Ancient vegetarian diets reassessed

[guy]

This study that shows ancient grains were more nutritionally dense than modern grains may answer many questions about the Romans’ ability to have a primarily vegetarian diet. (The previous thread about the gladiator’s vegetarian diet is found below.)

 

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Everyday ancient Mediterranean civilizations relied on a diet of grains and pulses (chickpeas, lentils and other members of the bean family). Researchers thought this food lacked micronutrients such as zinc and iron, while also containing components that inhibit the uptake of what nutrients the food did have.

 

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But a University of Michigan pilot study on crops grown in Egypt during Roman times suggests that ancient grains were more nutrient dense than grains grown in the same region today.

 It found that some of the crops’ trace elements, such as iron, were 45% higher in the ancient grains compared to the modern specimens.

 

 

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“There is this general assumption that there was chronic malnutrition in most people whose diets were based on grains and pulses,” she said. “But these crops may have had a much higher nutritional content than their modern counterparts, which are the result of selection for the purpose of higher crop yields.”

 

Summary: Paleoethnobiologists are helping historians reassess our view of ancient life. Knowing that crops had a greater nutritional content supports the idea that there could have been a greater reliance on a mostly vegetarian diet than previously imagined:

 

https://news.umich.edu/ancient-grains-grant-will-help-u-m-researchers-rethink-roman-diets/ 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by guy

[caldrail]

Wait... Isn't this like claiming to be knowledgeable by repackaging what was already known? The benefits of a largely vegetarian diet are well known - just ask my doctor - but claiming Roman vegetarian diets were somehow superior and explains why they were capable of the supposed physical effort rather confirms how poor modern expectations and diet are instead.