I've also seen a BBC program where they said that
most Europeans actually produce an enzyme that
breaks down alcohol, as opposed to Asians, among
whom only a small percentage produce the same enzyme.

They hypothesized that alcohol played a part in the European's
evolution, mainly as a water sterilizer (for Asians, the means of water
sterilization was boiling, ergo, tea). This, they say, explains the fact
that Europeans have greater tolerance for alcohol.

Of course chocolate is *probably* not paleo. Or is it?






6/10/2003 1:50:56 AM, gts <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Jim Swayze wrote:
>
>> But I see little reason to believe that either chocolate or
>> alcohol are paleo.
>
>Clearly cocoa products are not paleo. Cocoa is a New World food. It was
>first consumed probably by the Aztecs or their ancestors in Central or South
>America. As I recall Europeans did not know of cocoa until the Spaniards
>learned of it while conquering the Aztecs. And of course the Aztecs were not
>a paleolithic people. Humans did not appear in the Americas until 10-15
>thousand years ago.
>
>I agree however with those who consider very modest amounts of alcohol to be
>paleo (the operative words here are "very modest").
>
>Fermented fruit is prevalent in nature. It seems likely that even our most
>primitive ancestors in Africa consumed fermenting fruit while scavenging for
>food, probably even before meat was added to the diet. Also microbes found
>in the human gastrointestinal tract produce alcohol constantly. The human
>body has even evolved an enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, the purpose of which
>is the metabolism of alcohol.
>
>Consumption of alcohol would also have served an evolutionary purpose:
>alcohol (aka ethanol) prevents the growth of bacteria. Food and drink that
>contained a bit of alcohol were less likely to spread bacteria and disease,
>giving an evolutionary advantage to paleolithic humans who were adapted to
>alcohol.
>
>This same principle was later used consciously by sailors: the sailor's
>drink known as "grog" was a mildly alcoholic drink designed to help prevent
>the spread of disease aboard sailing ships. Grog was not a recreational
>drink of sailors; it was a mandatory replacement for ordinary drinking
>water.
>
>-gts
>
>