Latitude, local ecology, and hunter-gatherer dietary acid load: implications from evolutionary ecology

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 2010-10, Vol.92 (4), p.940-945
• Main Authors: STRÖHLE, Alexander, HAHN, Andreas, SEBASTIAN, Anthony
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acclimatization; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Bounty hunters; Diet; Ecology; Ecosystem; Environment; Ethnology - methods; Evolution; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Flowers & plants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geography; Hominidae; Humans; Nutrition; Paleontology; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2010.29815

Past estimations of the net base-producing nature of the Paleolithic "Diet of Evolutionary Adaptedness" derived primarily from interpretations of ethnographic data of modern historically studied hunter-gatherers. In our recent ethnographic analyses, we observed large variations in diet-dependent net endogenous acid production (NEAP) among hunter-gatherer diets. We proposed to determine whether differences in ecologic environments influence estimations of NEAP. By using ethnographic data of plant-to-animal subsistence ratios and mathematical models established previously, we computed frequency distributions of estimated NEAP in relation to latitude in 229 worldwide modern hunter-gatherer societies. Four different models of animal fat density were used: models A (3%), B (10%), C (15%), and D (20%). In addition, we estimated NEAP by primary ecologic environments in those hunter-gatherer societies (n = 63) for which data were documented. With increasing latitude intervals, 0°-10° to >60°, NEAP increased in all 4 models. For models A, B, and C, the diets tend to be net acid-producing at >40° latitude and net base-producing at 50° and