What made us top of the food chain.

[observer]

Interesting prog and theory on TV the other night: the big discovery, that launched Homo Sapiens ahead of all other animal species was - cooked food"! Whether wondering Homo Erectus tried eating the burned remains of an animal following a forest fire, he obviously enjoyed it and wanted more, which probably led to him harnessing fire. The energy from meat fats and vegetables is increased following cooking, which meant more energy for less time spent eating, so giving time to think. Plus, the eating of high protein meat increased brain size. So a larger brain, smaller gut, put us ahead in the evolutionary race - with 20% of are energy intake (at rest) being used to power the brain, as compared with 10% with our nearest primate relatives. This need for high energy food is now hard wired into our brains, and with lower activity (exercise) rates, has now come back to haunt us - as high calorie intakes arn't being burnt off, but stored as fat, thus creating the modern obesity epidemic.