Hot off the press.

Steve

--

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19209185

Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, 
hunter-gatherer type diet.
Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A.

1Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco School 
of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Background:The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the 
pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases-'diseases of civilization'. We 
investigated in humans whether a diet similar to that consumed by our 
preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors (that is, a paleolithic type 
diet) confers health benefits.Methods:We performed an outpatient, 
metabolically controlled study, in nine nonobese sedentary healthy 
volunteers, ensuring no weight loss by daily weight. We compared the 
findings when the participants consumed their usual diet with those when 
they consumed a paleolithic type diet. The participants consumed their 
usual diet for 3 days, three ramp-up diets of increasing potassium and 
fiber for 7 days, then a paleolithic type diet comprising lean meat, 
fruits, vegetables and nuts, and excluding nonpaleolithic type foods, 
such as cereal grains, dairy or legumes, for 10 days. Outcomes included 
arterial blood pressure (BP); 24-h urine sodium and potassium excretion; 
plasma glucose and insulin areas under the curve (AUC) during a 2 h oral 
glucose tolerance test (OGTT); insulin sensitivity; plasma lipid 
concentrations; and brachial artery reactivity in response to 
ischemia.Results:Compared with the baseline (usual) diet, we observed 
(a) significant reductions in BP associated with improved arterial 
distensibility (-3.1+/-2.9, P=0.01 and +0.19+/-0.23, P=0.05);(b) 
significant reduction in plasma insulin vs time AUC, during the OGTT 
(P=0.006); and (c) large significant reductions in total cholesterol, 
low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides (-0.8+/-0.6 (P=0.007), 
-0.7+/-0.5 (P=0.003) and -0.3+/-0.3 (P=0.01) mmol/l respectively). In 
all these measured variables, either eight or all nine participants had 
identical directional responses when switched to paleolithic type diet, 
that is, near consistently improved status of circulatory, carbohydrate 
and lipid metabolism/physiology.Conclusions:Even short-term consumption 
of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases 
insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid 
profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans.European 
Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 11 February 
2009; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.4.

PMID: 19209185 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]