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| {{About|a modern nutritional approach|information on the dietary practices of Paleolithic humans|Paleolithic#Diet and nutrition}} | |||
| {{multiple issues| | |||
| {{disputed|date=April 2013}} | |||
| {{POV|date=June 2014|talk=Article Bias and Original Research}} | |||
| {{Original research|date=June 2014}} | |||
| {{medref|date=June 2014}} | |||
| }} | |||
| ] | |||
| The '''Paleolithic diet''', also popularly referred to as the '''caveman diet''', '''Stone Age diet''' and '''hunter-gatherer diet''', is a modern nutritional diet designed to emulate, insofar as possible using modern foods, the diet of wild plants and animals eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hiatt|first1=Kurtis|url=http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/paleo-diet|title=Paleo Diet -- What You Need to Know|website=U.S. News and World Report|accessdate=1 June 2014}}</ref> Proponents of the diet therefore recommend avoiding any foods that they claim were not available to humans at that time, including dairy products, grains, legumes, processed oils, and refined sugar. The Paleolithic diet is a ]<ref>{{cite web|title=Caveman fad diet|url=http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/05May/Pages/Cavemanfaddiet.aspx|publisher=]|accessdate=14 August 2014}}</ref> that has gained popularity in the 21st century. | |||
| The diet is based on several premises. Proponents of the diet posit that during the ] — a period lasting around 2.5 million years that ended about 10,000 years ago with the ] — humans evolved nutritional needs specific to the foods available at that time, and that the ]al needs of ] remain best adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors. Proponents also claim that human ] has been unable to adapt fast enough to handle many of the foods that have become available since the advent of agriculture. Thus, modern humans are said to be maladapted to eating foods such as ], ]s, and ], and in particular the high-calorie ] that are a staple part of most modern diets. Proponents claim that modern humans' inability to properly metabolize these comparatively new types of food has led to modern-day problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. They claim that followers of the Paleolithic diet may enjoy a longer, healthier, more active life. | |||
| Critics of the Paleolithic diet have pointed out a number of flaws with its underlying logic, including the fact that there is abundant evidence that paleolithic humans did in fact eat grains and legumes,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Henry|first1=Amanda|last2=Brooks|first2=Alison|last3=Piperno|first3=Dolores|title=Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neanderthals and early modern humans|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|date=2014|volume=69|pages=44–54|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.014|pmid=24612646|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248414000189}}</ref> that humans are much more nutritionally flexible than previously thought, that the hypothesis that Paleolithic humans were genetically adapted to specific local diets remains to be proven, that the Paleolithic period was extremely long and saw a variety of forms of human settlement and subsistence in a wide variety of changing nutritional landscapes, and that currently very little is known for certain about what Paleolithic humans ate. | |||
| {{TOC limit|2}} | |||
| ==History== | |||
| Walter Voegtlin self-published an early book on the topic, ''The Stone Age Diet'', in 1975.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Voegtlin|first1=Walter L.|title=The stone age diet: based on in-depth studies of human ecology and the diet of man|url=http://books.google.com/?id=UORsAAAAMAAJ|publisher=Vantage Press|accessdate=11 June 2014|year= 1975}}</ref> In 1985, Boyd Eaton and ] published a paper<ref>{{cite journal|title=Paleolithic Nutrition — A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|date=31 January 1985|volume=312|issue= 5|pages= 283–289|doi= 10.1056/NEJM198501313120505|url= http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198501313120505|accessdate=11 June 2014|pmid=2981409|author1=Eaton|first1=S. B.|last2=Konner|first2=M}}</ref> on Paleolithic nutrition in the '']'', followed in 1988 by the book, with ], ''The Paleolithic Prescription''. Eaton and Konner first articulated the evolutionary discordance hypothesis in their 1985 article "Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications".<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Eaton | first1 = S. Boyd | last2 = Konner | first2 = M | year = 1985 | title = Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications | url = | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 312 | issue = | pages = 283–289 | doi=10.1056/nejm198501313120505}}</ref> Since the late 1990s many others have published books and articles promoting the diet, including ], ], and ]. | |||
