It turns out our love for bread, pasta, and all things carbs might not just be a modern craving—it’s practically encoded in us! New research suggests that the gene responsible for starch digestion, AMY1, started duplicating long before farming even existed. Like, 800,000 years ago kind of long. According to the study, these gene duplications were the early stepping stones that let humans handle all those delicious carbs we adore today.
“We found that the more copies of the amylase gene you have, the better you are at digesting starch,” says Omer Gokcumen, one of the study’s authors. Basically, the more copies of this gene, the more efficiently your body can process starch—hello, pizza night! And this gene got a real head start, showing up in both Neanderthals and Denisovans. Who knew ancient humans were carb-loading way before the first loaf of bread was even a thing?
The study uncovered that early humans, hunter-gatherers from as far back as 45,000 years, had up to eight AMY1 gene copies. This was long before wheat fields or rice paddies ever dotted the landscape. So, it wasn’t farming that kicked off our carb obsession—it’s been part of our DNA all along. And it wasn’t just us; even domesticated animals that hung out with early farmers had a spike in AMY1 copies. Clearly, carbs were life, even back then.
As for why this matters? It shows just how adaptable humans have been with their diets, and the AMY1 gene played a big role in that. So next time you’re enjoying a bowl of pasta, just know—it’s not just a comfort food; it’s an evolutionary flex!
