Did you ever take a class that you became super interested in and then used nearly everything you learned in everyday life? That class for me was Primatology… yes, the study of primates, monkeys, apes, and the like. Aside from getting to hang out with Golden Lion Tamarins at the National Zoo all the time, this course provided me with endless amounts of dietary knowledge. Today, many primatologists study the diets of our closest biological ancestors in order to find out what type of diet works best for humans. One of my favorite lessons on primate diet was about tannins – I’ll explain.
I guarantee, A LOT of your favorite food has tannins in it already. To name a few: coffee, tea, red wine, pomegranate, hazelnuts, walnuts, beer, legumes, and chocolate. Generally, we consume a great deal of tannins every day. You can identify tannins by the dry, bitter, pucker-y feeling you get in your mouth, after you drink red wine for example. But what’s more interesting – tannins are EXTREMELY toxic for humans. In my primatology class, we learned about whole species of monkeys in South America who consumes only leaves with 70% tannin content, their teeth turned black with the toxicity. Our professor told us if humans even so much as lick one of these tannin-filled leaves, death would come quickly. How and why can humans consume tannins we do then, and what is their benefit?
Our regular tea and chocolate snacks don’t kill us, but why should humans continue to eat toxic substances? In fact, regular consumption of small amounts of tannins (pure chocolate only has 6% tannin content) can help prevent diseases and chronic illnesses, such as cancer. Think of it this way – your body must fight the tannins in your system which are actually toxic. Because your body is so busy fighting this toxic substance, it is less likely for cells to mutate to cause cancer.
I don’t know about you, but fighting cancer is a good enough excuse to snuggle up with some green tea and a chocolate bar.