As omnivores, humans have an incredibly broad diet that allows us to eat all kinds of foods. Nuts, in particular, helped form our bite to be able to withstand great forces, strengthening our teeth & allowing us to thrive even when softer foods weren’t available.
Nuts are pretty hard, even when roasted, so it may seem like an odd choice of food for our ancestors & as it turns out, it may not have been the first pick on the menu. Even so, we still evolved to consume this protein-rich food.
Biting into History
Research into our fossil record has shown that our teeth have long been able to withstand the pressures of eating nuts without chipping or cracking as was once presumed. This meant that we not only adapted to eat our main food choices, primarily meat & some fruits, we also evolved to eat more fringe foods.
One specimen paleontologists found—an ancestor of humanity dubbed the Nutcracker Man—shows only small abrasions to enamel caused by eating nuts instead of the formerly presumed deep gouges. In addition to these strong teeth, this early human also had bigger jaw muscles attached to a bony ridge that helped chew tougher foods.
These findings suggest that diet cannot always be determined through the examination of teeth. Nuts were not thought to be a staple of this early hominid’s diet. It is thought to be similar to us, so therefore the teeth merely describe what they were capable of eating, not what their primary food source was.
Staying Strong
While our jaws have weakened over the millennia as our ingenuity—& passion for cooking our food—has grown, our teeth have remained tough. Tough but not indestructible.
With the rise of processed foods & in particular sugar, taking good care of our teeth has become increasingly important. That’s why going to the dentist twice a year—or more in some cases—is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, in addition to regular brushing & flossing.
Schedule an appointment with your dentist to ensure your enamel stays healthy so you can go on munching snacks like nuts without suffering from pain or cavities.
Sources:
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111457