Are Humans Naturally Vegetarian?

FAQ in Science #2

Friends, it’s high time I’ve confessed: I’m a pescatarian (*gasp*).

I gave up turf seven whole years ago. Since I made that choice, it’s been an arduous process digging through the available vegetarian and vegan information (and misinformation). Though there are some amazing guides out there to sustainably changing your diet, others available are misleading, sensationalized, and generally bad news.

I recently came across an argument from the bad news crowd that got under my skin. The article, which I will not link, claimed that we’re evolutionarily herbivores! Immediately, my internal B.S. meter went off.

With a bit of background from my undergraduate education and a massive cup of coffee, I set off to investigate: Are humans naturally vegetarian?

Here’s what I discovered:

More Than We Can Chew

One of the easiest ways to identify the diet of a species lies at the very beginning of the digestive tract: the teeth. These odd-yet-functional sets of exposed bones are shaped to masticate best what a creature eats! Some scientists go so far as to say that observing teeth is a more reliable way of determining diet than even stomach content.