Two major disruptions to ancestral nutrition

Two major disruptions to ancestral nutrition: genetic mixing and food globalization. Both of these factors make it harder to pinpoint an “ideal” diet based purely on genetics or environment.

1. Genetic Mixing: Ancestral Adaptations Are Blended

In the past, populations were more regionally isolated, and their diets shaped their genetic adaptations. For example:

• Inuit and Northern Europeans adapted to high-fat, animal-based diets.

• Pacific Islanders and tropical populations evolved with high-carb, fruit- and tuber-based diets.

• Early agrarian societies developed better tolerance for grains and dairy.

Now, because of interbreeding across populations, most people have a mix of genetic traits from multiple ancestral groups. That means one person might have genes favoring high-fat metabolism from their northern ancestors but also high-starch digestion genes from a tropical lineage—making it harder to fit into one strict dietary category.

2. Globalization of Food: Eating Out of Season & Out of Place

Food availability has changed drastically. For most of human history, people ate what was naturally available in their environment. But now:

• Bananas (tropical food) are available in cold climates where people historically ate more meat and fat.

• Grains and sugar are abundant worldwide, even in places where people traditionally ate little to no carbohydrate.

• Modern agriculture and refrigeration allow for year-round access to foods that were once seasonal.

This means that people can now eat diets their ancestors weren’t adapted to, leading to potential mismatches between genes and diet. For example:

• Someone with APOE4 (common in northern populations) may struggle with modern high-carb diets because their ancestors ate more animal-based fats.

• Someone with low AMY1 copy numbers (poor starch digestion) might experience blood sugar spikes from modern grain-heavy diets.

So What’s the Problem?

The issue is that many people today eat high-carb, high-fat diets—something that never existed in nature. Traditionally, diets were either:

• High-carb, low-fat (e.g., tropical fruit eaters, agrarian diets)

• High-fat, low-carb (e.g., hunter-gatherers in cold climates)

The modern diet combines high-fat AND high-carb (think processed foods, refined sugars, and industrial oils), which overwhelms metabolism and leads to obesity, diabetes, and metabolic dysfunction.

Where Does That Leave Us?

Since we can’t rely on strict ancestral rules due to genetic mixing and globalized food supply, the best approach is self-experimentation based on ancestral principles:

• If you thrive on meat, fat, and low-carb foods, you might have more northern-adapted genes.

• If you feel great on fruit, tubers, and lean proteins, you might have more equatorial-adapted traits.

• If you can handle both in moderation, you’re probably somewhere in the middle.

It makes sense to eat seasonally and locally as much as possible, mimicking the cycles our ancestors experienced. That means less year-round sugar, fewer processed foods, and a diet more aligned with what your body seems to handle best.

Do you think modern food availability has done more harm than good in this regard?