<<  Perhaps in more southern climates. Perhaps people, when they migrated
through the tundra, had adapted to that lifestyle, while people, say in
Africa, didn't have to. >>

People of a "plant" metabolism do tend to be from more temperate climates,
where wild plant foods are available year-round.


------------------------------


<<From:    Ben Balzer
<<I think this is not true. Neolithic diets have not affected our genome for 2
reasons:
1. Their adverse effects eg diabetes, heat disease, cancer, don't appear
until middle age or old age, and this is therefore AFTER the age of MAXIMUM
REPRODUCTION. Genetics is only influenced by stressors that affect the
organism PRIOR to the age of reproduction. Also, these diseases therefore
didn't really appear so much until life expectancy improved in the last
century- although he Ides note that they are present in the remains of all
agrarian cultures (they're into paleopathology in a big way- see Protein
power and the new edition).>>

Check out Weston Price's book called "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration".
There are countless examples of socities eating their traditional whole
foods, untouched by technology so to speak, and these people are in excellent
health and live to ripe ages. Some of these are hunter/gatherer, some are
more just gatherers (i.e. the plant-type metabolisms of temperate regions),
and some have even adapted well to grains!

<<2. Insufficient number of generations for adaptation to such relatively mild
toxicity (and therefore a weak stressor at least in earlier life).>>

Are you underestimating our capabilities to metabolically adapt over 10,000
years? That's alot of years. Even if the human genome hasn't changed, our
metabolisms certainly can adapt