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{{short description|Fad diet based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans}} {{Short description|Fad diet based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans}}
{{About|a modern-day diet|information on the dietary practices of Paleolithic humans|Paleolithic#Diet and nutrition}} {{About|a modern-day diet|information on the dietary practices of Paleolithic humans|Paleolithic#Diet and nutrition}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}


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The '''Paleolithic diet''', '''Paleo diet''', '''caveman diet''', or '''stone-age diet'''<ref name=bda/> is a modern ]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/6378407/diet-trends-to-avoid-experts/ |title=Paleo, WW and other fad diets aren't 'sustainable': expert |last=Bowden |first=Olivia |website=Global News |language=en |access-date=26 February 2020}}</ref> requiring the sole or predominant eating of foods presumed to have been available to humans during the ] era.<ref name=Tarantino2015/>


The '''Paleolithic diet''', '''Paleo diet''', '''caveman diet''', or '''Stone Age diet''' is a modern ] consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the ] era.<ref>{{Harvnb|de Menezes|Sampaio|Carioca|Parente|2019}}: "The Paleolithic diet has been gaining ground in the field of fad diets. It is based on food patterns of human Paleolithic ancestors, about 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago, a period that precedes the advent of industrial agriculture and is different from today's modern society".</ref>
The digestive abilities of ]s, however, are different from those of pre-'']'' humans, which has been used to criticize the diet's core premise.<ref name=fantasy/> During the 2.6 million year-long Paleolithic era, the highly variable climate and worldwide spread of human populations meant that humans were, by necessity, nutritionally adaptable. Supporters of the diet mistakenly assume that human digestion has remained essentially unchanged over time.<ref name=fantasy/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Henry |first=Amanda |last2=Brooks |first2=Alison |last3=Piperno |first3=Dolores |year=2014 |title=Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neanderthals and early modern humans |journal=] |volume=69 |pages=44–54 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.014 |pmid=24612646}}</ref>


While there is wide variability in the way the paleo diet is interpreted,<ref name=Katz2014/> the diet typically includes ], ], ]s, ]s, and ] and typically excludes foods such as ], ], ], ], processed ]s, ], ], and ].<ref name=bda/>{{acn|date=February 2018}} The diet is based on avoiding not just ]s, but rather the foods that humans began eating after the ] when humans transitioned from ] lifestyles to settled ].<ref name=Tarantino2015/> The ideas behind the diet can be traced to ]<ref name=fitz/> during the 1970s. In the 21st century, the paleo diet was popularized in the best-selling books of ].<ref name=Journal1/> The diet avoids ] and typically includes ], ], ]s, ], and ] and excludes ], ], ], ], processed ]s, ], ], and ].<ref>{{Harvnb| British Dietetic Association|2014}} - "The Paleo diet (also known as the Paleolithic Diet, the Caveman diet and the Stone Age Diet) is a diet where only foods presumed to be available to Neanderthals in the prehistoric era are consumed and all other foods, such as dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, 'processed' oils, salt, and others like alcohol or coffee are excluded."</ref> Historians can trace the ideas behind the diet to "primitive" diets advocated in the 19th century. In the 1970s, ] popularized a meat-centric "Stone Age" diet; in the 21st century, the best-selling books of ] popularized the Paleo diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ask EN|2010}}; {{Harvnb|Johnson|2015}}; {{Harvnb|Fitzgerald|2014}}.</ref> {{asof|2019}} the paleo-diet industry was worth approximately {{USD|500|link=yes}}&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Harvnb|Decker|2019}}.</ref>


In the 21st century, the sequencing of the ] and ] of the remains of early humans have found evidence that ] rapidly in response to changing diet. This evidence undermines a core premise of the paleolithic diet{{snd}}that human digestion has remained essentially unchanged over time.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whoriskey|2016}}; {{Harvnb|Zuk|2013|p=133}}: "No one can legitimately claim to have found the only 'natural' diet for humans. We simply ate too many different foods in the past, and have adapted to new ones".</ref> Palaeontological evidence has indicated that prehistoric humans ate plant-heavy diets that regularly included grains and other starchy vegetables, in contrast to the claims of the Paleo diet.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-20 |title=Science debunks a misleading myth about the paleo diet |url=https://www.inverse.com/culture/real-paleo-diet-had-carbs |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=Inverse |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Kate |date=2024-07-01 |title=To Follow the Real Early Human Diet, Eat Everything |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-follow-the-real-early-human-diet-eat-everything/ |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Henry |first1=Amanda G. |last2=Brooks |first2=Alison S. |last3=Piperno |first3=Dolores R. |date=2011-01-11 |title=Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium) |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=108 |issue=2 |pages=486–491 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1016868108 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=3021051 |pmid=21187393}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dein |first=Simon |date=2022-10-07 |title=The myth of the golden past: Critical perspectives on the paleo diet |url=https://journals.openedition.org/aof/13805 |journal=Anthropology of Food |language=en |doi=10.4000/aof.13805 |issn=1609-9168|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Challa |first1=Hima J. |title=Paleolithic Diet |date=2024 |work=StatPearls |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482457/ |access-date=2024-11-06 |place=Treasure Island (FL) |publisher=StatPearls Publishing |pmid=29494064 |last2=Bandlamudi |first2=Manav |last3=Uppaluri |first3=Kalyan R.}}</ref>
The paleo diet is promoted as a way of improving health.<ref name=nhs08/> There is some evidence that following this diet may lead to improvements in terms of body composition and metabolic effects compared with the typical ]<ref name=Katz2014/> or compared with diets recommended by national nutritional guidelines.<ref name=Manheimer2015/> Following the paleo diet can lead to ] such as an inadequate ] intake, and side effects can include weakness, ], and ]s.<ref name=Tarantino2015/><ref name=four/>

Advocates promote the paleolithic diet as a way of improving ].<ref>{{Harvnb|NHS|2008}}.</ref> There is some evidence that following it may lead to improvements in body composition and metabolism compared with the typical ]<ref>{{Harvnb|Katz|Meller|2014}}.</ref> or compared with diets recommended by some European nutritional guidelines.<ref>{{Harvnb|Manheimer|van Zuuren|Fedorowicz|Pijl|2015}}.</ref> On the other hand, following the diet can lead to ], such as an inadequate ] intake, and side effects can include weakness, ], and ]s.<ref>
''For calcium deficicency see'' {{Harvnb|Tarantino|Citro|Finelli|2015}}; ''for other risks see'' {{Harvnb|Obert|Pearlman|Obert|Chapin|2017}}.
</ref>


==History and terminology== ==History and terminology==
Adrienne Rose Johnson writes that the idea that the primitive diet was superior to current dietary habits dates back to the 1890s with such writers as ] and ]. Densmore proclaimed that "] is the staff of death", while Kellogg supported a diet of starchy and grain-based foods in accord with "the ways and likings of our primitive ancestors".<ref>{{Harvnb|Johnson|2015}}.</ref> ] advocated an early version of the Paleolithic diet in his 1952 book, ''Primitive Man and His Food''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Newton|2019|page=102}}.</ref> In 1958, ] authored ''Eat Fat and Grow Slim'', which proposed a low-carbohydrate "Stone Age" diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hill|1996}}; {{Harvnb|Smith|2015|p=117}}: "Mackarness, who founded the first British National Health Service clinical ecology clinic in Basingstoke, pioneered the so-called Stone Age Diet, in the belief that humans had not evolved to consume foods, including wheat and milk, developed since Paleolithic times (in fact, today's weight-reduction version of Mackarness's Stone Age diet is called the 'Paleo diet')."</ref>
{{Human timeline}}


In his 1975 book ''The Stone Age Diet'', gastroenterologist ] advocated a meat-based diet, with low proportions of vegetables and starchy foods, based on his declaration that humans were "exclusively flesh-eaters" until 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuk|2013|pp=111&ndash;112}}.</ref>
According to Adrienne Rose Johnson, the idea that the primitive diet was superior to current dietary habits dates back to the 1890s with such writers as ] and ]. Densmore proclaimed that "] is the staff of death", while Kellogg supported a diet of starchy and grain-based foods.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Adrienne Rose |date=2016 |title=Paleo Diets and Utopian Dreams |journal=] |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=11–12}}</ref> ] advocated an early version of the Paleolithic diet in his 1952 book, ''Primitive Man and His Food''.<ref>Newton, David E. (2019). ''Vegetarianism and Veganism: A Reference Handbook''. ABC-CLIO. p. 102. {{ISBN|978-1-4408-6763-7}}</ref> In 1958, ] authored ''Eat Fat and Grow Slim'', which proposed a low-carbohydrate "Stone Age" diet.<ref>Hill, Ronald. (1996). . '']''. Retrieved 14 December 2019.</ref><ref>Smith, Matthew. (2015). ''Another Person’s Poison: A History of Food Allergy''. Columbia University Press. p. 117. {{ISBN|978-0-231-16484-9}} "Mackarness, who founded the first British National Health Service clinical ecology clinic in Basingstoke, pioneered the so-called Stone Age Diet, in the belief that humans had not evolved to consume foods, including wheat and milk, developed since Paleolithic times (in fact, today's weight-reduction version of Mackarness's Stone Age diet is called the "Paleo diet")."</ref>


