“Macronutrients” in diet refers to the percentage of calories derived from protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Some proponents of the paleo diet say that its health benefits stem from the macronutrient profile, such as lower carbs and higher protein than is recommended by most health authorities. Two archeologists at Canada’s Simon Fraser University say that the macronutrients aren’t substantially different from those recommended by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture and the World Health Organization.
This should be interesting! But I’m not paying the $31.50 USD for the full article until I pay off a substantial debt. I’m neither on Patreon nor Substack, and I’m not asking for donations.
Here’s the abstract from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
Background
One of the main recommendations of the Paleo Diet is that individuals replicate the whole-diet macronutrient ranges of hunter-gatherer diets. These are suggested to be 19%–35% protein, 22%–40% carbohydrate, and 28%–58% fat, by energy. However, the plant food contribution to these ranges was estimated exclusively from Australian data, which is a potential problem.
Objectives
We investigated whether estimates of the contribution of protein, carbohydrate, and fat to hunter-gatherer diets are impacted by using plant data from other regions of the world.
Methods
The values that form the basis of the Paleo Diet’ s recommended macronutrient ranges were generated with a set of equations. We combined these equations with published plant macronutrient data from a multi-region sample of 5 hunter-gatherer groups to generate new estimated macronutrient percentages and then statistically compared the old and new estimates. Subsequently, we collated plant macronutrient data for a sample of 10 hunter-gatherer groups from several regions and repeated the exercise.
Results
The whole-diet macronutrient percentages we calculated are significantly different from those that underpin the Paleo Diet’s recommendations. Additionally, the ranges derived from our whole-diet macronutrient percentages (14%–35% protein, 21%–55% carbohydrate, 12%–58% fat) are markedly wider than those recommended by the Paleo Diet.
Conclusions
The estimated whole-diet macronutrient percentages that form the basis of the Paleo Diet’s macronutrient recommendations are not robust. Using plant data from multiple regions leads to significantly different estimates. Additionally, the macronutrient ranges derived from our whole-diet macronutrient percentages overlap with those recommended by the US Department of Agriculture and the WHO. This undercuts one of the main justifications for adopting the Paleo Diet—namely that because it is vastly different from Western diets, it can reduce the probability of experiencing noncommunicable diseases. There may still be reasons for adopting the Paleo Diet rather than a conventional diet, but healthier macronutrient percentages is not one of them.
Steve Parker, M.D.
Paleo Diabetic 