Agreed. I call the assumption of food scarcity the Hobbesian Assumption.

Jim Swayze
www.fireholecanyon.com
Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 29, 2009, at 11:25 AM, "Cooley, Brad" <[log in to unmask] 
 > wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:07:47 +0100, Geoffrey Purcell
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Re hunter-gatherers:- One problem with that theory is that hunter- 
>> gatherers
>> ate a diet rather low in AGEs. For example, advanced glycation end
>> products/AGEs and other heat-created toxins are found in even higher
>> amounts in well-cooked foods such as grilled meats/fried foods etc,  
>> whereas
>> hunter-gatherers mostly just boiled their foods in water, doing  
>> much less
>> damage to their foods, and thus reducing AGE-content.
>
> Many HGs also roasted food directly over flame or slow-cooked in hot  
> coals
> and rocks.
>
> . Plus, due to frequent
>> famine, hunter-gatherers were subject, by implication, to a  
>> lifelong caloric
>> restriction diet which would also help to reduce average daily   
>> intake of
> AGEs,
>> thus lowering susceptibility to arthritis etc.
>
> You have made this statement before, which is false.  Generally HGs  
> lived in
> an environment with a surplus of food.  Sure, at times food was  
> scarce, but
> that was the exception to the rule.  Being nomadic and eating  
> literally
> hundreds of different types of foods helped mitigate the risk of  
> starvation
> compared to their agricultural counterparts.  Anecdotally HGs such  
> as the
> Inuit would eat huge amounts of food, so no caloric restriction there.