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ABSTRACT Both anthropologists and nutritionists have long ern analytic procedures (8–11). The hunter-gatherer mode of life,
recognized that the diets of modern-day hunter-gatherers may which sustained humanity for all (99.6%) but the last 10000 y of the
represent a reference standard for modern human nutrition and a <2.4 million y since the first appearance of our genus (Homo), is now
model for defense against certain diseases of affluence. Because the probably extinct in its pure form (11–13). Unfortunately, not a single
1
From the Department of Health and Exercise Science, Colorado State
INTRODUCTION University, Fort Collins; the Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Biochem-
Both anthropologists and nutritionists have long had an interest in istry, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; the Departments of
the nutritional patterns of the earth’s less-Westernized peoples and Radiology and Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta; the Department of
Food Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Mel-
have recognized that the diets of modern-day hunter-gatherers may
bourne, Australia; and the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
represent a reference standard for modern human nutrition and a
Ann Arbor.
model for defense against certain “diseases of civilization” (1–6). 2
Address reprint requests to L Cordain, Colorado State University,
Although there is a vast and rich ethnographic record of many aspects Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Fort Collins, CO 80523. E-mail:
of the diets of worldwide hunter-gatherers (7), there are few studies cordain@cahs.colostate.edu.
that have examined certain specific qualitative and quantitative Received May 14, 1999.
aspects of the nutrient composition of these people’s diets with mod- Accepted for publication September 6, 1999.
682 Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71:682–92. Printed in USA. © 2000 American Society for Clinical Nutrition
HUNTER-GATHERER DIETS 683
the total number of grams required to provide any given amount foods. Consequently, the mean energy density of any wild-plant-
of food energy. food database used to estimate the percentages of energy from
In the present model, we used the same general approach that dietary macronutrients in humans will be influenced by the rela-
Eaton et al (14, 15) used, except that we made several important tive contribution of any given plant-food type to the entire data-
revisions. We 1) added estimations of macronutrient energy for base. Studies of hunter-gatherers have shown that the various
multiple P-A subsistence ratios representing most hunter-gatherer categories of plant foods were not randomly gathered, but were
societies in the larger, revised Atlas; 2) incorporated both hunted collected with a general prioritization that maximized the rate of
and fished animal foods in the animal portion of the P-A subsis- energy capture relative to energy expenditure; this pattern of
tence ratio; 3) included various percentages of body fat of animals gathering is predicted by the “optimal foraging theory” (21–24).
in the animal portion of the P-A subsistence ratio; and 4) refined Although a hunter-gatherer society may have used ≥ 100 plant
estimates of the amounts of energy from protein and fat in animal- species, only a small percentage of these plants was regularly
based foods to reflect not merely mean energy values, but the cubic consumed and, generally, these plants provided the greatest ratio
relations among these variables and percentage body fat (by wt). of energy capture to energy expenditure (21, 22).
The plant species used in the present analysis were identified
Plant macronutrient considerations and collected in association with Australian Aborigines, who
In the present model, we used a large wild-plant-food data- recognized these plants as food resources. This database repre-
base (n = 829), which is characterized by plant-food type (17). sents by far the largest analysis of wild food eaten by a hunter-
Because of the substantial variation in energy density among the gatherer group. Percentages of macronutrients for the entire
12 plant-food types (Table 3), it is apparent that the relative database were determined based on energy by using recom-
inclusion of more energetically dense foods in the database nec- mended methods of food analysis (17). In the present analysis,
essarily increases the average energy density of the entire data- fruit represented 41% of the total number of food items, seeds
base, and conversely, the relative inclusion of less energetically and nuts represented 26%, and underground storage structures
dense food types will reduce the average energy density of all (tubers, roots, and bulbs) represented 24%. The remaining 9%
HUNTER-GATHERER DIETS 685
of the food items were leaves, dried fruit, flowers, gums, and depending on species, sex, and season. In ungulates in which the
miscellaneous plant parts. Therefore, our plant-food database hooves, antlers, hide, and internal gastrointestinal contents were
maintains a weighting that is generally predicted by the optimal discarded, the remaining carcass represented 72% of the live
foraging theory (21, 23, 24) and that is consistent with observed weight (30). Because bone, except for marrow, is generally ined-
plant-food choices in partially Westernized hunter-gatherers ible, the total edible carcass of ungulates can represent 60–65%
(22). Although we used a plant-food database derived entirely of the live weight (21). Consequently, virtually all of the poten-
from Australian Aboriginal wild plant foods, our mean macronu- tial fat contained in an animal’s carcass—except for that in the
trient values (62% of energy from carbohydrate, 24% from fat, hooves, hide, and horn—would generally have been consumed
and 14% from protein) were similar to those (68% of energy by hunter-gatherers (25–28). Even the fat contained within the
from carbohydrate, 19% from fat, and 13% from protein) matrix of bone was often extracted by boiling the bones (31).