In 1985 ] and ] published a controversial article in the '']'' proposing that modern humans were biologically very similar to their primitive ancestors and so "genetically programmed" to consume pre-agricultural foods. Eaton and Konner proposed a "discordance hypothesis" by which the mismatch between modern diet and human biology gave rise to lifestyle diseases, such as ] and ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Johnson|2015}}.</ref>
The idea of a Paleolithic diet can also be traced to a 1975 book by ] ],<ref name="fitz">{{Cite book |last=Fitzgerald |first=M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bh1bBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |title=Diet Cults: The Surprising Fallacy at the Core of Nutrition Fads and a Guide to Healthy Eating for the Rest of Us |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-60598-595-4}}</ref>{{rp|41}} which in 1985 was further developed by ] and ], and popularized by ] in his 2002 book ''The Paleo Diet''.<ref name="Journal1">{{Cite journal |year=2010 |title=The modern take on the Paleo diet: is it grounded in science? |url=https://universityhealthnews.com/topics/nutrition-topics/the-modern-take-on-the-paleo-diet-is-it-grounded-in-science/ |journal=Environmental Nutrition |issue=7}}</ref> The terms ''caveman diet'' and ''stone-age diet'' are also used,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/22/what-language-tells-us-about-stone-age-diet-linguistics |title=What language tells us about the roots of the stone age diet |last=Shariatmadari |first=David |date=22 October 2014 |website=] |access-date=17 March 2015}}</ref> as is ''Paleo Diet'', ]ed by Cordain.<ref name="tm">{{Cite news |last=Lowe |first=K |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/health/2024082823_paleodietxml.html |title=A dissenting view on the Paleo Diet |date=20 July 2014 |work=] |access-date=17 March 2015}}</ref>


The diet started to become popular in the 21st century, where it attracted a largely internet-based following using web sites, forums and social media.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|Nowell|2016}}.</ref>
In 2012 the Paleolithic diet was described as being one of the "latest trends" in diets, based on the popularity of diet books about it;<ref name="cunningham">{{Cite journal |last=Cunningham |first=E |year=2012 |title=Are diets from paleolithic times relevant today? |journal=] |volume=112 |issue=8 |page=1296 |doi=10.1016/j.jand.2012.06.019 |pmid=22818735}}</ref> in 2013 the Paleolithic diet was ]'s most searched weight-loss method.<ref name="nhs">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/top-10-most-popular-diets-review.aspx |title=Top diets review for 2014 |publisher=] |access-date=24 November 2014 |quote=The paleo diet, also known as the caveman diet, was Google's most searched-for weight loss method in 2013.}}</ref>


This diet's ideas were further popularized by ], a health scientist with a Ph.D. in physical education, who trademarked the words "The Paleo Diet" and who wrote a 2002 book of that title.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ask EN|2010}}. For Cordain's qualifications see {{Harvnb|Chang|Nowell|2016}}. For trademarking see {{Harvnb|Lowe|2014}}.</ref>
Like many other diets, the paleo diet is promoted by some by an ] and a narrative of ] about how nutritional research, which does not support the supposed benefits of the paleo diet, is controlled by a malign ].<ref name="nhs08">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/05May/Pages/Cavemanfaddiet.aspx |title=Caveman fad diet |date=9 May 2008 |website=Choices |publisher=] |access-date=25 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="hall">{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Harriet |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-394997140 |title=Food myths: what science knows (and does not know) about diet and nutrition |work=] |year=2014 |issue=4 |volume=19 |page=10 |quote=Fad diets and "miracle" diet supplements promise to help us lose weight effortlessly. Different diet gurus offer a bewildering array of diets that promise to keep us healthy and make us live longer: vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, low fat, low carb, raw food, gluten-free ... the list goes on. |author-link=Harriet A. Hall}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A Paleo lifestyle and ideology have developed around the diet.<ref name="Goldstein2010">{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Joseph |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/fashion/10caveman.html?_r=0 |title=The New Age Cavemen and the City |date=January 8, 2010 |work=]}}</ref><ref name="Wilson2015">{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jason |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/paleo-isnt-a-fad-diet-its-an-ideology |title=Paleo isn't a fad diet, it's an ideology that selectively denies the modern world |date=March 16, 2015 |work=] |access-date=February 5, 2016}}</ref>


In 2012 the paleolithic diet was described as being one of the "latest trends" in diets, based on the popularity of diet books about it;<ref>{{Harvnb|Cunningham|2012}}.</ref> in 2013 and 2014 the Paleolithic diet was ]'s most searched weight-loss method.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|Nowell|2016}}.</ref>
==Foods==
The diet advises eating only foods presumed to be available to Paleolithic humans, but there is wide variability in people's understanding of what foods these were, and an accompanying ongoing debate.<ref name=Tarantino2015/> The diet is based on avoiding not just modern processed foods, but also the foods that humans began eating after the ].<ref name=Tarantino2015/>


The ''paleolithic'' or ''paleo'' diet is also sometimes referred to as the ''caveman'' or ''Stone Age'' diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Shariatmadari|2014}}.</ref>
The scientific literature generally uses the term "Paleo nutrition pattern", which has been variously described as:
* "vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, meat, and organ meats";<ref name="Tarantino2015">{{Cite journal |last=Tarantino |first=G |last2=Citro |first2=V |last3=Finelli |first3=C |year=2015 |title=Hype or reality: should patients with metabolic syndrome-related NAFLD be on the Hunter-Gatherer (Paleo) diet to decrease morbidity? |journal=Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=359–68 |doi=10.15403/jgld.2014.1121.243.gta |issn=1841-8724 |pmid=26405708}}</ref>
* "vegetables (including root vegetables), fruit (including fruit oils, e.g., olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil), nuts, fish, meat, and eggs, and it excluded dairy, grain-based foods, legumes, extra sugar, and nutritional products of industry (including refined fats and refined carbohydrates)";<ref name=Manheimer2015/> and
* "avoids processed foods, and emphasizes eating vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, eggs, and lean meats".<ref name=Katz2014/>


==Foodstuffs==
The diet forbids the consumption of all ] products. This is because milking did not exist until animals were domesticated after the Paleolithic era.<ref>Longe, Jacqueline L. (2008). ''The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition''. The Gale Group. p. 180. {{ISBN|978-1-4144-2991-5}} "No dairy products are allowed while on this diet. This means no milk, cheese, butter, or anything else that comes from milking animals. This is because milking did not occur until animals were domesticated, sometime after the Paleolithic age. Eggs are allowed however, because Paleolithic man would probably have found eggs in bird’s nests during foraging and hunting."</ref>
]. Some recent paleo diet variants emphasize the consumption of unprocessed animal products.]]
The basis of the diet is a re-imagining of what Paleolithic people ate, and different proponents recommend different diet compositions. Eaton and Konner, for example, wrote a 1988 book ''The Paleolithic Prescription'' with ], and it described a diet that is 65% plant-based. This is not typical of more recently devised paleo diets; Loren Cordain's&nbsp;&ndash; probably the most popular&nbsp;&ndash; instead emphasizes animal products and avoidance of ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|Nowell|2016}}.</ref> Diet advocates concede the modern paleolithic diet cannot be a faithful recreation of what paleolithic people ate, and instead aim to "translate" that into a modern context, avoiding such likely historical practices as ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Kolbert|2014}}.</ref>

Foodstuffs that have been described as permissible include:
* "vegetables, fruits, nuts, ], meat, and organ meats";<ref>{{Harvnb|Tarantino|Citro|Finelli|2015}}.</ref>
* "vegetables (including root vegetables), fruit (including fruit oils, e.g., olive oil, coconut oil, and ]), nuts, fish, meat, and eggs, and it excluded dairy, grain-based foods, legumes, extra sugar, and nutritional products of industry (including refined fats and refined carbohydrates)";<ref>{{Harvnb|Manheimer|van Zuuren|Fedorowicz|Pijl|2015}}.</ref> and
* "avoids processed foods, and emphasizes eating vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, eggs, and lean meats".<ref>{{Harvnb|Katz|Meller|2014}}.</ref>

The diet forbids the consumption of all ] products. This is because milking did not exist until animals were domesticated after the Paleolithic era.<ref>{{Harvnb|Longe|2008|p=180}}: "No dairy products are allowed while on this diet. This means no milk, cheese, butter, or anything else that comes from milking animals. This is because milking did not occur until animals were domesticated, sometime after the Paleolithic age. Eggs are allowed however, because Paleolithic man would probably have found eggs in bird's nests during foraging and hunting."</ref>

===Ancestral diet===
{{further|Pleistocene human diet}}
Adopting the Paleolithic diet assumes that modern humans can reproduce the hunter-gatherer diet. Molecular biologist ] argues that "knowledge of the relative proportions of animal and plant foods in the diets of early humans is circumstantial, incomplete, and debatable and that there are insufficient data to identify the composition of a genetically determined optimal diet. The evidence related to Paleolithic diets is best interpreted as supporting the idea that diets based largely on plant foods promote health and longevity, at least under conditions of food abundance and physical activity."<ref>{{Harvnb|Nestle|2000}}.</ref> Ideas about ] are at best hypothetical.<ref>{{Harvnb|Milton|2002}}.</ref>

The data for Cordain's book came from six contemporary hunter-gatherer groups, mainly living in marginal habitats. One of the studies was on the ], whose diet was recorded for a single month, and one was on the ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ungar|Teaford|2002}}; {{Harvnb|Lee|1969}}; {{Harvnb|Eaton|Shostak|Konner|1988}}.</ref> Due to these limitations, the book has been criticized as painting an incomplete picture of the diets of Paleolithic humans.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ungar|Teaford|2002}}.</ref> It has been noted that the rationale for the diet does not adequately account for the fact that, due to the pressures of ], most modern domesticated plants and animals differ drastically from their Paleolithic ancestors; likewise, their nutritional profiles are very different from their ancient counterparts. For example, wild ] produce potentially fatal levels of ], but this trait has been bred out of domesticated varieties using artificial selection. Many vegetables, such as ], did not exist in the Paleolithic period; broccoli, ], ], and ] are modern ]s of the ancient species '']''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Jabr|2013}}.</ref>

