What do scientists think about species specific diets? A Google search doesn't turn up that much, which is a bit odd since species specific diets are a critical component in the cause of health in every species.
Looking into this I came across something I was unaware of: 40 percent of gorillas in captivity die of heart disease. That's pretty close to the percent of Americans that die of heart disease, about 33%.
Humm, also the leading cause of death in the US.
And I learned based on studies of gut bacteria and other factors, researchers at zoos are rethinking the types and quantities of food given to great apes, including shifting from processed nutrient biscuits to the kinds of shoots and fruits wild gorillas eat.
Nutrient biscuits? What the heck is that? Gorilla kibble made in a lab?
Humm, come to think of it I used to eat "fortified" biscuits. And fortified breakfast cereal, and fortified bread, juice, milk etc.
How is it at this late stage of scientific progress are we still so regressed on optimal nutrition to not realize it is simply the diet humans were bio-adapted to when we physiologically modern humans first appeared about 150,000 years ago. Which is, by the way, about 138,000 years before agriculture and civilization began! Which means we only shifted from hunter-gathering to making settlements about 12,000 years ago.
But we arrived in current human form about 150,000 years ago. So physiology changes very slowly. And so our species specific diet is about 150,000 years old.
And of course we have tried mightily to improve on it! We discovered vitamins about 100 years ago, and it was widely assumed we had hit on the way to end all disease with highly concentrated nutrients derived from foods. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way, "derived" vitamins have been found in study after study to not be nearly as effective as "nested" vitamins (those contained in whole foods).
But we humans are stubborn, we don't let go of technologically derived ideas easily. Wide spread adoption of supplementation occurred in the 1970's, perhaps not coincidentally in the same time frame as the acceleration of declining health in the US population.
We humans tend to confuse and conflate progress and evolution greatly. Progress is technological and evolution is biological. And progress is very fast and evolution is very slow. I am not against technology, but I am for knowing what is good for us and what is bad for us. When technology is marketed to us as a shortcut to health, it pays to remember our 150,000 year old physiology wants (and needs) real whole foods grown in nature.
I also came across when googling Gorillas and heart disease that
Becky Malinsky, curator of primates at the Smithsonian National Zoo, says her team has trained its gorillas to cooperate with heart ultrasounds and other data-gathering procedures. The veterinarians send the information they collect to the Great Ape Heart Project, a collaborative program based at Zoo Atlanta.
To which I might gently say: you're over thinking this Becky! We know from observing gorillas in wild settings what they choose to eat:
Fruits and vegetables. Just give them that.
Incidentally, humans also do very well with a diet centered on fruits and vegetables. Probably not a coincidence.
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