So here's something that'll make you think twice the next time you turn your nose up at a cricket protein bar: your disgust for eating bugs might be ancient.
Like, really ancient. Like, thousands-of-years-ancient.
A team of researchers from Spain recently dug into this question in the most literal way possible — they analyzed 33,000-year-old tartar. Yes, you read that right. Ancient dental calculus (that's just a fancy word for prehistoric plaque) holds tiny traces of everything our ancestors munched on, including DNA from their meals.
And what they found is fascinating.
The Big Discovery
The researchers examined dental tartar from 745 ancient humans spanning Europe, Central Asia, and beyond. Their goal? Figure out whether our ancestors ate insects and, if so, what happened to that practice over time.
The results suggest that modern humans in northern Eurasia — that's basically Europe and the surrounding areas — weren't regularly dining on insects. But here's where it gets really interesting: our genetic ability to digest insects has actually been declining for roughly 9,000 years, right around the time agriculture took off.
"We think the absence of insect eating isn't just because of recent cultural stuff like religion or food traditions," explains Pablo Librado, who led the study. "There's a long evolutionary history behind it too."
Translation: we've been quietly losing the ability to properly digest creepy-crawlies for millennia.
Now, About Those Neanderthals...
Here's where things get spicy. Neanderthals — our ancient cousins — were apparently way more chill about bug consumption than we were.
Their dental tartar contained significantly more insect DNA. Like, significantly more. We're talking levels similar to what you'd see in western chimpanzees, who deliberately supplement their diets with insects, especially during dry seasons when other food is scarce.
The most common insect remains found in Neanderthal teeth? Flies and mosquitoes. Mosquito DNA was especially abundant, which leads researchers to an intriguing hypothesis: Neanderthals might have regularly eaten animal carcasses that contained fly larvae. (I know, I know — but stay with me here.)
Apparently, they might have stored prey in marshy areas, where mosquitoes would lay eggs. The Neanderthals would then eat the larvae along with the meat. It's kind of gruesome when you picture it, but hey — they were just trying to get their protein.
Oh, and genetically speaking? Neanderthals (and Denisovans, another ancient human relative) had better-equipped digestive systems for breaking down insects. So they were literally built for bug-eating in ways we just... aren't anymore.
Why the Tropics Kept Eating Bugs
The research also found a clear geographic pattern. Populations living closer to tropical regions — where it's warm and bugs are plentiful year-round — still carry genetic variants that help them digest insects efficiently.
As humans gradually moved toward northern, cooler latitudes, these insect-digesting genes started to fade. Why? Well, it comes down to simple math and ecology.
In tropical areas, insects like termites and locusts are abundant and diverse. You can harvest them sustainably throughout the year. They're calorie-dense enough to make the effort worthwhile, and they even help with pest control.
But head north where it's cold and buggy season is short? Suddenly insects stop being a practical food source. Agriculture offered more reliable calories. So gradually, over thousands of years, northern populations lost both the practice of eating insects and the genetic equipment to digest them well.
So What Does This Mean for Us?
Here's where I get a little philosophical.
I think this research tells us something pretty profound about food culture. Western societies tend to frame our insect-avoidance as purely cultural or psychological — like it's just a weird taboo we've invented. And yes, there are certainly cultural factors at play.
But this science suggests our squeamishness has deeper roots. Our bodies literally adapted to not needing bugs as food, and that adaptation stuck around.
Now, as climate change pressures our food systems and researchers push insects as a sustainable protein source, we're essentially asking modern humans to overcome a resistance that's been written into our biology for thousands of years.
No wonder people in Western countries get the heebie-jeebies at the idea of a cricket cookie!
The Silver Lining
That said, this research also suggests we're not biologically incapable of eating insects — it's more that we've drifted away from the practice. Given enough time and cultural shift, who knows? Maybe future generations will casually snack on roasted crickets the way we now casually enjoy sushi (which, not that long ago, was also considered weird and foreign in many Western circles).
For now, though, I'm going to appreciate this little window into our evolutionary past. Every time I see a mosquito this summer and swat it away, I can remind myself: somewhere in my family tree, my ancient relatives were happily munching on the larvae. My European ancestors just... forgot how.
And honestly? I think I'm fine with that particular family tradition staying in the past.
What's your take? Would you ever try insects as food, or does the ick factor run too deep? Drop your thoughts below!
Source: ScienceDaily