” As far as I understand, this is the first research study thats ever looked at the energetics of chewing,” states Peter Lucas, an anthropologist at The George Washington University who was not included in the research study however provided feedback to the authors on an earlier draft of the manuscript. In this way, the metabolics of chewing is still “one of the basic questions of advancement,” he states, as it may tell us how cooking represents a turning point in humanitys evolutionary trajectory.Chewing things overThe study started with a conversation over lunch. They asked the volunteers to chew an odorless, tasteless gum while inside the chamber for 15 minutes. Food for thought Lucas states it shocked him that the authors only utilized chewing gum and not substances that break down as theyre chewed, as the latter would have been more straight comparable to real foods. Based on a back-of-the-envelope computation of how much time chimpanzees invest chewing, our early hominid forefathers might have been chewing for 5 or 6 hours a day, he states, which may have cost them up to 5 percent of the energy they consumed.
” As far as I understand, this is the very first study thats ever looked at the energetics of chewing,” states Peter Lucas, an anthropologist at The George Washington University who was not included in the study however gave feedback to the authors on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Food for believed Lucas states it shocked him that the authors only utilized chewing gum and not substances that break down as theyre chewed, as the latter would have been more straight similar to genuine foods. Based on a back-of-the-envelope computation of how much time chimpanzees spend chewing, our early hominid ancestors may have been chewing for five or 6 hours a day, he says, which might have cost them up to 5 percent of the energy they took in.