The Interrelation between Humans and Ethanol
The following is a paper that I wrote for a bio-archaeology course in 2013 focusing on the interrelationship between human evolution and alcohol. There isn’t exactly anything novel in this paper, but it’s a good summary of how human evolution and alcohol are so intimately related to one another.
From a chemical perspective, alcohol is simply an organic molecule consisting of carbon attached to a hydroxyl functional group, with only saturated bonds. The form of alcohol that can be consumed by humans is ethanol. Ethanol consists of two carbons and the hydroxyl group and has an empirical formula of C2H5OH. The cultural definition of alcohol however varies greatly, as does the view on how alcohol affects one’s health. In some cultures, alcohol is considered a food source, while on others it is considered an “anti-food.” (Dietler M. 2006) In this paper, I will address the interrelationship between humans and ethanol from an evolutionary perspective, first noting why microorganisms produce alcohol, the impact on human evolution coming into contact with alcohol in nature had, and then addressing humanity’s overall mastering control over alcohol producing microbes in order to suit our wants and needs.
Humans use the help of yeasts in the production of alcohol. Yeasts are a group of unicellular fungi. The primary species of yeast used is Saccharomyces…