Trying to devise an ideal diet by studying contemporary hunter-gatherers is difficult because of the great disparities that exist; for example, the animal-derived calorie percentage ranges from 25% for the ] of southern Africa to 99% for the Alaskan ]. Descendants of populations with different diets have different genetic adaptations to those diets, such as the ability to digest sugars from starchy foods. Modern hunter-gatherers tend to exercise considerably more than modern office workers, protecting them from heart disease and diabetes, though highly processed modern foods also contribute to diabetes when those populations move into cities.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gibbons|2014}}.</ref>

A 2018 review of the diet of hunter-gatherer populations found that the dietary provisions of the paleolithic diet had been based on questionable research, and were "difficult to reconcile with more detailed ethnographic and nutritional studies of hunter-gatherer diet".<ref>{{Harvnb|Pontzer|Wood|Raichlen|2018}}.</ref>

Researchers have proposed that cooked starches met the energy demands of an increasing brain size, based on variations in the copy number of genes encoding ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Zimmer|2015}}; {{Harvnb|Hardy|Brand-Miller|Brown|Thomas|Copeland|2015}}.</ref>


==Health effects== ==Health effects==
The methodological quality of research into the paleolithic diet has been described as "poor to moderate".<ref>{{Harvnb|Pitt|2016}}; {{Harvnb|Obert|Pearlman|Obert|Chapin|2017}}.</ref> Some of the health claims made for it by its proponents, such as its ability to reverse ] and cure ] are exaggerated,<ref>{{Harvnb|Pitt|2016}}; {{Harvnb|Kolbert|2014}} : " proponents of the paleo diet make all sorts of claims for its efficacy. Some contend that it cures autoimmune diseases, others that it reverses diabetes."</ref> causing the diet to be controversial.
]s are eaten as part of the diet.]]
The aspects of the paleo diet that advise eating fewer processed foods and less sugar and salt are consistent with mainstream advice about diet.<ref name="bda">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bda.uk.com/news/view?id=39 |title=Top 5 Worst Celebrity Diets to Avoid in 2015 |date=8 December 2014 |publisher=]}}</ref> Diets with a paleo nutrition pattern have some similarities to traditional ethnic diets such as the ] that have been found to be healthier than the ].<ref name=Tarantino2015/><ref name="Katz2014">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Katz DL, Meller S |year=2014 |title=Can we say what diet is best for health? |journal=] |volume=35 |pages=83–103 |doi=10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182351 |pmid=24641555 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Following the paleo diet, however, can lead to ] such as those of vitamin{{nbsp}}D and calcium, which in turn could lead to compromised bone health;<ref name=bda/><ref name="Pitt2016">{{Cite journal |last=Pitt |first=Christopher E |date=January–February 2016 |title=Cutting through the Paleo hype: The evidence for the Palaeolithic diet |journal=] |volume=45 |issue=1–2 |pages=35–38}}</ref> it can also lead to an increased risk of ingesting toxins from high fish consumption.<ref name=Tarantino2015/>


Following the paleolithic diet results in the consumption of fewer processed foods, less sugar, and less salt. Reduced consumption of these elements is consistent with mainstream advice about diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|British Dietetic Association|2014}}.</ref> Diets with a paleolithic nutrition pattern also share some similarities with traditional ethnic diets, such as the ], which have been found to result in greater health benefits than the ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Tarantino|Citro|Finelli|2015}}; {{Harvnb|Katz|Meller|2014}}.</ref> Following the paleolithic diet can lead to ], such as those of vitamin{{nbsp}}D and calcium, which can in turn lead to compromised bone health.<ref>{{Harvnb|British Dietetic Association|2014}}; {{Harvnb|Pitt|2016}}.</ref> The increased fish consumption suggested by the diet can also lead to an elevated risk of exposure to toxins.<ref>{{Harvnb|Tarantino|Citro|Finelli|2015}}.</ref>
Research into the weight loss effects of the paleolithic diet has generally been of poor quality.<ref name="four">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Obert J, Pearlman M, Obert L, Chapin S |year=2017 |title=Popular Weight Loss Strategies: a Review of Four Weight Loss Techniques |journal=Current Gastroenterology Reports |type=Review |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=61 |doi=10.1007/s11894-017-0603-8 |pmid=29124370}}</ref> One trial of ] postmenopausal women found improvements in weight and fat loss after six months, but the benefits had ceased by 24 months; side effects among participants included "weakness, diarrhea, and headaches".<ref name=four/> As with any other diet regime, the paleo diet leads to weight loss because of overall decreased caloric intake, rather than a special feature of the diet itself.<ref name=four/>


There is some evidence that the diet can help in achieving ], due to the increased ] from the foods typically eaten.<ref>{{Harvnb|de Menezes|Sampaio|Carioca|Parente|2019}}.</ref> One trial of ] postmenopausal women found improvements in weight and fat loss after six months, but the benefits had ceased by 24 months. Side effects among these participants included "weakness, diarrhea, and headaches". As with any other diet regime, the paleolithic diet leads to weight loss because of overall decreased ], rather than any specific feature of the diet itself.<ref>{{Harvnb|Obert|Pearlman|Obert|Chapin|2017}}.</ref>
These preliminary trials have found that participants eating a paleo nutrition pattern had better measures of cardiovascular and metabolic health than people eating a standard diet,<ref name=Tarantino2015/><ref name="Manheimer2015">{{Cite journal |last=Manheimer |first=Eric W |last2=van Zuuren |first2=Esther J |last3=Fedorowicz |first3=Zbys |last4=Pijl |first4=Hanno |date=12 August 2015 |title=Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=] |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=922–32 |doi=10.3945/ajcn.115.113613 |pmc=4588744 |pmid=26269362}}</ref> though the evidence is not strong enough to recommend the paleo diet for treatment of ].<ref name=Manheimer2015/> As of 2014 there was no evidence the paleo diet is effective in treating ].<ref name="HOU2014">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hou JK, Lee D, Lewis J |date=October 2014 |title=Diet and inflammatory bowel disease: review of patient-targeted recommendations |journal=] |type=Review |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=1592–600 |doi=10.1016/j.cgh.2013.09.063 |pmc=4021001 |pmid=24107394 |quote=Even less evidence exists for the efficacy of the SCD, FODMAP, or Paleo diets. Furthermore, the practicality of maintaining these interventions over long periods of time is doubtful.}}</ref>


There is no good evidence that following a paleolithic diet reduces the risk of ] or ],<ref>{{Harvnb|Ghaedi|Mohammadi|Mohammadi|Ramezani-Jolfaie|2019}}; {{Harvnb|Manheimer|van Zuuren|Fedorowicz|Pijl|2015}}.</ref> nor is there any evidence that the paleolithic diet is effective in treating ].<ref>{{Harvnb|Hou|Lee|Lewis|2014}}: "Even less evidence exists for the efficacy of the SCD, FODMAP, or Paleo diets. Furthermore, the practicality of maintaining these interventions over long periods of time is doubtful."</ref>
The paleolithic diet similar to the ] encourages the consumption of large amounts of ], especially meats high in ].<ref name="Longe 182">Longe, Jacqueline L. (2008). ''The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition''. The Gale Group. p. 182. {{ISBN|978-1-4144-2991-5}}</ref> This has a negative effect on health in the long run as medical studies have shown that it can lead to increased incidence of cardiovascular disease.<ref name="Longe 182" />


The paleolithic diet similar to the ], in that it encourages the consumption of large amounts of ], especially meats high in ]. Increased consumption of red meat can lead to a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease.<ref>{{Harvnb|Longe|2008|p=182}}.</ref>
==Rationale and counter-arguments==
].]]


==Proposed rationale and reception==
===Adaptation===
], co-author of a 1985 paper setting out a hypothetical basis for the paleolithic diet]]
The rationale for the Paleolithic diet derives from proponents' claims relating to ].<ref name="nicp2010">{{Cite journal |last=Konner |first=M. |last2=Eaton |first2=S. Boyd |year=2010 |title=Paleolithic Nutrition: Twenty-Five Years Later |journal=] |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=594–602 |doi=10.1177/0884533610385702 |pmid=21139123}}</ref>{{rp|594}} Advocates of the diet state that humans were ] adapted to eating specifically those foods that were readily available to them in their local environments. These foods therefore shaped the nutritional needs of Paleolithic humans. They argue that the ] and ] of ] have changed little since the Paleolithic era.<ref name=nicp2010 />{{rp|594–95}} Natural selection is a long process, and the cultural and lifestyle changes introduced by western culture have occurred quickly. The argument is that modern humans have therefore not been able to adapt to the new circumstances.<ref name="Carrera-Bastos, P. 2011">{{Cite journal |last=Carrera-Bastos |first=P. |last2=Fontes-Villalba |first2=M. |last3=O’Keefe |first3=J. |last4=Lindeberg |first4=S. |last5=Cordain |first5=L. |year=2011 |title=The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization |url=https://www.dovepress.com/getfile.php?fileID=9163 |journal=Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology |pages=15 |doi=10.2147/RRCC.S16919 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The agricultural revolution brought the addition of grains and dairy to the diet.<ref name="Ramsden, C. 2009">{{Cite journal |last=Ramsden |first=C. |last2=Faurot |first2=K. |last3=Carrera-Bastos |first3=P. |last4=Cordain |first4=L. |last5=De Lorgeril |first5=M. |last6=Sperling |first6=L. |year=2009 |title=Dietary Fat Quality and Coronary Heart Disease Prevention: A Unified Theory Based on Evolutionary, Historical, Global, and Modern Perspectives |journal=Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=289–301 |doi=10.1007/s11936-009-0030-8 |pmid=19627662}}</ref>


The stated rationale for the paleolithic diet is that human genes of modern times are unchanged from those of 10,000 years ago, and that the diet of that time is therefore the best fit with humans today.<ref>{{Harvnb|Obert|Pearlman|Obert|Chapin|2017}}.</ref> Loren Cordain has described the paleo diet as "the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup".<ref>{{Harvnb|Gibbons|2014}}.</ref>
According to the model from the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, "many ]s and ] evident in modern ] populations have arisen because of a mismatch between ] genes and modern lifestyles."<ref>Elton, S (2008). "Environments, Adaptation, and Evolutionary Medicine: Should We be Eating a Stone Age Diet?". In S. Elton, P. O'Higgins (ed.), ''Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects''. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. P. 9. {{ISBN|978-1-4200-5134-6}}.</ref> Advocates of the modern paleo diet have formed their dietary recommendations based on this hypothesis. They argue that modern humans should follow a diet that is nutritionally closer to that of their Paleolithic ancestors.


