I’ve heard the same comment about the Mediterranean diet.
Evelyn at Carbsane Asylum writes about the new Swedish paleo-style weight-loss and metabolic study. An excerpt:
Which leaves us where? I exchanged tweets with Robb Wolf regarding this study. He seemed no more hopeful that “paleo” would be defined in the clinical trial realm than it is in practiced. Which makes the label all the more confusing and, IMO, ultimately meaningless.
Here’s the weight-loss study of 10 post-menopausal women.
Was Hippocrates the dude that said something about “make food your medicine”?
Bodo Melnik has an article in DermatoEndocrinology regarding the dietary causes of acne. He also comments on the role of Western foods in obesity, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and neurodegenerative disorders. These are our old friends, the “diseases of civilization.” Melnik mentions the Paleolithic diet favorably.
Melnik says it’s all tied in with mTORC1: mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1.
A snippet:
These new insights into Western diet-mediated mTORC1-hyperactivity provide a rational basis for dietary intervention in acne by attenuating mTORC1 signaling by reducing (1) total energy intake, (2) hyperglycemic carbohydrates, (3) insulinotropic dairy proteins and (4) leucine-rich meat and dairy proteins. The necessary dietary changes are opposed to the evolution of industrialized food and fast food distribution of Westernized countries. An attenuation of mTORC1 signaling is only possible by increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit, the major components of vegan or Paleolithic diets. The dermatologist bears a tremendous responsibility for his young acne patients who should be advised to modify their dietary habits in order to reduce activating stimuli of mTORC1, not only to improve acne but to prevent the harmful and expensive march to other mTORC1-related chronic diseases later in life.
You sciencey types can read the rest. Our new friend mTOR also seems to be involved with growth of muscle induced by resistance exercise.
h/t Mangan
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Tagged acne, diseases of civilizaton, Mangan, mTOR, mTORC, paleo diet, paleolithic diet
African Savanna: The Cradle of Humanity?
Marlene Zuk is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Minnesota. She has an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education excerpted from her upcoming book Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet, and How We Live. Here’s a snippet:
…it’s reasonable to conclude that we aren’t suited to our modern lives, and that our health, our family lives, and perhaps our sanity would all be improved if we could live the way early humans did. Our bodies and minds evolved under a particular set of circumstances, the reasoning goes, and in changing those circumstances without allowing our bodies time to evolve in response, we have wreaked the havoc that is modern life.
In short, we have what the anthropologist Leslie Aiello, president of the renowned Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, called “paleofantasies.” She was referring to stories about human evolution based on limited fossil evidence, but the term applies just as well to the idea that our modern lives are out of touch with the way human beings evolved and that we need to redress the imbalance. Newspaper articles, morning TV, dozens of books, and self-help advocates promoting slow-food or no-cook diets, barefoot running, sleeping with our infants, and other measures large and small claim that it would be more natural, and healthier, to live more like our ancestors.
…
To think of ourselves as misfits in our own time and of our own making flatly contradicts what we now understand about the way evolution works—namely, that rate matters. That evolution can be fast, slow, or in-between, and understanding what makes the difference is far more enlightening, and exciting, than holding our flabby modern selves up against a vision—accurate or not—of our well-muscled and harmoniously adapted ancestors.
The paleofantasy is a fantasy in part because it supposes that we humans, or at least our protohuman forebears, were at some point perfectly adapted to our environments.
Ms. Zuk enjoys setting up straw men, then knocking them down. Decide for yourself. She’s a good writer. And men, there’s that picture of Raquel Welch again.
Grain-based high-carb Neolithic food
The paleo diet averages about 30% of total calories from carbohydrates, with a range of about 22 to 40%. That 30% average is much lower than the standard 50–60% in the developed world. Is that lower percentage healthy or not? It depends on the quality of the carbs and the remainder of the diet. It most certainly can be healthy.
As much as possible, I base my nutrition and medical recommendations on science-based research published in the medical literature. In the early 2000s, a flurry of scientific reports demonstrated that very-low-carb eating (as in the style of Dr. Robert Atkins) was safe and effective for short-term weight management and control of diabetes. Eighty hours of literature review in 2009 allowed me to embrace low-carbohydrate eating as a logical and viable option for many of my patients. The evidence convinced me that the relatively high fat content of many low-carb diets was nothing to worry about long-term.
I’d like to share with you some of the pertinent low-carb research findings of the last few years.
Low-Carb Diets
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: The paleo diet is also referred to as the caveman diet, Paleolithic diet, hunter-gatherer diet, Stone Age diet, and ancestral diet.
