Adrienne Smith wrote:

>We've discussed on this list before how the explorer. V. Stefannson ate an
>all-meat diet during a year long experiment and did not suffer any apparant
>ill effects.  Does anyone know if he had any mineral deficiencies or bone
>loss? Apparantly, "native Eskimo people have one of the very highest rates
>of osteoporosis in the world"" (194). (See Mazess, R., "Bone Mineral
>Content of North Alaskan Eskimos," Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 27:916,
>1974.)
>
>

I don't know that Stefannson and Anderson had any bone problems during
that year, but it was reported that they both were in negative calcium
balance the whole time, i.e., they were excreting more calcium than they
were taking in.  For the record, while I think that the Stefansson
experiment and the Inuit diet show that humans can live on a diet of
almost all meat/fish and fat, I don't believe it is warranted to
conclude that such a diet is ideal or should be held as a model of paleo
eating.  Another thing that we discussed some years back is that the
Inuit appeared to age before their time.  This is consistent with
laboratory studies which show that ketosis markely increases free
radical production in the body, given the "free radical theory of
aging."  In terms of their low plant food consumption, the Inuit must be
regarded as outliers, relative to the hunter-gatherer norm.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]