- Research suggests that the dietary habits of ape ancestors, particularly their consumption of fermented fruit, could explain why humans are so adept at digesting alcohol.
- The term 'scrumping' refers to apes eating fermented or fallen fruit, a practice that may have led to a 40-fold increase in alcohol metabolism in the last common ancestor of humans and African apes around 10 million years ago.
- Studies analysing the dietary habits of various primates found that African apes regularly engage in 'scrumping,' unlike orangutans, whose primary enzyme for metabolising ethanol is less efficient.
- This enhanced metabolic ability allows African apes to safely consume up to 10 pounds of fermented fruit daily, indicating that ethanol exposure was a significant factor in their lives and a major force in human evolution.
- The findings suggest that humans may have retained the social aspects associated with shared feeding on fermented fruits, prompting further research into how this influences social relationships in other apes.
IN FULL
What the heck is ‘scrumping’? Why humans are so good at digesting alcohol
