> Date:    Wed, 4 Aug 1999 23:49:54 -0400
> From:    Jacques Laurin <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Gain or loss?
>
> Linda Scott Cummings wrote :
>
> > As an anthropologist, I think it is culture that results in this type of
behavior.
> > So, perhaps one question that we should ask is: "is cultural pressure
strong enough
> > to overcome instinctual eating patterns in humans?"  I would argue yes,
it is --
> > particularly over long periods of time.
>
> Considering that some non human primates have the ability to use and even
make tools,
> would it be exaggerate to consider the mastery of fire as "the" prime
factor of human
> originality?
> Then fire is still only another tool until it is used to process
something. Processing
> implies changing the nature of the thing that is being processed, right?
> Cooking, for instance, changes the nature of the food on a molecular
level. Amongst
> other things, could the new molecules generated by cooking stimulate the
brain (how
> can I say that) in a new and not necessarily adapted way?
> Could cooking be "the" point of rupture between natural (or innate)
behavior and, what
> we call, cultural behavior, overcoming instinctual eating patterns by the
same token?
>

Many other factors influence behaviour. For example, low-level lead exposure
has long been known to affect intelligence. Research shows even stronger
adverse effects of lead on behaviour, with enormous increases in antisocial
and delinquent behaviour. (Needleman's 1996 paper is especially disturbing).
Breastfeeding has been shown to have a positive effect on IQ, so one must
presume that childhood nutrition will also have an effect. How that relates
to effects on behaviour is difficult to say, but if our experiences with
lead are any guide, the effects of nutrition on behaviour may be stronger
than those on IQ.

Drawing on from this, antinutrients in Neolothic foods have adverse effects
on neurodevelopment, they can be expected to have particularly large effects
on behaviour. This would be combined with the effects that lead has on us
(we've all been exposed tom substantial amounts of lead. Fortunately the USA
is addressing the problem, but the response is slow elsewhere).

It would be interesting to think that paleolithic man mightn't be the
homicidal maniac that Neolithic tends to be (but perhaps they were worse).

Dr. Ben Balzer

References
Needleman, Herbert L. et al, "Bone Lead Levels and Delinquent Behavior,"
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 275, No. 5 (February 7,
1996), pgs. 363-369.

Rachel's health and Environment Weekly
http://www.monitor.net/rachel/rehw-index.html issues 529,318,294,214,189,3

Alan L. Mendelsohn, Benard P. Dreyer, Arthur H. Fierman, Carolyn M. Rosen,
Lori A. Legano, Hillary A. Kruger, Sylvia W. Lim, and Cheryl D. Courtlandt
"Low-Level Lead Exposure and Behavior in Early Childhood"
Pediatrics 1998; 101: e10. http://intl.pediatrics.org/content/vol101/issue3/