Ancestral Diet · 7 cited studies
Research on Ancestral & Hunter-Gatherer Diets
Ancestral-diet research is most useful as a calibration tool, not a meal plan. Pontzer's Hadza energetics work (PLOS ONE 2012, Current Biology 2016) overturned the assumption that physical activity is the primary lever — Hadza adults expend the same total energy per day as sedentary Westerners. The diet differential (whole foods, low UPF, high fibre, varied protein, no industrial seed oils) explains the metabolic differential, not movement. Eaton & Konner's 1985 NEJM paper and Cordain's 2005 AJCN review remain the canonical reconstructions of Paleolithic macronutrient composition. Yetish 2015 (Current Biology) showed that hunter-gatherer sleep duration is similar to ours but more consolidated. Below: the major hunter-gatherer and ancestral-nutrition research.
- Moderate evidence2012
Hunter-gatherer energetics and human obesity
Pontzer H et al. · PLOS ONE
Hadza total energy expenditure no different from Western adults — diet, not exercise, drives obesity differential.
Ancestral DietSource ↗ - Mechanism only1985
Paleolithic nutrition: a consideration of its nature and current implications
Eaton SB, Konner M · New England Journal of Medicine
Foundational paper estimating macronutrient and micronutrient intake of Paleolithic humans.
Ancestral DietSource ↗ - Mechanism only2005
Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century
Cordain L et al. · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Catalogues seven dietary changes from Paleolithic to modern diet associated with chronic-disease patterns.
Ancestral DietSource ↗ - Strong evidence2016
Constrained total energy expenditure and metabolic adaptation to physical activity in adult humans
Pontzer H et al. · Current Biology
Total energy expenditure plateaus despite increases in activity — supports the constrained-energy model.
- Moderate evidence2010
Achieving hunter-gatherer fitness in the 21st century: back to the future
O'Keefe JH et al. · American Journal of Medicine
Recommends modeling activity on hunter-gatherer movement patterns: walking, intermittent intensity, recovery.
- Mechanism only1994
Stroke in Papua New Guinea (Kitava study): the importance of cardiovascular risk factors in non-Westernized populations
Lindeberg S · Comparative Studies in Health Sciences and Anthropology
Kitava observational study: traditional Melanesian population had near-zero CVD on a starchy whole-food diet.
- Moderate evidence2015
Natural sleep and its seasonal variations in three pre-industrial societies
Yetish G et al. · Current Biology
Hadza, San and Tsimane sleep ~6.5 h/night — fewer hours than Westerners but better consolidation.
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