Our ancestors’ diet: surprising discoveries from a 5000 year old iceman

A mummified man found in the mountains of Italy on a nutrition science podcast? Have we gone completely off track? We haven’t - we promise. This unfortunate soul could be the key that unlocks an entirely new understanding of human health. This mummy, discovered in an alpine snow drift by two hikers, gives us a remarkable glimpse into the surprising dietary choices of our ancestors. In today’s episode, Jonathan discovers some secrets held by our ancestors by speaking to two outstanding guests: Frank Maixner works at the Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy and travels the world uncovering the secrets of our ancestors. Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide Timecodes: 00:00 - Intro 00:10 - Topic Introduction 01:45 - What happened thirty years ago high in the mounts on the border between Italy and Austria 03:02 - Who was the Iceman? 03:39 - What happened to him and what did we discover about him? 05:10 - How old was he and what do we know about his lifestyle? 06:01 - What was he eating? 09:02 - What’s surprising about his health? 11:56 - The Iceman & mushrooms 13:08 - Iceman’s microbiome 14:13 - The most surprising information about the Iceman’s microbiome 15:27 - What’s microbiome diversity? 17:30 - Iceman’s origins 17:56 - The start of a new academic discipline 19:41 - Finding out about salt miners 21:02 - What did these salt miners eat? 23:05 - How plant-based was their diet? 23:39 - Did they eat dairy? 25:05 - Their diet diversity 26:40 - What do their microbiomes tell us? 32:31 - What does this mean for us? What is the actionable advice? 36:24 - Summary 38:16 - Goodbyes 38:40 - Outro Episode transcripts are available here. Follow Frank: https://twitter.com/frankmaixner Follow Tim: www.instagram.com/tim.spector/ Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/ This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.