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Chew on this: thank cooking for your big brain
New Scientist ^ | Catherine Brahic

Posted on 07/19/2010 4:01:05 PM PDT by LibWhacker

THE French have elevated it to an art form, and even the British have got better at it - but chimps can't cook at all. According to one controversial evolutionary theory, early humans developed a taste for cooked food around 2 million years ago, and this set in motion a series of changes that made us utterly different from any other animal.

Now the proponents of the cooked-food hypothesis are presenting fresh evidence in support of the idea - and it all comes down to how you chew.

The theory, championed by Richard Wrangham at Harvard University, has divided palaeoanthropologists. In an attempt to convince the doubters, Wrangham and his colleagues have been amassing empirical evidence, including evolutionary adaptations consistent with a diet of heated food, such as the small size of our guts.

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: brain; cooking

1 posted on 07/19/2010 4:01:06 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

Interesting. The raw food proponents won’t like it tho. And neither will PETA which insists we are not natural meat eaters.


2 posted on 07/19/2010 4:19:56 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: LibWhacker

3 posted on 07/19/2010 4:20:28 PM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: brytlea
I'm here to tell you PETA is wrong ~ we even have an arguably carnivorous genetic isolate or two.

Just like polar bears, seals, sea lions, penguins and other arctic and antarctic animals.

PETA'd best step aside when the big ice comes and agriculture is put out of business.

4 posted on 07/19/2010 4:24:56 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: dangerdoc

Too much starch and harmful wheat proteins in that product. You need to get down to the basics!


5 posted on 07/19/2010 4:25:56 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

I think there is far too much evidence that we naturally eat meat (but can live for a time on other things, which is probably one reason we are so darned successful). I didn’t know about the carnivorous genetic isolate, and would love to read more about that, over a nice juicy steak!


6 posted on 07/19/2010 4:36:10 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: muawiyah

Wheat is clearly poison! ;)


7 posted on 07/19/2010 4:36:58 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: dangerdoc

It’s possible to measure an enzyme in human beings that differs according to their ancestor’s diets. It’s high in the Sa’ami. It’s low in the Chinese. This has a factor of 10 difference ~ http://www.springerlink.com/content/afr3ekhecvtnhh68/


8 posted on 07/19/2010 4:38:38 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: brytlea

http://www.springerlink.com/content/afr3ekhecvtnhh68/


9 posted on 07/19/2010 4:39:46 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: brytlea

What would they know about big brains? :-)


10 posted on 07/19/2010 4:44:20 PM PDT by LibWhacker (America awake!)
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To: LibWhacker
Start feeding the labs chimps cooked food and see what happens.

Cheers!

11 posted on 07/19/2010 4:47:48 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: LibWhacker

Bookmark.


12 posted on 07/19/2010 4:49:50 PM PDT by Sergio (If a tree fell on a mime in the forest, would he make a sound?)
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To: grey_whiskers
Chimps are intelligent and adaptable.

I think they would quickly master ordering delivery food.
13 posted on 07/19/2010 5:07:26 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
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To: muawiyah

Wow, that’s actually quite interesting. I wonder if it explains people who don’t seem to feel well on a meaty diet (I know, I think that’s odd, but I have had more than one person tell me that they just felt better if they eat very little meat) and those of us who tend to feel better on a higher meat diet (I know I do, low carb works well for me, mainly because I feel better on that sort of eating plan).
Thanks for the link.


14 posted on 07/20/2010 6:12:52 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: brytlea
You'll feel much better about it now that you know you are normal (for your height, weight and enzyme production).

My breakfast today ~ large crab cake (made with gluten free ingredients), dozen shrimp, gluten free cocktail sauce, and, to top it off, one small gluten free english muffin.

15 posted on 07/20/2010 6:23:01 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: LibWhacker

That really is an excellent point. :)


16 posted on 07/20/2010 6:25:36 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: muawiyah

Oh, you have the same problem with demon wheat that I do. It took me about 50 years to figure out the culprit. Amazingly, just skipping wheat (whether I low carb or not) I have virtually gotten rid of debilitating joint pain. I am generally a skeptic about claims that this thing or that is a magic bullet, but this has worked, and I ONLY stumbled onto the answer (after showing no gluten intolerance via testing) because I always felt best on an ultra low carb diet. I wish there was more real honest to goodness research into human nutrition and variations in populations.


17 posted on 07/20/2010 6:29:55 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: brytlea
Raw fooders!

LOL! What a bunch of brain dead claptrap flim flam snake oil! “Enzyme potential”?!?!!?!?! Or the idea that most enzymes in food can even survive the acidity of the lumen, or that we need the enzymes in food to digest the food we eat (no, we make all the enzymes we need ourselves, and it does not deplete our ‘enzyme potential’ (a nonsensical concept to begin with).

Every successful human culture has cooked food, but gee, if ONLY one had stumbled upon the brilliant health benefits of RAW food!

And we most certainly are adapted for eating meat, our teeth and digestive system show that we are suited to be more carnivorous than any of our ape cousins.

18 posted on 07/20/2010 6:34:44 AM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: allmendream
You have undoubtedly heard of dental dysplasia ~ it involves having crooked and missing teeth ~ as a natural matter.

The Skolt Sa'ami are reported to have an average incidence of 3 missing adult teeth that just never developed. About 18% of their teeth (tribe wide) are turned to one degree or the other ~ and all this does is give you the EXTRA BLADE LENGTH that you no longer have in your molars to eat more meat!

Over the years I managed to purchase my orthodontist a gold plated toilet for his yacht!

19 posted on 07/20/2010 7:18:55 AM PDT by muawiyah
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