Neil Mann, who is a Professor & Head of Food Science & Nutrition in RMIT University, spoke about evolution and our dietary change, specifically the difference on our nutrition today and the time of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. There is a huge contrast in terms of energy density of foods and other key food compositional differences, which has led us to have disease today. He stated that we are not so healthy in these 50-60 years according to our diet intake. Food is our main energy sources. We can get energy from macronutrients such as carbohydrate, protein and lipid. Also, it is vital to eat all the 5 group types to get all the nutrients.
Our human evolution timeline started with mammalian insectivores such as dinosaurs, followed by primates, …show more content…
There are 4 stages of dietary change. Firstly, in 4 million years ago, we have primitive, genetic change has happened. They eat minimally processed animal foods and wild plant. Then, agriculture has begin, mainly grain cultivation. They grow high yield crops such as wheat and barley. There is no one food type has all the nutrients they need. Therefore, their narrow dietary with less meat and wild vegetation has an impact on reducing their life span and stature. Also, there is an increase in health problem such as dental caries and iron deficiency. Next, we have industrial revolution, where we start making flour. Finally, about 60 years ago, where fast food revolution started, we have large variety of food. Food companies came out with a thousand new products or processed food by using some cheapest commodities. For example, starch from grains, sugar from sugar cane, and seed oil from …show more content…
Our total daily energy majority is from eating cereals, margarines, dairy products and alcohol. There are some crucial nutritional characteristics that have changed, causing the modern day lifestyle diseases. Energy density of food determines our energy intake. The energy in processed food is much higher compared to natural or unprocessed food, which will affect our glycemic index (GI). In nature, there is no high GI food. High GI diet causes blood glucose to increase rapidly and so insulin level increases too. High insulin level is bad, because insulin can affect our metabolic process in the body. Some food has high water content such as fruits, consist of 95% of water, lean meat and fish. Although apple pie contains a huge amount of water, but it is unhealthy after processing as the water content has decreased, with high sugar content, starch and oil. Moreover, processed food also can affect the trace nutrient density. We used to have a high potassium intake from fruits and vegetable and low sodium. In fact, today, we consume processed foods rich in sodium and we eat potassium poor grains, dairy, oil and sugar
Our human evolution timeline started with mammalian insectivores such as dinosaurs, followed by primates, …show more content…
There are 4 stages of dietary change. Firstly, in 4 million years ago, we have primitive, genetic change has happened. They eat minimally processed animal foods and wild plant. Then, agriculture has begin, mainly grain cultivation. They grow high yield crops such as wheat and barley. There is no one food type has all the nutrients they need. Therefore, their narrow dietary with less meat and wild vegetation has an impact on reducing their life span and stature. Also, there is an increase in health problem such as dental caries and iron deficiency. Next, we have industrial revolution, where we start making flour. Finally, about 60 years ago, where fast food revolution started, we have large variety of food. Food companies came out with a thousand new products or processed food by using some cheapest commodities. For example, starch from grains, sugar from sugar cane, and seed oil from …show more content…
Our total daily energy majority is from eating cereals, margarines, dairy products and alcohol. There are some crucial nutritional characteristics that have changed, causing the modern day lifestyle diseases. Energy density of food determines our energy intake. The energy in processed food is much higher compared to natural or unprocessed food, which will affect our glycemic index (GI). In nature, there is no high GI food. High GI diet causes blood glucose to increase rapidly and so insulin level increases too. High insulin level is bad, because insulin can affect our metabolic process in the body. Some food has high water content such as fruits, consist of 95% of water, lean meat and fish. Although apple pie contains a huge amount of water, but it is unhealthy after processing as the water content has decreased, with high sugar content, starch and oil. Moreover, processed food also can affect the trace nutrient density. We used to have a high potassium intake from fruits and vegetable and low sodium. In fact, today, we consume processed foods rich in sodium and we eat potassium poor grains, dairy, oil and sugar