The argument is that modern humans have not been able to adapt to the new circumstances.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carrera-Bastos|Fontes-Villalba|O'Keefe|Lindeberg|Cordain|2011}}.</ref> According to Cordain, before the agricultural revolution, hunter-gatherer diets rarely included grains, and obtaining milk from wild animals would have been "nearly impossible".<ref>{{Harvnb|Cordain|Eaton|Sebastian|Mann|2005}}</ref> Advocates of the diet argue that the increase in ] after the dawn of agriculture was caused by these changes in diet, but others have countered that it may be that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers did not suffer from the diseases of affluence because they did not live long enough to develop them.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ungar|Grine|Teaford|2006}}.</ref>
The evolutionary discordance is incomplete, since it is based mainly on the genetic understanding of the human diet and a unique model of human ancestral diets, without taking into account the flexibility and variability of the human dietary behaviors over time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Turner |first=BL |last2=Thompson |first2=AL |year=2013 |title=Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution |journal=] |type=Review |volume=71 |issue=8 |pages=501–10 |doi=10.1111/nure.12039 |pmc=4091895 |pmid=23865796}}</ref> Studies of a variety of populations around the world show that humans can live healthily with a wide variety of diets and that humans have evolved to be flexible eaters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=William R. |date=1 December 2002 |title=Food for Thought: Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/food-for-thought/ |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1202-106 |url-access=subscription |access-date=20 January 2016 |journal=]}}</ref> ] is an example of how some humans have adapted to the introduction of dairy into their diet. While the introduction of grains, dairy, and legumes during the ] may have had some adverse effects on modern humans, if humans had not been nutritionally adaptable, these technological developments would have been dropped.<ref name="SciAm2013">{{Cite web |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/ |title=How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked |last=Jabr |first=Ferris |date=3 June 2013 |website=]}}</ref>


According to the model from the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, "many ]s and ] evident in modern ] populations have arisen because of a mismatch between ] genes and modern lifestyles."<ref>{{Harvnb|Elton|2008|p=9}}.</ref> Advocates of the modern paleo diet have formed their dietary recommendations based on this hypothesis. They argue that modern humans should follow a diet that is nutritionally closer to that of their Paleolithic ancestors.
Evolutionary biologist ] writes that the idea that our genetic makeup today matches that of our ancestors is misconceived, and that in debate Cordain was "taken aback" when told that 10,000 years was "plenty of time" for an evolutionary change in human digestive abilities to have taken place.<ref name="fantasy">{{Cite book |last=Zuk M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iKwAgAAQBAJ |title=Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-393-08137-4 |author-link=Marlene Zuk}}</ref>{{rp|114}} On this basis Zuk dismisses Cordain's claim that the paleo diet is "the one and only diet that fits our genetic makeup".<ref name=fantasy/>


The evolutionary discordance is incomplete, since it is based mainly on the genetic understanding of the human diet and a unique model of human ancestral diets, without taking into account the flexibility and variability of the human dietary behaviors over time.<ref>{{Harvnb|Turner|Thompson|2013}}.</ref> Studies of a variety of populations around the world show that humans can live healthily with a wide variety of diets and that humans have evolved to be flexible eaters.<ref>{{Harvnb|Leonard|2002}}.</ref> Lactase persistence, which confers ] into adulthood, is an example of how some humans have adapted to the introduction of dairy into their diet. While the introduction of grains, dairy, and legumes during the ] may have had some adverse effects on modern humans, if humans had not been nutritionally adaptable, these technological developments would have been dropped.<ref>{{Harvnb|Jabr|2013}}.</ref>
===Diseases of affluence===
Advocates of the diet argue that the increase in ] after the dawn of agriculture was caused by changes in diet, but others have countered that it may be that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers did not suffer from the diseases of affluence because they did not live long enough to develop them.<ref name="homo">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Ungar PS, Grine FE, Teaford MF |year=2006 |title=Diet in Early ''Homo'': A Review of the Evidence and a New Model of Adaptive Versatility |journal=] |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=209–228 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123153 |issn=0084-6570}}</ref> Based on the data from hunter-gatherer populations still in existence, it is estimated that at age{{nbsp}}15, life expectancy was an additional 39{{nbsp}}years, for a total expected age of 54{{nbsp}}years.<ref name="kaplanetal2000">{{Cite journal |year=2000 |author1=Hillard Kaplan |author2=Kim Hill |author3=Jane Lancaster |author4=A. Magdalena Hurtado |title=A Theory of Human Life History Evolution: Diet, Intelligence and Longevity |journal=] |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=156–185 |doi=10.1002/1520-6505(2000)9:4<156::AID-EVAN5>3.0.CO;2-7 |url= http://www.unm.edu/~hkaplan/KaplanHillLancasterHurtado_2000_LHEvolution.pdf |accessdate=12 September 2010 }}</ref> At age{{nbsp}}45, it is estimated that average life expectancy was an additional 19{{nbsp}}years, for a total expected age of 64{{nbsp}}years.<ref name="GurvenKaplan2007">{{Cite journal |last=Gurven |first=Michael |last2=Kaplan |first2=Hillard |year=2007 |title=Longevity Among Hunter- Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination |journal=] |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=321–365 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x |issn=0098-7921}}</ref><ref name="OsborneHames2014">{{Cite journal |last=Osborne |first=Daniel L. |last2=Hames |first2=Raymond |year=2014 |title=A life history perspective on skin cancer and the evolution of skin pigmentation |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=anthropologyfacpub |journal=] |volume=153 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22408 |issn=0002-9483 |pmid=24459698}}</ref> That is to say, in such societies, most deaths occurred in childhood or young adulthood; thus, the population of elderly{{snds}}and the prevalence of diseases of affluence{{snds}}was much reduced. Excessive food energy intake relative to energy expended, rather than the consumption of specific foods, is more likely to underlie the diseases of affluence. "The health concerns of the industrial world, where calorie-packed foods are readily available, stem not from deviations from a specific diet but from an imbalance between the energy humans consume and the energy humans spend."<ref name="pmid12469653">{{Cite journal |last=Leonard, William R. |date=December 2002 |title=Food for thought: Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution |url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/krigbaum/proseminar/leonard_2002_SA.pdf |journal=] |volume=287 |issue=6 |pages=106–15 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1202-106 |pmid=12469653}}</ref>


Since the publication of Eaton and Konner's paper in 1985, analysis of the ] of primitive human remains has provided evidence that evolving humans were continually adapting to new diets, thus challenging the hypothesis underlying the paleothic diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whoriskey|2016}}.</ref> Evolutionary biologist ] writes that the idea that our genetic makeup today matches that of our ancestors is misconceived, and that in debate Cordain was "taken aback" when told that 10,000 years was "plenty of time" for an evolutionary change in human digestive abilities to have taken place. On this basis Zuk dismisses Cordain's claim that the paleo diet is "the one and only diet that fits our genetic makeup".<ref>{{Harvnb|Zuk|2013|p=114}}.</ref>
===Historical diet===
], an edible wild plant.]]
Adoption of the Paleolithic diet assumes that modern humans can reproduce the hunter-gatherer diet. Molecular biologist ] argues that "knowledge of the relative proportions of animal and plant foods in the diets of early humans is circumstantial, incomplete, and debatable and that there are insufficient data to identify the composition of a genetically determined optimal diet. The evidence related to Paleolithic diets is best interpreted as supporting the idea that diets based largely on plant foods promote health and longevity, at least under conditions of food abundance and physical activity."<ref name="doi10.1046/j.1467-3010.2000.00019.x">{{Cite journal |last=Nestle |first=Marion |date=March 2000 |title=Paleolithic diets: a sceptical view |journal=] |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=43–7 |doi=10.1046/j.1467-3010.2000.00019.x |authorlink1=Marion Nestle}}</ref> Ideas about ] are at best hypothetical.<ref name="isbn0-89789-736-6">{{Cite book |last=Milton, Katharine |title=Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution |publisher=Bergin and Garvey |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-89789-736-5 |editor-last=Ungar, Peter S. |location=] |pages=111–22 |chapter=Hunter-gatherer diets: wild foods signal relief from diseases of affluence (PDF) |editor-last2=Teaford, Mark F. |chapter-url=http://nature.berkeley.edu/miltonlab/pdfs/humandiet.pdf}}</ref>


