Humans,lipids and evolution

The genetically ordered physiology of contemporary humans was selected over eons of evolutionary experience for a nutritional pattern affording much less fat, particularly less saturated fat. Current dietary recommendations do not accord exactly with those generated by an understanding of prior hominoid/hominid evolution. Similarly, widely advocated standards for serum cholesterol values fail to match those observed in recently studied hunter-gatherers, whose experience represents the closest living approximation of “natural” human lipid metabolism. The evolutionary paradigm suggests that fats should comprise 20–25% of total energy intake, that the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat should exceed 1.0, and that total serum cholesterol levels should be below 150 mg/dL (∼4 mM/L). Based on a paper presented at the Symposium on Lipids in Cancer held at the AOCS Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, April 1990.