What the Hadza taught us about metabolism – Diet and Health Today

Introduction

I rarely read books because I spend so much time reading journal articles. However, a supporter recently recommended a book and I managed to read it on a plane journey. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found some interesting insights to share with you.

The book was called “Burn: The misunderstood science of metabolism” and it was by Dr Herman Pontzer, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at Duke Global Health Institute (Ref 1). Pontzer has lived with and studied the Hadza – a modern hunter-gatherer people living in northern Tanzania (Ref 2). They are one of the last hunter-gatherer populations in Africa with approximately 1,300 tribe members. Their native homeland includes the Eyasi Valley and nearby hills. Anthropologists, like Pontzer, are interested in studying the Hadza as they continue to live in ways abandoned by most of humanity. The Hadza have no domesticated livestock, nor do they grow or store their own food. They hunt and forage. The Hadza diet consists of plants, meat, fat, and honey. They create temporary shelters of dried grass and branches, and they own few possessions.

Pontzer’s main finding from studying the Hadza and other physically active populations is that our bodies work on a fixed energy budget. Pontzer called this the constrained energy expenditure model. It has vital implications for diet and exercise and we’ll come to these soon. We just need to start with some background terms, which will be useful for this note.