On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Ray Audette wrote:

> I have just accepted an offer from St. Martin's Press of NYC to publish
> an expanded hardcover edition of NeanderThin to appear in the spring of
> 1999.
>
> I have several ideas for new chapters but would also like sugestions from
> this list as to what you think are the most important topics to add to my
> book. Chapter titles in the style of NeanderThin are optional.

Despite being one of your most persistent critics, I am delighted
to hear this news.  Congratulations, that's a great publisher!

As you might imagine, I have lots of suggestions, most of which
can be boiled down to the following: I really think you should
emphasize the importance of there being a *range* of
possibilities within the paleo paradigm, and that it is important
to experiment to find what works.  For example, although most
implementations will be low-carb compared to average civilized
diets, people will need to discover their own optimal fuel mix.

You will definitely need to look at the issue of w-3 fats, the
importance of which is only now coming to be undersood.  The fact
that the w-6 heavy fats such as corn oil and soybean oil are
forbidden helps somewhat, but doesn't eliminate it.  Almond oil,
for example, ought to be as legal as olive oil, since almonds and
olives are both legal.  But almond oil is fairly high in w-6 and
devoid of w-3.  Since domesticated meats are low in w-3 fats, and
so are most eggs, a paleodieter needs to make a special effort to
get them, whereas an ancient hunter didn't.  You might point out
that the beneficial properties of w-3 fats appear to require a
sufficient amount of saturated fat (I have references somewhere,
if you don't).

I strongly suggest a bit more caution in the interpretation of
the 1928 Bellevue experiment.  While Stefansson and Andersen
didn't get scurvy or other obvious deficienty syndromes, critics
will look at the cholesterol issue, and I really don't think the
coffee theory works.  Cordain also noted that Stefansson was in
calcium deficit, which I haven't followed up on, but you
definitely should.

Stefansson did have a stroke later in life, which you might be
tempted to blame on his dietary lapses.  If, however, he
had been eating an abundance of marine fats the stroke might have
been caused by *excessive* w-3 fats.  It is believed that the
Inuit avoid this by a particular adaptation which causes greater
production of the delta-5 desaturase enzyme, which tends to slow
the processing of w-3s.  This same adaptation, incidentally, may
explain why the Inuit are more diabetes-prone when their diet is
overwhelmed by w-6 fats and carbs, since under those conditions
this adaptation is dangerous.  This is another way of saying that
the Inuit probably have a higher w-3 requirement than the rest of
us.  Stefansson, if he was eating like an Inuit, probably didn't
have that adaption and so overdid it and had a stroke.

And definitely put in a good index.

Todd Moody
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