Health lessons with the Hadza
Could East African hunter-gatherers lead us to the ideal human diet?
We're continuing our adventures in east Africa with the Hadza – a skilled tribe of hunter gatherers who could be the last remaining link to our ancient food past. We join them as they hunt and forage, eating baobab for breakfast and enjoying some very unusual honey, all in the quest to discover the ideal human diet.
The reason the scientists and geneticists are so interested in the Hadza, is because it’s thought they can help us better understand our complex relationship with our gut microbiome – the community of microbes that live inside us all. It’s thought the microbiome exerts such a powerful influence on our health it’s considered now to be in an organ in its own right, and the Hadza have a diversity of gut microbes unmatched by any group on earth. So if the Hadza can help us understand the microbiome and where our modern diets have gone wrong in depleting gut microbe diversity, perhaps the secrets of the their diet can help us all become healthier humans.
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This breakfast could change your life
Duration: 02:22
Broadcasts
- Thu 20 Jul 201702:32GMTBBC World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East, UK DAB/Freeview & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 20 Jul 201703:32GMTBBC World Service East Asia & South Asia only
- Thu 20 Jul 201704:32GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Thu 20 Jul 201706:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Thu 20 Jul 201710:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Thu 20 Jul 201721:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Sat 22 Jul 201707:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Sun 23 Jul 201707:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Mon 24 Jul 201703:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
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The Food Chain
Examining what it takes to put food on your plate



