Plant-animal subsistence ratios and macronutrient energy estimations in worldwide hunter-gatherer diets

Both anthropologists and nutritionists have long recognized that the diets of modern-day hunter-gatherers may represent a reference standard for modem human nutrition and a model for defense against certain diseases of afflue nce. Because the hunter-gatherer way of life is now probably extinct in its purely unWesternized form, nutritionists and anthropologists must rely on indirect procedures to reconstruct the traditional diet of preagricultural humans. In this analysis, we incorporate the most recent ethnographic compi lation of plant-to-animal economic subsistence patterns of hunter-gatherers to estimate likely dietary macronutrient intakes (% of energy) for environ mentally diverse hunter-gatherer populations. Furthermore, we show how diff erences in the percentage of body fat in prey animals would alter protein i ntakes in hunter-gatherers and how a maximal protein ceiling influences the selection of other macronutrients. Our analysis showed that whenever and w herever it was ecologically possible, hunter-gatherers consumed high amount s (45-65% of energy) of animal food. Most (73%) of the worldwide hunter-gat herer societies derived >50% (greater than or equal to 56-65% of energy) of their subsistence from animal foods, whereas only 14% of these societies d erived >50% (greater than or equal to 56-65% of energy) of their subsistenc e from gathered plant foods. This high reliance on animal-based foods coupl ed with the relatively low carbohydrate content of wild plant foods produce s universally characteristic macronutrient consumption ratios in which prot ein is elevated (19-35% of energy) at the expense of carbohydrates (22-40% of energy).