How early humans evolved to eat starch

The New York Times quotes Omer Gokcumen in a story about two new studies that found that ancient human ancestors carried a surprising diversity of genes for amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch. “This combination of adapting to diverse environments and modifying our diets is a core tenet of what makes us human,” said Gokcumen, who led one of the studies, which published on Thursday in Science. As ancient societies developed different diets, the new research suggests, they evolved to have different numbers of amylase genes. Gokcumen speculated that people today who have fewer amylase genes may be more vulnerable to diseases like diabetes that are fueled by a starch-heavy modern diet. Down the line, the findings could point to potential amylase-based treatments for these diseases.