The problem of nutrition and human evolution
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
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The idea to design the ideal food and make food ideal, to give food to all the hungry, to prevent numerous diseases and ultimately to change the nature of man seemed extremely attractive. Indeed, in the distant past one of the greatest revolutions occurred, namely the transition from hunting and gathering to land tenure and cattle breeding, and then to the industrial production of food products. It was assumed that the creation of artificial food will restore the ecology, and the problem of critical and non-critical natural situations for crops, etc., will disappear.
Nevertheless, now, when the XXI century comes, we can not say that we are much closer to the solution of the problem, which at the beginning of the century was formulated by Berthelot and many others. Moreover, in spite of the fact that technology and chemistry are ready to implement the program for the production of ideal food, it can be stated with certainty that the solution of this problem will not be fulfilled either in the present century, or in the foreseeable future, for very important reasons rather biological than chemical or technological character.
Thus, in the course of the alleged evolution, a person who is not connected with hard work is transformed into a purely thinking organism. It is clear that the nutrition of such a person must radically change, so that he will not be able to chew food, and as a result of shortening and weakening of the functions of the gastrointestinal tract, his body will absorb only pre-digested food substances. If human evolution were to follow this route, the intravenous administration of substances or elemental nutrition, so brilliantly anticipated and characterized by Anatole France, would be mandatory in the more or less distant future. However, the question arises: does such an evolution and ideal food await us? The answer to this question today will be different from yesterday. For a correct understanding and analysis of the problem of ideal food and ideal nutrition, we will allow ourselves to consider once again some of the theories of balanced and adequate nutrition and trophology.