At 8:59 AM -0500 29/1/02, Madeline Mason wrote:

>Cordain is definitely ONE of the world's leading experts on Paleo diets, but
>there are certainly dissenting points of view. Cordain is one who tends to
>lean towards the "lower fat, leaner protein" end of the spectrum. I'm sure
>the debate will rage on for a long time to come, and I am just suggesting a
>balanced perspective on this issue would be worthwhile. The following is a ver
>y interesting discussion of how much and what kinds of fats may have made up
>the Paleo diet.
>
>http://www.mercola.com/article/Diet/caveman_cuisine.htm


That page contains some rather deceptive writing. I am always
hesitant to take much notice of an article once I find a few
tricky phrases and figures in it. Who knows how many more there
might be that I don't know enough to detect??

Consider:

  "Antelope and caribou fat is over 50% saturated-about
   the same as beef-and mountain sheep fat would be the
   similar. Buffalo fat is 56% saturated-more saturated
   than beef!"

While the proportion of SFA might be similar, the quantities are
different by more than an order of magnitude. This chart lists
data from the USDA database: amount of fat and a breakdown of
that fat.

                       Bison     Water    Beefalo   Beef
                                buffalo

Total fats (g/100g)     1.84      1.37     4.80    24.05

Saturated fats         37.5%     33.6%    42.5%    40.5%
10:0 capric               -         -        -      0.3%
12:0 lauric               -         -        -      0.2%
14:0 myristic           1.1%      0.7%     2.1%     3.1%
16:0 margaric          17.9%     18.2%    20.0%    24.0%
18:0 stearic           19.0%     13.9%    19.2%    12.2%
Monounsaturated fats   39.1%     30.7%    42.5%    43.5%
16:1 palmitoleic        2.2%      2.2%     3.8%     4.8%
18:1 oleic             36.4%     27.0%    37.9%    37.9%
20:1 gadoleic             -         -        -      0.1%
Polyunsaturated fats   10.3%     19.7%     3.1%     3.8%
18:2 linoleic           6.0%     11.7%     2.3%     2.6%
18:3 linolenic          1.6%      2.9%     0.8%     1.0%
20:4 arachidonic        2.7%      5.1%       -      0.2%

 ...Richard.