1st Edition

Ancestral Diets and Nutrition

By Christopher Cumo Copyright 2021
    520 Pages 107 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    520 Pages 107 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Ancestral Diets and Nutrition supplies dietary advice based on the study of prehuman and human populations worldwide over the last two million years. This thorough, accessible book uses prehistory and history as a laboratory for testing the health effects of various foods. It examines all food groups by drawing evidence from skeletons and their teeth, middens, and coprolites along with written records where they exist to determine peoples’ health and diet.

    Fully illustrated and grounded in extensive research, this book enhances knowledge about diet, nutrition, and health. It appeals to practitioners in medicine, nutrition, anthropology, biology, chemistry, economics, and history, and those seeking a clear explanation of what humans have eaten across the ages and what we should eat now.

    Features:

    • Sixteen chapters examine fat, sweeteners, grains, roots and tubers, fruits, vegetables, and animal and plant sources of protein.
    • Integrates information about diet, nutrition, and health from ancient, medieval, modern and current sources, drawing from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
    • Provides comprehensive coverage based on the study of several hundred sources and the provision of over 2,000 footnotes.
    • Presents practical information to help shape readers’ next meal through recommendations of what to eat and what to avoid.

    Contents

    List of Figures...................................................................................................................................xv

    List of Tables....................................................................................................................................xxi

    List of Graphs.................................................................................................................................xxv

    Preface..........................................................................................................................................xxvii

    Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................xxix

    Author............................................................................................................................................xxxi

    Chapter 1 Introduction and Method...............................................................................................1

    Chapter 2 Components of Nutrition: Calories, Carbohydrates, Fat, Protein, Minerals,

    Vitamins, Phytochemicals, and Water........................................................................27

    Chapter 3 Changing Circumstances and Diets............................................................................ 61

    Chapter 4 Meat............................................................................................................................. 91

    Chapter 5 Fish and Shellfish...................................................................................................... 121

    Chapter 6 Poultry and Eggs....................................................................................................... 149

    Chapter 7 Dairy.......................................................................................................................... 179

    Chapter 8 Legumes....................................................................................................................207

    Chapter 9 Nuts........................................................................................................................... 241

    Chapter 10 Fat.............................................................................................................................. 267

    Chapter 11 Sweeteners: Honey, Sucrose, and High Fructose Corn Syrup.................................. 295

    Chapter 12 Grains........................................................................................................................ 323

    Chapter 13 Roots and Tubers....................................................................................................... 355

    Chapter 14 Fruits......................................................................................................................... 391

    Chapter 15 Vegetables.................................................................................................................. 417

    Chapter 16 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 439

    Bibliography..................................................................................................................................447

    Index...............................................................................................................................................483

    Biography

    Christopher Cumo is a historian with interests in the natural sciences and agriculture. He seeks

    in some small way to illuminate how biology has shaped history. This is his ninth book and second

    with CRC Press. Besides writing books, he has edited a three-volume encyclopedia and contributed

    articles and reviews to journals, entries to encyclopedias, and articles and short fiction to magazines.