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Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

sciencenorway.no

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Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#161

Post by jrootabega »

This made me think of the Popular But Possibly Factoidal Article (TM) that goes around every now and then about fighter plane armor. Militaries tried reinforcing the parts of the planes that were damaged after missions. But it didn't help survival rates much. Then Smart Man asked what would happen if they reinforced only the parts of the planes that were NOT damaged, hypothesizing that the planes that didn't make it were being damaged there. And it worked, according to Popular Article!

So the fact that we don't find too many fossils with tooth decay means that it could have been a huge problem. And this is the origin of the joke: you don't have to brush all your teeth, just the ones you find on early hominid fossils.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#162

Post by spixy »

jrootabega wrote: post #161

This made me think of the Popular But Possibly Factoidal Article (TM) that goes around every now and then about fighter plane armor. Militaries tried reinforcing the parts of the planes that were damaged after missions. But it didn't help survival rates much. Then Smart Man asked what would happen if they reinforced only the parts of the planes that were NOT damaged, hypothesizing that the planes that didn't make it…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias#In_the_milit...

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#163

Post by manmal »

ComradePhil wrote: post #149
manmal wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be a glowing fan of carnivore diets, is that right? What do you think about the sustainability of this lifestyle? I’m pretty sure our planet can’t sustain 9 billion exclusively meat eating humans.

No, not a fan of the carnivore diet (except for short term use for medical purposes). Getting rid of grains puts us in very high risk, grains are essential because they are easy to store long-term... Even though they are plant seeds, the most toxic part of a plant, we have mastered indegenous preparation of grains... and while the food industry has tried to ruin it, it hasn't succeeded by much... mostly because grain…

Well indigenous use of grains and legumes involves fermentation (eg sourdough, fermented tofu, miso), which are mostly no longer done at scale. Bread that uses yeast instead of sourdough starter is often not fermented long enough to get rid of most FODMAPs (4h fermentation seems to be recommended, but this is reduced for cost reasons).

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#164

Post by mejutoco »

leobg wrote: post #156

Related observations: 1) Ötzi had cavities and gum disease. “Ötzi, a Stone Age man who died atop a glacier about 5300 years ago, suffered from severe gum disease and cavities.” [1] 2) Sailor Steven Callahan, after 72 days adrift in the Atlantic ocean, where he subsisted on fish and birds, after being rescued: "When I wake up in the morning, I look into the mirror. My God! Who's that? The face I see is straight out of…

In Man in search of meaning Viktor Frankl mentions in passing how his gums and teeth are healthier than ever, although he mostly ate minimum amounts of bread.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#165

Post by spaghetti1535 »

ComradePhil wrote: post #160
spaghetti1535 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have recently become interested in finding out more about this (and food/nutrition in general). I want to compile an overview of findings and reference studies. How did you learn about this? Do you recommend any scientific resources concerning the themes of your comment?

I started on this path when I was trying to nurish myself back to health over a decade ago when I suddenly got fat. I thought science was the way to go... but was robbed of that notion a couple of years into it when I discovered that the path to health was in the opposite direction of what the science tells us. Turns out the food industry fully controls the science of food and nutrition. You can start by reading Unsa…

The “What I’ve learned” channel has been a big contributor to why I’m interested in learning more about nutrition. Thank you for the references!

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#166

Post by hypertele-Xii »

ComradePhil wrote: post #141
skrebbel wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop eating vegetables? Tbf i can't figure out whether you're trolling or not.

Definitely not trolling. If you don't know how to prepare vegetables in indegenous culture that you got it from, you are better off not eating it. Also, even if you did follow indegenous preparation methods, the food industry may have changed the plant by artificial selection or genetic modification such that the indegenous preparation is not as effective, so you're better off ditching them anyway. Vegetables have si…

> Plants are living beings and don't want to be eaten.

Hate to be the one to tell you, but animals are living beings too and don't want to be eaten either.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#167

Post by hypertele-Xii »

jkepler wrote: post #144
asdff wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are only dangerous if you don't brush or floss. With respect to ancient cultures a little twig is a damn effective dental cleaner and about as good as a modern toothbrush.

Growing up, my dad often said that raw carrots are "nature's toothbrush" and he would encourage us to end any picnic lunch with carrot sticks, not with a sugary dessert. Can carrot sticks function like a little twig in terms of knocking undesirable food gunk off teeth?

Can't confirm but this feels right. Chewing on carrot breaks loose any food that sticks to my teeth.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#168

Post by 0des »

dotancohen wrote: post #137
mostertoaster wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

This is absolute fiction presented as facts. If HN had a way to killfile a user this user would be first on my list. This type of misinformation has no place on HN.

Are you okay? What an odd aggressive remark.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#169

Post by urban_strike »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #166
ComradePhil wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not trolling. If you don't know how to prepare vegetables in indegenous culture that you got it from, you are better off not eating it. Also, even if you did follow indegenous preparation methods, the food industry may have changed the plant by artificial selection or genetic modification such that the indegenous preparation is not as effective, so you're better off ditching them anyway. Vegetables have si…

> Plants are living beings and don't want to be eaten. Hate to be the one to tell you, but animals are living beings too and don't want to be eaten either.

> They can't fight or flight so their defense is toxins.

The very next sentence.

Animals can run away or fight, so they don't have the need to develop other deterrents. I guess aside from a very few exceptions like Amazonian frogs, which would also not be recommended to eat without very special processing. Probably best to keep off the menu altogether, just like most seeds, stems, and leaves for the reasons described in the parent comment.

Re: Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

#170

Post by jazzabeanie »

kennethh wrote: post #134

The Vipeholm experiments were a series of human experiments where patients of Vipeholm Hospital for the intellectually disabled in Lund, Sweden, were fed large amounts of sweets to provoke dental caries (1945–1955). The experiments were sponsored both by the sugar industry and the dentist community, in an effort to determine whether carbohydrates affected the formation of cavities. Main building of Vipeholm hospital,…

That’s how ethics goes. It’s fine to give someone something if you don’t know what it’s going to do. Makes it kinda difficult to disprove/ confirm a common belief that something is bad for your health.
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