Was it meat or glucose that fueled the growth of the human brain? Published in a recent issue of Science , the study posits a dual fuel strategy – sugar and meat – as having powered brain expansion in humans.
If evolutionary science told us, hitherto, that human brain expansion relied on meat to grow, a new study has an interesting addition to this theory.
The multi-centre study by Jennie Brand-Miller et al, does not discount the role of meat in brain expansion, but argues that natural sugars and starch found in fruits and honey delivered the required glucose to power a rapidly-expanding human brain. “What foods enabled the evolution of the large human brain? The study does not dismiss the importance of hunting or animal protein; rather, it establishes that human brain expansion relied on a balanced, dual-fuel strategy. Meat provided critical amino acids and micronutrients, while natural sugars and starches delivered the essential glucose required to power a metabolically expensive brain.
Currently, that diet is usually framed around increasing intake of animal foods: meat, protein, fat, and omega-3 fatty acids,” the authors explain, but go on to model the glucose needs of humans and their ancestors from four million years ago, until recently.
