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On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:49, Balzer, Ben wrote:


>AJCN Current issue has another major blockbuster paper:
>Cordain et al. "Origins and evolution of the Western diet implications for
>the 21st century",
>free full text download from
>http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles.htm

>
>Keith can you forard this to the Paleofood list please?
>
There has been some discussion of the paper over the past few days on the Paleofood list, Ben.
For those who do not also subscribe to that list, here's what I posted:

It's more a comprehensive review article than a new study. Loren & Co manage to weave 172
references into an article that is accessible to non-specialists (with a current medical dictionary to
hand).  The article goes through Loren's main message: three quarters of the current US diet
comprises foods generally unavailable to preagricultural hominins. He brings up-to-date his
earlier work on

** the developing disease profile,

** sugars (sensible stuff on honey here),

** refined vegetable oils (see his website for his recent comments on flax oil and canola oil),

** salt (his references point to a lower level of salt use in the Paleolithic than I had expected),

** sodium:potassium ratio (a new one on me)

** fat in meat (this is very thorough, but I am still not fully convinced all the evidence is in on (a)
the saturated fat content or (b) the omega-3 content of Paleolithic diets. His article seems to
assume that H-Gs ate all the meat in a carcase and not that the people might have picked out
what they preferred and left the rest),

** fatty acid composition (useful for omega-3s, but no discussion of fish, though they are listed in
his tables)

** macronutrient composition (this includes his comments on the low-carb diets),

** Glycemic load (it's not clear if this work allows for the unbalanced, opportunistic diet of
nomadic H-Gs who might eat nothing one day only to gorge themselves on meat the next few
days and fruit for a few days later)

** acid-base balance (Loren's been pursuing this one for a while, though I'm not aware of anyone
else who does so with the same passion.  The biochemistry is beyond me, but the argument is
convincing).
--------------------------

Ben's right; this article is special.  It brings so much together in a few pages that it deserves wider
circulation.  Here's what I have done.  On Thursday last week I went to see my doctor for my
annual check-up; I left a copy with him.  I sent a copy to a specialist who I'd had occasion to see a
year ago.  I handed a copy to an acquaintance who is medical director of the National Heart
Foundation. I sent one to my son who's studying medicine interstate (he doesn't need convincing!)
and I have given copies to four retired scientists, two of whom have already asked me for extra
copies. There are more people I'll be passing it to over the next few weeks.

My only misgiving is that the article is focused exclusively on food.  "Fitness" depends upon
complex and extraordinarily complicated and varying relationships between the organism (e.g.,
me as a specimen of Homo sapiens) and the food I eat, but also how that food is used, that is, the
activity and movement I undertake over time, my mental health, my social interactions and the
external physical environment.

Keith

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