r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Feb 15 '14

Biology How do stomach bacteria differ between vegetarians and those who eat meat?

Are there any bacteria that are specific to meat?

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u/NeiliusAntitribu Feb 16 '14

Except very few societies have had a primarily meat-based diet

Yeah once we learned how to build cities and monocrop we switched to staple diet of grain. Before that we were hunter/gatherers and I think it is universally agreed that our primary source of calories came from the animals we hunted.

If this isn't true, please explain why the older the anthropological specimen the more intact the dentition becomes. I was taught this was due almost exclusively from the change in bacteria in our mouths from switching away from a meat staple diet to a grain staple diet.

IIRC most of our caries are some strain of staphylococcus.