Eating Meat Helped Early Humans Reproduce

PolygamousRanchKid writes "If early humans had been vegans we might all still be living in caves, Swedish researchers suggested in an article Thursday. When a mother eats meat, her breast-fed child's brain grows faster and she is able to wean the child at an earlier age, allowing her to have more children faster, the article explains. 'Eating meat enabled the breast-feeding periods and thereby the time between births to be shortened,' said psychologist Elia Psouni of Lund University in Sweden. 'This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution.' She notes, however, that the results say nothing about what humans today should or should not eat."

Comments

Re:Vegan mums today.

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed it doesn't seem to indicate much at all as regards what mothers should eat today. I know two vegan mums and their (vegan) kids weaned off early and are very bright, healthy little 5 and 9 year old kids.

And as we all know, anecdotal evidence always trumps scientific research.

Re:Malnutrition

[Shinobi]

Yes, they are feeding the babies pure vegan food.

Re:Vegan mums today.

[w.hamra1987]

my cousin smokes a pack a day, and he's perfectly healthy. hell, he's much stronger than me. i don't understand all this "smoking is bad" advertising.

Breathing Air Helped Early Humans Reproduce

[martin-boundary]

If early humans had had gills we might all not exist at all. When a mother breathes air, her breast-fed child survives and she is able to wean the child before shortly dying of suffocation herself, allowing her to have more children faster.

'Breathing air enabled the breast-feeding periods and thereby the time between births to be shortened from infinity to a few years', said slashdot reader Capta1n Obvi10us. 'This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution'.

An Anonymous Coward noted in a reply, however, that the results say nothing about what humans today should or should not breathe.

Modern evidence

[DoofusOfDeath]

You don't need historical analysis. I've seen first-hand that buying a woman steak or lobster helps me reproduce.

Re:Vegan mums today.

[aplusjimages]

where do you live that vegans are hanging out in restaurants waiting for you to order just so they can give you their speech?

Re:Vegan mums today.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've heard thats not true. a friend of mine told me that they had heard a story of someone who was ok with facts changing his opinions, and who didnt rely on anecdotal evidence for his beliefs.

Re:Vegan mums today.

[clarkn0va]

And milk is really not a good enough source of protein.

Maybe your cows aren't eating enough meat.