ON Mon, 30 Aug 1999 00:32:40 -0700 Wally Day <[log in to unmask]>
asked:
>First, what is the implication of Paleo on dental
>hygiene? I'm sure that your average HG a few hundred
>thousand years ago didn't take a whole bunch of time
>to brush his teeth. But, the diet was not necessarily
>sugar or starch free. So, what d'ya think?
Anyone interested in this subject should get hold of a copy of Nutrition and
Physical Degeneration by Weston Price DDS. The book is full of photographs
of natives smiling, all with perfectly aligned, nondecayed teeth, contrasted
with photos of people eating modern foods, with distorted facial features,
crooked and decayed teeth. Price found several things:
1. In several cultures, namely Australian Aborigines, High Andes Indians,
Amazonian Jungle Indians and some Africna tribes, he found no tooth decay at
all among those eating only native foods.
2. New Zealand Maori were the group with the lowest non-zero decay rate,
with only .01 percent of their teeth decayed. That means onlyone in every
10, 000 teeth were decayed among the Maori. Since there are 32 teeth in
every mouth, that means only one in every 312 people had any tooth decay
among primitive Maori. We will keep in mind that the Maori diet consisted
primarily of seafoods, including both sea animals and sea vegetables,
supplemented with land vegetables and fruits.
3. Coastal Peruvians were next, with a .04 percent rate of decay. Eskimos
had a .09 percent rate of decay.
4. Price closely studied diets in relation to dental decay. Generally, he
found that coastal primitive groups that ate more fish had better teeth than
groups that did not.
The North Canadian Indians lived inland and ate largely carnivorous diets,
but little seafood; their rate of dental decay was sixteeen times that of
the Maori. The Melanesians and Polynesians ate much seafood, but they also
ate large amounts of cooked taro, a tuber rich in starch; their rate of
dental decay was more than thirty times that of the Maori, though still low
compared to modernized groups.
5. Price also looked at some primitive neolithic groups. They had
significantly greater rates of tooth decay. For example, Swiss living in
isolation in the Alps and living largely on dairy products and rye bread had
4.6 percent rate of decay, 460 times that of the Maori fishermen. The Masai
tribe of Africa ate a diet composed largely of milk and blood, and meat from
cattle, but no seafoods; their rate of dental decay was .4 percent, forty
times that of the Maori. The Gaelics ate much seafood also, but their diet
included large amounts of oats, high in starch and edible only when
processed; thier rate of dental decay was 120 times that of the Maori. The
Swiss ate dairy products and starchy cereals in the form of rye bread, with
meat only once per week and no seafoods; their rate of dental decay was 460
times that of the Maori. The Bantu people of Africa, including the Kikiyu
and Wakamba tribes, ate a practically vegetarian diet composed primarily of
starchy foods such as corn, millet, beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas, with
only small amounts of animal products; their rates of dental decay were, for
the Kikiyu, 5.5 percent, or 550 times that of the Maori, and for the
Wakamba, 6.2 percent, or 620 times that of the Maori.
The results of Pricešs invaluable investigations with regard to tooth decay
are dramatically displayed on the following table, which I compiled based on
Price's reports, and lists groups according to incidence of tooth decay when
on their premodernized diets, and also shows how they suffered loss of
dental health as a result of further modernization. Without exception, the
lowest rates are found among groups living primarily on animal products,
higher rates among those eating more starchy vegetables, even higher rates
among those eating dairy product, cereals and beans, and the highest rates
among those eating modern foods.
Table 1: Dental Decay In Various Places
Groups ranked from lowest to highest rate of decay when on primitive
nutrition, with rates of decay among modernised members of each group given
for comparison. Rates expressed as percentages.
_____________________________________________________________________
Group Primitive Diet Modernised Diet
Amazon Jungle Indians 0.00 40.0+
Australian Aborigines 0.00 70.9
High Andes Indians 0.00 40.0+
New Zealand Maori 0.01 55.3
Coastal Peruvians 0.04 40.0+
Eskimos 0.09 13.0
Malays 0.09 20.6
North Canadian Indians 0.16 21.5
Polynesians 0.32 21.9
Melanesians 0.38 29.0
Masai 0.40 12.1
Gaelics 1.20 30.0
Swiss 4.60 29.8
Bantu/Kikuyu 5.50 12.1
Bantu/Wakamba 6.20 12.1
Modern America 30.0+
______________________________________________________________________
Price remarked that he found no vegetarians among the primitives and that
among the vegetarians he had studied, he found a dramatically increased
incidence of dental decay and malocclusions (misaligned crowded teeth).
Don
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