Metabolic Archetypes™ are still very real.

✅ Central point: Metabolic Archetypes™ are still very real, because the overwhelming majority of our genetic history was shaped before agriculture. Most humans are mismatched with modern industrial diets.

1. Early Hominins (7–2.5 million years ago) – Forest & Woodland Foragers

• Dietary pattern: Mostly plant-based (fruits, leaves, tubers, seeds) with occasional insects and small animals.

• Evidence: Tooth wear and isotopic studies suggest high reliance on C3 plants.

• Genetic stability: Very little adaptation to meat yet. Gut morphology still closer to primates with larger colon for fiber fermentation.

2. Savanna Expansion (2.5–1 million years ago) – Hunter-Scavenger Omnivores

• Context: Climate shifts dried Africa → grasslands expanded.

• Dietary pattern: Broader omnivory. Meat from scavenging and hunting, tubers, nuts, seasonal fruits. Fire begins to appear toward the end (~1 mya).

• Genetic adaptations:

  • Smaller guts, larger brains → “expensive tissue hypothesis.”

  • Selection for genes supporting lipid metabolism and protein utilization.

• Archetype relevance: Flexible mixed-diet baseline emerges.

3. Glacial Cycles (1 mya – 12,000 years ago) – Regional Divergence

This is when geography strongly shaped diets, creating metabolic archetypes.

• Equatorial groups (Africa, SE Asia):

  • Diet: Still plant-heavy (tubers, fruits, legumes) with fish and some meat.

  • Stable year-round plant availability.

  • Genetic adaptations: Amylase gene (AMY1) copy number increases in some populations → starch utilization.

• Mid-latitude groups (Europe, Central Asia):

  • Diet: Mixed but seasonally variable. Plants in warm months, more animal foods in cold months.

  • Genetic adaptations: Vitamin D receptor variation, some lactase persistence in late hunter-gatherers.

• High-latitude groups (Ice Age Eurasia):

  • Diet: Meat- and fat-dominant (megafauna, fish, seals). Very few plants in glacial periods.

  • Genetic adaptations: Fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene variants, vitamin D metabolism from animal sources.

4. Neolithic Revolution (12,000 – 4,000 years ago) – Agriculture

• Dietary shift: Domesticated grains (wheat, barley, rice, maize), dairy in some regions, legumes, more predictable calories.

• Costs: Narrower food base → deficiencies (iron, zinc), higher starch loads.

• Genetic adaptations (over thousands of years):

  • Lactase persistence in pastoralist groups (Europe, E. Africa).

  • Amylase gene copies expand in grain-reliant groups.

  • HLA immune system shifts in response to higher population density/infections.

5. Post-Agricultural Age to Industrialization (4,000 years ago – 200 years ago)

• Dietary pattern: Regionally variable mixed diets. Some groups still predominantly foragers (Inuit, San, Hadza).

• Genetic adaptation: Very slow — most “archetype” adaptations from pre-agriculture still dominant.

• Archetype persistence: Traditional diets still mirrored ancestral environments.

6. Industrial Age (200 years ago – present)

• Dietary shift: Refined grains, sugar, vegetable oils, highly processed foods.

• Mismatch: Too recent for meaningful genetic adaptation. Most human genes are still calibrated to Paleolithic and early agrarian environments.

Key Takeaways for Archetypes

1. Hunter-gatherer dietary archetypes lasted ~95% of human history.Agriculture is only ~5–10% of our species’ timeline.

2. Regional archetypes (equatorial plant-heavy vs northern carnivorous) formed during Ice Age glacial cycles (1 mya – 12k years ago) and still influence metabolism today.

3. Genetic adaptations are few, slow, and specific (lactase persistence, starch digestion, fatty acid metabolism). The core metabolic “wiring” is still Paleolithic.

Approximate Durations