Invention of cooking made having a bigger brain an asset for humans

Invention of cooking made having a bigger brain an asset for humans

Humans' move to a cooked diet, possibly first adopted by Homo erectus, and their bigger brains yet smaller bodies, left spare energy which allowed further rapid growth in brain size and the chance to develop the big brain as an asset rather than a liability, through expanded cognitive capacity, flexibility and complexity.

Human guts are about 60% of the expected size for a primate.
The small size of human guts (combined with our having the same basal metabolic rate as any other primate, relative to body mass) means that we have some spare energy, which contributes to explaining how we can afford a relatively large brain.
And the reason we have been able to evolve small guts is that we have been able to rely on eating our food cooked.
#ShotsofAwe  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pun6tbz8Rzw