Joesene Blake

Professor Sarah
Nutri 101
October 21, 2016
Nutrition and Evolution
"Our bodies are a reflection of the types of food that we eat." Nutrition is the science that
interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food, about maintenance, growth,
reproduction, health, and disease of an organism. Therefore, nutrition plays a vital role in our
everyday lives. While, evolution helps to explain the origin of our human ancestors and how
they survive millions of years ago. My most exciting topics, while doing this assignment and
going to the museum was to learn more about evolution (skin color), and the linked of evolution
to nutrition. Therefore, I have gather information's from class, the museum, and online research
to explain the information that I have collected.
As far as evolution may concern, I have billed up information to explain the biology of skin
color, how humans arrived and why are they different from each other. Well, according to Nina
Jablonski's a biological anthropologists, and her research on the biology of our skin. She had
found that Skin color is determined by the amount of UV exposure to the wavelength of light.
She explained that in human, different wavelengths of light are absorbed by a pigment in the
top layer of our skin. The pigment is called Melanin sit inside tiny grains of the skin called
melanocytes. People genetic inheritances are determined by the amount melanin inside our
melanosomes. The reddish yellow pheomelanin is abundant in lightly pigmented people.
Darkly pigmented people have more eugumelanin. Ultraviolet radiation is energetic and not
easily seen. It penetrates living cells and causes mutation in skin cell DNA. She concluded that
UV intensity,

Indeed predicts skin color that people who live closer to the equator are much darker than those
who lived further away. Skin adapted to the solar energy around the world. Also, foliate is a
risk factor for neural tube defects. Foliate is not only for embryonic production but also for
sperm development. Foliate is an essential nutrient that needs to be protected against UV
radiation as it circulates in our blood vessels.
A second part of the lesson that stood out to me was homo erectors and how they survive. 100
years ago, our ancestors made handheld stone tools to hunt and cut the flesh of animals like
elephants. Scientists found flakes on animals bones, as evidence that proves that long before
us, was our ancestors who use to feed on the flesh of animals. They mostly eat meat; meat is a
concentrated source of protein, fat, and nutrients. So our ancestors mostly got all their nutrients
from meat. The meat was more quickly digested than plants and does not require large guts, it
sauce energy for the brain and other organs. Unlike many plants most meat doesn't naturally
contain toxic chemicals, so it is a safe food for early humans. Although the meat was
beneficial to them, they were at risks when hunting for meat. They had to compete against
dangerous animals, meat spoil quickly and contain tapeworms and other parasites. Also
hunting and slavering large animals is risky and less predictable than gathering plants. Another
important source of life for the early humans was fire, which led to cooking. Cooking released
nutrients in food and made them easier to digest. It also gets rid of poison from some plants.
Some researchers think that cooking may go back to 1.5 million years ago. Fire and cooking
were a turning point for humans back in the days, where our ancestor obtained food, warmth,
and protection from fire. According to Richard Wrentham, "human being evolved to eat
cooked food. It's possible to starve to death even while filling one's stomach with raw food."
Overall, cooking and meat played an interesting role in the life of early humans.

There is a lot more that I could explain from what I had learned while doing this
assignment, but what stood out to me was the biology of skin color, the origin of human and
how they survive by eating the food that they use to eat. Early human get their nutrients mostly
from animals meat, and a turning point in their lives was fire and cooking. It is interesting that
first human use to eat raw meat to survived, their food choices was limited, but they were still
living normally while in today world, we have a variety of food. However, many of us are
unhealthy, obese and most of the times die from the food we eat.

INTERVIEW:

1) If you have to pick one food that holds great meaning to you, what would
it be, and why is it so important to you?
Answer: Rice would choose rice because it is a good food source for
staple........
2) Do you grow your own food? Tell me about your garden/farm?
Answers: No
3) Do you have concerns about how we will feed the global population, in
the future?
Answer: Yes, I'm concerned by the number of obese people living in
American. One reason why so much people are obese is because; people
eat a lot of genetic modified food instead of organic food. So I Would loves
for the population to eat more organic food.
4) If you were the creator of this exhibit, and you had room for a few more
objects, what would you add to this exhibit? Why?
Answer: I would add more international food. Yes, its about American
history, but a lot of international food is popular in American, and so I
would add new food to the kitchens.