Evolutionary explanations of food preference:Meat

Created by: dominique_jlsxx
Created on: 24-01-16 14:49


	Evolutionary explanations of food preference:Meat
	Advantages A study by Abrams (1987) supports Miltons claims. Abrams showed that all societies today display a preference for animal foods and fats. Nor would it have been possible for early humans to be completely vegetarian because they would have not gained sufficient nutrients from the plants and grains a available.	Disadvantages Despite this research, Cordain et al (2006) suggested that early humans consumed most of their calories from sources other than saturated animal fats.This led to the suggestion that our ancestors may have been vegetarian in the EEA, as it’s believed humans tried to be as healthy as possible by eating mainly vegetables, arguing that most of their needed calories were consumed from other sources than just animal fats.This suggests that there may not have been an overwhelming meat preference in the EEA, however this research is backed up by very little evidence, so the research is somewhat unreliable.
	Evaluation On the other hand, not all food preferences an be traced back to the EEA. A trait that is beneficial today, such as low cholesterol foods, would not have evolved because of its beneficial effects for our ancestors. The evolutionary approach only considers biological factors (nature) but other things such as parents and media must influence our food preferences because the evolutionary approach can't account for all preferences. This is why we must take a holistic point of view why observing food preferences. Complex human behaviour (eating) can't be reduced to one simple factor (reductionist).

Evolutionary explanations of food preference:Meat

Advantages

A study by Abrams (1987) supports Miltons claims. Abrams showed that all societies today display a preference for animal foods and fats. Nor would it have been possible for early humans to be completely vegetarian because they would have not gained sufficient nutrients from the plants and grains a available.

Disadvantages

Despite this research, Cordain et al (2006) suggested that early humans consumed most of their calories from sources other than saturated animal fats.This led to the suggestion that our ancestors may have been vegetarian in the EEA, as it’s believed humans tried to be as healthy as possible by eating mainly vegetables, arguing that most of their needed calories were consumed from other sources than just animal fats.This suggests that there may not have been an overwhelming meat preference in the EEA, however this research is backed up by very little evidence, so the research is somewhat unreliable.

Evaluation

On the other hand, not all food preferences an be traced back to the EEA. A trait that is beneficial today, such as low cholesterol foods, would not have evolved because of its beneficial effects for our ancestors. The evolutionary approach only considers biological factors (nature) but other things such as parents and media must influence our food preferences because the evolutionary approach can't account for all preferences. This is why we must take a holistic point of view why observing food preferences. Complex human behaviour (eating) can't be reduced to one simple factor (reductionist).

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Evolutionary explanations of food preference:Meat