| Regimens such as the ] and ] overshadowed the Paleolithic diet until the publication{{when?|date=November 2014}} of a popular book{{which?|date=November 2014}} by ]. Cordain holds a bachelor degree in health science, a masters and a doctoral degree in exercise physiology, and has studied nutrition professionally for over twenty years. His web site styles him as "Dr Loren Cordain, world's leading expert on paleolithic diets and founder of The Paleo Movement".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cordain|first1=Loren|title=The Paleo Diet|url= http://thepaleodiet.com/the-paleo-diet-blog/|publisher=The Paleo Diet LLC|accessdate=11 June 2014}}</ref> Cordain owns the trademark "The Paleo Diet".<ref>{{cite web|title=THE PALEO DIET|url=http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4810:w762u.2.2|publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office|accessdate=12 June 2014}}</ref> The paleolithic diet has grown greatly{{quantify|date=November 2014}} in popularity since the publication of Cordain's book,{{cn|date=November 2014}} and in 2013 was Google's most searched-for weight-loss method.<ref name=nhs> | |||
| {{cite web | |||
| | title = Top diets review for 2014 | |||
| | url = http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/top-10-most-popular-diets-review.aspx | |||
| | publisher = NHS | |||
| | accessdate = 2014-11-24 | |||
| | quote = The paleo diet, also known as the caveman diet, was Google's most searched-for weight loss method in 2013. | |||
| }} | |||
| </ref> | |||
| ==The diet == | |||
| Major advocates of the diet believe that this includes eating:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cordain|first1=Loren|title=The Paleo Diet Revised|date=2010|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0470913024|page=10}}</ref> | |||
| ]s are rich sources of protein and micronutrients]] | |||
| * More protein and meat: Meat, seafood, and other animal products represent the staple foods of modern-day Paleo diets, since advocates claim protein comprises 19-35% of the calories in hunter-gatherer diets.<ref name=premise>{{cite web|title=THE PALEO DIET PREMISE|url=http://thepaleodiet.com/the-paleo-diet-premise/|website=The Paleo Diet|accessdate=14 June 2014}}</ref> The ], the national public health institute of the United States, recommends that 10-35% of calories come from protein.<ref>{{cite web|title=Protein|url=http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/protein.html|website=CDC|publisher=US Government|accessdate=14 June 2014}}</ref> Advocates recommend, relative to modern diets, that the Paleolithic diet have moderate to higher fat intake dominated by ] and ] fats and ] fats, but avoiding trans fats, and ] fats. | |||
| * Fewer carbohydrates: Non-]y vegetables. The diet recommends the consumption of non-starchy fresh fruits and vegetables to provide 35-45 % daily calories and be the main source of ].<ref name=premise/> According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the ] for carbohydrates is 45 to 65 percent of total calories.<ref>{{cite web|title=Carbohydrates|url=http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/chapter7.htm|publisher=USDA|accessdate=14 June 2014}}</ref> A typical modern diet gets a lot of carbohydrates from dairy products and grains, but these are excluded in the Paleolithic diet. | |||
| * High fiber: High fiber intake not via grains, but via non-starchy vegetables and fruits.<ref name=premise/> | |||
| ===Exclusions=== | |||
| Food groups that advocates claim were rarely or never consumed by humans before the ] are excluded from the diet. These include: | |||
| * dairy products | |||
| * grains, for example ], ], and ], which make it a ] | |||
| * legumes, for example beans and peanuts | |||
| * processed oils | |||
| * ] | |||
| * salt | |||
| * Neither ]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cordain|first1=Loren|title=ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA… PRIMAL!|url=http://thepaleodiet.com/one-tequila-two-tequila-three-tequila-primal/|accessdate=14 June 2014}}</ref> nor coffee is considered "paleo" as our ancestors could not produce these drinks. | |||
| ==Rationale and counter-arguments== | |||
| {{POV-section|date=June 2014|talk=Article Bias and Original Research}} | |||
| ]. Hunting by humans may have been a factor in its extinction, causing resource scarcity which may in turn have contributed to the development of agriculture.]] | |||
