Research
Energy balance
The evolution of the large human brain required high-quality energy sources (meat/fat) and efficient metabolic systems, which co-evolved with the ability to store fat, creating a biological predisposition to obesity in modern environments.
Your large brain requires significant energy. Evolutionarily, this was supported by efficient fat storage. In modern times, this means your biology is optimized for survival in scarcity, making weight management challenging in an environment of abundance.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
If co-evolution is shown to be the case, the current obesity epidemic may constitute one price humans have had to pay for their remarkable cognitive abilities ... The meat and fat obtained with the aid of stone tools were rich sources of lipid energy and polyunsaturated fatty acids essential for encephalization
Why this rating
The paper discusses the hypothesis of co-evolution but notes that precise origins are unknown.
Source
Evolutionary origins of obesity
Anna Bellisari · Obesity Reviews · 2007
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-789x.2007.00392.x
narrative_reviewCited 179×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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