Originally published August 15 2005
Scientists study prehistoric teeth to discover ancient diets
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In an attempt to find out how people ate in the past and what the human body was designed to eat, scientists have begun studying ancient teeth.
Answering the second question is more important.
If scientists could determine the best foods for humans, they might be able to help prevent chronic, degenerative diseases, said Peter S. Ungar, an anthropology professor at the University of Arkansas.
In a study published in science journal Nature on Thursday, Unger and colleagues from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Stony Brook University and Penn State University detail a technique known as dental microwear texture analysis.
Aided by computers while scanning tooth surfaces, the scientists noted tiny patterns of wear and tear that indicate what types of food human ancestors ate.
The researchers first analyzed the teeth of modern-day monkeys from South America.
They looked at fruit and seed munchers as well as monkeys that ate plants with varying degrees of tough textures, then established what kind of dental wear the different foods caused.
A. africanus might have eaten more tough, woody foods with a consistency similar to beef while P. robustus with its big, flat teeth likely consumed more hard, brittle foods such as seeds, Ungar said.
The differences are not the teamls most important finding, Ungar said.
"It's the similarity in the two diets that is key," he said.
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