The Paleo Diet has gained immense popularity as an evolutionarily appropriate way of eating, encouraging people to abandon grains, legumes and dairy in favour of lean meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables. The idea is simple: if we eat as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, we can avoid modern diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Its emphasis on whole, unprocessed foods, lean proteins and nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables aligns with evidence that early humans avoided excessive refined sugars, artificial additives and highly processed foods. The diet also promotes healthy fats from nuts, seeds and fish, which are beneficial for heart and brain health. However, recent research suggests that the version of the Paleo Diet promoted today is an oversimplified and often inaccurate representation of actual pre-agricultural diets.
As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise, or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment. Links to relevant studies at the bottom of the page.
The Reality of Hunter-Gatherer Diets
One of the biggest flaws in the Paleo Diet is the assumption that human diets followed a strict and limited macronutrient composition before agriculture. The diet typically prescribes 19–35% protein, 22–40% carbohydrate, and 28–47% fat while banning entire food groups such as grains, legumes, and dairy. However, a 2023 study led by Daniel Lieberman examined data from 15 ethnographic studies of 11 tropical hunter-gatherer groups and found that their diets varied dramatically, with some relying primarily on plant foods while others consumed a high proportion of animal foods. Even within individual populations, food intake shifted seasonally and across years. This directly contradicts the notion that humans evolved to eat within a narrow macronutrient range.
A particularly revealing finding from the study is that many hunter-gatherers regularly consume starchy tubers and honey - two food sources that the modern Paleo Diet largely dismisses. For example, Hadza foragers in Tanzania get up to 20% of their calories from honey, while the Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands derive over 50% of their carbohydrate intake from it. These findings challenge the Paleo Diet’s assumption that early human diets were low in carbohydrates. In reality, carbohydrates were an important energy source for many pre-agricultural populations.
The Misguided Origins of the Paleo Macronutrient Model
The modern Paleo Diet relies heavily on macronutrient ranges proposed by Loren Cordain et al. in 2000, who based their estimates on a small dataset of Australian Aboriginal plant foods. This is problematic because it assumes that the macronutrient composition of Australian wild plants represents all global hunter-gatherer diets. A 2022 study by Amalea Ruffett and Mark Collard tested this assumption by compiling plant macronutrient data from 10 different hunter-gatherer groups worldwide and recalculating dietary macronutrient distributions. Their results showed that whole-diet macronutrient ranges were significantly broader than Cordain’s estimates, with carbohydrate intake reaching as high as 55% and fat intake dropping as low as 12% in some groups.
Perhaps most damaging to the credibility of the Paleo Diet is that the revised macronutrient ranges found in Ruffett and Collard’s study overlap significantly with modern dietary guidelines from organisations such as the USDA and WHO. If hunter-gatherer diets fall within ranges already recommended by mainstream nutrition authorities, then the claim that the Paleo Diet is uniquely healthy compared to conventional diets becomes questionable.
Early Humans and the Importance of Starch
Even the idea that grains and legumes were absent from human diets before agriculture is incorrect. A fascinating 2023 archaeological study examined stone tools from the Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel, dating back 780,000 years. By analysing starch grains found on the tools, researchers discovered that early hominins were processing a variety of plant foods, including acorns, grass grains, water chestnuts, yellow water lily rhizomes and legume seeds.
This study not only confirms that humans have been consuming and processing starchy plants for hundreds of thousands of years but also highlights the cognitive complexity required to collect and prepare these foods. Many of these plants required multi-step processing techniques, suggesting that our ancestors had already developed sophisticated dietary behaviours long before the advent of agriculture. The idea that grains, legumes, and starch-rich foods are somehow "unnatural" is completely at odds with the archaeological record.
Evolution, Adaptation and the Myth of a “Perfect” Diet
A core belief in the Paleo Diet community is that humans are biologically unsuited to eating grains, dairy, and legumes. While it is true that agriculture introduced major dietary changes, this does not mean our bodies are incapable of processing these foods. In fact, Lieberman’s study highlights several genetic adaptations that have allowed many populations to digest these foods effectively. Lactase persistence, which enables the digestion of dairy, evolved independently in multiple regions, while populations with starch-heavy diets have higher levels of amylase enzymes to break down complex carbohydrates.
