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The macronutrient composition of the diet of wild western lowland gorillas
The western lowland gorilla diet has implications for... [J Nutr. 1997] - PubMed - NCBI
Macronutrient - Weight Fraction (g/ 100g) - Calories/ g - Calories/ 100g of Food - Percent of food
Fats 0.5 - 9 - 4.5 - 2.3%
Carbohydrate (excluding fiber) 7.7 - 4 - 30.8 - 15.9%
Protein 11.8 - 4 - 47.2 - 24.4%
Fiber 74 - 1.5 - 111 - 57.4%
At face value their diet appears to be a low-fat diet, doesn’t it? Only 2.3 percent of calories are in the form of fat. BUT that is before food is transformed by the digestive tract. Note the really large component of the gorilla diet: fiber. Fiber is fermented by gut bacteria.
Basic Fermentation Chemistry
The bacteria get 4 calories per gram from fiber, but they give back 1.5 calories per gram in the form of short-chain fats to the gorilla. Even with such a low caloric density, the mass of fiber in the wild gorilla diet is so large— 74 percent of the mass of food eaten— that those short-chain fats contribute fully 57 percent of the gorilla’s energy.
The Western Lowland Gorilla Diet After Transformation
Macronutrient - Percent of Energy
Polyunsaturated fat - < 2%
Saturated and monounsaturated fat - 58%
Carbs (excluding fiber) - 15.9%
Protein - 24.4%
The fiber has been converted into short-chain saturated fatty acids, which can then be lengthened into saturated fats and desaturated into monounsaturated fats. So after transformation, SaFA and MUFA are 58 percent of calories!
This is true for all mammalian animals.
Just more evidence why a low carb / higt fat diet is most likely how we are meant to eat
The western lowland gorilla diet has implications for... [J Nutr. 1997] - PubMed - NCBI
Macronutrient - Weight Fraction (g/ 100g) - Calories/ g - Calories/ 100g of Food - Percent of food
Fats 0.5 - 9 - 4.5 - 2.3%
Carbohydrate (excluding fiber) 7.7 - 4 - 30.8 - 15.9%
Protein 11.8 - 4 - 47.2 - 24.4%
Fiber 74 - 1.5 - 111 - 57.4%
At face value their diet appears to be a low-fat diet, doesn’t it? Only 2.3 percent of calories are in the form of fat. BUT that is before food is transformed by the digestive tract. Note the really large component of the gorilla diet: fiber. Fiber is fermented by gut bacteria.
Basic Fermentation Chemistry
The bacteria get 4 calories per gram from fiber, but they give back 1.5 calories per gram in the form of short-chain fats to the gorilla. Even with such a low caloric density, the mass of fiber in the wild gorilla diet is so large— 74 percent of the mass of food eaten— that those short-chain fats contribute fully 57 percent of the gorilla’s energy.
The Western Lowland Gorilla Diet After Transformation
Macronutrient - Percent of Energy
Polyunsaturated fat - < 2%
Saturated and monounsaturated fat - 58%
Carbs (excluding fiber) - 15.9%
Protein - 24.4%
The fiber has been converted into short-chain saturated fatty acids, which can then be lengthened into saturated fats and desaturated into monounsaturated fats. So after transformation, SaFA and MUFA are 58 percent of calories!
This is true for all mammalian animals.
Just more evidence why a low carb / higt fat diet is most likely how we are meant to eat
