Early farming worsened health yet sustained larger populations than foraging did.

Evidence

Unlike the more reliable supply of daily calories from hunting and gathering, domestication is a long-term affair fraught with risk. The diet of early agricultural peoples was poorer in protein content than the diet of hunter-gatherers. Evidence from prehistoric human remains suggests that early farmers were less healthy and less well fed than were hunter-gatherers. Despite negative effects on health and diet, early agriculture had one advantage over hunting and gathering: in the long run it could feed more mouths and sustain larger populations. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 390

Categorization

• CANDY: Counterintuitive tidbit — agriculture made people less healthy but won anyway by feeding more people — good elevator-conversation opener.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 390
• XREF: connects to: Farming created a food surplus that enabled larger communities to form. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 127; Local food efforts respond to urban health crisis and industrial agriculture’s harm — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1821

Broader Connections

• Farming created a food surplus that enabled larger communities to form. #expands (0.90) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 127