The role of meat in the human diet: evolutionary aspects and nutritional value

Leroy, F., Smith, N., Adegbola T Adesogan, Beal, T., Iannotti, L., Moughan, P. and Mann, N. (2023). The role of meat in the human diet: evolutionary aspects and nutritional value. Animal Frontiers, [online] 13(2), pp.11–18. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfac093.

"indicating evolutionary reliance on, and compatibility with, substantial meat intake"

This paper has quite a lot of good information that I could quote and probably not a lot for me to actually write up so your best bet is to just go and read the paper. Here are some highlights. They state that is it likely that there is a contribution between the pushback on meat and the increase in disease seen around the world, this is because the removal of meat leave a broad spectrum of nutrients out of the diet. 

Not only is meat the best source for protein but it contains most of the global supply of vitamin B12 and is a good supply for "other B vitamins, retinol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, several minerals in bioavailable forms (e.g., iron and zinc), and a variety of bioactive compounds with health-improving potential (e.g., taurine, creatine, and carnosine)."

Not mentioned in the article but recent studies have lined taurine with an increase in longevity suggesting that many could benefit from supplementing with it, one could argue that those on animal based diets might not need to? 

They argue that throughout evolution there is clear evidence that humans have evolved to thrive on meat and that has been " cherished by human communities as a nutritious and highly symbolic food" They also show the below diagram, please do go to the article and I will happily remove the image if anyone has any issues with me presenting it!

Some of the evidence on human evolution and a meat based diet is then discussed. They discuss our stomach and guts stating that "With a simple stomach, relatively elongated small intestine, and reduced cecum and colon, the human gut is suggestive of reliance on a high-quality diet in which meat was predominant. "

The importance of protein is also discussed. Protein in Plants is not as bioavailable so you have to consume a lot extra, in a gut not evolved to process it, in order to get adequate amounts. There are also, especially when included organ meat, a lot of nutrients that are significantly more bioavailable from animal sources than from any other source.