Remains of hominid hunters from cool and semi-arid sites outside Africa are
important evidence that human metabolism can handle large amounts of meat.
They do however not seem to provide any clues as to whether we also can
handle carbohydrate-rich staple foods.

Contemporary humans may differ widely in their capacity to metabolize
dietary carbohydrate. I can vaguely see four groups represented by 1)
non-western ethnic groups, 2) glucose tolerant westerners, 3) glucose
intolerant westerners and 3) diabetic westerners. There are no sharp
boundaries between the three latter groups. Considerable evidence shows
that few if any middle-aged or elderly westerners have not at least one
disturbed variable related to this metabolic syndrome of insulin resistence
(abdominal overweight, increased blood pressure, low HDL-cholesterol etc).
That is, virtually every adult westerner can improve one or more of these
by improving their lifestyle.

Accordingly it may not be enough to study whether Pleistocene
carbohydrate-rich foods appear detrimental when eaten by westerners. We may
have to compare some of the groups as to their carbohydrate sensitivity,
and to see what happens when they obtain a truly ideal weight. Contemporary
hunter-gatherers can obviously handle dietary carbohydrates much better
than we can until they also become westernized. One important cause seems
to be their leanness. Nutrient-dense foods apparently help maintain a low
body weight irrespective of whether the are rich in carbohydrate, protein
or fat. Satiety needs to be further studied.

Staffan

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Staffan Lindeberg M.D. Ph.D. Dept of Community Health Sciences, Lund
University, Mailing address: Dr Staffan Lindeberg, Primary Health Care
Centre, Sjobo, S-22738 Sweden, +46 416 28140, Fax +46 416 18395
http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/paleodiet/sl1.shtml
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