Paleoanthropologist ] has written that the paleo diet is a "myth", on account both of its invocation of a single suitable diet when in reality humans have always been a "work in progress", and because diet has always been varied because humans were spread widely over the planet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ungar|2017}}.</ref>
The data for Cordain's book only came from six contemporary hunter-gatherer groups, mainly living in marginal habitats.<ref name="UngarTeaford2002">{{cite book|author1=Peter S. Ungar|author2=Mark Franklyn Teaford|title=Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GDELypdTUcC&pg=PA67|date=1 January 2002|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-89789-736-5|pages=67–}}</ref> One of the studies was on the ], whose diet was recorded for a single month, and one was on the ].<ref name="UngarTeaford2002" /><ref name="Lee1969">{{cite journal |title=Kung Bushmen Subsistence: An Input-Output Analysis |journal=Contributions to Anthropology: Ecological Essays. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada |year=1969 |last=Lee |first=Richard |issue=230 |pages=73–94 }}</ref><ref name="Eaton1988b">{{cite book |last=Eaton |first1=S. Boyd |last2=Shostak |first2=Marjorie |last3=Konner|first3=Melvin |title=The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living |publisher=] |year=1988 |page= |isbn=978-0060916350 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/paleolithicpresc00eato/page/79 }}</ref> Due to these limitations, the book has been criticized as painting an incomplete picture of the diets of Paleolithic humans.<ref name="UngarTeaford2002" /> It has been noted that the rationale for the diet does not adequately account for the fact that, due to the pressures of ], most modern domesticated plants and animals differ drastically from their Paleolithic ancestors; likewise, their nutritional profiles are very different from their ancient counterparts. For example, wild ] produce potentially fatal levels of ], but this trait has been bred out of domesticated varieties using artificial selection. Many vegetables, such as ], did not exist in the Paleolithic period; broccoli, ], ], and ] are modern ]s of the ancient species '']''.<ref name=SciAm2013 />


Anthropological geneticist ] has said that humans have adapted in the last 10,000 years in response to radical changes in diet. In 2016, she was quoted as saying "It drives me crazy when Paleo-diet people say that we've stopped evolving—we haven't".<ref>{{Harvnb|Whoriskey|2016}}.</ref>
Trying to devise an ideal diet by studying contemporary hunter-gatherers is difficult because of the great disparities that exist; for example, the animal-derived calorie percentage ranges from 25% for the ] of southern Africa to 99% for the Alaskan ].<ref name="NatGeo092014">{{cite journal |title=The Evolution of Diet |journal=] |date=September 2014 |last=Gibbons |first=Ann |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/ |accessdate=4 September 2014 }}</ref> Descendants of populations with different diets have different genetic adaptations to those diets, such as the ability to digest sugars from starchy foods.<ref name="NatGeo092014" /> Modern hunter-gatherers tend to exercise considerably more than modern office workers, protecting them from heart disease and diabetes, though highly processed modern foods also contribute to diabetes when those populations move into cities.<ref name="NatGeo092014" />


Melvin Konner has said the challenge to the hypothesis is not greatly significant since the real challenges to human non-adaptation have occurred with the rise of ever-more refined foodstuffs in the last 300 years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Whoriskey|2016}}.</ref>
A 2018 review of the diet of hunter-gatherer populations found that the dietary provisions of the palelothic diet had been based on questionable research, and were "difficult to reconcile with more detailed ethnographic and nutritional studies of hunter-gatherer diet".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pontzer|first=H.|last2=Wood|first2=B. M.|last3=Raichlen|first3=D. A.|date=2018-12-01|title=Hunter-gatherers as models in public health|journal=]|volume=19 Suppl 1|pages=24–35| doi=10.1111/obr.12785|issn=1467-789X|pmid=30511505|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt1m87g85c/qt1m87g85c.pdf?t=plqcrq}}</ref>


==Environmental impact==
Researchers have proposed that cooked starches met the energy demands of an increasing brain size, based on variations in the copy number of genes encoding ].<ref>{{cite news|title=For Evolving Brains, a 'Paleo' Diet Full of Carbs|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/science/for-evolving-brains-a-paleo-diet-full-of-carbs.html|accessdate=14 August 2015|work=]|date=13 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hardy|first1=Karen|last2=Brand-Miller|first2=Jennie|last3=Brown|first3=Katherine D.|last4=Thomas|first4=Mark G.|last5=Copeland|first5=Les|title=The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrate in Human Evolution|journal=]|date=September 2015|volume=90|issue=3| pages=251–268|doi=10.1086/682587|pmid=26591850|jstor=682587|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1470393/}}</ref>
A 2019 analysis of diets in the United States ranked consumption of a paleolithic diet as more environmentally harmful than consumption of an omnivorous diet, though not so harmful as a ].<ref>{{Harvnb|O'Malley|Willits-Smith|Aranda|Heller|2019}}.</ref>

] has written the paleolithic diet's emphasis on meat consumption is a "disaster" on account of meat's comparatively high energy production costs.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kolbert|2014}}.</ref>

==Popularity==
A lifestyle and ideology have developed around the diet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Goldstein|2010}}; {{Harvnb|Wilson|2015}}.</ref> "Paleolithic" products include clothing, ], and cookware. Many paleolithic cookery books have been bestsellers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|Nowell|2016}}.</ref>

{{asof|2019}} the market for products with the word "Paleo" in their name was worth approximately $US500&thinsp;million, with strong growth prospects despite pushback from the scientific community. Some products were taking advantage of the trend by touting themselves as "paleo-approved" despite having no apparent link to the movement's tenets.<ref>{{Harvnb|Decker|2019}}.</ref>

Like many ], the paleolithic diet is promoted by some by an ] and a narrative of ] about how nutritional research, which does not support the supposed benefits of the paleolithic diet, is controlled by a malign ].<ref>{{Harvnb|NHS|2008}}; {{Harvnb|Kolbert|2014}}; {{Harvnb|Hall|2014}}: "Fad diets and 'miracle' diet supplements promise to help us lose weight effortlessly. Different diet gurus offer a bewildering array of diets that promise to keep us healthy and make us live longer: vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, low fat, low carb, raw food, gluten-free the list goes on."</ref> Paleolithic diet advocate John Durant has blamed suppression of the truth about diet in the United States on "the vegetarian lobby".<ref>{{Harvnb|Kolbert|2014}}.</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
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==Citations==
{{Reflist}}