| The rationale for the Paleolithic diet derives from ],<ref>Konner M.; Eaton, S. Boyd (2010). "Paleolithic Nutrition: Twenty-Five Years Later". ''Nutrition in Clinical Practice'' '''25''' (6): 594–602. P. 594.</ref> specifically the evolutionary discordance hypothesis. which states that "many ]s and ]s evident in modern ] populations have arisen because of a mismatch between ] genes and recently adopted 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 Paleolithic diet, including Loren Cordain, take the evolutionary discordance hypothesis for granted, and form their dietary recommendations on its basis. They argue that modern humans should follow a diet that is as nutritionally close to that of their Paleolithic ancestors as possible. | |||
| However the validity of the evolutionary discordance hypothesis has been brought into doubt by recent research. | |||
| === Humans are adapted to a paleolithic diet === | |||
| Paleolithic 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.<ref>Eaton, S. Boyd; Konner, M (1985). "Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications". ''New England Journal of Medicine'' 312: 283–289. P. 283 ''et passim''.</ref> The ] and ] of ] have changed little, if at all, since the time of their Paleolithic ancestors.<ref>Konner M.; Eaton, S. Boyd (2010). "Paleolithic Nutrition: Twenty-Five Years Later". ''Nutrition in Clinical Practice'' '''25''' (6): 594–602. Pp. 594–95.</ref> The extreme changes in human diets due to the agricultural and industrial revolutions occurred over less than 200 years ago, which is not enough time for genetic adaptation.<ref>Ramsden, Christopher E.; Faurot, Keturah R.; Carrera-Bastos, Pedro; Cordain, Loren; De Lorgeril, Michel; Sperling, Laurence S. (2009). "Dietary Fat Quality and Coronary Heart Disease Prevention: A Unified Theory Based on Evolutionary, Historical, Global, and Modern Perspectives". "Current Treatment Options Cardiovascular Medicine" 289-301.</ref> | |||
| By using applied Darwinian medicine, the use of modern evolutionary theory to understand health and disease, one can see that the human genome today was chosen by natural selection for the ancestral Paleolithic environment. Natural selection took time and the cultural and lifestyle changes to westernized culture occurred too quickly for the gene pool to evolve with the environmental changes.<ref name="Carrera-Bastos, P. 2011">Carrera-Bastos, P., Fontes-Villalba, M., O’Keefe, J., Lindeberg, S., Cordain, L. 2011. The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization. Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology. {{DOI|10.2147/RRCC.S16919}}</ref> Between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago the agricultural revolution brought about the replacement of certain uncultivated foods from the Paleolithic diet with grains and dairy.<ref name="Ramsden, C. 2009">{{cite journal | last1 = Ramsden | first1 = 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 | url = | journal = Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine | volume = 11 | issue = | pages = 289–301 | doi=10.1007/s11936-009-0030-8}}</ref> The industrial revolution, in combination with the development of agriculture, brought about significant changes to the diet less than 200 years ago as well.<ref name="Ramsden, C. 2009"/> This revolution brought about crop manipulation, animal-rearing practices, and food processing, thus further changing the westernized diet.<ref name="Ramsden, C. 2009"/> Both of these major instances occurred recent enough that the human genome did not have time to adapt to the changed environment. ]s that were selected for or were neutral in the hunter-gatherer environment now promote diseases in modern environments and diets.<ref>Eaton, S. Boyd, Strassman, B., Nesse, R., Neel, J., Ewald, P., Williams, G., Weder, A., Lindeberg, S., Konner, M., Mysterud, I., Cordain, L. 2002. Evolutionary Health Promotion. Preventative Medicine. {{DOI|10.1006/pmed.2001.0876}} PMID 11817903</ref> Some of the alleles selected for in the past had positive effects for survival and reproduction, but caused health problems in the post-reproductive years.<ref name="Carrera-Bastos, P. 2011"/> Selection processes that were made in post agricultural alleles were due to pathogens in the environment, not diet, lifestyle, or environmental changes.<ref name="Carrera-Bastos, P. 2011"/> | |||
| ====Counter-argument==== | |||
| Studies of traditionally living populations show that humans can live healthily with a wide variety of diets. We have evolved to be flexible eaters.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Leonard|first1=William R.|title=Food for Thought: Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution|publisher=Scientific American}}</ref> | |||
| === Human health has been in decline since the agricultural revolution because of dietary changes === | |||
