On Sat, 7 Mar 1998, Binnie Betten wrote:

> Could someone please tell me if the following items are legal paleo-foods:
> cocoanut oil, walnut oil, sesame seeds & flax seeds.

A comment about walnut oil...

Since walnuts are edible raw, walnut oil should be okay.
However, when you extract the oil from the walnut by processing
you do have an "unnatural" product, in that the quantities
ingested by prehistoric people would have been strictly limited
by the amount of walnuts they could eat.  Thus walnut oil falls
into the category of "unnaturally concentrated" foods.  Fruit
juices fall into the same category, as do dried fruits.

Neanderthin is a bit inconsistent on this particular matter.  For
example, it urges caution in the consumption of dried fruits (p.
55), but allows the use of frozen apple juice concentrate
(p. 105).  The rendered tallow used to make pemmican is also
unnaturally concentrated.  You'll have to make your own judgment
call about these things.

Another thing to consider is that walnut oil is *highly*
oxidation-prone when separated from the walnuts.  This means that
it is probably likely to cause oxidative damage in the cells of
your body, and there is some evidence that such damage could
cause cancers and/or atherosclerosis.  I personally would not use
walnut oil for cooking, but an occasional few drops for
flavoring/aroma should be okay.  I feel the same way about sesame
oil.

Todd Moody
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