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{refbegin}}
*{{Cite journal |department=Ask EN |date=January 2010 |title=The modern take on the Paleo diet: is it grounded in science? |journal=Environmental Nutrition |issue=7 |url=https://universityhealthnews.com/topics/nutrition-topics/the-modern-take-on-the-paleo-diet-is-it-grounded-in-science/ |url-access=subscription |ref={{harvid|Ask EN|2010}}}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/top-5-worst-celebrity-diets-to-avoid-in-2015.html |title=Top 5 Worst Celebrity Diets to Avoid in 2015 |date=8 December 2014 |publisher=]|ref={{harvid|British Dietetic Association|2014}} |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025032114/https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/top-5-worst-celebrity-diets-to-avoid-in-2015.html |archive-date=2020-10-25 |url-status=dead}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Carrera-Bastos P, Fontes-Villalba M, O'Keefe J, Lindeberg S, Cordain L |year=2011 |title=The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization |url=https://www.dovepress.com/getfile.php?fileID=9163 |journal=Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology |pages=15 |doi=10.2147/RRCC.S16919 |doi-access=free}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Chang ML, Nowell A |title=How to make stone soup: Is the "Paleo diet" a missed opportunity for anthropologists? |journal=Evol. Anthropol. |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=228–31 |date=September 2016 |pmid=27753214 |doi=10.1002/evan.21504 |s2cid=12918685 }}
*{{Cite journal|last1=Cordain|first1=Loren|last2=Eaton|first2=S. Boyd|last3=Sebastian|first3=Anthony|last4=Mann|first4=Neil|last5=Lindeberg|first5=Staffan|last6=Watkins|first6=Bruce A.|last7=O’Keefe|first7=James H.|last8=Brand-Miller|first8=Janette|year=2005|title=Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century|url=https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/81/2/341/4607411|journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition|language=en|volume=81|issue=2|pages=341–54|doi=10.1093/ajcn.81.2.341|pmid=15699220|issn=0002-9165|doi-access=free}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Cunningham E |year=2012 |title=Are diets from paleolithic times relevant today? |journal=] |volume=112 |issue=8 |page=1296 |doi=10.1016/j.jand.2012.06.019 |pmid=22818735}}
*{{cite journal |journal=Nutritional Outlook |title=Paleo Diet: Is the paleo diet here to stay, or a short-lived trend? |year=2019 |vauthors=Decker KJ |issue=4 |volume=22 |url=https://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/view/paleo-diet-paleo-diet-here-stay-or-short-lived-trend}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=de Menezes EV, Sampaio HA, Carioca AA, Parente NA, Brito FO, Moreira TM, de Souza AC, Arruda SP |title=Influence of Paleolithic diet on anthropometric markers in chronic diseases: systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=Nutr J |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=41 |date=July 2019 |pmid=31337389 |pmc=6647066 |doi=10.1186/s12937-019-0457-z |type=Systematic review |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite book |vauthors=Eaton SB, Shostak M, Konner M |title=The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living |publisher=] |year=1988 |page= |isbn=978-0060916350 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/paleolithicpresc00eato/page/79 }}
*{{Cite book |vauthors=Elton S |year=2008 |chapter=Environments, Adaptation, and Evolutionary Medicine: Should We be Eating a Stone Age Diet? |veditors=Elton S, O'Higgins P |title=Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects |place=Boca Raton, FL |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-5134-6}}
*{{Cite book |vauthors=Fitzgerald M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bh1bBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |title=Diet Cults: The Surprising Fallacy at the Core of Nutrition Fads and a Guide to Healthy Eating for the Rest of Us |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-60598-595-4}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Ghaedi E, Mohammadi M, Mohammadi H, Ramezani-Jolfaie N, Malekzadeh J, Hosseinzadeh M, Salehi-Abargouei A |title=Effects of a Paleolithic Diet on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials |journal=Adv Nutr |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=634–46 |date=July 2019 |pmid=31041449 |pmc=6628854 |doi=10.1093/advances/nmz007 }}
*{{cite journal |journal=National Geographic Magazine |vauthors=Gibbons A |title=The Evolution of Diet |date=September 2014 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/}}
*{{Cite news |vauthors=Goldstein J |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/fashion/10caveman.html?_r=0 |title=The New Age Cavemen and the City |date=January 8, 2010 |work=]}}
*{{Cite news |vauthors=Hall H |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-394997140 |title=Food myths: what science knows (and does not know) about diet and nutrition |work=] |year=2014 |issue=4 |volume=19 |page=10 |author-link=Harriet A. Hall}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Hardy K, Brand-Miller J, Brown KD, Thomas MG, Copeland L |title=The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrate in Human Evolution |journal=Q Rev Biol |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=251–68 |date=September 2015 |pmid=26591850 |doi=10.1086/682587 |s2cid=28309169 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1470393/}}
*{{cite news |vauthors=Hill R |year=1996 |title=Obituary: Dr Richard Mackarness |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-dr-richard-mackarness-1303347.html}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hou JK, Lee D, Lewis J |date=October 2014 |title=Diet and inflammatory bowel disease: review of patient-targeted recommendations |journal=] |type=Review |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=1592–600 |doi=10.1016/j.cgh.2013.09.063 |pmc=4021001 |pmid=24107394 |quote=Even less evidence exists for the efficacy of the SCD, FODMAP, or Paleo diets. Furthermore, the practicality of maintaining these interventions over long periods of time is doubtful.}}
*{{Cite web |vauthors=Jabr F |date=3 June 2013 |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/ |title=How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked |website=]}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Johnson AR |date=2015 |title=The Paleo Diet and the American Weight Loss Utopia, 1975–2014 |journal=Utopian Studies|volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=101–124 |doi=10.5325/utopianstudies.26.1.0101 |publisher=Penn State University Press |s2cid=144735157 }}
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*{{cite magazine |vauthors=Kolbert E |magazine=The New Yorker |title=Stone Soup{{snd}}How the Paleolithic life style got trendy |date=20 July 2014 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/28/stone-soup}}
*{{cite journal |title=Kung Bushmen Subsistence: An Input-Output Analysis |journal=Contributions to Anthropology: Ecological Essays. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada |year=1969 |vauthors=Lee R |issue=230 |pages=73–94 }}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Leonard WR |date=1 December 2002 |title=Food for Thought: Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1202-106 |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/food-for-thought/ |access-date=20 January 2016 |url-access=subscription |journal=] |volume=287 |issue=6 |pages=106–15 |pmid=12469653}}
*{{Cite book |vauthors=Longe JL |year=2008 |title=The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition |publisher=The Gale Group |isbn=978-1-4144-2991-5}}
*{{Cite news |vauthors=Lowe K |date=20 July 2014 |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/health/2024082823_paleodietxml.html |title=A dissenting view on the Paleo Diet |work=] |access-date=17 March 2015}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Manheimer EW, van Zuuren EJ, Fedorowicz Z, Pijl H |title=Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=Am. J. Clin. Nutr. |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=922–32 |date=October 2015 |pmid=26269362 |pmc=4588744 |doi=10.3945/ajcn.115.113613 }}
*{{Cite book |vauthors=Milton K |year=2002 |editor=Ungar, Peter S. |editor2=Teaford, Mark F. |title=Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution |publisher=Bergin and Garvey |isbn=978-0-89789-736-5 |pages=111–122 |chapter=Hunter-gatherer diets: wild foods signal relief from diseases of affluence |chapter-url=http://nature.berkeley.edu/miltonlab/pdfs/humandiet.pdf |location=]}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Nestle M |date=March 2000 |title=Paleolithic diets: a sceptical view |journal=] |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=43–47 |doi=10.1046/j.1467-3010.2000.00019.x |author-link1=Marion Nestle}}
*{{cite book |vauthors=Newton DE |year=2019|title=Vegetarianism and Veganism: A Reference Handbook|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-6763-7}}
*{{Cite web |ref={{harvid|NHS|2008}} |url=http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/05May/Pages/Cavemanfaddiet.aspx |title=Caveman fad diet |date=9 May 2008 |website=Choices |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725212012/http://www.nhs.uk:80/news/2008/05May/Pages/Cavemanfaddiet.aspx |archive-date=25 July 2017}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Obert J, Pearlman M, Obert L, Chapin S |year=2017 |title=Popular Weight Loss Strategies: a Review of Four Weight Loss Techniques |journal=Current Gastroenterology Reports |type=Review |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=61 |doi=10.1007/s11894-017-0603-8 |pmid=29124370|s2cid=45802390 }}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=O'Malley K, Willits-Smith A, Aranda R, Heller M, Rose D |title=Vegan vs Paleo: Carbon Footprints and Diet Quality of 5 Popular Eating Patterns as Reported by US Consumers |journal= Current Developments in Nutrition |volume=1 |issue=Supplement 1 |year=2019 |pages=nzz047.P03–007–19 |doi=10.1093/cdn/nzz047.P03-007-19|doi-access=free |pmc=6574879 }}
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*{{Cite journal|vauthors=Pontzer H, Wood BM, Raichlen DA |date=2018-12-01|title=Hunter-gatherers as models in public health |journal=]|volume=19|issue=Suppl 1 |pages=24–35 |issn=1467-789X |pmid=30511505 |s2cid=54489120 |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt1m87g85c/qt1m87g85c.pdf?t=plqcrq |doi=10.1111/obr.12785 |doi-access=free}}
*{{Cite web |vauthors=Shariatmadari D |date=22 October 2014 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/22/what-language-tells-us-about-stone-age-diet-linguistics |title=What language tells us about the roots of the stone age diet |website=] |access-date=17 March 2015}}
*{{cite book |vauthors=Smith M |year=2015 |title=Another Person's Poison: A History of Food Allergy |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-16484-9}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Tarantino G, Citro V, Finelli C |title=Hype or Reality: Should Patients with Metabolic Syndrome-related NAFLD be on the Hunter-Gatherer (Paleo) Diet to Decrease Morbidity? |journal=J Gastrointestin Liver Dis |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=359–68 |date=September 2015 |pmid=26405708 |doi=10.15403/jgld.2014.1121.243.gta |type=Review}}
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*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Ungar PS, Grine FE, Teaford MF |year=2006 |title=Diet in Early ''Homo'': A Review of the Evidence and a New Model of Adaptive Versatility |journal=] |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=209–28 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123153 |issn=0084-6570}}
*{{cite book|vauthors=Ungar PS, Teaford MF |title=Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GDELypdTUcC&pg=PA67|date=1 January 2002|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-89789-736-5|pages=67–}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Ungar PS |journal=] |title=The 'True' Human Diet |date=17 April 2017 |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-true-human-diet/}}
*{{Cite news |vauthors=Whoriskey P |date=7 March 2016 |title=Paleo-diet debates evolve into something bigger |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/paleo-diet-debates-evolve-into-something-bigger/2016/03/07/792828ba-d690-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html}}
*{{Cite news |vauthors=Wilson J |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/paleo-isnt-a-fad-diet-its-an-ideology |title=Paleo isn't a fad diet, it's an ideology that selectively denies the modern world |date=March 16, 2015 |work=] |access-date=February 5, 2016}}
*{{cite news|vauthors=Zimmer C|date=13 August 2015 |title=For Evolving Brains, a 'Paleo' Diet Full of Carbs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/science/for-evolving-brains-a-paleo-diet-full-of-carbs.html|access-date=14 August 2015 |work=]}}
*{{Cite book |vauthors=Zuk M |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iKwAgAAQBAJ |title=Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co |isbn=978-0-393-08137-4 |author-link=Marlene Zuk}}
{{refend}}


