Evolution of the Modern Diet How the Food Industry Moulded Our Taste
Max Haroon
Max Haroon, Author, Speaker & a Social Entrepreneur, Founder - Healthy Aging Foundation
"Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food."
Max Haroon, President, the Healthy Aging Foundation (HAF) ?2023Aug5
The primary objective of this essay is to delve into the profound impact of our evolving diet on the emergence of modern diseases. It will meticulously scrutinize the pivotal transformative periods in dietary history and delve into the driving forces—often guided by motives other than genuine well-being—that instigated these remarkable shifts.
To facilitate a coherent exploration, I have categorized the progression of dietary changes into the following eras:
1.?????Ancient Prehistoric (Approximately 2.5 Million Years Ago)
2.?????Agriculture era (Around 10,000 years ago)
3.?????From the 19th Century: Industrialization of Food
1.?????Ancient Prehistoric (Approximately 2.5 Million Years Ago)
In this distant epoch, human sustenance was dictated by a primal and instinctive approach. Records stretching back 2.6 million years attest to a diet characterized by limited availability and innate responsiveness to natural cravings—a pattern reminiscent of the dietary habits observed in present-day mammals and invertebrate animals.
This era witnessed the consumption of a diverse array of nourishment, including:
Geographical disparities lent a touch of variety to this diet, with Eskimos predominantly reliant on fish and fish oil, while certain African tribes leaned towards meat and blood consumption.
This nutritional foundation provided a source of calorie-dense sustenance replete with essential amino acids and micronutrients, fostering robust physical development. Notably, the humans of this era boasted pronounced anatomical features, including formidable jawbones and expanded brain sizes.
2.?????Agriculture Era (Around 10,000 Years Ago)
The dawning of the agricultural epoch ushered in a transformative chapter in human dietary habits. The cultivation of staples such as rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and millet marked a turning point, facilitating surpluses of crops that, in turn, fuelled advancements in agriculture and the burgeoning of complex societies, including sprawling cities.
3.?????From the 19th Century: Industrialization of Food
The 19th century marked a significant turning point in the evolution of our diet, as the industrialization of food production began to reshape the way we eat. The food industry saw new opportunities for profit by mass-producing and processing food. While this led to greater convenience and availability of food, it also introduced several harmful elements to our diets. However, this unprecedented convenience bore an unintended cost. ?
PROCESSED FOODS AND CHEMICAL ADDITIVES
The food industry has been actively engaged to change our ancestral diet but there were a number of problems, the biggest challenge was how to change the likes and dislikes of our natural palette, which man developed over millenniums. They manage to change the palate by adding condiments, sugar, salt, starch, seasoning, flavours, and food colours. Once men get used to it, they started craving it and thus addiction to the food was born. This shift contributed to a rise in health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
RISE OF SUGAR AND HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
?Although man was extracting sugar from sugar cane for the last few millenniums the manufacturing of sugar from beetroot and corn (as corn syrup) goes far back as the 19th century. It goes through an elaborate process to refine and make it white. This toxic substance, which our body works hard to get rid of it or to detoxify. North America eats about twenty-two teaspoons (as opposed to eight) per day.
Excessive consumption of sugar has been linked to obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other metabolic disorders. Additionally, sugar can be highly addictive, making it difficult for individuals to moderate their intake. Excessive sugar can stick to your arterial walls.
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MANIPULATION OF TASTE BUDS AND ADDICTION
The food industry employed scientific research to understand the human palate and exploit its vulnerabilities. By combining fats, sugars, and salt in precise ratios, they created "hyper-palatable" foods that override natural satiety signals, leading to overeating. This manipulation of taste buds contributed to the development of food addiction, where individuals crave and consume unhealthy foods excessively. ?
STARCH INTENSIVE CARBOHYDRATES
The food containing starches is carbohydrates.?Rice, bread and potatoes are just a few of the starchy foods that many human populations rely on in their day-to-day lives. In fact, carbohydrates have probably been part of our diet for a long time but their portion was very limited, now it is the predominant part of the modern diet, sadly removing all good nutrition like bran, and wheat germ from the grains.
MYTH OF VEGETABLE OILS
Historically humans consumed fats from dairy (butter, Clarified butter-ghee), animal fats (tallow, lard and suet) and coconut oils. They are called saturated fats and are the source of Omega-3. Our body also has 45% saturated fats.
Vegetable Oils are made from seeds, such as canola, soya, palm, grape and cocoa and from berries of some plants, such as olive and palm. They have been used for cooking for millenniums but were mostly used for industrial use, such as lamps, medicine, lubrication and other industrial uses.
Seed oils tend to be low in saturated fats and high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFA), specifically linoleic acid (LA). Linoleic acid is also a precursor for inflammatory molecules.
Although Coconut oil is saturated fat, as such it is Omega-6 and not Omega-3. It is a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA), or medium-chain triglyceride (MCT), and is highly health beneficial, 50% of MCT is lauric acid, which strengthens the immune system and is also found in human breast milk. Its high smoking point makes it ideal for cooking as it remains stabilized (resistant to oxidation) while cooking at high temperature.
Unsaturated fats are unstable and get oxidized while cooking. In order to mould our palate the food industry made vegetable oils look like saturated fat by partially hydrogenating oils, also called trans-fat.?They are used in margarine, commercial baked goods, shortening, frozen pizza, biscuits and rolls.
If you pick up any packaged/processed food you will find hydrogenated oils, vegetable oil, corn syrup/sugar and salt.
The notion that Omega-6 fats could aid in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) was propagated by the Vegetable Seed Industry, but this perspective has come under scrutiny. Throughout human evolution, our diets maintained a roughly 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. In contemporary times, this ratio has escalated significantly, with some diets exhibiting ratios as high as 50 to 1.
Interestingly, over the past century, there has been a notable decrease in saturated fat consumption and a concurrent rise in unsaturated fat intake. Paradoxically, this shift has coincided with a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.
?CONCLUSION: NAVIGATING A HEALTHIER DIET
Our body had adopted over several million of years to a high-protein, high-fat and low carb now had to deal with ever-increasing carbs (some diets it as much as 40% of the intake). As a result, we take high-calorie, low nutrition (low vitamins and anti-oxidants) and lots of toxic elements, such as excess salt, sugar, hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils, etc.
Modern man has gone through a multitude of changes in their diet which is clashing with the genomics of human beings developed millions of years. As a result, we have masses of curable and incurable diseases.
Recognizing the impact of the food industry on our health is crucial for making informed dietary choices. By becoming more mindful of our food consumption, opting for whole and unprocessed foods, and reducing our reliance on sugary and heavily processed products, we can take steps toward reclaiming our health and well-being. Additionally, advocating for more precise food labelling, stricter regulations on additives, and promoting nutritional education can contribute to a healthier food environment for everyone.
Unfortunately, this is not taught in secondary schools not even in medical colleges.
There are some researchers and practitioners who believe, providing nutrition (like mega vitamins and anti-oxidant) is a better solution than pharmaceutical drugs to address many ailments. This type of practice is called orthomolecular medicine. The term was coined by Linus Pauling, two-time Noble Prize winner in 1967.
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