Our ancestors’ diet: surprising discoveries from a 5000 year old iceman

from ZOE Science & Nutrition

A mummified man found in the mountains of Italy on a nutrition science podcast? Have we gone completely off track?

We haven’t - we promise.

This unfortunate soul could be the key that unlocks an entirely new understanding of human health.

This mummy, discovered in an alpine snow drift by two hikers, gives us a remarkable glimpse into the surprising dietary choices of our ancestors.

In today’s episode, Jonathan discovers some secrets held by our ancestors by speaking to two outstanding guests:

Frank Maixner works at the Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy and travels the world uncovering the secrets of our ancestors.
Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

- Intro

- Topic Introduction

- What happened thirty years ago high in the mounts on the border between Italy and Austria

- Who was the Iceman?

- What happened to him and what did we discover about him?

- How old was he and what do we know about his lifestyle?

- What was he eating?

- What’s surprising about his health?

- The Iceman & mushrooms

- Iceman’s microbiome

- The most surprising information about the Iceman’s microbiome

- What’s microbiome diversity?

- Iceman’s origins

- The start of a new academic discipline

- Finding out about salt miners

- What did these salt miners eat?

- How plant-based was their diet?

- Did they eat dairy?

- Their diet diversity

- What do their microbiomes tell us?

- What does this mean for us? What is the actionable advice?

- Summary

- Goodbyes

- Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.