African Savanna
Dr. Eaton (M.D.) spoke at the last Ancestral Health Symposium about his own diet and exercise program. He’s 74-years-old and has been following his paleo lifestyle for 30 years. In this video, Dr. Eaton looks quite fit and is obviously mentally sharp.
He talks about a “weak form” of the paleo diet that would include relatively small amounts of whole grains (e.g., shredded wheat) and dairy (e.g., skim milk). He doesn’t proscribe beans. He limits saturated fat, but enjoys red wine.
Dr. Eaton also discusses a “strong form” diet that would cut out the dairy, grains, and probably alcohol. This is for those with certain diseases of modern civilization, such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, metabolic syndrome, adverse blood lipids, etc. He didn’t mention diabetes specifically, but I bet he would include it in the list.
He has an impressive daily exercise program that probably takes at least an hour, with weight training on machines plus an aerobics (stationary bike and swimming).
Dr. Eaton supplments with a multivitamin/multimineral (showed a picture of Centrum), EPA/DHA, and fiber (especially soluble fiber).
The video is only 20 minutes long and well worth a look.
Steve Parker, M.D.
h/t Melissa McEwen. (Melissa has the impression the Eaton partakes of whole grains and dairy. I didn’t hear that in the video but may have missed it.)
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Posted in Paleo Diet, Paleo Movement, Paleo Theory
Tagged Ancestral Health Symposium, Eaton video, exercise, paleo diet, S. Boyd Eaton, supplements
ScienceNordic has an article about the diet of Paleolithic humans who lived in what is now Denmark. It’s brief and written for the general public. The author mistakenly characterizes the “modern paleo” diet as no- or very-low-carb. It’s lower in carb content than the standard American diet, but by no means no-carb.
—Steve
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Posted in Dietary Carbohydrate, Paleo Diet
Tagged carbohydrate, paleo diet, paleolithic diet, ScienceNordic
Dr. Guyenet has a recent post on The Potato Diet. It caught my eye since I include potatoes in my version of the paleo diet. He starts thusly:
In 2010, I wrote a series of blog posts on the health properties of potatoes. The evidence showed that potatoes are non-toxic, filling per calorie, remarkably nutritious, and can be eaten as almost the sole source of nutrition for extended periods of time (though I’m not recommending this).
Follow all of
Rosemary Chicken (garnished with pico de gallo) and Rosemary Potatoes
Dr. Guyenet’s links and you’re sure to learn something new about potatoes.
-Steve
Potato chicken soup
I’ve completed my two-month paleo diet trial. I’m proud to say I’ve been fairly compliant with it, although certainly not 100%. Perhaps 95%.
My major transgressions have been:
Results and Overall Impressions of Paleo Eating
It’s fairly easy, even when dining out or away from home. Nevertheless, it requires some discipline and willpower.
My sense is that my meat, poultry, egg, and nut consumption stayed about the same as my baseline, pre-paleo levels. I eliminated cheese and didn’t miss it much. I ate more vegetables and fruit.
I took my lunch meals to the hospital
My wife says paleo eating is at least a little more expensive than my prior eating habits, mostly related to fresh vegetables and fruit. Grain products like bread, pasta, and rice are cheaper calories. On the other hand, we saved money by not buying wine even though I don’t drink expensive wine.
I don’t miss grain products much at all. I had already cut back on them over the last couple years as part of my experimentation with low-carb eating. I do enjoy whole grain breads but could live a happy life without them if necessary.
I miss sweet items like cinnamon rolls, other pastries, cake, pie, ice cream, diet soda, and candy bars. I don’t care for sugary soda pop and fruit juices.
I didn’t do this to lose weight, yet went from 171 lb (77.7 kg) down to 164 lb (74.5 kg). So an unexpected loss of 7 lb (3.2 kg). I hovered between 162 and 166 lb for the last few weeks so I don’t think I’ll keep losing weight if I stay with the program.
Do I feel any different eating this way? No. I’m blessed with good health, so wasn’t looking for any upgrades. I have noticed more sweetness in a few foods, such as nuts and carrots.
I take nothing away from those who report more energy, better sleep, improved digestion, increased strength, less joint pain, etc., from paleo-style eating. Undoubtedly, some of those apparent improvements are placebo effect, some are coincidental, and some are bona fide results of the paleo lifestyle.
PS: The paleo diet is also called the Paleolithic diet, hunter-gatherer diet, Stone Age diet, caveman diet, or ancestral diet.
Update December 16, 2012: I wondered if lack of alcohol for the last two months had any effect on my weight loss. For the last week I ate my usual paleo diet but added 3 fl oz (90 ml) of whiskey daily. Weight today 163 lb (73.9 kg), so no real change over the short run. That’s enough whiskey for a while.