Furthermore, not all forms of food processing are inherently harmful. While ultra-processed foods high in added sugars, trans fats and preservatives contribute to health problems, traditional methods like fermentation, cooking and food preservation actually improve nutrient availability and digestibility. The notion that only pre-agricultural foods are beneficial ignores the ways in which human diets have evolved alongside technological advances.
Final Thoughts
The modern Paleo Diet presents a captivating, simplified and misleading version of pre-agricultural diets. The evidence from various studies, including Lieberman’s ethnographic study, Ruffett & Collard’s macronutrient analysis and the archaeological findings at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov all demonstrate that:
Hunter-gatherer diets were highly diverse, with no single macronutrient ratio defining pre-agricultural nutrition.
Carbohydrates, including starchy plants and honey, were important and actively sought-after food sources.
The Paleo Diet’s macronutrient recommendations are based on flawed and regionally limited data.
Modern humans have evolved adaptations to digest dairy, grains, and legumes, making them a natural part of many diets.
Many of the Paleo Diet’s principles overlap with mainstream nutritional guidelines, undermining claims of its superiority.
While the Paleo Diet’s emphasis on whole, unprocessed foods is certainly beneficial - especially when transitioning from a diet rich in processed and ultra-processed foods - its strict restrictions are not grounded in evolutionary reality.
A diet that ensured survival in pre-industrial societies is not necessarily the ideal blueprint for maximising healthspan in the 21st century. A truly evidence-based approach to nutrition recognises the diversity of ancestral diets and the adaptability of the human body. Instead of following an idealised dietary trend, focusing on whole foods, balanced macronutrient intake, and sustainable eating habits remains the best approach to long-term health.
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Related Studies
Ahituv H, Henry AG, Melamed Y, Goren-Inbar N, Bakels C, Shumilovskikh L, Cabanes D, Stone JR, Rowe WF, Alperson-Afil N. Starch-rich plant foods 780,000 y ago: Evidence from Acheulian percussive stone tools. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jan 21;122(3):e2418661121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418661121. Epub 2025 Jan 6. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Mar 4;122(9):e2501154122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2501154122. PMID: 39761385; PMCID: PMC11760500.
Lieberman DE, Worthington S, Schell LD, Parkent CM, Devinsky O, Carmody RN. Comparing measured dietary variation within and between tropical hunter-gatherer groups to the Paleo Diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Sep;118(3):549-560. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.06.013. Epub 2023 Jun 19. PMID: 37343704.
Ruffett A, Collard M. An assessment of the impact of cross-cultural variation in plant macronutrients on the recommendations of the Paleo Diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Apr;117(4):777-784. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2022.12.003. Epub 2022 Dec 22. PMID: 36828769.
Jamka M, Kulczyński B, Juruć A, Gramza-Michałowska A, Stokes CS, Walkowiak J. The Effect of the Paleolithic Diet vs. Healthy Diets on Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Clin Med. 2020 Jan 21;9(2):296. doi: 10.3390/jcm9020296. PMID: 31973038; PMCID: PMC7073984.
Ghaedi E, Mohammadi M, Mohammadi H, Ramezani-Jolfaie N, Malekzadeh J, Hosseinzadeh M, Salehi-Abargouei A. Effects of a Paleolithic Diet on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Adv Nutr. 2019 Jul 1;10(4):634-646. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz007. Erratum in: Adv Nutr. 2020 Jul 1;11(4):1054. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmaa033. PMID: 31041449; PMCID: PMC6628854.
de Menezes EVA, Sampaio HAC, Carioca AAF, Parente NA, Brito FO, Moreira TMM, de Souza ACC, Arruda SPM. Influence of Paleolithic diet on anthropometric markers in chronic diseases: systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr J. 2019 Jul 23;18(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s12937-019-0457-z. PMID: 31337389; PMCID: PMC6647066.
Cordain L, Miller JB, Eaton SB, Mann N, Holt SH, Speth JD. Plant-animal subsistence ratios and macronutrient energy estimations in worldwide hunter-gatherer diets. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Mar;71(3):682-92. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/71.3.682. PMID: 10702160.
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