Amadeus Schmidt wrote:
> Yes, nuts seem to be ideally suited for humans. IMHO Nuts and seeds are
> the main human adaption after leaving tropic fruit-environments.
> But also grains _have_ been around since ever, and they _are_ used by wild
> primates, especially by the baboon (also the ramapithecus).


Sorry, baboons are incapable of eating grains (although Jane Goodall's
photographer did use cooked rice as a treat for his subjects when
filming baboons). A well known article in Current Anthropology "Hominid
Food Selection Before Fire" pointed out that no primate can digest raw
grass seeds.  Any raw food person will tell you that even ground grain
(far more nutritionally dense than wild grass seed) eaten raw contains at
most 10-15% of the nutrients of the cooked version.

Also another article in the same journal "The Expensive Tissue
Hypothisis: The Brain and the Digestive System in Himan and Primate
Evolution (April '95 pgs 199-221) points out that the most radical change
in Primate evolution found in humans is the very short large intestine we
developed to live on the grasslands.  Our upper to lower GI ratios are
closer to dogs than to any other Primates.  BTW, the remaining Primates
who have short large intestines (though not nearly as short as ours) are
those that eat the most meat, baboons in the Old World and Capuchin
monkeys in the New World.  Interestly these also have the most human-like
hands.  Compared to a chimp's, human hands are like talons.

You should reread the chapter "Man as Created by Nature" in the book
where I list the unique physical charicteristics of a hominid and how
these define man's enviromental niche.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin:A Caveman's Guide to Nutrition"
Now ranked #3262 on Amazon.com's bestseller list!!!!