| Paleolithic humans had relative health and ], and less ], ], ], type 2 ], certain types of ], and ].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Eaton | first1 = S. Boyd | last2 = Konner | first2 = M | year = 1985 | title = Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications | url = | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 312 | issue = 283–289| pages = 287–88 }}</ref> The ] and ] has led to the availability of foods to which humans are not genetically adapted, and these detrimental foods (particularly carbohydrate-rich starches like ] and ]) have now largely replaced beneficial foods (like lean animal protein) in human diets.<ref name="Eaton, S. Boyd 1985 P. 284" /> ] and ] are modern afflictions that have arisen in part from the eating of foods to which humans are not genetically adapted.<ref name="Eaton, S. Boyd 1988">{{cite journal | last1 = Eaton | first1 = S. Boyd | last2 = Konner | first2 = M. | last3 = Shostak | first3 = M. | year = 1988 | title = Stone Agers in the Fast Lane: Chronic Degenerative Disease in Evolutionary Perspective | url = | journal = The American Journal of Medicine | volume = 84 | issue = 4| pages = 739–49 | doi=10.1016/0002-9343(88)90113-1 | pmid=3135745}}</ref> | |||
| The Paleolithic diet followed the macronutrient compositions of 25-29% protein, 39-40% carbohydrates, and 30-39% fats. Today’s westernized diets generally follow the macronutrient compositions of 15% protein, 49% carbohydrates for men, 52% carbohydrates for women, and 33% fats. The amount of protein in humans’ diets drastically decreased, while carbohydrates increased. Even in the short amount of time from 1972 to 2000, the carbohydrate values in the United States increased for men from 42-49% and for women from 45-52%. The higher percentage of carbohydrates in the diet essentially took away a percentage of the fats intake, which decreased the amount of fats for men from 37% to 33% and for women from 36% to 33%. Following these patterns of increasing amounts of carbohydrates in the human diet will have a continuation of decreasing amounts of proteins and fats in the human diet, which could in turn continue encouraging negative health affects on the human populations.<ref>Kuipers, R., Luxwolda, M., Dijck-Brouwer, D., Eaton, S. Boyd, Crawford, M., Cordain, L., Muskiet, F. 2010. Estimated macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet. British Journal of Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S0007114510002679 | |||
| </ref> | |||
| ====Counter-argument==== | |||
| It is often argued that preagricultural foragers did not suffer from the diseases of affluence simply because they did not live long enough to develop them.<ref name="doi10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123153">{{cite journal | |||
| | author = Ungar, Peter S.; Grine, Frederick E.; & Teaford, Mark F. | |||
| | 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 | date = October 2006 | |||
| | doi = 10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123153 | |||
| | url = http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/fae/PSUFEGMFT2006ARA.pdf }} | |||
| </ref> Based on the data from recent hunter-gatherer populations, it is estimated that at age 15, life expectancy was an additional 39 years, for a total age of 54.<ref name="kaplanetal2000">{{Cite journal |year=2000 |author=Hillard Kaplan, Kim Hill, Jane Lancaster, and A. Magdalena Hurtado |title=A Theory of Human Life History Evolution: Diet, Intelligence and Longevity |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |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=September 12, 2010 |postscript=.}}</ref> At age 45, it is estimated that average life expectancy was an additional 19 years, for a total age of 64 years.<ref name="GurvenKaplan2007">{{cite journal|last1=Gurven|first1=Michael|last2=Kaplan|first2=Hillard|title=Longevity Among Hunter- Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=33|issue=2|year=2007|pages=321–365|issn=0098-7921|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x}}</ref><ref name="OsborneHames2014">{{cite journal|last1=Osborne|first1=Daniel L.|last2=Hames|first2=Raymond|title=A life history perspective on skin cancer and the evolution of skin pigmentation|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=153|issue=1|year=2014|pages=1–8|issn=00029483|doi=10.1002/ajpa.22408|pmid=24459698|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22408}}</ref> Food energy excess, relative to energy expended, rather than the consumption of specific foods may 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 we consume and the energy we spend."<ref name="pmid12469653">{{cite journal | |||
| | author = Leonard, William R. | |||
| | title = Food for thought: Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution | |||
| | journal = ] | |||
