Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:09:03.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Misunderstandings Regarding Carbohydrates in Human Nutrition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2022

Steve L. Martin Open the ORCID record for Steve L. Martin [Opens in a new window]
Steve L. Martin*
Affiliation:
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
*
(slmartin9@verizon.net)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In a recent issue of American Antiquity, two articles (Gill et al. 2021; Lyons et al. 2021) perpetuate the common misconception that dietary carbohydrates are an essential component of the human diet and that plants—the main source of dietary carbohydrates—must be consumed to promote health. In fact, carbohydrate is a nonessential macronutrient with adequate amounts of energy—the sole function of carbohydrates in the human diet—being produced via gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis in the absence of dietary carbohydrate. Additionally, both articles erroneously employ the term “dietary staple” in reference to geophyte consumption.

En un número reciente de American Antiquity, dos artículos (Gill et al. 2021; Lyons et al. 2021) perpetúan la idea errónea de que los carbohidratos dietéticos son un componente esencial de la dieta humana y que las plantas, la principal fuente de carbohidratos de la dieta, deben ser consumido para promover la salud. De hecho, los carbohidratos son un macronutriente no esencial con cantidades adecuadas de energía, la única función de los carbohidratos en la dieta humana, se produce a través de la gluconeogénesis y cetogénesis en ausencia de carbohidratos en la dieta. Además, ambos artículos emplean erróneamente el término “alimento básico” en referencia al consumo de geófitas.

Keywords

human nutritioncarbohydratesgeophytesdietary staplestable isotope analysisnutrición humanacarbohidratosgeófitosalimento básicoanálisis de isótopos estables
Type
Comment
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 611 - 613
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Cahill, George F. Jr. 1970 Starvation in Man. New England Journal of Medicine 282:668–675.Google ScholarPubMed
Cannon, Aubrey, Schwarcz, Henry P., and Knyf, Martin 1999 Marine-Based Subsistence Trends and the Stable Isotope Analysis of Dog Bones from Namu, British Columbia. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:399–407.Google Scholar
Chisholm, Brian S., Erle Nelson, D., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 1982 Stable-Carbon Isotope Ratios as a Measure of Marine versus Terrestrial Protein in Ancient Diets. Science 216:1131–1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chisholm, Brian S., Erle Nelson, D., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 1983 Marine and Terrestrial Protein in Prehistoric Diets on the British Columbia Coast. Current Anthropology 24:396–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fauvelle, Mihael, and Somerville, Andrew D. 2021 Spatial and Temporal Variation in Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Diets in Southern California: Bayesian Modeling Using New Baseline Stable Isotope Values. Quaternary International 601:36–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, Kristina M., Braje, Todd J., Smith, Keven, and Erlandson, Jon 2021 Earliest Evidence for Geophyte Use in North America: 11,500-Year-Old Archaeobotanical Remains from California's Santarosae Island. American Antiquity 86:625–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Carol F. 1993 The Application of Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis to Human Dietary Reconstruction in Prehistoric Southern California. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Harper, Alfred E. 1999 Defining the Essentiality of Nutrients. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, edited by Shils, Maurice E., Olson, James A., Shike, Moshe, and Catharine Ross, A., pp. 3–10. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Harrison, Roman G., and Katzenberg, M. Anne 2003 Paleodiet Studies Using Stable Carbon Isotopes from Bone Apatite and Collagen: Examples from Southern Ontario and San Nicolas Island, California. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22:227–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Adam R., Pissios, Pavlos, Otu, Hasan, Xue, Bingzhong, Asakura, Kenji, Furukawa, Noburu, Marino, Frank E., et al. 2007 A High Fat, Ketogenic Diet Induces a Unique Metabolic State in Mice. American Journal of Physiology Endocrinology Metabolism 292:E1724–1739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieb, Clarence W. 1926 The Effects of an Exclusive, Long-Continued Meat Diet. Journal of the American Medical Association 87:25–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieb, Clarence W. 1929 The Effects on Human Beings of a Twelve Months' Exclusive Meat Diet. Journal of the American Medical Association 93:20–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, Natasha, Hoffmann, Tanja, Miller, Debbie, Martindale, Andrew, Ames, Kenneth M., and Blake, Michael 2021 Were the Ancient Coast Salish Farmers? A Story of Origins. American Antiquity 86:504–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClellan, Walter S., and Du Bois, Eugene F. 1930 Clinical Calorimetry: XLV. Prolonged Meat Diets with a Study of Kidney Function and Ketosis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 87:651–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichon, Lisa, Huneau, Jean-François, Fromentin, Gilles, and Tomé, Daniel 2006 A High-Protein, High-Fat, Carbohydrate-Free Diet Reduces Energy Intake, Hepatic Lipogenesis, and Adiposity in Rats. Journal of Nutrition 136:1256–1260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Renner, Ruth, and Elcombe, A. M. 1967 Metabolic Effects of Feeding “Carbohydrate-Free” Diets to Chicks. Journal of Nutrition 93:31–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rick, Torben C., Culleton, Brendan J., Smith, Carley B., Johnson, John R., and Kennett, Douglas J. 2011 Stable Isotope Analysis of Dog, Fox, and Human Diets at a Late Holocene Chumash Village (CA-SRI-2) on Santa Rosa Island, California. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:1385–1393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schober, Teresa M., and Eldon Molto, J. 2011 Marine Resource Consumption in Ancient California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 45(1/2):31–47.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, Henry P., Chisholm, Brian S., and Burchell, Meghan 2014 Isotopic Studies of the Diet of the People of the Coast of British Columbia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 155:460–468.Google ScholarPubMed
Stefánsson, Vilhjálmur 1913 My Life with the Eskimo. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Stefánsson, Vilhjálmur 1921 The Friendly Arctic: The Story of Five Years in Polar Regions. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Stefánsson, Vilhjálmur 1946 Not by Bread Alone. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Walker, Phillip L., and DeNiro, Michael J. 1986 Stable Nitrogen and Carbon Isotope Ratios in Bone Collagen as Indices of Prehistoric Dietary Dependence on Marine and Terrestrial Resources in Southern California. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 71:51–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed