In a message dated 10/13/02 9:46:27 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

>I realize that this theory does not address the environment that might
>have
>existed around the equator, where there isn't much winter. But perhaps
>there
>was (is) enough seasonal variation to make somewhat of a difference.

There is apparently enough  "non-fruiting season" time for orangutans to eat
so few carbohydrates that they end up burning their own fat (stored or
ingested) to produce measurable ketones.   Someone mentioned that they'd
lived in the tropics and fruit always was available -- but how much of this
fruit was indigenous to the region? Had the plants been engineered in any
way? Were the fruit sources wild?

Also, with regards to scarcity of food in winter -- I imagine that even
protein and fat was not that plentiful in the Northern latitudes -- it was
probably not too easy to go out under severe cold weather conditions and hunt
for breakfast, much less lunch and dinner. I think Wiley and Formby are onto
something when they describe us as having feast or famine metabolisms; that
we more or less hibernated through much of the winter (long nights of sleep
or half sleep) and that fat was both insulator and carbohydrate storage for
winter.

Namaste, Liz
<A HREF="http://www.csun.edu/~ecm59556/Healthycarb/index.html">
http://www.csun.edu/~ecm59556/Healthycarb/index.html</A>