On Mon, 20 May 2002, Hilary McClure wrote:

> Our family mostly eats grassfed meat, but we eat a fair amount of
> butter. Butter seems to have an even higher ratio of palmitic to stearic
> than feedlot meat, so I'm concerned about that. But I'm wondering
> whether one should be at all concerned about palmitic acid causing
> insulin resistance within the context of a generally paleo-type diet,
> generally low-carb, physically active, controlled weight, plenty of
> micronutrients and antioxidants, plenty of n3 fats. Palmitic acid is
> probably only one of many causes of IR, and I wonder if it's enough all
> by itself to cause a problem.

I have no idea, really.  I'd like to think it doesn't matter, but
I'm not sure.  As you pointed out, strategies for prevention may
look very different from strategies for treating IR -- and many
other conditions.

> Another thing to note is that in the
> Cordain wild ruminant fat paper from EJCN, it shows a very high ratio of
> palmitic to stearic in bone marrow, which is supposed to be one of the
> fat foods we hominids got our start on hundreds of millennia ago. In
> consideration of the above points, do you still see a reason to reduce
> palmitic intake?

Since I'm one of those people whose IR seems to have worsened
after 5 years of liberal-fat paleo, I'd say yes, for myself at
least.

Todd Moody
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