> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 14:06:00 -0700
> From: Loren Cordain <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Adaptation
>
> Finally, I would like to comment upon Todd's remark "As a
> result of the fact that attemmpting to follow a paleolithic diet has
> resulted in seriously elevated LDL cholesterol in my own case".
> This listserve represents a forum wherein scholars, academicians
> and persons interested in paleodiet can correspond and discuss issues
> salient to paleodiet. Speaking strictly for myself (but I hope for
> most of the others in this group), my intent has never been to offer
> specific dietary or health recommendations or advice to single
> individuals (perhaps we need some legal clarification by Dean Esmay on
> this one).
Quite right. My attempt to follow a paleolithic diet is a
personal initiative, and that's all. While this listserv is a
source of information, I do not look to it as a source of advice.
Period. I seek relevant information wherever I can find it and
make my own decisions.
> I have little doubt that the inclusion of large amounts of high
> fat domestic meat will raise LDL and total cholesterol in the diets of
> most people.
And yet, as Dean points out in a separate message, it appears
that a good number of people do not experience this consequence,
if they are following ketogenic diets. Of course, based on what
I have read here, it seems unlikely that the typical paleolithic
diet was ketogenic. If this is correct, it would seem that there
has been little selection pressue toward adaptation to long-term
ketosis, with the exceptions of populations such as Eskimos and
Plains Indians, whose particular metabolic adaptations probably
cannot be generalized to the rest of us. In any case, their
ketogenic diets would not have resembled what one could easily
get at a supermarket meat counter.
> Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 00:16:17 -0700
> From: Lorraine Heidecker <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Adaptation
>
> I would appreciate a reference or two for Todd Moody's statement about
> the relatively recent appearance of the A and B allele in human blood
> types. It was my understanding that the ABO blood groups occur in all
> African hominoids. I have checked my (admittedly limited) resources and
> have no information on this topic.
I got the information originally from Peter D'Adamo's popular
diet book, but later did some checking of sources. I believe I
found the sources A.E. Mourant, _Blood Relations: Blood Groups
and Anthropology_ (Oxford: 1983) and R.R. Race & R. Sanger,
_Blood Groups in Man_ (Blackwell Scientific: 1975) to support his
contention that the A blood group appears in the fossil record
between 25K and 15K years ago, and proliterated in concert with
the spread of agriculture. The B and AB groups came even later,
in historical times.
D'Adamo, for the record, concedes the point made by Loren
Cordain, to the effect that there are many blood groups besides
the ABO serotypes, and that these may be relevant to diet. His
reason for emphasizing the ABO blood groups is that, unlike other
blood groups, these types also apply to tissues other than blood.
As he puts it, they are more like "tissue types" and so have more
global implications for immune response to dietary lectins.
I gather that it is not controversial that lectins that cause
hemagglutination in cells of one blood type do not do so in cells
of another type. What remains controversial about D'Adamo's
ideas is his contention that (a) a significant amount of lectin
gets into the bloodstream; and (b) one there the lectin causes
harm, instead of just being swept up by macrophages. His idea is
simple enough: By avoiding those lectins that demonstrably cause
hemagglutination in one's blood type one also avoids whatever
health problems might be caused by those lectins (or the body's
immune response to them). I am not qualified to evaluate this
line of thinking, but I am trying to understand it better. I'm
not sure if it falls properly into the subject matter of this
list, though.
Todd Moody
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