Genetic changes that apparently allow humans to live longer than any other
primate may be rooted in a more carnivorous diet.
These changes may also promote brain development and make us less vulnerable to
diseases of aging, such as cancer, heart disease and dementia.
Chimpanzees and great apes are genetically similar to humans, yet they rarely
live for more than 50 years. Although the average human lifespan has doubled in
the last 200 years due largely to decreased infant mortality related to
advances in diet, environment and medicine even without these improvements,
people living in high mortality hunter-forager lifestyles still have twice the
life expectancy at birth as wild chimpanzees do.
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