Dear Mavis,
You wonder what diet we mainly refer to as the Paleolithic one. As for myself,
1) I want to know about the diet(s) to which all humans as a group are
genetically adapted. That would be the one(s) that (hominids and) Homo,
especially anatomically modern humans, had access to during evolution.
Which would mean foods available on the African savannah (and other
habitats?) up to around 100,000 years BP. When I do not specify, this is
the diet(s) I refer to.
2) I also want to consider the (obviously rather small) differences between
specific ethnic groups like for instance Caucasians and others as to the
resistance to western dietary habits and/or the possibility of one diet
being optimal for some pre-agricultural populations but not for others
(which I principally doubt). A beautiful paper on resistance to western
diet is (Allen JS, Cheer SM. The Non-Thrifty Genotype. Current Anthropology
1996; 37: 831-42). John Allen, one of the authors, subscribes to this list.
Best wishes
Staffan
>Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 10:30:42 +1200
>From: Mavis Wood <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Hunter gatherers -which?
>
>Dear Symposium Members
>
>There is a difficulty for me when reading the Paleodiet symposium . I
>wonder often whether the contributors are referring to the diet of early
>hominids, in the African savannah , or, the diet of the people of the
>glacial refugia in Europe circa 18 0000 when there must have been a low
>population and consequently a bottleneck in the genetic inheritance of
>those people who have any European ancestry at all. Which may involve
>American with mainly African ancestors. Thirdly I often get the
>impression that we are talking about Paleoindians of the Americas.
>These are of course mostly derived from Asia and must have their genetic
>inheritance from ice free areas of Eurasia during the maximum glacial
>period.
>the same would hold for the inhabitants of the Pacific, Australia and
>New Guinea excepted.
>
>I have interested in the diet of the Upper Palaeolithic in South West
>France and Iberia since I think I have heard that the geneticists say
>that most Western Europeans are descended from them. I wonder how it
>has affected our inheritance in digestive functions and perhaps in
>resistance to parasites? I think the Scandinavians were excluded from
>this population Has any one on this list any up to date information
>about this( ie 1997 information)? How about the Basques,are they like
>the Etruscans,later?
>
>I would like it, if I might suggest it, just to keep things tidy in my
>archaeological mind , if list members would specify which hunter
>gatherers they are citing when talking about ancient diets and the
>actual material evidence for those diets.
>
>Incidentally I am reading a book called <Time Walkers : The prehistory
>of global colonization> by Clive Gamble which brings up to date
>information on the debate on hominid ancestries. and is available in
>paperback from Penguin (though I don't know about the USA) it is also
>in hardback from Alan Sutton Stroud. UK
>ISBN 0-7509-0321-X
>
>gratefully
>
>ME Wood MA Hons Edinburgh (Prehistoric Archaeology).
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 09:03:12 +0100
>From: Andrew Millard <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Ancient bread
>
>This question appeared recently on BritArch mailing list, but there was no
>response. Does anyone here know anything?
>
>Andrew Millard
>
>On Fri, 2 May 1997 10:46:00 +0100, Althea Davies {PG}
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I recently bought some sprouted wheat bread which claims on the
>>packaging that this is how bread was made thousands of years ago. The
>>ingredients consist only of sprouted wheat grains, germinated in spring
>>water. Does anyone know if this claim is true and, even better, how it
>>is made? I hope this query isn't too tangential.
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 09:25:40 +0100
>From: Andrew Millard <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Early Technology for Detoxifying Plant-Foods
>
>Luc De Bry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Not being a specialist in the History of Cooking Technologies, I am
>> missing something here. I do not understand this "pre-pottery"
>> expression. How could a population rely on cereals crops without basic
>> cooking/detoxifying technology?
>
>This is precisely the problem I wqas referring to: we have all the
>features of the Neolithic, i.e. domesticated crops and animals, permanent
>settlements and even towns with 2 storey buildings, but we have no
>pottery. So it is called the pre-pottery Neolithic meaning the Neolithic
>before pottery was invented. This period lasts for 1500 years in some
>parts of Syria and Palestine. However we also know of a number of other
>aceramic societies - The Neolithic and Iron Age of Ireland and the
>Iron Age and Early Medieval periods in Wales appear to have been without
>pottery.
>
>> About dates : Man learnt to control and to use the fire some 700,000
>> years ago. Millstones were used in High-Egypt some 17,000 years BC.
>> The first cultures of cereals happened in the fertile crescent some
>> 10,000 years B.C.
>
>Actually cultivation begins about 8000 BC / 10000 *BP*.
>
>> The technology to detoxify grains and beans must have existed BEFORE
>> agriculture.
>
>Certainly. For example, we have the Natufian culture in Syria/Palestine
>immediately preceding the Neolithic, with a dependence on collection of
>wild cereals, including grindstones
>
><snip>
>> Malting and brewing barley would have been just impossible without
>> adequate containers for liquid fermentation, and beer-drinking. And why
>> would someone cultivate barley if he cannot detoxify it?
