> >There are groups all over the world, from India to
> >Europe to North America who's diet is comprised
> mostly
> >of grain/legume mixtures.
>
> I am not aware of any groups of people who eat a
> grain- and legume-based
> diet and who can be considered 'healthy'. Could you
> please provide
> references (or descriptions) of such groups?

The key word here I think you missed is "mostly". Even
in the orient where grains make up most (and in some
cases almost all) of the diet, the folks "supplement"
their diets with occasional meat. I am not aware of
any populations who "naturally" eat ONLY grain/legume
mixtures as their protein sources. Vegetarianism seems
to be a (bad) lifestyle/philosophical choice.

> I also wonder whether collection of shellfish was
> classified as hunting or
> gathering -- this is a distinction which has skewed
> the results of similar
> studies in favour of gathering. If this is the case,
> the figures would be
> even more indicative that primitive peoples choose
> animals as their primary
> source of food.

Good point. And I agree with you that primitives would
choose meat if available.

> I would certainly not expect the Church to undertake
> a study with the
> intention of proving that vegetarian diets are
> unhealthy, nor to publish
> the results of a study that came to that conclusion.

That's the rub, isn't it? A group that is
pro"whatever" can come up with a study to validate
their philosophy and invalidate the opposing view. It
seems like about a year ago a new study was realased
every week about the positive/negative effects of
coffee, every study contradicting the previous.
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