Denis:

>As you mention the subject, I would only recommend you to read
>"Lactose malabsorption among Masai children of East Africa"  American
>Journal of Clinical Nutrition;32;4 779-82; 1979.

Unfortunately, this review is not available at Paris VII's "bibliotheque
de biologie-recherche".

>62 % of 21 Masai examined were malabsorbers of lactose as measured by the
>lactose tolerance test, even though they did not show sign of this
>intolerance.

If they don't show sign of intolerance, what's wrong?
In the classic literature about lactose, the word "intolerance" usually
refers to symptoms like diarrhea. Even worse, one of my friends (who is
chinese) vomits each time he drinks milk (but concentrate milk in his
coffee is OK). The proportion of lactose intolerants is much higher in the
African population than in Europe. Even Black Americans have not yet adapted
to milk consumption (not really surprising; 300 years is short in the
evolutionary scale).

Anyway, the fact that something is not completely digested doesn't mean
it is harmful. I read in a book that only 50% of raw starch is digested,
whereas assimilation of cooked starch is much more efficient. However,
Burger reported a case of a raw potato bulimia...

But maybe I should read a bit more about that subject before discussing
it more thoroughly.

>I don't think you can compare milks from different species and naturally
>grown against artificially selected fruits. The scope of the "alienation
>process" is simply not the same. Human milk and cattle milk are radically
>different in the very nature of their protein and in the relative proportion
>of their nutrients.

I wasn't comparing with wild vs artificially selected fruits, but with
fruits from the original African biotope vs American fruits, like avocadoes.
The fact that avos don't have any taste change for a long time raw-foodist
like Kirt shows that maybe the instinct is not efficient on some items
Burger considers as "original". Same thing for high sea fish (maybe).

>>but I also
>>personally know cases of allergy to seafood and to strawberries.

>Do you mean by longtime adherents of instincto ?

I have never met any instincto, and only one of my friends is a raw-foodist
(he is vegan).
My cousin has allergical reactions to seafood, cooked or not, and I don't
know whether the symptoms would disappear if he went all-raw.

>Taking into consideration the fact that there are over 60 species of edible
>cereals on earth, I would kindly advise Mr TU not to bother anymore about
>reintroducing this one...

I thought Burger had banned ALL cereals; but I agree that we should be
suspicious towards wheat, since that grain was selected to make bread, and
baking is easier with a high content in gluten.
Anyway, among the 7 or 8 sprouted grains I have tried so far, the only ones
I like are lentils, mung beans and kamut (it is an ancient variety of wheat
that grew in Egypt). Kamut tastes very differently from modern wheat, and
has probably passed through fewer selections. Maybe I will get rid of it
one day, but not before I have included a few more grains as staples.


Cheers,

Jean-Louis