Tag Archives: paleolithic diet

Paleolithic Dieters: You May Have an Iodine Deficiency

Posted on September 17, 2017 | 1 comment

A pinch of salt may cut the bitterness in a cup of coffee

An article in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that paleolithic-type diets may be deficient in iodine. See my comment after the link below.

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:

Different diets are used for weight loss. A Paleolithic-type diet (PD) has beneficial metabolic effects, but two of the largest iodine sources, table salt and dairy products, are excluded. The objectives of this study were to compare 24-h urinary iodine concentration (24-UIC) in subjects on PD with 24-UIC in subjects on a diet according to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) and to study if PD results in a higher risk of developing iodine deficiency (ID), than NNR diet.

SUBJECTS/METHODS:

A 2-year prospective randomized trial in a tertiary referral center where healthy postmenopausal overweight or obese women were randomized to either PD (n=35) or NNR diet (n=35). Dietary iodine intake, 24-UIC, 24-h urinary iodine excretion (24-UIE), free thyroxin (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and thyrotropin (TSH) were measured at baseline, 6 and 24 months. Completeness of urine sampling was monitored by para-aminobenzoic acid and salt intake by urinary sodium.

RESULTS:

At baseline, median 24-UIC (71.0 μg/l) and 24-UIE (134.0 μg/d) were similar in the PD and NNR groups. After 6 months, 24-UIC had decreased to 36.0 μg/l (P=0.001) and 24-UIE to 77.0 μg/d (P=0.001) in the PD group; in the NNR group, levels were unaltered. FT4, TSH and FT3 were similar in both groups, except for FT3 at 6 months being lower in PD than in NNR group.

CONCLUSIONS:

A PD results in a higher risk of developing ID, than a diet according to the NNR. Therefore, we suggest iodine supplementation should be considered when on a PD.

(European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 13 September 2017; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2017.134.PMID: 28901333 DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2017.134)

Source: A Paleolithic-type diet results in iodine deficiency: a 2-year randomized trial in postmenopausal obese women. – PubMed – NCBI

Parker here. I thought I knew a little about the Paleolithic diet, so was surprised to read above that table salt is excluded. It’s not excluded from the Paleobetic Diet. Most table salt purchased in the U.S. iodine-fortified. The introduction of iodized salt in the U.S. in 1924 raised IQ in iodine-deficient regions by 15 points!

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Meta-Analysis: Paleolithic Nutrition for Metabolic Syndrome

Posted on September 28, 2016 | Comments Off on Meta-Analysis: Paleolithic Nutrition for Metabolic Syndrome

From the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015:

“Paleolithic nutrition, which has attracted substantial public attention lately because of its putative health benefits, differs radically from dietary patterns currently recommended in guidelines, particularly in terms of its recommendation to exclude grains, dairy, and nutritional products of industry.

Conclusions: The Paleolithic diet resulted in greater short-term improvements on metabolic syndrome components than did guideline-based control diets. The available data warrant additional evaluations of the health benefits of Paleolithic nutrition.”

Source: Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis

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Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Patterns Reduce Markers of Inflammation

Posted on September 26, 2016 | Comments Off on Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Patterns Reduce Markers of Inflammation

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Many chronic medical conditions are though to be caused by chronic inflammation in our bodies. Sample conditions include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease (heart attacks), metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and perhaps some cancers.

Taking the association further: could we prevent or alleviate these conditions by reducing inflammation? If so, diet is one way to do it.

Here’s an abstract from a scientific article I found:

Background: Chronic inflammation and oxidative balance are associated with poor diet quality and risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. A diet–inflammation/oxidative balance association may relate to evolutionary discordance.

“Objective: We investigated associations between 2 diet pattern scores, the Paleolithic and the Mediterranean, and circulating concentrations of 2 related biomarkers, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), an acute inflammatory protein, and F2-isoprostane, a reliable marker of in vivo lipid peroxidation.