| | volume = 287 | issue = 6 | pages = 106–15 |date=December 2002 | |||
| | pmid = 12469653 | |||
| | url = http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/krigbaum/proseminar/leonard_2002_SA.pdf | format = PDF }} | |||
| </ref> | |||
| === We understand and can imitate the paleolithic diet === | |||
| Most Paleolithic communities were organized around some form of ] or forager-gather subsistence, which implies that they regularly ate wild plants and root vegetables, fruits and nuts, and the considerable quantities of the flesh of wild animals (including ] and ]). They did not eat (because they could not cultivate in large enough quantity) legumes, grains, salt, the milk of other animals, and large quantities of animal fat.<ref name="Eaton, S. Boyd 1985 P. 284">{{cite journal | last1 = Eaton | first1 = S. Boyd | last2 = Konner | first2 = M | year = 1985 | title = Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications | url = | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 312 | issue = 283–289| page = 284 }}</ref> It is currently possible to discover (through palaeontology, archaeology, and the study of modern hunter-gatherer societies) what the diet of Paleolithic humans consisted of and to reproduce or at least emulate it using foods readily available today.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Eaton | first1 = S. Boyd | last2 = Konner | first2 = M | year = 1985 | title = Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications | url = | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 312 | issue = | pages = 283–289 | doi=10.1056/nejm198501313120505}}</ref><!--<ref>{{cite web | |||
| | title = Longevity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination | |||
| | author = Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan }} | |||
| | url = http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf | |||
| </ref>--> ''The Paleolithic Prescription,'' published in 1988 by S. Boyd Eaton, Melvin Konner, and Marjorie Shostak, attempted to reconstruct a Paleolithic forager diet based on average values from hunter-gatherer diets that were available in the literature.<ref name="Eaton1988b">{{cite book |last=Eaton, M.D. |first1=S. Boyd |last2=Shostak |first2=Marjorie |last3=Konner, M.D., Ph.D. |first3=Melvin |title=The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet and Exercise and a Design for Living |publisher=Harper and Row |year=1988 |page=79 |isbn=978-0060916350 }}</ref> | |||
| ====Counter-argument==== | |||
| The data for the book only came from six 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=http://books.google.com/books?id=6GDELypdTUcC&pg=PA67|date=1 January 2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-89789-736-5|pages=67–}}</ref> One of the studies was on the ], whose diet was recorded for a single month,<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> and one was on the ].<ref name="Eaton1988b" /><!--<ref name="UngarTeaford2002" />--> Due to these limitations, the book has been criticized as painting an incomplete picture of what the diets of Paleolithic ancestors may have looked like.<ref name="UngarTeaford2002" /> It has been noted that the rationale for the diet does not take adequate account of the fact that, due to the pressures of ], most modern domesticated plants and animals differ drastically from their Paeleolithic ancestors, whose nutritional profiles often differed drastically from their modern counterparts. For example, wild ] produce potentially fatal levels of ], but this harmful poison has been bred out of domesticated varieties by artificial selection. Moreover, many vegetables like ] "did not ... exist in the Paleolithic period".<ref>C. Warinner (2013), "Debunking the Paleo Diet", ''TEDxOU'', 25 January 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMOjVYgYaG8, accessed 21 August 2014.</ref> Broccoli and many other genetically similar vegetables (like ], ], ], etc.) are in fact modern ]s of the ancient species '']'', a wild plant also known as wild mustard. | |||
| With regard to attempts to emulate the "ideal" 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 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 | |||
| | last1 = Nestle |first1 = Marion | authorlink1 = Marion Nestle | |||
| | title = Paleolithic diets: a sceptical view | |||
| | journal = Nutrition Bulletin | |||
| | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 43–7 |date=March 2000 | |||
| | doi = 10.1046/j.1467-3010.2000.00019.x }} | |||
| </ref> Ideas about ] are at best hypothetical.<ref name="isbn0-89789-736-6">{{cite book | |||
| | last = Milton, Katharine | |||
| | editor = Ungar, Peter S. & Teaford, Mark F. | |||
| | title = Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution | |||
| | year = 2002 | publisher = Bergin and Garvey | location = ] | |||
