----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrienne Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, 31 January 2003 3:26
Subject: Re: A Cordain Rebuttal


In a message dated 1/30/03 9:20:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> http://www.paleodiet.com/CordainRebuttal.htm

Thank you for posting this link.  I was very impressed with Cordain's
thoughtful rebuttal.   However, I still have a few questions.

First, in his rebuttal, Cordain states:

" In the third paragraph of her review, Fallon once again mistakenly
suggests
that we indicated that hunter-gatherers ate low fat diets. This never has
been the case. Apparently, she has not bothered to read our paper (Cordain
L, Brand Miller J, Eaton SB, Mann N, Holt SHA, Speth JD. Plant to animal
subsistence ratios and macronutrient energy estimations in world wide
hunter-gatherer diets. Am J Clin Nutr 2000, 71:682-92) in which we say “Our
analysis showed that whenever and wherever it was ecologically possible,
hunter-gatherers consumed high amounts (45-65% of energy) of animal food.
And
“the fat intake would be comparable or higher (28-58% energy) than values
currently consumed in modern, industrialized societies”

Yet on page 11 of The Paleo Diet, Cordain lists the fat content of the paleo
diet to be 28-47%.  I'm wondering why the 11% drop from what Cordain cites
from his paper quoted from above?  I remember asking this question a while
back but do not recall receiving an answer. If anyone has an explanation,
please post it.  Otherwise, I will e-mail Cordain.

Second issue concerns Cordain's claim that lean protein has the greatest
satiety factor.   However, when I tried Cordain's suggestion of snacking on
lean turkey to curb hunger, it only made me hungrier.  It seems that for me,
hunger is killed much more effectively with fat -- especially saturated fat.
I thought that one explanation for why I get hungry from lean protein is
because it can stimulate the release of insulin whereas fat has no effect on
insulin.  Am I totally off-base here??

Also, even if one accepts Cordain's theory that paleo man ate much less
saturated fat on a daily basis than modern man, don't the suggested "good"
fat sources suggested by Cordain ie flaxseed, fish oil, walnuts and other
nuts provide us with far more polyunsaturated (and  thus unstable, prone to
oxygenation and therefore cancer promoting)  fats than would have been eaten
by paleo man?