Not long ago, I posted a question on the Paleodiet Symposium list
concerning the striking figure of 80% protein in the (almost all
animal food) diet of coastal aborigines.  This was the
experimental study in which urban diabetic aborigines lived with
traditional aborigines for a period, with the objective of seeing
how this affected their diabetes (and general health).  I don't
yet have a copy of the original article, but I've requested one
and should receive it soon.

Anyway, I was struck by the 80% protein figure, which seems much
higher than what I've seen for any other group -- and higher than
what we are supposed to be able to tolerate.  Cordain replied and
explained that the caloric intake of this group of aborigines was
only about 1200 kcal/day.  If 80% of that was protein, that means
they were eating about 240g of protein a day, a modest amount of
fat, and a tiny amount of carbs.  The so-called "protein ceiling"
is an absolute number, roughly 300g/day for most people, not a
percentage.  So these aborigines were eating close to all the
protein they could handle, and little else.

But the fact that adult aborigines were living on 1200 kcal/day
is itself remarkable.

Todd Moody
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