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Diet Fads: Understanding Science and Society |edition=2nd |title=Paleo Diet |year=2014 |publisher=] |vauthors=Bijlefeld M, Zoumbaris SK |pages=164–166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |isbn=978-1-61069-760-6}} * {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Diet Fads: Understanding Science and Society |edition=2nd |title=Paleo Diet |year=2014 |publisher=] |vauthors=Bijlefeld M, Zoumbaris SK |pages=164–166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |isbn=978-1-61069-760-6}}
* {{cite web |author=Gorski D |authorlink=David Gorski |publisher=] |date=18 March 2013 |accessdate=1 February 2015 |title=It's a part of my paleo fantasy, it's a part of my paleo dream |url=http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/its-a-part-of-my-paleo-fantasy-its-a-part-of-my-paleo-dream/}} * {{cite web |vauthors=Gorski D |author-link=David Gorski |publisher=] |date=18 March 2013 |access-date=1 February 2015 |title=It's a part of my paleo fantasy, it's a part of my paleo dream |url=http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/its-a-part-of-my-paleo-fantasy-its-a-part-of-my-paleo-dream/}}
*{{cite journal |vauthors=Henry AG, Brooks AS, Piperno DR |title=Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neanderthals and early modern humans |journal=J. Hum. Evol. |volume=69 |pages=44–54 |date=April 2014 |pmid=24612646 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.014 }}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Konner M, Eaton S |year=2010 |title=Paleolithic Nutrition: Twenty-Five Years Later |journal=] |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=594–602 |doi=10.1177/0884533610385702 |pmid=21139123}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Osborne DL, Hames R |year=2014 |title=A life history perspective on skin cancer and the evolution of skin pigmentation |journal=] |volume=153 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=anthropologyfacpub |issn=0002-9483 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22408 |pmid=24459698 |s2cid=13175245}}
*{{Cite journal |vauthors=Ramsden C, Faurot K, Carrera-Bastos P, Cordain L, De Lorgeril M, Sperling L |year=2009 |title=Dietary Fat Quality and Coronary Heart Disease Prevention: A Unified Theory Based on Evolutionary, Historical, Global, and Modern Perspectives |journal=Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=289–301 |pmid=19627662 |pmc=10150942 |s2cid=1058038 |doi=10.1007/s11936-009-0030-8}}
{{refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
* – ], ] (August 2016). * – ], ] (August 2016).
* {{YouTube|BMOjVYgYaG8|Debunking the paleo diet}}, ] talk by ] ]


{{Diets}} {{Diets}}
{{Fad diets}} {{Fad diets}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Paleolithic Diet}}
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Latest revision as of 03:04, 11 November 2024

Fad diet based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans This article is about a modern-day diet. For information on the dietary practices of Paleolithic humans, see Paleolithic § Diet and nutrition.

Filets of fish on a bed of shredded vegetables cooking in a frying pan, partially covered by sliced tomatoes.
Foodstuffs compatible with paleolithic diet

The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or Stone Age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era.

The diet avoids food processing and typically includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, and meat and excludes dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, processed oils, salt, alcohol, and coffee. Historians can trace the ideas behind the diet to "primitive" diets advocated in the 19th century. In the 1970s, Walter L. Voegtlin popularized a meat-centric "Stone Age" diet; in the 21st century, the best-selling books of Loren Cordain popularized the Paleo diet. As of 2019 the paleo-diet industry was worth approximately US$500 million.

In the 21st century, the sequencing of the human genome and DNA analysis of the remains of early humans have found evidence that humans evolved rapidly in response to changing diet. This evidence undermines a core premise of the paleolithic diet – that human digestion has remained essentially unchanged over time. Palaeontological evidence has indicated that prehistoric humans ate plant-heavy diets that regularly included grains and other starchy vegetables, in contrast to the claims of the Paleo diet.

Advocates promote the paleolithic diet as a way of improving health. There is some evidence that following it may lead to improvements in body composition and metabolism compared with the typical Western diet or compared with diets recommended by some European nutritional guidelines. On the other hand, following the diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies, such as an inadequate calcium intake, and side effects can include weakness, diarrhea, and headaches.

History and terminology

Adrienne Rose Johnson writes that the idea that the primitive diet was superior to current dietary habits dates back to the 1890s with such writers as Emmet Densmore and John Harvey Kellogg. Densmore proclaimed that "bread is the staff of death", while Kellogg supported a diet of starchy and grain-based foods in accord with "the ways and likings of our primitive ancestors". Arnold DeVries advocated an early version of the Paleolithic diet in his 1952 book, Primitive Man and His Food. In 1958, Richard Mackarness authored Eat Fat and Grow Slim, which proposed a low-carbohydrate "Stone Age" diet.

In his 1975 book The Stone Age Diet, gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin advocated a meat-based diet, with low proportions of vegetables and starchy foods, based on his declaration that humans were "exclusively flesh-eaters" until 10,000 years ago.

In 1985 Stanley Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner published a controversial article in the New England Journal of Medicine proposing that modern humans were biologically very similar to their primitive ancestors and so "genetically programmed" to consume pre-agricultural foods. Eaton and Konner proposed a "discordance hypothesis" by which the mismatch between modern diet and human biology gave rise to lifestyle diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.

The diet started to become popular in the 21st century, where it attracted a largely internet-based following using web sites, forums and social media.

This diet's ideas were further popularized by Loren Cordain, a health scientist with a Ph.D. in physical education, who trademarked the words "The Paleo Diet" and who wrote a 2002 book of that title.

In 2012 the paleolithic diet was described as being one of the "latest trends" in diets, based on the popularity of diet books about it; in 2013 and 2014 the Paleolithic diet was Google's most searched weight-loss method.

The paleolithic or paleo diet is also sometimes referred to as the caveman or Stone Age diet.

Foodstuffs

Joint of roast beef on a wooden board, cooked medium rare and carved.
Roast beef. Some recent paleo diet variants emphasize the consumption of unprocessed animal products.

The basis of the diet is a re-imagining of what Paleolithic people ate, and different proponents recommend different diet compositions. Eaton and Konner, for example, wrote a 1988 book The Paleolithic Prescription with Marjorie Shostak, and it described a diet that is 65% plant-based. This is not typical of more recently devised paleo diets; Loren Cordain's – probably the most popular – instead emphasizes animal products and avoidance of processed food. Diet advocates concede the modern paleolithic diet cannot be a faithful recreation of what paleolithic people ate, and instead aim to "translate" that into a modern context, avoiding such likely historical practices as cannibalism.

Foodstuffs that have been described as permissible include:

  • "vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, meat, and organ meats";
  • "vegetables (including root vegetables), fruit (including fruit oils, e.g., olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil), nuts, fish, meat, and eggs, and it excluded dairy, grain-based foods, legumes, extra sugar, and nutritional products of industry (including refined fats and refined carbohydrates)"; and
  • "avoids processed foods, and emphasizes eating vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, eggs, and lean meats".

The diet forbids the consumption of all dairy products. This is because milking did not exist until animals were domesticated after the Paleolithic era.

Ancestral diet

Further information: Pleistocene human diet

Adopting the Paleolithic diet assumes that modern humans can reproduce the hunter-gatherer diet. Molecular biologist Marion Nestle argues that "knowledge of the relative proportions of animal and plant foods in the diets of early humans is circumstantial, incomplete, and debatable and that there are insufficient data to identify the composition of a genetically determined optimal diet. The evidence related to Paleolithic diets is best interpreted as supporting the idea that diets based largely on plant foods promote health and longevity, at least under conditions of food abundance and physical activity." Ideas about Paleolithic diet and nutrition are at best hypothetical.

The data for Cordain's book came from six contemporary hunter-gatherer groups, mainly living in marginal habitats. One of the studies was on the !Kung, whose diet was recorded for a single month, and one was on the diet of the Inuit. Due to these limitations, the book has been criticized as painting an incomplete picture of the diets of Paleolithic humans. It has been noted that the rationale for the diet does not adequately account for the fact that, due to the pressures of artificial selection, most modern domesticated plants and animals differ drastically from their Paleolithic ancestors; likewise, their nutritional profiles are very different from their ancient counterparts. For example, wild almonds produce potentially fatal levels of cyanide, but this trait has been bred out of domesticated varieties using artificial selection. Many vegetables, such as broccoli, did not exist in the Paleolithic period; broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale are modern cultivars of the ancient species Brassica oleracea.

Trying to devise an ideal diet by studying contemporary hunter-gatherers is difficult because of the great disparities that exist; for example, the animal-derived calorie percentage ranges from 25% for the Gwi people of southern Africa to 99% for the Alaskan Nunamiut. Descendants of populations with different diets have different genetic adaptations to those diets, such as the ability to digest sugars from starchy foods. Modern hunter-gatherers tend to exercise considerably more than modern office workers, protecting them from heart disease and diabetes, though highly processed modern foods also contribute to diabetes when those populations move into cities.

A 2018 review of the diet of hunter-gatherer populations found that the dietary provisions of the paleolithic diet had been based on questionable research, and were "difficult to reconcile with more detailed ethnographic and nutritional studies of hunter-gatherer diet".

Researchers have proposed that cooked starches met the energy demands of an increasing brain size, based on variations in the copy number of genes encoding amylase.

Health effects

The methodological quality of research into the paleolithic diet has been described as "poor to moderate". Some of the health claims made for it by its proponents, such as its ability to reverse diabetes and cure autoimmune diseases are exaggerated, causing the diet to be controversial.

Following the paleolithic diet results in the consumption of fewer processed foods, less sugar, and less salt. Reduced consumption of these elements is consistent with mainstream advice about diet. Diets with a paleolithic nutrition pattern also share some similarities with traditional ethnic diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, which have been found to result in greater health benefits than the Western diet. Following the paleolithic diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies, such as those of vitamin D and calcium, which can in turn lead to compromised bone health. The increased fish consumption suggested by the diet can also lead to an elevated risk of exposure to toxins.

There is some evidence that the diet can help in achieving weight loss, due to the increased satiety from the foods typically eaten. One trial of obese postmenopausal women found improvements in weight and fat loss after six months, but the benefits had ceased by 24 months. Side effects among these participants included "weakness, diarrhea, and headaches". As with any other diet regime, the paleolithic diet leads to weight loss because of overall decreased caloric intake, rather than any specific feature of the diet itself.

There is no good evidence that following a paleolithic diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease or metabolic syndrome, nor is there any evidence that the paleolithic diet is effective in treating inflammatory bowel disease.