| | isbn = 0-89789-736-6 | pages = 111–22 | |||
| | chapter = Hunter-gatherer diets: wild foods signal relief from diseases of affluence (PDF) | |||
| | chapterurl = http://nature.berkeley.edu/miltonlab/pdfs/humandiet.pdf}} | |||
| </ref><!--<ref name="pmid12494313">{{cite journal | |||
| | last1 = Richards | first1 = Michael P. | |||
| | title = A brief review of the archaeological evidence for Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence | |||
| | journal = European Journal of Clinical Nutrition | |||
| | volume = 56 | issue = 12 | pages = 1270–78 |date=December 2002 | |||
| | pmid = 12494313 | doi = 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601646}} | |||
| </ref>--> | |||
| Trying to devise an ideal diet by studying contemporary hunter-gatherers is difficult because of the great disparities that exist, for example with the animal-derived calorie percentage ranging from 25% in the ] of southern Africa to 99% in Alaskan ].<ref>Kolbert, Elizabeth. , '']'', November 9, 2009, accessed January 27, 2011.</ref> Recommendations to restrict starchy vegetables may not be an accurate representation of the diet of relevant Paleolithic ancestors.<ref name="NatGeo092014">{{cite journal |title=The Evolution of Diet |journal=National Geographic |date=September 2014 |last=Gibbons |first=Ann |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/ |accessdate=2014-09-04 }}</ref> | |||
| Five recent studies examining the ] of fossilized ] from scores of human ancestors and ] in Africa show that human ancestors expanded their menu 3.5 million years ago, adding ] tropical ]es and ] to an ape-like diet.<ref name="NSF-13-097">{{cite news |last=Dybas |first=Cheryl |last2=Siegel |first2=Lee |last3=Scott |first3=Jim |url=http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128106 |title=A Grassy Trend in Human Ancestors' Diets |work=] |publisher=] |date=2013-06-03 |accessdate=2014-08-31 |quote=Most apes eat leaves and fruits from trees and shrubs. But new studies show that human ancestors expanded their menu 3.5 million years ago, adding tropical grasses and sedges to an ape-like diet. The change set the stage for consuming more modern fare: grains, grasses, and meat and dairy from grazing animals. In four studies of carbon isotopes in fossilized tooth enamel from scores of human ancestors and baboons in Africa from 4 million to 10,000 years ago, researchers found a surprise increase in the consumption of grasses and sedges--plants that resemble grasses and rushes but have stems with triangular cross sections. }}</ref><!--<ref name="WynnSponheimer2013">{{cite journal|last1=Wynn|first1=J. G.|last2=Sponheimer|first2=M.|last3=Kimbel|first3=W. H.|last4=Alemseged|first4=Z.|last5=Reed|first5=K.|last6=Bedaso|first6=Z. K.|last7=Wilson|first7=J. N.|title=Diet of Australopithecus afarensis from the Pliocene Hadar Formation, Ethiopia|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=110|issue=26|year=2013|pages=10495–10500|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1222559110|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222559110}}</ref><ref name="CerlingMbua2011">{{cite journal|last1=Cerling|first1=T. E.|last2=Mbua|first2=E.|last3=Kirera|first3=F. M.|last4=Manthi|first4=F. K.|last5=Grine|first5=F. E.|last6=Leakey|first6=M. G.|last7=Sponheimer|first7=M.|last8=Uno|first8=K. T.|title=Diet of Paranthropus boisei in the early Pleistocene of East Africa|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=108|issue=23|year=2011|pages=9337–9341|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1104627108|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1104627108|pmid=21536914|pmc=3111323}}</ref><ref name="CerlingManthi2013">{{cite journal|last1=Cerling|first1=T. E.|last2=Manthi|first2=F. K.|last3=Mbua|first3=E. N.|last4=Leakey|first4=L. N.|last5=Leakey|first5=M. G.|last6=Leakey|first6=R. E.|last7=Brown|first7=F. H.|last8=Grine|first8=F. E.|last9=Hart|first9=J. A.|last10=Kaleme|first10=P.|last11=Roche|first11=H.|last12=Uno|first12=K. T.|last13=Wood|first13=B. A.|title=Stable isotope-based diet reconstructions of Turkana Basin hominins|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=110|issue=26|year=2013|pages=10501–10506|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1222568110|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222568110}}</ref><ref name="CerlingChritz2013">{{cite journal|last1=Cerling|first1=T. E.|last2=Chritz|first2=K. L.|last3=Jablonski|first3=N. G.|last4=Leakey|first4=M. G.|last5=Manthi|first5=F. K.|title=Diet of Theropithecus from 4 to 1 Ma in Kenya|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=110|issue=26|year=2013|pages=10507–10512|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1222571110|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222571110}}</ref><ref name="Lee-ThorpLikius2012">{{cite journal|last1=Lee-Thorp|first1=J.