On Thu, 3 Sep 1998, C. Loon wrote:

> I was wondering if someone could kindly repost the details of Stefansson's
> all-meat diet. From what I gather, he survived quite well simply on muscle
> meats. But how long did he actually stay on this diet? We're fond of
> saying that the degenerative properties of the SAD diet are not always
> immediately apparent, appearing only after decades of grain/dairy/sugar
> consumption. For similar reasons, unless Stefansson was on his diet for
> more than several years, are his conclusions really valid?

The all-meat diet *study* lasted a calendar year.  This should
have been sufficient time to develop symptoms of scurvy, so we
have good reason to accept the conclusion that *that* is not an
issue.  As Ray pointed out, he reportedly continued to eat very
little vegetables for most of his life.  His cholesterol remained
in the low 200s during the study, and actually dropped a few
points.  This is still considerably higher than the cholesterol
of most contemporary hunter-gatherers and other primates; but we
just don't know the significance of that fact.

How much can we conclude from Stefansson's experience as a
person who ate mostly meat for most of his adult life?  How much
can we conclude from the fact that G.B. Shaw, a strict vegan for
all of his adult life, died at age 97 from injuries sustained
when he fell out of a tree that he was pruning?

It's hard to answer these questions.

We don't know whether the Inuit have become uniquely adapted to
their traditional diet.  Would others, perhaps adapted to
different dietary patterns, do as well?  We don't know, because
the question has never been studied scientifically, and it may
never be.

Todd Moody
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