On Sun, 7 Jul 2002, Phosphor wrote:

> >  Well, this is only meat, not total carcass fat, but those are
> > the values. The mean P:S ratio for the group is .9
>
>  i think there's fair point in this, although adding back depot fat will
> boost the proportion of SFA [fat around kidneys and heart is highly
> saturated, as that is what those organs burn for energy].

No doubt, although adding back brains and marrow and organs would
probably balance that somewhat.  I was interested in Mary's
recent observations of the difference between free-range and
grain-fed buffalo suet.  The grain-fed suet, she said, was harder
and chalky; the free-range suet was softer and more yellow in
color.  I would bet the house that the free-range suet is
consideraly higher in MUFA, especially oleic acid.

>  the fact remains, we can't know for sure the exact proportions of fats in
> various paleo diets. I'm happy with an educated guess: 40-50% each for SFA
> and MUFA, and 5-15%  for PUFA.
> this approximates the ratios in the human body.

But we can't be guided by the ratios in the human body they are
affected by what we eat, just as they are in other animals.  A
person who eats a lot of carbs is going to have a lot more
palmitic acid than one who doesn't, because palmitic acid is
mainly what is produced when glucose is converted to fat.  Some
of that gets converted to MUFA, so the end result is to reduce
the proportion of PUFA relative to MUFA and SFA, just as we see
in feedlot animals.  On a high carb diet we *are* feedlot
animals.

>  this leads to another point: liver is the prized organ, more so than muscle
> meat. some animals eat the liver only and ignore the muscle meat. the liver
> of sea creatures has more oil, Om-3s, and vitamin D than land animals. in
> fact marine livers is the only decent food source of it. Vitamin D is
> heavily involved in production of hormones, so anyone wanting to lose weight
> should look at this issue closely.

Yes.  This is why Cordain recommends use of cod liver oil
especially during winter, when we get less sun on our bodies; and
it's why the Eades recommend year-round sunbathing, if it is
possible.  And of course this too may be why I am starting to
lose weight again, since I'm in the northern hemisphere and the
weather allows me to be shirtless much of the time.

The problem with liver and liver oils is that this is another
place where toxins accumulate.  One of the many unforeseen
consequences of human despoiling of the environment is that we
have turned the livers of land and sea creatures into toxic waste
dumps, and this highly valued source of nutrition must now be
viewed with suspicion.

Todd Moody
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