>
>It would be possible to ferment it in skins/stomachs as someone pointed
>out yesterday - and the narcotic effect of alcohol might be sufficent
>reason to grow barley in small quantities. But cooking in such
>containers would be more difficult.
>
>But of course as Jennie Brand Miller <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>> The Australian Aboriginal people might be a good example here. They had
>> no pottery.
>>
>> First they roasted the cereals (or other seeds such as acacias) in the
>> ashes of a fire. The women would then separate the seeds from the dirt
>> and ashes using a highly skilled shaking action in a coolamon (a curved
>> wooden dish). They would then grind the seeds on a grinding stone
>>mixing in a
>> little water. They woould eat the paste with their fingers or
>> alternatively cook the paste on a hot stone to form a kind of damper.
>
>This is a possibility, but it sounds very labour intensive for an
>agricultural society where the main food source may be cereals. Does
>anyone know of any ethnographic accounts of aceramic agricultural
>societies?
>
>Andrew Millard
>
>==========================================================================
> Dr. Andrew Millard [log in to unmask]
> Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, Tel: +44 191 374 4757
> South Road, Durham. DH1 3LE. United Kingdom. Fax: +44 191 374 3619
> http://www.dur.ac.uk/~drk0arm/
>==========================================================================
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 10:19:00 -0600
>From: Loren Cordain <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: High fat/high protein diets and ancestral feeding patterns
>
> The subject of high fat/high protein diets to elicit weight loss and
>improve blood lipid profiles is clearly controversial in the nutritional
>community. Dean has done a wonderful job in the last listing to
>highlight the salient literature which supports the concept. Clearly,
>Reaven and the group at Stanford have strong data to show that low fat,
>high carb diets tend to worsen many aspects of blood lipid profiles in
>both normals and in NIDDM patients. However, to date neither they nor
>any other researchers that I am aware of have evaluated extremely low
>carb diets or extremely high protein diets; nor have there been any
>experiments in which the macronutrients (protein, fat, CHO) have been
>separated at each meal.
> The separation of macronutrients would have been a frequent feeding
>pattern for pre-agricultural modern H. sapiens and perhaps the most
>frequent feeding pattern for pre-modern hominids in which there is
>little evidence for storage of goods or food ( 1 ). Consequently,
>when an animal was killed, it was entirely consumed within a 24 hr
>period, similar to modern day hunter gatherers ( 2 ). Except for
>some stored hepatic and muscle glycogen, there is virtually no
>carbohydrate in food derived from animal sources; therefore, protein and
>fat meals tended to be consumed together. Carbohydrate sources came
>primarily from uncultivated fruits, vegetables, tubers, nuts and seeds
>and tended to be consumed while they were gathered (2); consequently
>carbohydrates generally were consumed separate from protein and fat.
>The concept of a regular sit down meal with a wide variety of foods,
>both animal and plant based would have been a rare occurrance for most
>pre-modern hominids and many contemporary hunter gatherers.
> Recent data has shown that the ubiquitious high fat, high carb meal of
>western societies worsens elements of the post- prandial lipid profile
>more so than simple high fat meals (3,4 ). Consequently, it may be
>that separation of macronutrients similar to our evolutionary experience
>may be an effective dietary procedure to prevent some of the health
>shortcomings of the traditional high fat, high carb meal of the western
>world. There was a series of popular diet books in the 1930's in the
>USA which advocated exactly this eating pattern (5,6 ). Clearly, the
>separation of fat from carbohydrate has many evolutionary clues pointing
>in its direction for improving health, but to date there have been no
>clinical trials evaluating this concept.
>
> REFERENCES
>
>1. Ingold T. The significance of storage in hunting societies. Man
>1983;18:553-71.
>
>2. Hawkes K et al. Why hunters gather: optimal foraging and the Ache
>of eastern Paraguay. Am Ethnologist 1982;9:379-98.
>
>3. Chen IYD et al. Effect of variations in dietary fat and
>carbohydrate intake on postprandial lipemia in patients with noninsulin
>dependent diabetes mellitus. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 1993;76:347-51.
>
>4. Chen IYD et al. Effect of acute variations in dietary fat and
>carbohydrate intake on retinyl ester content of intestinally derived
>lipoproteins. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 1992;74:28-32.
>
>5. Hay WH. Weight control. London Harrap, 1936.
>
>6. Hay WH. A New Health Era. Mount Pocono, PA, Pocono Haven, 1936.
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of PALEODIET Digest - 12 May 1997 to 13 May 1997
>****************************************************
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Staffan Lindeberg M.D. Ph.D. Dept of Community Health Sciences, Lund
University, Mailing address: Dr Staffan Lindeberg, Primary Health Care
Centre, Sjobo, S-22738 Sweden, +46 416 28140, Fax +46 416 18395
http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/paleodiet/sl1.shtml
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