| World's Food group Totals | |
|---|---|
| Food group | Estimated edible dry matter ( Million metric tons) |
|
Cereals |
1,545 |
|
Tubers |
136 |
|
Pulses |
127 |
|
Meat, milk, eggs |
119 |
|
Sugar |
101 |
|
Fruit |
34 |
The world's top 5 food crops (see chart) ALL have high phytate content - and of interest, wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum,;oats, rye, and millet provide 56% of the food energy and 50% of the protein consumed on earth (1985 figures).
Stoskopf NC: Cereal Grain Crops. Reston, Reston Publishing Company, 1985.
Of 195,000 species of edible plants, only ~17 species provide 90% of mankind's food supply
Prior to the Agricultural Revolution and man living in settlements, humans existed as non-cereal-eating hunter-gatherers, obtaining calories mostly from wild animal meats, fruits and vegetables (i.e. not from grains) - Furthermore, this drastic dietary change occurred without any significant change to mankind's genetic make-up, and although it can easily provide the bulk of needed daily caloric intake, a cereal-based diet may or may not be wholly beneficial for human physiology:
Several health issues were recognized after the change from hunter-gatherer to cereal-based diets - including:
| Food crop | Estimated edible dry matter (million metric tons) |
|---|---|
|
Wheat |
468 |
|
Maize |
429 |
|
Rice |
330 |
|
Barley |
160 |
|
Soybean |
88 |
|
Cane sugar |
67 |
|
Sorghum |
60 |
|
Potato |
54 |
|
Oats |
43 |
|
Casava |
41 |
|
Sweet potato |
35 |
|
Beet sugar |
34 |
|
Rye |
29 |
|
Millet |
26 |
|
Rapeseed |
19 |
|
Bean |
14 |
|
Peanut |
13 |
|
Pea |
12 |
|
Musa |
11 |
|
Grape |
11 |
|
Sunflower |
9.7 |
|
Yams |
6.3 |
|
Apple |
5.5 |
|
Coconut |
5.3 |
|
Cottonseed (oil) |
4.8 |
|
Orange |
4.4 |
|
Tomato |
3.3 |
|
Cabbage |
3.0 |
|
Onion |
2.6 |
|
Mango |
1.8 |
• Stature ▼ [1, 2-4],
• Infant mortality▲ [4,5]
• Lifespan ▼ [4,5],
• Infectious disease incidences▲ [4-7]
• Iron deficiency anemia▲ [4, 5, 7]
• Osteomalacia incidence and other bone mineral disorders ▲ [1, 4, 5, 7] and number of dental caries and enamel defects▲ [4.5, 8].
1. Eaton SB, Nelson DA: Calcium in evolutionary perspective. Am J Clin Nutr 1991;54:281s-287s.
2. Angel JL: Paleoecology, paleodemography and health; in Polgar S (ed): Population, Ecology and Social Evolution. The Hague, Mouton, 1975, pp 167-190.
3. Nickens PR: Stature reduction as an adaptive response to food production in Mesoamerica. J Archaeol Sci 1976;3:31-41.
4. Cohen MN: The significance of long-term changes in human diet and food economy; in Harris M, Ross EB (eds): Food and Evolution. Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1987, pp 261-283.
5. Cassidy CM: Nutrition and health in agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers: A case study of two prehistoric populations; in Jerome RF, Kandel RF, Pelto GH (eds): Nutritional Anthropology:Contemporary Approaches to Diet and Culture. Pleasantville, Redgrave Publishing Company, 1980,pp 117-145.
6. The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal. New York,Harper Collins, 1992, pp 180-191.
7. Lallo JW, Armelagos GJ, Mensforth RP: The role of diet, disease, and physiology in the origin of porotic hyperostosis. Human Biol 1977;49:471-473.
8. Turner CG: Dental anthropological indications of agriculture among the Jomon people of central Japan. Am J Phys Anthropol 1979;51:619-636.
