Presentation Overview:

Professor Tim Noakes is a scientist and chief medical director of the Nutrition Network. In this lecture Professor Noakes reviews the evidence for the correct human diet from an evolutionary perspective and unpacks the history of the U.S. dietary guidelines; where they came from, how they have shaped our current food environment, and their role in the escalation of rates of chronic disease in our populations.

Learning objectives:

• Understand what constitutes an appropriate human diet from an evolutionary perspective and how it shaped the development of homo sapiens
• Understand the effect of the spread of agriculture and the historical background to the dietary guidelines
• Discover the specific impact of recent dietary guidelines and the pathophysiology driving their effect.
• Be able to discuss the limitations of the evidence behind the current dietary guidelines and what re-evaluation of old evidence, and consideration of current evidence, reveals.
  

Presentation Summary:

Professor Noakes begins by presenting the evidence for the correct human diet in the context of human evolution considering the anatomical features of animals we co-evolved with. Noakes considers fossil evidence and the evolutionary development of early humans connecting changes in the diet and brain volumes. Noakes considers the role of agriculture, developed in response to reduced populations of large mammals for hunting, in changing the food landscape and ushering in a new era of food production.

Noakes goes on to highlight the effect of the modern diet as first explored by Weston Price, which includes a deterioration in dentition, height, and brain volume. It is noted from U.K. historical records that a shift in the disease profile occurs moving from the Victorian to the modern era. As science enters the nutrition and public health domains, the political landscape is seen to influence policy and the U.S. senate select committee in the 1970s creates six key goals defining the dietary guidelines. Noakes systematically addresses each of these goals presenting evidence revealing their flaws and unpacks the mechanisms by which they have influenced our current chronic disease crisis.

Noakes presents current evidence underpinning the dietary guideline position from 2015 stating that dietary cholesterol is no longer considered a 'nutrient of concern' and concludes with data emphasising that the whole food matrix needs to be considered, not just isolated components. 

Downloadable resources:

1. Presentation
2. Reference list