Is eating like our ancestors the key to better health? What the Paleo diet gets right, and the 5 ancient diet claims that are dangerously wrong for your heart and gut health | Dr James Cole & Dr Federica Amati

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.
A fire crackles against the dark star-filled sky. Beyond the warm glow, a mammoth's deep rumbling call bounces off the distant snow-capped mountains. A group of humans huddle together for warmth as they share a meal, keeping a watchful ear out for prowling saber-toothed cats. For millions of years, our ancestors survived in a world without supermarkets, protein shakes or diet books. And today, an entire industry claims that the secret to modern health is to eat exactly as our ancestors did. But here's the challenge. What did Paleolithic humans really eat? Surely we'll never know.
Well today, with the help of the latest scientific research, we're going to travel back 3 million years to explore what life and food actually looked like in the Paleolithic era. Joining me is Dr James Cole, Dean of the School of Applied Sciences at Brighton University and one of the world's leading experts on prehistoric diet. His research has uncovered extraordinary insights into ancient eating habits. Alongside him is Dr Federica Amati, the head nutritionist here at ZOE, a scientist at Imperial College London and author of the best-selling book, Everybody Should Know This. She'll help us separate nutrition facts from wellness myths. And by the end of this episode, you'll know what the Paleo diet gets right, what it gets wrong and what a genuinely healthy modern diet looks like.
James, thank you so much for joining me today.

**James Cole** (1:45)
Thanks for having me.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:46)
And Federica, it's wonderful to have you here too.

**Federica Amati** (1:48)
Lovely to be here.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:49)
So James, we have a tradition here at ZOE where we always start with a quick fire round of questions.

**James Cole** (1:54)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:54)
And we have these very difficult rules designed for scientists. And so the rule is you can say yes or no, or if you have to, you can give us a sentence. Are you willing to give it a go?

**James Cole** (2:05)
Let's try.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:06)
All right, so I'm going to start with James. Did our ancient ancestors mainly eat meat?

**James Cole** (2:11)
No.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:12)
Did Paleolithic humans all eat broadly the same diet?

**James Cole** (2:16)
No.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:17)
Is it true that during the Paleolithic, our gut evolved to be smaller?

**James Cole** (2:22)
Yes.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:23)
I'm smiling before I even ask this one. If we wanted to eat like our Paleo ancestors, would our diet need to include cannibalism?

**James Cole** (2:34)
Sometimes. There you go.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:36)
We've never asked that question before on ZOE. Federica, there's a modern diet that's been very popular called the Paleo diet. Yeah.
Are some aspects of the modern Paleo diet healthier than the average Western diet?

**Federica Amati** (2:50)
Yes.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:52)
Is it easy to get all the nutrients that you need by following the modern Paleo diet?

**Federica Amati** (2:57)
No.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:58)
Finally, James, what's the most common misconception that you hear about the Paleolithic era?

**James Cole** (3:03)
People think that the Paleolithic is just about cave people in skins, clubs, and walking around the entrance of a cave, and that's really not what that whole three to seven million year period of evolution is about, really.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:17)
I think that's fascinating, and in a way we're covering two things here at the same time that fit. One is actually understanding what our ancestors lived, how they experienced things, and the fact that scientists in the last few decades have made these amazing breakthroughs in terms of understanding what our ancestors really ate, which seems extraordinary because it's so long ago.
But the other thing that ties into this is that there are a huge number of people who swear by this modern Paleo diet. I'm really excited to learn more about what that is and how healthy it is, and how it sort of fits with what we ate in the past, because this big claim about the Paleo diet is, it's sort of going back to what humans ate in this Paleolithic era. And so this is really fun to have you here, James talking about the past, to have Federica, our amazing scientists and nutritionists talking about, like, what does this modern diet really do?
But let's start at the beginning. What is the Paleolithic? Because I've used that word multiple times, I'll be honest. Other than thinking about something to do with, like, cave people, I don't know anything about it. What is it? When was it? Could you help me out?

**James Cole** (4:29)
The Paleolithic in its literal translation means old stone age. So if we're talking about the Paleolithic, we're talking about when we start to see stone tools enter our evolutionary record. But the addendum to that is we've been evolving for much longer than we've been making stone tools.