An acquaintance of mine has ankylosing spondylitis.  He has the associated gene (HLA-B27), the
beginning of the curved spine and quite a lot of lower back pain.  As ankylosing spondylitis is an
auto-immune disease, I thought there may be a diet-related cause.  He says he's considered this,
but in his research has seen descriptions of paleolithic (and earlier) skeletons with the bone
malformations associated with the condition.  There is an assertion of evidence for Paleolithic
arthritis on Ronald Hoffman's site (see link below).  Personally, I have seen descriptions of
Neolithic skeletons with arthritic growths, but nothing from the pre-agricultural period.

A web search led me to this site;

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/rwgully/theories/mcferran06_protocol.htm

which takes a paleo-diet approach.  Joseph Mercola takes a similar line, tying his
recommendations (made when dealing specifically with rheumatoid arthritis, not AS) to the
Metabolic Typing Diet which is also mild paleo.  Maddy Mason took the same direction on this list
in 2001.

A more complex approach is that at:

http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/112

who writes: "there may be a nutritional component, an allergic component, and an infectious
component to the disease"

So, before I recommend a paleo diet (plus exercise and stretching, of course) for an arthritic
condition, can anyone point me to evidence of arthritis in Paleolithic societies – evidence that
would tend to suggest that a paleo diet was not necessarily a part- or full-solution?

Keith