When humans began eating grain-based diets about 10,000 years ago, average height and brain volume decreased.
Strongly contradicted
Multiple high-quality studies challenge this claim.
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When humans began eating grain-based diets about 10,000 years ago, average height and brain volume decreased.
See the technical phrasing
The adoption of grain-based diets approximately 10,000 years ago is associated with a reduction in average human height and brain volume.
When people switched from eating a variety of wild plants and animals to relying mostly on grains, they got less protein, essential amino acids, and key vitamins and minerals. This lack of nutrients slowed bone growth, making people shorter, and also reduced the energy and building blocks needed for brain development, leading to smaller brains.
What the research says
Supports
1 study
Study: Human evolution: Stature variation in the Neolithic.
When humans started eating mostly grains and farming, they got shorter — and this study shows that happened. It doesn't prove brains got smaller, but it does show the diet change hurt overall health, which could explain why.
Contradicts
1 study
Study: Effects of ancestry, agriculture, and lactase persistence on the stature of prehistoric Europeans
This study found that people didn't get much shorter when they started eating grains, and the small change was mostly because of their genes, not their diet. So, the idea that grains made humans shorter isn't really supported.
Score breakdown, mechanism chain, raw evidence, ideal studies needed & 2 supporting studies