----- Original Message -----
From: "Amadeus Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 4:54 AM
Subject: Re: [P-F] cholesterol and paleo


> Jens Wilkinson wrote:
>
> > Finally, serum cholesterol levels for hunter-gatherers
> > are astonishingly low by modern standards--in the
> > 101-146 mg/dl range. (See Eaton et al. [1988, pp.
> > 742-745] for the tables the preceding data comes
> > from.)
> >
> > If one's goal is to try to regain the readings of our
> > paleo ancestors, then what is to be made of this?
>
> Then you have a sure sign that the "paleo emulation diet" how is is
> practized by the most - by eating predominately farmed animals -
> is on the wrong track.
>
> Farmed animals aren't paleo food items.
> The main reason IMO is their fat composition, which differs very much
> from wild animals (and plants).

Of course no one has ever done a cholesterol test on a Neanderthal or a
Cro-Magnon human living an ice-age lifestyle. And has anyone ever done a
body composition analysis on an auroch, a mastodon, an Irish elk, or a cave
bear? They're all extinct. Farmed animals have a lot of fat, but most people
leave quite a bit on the plate (except certain people on this list!), and a
lot of it never gets anywhere near a plate (rendered for soap, etc.).
Paleolithic folks probably consumed every bit of the fat, and there may have
been a lot more on some of those extinct big game as compared with deer, for
example. Isn't the major percentage of fat in wild game also SFA and MUFA,
as in farmed animals? Farmed animals just have more of it than today's wild
game. In grain-fed animals the PUFA portion is skewed more towards n6 and
away from n3, but we make up for that by eating grass-fed beefalo that we
buy, and grass-fed mutton and lamb that we raise, and by eating some Alaskan
salmon. Has any study ever shown that eating a lot of saturated fat has ANY
negative health consequence in the context of a low or moderate carb diet
with low n6 and lots of physical activity? I believe not. And the
down-regulation of LDL receptors in the liver doesn't qualify, even if it
did win someone the Nobel prize. It's just a partial bit of information, not
tied to anyone's health or longevity.
Hilary McClure
Danville, Vermont