On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:09:22 +1000, Phosphor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

So you have read the RDA percentages at 2400 kcal, mostly above 100%.
For the wild counterparts and for more energy (in walking people) it will
have been considerably higher even.

Your concerns.

>1. iron. very little non-heme iron is absorbable, somewhere between 2-5%.

Heme iron (animal) is force-assimilated, plant iron absorption is ruled by
the body. This is an advantage. Iron can be too high and this is a problem
particularly for men (men don't have an iron sink).

>2. vitamin A. the amount you supply is zero of course, since there is none
>in plant foods. I'm not sure if your figures supply retinol equivalents,
but
>they are half of the 'death-camp survival' RDA amounts. less than 20,000
>units is less than desirable.

Plant vitamin A is carotenes. It's amount varies widely with the amount of
*fruit* eaten. You'll surely find very high carotene AA fruits. I just
used the apple example.
Carotenes have the advantage to work as a antioxidant as well,
and the same advantage as with iron. The body can judge to build as much
retinol as required, avioding vitamin A toxicity.

>3. vitamin D. none.  the only viable food source is fish livers. depends on
>the purpose of this exercise i guess, but you need to be outside for a fair
>time in the tropics or subtropics to get what you need. not an issue for
>desert aborigines i agree.

vitamin D isn't really a vitamin. It's built in the sunlight. No issue for
paleo people. They weren't sitting in building the whole day.

>4. selenium. best source is marine mammals...500mcg is a good amount to go
>for. im pretty sure you cant possibly get this from a vegetarian diet.

But where to look for a marine mammal in the savannah?
"best source" isn't the kriteria.
The source has to be reliable and sufficient.
For non over-exploited soils like in paleo items (as opposed to agricultural
soil which may be depleted) selenium and many other trace minerals will
be plenty. Agricultural depletion betrays plants as well as the animals fed
with the plants, of course.

>5. Vitamin B12.

I think this *is* a topic for vegans.
I think also than the natural synthesis in intestinal areas may be even
sufficient for vegans, given a well working gut flora.
(See http://www.veganoutreach.org/health/b12.html ).
Anyway no paleo man was a vegan.
They ate small animals.

>6. protein quality. are there limiting amino acids? you may know off the
>top
>of your head as i don't

Cereals have one limiting amino acid, which limits a pure cereal protein to
a usability of 55%, compared to egg (meat reaches 89%, it has other limiting
amino acids).
However this amino acid is plenty in other plants namely legumes.
Nothing to think about in a varied paleo diet.
Also not an issue as protein is plenty as soon as you eat unextracted plants
for all calories. The less dense, the more protein per calorie.
Paleo food items all have plenty of protein. Protein defficiency can
come only from food extractions like white flour, sugar (including honey),
fats.

>7. calcium. absorption much less in a diet low in saturated fats.

I haven't heard about SFAs helping calcium absorption.
I calcium fat soluble?
Green plants are *the* paleo calcium source, including for meat based diets.

>I suggest you substitute ...   this mght
>bring up a better result.

I'm sure the great natural wild plants are much higher in many aspects than
the agricultural counterparts. This was mentioned in the AA plant food
article too.

Amadeus