Why Didn’t Ancient Humans Get Fat? (And Why You Do)

Ancient humans walked miles every day, climbed trees for honey and dug food out of rock-hard ground. So why were they lean while about 4 in 10 American adults are obese today? In this video we follow the science. Anthropologist Herman Pontzer measured how many calories the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania burn in a day, and the answer is not what most people expect. We also look at what NIH researcher Kevin Hall found when volunteers ate ultra-processed meals for two weeks, why the “thrifty gene” idea is probably wrong, how two groups of Pima people with the same ancestors ended up with very different body weights, and what CT scans of 137 ancient mummies reveal about what happens when food gets easy. You’ll also learn: How many calories a hunter-gatherer really burns versus an office worker Why a bag of potato chips packs about ten times the energy of an apple Why carbs aren’t the villain in the Tsimane diet Why your hunger isn’t weakness, and what it was built for If you’ve ever wondered about human evolution, the prehistoric diet or why the modern food environment makes weight so hard to manage, this one’s for you. Made by Two Sticks, where we explain big ideas with simple sticks. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and tell us in the comments: what would you want us to explain next?