Is There a “Best” Human Diet?
With January just around the corner, we have to brace for the onslaught of fad diets in the popular press. Luckily instead we have some new and interesting science to share with you. Is there a best human diet?
A study published earlier this month looked at the diet and lifestyle of hunter-gatherer tribes to try and understand the effect of diet on metabolic health and other outcomes.
What did they find? Well, they all have excellent metabolic health and all have very different diets. Some eat very high carb, others high protein, some more plants, some less. They all consume nutrient-dense food, i.e. vegetables and a lot more fibre than the average westerner. Carbs, of course, come from vegetables and starchy plants (i.e. not cakes!) with a low GI.
And what does it mean? Well, there’s probably no one ‘best’ diet for humans – we’ve evolved to be healthy on a wide range of macronutrients. What does seem to be the big difference between them and the average Westerner is movement; they walk on average 5-10 miles a day.
It’s a fascinating study, find it here if you’re interested in digging deeper.
