Early humans likely consumed a far more diverse diet than just meat, challenging the core assumption of today’s popular paleo diet. While modern paleo eating plans aim to mimic the dietary habits of humans from hundreds of thousands of years ago, new research suggests that these ancient diets were more varied than previously believed.
Key Insights:
- The grain-free paleo diet has gained popularity as a way of eating that claims to reflect the healthier dietary patterns of early humans.
- However, recent findings indicate that early Stone Age humans included grains and a variety of plant-based foods in their diet, in addition to consuming mammals and birds.
- Evidence suggests that these ancient people followed a diet more closely resembling a Mediterranean-style eating pattern rather than a strictly meat-focused regimen.
The paleo diet, often referred to as the Paleolithic diet, has gained popularity in recent years due to its emphasis on foods that early humans supposedly consumed before the advent of agriculture. The core idea behind this diet is that our hunter-gatherer ancestors primarily ate meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds while avoiding grains, legumes, and processed foods. However, new research challenges this assumption, suggesting that early humans had a much more diverse diet that included grains and legumes, expanding our understanding of prehistoric nutrition.
Evidence of a More Varied Diet
A recent study analyzing food preparation tools from hundreds of thousands of years ago provides compelling evidence that early humans consumed a wide range of foods beyond just meat. Researchers discovered microscopic traces of plant-based materials on basalt tools—maces and anvils—that were used to crush and process food. The study found that these ancient humans not only ate meat, including rodents and waterfowl, but also a variety of plant-based foods such as grasses, nuts, wheat, oats, rye, barley, water chestnuts, and water lilies.
These findings challenge the notion that prehistoric humans strictly followed a meat-centric diet. Instead, they indicate that early Stone Age communities relied on a well-balanced mix of plant and animal sources for their sustenance. This broader dietary spectrum suggests that ancient humans had a more sophisticated approach to food selection than previously believed.
Reassessing the Paleo Diet’s Premise
“Fad diets like the paleo diet gained popularity due to their appeal to a ‘simpler, natural’ way of eating, grounded in the romanticized notion that mimicking the diet of our ancient ancestors could lead to optimal health,” says Jose Ordovas, PhD, a senior scientist and professor of nutrition and genetics at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.
The modern paleo diet discourages the consumption of grains, legumes, and processed foods, arguing that these were absent from early human diets. However, the recent study suggests otherwise, providing scientific evidence that contradicts the diet’s fundamental premise. “This study underscores the significant diversity in early human diets, which included grains, legumes, and various plant species—foods largely excluded from modern paleo frameworks,” Ordovas adds.
While the paleo diet may promote healthy eating by encouraging whole, unprocessed foods, the study suggests that a rigid exclusion of grains and legumes is not historically accurate. This calls into question whether strict adherence to paleo principles is truly necessary for achieving the benefits associated with ancestral eating patterns.
Ancient Tools Provide Clues to Early Eating Habits
To conduct their study, researchers examined basalt tools used by prehistoric humans for food processing. Basalt is a volcanic rock known for its durability, making it an ideal material for creating tools capable of breaking down tough plant fibers and animal matter. The microscopic residues found on these tools indicate that early humans actively processed a variety of plants and grains, contradicting the assumption that they only ate what they could hunt.
“This discovery underscores the importance of plant foods in the evolution of our ancestors,” says Hadar Ahituv, PhD, senior study author and researcher at the Laboratory for Ancient Food Processing Technologies in Haifa, Israel. Ahituv emphasizes that these findings open a new chapter in the study of early human diets, shedding light on their profound connection to plant-based foods.
Recognizing that early humans relied on grains and legumes in their diets may also encourage individuals to adopt a more flexible approach to paleo-style eating. Connie Diekman, RD, LD, a food and nutrition consultant and past president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, believes that embracing a less rigid version of the paleo diet could be beneficial. “Rigidity can lead to diets failing,” she explains, suggesting that a diet allowing for whole grains and legumes may be more sustainable in the long run.
A Diet Closer to the Mediterranean Style
Given the evidence that early humans consumed a wide variety of plant and animal foods, their diet may have more closely resembled another well-researched and highly recommended eating pattern: the Mediterranean diet. This diet, widely recognized for its health benefits, emphasizes plant-based foods, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, making it a more accurate reflection of what our ancestors may have actually eaten.
“Ancient humans probably built a lot of flexibility into their eating habits by necessity, to account for what they could find to eat at any given time,” Ordovas says. He points out that while the paleo diet claims to mirror ancestral eating patterns, it is actually the Mediterranean diet that better aligns with early human dietary diversity.
Diekman supports this view, highlighting that the Mediterranean diet remains the top recommended dietary pattern today. “The Mediterranean diet, which remains the No. 1 recommended diet, is built around plant foods along with moderate amounts of lean animal foods and low-fat or fat-free dairy,” she explains. This diet’s adaptability across various cultures and lifestyles makes it a practical and evidence-backed approach to healthy eating.
Rethinking Paleo for a Balanced Approach
The findings from this study suggest that a strict interpretation of the paleo diet may not align with historical reality. Instead, early humans consumed a mix of meats, grains, and legumes, demonstrating a dietary flexibility that allowed them to thrive. While the paleo diet still promotes healthy, unprocessed foods, it may benefit from incorporating elements of the Mediterranean diet, which is supported by extensive research on its long-term health benefits.
For those interested in following an ancestral eating pattern, a more balanced approach—one that includes whole grains and legumes while maintaining an emphasis on natural, whole foods—may provide a better reflection of how our prehistoric ancestors truly ate.