Update December 27: After three days of unrestrained Holiday eating, my weight is up 8 lb to 171 lb (77.7 kg). Mostly thanks to pie, cookies, and candy. I’m sure some of that extra weigh is glycogen, water, and intestinal contents, rather than fat. Back on the paleo diet today, a low-carb version.
Update December 29: Weight is down 5 lb to 166 lb (75.5 kg). Amazing.
The contents of this salsa jar are all paleo-compliant
Pure paleo contents unless there’s BPA in the can liner
Definitely non-paleo pumpkin pie
Wine is not “paleo” by most definitions
L. Cordain likes the low omega-6/omega-3 ratio of macadamia nuts
ASBMB Today has a well-written balanced article on the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio debate written by Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay. A fair amount of it is understandable to non-science majors. The main question is whether the high consumption of omega-6 fatty acids in Western societies is unhealthy.
It’s estimated that throughout most of human evolution, our dietary omega-6/omega-3 ration has been around 3:1 or 2:1. Today, it’s about 15:1, thanks to a large increase in omega-6 consumption. Are our bodies adapted for the lower ratio? A hard-core paleo diet like Dr. Cordain’s aims for that lower ratio.
Both sides of the debate agree that we would probably be better off eating more omega-3 fatty acids, as found in cold-water fatty fish.
I’m an omega-6/omega-3 ratio agnostic at this point. I’ve never studied it in depth, so I have no strong opinion either way.
Here are a couple excerpts from the article to pique your interest:
No one is disputing that we’re eating more omega-6 than our predecessors did. Over the past 100 years, consumption of linoleic acid [an omga-6] has increased dramatically in the U.S., mainly through the use of soybean oil. Soybean oil intake has gone up from being 1 percent of calories in the American diet to as much as 10 percent, according to Hibbeln. Lands, Salem and others contend that the rise, driven by the processed food and agriculture industries, has happened without anyone knowing its effects. “If I were now to try to get permission to change 10 percent of the calories in the U.S. diet, I would need a very large body of data unequivocally proving that it was safe,” says Hibbeln. “No such body of data exists for soybean oil. But it’s in our diet. We’re the experiment. It’s been a very large, uncontrolled intervention.”
Experts like Harris and Willett say this increase has been to our benefit. “We have seen a massive decline in cardiovascular disease mortality and huge increase in life expectancy,” says Willett. “Not all the benefit is due to the increase in linoleic acid, but almost certainly much of it is. It was not an absolute disaster.” But the lipid biochemists counter that it’s not just cardiovascular disease at stake. They say diabetes, obesity and even psychiatric disorders are some outcomes of a diet heavy on omega-6s.
I’ve never before heard anybody credit linoleic acid with a major role in our “huge increase in life expectancy” over the last century. I doubt that’s the case. I vote more in favor of better sewage systems, cleaner water, better hygiene, antibiotics, or improvements in surgery and medical care.
Evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” If that’s true, the default position is that lower amounts of omega-6 fatty acid are better than our current high consumption. It’s up to the high-consumption proponents to prove otherwise.
h/t David Despain
PS: Dobzhansky was a Christian, by the way.
PPS: A Twitter reader (@pronutritionist) suggested that the modern Western dietary omega-6/omega=3 ratio is 9.6, not 15:1, citing Amer J Clin Nutr. My source for 15:1 is Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, vol. 2012, article ID 539426, doi 10.1155/2912/539426, by E. Patterson et al. I admit it’s not a great reference. Cordain’s 2002 book, The Paleo Diet, says 10:1. Maybe it is closer to 10:1. I’m sure there’s lots of inter-person variability.
Not Dr. Frassetto
Dr. Lynda Frassetto is a Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the University of California San Francisco. She and her colleagues have completed a study of the Paleolithic diet as a treatment for diabetes (type 2, I think). As far as I know, details have not yet been published in the medical literature.
Dr. Frassetto spoke at the Ancestral Health Symposium-2012 earlier this year. You can view the 35-minute video here.
She is convinced that a paleo diet, compared to a Mediterranean-style diet, is better at controlling blood sugars and “reducing insulin” in diabetics (presumably type 2s). Insulin sensitivity is improved, particularly in those with insulin resistance to start with. The paleo diet group saw an average drop of fasting glucose by 23 mg/dl (1.3 mmol/l). One slide you’ll see in the video indicates the paleo diet reduced absolute hemoglobin A1c by 0.3%, compared to 0.2% with the “Mediterranean” diet. (Let me know if I got the numbers wrong.)
Color me underwhelmed so far.
Questions raised by the video include:
For answers, we await publication of the formal report.
Posted in Diabetic Diet, Paleo Diet
Tagged diabetes, Lynda Frassetto, paleo diet, paleolithic diet, UCSF paleo diet
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