derived from smaller wild-plant-food databases for worldwide Intraspecies percentages of body fat in wild mammals vary
hunter-gatherers (14). Clearly, there is no single plant-food with age, sex, season, and the health of the animal, whereas inter-
weighting that represents all worldwide hunter-gatherer soci- species percentages of body fat vary according to body size and,
eties because plant-food resources vary by latitude, environ- hence, fat-free mass (FFM) (32). FFM was shown to strongly cor-
ment, and season. However, by and large, plant-food items with relate (r = 0.86) with percentage body fat when this relation was
the greatest ratio of energy capture to energy expenditure would evaluated for 47 species of wild animals (32). Consequently, Pitts
have provided most of the daily plant-food energy of worldwide and Bullard (32) showed that the percentage body fat of a mam-
hunter-gatherers (21, 22). malian species can be estimated from its relative size:
Animal macronutrient considerations Percentage body fat = 1.5 3 FFM0.20 (in g) (2)
Previous models of reconstructed preagricultural diets have For example, body fat in a group of 23 North American white-
assumed that muscle tissue was the sole animal tissue consumed tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) that varied by sex, age, and
(14–16); however, many ethnographic reports of various hunter- season of slaughter was determined by whole-carcass chemical
gatherer societies showed that virtually all of the edible carcass analysis to range from 2% to 18% (x–: 10 ± 5%) (33). If the mean
was consumed (25–28). The edible carcass in hunter-gatherer value obtained from the whole-carcass, chemically extracted
diets has been estimated to range from 50% to 75% of the live FFM (30.6 kg) is applied to the equation of Pitts and Bullard (32),
animal weight (9, 21, 29). Estimates of edible carcass vary the predicted value is 12% body fat. In contrast, smaller mammals
686 CORDAIN ET AL
TABLE 2
Mean economic subsistence dependence in worldwide hunter-gatherer societies (n = 63) by primary living environment
Dependence on Dependence on Dependence on
Environment gathered plant foods hunted animal foods fished animal foods
%
Tundra, northern areas (n = 6) 6–15 36–45 46–55
Northern coniferous forest (n = 14) 16–25 26–35 46–55
Temperate forest, mostly mountainous (n = 6) 36–45 16–25 36–45
Desert grasses and shrubs (n = 11) 46–55 36–45 6–15
Temperate grasslands (n = 11) 26–35 56–65 6–15
Subtropical bush (n = 2) 36–45 26–35 26–35
Subtropical rain forest (n = 4) 36–45 46–55 6–15
Tropical grassland (n = 4) 46–55 26–35 16–25
Monsoon forest (n = 2) 36–45 26–35 26–35
Tropical rain forest (n = 3) 26–35 26–35 36–45
(FFM: 189.0 ± 18.9 g; n = 9) such as squirrels (Tamiasciurus hud- range that would have been found in historical hunter-gatherers.
