Todd raised the issue of the Tarahumaras and their atrocious health. Since
they have eaten corn since year dot, the conclusion may be that the serious
health consequences may be due simply to overal protein quality rather than
foreign proteins [though in the case of us westerners it could of course be
both].  here is an intersting observation on the effects of protein quality:


The most striking thing about the film, apart from the clinical details of
kwashiorkor which are well demonstrated, is the contrast between the
meat-eating and carbohydrate-eating tribes encountered: the hunting and
pastoral Masai with their herds of animals, tall, well-built, slim and
healthy; the agricultural Kikuyu, grinding a wretched subsistence from the
soil, puny but often corpulent, disease-ridden, their children bloated with
kwashiorkor, flies swarming round the sores on their faces. Fed solely on a
sort of corn-starch porridge, these Kikuyu children were showing the full
effects of protein deficiency at an early age.
http://www.ourcivilisation.com/fat/chap5.htm

andrew
aust.