I should have begun my comments with this. From the BBC news: "Dr Herman Pontzer of the department of anthropology at Hunter College, New York, said everyone had assumed that hunter gatherers would burn hundreds more calories a day than adults in the US and Europe." And: "Some experts have proposed that our need for calories has dropped drastically since the industrial revolution, and this is a bigger risk factor for obesity than changes in diet." And from the abstract of the article: "The similarity in metabolic rates across a broad range of cultures challenges current models of obesity suggesting that Western lifestyles lead to decreased energy expenditure."
This work is an exceptionally important milestone on this area of the science! Suggests that better models necessary - and better strategies againts obesity likewise. Congratulations Dr. Pontzer and his co-authors!
