To: All Paleodieters
From: Sally Fallon and Mary G Enig, PhD
Re: Queries by Brian J MacLean
We would agree that few conclusions can be made from the scanty evidence
available on Paleolithic man. If we are to use anthropological data to guide
us in determining optimum diets for modern man, we would do better to make
careful and in depth studies of the dietary habits of living isolated
primitive groups. We emphasize the words “careful” and “in depth,” because
cursory examinations often miss important details, such as food preparation
methods or “unusual “ dietary choices like insects.
In the Human Diet Series we are writing for the Price-Pottenger Nutrition
Foundation quarterly journal,1 we have noted certain underlying
characteristics of traditional diets including a preference for animal protein
and fat (often to the point of gorging on these foods when they are
available); use of animal bones (or shellfish shells) to make pastes or
broths; careful preparation of grains and legumes to neutralize anti-nutrients
commonly found in these foods; and the widespread practice of lacto-
fermentation to make enzyme-enriched and nutrient-enhanced condiments,
preserves and beverages.
Milk products and grains need not be avoided; they have nourished healthy
population groups for thousands of years. But care must be taken in
production and preparation methods. Modern whole grain products contain
mineral blocking phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors; modern milk products have
been denatured and stripped of their valuable enzyme content through
pasteurization; they come from cows that have been bred to produce high-
protein, low-fat milk, and that are fed inappropriate feed. A return to
traditional farming and preparation methods would solve the vast majority of
problems association with milk and grain consumption. (See www.realmilk.com)
The people of Hunza consume large amounts of whole goat milk products. Goat
milk is higher in fat, and contains more saturated fat, than cows milk. The
people of Vilcabamba consume whole cows milk and the principle meat is fatty
pork. The long lived people of Soviet Georgia consume a diet high in animal
protein and fat from whole milk products and pork. In fact, the greatest
longevity among inhabitants of Soviet Georgia is found in those who consume
the most meat and fat.2
No good studies have shown that calorie restriction contributes to a longer
life in humans. The Framingham study found that those who consumed the
greatest number of calories weighed the least, had the lowest serum
cholesterol and were the most physically active.3 Animal studies showing
reduced numbers of tumors in animals on restricted-calorie diets also found
that the restricted-calorie groups had larger and more virulent tumors than
those on nonrestricted diets.4
The Cornell Study did not find that consumption of red meat was associated
with increased rates of cancer, nor of any disease; nor did the study find
that large amounts of dietary plant protein correlated with reduced rates of
disease (with the exception of a weak correlation of with less nasal cancer
and less TB), in spite of claims made by the study’s authors.
In any event, the Cornell China study is seriously flawed, and cannot be used
to determine the relationship between diet and health. For example, egg
consumption is given as ranging from averages of about 15 grams per day in
the northern most parts of China to amounts bordering on zero in the
impoverished area around Sian in central China. In the Shanghai region the
average is given as 12 grams per day. (An egg weighs about 50 to 60 grams.)
These figures are at odds with statistics that show per capita egg consumption
in all of China to be roughly one third that of the United States5, as well as
with another study showing per capita egg consumption of 50 to 80 grams per
day in the northern part of China6, and yet another showing egg consumption
as high as 340 grams per day in lactating women.7 American egg consumption
is roughly 40 grams per day, yet the Cornell study showed egg consumption at
expected ratios in only two underpopulated northern areas and in the Shanghai
region. Such low values for egg consumption suggest that the participants in
the Cornell study were not truly representative of the Chinese population—yet
consumption figures for this nonrepresentative group are correlated with data
for total overall mortality. No valid conclusions can be drawn from this
methodology.
The study indicated that egg eaters had more cancers of the brain, lung and
bowel, perhaps because large numbers of them live in the polluted Shanghai
region. This example highlights yet another problem with the Cornell study,
namely that it encompasses huge numbers of variables, making it impossible to
draw conclusions about cause and effect. Much more meaningful would have been
a comparison of egg consumption and disease patterns within Shanghai itself,
so that other variables would have been constant. (Nevertheless, we can’t
help pointing out that the study found no significant correlation of egg
consumption with heart disease.)
We wonder whether the Cornell researchers were dismayed or amused when they
found that meat consumption had no correlation, either positive or negative,
with any disease, but a strong correlation with the taking of snuff! (Because
meat consumption is very high among herdsmen in the western most province,
where tobacco is taken in the form of snuff.)
Hunter-gatherer societies do indeed value animal fats as necessary for
successful reproduction. As both Weston Price and Francis Pottenger predicted,
human fertility has declined with the advent of commercial vegetable oils and
the gradual disappearance of the fat soluble vitamins exclusive to animal
fats. This may send the population reductionists into paroxysms of glee, but
it is a tragedy for those couples desiring children and unable to conceive
(currently an estimated 25% of all US couples.) With decreased fertility comes
an increase in birth defects, low birth weight babies and developmental
problems, including learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders.
Better to encourage a diet that ensures the production of healthy, well-formed
children and allow population restriction to be a matter of free choice by
well-informed and conscientious parents.
1. Health and Healing Wisdom, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, San
Diego, CA, (619) 574-7763 (Eskimos, Vol 20, No 3; America, Vol 20, No 4;
Africa, Vol 21 No 1; Cave Man, Vol 21, No 2; China, Vol 21, No 3; England, Vol
21, No 4; Korea, Vol 22, No 1; Australian Aborigines, Vol 22, No 2; Thailand,
Vol 22, No 3)
2. Pitskhelauri, G Z, The Long Living of Soviet Georgia, 1982, Human Sciences
Press, New York, NY
3. Castelli, William, Archives of Internal Medicine, Jul 1992,
152:7:1371-1372
4. Mary, need reference.
5. Sylvan Wittwer, et al, Feeding a Billion: Frontiers of Chinese
Agriculture, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, 1987
6. William E Connor, et al, Human and Clinical Nutrition, 1995:2993-2994
7. Z Y Chen, et al, Lipids, (1997) 32:(10):1061-1067
|