The paleolithic diet similar to the Atkins diet, in that it encourages the consumption of large amounts of red meat, especially meats high in saturated fat. Increased consumption of red meat can lead to a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Proposed rationale and reception

Melvin Konner, co-author of a 1985 paper setting out a hypothetical basis for the paleolithic diet

The stated rationale for the paleolithic diet is that human genes of modern times are unchanged from those of 10,000 years ago, and that the diet of that time is therefore the best fit with humans today. Loren Cordain has described the paleo diet as "the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup".

The argument is that modern humans have not been able to adapt to the new circumstances. According to Cordain, before the agricultural revolution, hunter-gatherer diets rarely included grains, and obtaining milk from wild animals would have been "nearly impossible". Advocates of the diet argue that the increase in diseases of affluence after the dawn of agriculture was caused by these changes in diet, but others have countered that it may be that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers did not suffer from the diseases of affluence because they did not live long enough to develop them.

According to the model from the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, "many chronic diseases and degenerative conditions evident in modern Western populations have arisen because of a mismatch between Stone Age genes and modern lifestyles." Advocates of the modern paleo diet have formed their dietary recommendations based on this hypothesis. They argue that modern humans should follow a diet that is nutritionally closer to that of their Paleolithic ancestors.

The evolutionary discordance is incomplete, since it is based mainly on the genetic understanding of the human diet and a unique model of human ancestral diets, without taking into account the flexibility and variability of the human dietary behaviors over time. Studies of a variety of populations around the world show that humans can live healthily with a wide variety of diets and that humans have evolved to be flexible eaters. Lactase persistence, which confers lactose tolerance into adulthood, is an example of how some humans have adapted to the introduction of dairy into their diet. While the introduction of grains, dairy, and legumes during the Neolithic Revolution may have had some adverse effects on modern humans, if humans had not been nutritionally adaptable, these technological developments would have been dropped.

Since the publication of Eaton and Konner's paper in 1985, analysis of the DNA of primitive human remains has provided evidence that evolving humans were continually adapting to new diets, thus challenging the hypothesis underlying the paleothic diet. Evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk writes that the idea that our genetic makeup today matches that of our ancestors is misconceived, and that in debate Cordain was "taken aback" when told that 10,000 years was "plenty of time" for an evolutionary change in human digestive abilities to have taken place. On this basis Zuk dismisses Cordain's claim that the paleo diet is "the one and only diet that fits our genetic makeup".

Paleoanthropologist Peter Ungar has written that the paleo diet is a "myth", on account both of its invocation of a single suitable diet when in reality humans have always been a "work in progress", and because diet has always been varied because humans were spread widely over the planet.

Anthropological geneticist Anne C. Stone has said that humans have adapted in the last 10,000 years in response to radical changes in diet. In 2016, she was quoted as saying "It drives me crazy when Paleo-diet people say that we've stopped evolving—we haven't".

Melvin Konner has said the challenge to the hypothesis is not greatly significant since the real challenges to human non-adaptation have occurred with the rise of ever-more refined foodstuffs in the last 300 years.

Environmental impact

A 2019 analysis of diets in the United States ranked consumption of a paleolithic diet as more environmentally harmful than consumption of an omnivorous diet, though not so harmful as a ketogenic diet.

Elizabeth Kolbert has written the paleolithic diet's emphasis on meat consumption is a "disaster" on account of meat's comparatively high energy production costs.

Popularity

A lifestyle and ideology have developed around the diet. "Paleolithic" products include clothing, smartphone apps, and cookware. Many paleolithic cookery books have been bestsellers.

As of 2019 the market for products with the word "Paleo" in their name was worth approximately $US500 million, with strong growth prospects despite pushback from the scientific community. Some products were taking advantage of the trend by touting themselves as "paleo-approved" despite having no apparent link to the movement's tenets.

Like many other diets, the paleolithic diet is promoted by some by an appeal to nature and a narrative of conspiracy theories about how nutritional research, which does not support the supposed benefits of the paleolithic diet, is controlled by a malign food industry. Paleolithic diet advocate John Durant has blamed suppression of the truth about diet in the United States on "the vegetarian lobby".

See also

icon Evolutionary biology portal

icon Food portal

Citations

  1. de Menezes et al. 2019: "The Paleolithic diet has been gaining ground in the field of fad diets. It is based on food patterns of human Paleolithic ancestors, about 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago, a period that precedes the advent of industrial agriculture and is different from today's modern society".
  2. British Dietetic Association 2014 - "The Paleo diet (also known as the Paleolithic Diet, the Caveman diet and the Stone Age Diet) is a diet where only foods presumed to be available to Neanderthals in the prehistoric era are consumed and all other foods, such as dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, 'processed' oils, salt, and others like alcohol or coffee are excluded."
  3. Ask EN 2010; Johnson 2015; Fitzgerald 2014.
  4. Decker 2019.
  5. Whoriskey 2016; Zuk 2013, p. 133: "No one can legitimately claim to have found the only 'natural' diet for humans. We simply ate too many different foods in the past, and have adapted to new ones".
  6. "Science debunks a misleading myth about the paleo diet". Inverse. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  7. Wong, Kate (1 July 2024). "To Follow the Real Early Human Diet, Eat Everything". Scientific American. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  8. Henry, Amanda G.; Brooks, Alison S.; Piperno, Dolores R. (11 January 2011). "Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108 (2): 486–491. doi:10.1073/pnas.1016868108. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3021051. PMID 21187393.
  9. Dein, Simon (7 October 2022). "The myth of the golden past: Critical perspectives on the paleo diet". Anthropology of Food. doi:10.4000/aof.13805. ISSN 1609-9168.
  10. Challa, Hima J.; Bandlamudi, Manav; Uppaluri, Kalyan R. (2024), "Paleolithic Diet", StatPearls, Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing, PMID 29494064, retrieved 6 November 2024
  11. NHS 2008.
  12. Katz & Meller 2014.
  13. Manheimer et al. 2015.
  14. For calcium deficicency see Tarantino, Citro & Finelli 2015; for other risks see Obert et al. 2017.
  15. Johnson 2015.
  16. Newton 2019, p. 102.
  17. Hill 1996; Smith 2015, p. 117: "Mackarness, who founded the first British National Health Service clinical ecology clinic in Basingstoke, pioneered the so-called Stone Age Diet, in the belief that humans had not evolved to consume foods, including wheat and milk, developed since Paleolithic times (in fact, today's weight-reduction version of Mackarness's Stone Age diet is called the 'Paleo diet')."
  18. Zuk 2013, pp. 111–112.
  19. Johnson 2015.
  20. Chang & Nowell 2016.
  21. Ask EN 2010. For Cordain's qualifications see Chang & Nowell 2016. For trademarking see Lowe 2014.
  22. Cunningham 2012.
  23. Chang & Nowell 2016.
  24. Shariatmadari 2014.
  25. Chang & Nowell 2016.
  26. Kolbert 2014.
  27. Tarantino, Citro & Finelli 2015.
  28. Manheimer et al. 2015.
  29. Katz & Meller 2014.
  30. Longe 2008, p. 180: "No dairy products are allowed while on this diet. This means no milk, cheese, butter, or anything else that comes from milking animals. This is because milking did not occur until animals were domesticated, sometime after the Paleolithic age. Eggs are allowed however, because Paleolithic man would probably have found eggs in bird's nests during foraging and hunting."
  31. Nestle 2000.
  32. Milton 2002.
  33. Ungar & Teaford 2002; Lee 1969; Eaton, Shostak & Konner 1988.
  34. Ungar & Teaford 2002.
  35. Jabr 2013.
  36. Gibbons 2014.
  37. Pontzer, Wood & Raichlen 2018.
  38. Zimmer 2015; Hardy et al. 2015.
  39. Pitt 2016; Obert et al. 2017.
  40. Pitt 2016; Kolbert 2014 : " proponents of the paleo diet make all sorts of claims for its efficacy. Some contend that it cures autoimmune diseases, others that it reverses diabetes."
  41. British Dietetic Association 2014.
  42. Tarantino, Citro & Finelli 2015; Katz & Meller 2014.
  43. British Dietetic Association 2014; Pitt 2016.
  44. Tarantino, Citro & Finelli 2015.
  45. de Menezes et al. 2019.
  46. Obert et al. 2017.
  47. Ghaedi et al. 2019; Manheimer et al. 2015.
  48. Hou, Lee & Lewis 2014: "Even less evidence exists for the efficacy of the SCD, FODMAP, or Paleo diets. Furthermore, the practicality of maintaining these interventions over long periods of time is doubtful."
  49. Longe 2008, p. 182.
  50. Obert et al. 2017.
  51. Gibbons 2014.
  52. Carrera-Bastos et al. 2011.
  53. Cordain et al. 2005
  54. Ungar, Grine & Teaford 2006.
  55. Elton 2008, p. 9.
  56. Turner & Thompson 2013.
  57. Leonard 2002.
  58. Jabr 2013.
  59. Whoriskey 2016.
  60. Zuk 2013, p. 114.
  61. Ungar 2017.
  62. Whoriskey 2016.
  63. Whoriskey 2016.
  64. O'Malley et al. 2019.
  65. Kolbert 2014.
  66. Goldstein 2010; Wilson 2015.
  67. Chang & Nowell 2016.
  68. Decker 2019.
  69. NHS 2008; Kolbert 2014; Hall 2014: "Fad diets and 'miracle' diet supplements promise to help us lose weight effortlessly. Different diet gurus offer a bewildering array of diets that promise to keep us healthy and make us live longer: vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, low fat, low carb, raw food, gluten-free the list goes on."
  70. Kolbert 2014.

References

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