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.
If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.
Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro
00:10 – Topic Introduction
01:39 – What happened thirty years ago high in the mounts on the border between Italy and Austria
03:01 – Who was the Iceman?
03:42 – What happened to him, and what did we discover about him?
05:29 – How old was he, and what do we know about his lifestyle?
06:33 – What was he eating?
10:27 – What’s surprising about his health?
13:46 – The Iceman & mushrooms
15:15 – Iceman’s microbiome
16:29 – The most surprising information about the Iceman’s microbiome
17:55 – What’s microbiome diversity?
20:22 – Iceman’s origins
20:52 – The start of a new academic discipline
22:48 – Finding out about salt miners
24:26 – What did these salt miners eat?
26:55 – How plant-based was their diet?
27:35 – Did they eat dairy?
29:20 – Their diet diversity
31:11 – What do their microbiomes tell us?
38:01 – What does this mean for us? What is the actionable advice?
42:21 – Summary
44:26 – Goodbyes
44:53 – Outro
Episode transcripts are available here:
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This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.