I said:
>>Most of these questions can never be answered, but it's easy to imagine
>>our distant hunter-gatherer forbears liking flax.
>
>You've made some good points, but I find it difficult to imagine any animal
>"liking" a food source that acts as a laxative.  From my experience, even
>small amounts of flax bring about a pronounced laxative effect.
>B. Lischer

Hi, Bernard

It hasn't been that severe a laxative for me. Also, so many of their foods
were high-fiber that I imagine they developed a good tolerance for these
things.

On the other hand, if I eat even a small piece of broccoli or cabbage, I
get bowel cramps and gas. If I persist, I get diarrhea. It might as well
contain Epsom salts. So this is one animal that doesn't care for all those
healthy paleolithically benign cruciferous vegetables.

Just natural variation, is my guess.

Susan