Thanks, Todd, that's exactly what I was looking for!

John Pavao

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On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, John C. Pavao wrote:

> Someone recently postulated that perhaps the reason people need calcium
> supplementation is that calcium levels are adversely affected by the modern
> diet.  This would suggest that calcium supplementation should be largely
> unnecessary on a paleolithic diet.
>
> Can anybody back this up or refute it without quoting the family physician?

The answer seems to be that dietary grains interfere with calcium
absorption, and mineral absorption in general, because the phytic
acid in the grains binds with the mineral ions.  Thus, a
grain-rich diet creates a need for more dietary calcium, to
compensate for what the phytic acid is stealing.

But if you're not eating grains, you get to use most or all of
the calcium that you do ingest, so your actual dietary calcium
requirement is less than what it would appear to be on a
grain-based diet.

This argument, with references, was recently explained in
excellent detail by Loren Cordain on the Paleodiet Symposium,
which is searchable from the Paleodiet web page
(www.panix.com/~paleodiet).

Todd Moody
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