Food

[juvenissun]

I am not aware of any chimps that use fire. We can study the effect of their diet. For example, fruit eating chimps have a smaller gut than leaf eating monkeys. The higher quality diet allows them to have a larger brain. We find this more in humans. Higher quality of food, smaller gut and a larger brain.

You certainly have a very strong faith. How do you know that is not a reverse relationship.

 

[Mr Strawberry]

You certainly have a very strong faith. How do you know that is not a reverse relationship.

Because human brains use up a lot of calories, especially young human brains. Cooked food also allowed us to have smaller jaws (much less chewing) which is an evolutionary process we can see ongoing in our species with our endless dental problems: teeth overcrowding, impacted molars, even different numbers of teeth. The end result of the change in shape of the jaw is that the brain cavity can increase in size - something to do with the way the skull is articulated and the connections of the jaw muscles. So cooked food and smaller jaw -> bigger brain.

So, basically, cooking was a major contributory step in allowing us to evolve into our current skull shape.

 

[bhsmte]

The FDA just banned trans fat. Science can not always agree on what foods are safe to eat. There are people that claim major disease like heart disease, diabetes and cancer can be controlled through eating a proper diet. An ounce of prevention we are told can translate into a pound of cure. So if science does not know for sure what is good healthy and safe to eat then why not turn to evolutionary theory. Perhaps that can help us determine what foods we should eat for peek performance and max health.

Trans fats have been known to be unhealthy for quite a while.

 

[Loudmouth]

Because human brains use up a lot of calories, especially young human brains. Cooked food also allowed us to have smaller jaws (much less chewing) which is an evolutionary process we can see ongoing in our species with our endless dental problems: teeth overcrowding, impacted molars, even different numbers of teeth. The end result of the change in shape of the jaw is that the brain cavity can increase in size - something to do with the way the skull is articulated and the connections of the jaw muscles. So cooked food and smaller jaw -> bigger brain.

So, basically, cooking was a major contributory step in allowing us to evolve into our current skull shape.

A large cranium with thin bones can't support strong jaw muscles without breaking. It is interesting to look at the size and adaptations seen in other hominins and hominids. For example, the gorilla has a very large sagittal crest (the top part of the cranium) to support the jaw muscles necessary to support their herbivorous diet.

There are also offshoots of the human lineage that have the same adaptations:

Paranthropus boisei

Most curious is that we can trace part of human evolution to the actual mutation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/25/us/less-jaw-big-brain-evolution-milestone-laid-to-gene-flaw.html

A mutation in a muscle gene results in weaker jaws. Weaker muscles means you can anchor the muscle with less bone. Less bone means more room inside for a brain, and a larger overall structure.