Smaller Colons, Bigger Brains

 

Thank you, Prometheus?   (1817 painting by Heinrich Fuger)

Salad lovers often claim that raw veggies are nutritionally superior to cooked ones.  Professor Rachel Carmody of Harvard University begs to differ.

She contends that key nutrients such as “carbohydrates, proteins and lipids” are somewhat “predigested” when cooked.  Heat can help to unravel their chemical structures, thus providing more available energy for the human body.

The discovery of fire might therefore have “refashioned our biology.”  Over time, cooking may have favored the energy-guzzling brain over the jam-packed colon.  As colons withered, brains flourished.

Carmody believes that this could account for the growth of human intelligence, which eventually resulted in dominance over all other species.

Resources

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56544239

Copyright April 3, 2021 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved