Knowledge Tree
Marlene Zuk
Facts (17)
Sources
Evolutionary Eating — What We Can Learn From Our Primitive Past todaysdietitian.com Apr 1, 2009 13 facts
claimMarlene Zuk cites hiccups, hernias, and hemorrhoids as examples of compromises in human evolution.
claimMarlene Zuk cites a study of aboriginal Australians that demonstrated a link between an indigenous diet and a reduction in modern diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
claimMarlene Zuk identifies the human ability to digest milk as an example of a gene that has changed remarkably fast in evolutionary terms.
quoteMarlene Zuk stated: “And yet people will persist in saying that our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t drink milk past weaning, but our agricultural ancestors did. And the reason they did is that their genes had changed; there has been evolution since we were hunter-gatherers.”
claimMarlene Zuk states that the concept of evolution is often misunderstood because it is a complicated process for which scientists have not yet found all the answers.
quoteMarlene Zuk stated: “But the reason for that isn’t because evolution messed up; it’s because evolution had to start from a constrained point. And I think that’s an interesting thing to think about in respect to diet, too—that our digestive systems and our teeth had to come from somewhere. They weren’t just invented de novo for people.”
quoteMarlene Zuk stated: “Different genes change at different rates. We share a lot of genes with carnations and sea anemones and lots of other animals; there’s many genes that we have in common with Drosophila [fruit flies]. But nobody’s suggesting we should eat what flies eat, even though we have genes in common with flies.”
claimMarlene Zuk wrote an article titled 'The Evolutionary Search for Our Perfect Past' in The New York Times.
perspectiveMarlene Zuk, a biology professor at the University of California, Riverside, argues that the 'Paleolithic Diet' or 'Caveman Diet' is an oversimplification and that eating like a caveman will not solve all modern medical problems.
perspectiveMarlene Zuk argues that evolution has affected human physiology and behavior, and warns against oversimplifying the idea of applying ancestral diets to modern life.
claimMarlene Zuk explains that human body functions are not perfect because humans evolved from fish and single-celled organisms rather than being designed from scratch.
quoteMarlene Zuk stated: “You can suggest that there are a lot of similarities in all animals, and so we’re likely to have more genes in common with our more recent ancestors than with our more distant ancestors. But that doesn’t mean that for any given gene, they’ve all changed or they all haven’t changed.”
perspectiveMarlene Zuk asserts that seeking modern dietary answers in Paleolithic ancestors is dangerous because evolution is not a simple or straightforward process.
Paleolithic diet - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 3 facts
perspectiveEvolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk argues that the idea that modern human genetic makeup matches that of ancestors is misconceived, noting that 10,000 years is sufficient time for evolutionary changes in human digestive abilities to occur.
quoteMarlene Zuk stated: "No one [...] can legitimately claim to have found the only 'natural' diet for humans. We simply ate too many different foods in the past, and have adapted to new ones."
claimMarlene Zuk dismisses the claim made by Loren Cordain that the Paleolithic diet is the only diet that fits human genetic makeup.
Prehistoric Dining: The Real Paleo Diet | National Geographic nationalgeographic.com Apr 22, 2014 1 fact
referenceMarlene Zuk authored the book 'Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet, and How We Live,' published by W.W. Norton in 2013.