Methods: In a pooled cross-sectional study of 30- to 74-y-old men and women in an elective outpatient colonoscopy population (n = 646), we created diet scores from responses on Willett food-frequency questionnaires and measured plasma hsCRP and F2-isoprostane concentrations by ELISA and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, respectively. Both diet scores were calculated and categorized into quintiles, and their associations with biomarker concentrations were estimated with the use of general linear models to calculate and compare adjusted geometric means, and via unconditional ordinal logistic regression.

Results: There were statistically significant trends for decreasing geometric mean plasma hsCRP and F2-isoprostane concentrations with increasing quintiles of the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diet scores. The multivariable-adjusted ORs comparing those in the highest with those in the lowest quintiles of the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diet scores were 0.61 (95% CI: 0.36, 1.05; P-trend = 0.06) and 0.71 (95% CI: 0.42, 1.20; P-trend = 0.01), respectively, for a higher hsCRP concentration, and 0.51 (95% CI: 0.27, 0.95; P-trend 0.01) and 0.39 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.73; P-trend = 0.01), respectively, for a higher F2-isoprostane concentration.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that diets that are more Paleolithic- or Mediterranean-like may be associated with lower levels of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress in humans.”

Source: Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores Are Inversely Associated with Biomarkers of Inflammation and Oxidative Balance in Adults

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Grant Schofield Defends the Paleo Diet for Diabetes

Posted on August 10, 2016 | 1 comment

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Schofield is a Professor of Public Health at Auckland University of Technology and Director of the Human Potential Centre. Prof. Sofianos Andrikopoulos authored an anti-paleo diet editorial in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Schofield penned a rebuttal at Sciblogs. A sample:

“The paleo diet – the idea that we should be guided in human nutrition/public health nutrition by evolutionary history is steeped with controversy. Health experts and authorities are seemingly going well out of their way to make sure people are warned off such ways of eating.

Proponents are often mystified by this, because the idea of using human evolutionary history to understand human function is common in human biology. In fact its a guiding principle. As well, in the midst of a chronic disease epidemic, including diabetes and obesity which are potentially improved by this approach, you’d think approaches which are based on whole food eating, and appeal to at least some of the population would be welcomed.

I find it curious that other approaches such as vegetarianism, which are often based not around science, but religion and other beliefs are welcome in public health nutrition advice. Yet the paleo approach is not.

Yes, people who are follow this way of eating are restricted to eating much less processed food and often lower carbohydrate diets. Neither of these approaches are known to be anything but beneficial for human health, especially in the context of diabetes.”

Source: Sciblogs | Anti-paleo diet attacks miss the point Read the whole thing.

Steve Parker, M.D.

No degludec up in here!

Available worldwide

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President of Australian Diabetes Society On Paleo Diet for Diabetics: Don’t Do It

Posted on August 9, 2016 | 3 comments
Really?

Really?

From SBS.com:

“People with type 2 diabetes should ditch the paleo diet until there’s substantial clinical evidence supporting its health benefits, warns the head of the Australian Diabetes Society.

It may be popular among celebrities but there’s little evidence to support the dozens of claims it can help manage the disease, says Associate Professor Sof Andrikopoulos.

“There have been only two trials worldwide of people with type 2 diabetes on what looks to be a paleo diet,” he said.

“Both studies had fewer than 20 participants, one had no control diet, and at 12 weeks or less, neither study lasted long enough for us to draw solid conclusions about the impact on weight or glycemic control.”

In a paper for the latest issue of the Australian Medical Journal, Andrikopoulos recommends people with type 2 diabetes seek advice from their GPs [general practitioners], registered dietitians and diabetes organizations.”

Source: Diabetics should put paleo on hold: expert | SBS News

I disagree with Prof. Andrikopoulos. We have adequate evidence to support a paleo-style diet for people with diabetes. I review it in 32 pages of my book. If you want to see the evidence right now, search this site for key words: O’Dea, Lindeberg, Jonsson, Frasetto, Ryberg, Mellberg, Boers, and Masharani.

