The Human Food Project: Anthropology of Microbes

I am fascinated by bacteria, good or bad. I find it very interesting that something so very small can have such a profound affect on our health. Eating a diet with foods high in probiotics (good bacteria) will help strengthen the already healthy bacteria in our digestive tracts. Modern day diets that tend to be low in probiotics and high in medications (such as antibiotics) can strip away the good bacteria in our bodies potentially causing poor health and disease. I recently came across an amazing website documenting a project that is studying how microbial bacteria in our environment can affect our health.

"Nobody tells a giraffe how to eat. But for the first time in history, humans don't know what to eat. We no longer know what human food is". - Jeff Leach, Founder of the Human Food Project

As an Anthropologist, Jeff Leach's motivation for the Human Food Project came after his daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. He became interested in how bacteria in our environments affects our diets and our health. Jeff studies the food habits of the Hadza, a modern hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania, Africa.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Anthropologists like Jeff, are interested in the Hadza tribe because they are exposed to a diverse bacterial community in their daily lives. It is possible that their exposure to many type of bacteria make them more immune to modern day health issues and diseases. It is Jeff's hope that by researching tribes like the Hadza, in addition to studying our ancestral and microbial past he will gain insights into understanding modern human health and disease.

For more information please click on the link below.

http://humanfoodproject.com/