Scientists are finally debunking the myth about humans’ love of carbs with a new study

Humans have long struggled to resist meals high in carbohydrates—commonly referred to as carbs—and this craving is thought to date back to our earliest ancestors.

For years, it was speculated that early humans consumed primarily a protein-rich diet to survive the rigors of hunting and avoiding predators, cultivating a deep-seated craving for carbohydrates.

However, according to CNNa new study published in the journal Science has debunked this long-held belief, suggesting that modern humanity’s affinity for carbohydrates may predate the appearance of the Neanderthals.

The study, conducted by researchers at The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Connecticut, and the University of Buffalo in New York, points to a specific gene, AMY1, that allowed people to digest starches more easily by breaking them down into simple sugars . used for energy.

These genes continued to multiply long before the rise of agriculture.

The team of researchers studied the genomes of 68 ancient humans, focusing on the AMY1 gene, and while almost all modern humans have multiple copies of this gene, the number of copies varies from person to person.

Geneticists have tried to determine exactly how and when the gene began to expand – something tied to the time when eating starch became beneficial to human health.

“The main question we were trying to answer was when did this duplication happen? That’s why we started studying ancient genomes,” said Feyza Yilmaz, computational associate at The Jackson Laboratory. CNN.

“Previous studies show that there is a correlation between AMY1 copy numbers and the amount of amylase enzyme released in our saliva. We wanted to understand if this is an occurrence that corresponds to the advent of agriculture. This is a hot question.”

The researchers found that hunter-gatherers from 45,000 years ago had about four to eight copies of AMY1.

This shows that homo sapiens had a talent for starch even during the Mesolithic period – and before the introduction of agricultural practices.

The research also found duplication of AMY1 in the genomes of Neanderthals and the lesser-known Denisovans – an extinct hominin discovered in 2010.

Multiple copies of the gene in three separate human species indicate that it was a trait shared by a common ancestor before the lineages broke, the study found.

This means that humans had more than one copy of AMY1 even as early as 800,000 years ago, and the lack of a clear reason for the duplication led researchers to believe that it probably happened by chance.

AMY1 duplication increased over the past 4,000 years as humans moved away from hunter-gatherer lifestyles toward a more starchy diet.