If you seek diet advice from your general practitioner, endocrinologist, registered dietitian, and diabetes organizations, you’ll likely be told to eat too many carbohydrates, including processed man-made foods, which will wreck your glycemic control. The drug companies and medical-industrial complex will benefit at your expense.

Steve Parker, M.D.

No degludec up in here!

Front cover

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Óscar Picazo Compiled a List of Scientific Articles on the Paleolithic Diet

Posted on July 2, 2016 | Comments Off on Óscar Picazo Compiled a List of Scientific Articles on the Paleolithic Diet
Not Oscar Picazo

Not Oscar Picazo

Click the link below to see the articles, which are in English. Óscar’s introduction:

“Hace ya más de un año, compartí aquí la lista actualizada de estudios hasta la fecha, en relación a la paleodieta, dieta evolutiva, o como se le quiera llamar.El último año ha sido bastante activo en este sentido, con varios trabajos publicados, varios ensayos clínicos, y un meta-análisis.A continuación la lista actualizada. Si falta alguno, por favor indícamelo y lo incluyo.Y solo por recordarlo… mi opinión sobre el tema.”

Source: Paleodieta: Bibliografía actualizada | Óscar Picazo

Thanks, Oscar!

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Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diets Linked to Lower Incidence of Colon Polyps

Posted on July 2, 2016 | Comments Off on Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diets Linked to Lower Incidence of Colon Polyps

Adenomas in the colon (aka colon polyps) are precursors to colon cancer. Experts think that if we can prevent the onset of colon polyps, we’ll see less colon cancer. A recent study suggests that both a Paleo-type diet and Mediterranean-style diet reduce risk of colon polyps. A sample:

“Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States. Rapidly increasing incidence rates in previously low-incidence populations in urban China and Japan and among male Polynesians in Hawaii have coincided with the adoption of a more westernized lifestyle by those populations. These changing incidence rates, along with studies of immigrant populations, point to a strong influence of diet and other lifestyle factors on CRC risk.”

Source: Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores and Risk of Incident, Sporadic Colorectal Adenomas

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Paleo Diet Pioneer Melvin Konner’s Latest Thoughts on Healthy Eating

Posted on January 23, 2016 | 7 comments

Back in 1985, Melvin Konner and S. Boyd Eaton got the ball rolling on the current Paleolithic diet movement. Thirty years later, what would Konner say is a healthy way to eat?

Recent data on these issues make me more comfortable today saying what not to eat. Our ancestors had no refined carbs, which are killing us. We’d be wise to limit salt and saturated fat, which our ancestors’ prey had little of, and fiber and omega-three fatty acids seem to be good. Most humans have to avoid dairy; many must avoid wheat. Find out if you’re one of them. Exercise. That’s about it.

I’ve seen good data saying salt restriction is both harmful an helpful. So flip a coin or talk to your personal physician. If I were looking at starting a drug for hypertension, I’d certainly cut back on salt first and see if that cured me.

Recent clinical studies show that saturated fat isn’t harmful to most of us.

Steve Parker, M.D.

No link to suicide

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Paleobetic Diet Book Now Available

Posted on August 30, 2015 | 3 comments

Paleobetic Diet-FrontCover_300dpi_RGB_5.5x8.5

 

 

 

I started this blog four years ago as an exploration of the Paleolithic diet as a therapeutic option in diabetes and prediabetes. Scientific studies from Ryberg (2013), Mellberg (2014), Boers (2014), and Masharani (2015) have convinced me that the paleo diet indeed has true potential to improve these conditions.

A couple years ago I published a bare-bones preliminary version of the Paleobetic Diet. Here’s an outline. I just finished a comprehensive fleshed-out version in book format.

The central idea is to control blood sugars and eliminate or reduce diabetes drugs by working with Nature, not against her. This is the first-ever Paleolithic-style diet created specifically for people with diabetes and prediabetes.

