>   At one time, everyone was a Hunter-Gather. >>
>
> Right, and SINCE then, some people have evolved to metabolically handle an
> agriculturist diet better than a high meat/fat diet.  (agriculturist
meaning
> mostly low-purine plant foods, doesn't have to include grains, beans or
other
> newer foods) These people are well-adapted to a plant-based diet, and do
not
> do well on a high purine/high cholesterol diet. We can't ignore this
> metabolic subset. Genetics have changed since paleo times, fortunately.

I think this is not true. Neolithic diets have not affected our genome for 2
reasons:
1. Their adverse effects eg diabetes, heat disease, cancer, don't appear
until middle age or old age, and this is therefore AFTER the age of MAXIMUM
REPRODUCTION. Genetics is only influenced by stressors that affect the
organism PRIOR to the age of reproduction. Also, these diseases therefore
didn't really appear so much until life expectancy improved in the last
century- although he Ides note that they are present in the remains of all
agrarian cultures (they're into paleopathology in a big way- see Protein
power and the new edition).

2. Insufficient number of generations for adaptation to such relatively mild
toxicity (and therefore a weak stressor at least in earlier life).

Grain related illnesses are not a great problem for people who start
reproducing at 14 and have a life expectancy of 25-35 years. This is also a
reason that paleo diet is not much of an issue for developing countries who
might have trouble affording them in the first place.

Dr. Ben Balzer, family physician