Who got the meat? What 10,000 years of European bones suggest about diet inequality
Phys.org • • health
Key Points:
- Access to nutritious food, especially meat, has historically been linked to higher social status in pre-industrial European societies, with significant gender disparities in consumption.
- Researchers analyzed carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in human bone collagen from 12,281 adults across 673 European sites over 10,000 years to study dietary patterns and inequalities.
- The study introduced the interdecile ratio to measure the extent of inequality in meat and plant-based food consumption, overcoming challenges in comparing isotope data across different contexts.
- Findings reveal a consistent male bias in the highest meat consumption categories throughout all historical eras, with the earliest agricultural societies being the most egalitarian but still showing gender disparities.
- The persistent inequality in access to animal protein may be influenced by cultural factors such as food taboos, beliefs about women's nutritional needs, and social norms prioritizing men's dietary requirements.
