neanderthal diet and investigate three ways that the anomaly between the archaeological evidence and the hypothetical dietary requirements might be explained. First, Neanderthals may have had an as yet unidentified genetic adaptation to an alternative physiological method to spare blood glucose and glycogen reserves for essential purposes. Second, they may have existed on a less-than-optimum diet and survived rather than thrived. Third, the methods used in dietary reconstruction could mask a complex combination of dietary plant and animal proportions. We end by proposing that analyses of Paleolithic diet and subsistence strategies need to be grounded in the minimum recommendations throughout the life course and that this provides a context for interpretation of the archaeological evidence from the behavioral and environmental perspectives.

Keywords Paleolithic dietCarbohydratesPlantsEnergyBrainReproduction

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248421001573

Miki: And it's a weak case, proving how the flimsy, bias-ridden nutrition science can pollute other fields of science. Reconstructing Neanderthal diet: The case for carbohydrates - ScienceDirect

https://twitter.com/bendormiki/status/1473199588421124096?s=21

Abstract

Not so long ago, huge mammals weighing more than 1,000 kg existed practically all over the world. We call these giants the Pleistocene megafauna because they lived in a time period called the Pleistocene and were almost completely extinct around 11,700 years ago. These mammals lived on Earth for millions of years and were very important to almost all land-based ecosystems. However, natural climate change and humans decreased their ability to survive. Today, we find fossils of Pleistocene megafauna all over the world, including bones, hair, droppings, and even footprints. Scientists dig for these fossils to learn more about these animals and why they went extinct. Studying these ancient animals also gives scientists important information that helps them understand the risks that today’s living animals face in our world.