On Mon, 18 Sep 2000, Ben Balzer wrote:

> Todd,
> I disagree. There are several paths to approach what is paleo. My preferred
> way is that paleo foods are those (and those similar to them), which were
> eaten by our ancestors in sufficient quantity and for a sufficient period us
> to be genetically adapted to them. So, even if our ancestors ate the odd
> legume, it doesn't recommend it to me. They may well have only eaten them
> when there was nothing else to eat.

Well, they *may* have eaten them infrequently, or they may have
eaten them whenever they got their hands on them.  We just don't
know.  As you point out, even frequent eating does not guarantee
full adaptation.

> As becomes obvious reading Crawford and
> Marsh's "Nutrition and Evolution", evolution isn't all that's it's cracked
> up to be (yeh, quote me on that one).

Correct.  And even the fact that a food was eaten frequently for
a long period of time doesn't give an assurance that the food
was, or is, harmless.  It only means that its advantages, at the
level of a population (not an individual), outweigh its
disadvantages.

> Paleo foods are those that are "specified" in our genes. It's as simple as
> that. This means that, if necessary, we have adapted to any potential toxins
> in them. It means that our bodies are adapted to the balance of nutrients,
> minerals and micronutrients etc in them. "As part of a balanced diet" as
> they say.

It also means that we can't really tell if a food is paleo by
the "naked with a sharp stick" test, or anything similar to it.
Instead, we need sophisticated scientific analysis of it.
Furthermore, we need to establish a threshold of adaptation.
When you say "our bodies," for example, do you mean *all* our
bodies?  Can a food be paleo even though it makes *some* of us
sick (e.g, eggs)?  Is it paleo if it causes only relativly minor
difficulties?

> Also, as Loren Cordain is the world's leading expert on paleolithic
> hunter-gatherer nutrition, and he recommends against them (personal
> correspondence), I have no doubts about the issue. Not that I wouldn't argue
> with him if I needed to. Like most of this list, I am born heretic. No-one
> from Salem here is there?

It's okay; I argue with him all the time.

Todd Moody
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