On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Phosphor wrote:

> what do you mean here by protein toxicity?

There is an upper limit to how much energy humans can get from
protein alone, and that upper limit is not enough to live on.

> eat more of them.

> in the absence of dietary glucose the proteins are catabolised into glucose.
> The brain also uses the amino acid glutamine and fatty acids for fuel.

There are large parts of the brain that burn glucose and nothing
else.  This much glucose can easily be made from protein, as you
point out, but the body's *total* energy needs cannot be met in
this way.  It appears that 35-40% of calories can come from
protein, but the rest must come from carbs or fat.

> Where are your tuber tribes that prove your point? Which paelo culture lived
> predominantly on tubers? can't you name any?

I'm not going to try to defend Amadeus's tuber theory, which has
in any case not yet gotten a good reception by
paleoanthropologists.  But his general point about the need to
find substantial amounts of fat or carbs to go with that lean
kangaroo meat is correct.

Todd Moody
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