Comparing measured dietary variation within and between tropical hunter-gatherer groups to the Paleo Diet

Abstract

Background: Although human diets varied considerably before the spread of agriculture, public perceptions of preagricultural diets have been strongly influenced by the Paleo Diet, which prescribes percentage calorie ranges of 19-35% protein, 22-40% carbohydrate, and 28-47% fat, and prohibits foods with added sugar, dairy, grains, most starchy tubers, and legumes. However, the empirical basis for Paleolithic nutrition remains unclear, with some of its assumptions challenged by the archaeological record and theoretical first principles.

Objectives: We assessed the variation in diets among tropical hunter-gatherers, including the effect of collection methods on implied macronutrient percentages.

Methods: We analyzed data on animal food, plant food, and honey consumption by weight and kcal from 15 high-quality published ethnographic studies representing 11 recent tropical hunter-gatherer groups. We used Bayesian analyses to perform inference and included data collection methods and environmental variables as predictors in our models.

Results: Our analyses reveal high levels of variation in animal versus plant foods consumed and in corresponding percentages of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. In addition, studies that weighed food items consumed in and out of camp and across seasons and years reported higher consumption of animal foods, which varied with annual mean temperature.

Conclusions: The ethnographic evidence from tropical foragers refutes the concept of circumscribed macronutrient ranges modeling preagricultural diets.

Keywords: Paleo Diet; Paleolithic; evolution; forager; hunter-gatherer; mismatch.