Both academic and popular interest in the ancestral health movement, or "paleo" lifestyle, has grown rapidly in recent years. More people than ever are joining the movement, and more books and articles are being published on the topic. Media coverage and certain societal preconceptions of the movement have also increased. More often than not, followers of a paleo lifestyle are thought to be "modern cavemen": athletic, single, meat-eating, young, white, and male. To test whether or not these stereotypes are true, the authors of the present study created the first large, academic survey (N = 3,967) of the ancestral health community. Specifically, the online survey sought to accomplish two main goals: (1) describe the current composition and demographic makeup of the ancestral health movement and (2) identify common practices, the major obstacles, and the most important motivating factors for adopting a paleo lifestyle. Despite the common stereotypes, survey evidence suggests that the majority of participants are: white, female, middle aged (mean 38 years old), in a committed relationship, highly educated, relatively affluent, and motivated by weight loss and health concerns. Thus, while some of the common preconceptions may hold up, many others probably do not.
The learning of evolutionary theory typically takes place in the classroom or laboratory. Students of these traditional approaches often leave with the notion that applications of evolutionary theory have little bearing on their lives. The Evolutionary Studies Consortium (EvoS; evostudies.org) has been extremely successful in overcoming these barriers and demonstrating the bridges across academic areas that can be created with the principles of evolution as a guide. While this is a fantastic means through which to educate students about the intricacies of evolution, we believe that the full potential of this approach has yet to be realized.Applications beyond strict academic contexts are still waiting to be mined. Here, we outline an approach that proposes the implementation of a nutrition and physical fitness program, alongside classroom pedagogy, as a means of helping students learn about evolution and how it can be used to increase their own quality of life.Keywords Health and fitness . Evolutionary health . Ancestral lifestyle EvoS as a Builder of Bridges across Islands of the Academic ArchipelagoThe EvoS Consortium, which is highlighted in this special issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach, provides strong evidence that Darwin's ideas have the capacity to revolutionize modern academia. As David Sloan Wilson (2007) tells us, academia is not really the Ivory Tower of traditional metaphoric usage-it is an archipelago-perhaps an ivory archipelago-comprised of discrete islands whose native inhabitants are either unaware of one another or who are extremely skeptical of one another's intentions. Theatre arts is an island. Business management is an island. Computer engineering is an island. Physical education is an island. Microbiology is an island. Sociology is an island.One might think that the current movement toward interdisciplinary studies that characterizes modern academia is a step toward solving the archipelago problem. Clearly, interdisciplinary efforts have increased across the landscape of higher education (Tappeiner et al. 2007) with beneficial effects. With that said, traditional interdisciplinary approaches have clear limits. Many typical interdisciplinary kinds of programs, in areas such as Black Studies, Religious Studies, or Women's Studies, for instance,
Lay SummaryThrough an online survey of nutrition and dietetic professionals and students, we learned there is interest to incorporate evolutionary medicine into the nutrition and dietetics field and education programs.Background and objectivesEvolutionary medicine is an emerging field that examines the evolutionary significance of modern disease to develop new preventative strategies or treatments. While many areas of interest in evolutionary medicine and public health involve diet, we currently lack an understanding of whether nutrition and dietetics professionals and students appreciate the potential of evolutionary medicine.MethodologyCross-sectional online survey to measure the level of appreciation, applicability and knowledge of evolutionary medicine among nutrition and dietetics professionals and students. We then examined the relationships between support of evolutionary medicine and (i) professionals and students, (ii) US region, (iii) religious belief and (iv) existing evolutionary knowledge.ResultsA total of 2039 people participated: students (n = 893) and professionals (n = 1146). The majority of the participants agree they are knowledgeable on the theory of evolution (59%), an understanding of evolution can aid the nutrition and dietetics field (58%), an evolutionary perspective would be beneficial in dietetics education (51%) and it is equally important to understand both the evolutionary and direct causes of disease (71%). Significant differences in responses between professionals and students suggest students are currently learning more about evolution and are also more supportive of using an evolutionary perspective. Whereas differences in responses by US region were minimal, differences by religious belief and prior evolutionary knowledge were significant; however, all responses were either neutral or supportive at varying strengths.Conclusion and implicationsThere is interest among professionals and students to incorporate evolutionary medicine into the nutrition and dietetics field and education programs.
The Ancestral Health (or Paleo) movement is a collection of people who apply an evolutionary perspective to improve their health through lifestyle changes (e.g., diet, physical actively, sleep). In 2013, a survey of this population revealed that its participants did not align with media stereotypes; in contrast, survey participants were predominantly white, female, and middle aged. Since diet and health trends change over time, the goal of this survey study was to collect data on the members of the movement and compare the survey responses from five years earlier. In addition, we surveyed people who have left the movement to determine why they left and if they follow a particular diet now. Broadly, we hypothesized that participant demographics would remain the same while lifestyle characteristics (i.e., how they participate in the movement) would change. The survey was distributed online through various platforms (social media, blog posts, and mailing lists). A total of 1506 (54% female) participants completed the survey and a majority (75%) were still a member of the movement. Overall, numerous participant responses differed from the 2013 survey (18 questions; p<0.05 for all). One of the main changes between survey years was a general aging of the participants as demonstrated by an increase in participant age, income, and education level. This suggests that the movement is not capturing new and/or younger individuals. Further, the main reason participants left the paleo movement was a change to a new specific diet (16%; two most reported diets: low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diet), although 39% of participants who left do not currently follow any particular diet. We conclude by hypothesizing reasons for the changes and potential implications for the future of the movement.
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