In reply
Baschetti criticizes our meta-analysis for including studies defining low-fat diets as diets allowing a maximum of 30% of the daily energy intake from fat. He calls this definition “subjective” and “untenable” in the light of new insights derived from evolutionary biology, suggesting that our ancestors consumed a maximum of 10% to 15% of energy as fat. However, a conflicting report estimates that the ancestral diet was a high-fat, high-protein diet compared with current recommendations.1 Regardless, evolutionary theory would suggest that diet need only allow an individual to reach reproductive age, and hence, “premature” atherosclerosis or cancer would not likely exert evolutionary pressure.