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Before A New Diet, Find Out What Your Ancestors Ate




Thinking About Going Vegan Or Paleo?


Proponents of specific food class-centric diets such as paleo, vegan, gluten-free, ketogenic, or the Mediterranean diet often but not always tend to prescribe their plans for everyone. Not so fast, says a group from the University of California, Berkeley. Biologists at UC Berkeley and other institutions around the world have published research that shows genetic differences from natural selection based on dietary changes in Europe, Ars Technica reports.

According to the research, for example, if you live in Europe, and particularly in southern Europe, your body is optimized to digest and process plant-based diets. Natives of Greenland, specifically the Inuit, are better at processing meat fat.


The researchers compared genomes from hundreds of contemporary humans and 101 genome sequences from Bronze Age humans who lived in Europe 5,000 years ago. They found DNA changed significantly in the last 5,000 years.

The science behind the studies is based on examining two genes that regulate how fatty acids in foods are converted into the “long-chain” form used by humans for tissue health, including the brain and muscles. Plants such as wheat and vegetables provide “short-chain” fatty acids and must be converted to the long-form type in order for the human body to use them.

In its genome studies, the researchers found that southern European genomes mutated to produce more long-chain fatty acids from the shorter variation. This change, they argue, is due to evolutionary “pressure” from a diet that changed to accommodate more plant-based foods. The Inuit genome, however, had no such influence, which means Inuit genes aren’t equipped to convert as great a quantity of long-chain fatty acids because they don’t as much need it.

The general take on this research: There is no one best diet or nutritional bias for all people. If your ancestors are all from the 10 countries that make up northern Europe, for example, the study indicates you could be more likely better equipped to thrive on a diet having a higher proportion of meat. People of southern European ancestry, however, might do better with diets that lean toward plant-based foods.

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The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to contact us. Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN* email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com phone: 915-850-0900 Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*