Culture-driven cooking let natural selection shrink gut tissue to fund bigger brains

Evidence

Our repertoire of food-processing methods altered the genetic selection pressures on our digestive system by gradually supplanting some of its functions with cultural substitutes. Techniques such as cooking actually increase the energy available from foods and make them easier to digest and detoxify. This effect allowed natural selection to save substantial amounts of energy by reducing our gut tissue, the second most expensive tissue in our bodies (next to brain tissue), and our susceptibility to various diseases associated with gut tissue. The energy savings from the externalization of digestive functions by cultural evolution became one component in a suite of adjustments that permitted our species to build and run bigger and bigger brains. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 233

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Birth-canal constraints halted brain expansion and forced postbirth growth tricks — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 213; Human digestive organs are dramatically undersized for our body compared to other primates — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 221; Cooking evolved culturally and reshaped human digestive anatomy and function — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 224 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Culturally transmitted skills created selection pressures shaping human anatomy and physiology #expands (0.86) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 313
• Cumulative cultural evolution drives selection for brains specialized to acquire cultural information. #expands (0.85) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 218
• Accumulating culture continuously drives selection for bigger brains and better learners #corroborates (0.82) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 206
• Cultural tools replaced anatomy, so natural selection weakened human bodies #corroborates (0.80) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 235
• Natural selection traded costly muscle for fat to store energy for big brains #qualifies (0.78) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 236