On Wed, 29 May 2002, Jim Swayze wrote:

> Todd > ...we can point to populations with very low rates of heart disease
> whose intake of foreign proteins is nevertheless high (e.g., Masai).
>
> I don't think the Masai are a good example.  The Masai traditional diet
> contains only one non-paleo component: milk.   And I suspect that the milk
> from natural, free range, grass eating (rather than the milk from modern
> grain fed, hormone injected) cattle, while not paleo, might be a lesser
> offending non-paleo food.

Around here, milk is considered to be a major source of foreign
proteins.  The Masai consume large amounts of it.  If you have
some reason to think that the milk proteins from the Masai cattle
are less foreign, then please share it.  That milk might be a
lesser offending food, but I see no reason to think it is a
lesser source of foreign proteins than supermarket milk.

> I'd put grains as the biggest sources of foreign
> proteins, with natural cow's milk somewhere down the list.   Do you have a
> population where the ingestion of grains is high yet the rates of heart
> disease is low?

Okinawa (rice, noodles).  The Tarahumara Indians of South America
subsist mainly on corn and beans.  See
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/Insulin.athlete.html for
example.

> And perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't find your conclusion that
> foreign proteins don't influence heart disease rates the least bit obvious.

Why not.  Heart disease rates have gone up without an obvious
increase in consumption of foreign proteins.  This means that
consumption of foreign proteins explains little or none of the
increase in heart disease.

Todd Moody
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