On Thu, 6 May 1999, Richard Archer wrote:

> There appears to be a significant trend towards more polyunsaturated fats
> in game meats than domestic meats, and in particular there is more
> arachidonic fatty acid (AA) and linolenic fatty acid (w-3).
>
> Also, domestic meats contain 10 to 20 times more fat overall than game
> meats. This would suggest that in order to eat a similar fat:protein ratio
> as paleolithic man, we would have to choose only the leanest cuts of
> domestic meat.

I think there are a few things to be noted about these figures.
First, unless I'm mistaken the USDA fat numbers refer to muscle
fat, which is the fat on the "edible portions" of the meat as
consumers tend to think of it.  They do not include bone marrow
and organ tissue as fat sources.  Second, paleolithic fat intake
(particularly saturated fat) would have varied seasonally, with
animals killed in late fall having more of it.

The intramuscular "marbling" fat of choice cuts is a result of
overfeeding (i.e., "finishing") and relatively little activity,
and would have been completely absent in wild animals.

Supposedly, marrow and organ fats are rich in monounsaturated
fats, which might help to explain why people do well with olive
oil and nuts, which are also high in MUFA.  Actually, plain old
beef fat is high in MUFA too, but also high in saturates.

It seems to me that while some actual paleo diets might have had
total fat levels comparable to or even higher than SAD levels,
the percentage of saturates would have been much lower.  Cordain
has emphasized this point a number of times on the Paleodiet
list.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]