Evolution of the human diet1

We humans have evolved from an ape-like ancestor who lived in small groups in restricted African rain forest environments to a massively successful species, with over 7 billion members who have colonized nearly every habitat on every continent. This success is due in part to our unique diet, and how that diet has changed over the course of our evolutionary history.

Introduction

The diets of living humans differ vastly from those of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus). Both of these ape species live in rain forest to open woodland environments in central and western Africa. They eat primarily fruits, nuts, and leaves, with occasional meat from insects and small mammals [1]. In contrast, the average living human acquires roughly half of their calories from domesticated cereals, with nearly 10% of calories coming from meat and animal fats, and roughly 10% coming from fruits, vegetables, and nuts [2]. There is considerable dietary variation from country to country and even from population to population.² How and when did this dietary shift occur?

To understand the diets of present-day humans, we must first grasp the diets of our ancestors, dating back to the earliest hominin (• Figure 1). Hominins comprise those species – all now extinct – who were more closely related to us than to other living apes (• Box 1).

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