Todd,
skin and diet.....hmmmmmmmmmm.

"The history of dermatology is riddled with corpses of dietary theories yet
some still stir when prodded." quipped one fine wit in the Lancet in 1993.
At the time I was researching diet and acne as I get acne. Everything was
focussed on fatty acid compositions. There is plenty of evidence that
PSORIASIS is helped by Evening Primrose Oil (EPO). There was and remains no
evidence for any diet helping or worsening acne (no evidence even that
chocolate makes it worse). I think everyone has a gut feeling that acne is
rare in unindustrialised cultures, but I don't know if this is true or not.

Now, of course, everyone wants to know about phytosterols and antioxidants.
Now, acne is a very steroid-dependent disease, so a phytosterol connection
would be very reasonable- guess what- virtually no research data on
this(according to Medline and my medical librarian). Now, if anyone wants to
research acne and phytosterols, PLEASE divide your phytosterols into
paleolithic (eg figs, root vegetables) and non-paleolithic (eg soy,
margarine, sunflower oil).

Of course, there are other  UNDISCOVERED MICRONUTRIENTS and only a paleodiet
provides the right amount of these.

Now, psoriasis, illness and diet. Where do all the bad things in the diet
come from ? SEEDS- eg wheat, barley, beans,corn, etc. If you want to
eliminate toxins, eliminate seeds. Nature puts toxins into seeds. Nuts are
seed kernels too.

I once saw a David Attenborough documentary where birds were breaking open
seeds and eating the kernels- they would then fly to a riverbank and eat a
mud that contained something that neutralised the toxins. Attenborough made
it clear that fruits were offered to animals so they would carry away the
uneaten seeds and deposit them in a pile of dung so that a new plant could
grow, benefiting both parties. If the seed kernel were eaten, then no plant
would grow- therefore nature wisely inserted toxins into the kernel to
discourage animals from eating them. I would also imagine that kernels are
packed with energy as new plants are obviously an imperative. Accordingly,
it came as no shock to find the belief that grain base foods are so harmful-
I can only imagine that they are the LEAST toxic of all the kernels.

Now, this brings me to nuts which are of course seed kernels. There is no
advantage to a plant to give away its kernel, so it has advantages for the
plant to put toxins into nuts. I have GRAVE reservations about the inclusion
of nuts in Paleolithic diets- the carbohydrates may be better but the toxins
must be up there- so maybe people eating paleo to treat arthritis, psoriasis
etc should avoid nuts altogether.

I propose that nearly all seed kernels contain small amounts of toxins to
protect the interests of the plant. I wonder if there is wisdom in avoiding
all seed kernels including nuts (as well as the obvious one of grains and
cereals). . This is what I see as one of the major advantages of the
paleolithic diet. I wonder what the gurus think of that??

I've recently been informed that wild almonds contain lethal doses of
cyanide - and the domestic ones we eat are because of a mutation. A good
reason to ditch almonds according to Ray's criteria and mine too.

So, what can one do for psoriasis. Hmmm. One should look up food
compositions at  http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl and try
to find foods with similar fatty acid composition to Evening Primrose Oil
(guess what EPO isn't on the USDA database- they don't regard it as a food
even though a lot of people ingest lots of it- unless it goes by another
name).(so look up soybean oil as it's composition is fairly similar, and
then go looking for similar paleofoods os ask a guru, or download the whole
database and play with it if you're an advanced relational database user).

Root vegetables are another interesting topic. In the pre-refrigerator era
(all of 50 to 70 years ago) they were one of the major dietary staples.
Reference http://www.lis.ab.ca/walton/old/index.html Now, most people eat
very little of them. I became interested in them as they have a very long
shelf-life- therefore I hypothesised that they may have high antioxidant
levels- guess what- no information on antioxidant levels of root vegetables
came up in an extensive search of internet and Medline (though I must admit
I didn't get a librarian to do an extra check). Eventually I found the USDA
food nutrition info which at least showed me the high phytosterol content- .
It is interesting that there seems so little known about root vegetables- I
suppose they're not very glamorous! My advice- get back to your roots.

Regards Ben Balzer


----- Original Message -----
From: Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 1999 9:32 PM
Subject: [P-F] Psoriasis cured


> I was chatting with my father yesterday and he mentioned that his
> persistent and often severe psoriasis had disappeared.  He has
> had the condition for about 45 years, so this was no small
> surprise.  I inherited it, but have been able to control it by
> avoiding tomatoes and oranges, or at least I *think* that's how.
>
> Anyway, I asked him if he had changed his diet in any way, and he
> said he had.  He started eating peanuts.  I had told him about
> the tomatoes and oranges thing about 10 months ago, but it didn't
> work for him.
>
> This is interesting to me for a number of reasons.  I eat a lot
> of nuts, but not a lot of peanuts.  I do eat them occasionally,
> however.  My grandmother (my father's mother) also had psoriasis
> flare-ups once in a while but not often.  She was very fond of
> peanuts, which she ate raw.
>
> Ray says that peanuts are not paleo because they are not readily
> digestible raw.  Well, they certainly taste better roasted, but
> they do appear to be well tolerated by some in the raw state.  I
> know that I don't have any trouble eating raw peanuts.  On the
> other hand, although it is not certain where peanuts originated,
> there is some evidence that they may be from Peru, making them
> New World foods and therefore new to the food supply of most or
> all humans (depending on where you stand on the question of
> habitation of the Americas).  Some take the stand that no New
> World food can be paleo, regardless of whether it is edible raw.
> This rule eliminates certain foods, such as corn and potatoes,
> that are not paleo even on Ray's looser definition, but it also
> rules out tomatoes, which are Neanderthin-legal.
>
> Getting back to peanuts, I plan to do an experiment on myself, by
> re-introducing oranges and tomatoes into my diet, but eliminating
> peanuts strictly.  I want to see if the psoriasis returns.  Then
> I'll try adding peanuts and see what happens.  My father noted in
> passing that the other thing that has changed since he has been
> eating peanuts is that his cholesterol, which tends to be
> elevated even with medication, has dropped sharply.  This is less
> surprising, since there is scientific literature showing that
> peanuts cause LDL cholesterol to fall, but it's still
> interesting.
>
> It seems to me that the question of whether peanuts are paleo
> depends entirely on the New World foods question, if indeed
> peanuts are New World food.  If I can reproduce my father's
> success with psoriasis by eating peanuts, this would be worth
> knowing for others who have this annoying condition.
>
> Todd Moody
> [log in to unmask]