Three Kitchens Podcast

S6 E12: Food for Thought - How Human Diet Influenced Evolutionary Changes in Our Teeth

ThreeKitchensPodcast Season 6 Episode 12

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Get ready to nerd out with your favourite podcast hosts in this Food for Thought episode! Erin explores a study showing that early humans were eating carbs before their teeth were able to chew them. What impact did the food early humans ate have on the teeth we have today? 

The carbohydrates (grains) available at the time required a lot of chewing, which means these early humans recognized this as a high-energy food source, despite not having teeth to properly chew them. The study shows it actually took about 700,000 more years before the size and shape of human teeth were actually suited to eating this food. Cool, right? 

Erin, with her background in science, helps tell the story of this research by explaining evolution. Then she goes down a bit of a rabbit hole about wisdom teeth and changes we see in present day humans and our teeth and jaws today. 

Learn more in the studies Erin has referenced in this episode: 

How Human Diet Influenced Evolutionary Changes in our Teeth

Why we Have so Many Problems with our Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom Teeth and Genetics: Why Some People do not Have Wisdom Teeth



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