sonicus) have been shown to have actual percentages of body fat Because previous analyses of the Ethnographic Atlas (11, 36) as
of 2%, which is reasonably close to their predicted mean value of well as the present analysis indicate that hunted animal food
animal-food subsistence generally does not increase with increas- strategies of hunter-gatherers (39–41). Many historical and ethno-
ing latitude (Figure 2B), then the reduction in plant-food subsis- graphic accounts have documented the deleterious health effects
tence is replaced by increased subsistence on fished animal foods that have occurred when humans were forced to rely solely on the
(Figure 2C). As indicated in Figure 2D, the subsistence dependence fat-depleted lean meat of wild animals (39). Excess consumption
on combined hunted and fished animal foods is constant in hunter- of dietary protein from the lean meats of wild animals leads to a
gatherer societies living at low-to-moderate latitudes (0–408 N or S) condition referred to by early American explorers as “rabbit star-
and the median value falls within the 46–55% subsistence class vation,” which initially results in nausea, then diarrhea, and then
interval. For societies living at > 40 8 N or S, there is an increasing death (39). Clinical documentation of this syndrome is virtually
latitudinal dependence on animal foods (Figure 2D), which is pri- nonexistent, except for a single case study (42). Despite the
marily met by more fished animal foods (Figure 2C). Significant paucity of clinical data, it is quite likely that the symptoms of rab-
relations exist between latitude and subsistence dependence on bit starvation result primarily from the finite ability of the liver to
gathered plant foods (r = 20.77, P < 0.001) and fished animal up-regulate enzymes necessary for urea synthesis in the face of
foods (r = 0.58, P < 0.001), whereas no significant relation exists increasing dietary protein intake. Rudman et al (43) showed that
between latitude and subsistence dependence on hunted animal the mean maximal rate of urea synthesis (MRUS) in normal sub-
foods (r = 0.08, P = 0.23). jects is 65 mg N · h21 · kg body wt20.75 (range: 55–76 mg N · h21 · kg
body wt20.75) and that protein intakes that exceeded the MRUS
Hunter-gatherer macronutrient intakes resulted in hyperammonemia and hyperaminoacidemia. Using
Our estimated macronutrient intakes by energy for 5 P-A sub- Rudman et al’s (43) data (assuming 16% N/g protein), we calcu-
sistence ratios (35:65, 45:55, 50:50, 55:45, and 65:35) at 5 dif- lated the mean maximal protein intake for an 80-kg subject to be
ferent percentages of animal body fat (2.5%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 250 g/d (range: 212–292 g/d). For a 12 552-kJ energy intake, the
20%) are shown in Table 4. These P-A subsistence ratios fall mean maximal dietary protein intake would be 35.1% of energy
Major findings
Dietary protein was estimated to have comprised between 19%
and 50% of total energy intake, depending on the P-A subsistence
ratio and the percentage body fat by weight in the prey animals.
However, humans may not tolerate diets that contain > 35–40%
protein by energy. Previous indirect reconstructions of preagricul-
tural human diets have not considered the modulating influence of
dietary protein intake on the selection of dietary fat and carbohy-
drate (14–16). The avoidance of the physiologic effects of excess FIGURE 4. Regression of percentages of body fat on fat and protein
protein has been an important factor in shaping the subsistence in raw fish (n = 94). Adapted from reference 35.
HUNTER-GATHERER DIETS 689
living above 40 8 N or S latitude, the median value for animal- The dietary macronutrient ratios shown in Table 4 do not rely
food subsistence was positively skewed. With use of a more con- on the Ethnographic Atlas data for their derivation, but rather
servative subsistence dependence on animal foods (hunted + only on the boundaries or limits to the P-A subsistence ratios
fished) of 50%, a value that falls within the median class inter- provided by the Ethnographic Atlas. The projected macronutri-
val (46–55%) for animal-food subsistence values for hunter- ent estimations are based on analytic values for carbohydrate,
gatherer societies living from 0 to 40 8 N or S latitude (Figure fat, and protein contained in wild foods consumed by hunter-
2D), the projected ranges of percentages of total energy (not gatherers and by analytically determined macronutrient relations
exceeding the mean MRUS) would be 20–31% for dietary pro- in wild animals based on different percentages of body fat. Con-
tein, 31% for carbohydrate, and 38–49% for fat. sequently, the ethnographic data provided us with general
boundaries to the P-A energy subsistence ratios in food con-
Limitations of the model sumed by most worldwide hunter-gatherers.
In the present model, we used a fixed plant-food macronutri-
ent value of 62% of energy from carbohydrate, 24% from fat, Comparison of hunter-gatherer macronutrient intakes with
and 14% from protein, derived entirely from Australian Abo- modern diets
riginal plant foods. Plant-food types in hunter-gatherer diets The most plausible (values not exceeding the mean MRUS)
obviously vary by season, latitude, and geographic locale; con- percentages of total energy would be 19–35% for dietary protein,
sequently, variations in plant-food macronutrient composition by 22–40% for carbohydrate, and 28–58% for fat. In the United
plant type will influence the overall estimated dietary macronu- States, the third National Health and Nutrition Survey showed
trient energy values. Despite these potential confounders, previ- that among adults aged ≥ 20 y, protein contributed 15.5%, carbo-
ous estimates (14) of the percentages of energy derived from hydrate 49.0%, fat 34.0%, and alcohol 3.1% of total energy
plant-food macronutrients in preagricultural human diets were intake (45). Consequently, the range of percentages of energy for
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