Also known as the caveman, Stone Age, paleo, or ancestral diet, the Paleolithic diet provides the foods our bodies were originally designed to thrive on. You’ll not find the foods that cause modern diseases of civilization, such as concentrated refined sugars and grains, industrial seed oils, and over-processed Franken-foods. Our ancestors just five generations ago wouldn’t recognize many of the everyday foods that are harming us now. On the Paleolithic diet, you’ll enjoy a great variety of food, including nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruit, meat, seafood, and eggs.

In the book you’ll find one week of meal plans to get you started, plus additional special recipes. Meals are quick and easy to prepare with common ingredients. You’ll find detailed nutritional analysis of each meal, including carbohydrate grams.

All measurements are given in both U.S. customary and metric units. Blood glucose values are provided as both mmol/l and mg/dl. Also included is information and advice on exercise, weight loss, all 12 classes of diabetes drugs, management of hypoglycemia, and recommended drug dose adjustments. All recipes are gluten-free.

 

Availability and Formats

You’ll find Paleobetic Diet at all major online bookstores. For example, Amazon (290-page paperback book in U.S.), Kindle ebook, and multiple ebook formats at Smashwords.

If you have diabetes or prediabetes, please give this program careful consideration. Help me spread the word if you know someone else who might benefit. Thank you.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Paleolithic Diet Improves Metabolic Syndrome

Posted on August 26, 2015 | 2 comments

…according to an article at American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 

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“Metabolic syndrome” may be a new term for you. It’s a collection of clinical features that are associated with increased future risk of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic complications such as heart attack and stroke. One in six Americans has metabolic syndrome. Diagnosis requires at least three of the following five conditions:

  • high blood pressure (130/85 or higher, or using a high blood pressure medication)
  • low HDL cholesterol: under 40 mg/dl (1.03 mmol/l) in a man, under 50 mg/dl (1.28 mmol/l) in a women (or either sex taking a cholesterol-lowering drug)
  • triglycerides over 150 mg/dl (1.70 mmol/l) (or taking a cholesterol-lowering drug)
  • abdominal fat: waist circumference 40 inches (102 cm) or greater in a man, 35 inches (89 cm) or greater in a woman
    fasting blood glucose over 100 mg/dl (5.55 mmol/l)
  • fasting blood glucose over 100 mg/dl (5.55 mmol/l)

I don’t plan on reading the full text of the report because it’s a meta-analysis and I’ve likely reviewed the four component studies here already. Here are the results:

Four RCTs [randomized controlled trials] that involved 159 participants were included. The 4 control diets were based on distinct national nutrition guidelines but were broadly similar. Paleolithic nutrition resulted in greater short-term improvements than did the control diets (random-effects model) for waist circumference (mean difference: −2.38 cm; 95% CI: −4.73, −0.04 cm), triglycerides (−0.40 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.76, −0.04 mmol/L), systolic blood pressure (−3.64 mm Hg; 95% CI: −7.36, 0.08 mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (−2.48 mm Hg; 95% CI: −4.98, 0.02 mm Hg), HDL cholesterol (0.12 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.03, 0.28 mmol/L), and fasting blood sugar (−0.16 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.44, 0.11 mmol/L). The quality of the evidence for each of the 5 metabolic components was moderate. The home-delivery (n = 1) and dietary recommendation (n = 3) RCTs showed similar effects with the exception of greater improvements in triglycerides relative to the control with the home delivery. None of the RCTs evaluated an improvement in quality of life.

Ways to improve or cure metabolic syndrome include the paleo diet, Mediterranean diet, low-carb diets, ketogenic diets, and exercise. Losing excess fat weight with any reasonable diet would probably work. Enhance effectiveness with exercise.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:Eric W Manheimer,  Esther J van Zuuren, Zbys Fedorowicz, and Hanno Pijl. Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis. AJCN. First published August 12, 2015, doi: 10.3945/​ajcn.115.113613

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