On Mon, 20 May 2002 14:35:30 -0400, Kathleen Lunson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Knowing the perfect diet is >1. impossible, as you have found out given the proliferation of conflicting opinions, and This is almost exactly what I was going to say. I don't believe there is any such thing as the perfect diet, since a. scientists disagree about things and b. we are all different anyway. Even if scientists did agree that there was some amazing wonder food, some people would be allergic to it or wouldn't like it. So what each of us has to do is find the ideal diet for ourselves, which will depend on many factors including tastes, budget, and cooking facilities. The amount of time, energy and money each of us wants to spend on this will vary from person to person. It is your choice. For example, there's been quite a lot on this list lately about the benefits of fish oil as opposed to flax oil, and I think the general consensus is that fish oil is better. But through trial and error, I have found that flax oil (Udo's choice) suits me better - I prefer the taste(!), and it makes my skin clearer and softer than fish oil did. So I'm prepared to go against the consensus on this one. As for Peat, he barely distinguishes between omega 3 and omega 6, whereas the rest of the literature is very clear that there is an important difference between them. He says that EFAs aren't essential at all, and cites a 1948 biochemistry textbook, which I don't find very convincing. As for his other references, I haven't read them but I see that many of them refer to 'dietary lipids' or 'dietary fat', and I wouldn't be surprised if many of them used standard vegetable oils in their experiments rather than the sort we take as supplements. Perhaps we could ask Cordain what he thinks about Peat's article? Finally, when Jim was talking about the 90% and the 10%, he wasn't referring to the proportion of fats in the diet, but rather that simply by switching to the paleo diet you are already making a huge improvement to your health. 90% is just a rough estimate of that benefit. Sometimes after reading the posts here I find myself worrying about the details, so I for one find it useful to be reminded that it doesn't have to be complicated unless you want it to be. Jo