Honey Was the Wonder Food That Fueled Human Evolution (And Now It’s Disappearing) (2024)
Brains take a ton of energy to keep ticking, and human brains are proportionally huge. Therefore, humans need to consume a lot energy through their diets. For Last Word on Nothing, Heather Pringle explains that one food, maybe more than any other, could have allowed for our ancestor’s ever-expanding craniums. Starting 2.5 million years ago, she says,
ur hominin ancestors may have dined extensively for the first time on energy-rich honey, a food that may have fueled the evolution of our large, metabolically costly brains. The earliest member of our genus, hom*o, emerged some 1.5 to 2 million years ago, equipped with brains significantly larger than their predecessors. Moreover, they possessed smaller molars, suggesting that they were dining on an easily consumed food. Honey.
As a modern analogue, Pringle points to the hunter-gatherer society of the Hadza people, a culture in eastern Africa that “prize honey above all else in their diet.” This preference for honey has lead the Hadza hunters to develop a symbiotic relationship with a local bird species know as the greater honeyguide. Pringle says,
The bird dines almost entirely on beeswax and bee larvae, but it needs help to crack open hives. So the honeyguide calls to both honey badgers and Hadza hunters. When human hunters whistle back, the bird gradually leads the men by call-and-response song to the nearest colony.
The Hazda’s preference for honey may have stemmed from the same drive as some of our earliest ancestors: honey is energy dense and can even provide protein and fat on top of its abundant sugars.
Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.
Honey Was the Wonder Food That Fueled Human Evolution (And Now It's Disappearing) Brains take a ton of energy to keep ticking, and human brains are proportionally huge.Therefore, humans need to consume a lot energy through their diets.
Honey and bee larvae were foods vital to human evolution and the development of early man's large brain - a notable characteristic of the human species - according to a new study by UNLV anthropologist Alyssa Crittenden.
Samples of honey discovered in archaeological contexts have proven edible even after millennia. Honey use and production has a long and varied history, with its beginnings in prehistoric times. Several cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña in Spain depict humans foraging for honey at least 8,000 years ago.
Studies suggest that honey might offer antidepressant, anticonvulsant and anti-anxiety benefits. In some studies, honey has been shown to help prevent memory disorders. Wound care. Topical use of medical-grade honey has been shown to promote wound healing, particularly in burns.
Honey is food made by bees for bees, but many people also enjoy it. Humans have prized honey for its sweet taste for thousands of years. Some researchers say honey is more than a sweetener. It may also have health benefits, though there is little evidence for some of its medicinal uses.
Yes and no. A substitute can be produced using cheap corn syrup. However, it could not be compared to real honey carefully produced by your local beekeeper. It would lack the numerous subtle ingredients which give honey its natural goodness and great variety of taste.
Honey is different because of the enzymes that are added to the nectar by bees that divide the sucrose into two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. These sugars are directly absorbed by our bodies and are easier to digest.
Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old, and it's still perfectly edible! This amazing fact isn't just a fun piece of trivia—it's also a fantastic way to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) concepts with students.
The life expectancy at birth is about 31 years but this is greatly driven by the infant mortality rate, and does not mean there are few old Hadza around. A woman who survives to age 45 has a life expectancy of about 21 more years (Blurton-Jones, Hawkes, & O'Connell, 2002).
As well as leftovers from the previous night, bread, porridge - made from grains that we still use today - fruits and honey were all commonly consumed.
Natural, properly preserved honey will not expire. In fact, archeologists found honey thousands of years old in ancient Egyptian tombs, and it was still good!
Is honey better for you than sugar? Honey has a lower GI value than sugar, meaning that it does not raise blood sugar levels as quickly. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so you may need less of it, but it does have slightly more calories per teaspoon so it's wise to keep a close eye on your portion sizes.
Funnily enough, honey is one of the only natural food products to have no expiration date. It can't go off! Even if you found honey on your shelf that was 2,000 years old it would still be good to eat. Honey is naturally antibacterial, which prevents any bacteria or funk from growing inside it.
Honey is rich in nutrients and antioxidants, has antibacterial properties, and can play a role in diabetes management as part of a balanced diet. But that's not all. Honey is a syrupy liquid that honeybees make from plant nectar. It is a common ingredient in many foods and is available in many forms.
The ancient Egyptians used honey as a sweetener, as a gift to their gods and even as an ingredient in embalming fluid. Honey cakes were baked by the Egyptians and used as an offering to placate the gods. The Greeks, too, made honey cakes and offered them to the gods.
Production of about one third of the human diet requires insect pollination, and honey bees perform the majority of pollination for these cultivated crops. Globally, three out of four species of cultivated crops are animal pollinated, and honey bees are able to pollinate most of these crops.
Where did bees come from? Bees evolved from ancient predatory wasps that lived 120 million years ago. Like bees, these wasps built and defended their nests, and gathered food for their offspring.
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