|last2=Likius|first2=A.|last3=Mackaye|first3=H. T.|last4=Vignaud|first4=P.|last5=Sponheimer|first5=M.|last6=Brunet|first6=M.|title=Isotopic evidence for an early shift to C4 resources by Pliocene hominins in Chad|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=50|year=2012|pages=20369–20372|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1204209109|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204209109}}</ref><ref name="Dominy2012">{{cite journal|last1=Dominy|first1=N. J.|title=Hominins living on the sedge|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=50|year=2012|pages=20171–20172|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1218081110|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218081110}}</ref>--> While the consumption of animals grazing on C4 pastures can contribute to C4 ]s, the magnitude of ] enrichment—used to infer ]/] ratios—in early hominid fossils suggests that the carbon in their diet was derived mainly from C4 plants rather than the tissues of animals grazing on C4 grasses.<ref name="Lee-ThorpLikius2012">{{cite journal|last1=Lee-Thorp|first1=J.|last2=Likius|first2=A.|last3=Mackaye|first3=H. T.|last4=Vignaud|first4=P.|last5=Sponheimer|first5=M.|last6=Brunet|first6=M.|title=Isotopic evidence for an early shift to C4 resources by Pliocene hominins in Chad|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=50|year=2012|pages=20369–20372|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1204209109|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204209109}}</ref><ref name="Dominy2012">{{cite journal|last1=Dominy|first1=N. J.|title=Hominins living on the sedge|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=50|year=2012|pages=20171–20172|issn=0027-8424|doi=10.1073/pnas.1218081110|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218081110}}</ref> Very high proportions of animal food are not considered plausible for hominids given that even modern hunter gatherers armed with bows and arrows tend to have dismal hunting success,<ref name="NatGeo092014" /> and hominids lack the appropriate dental morphology of a high meat diet.<ref name="Lee-ThorpLikius2012" /> Expanding on those findings, Oxford University researchers observed that baboons today eat large quantities of starchy C4 ] tubers and the wear patterns on the tooth enamel from these sedge tubers are a perfect match with the wear patterns on the enamel of '']'' ('Nutcracker Man')—a hominid, with a high C4 isotopic signature, who lived in East Africa between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago.<ref name="Oxford-Nutcracker">{{cite news |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2014/140109_1.html |title=Ancient human ancestor 'Nutcracker Man' lived on tiger nuts |work=] |publisher=] |date=2013-01-09 |accessdate=2014-08-31 |quote=An Oxford University study has concluded that our ancient ancestors who lived in East Africa between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago survived mainly on a diet of tiger nuts }}</ref> The Oxford University study therefore concluded that ''Paranthropus boisei'' survived mainly on a diet of starchy tiger nut tubers.<ref name="Oxford-Nutcracker" /><ref name="HardyMacho2014">{{cite journal|last1=Hardy|first1=Karen|last2=Macho|first2=Gabriele A.|title=Baboon Feeding Ecology Informs the Dietary Niche of Paranthropus boisei|journal=PLoS ONE|volume=9|issue=1|year=2014|pages=e84942|issn=1932-6203|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0084942|url=http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0084942}}</ref> Dr Gabriele Macho, a lead researcher on the study from the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, said "I believe that the theory—that 'Nutcracker Man' lived on large amounts of tiger nuts—helps settle the debate about what our early human ancestor ate. On the basis of recent isotope results, these hominins appear to have survived on a diet of C4 foods, which suggests grasses and sedges. Yet these are not high quality foods. What this research tells us is that hominins were selective about the part of the grass that they ate, choosing the grass bulbs at the base of the grass blade as the mainstay of their diet."<ref name="HardyMacho2014" /> Incidentally, tiger nut tubers were among the earliest plants cultivated by humans, including ]ians and ].<ref>Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, ''Domestication of plants in the Old World'', third edition (Oxford: University Press, 2000), p. 198</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.14237/ebl.4.2013.87-95 |title=HART, Thomas C.; IVES, Timothy H.. ''Preliminary Starch Grain Evidence of Ancient Stone Tool Use at the Early Archaic (9,000 B.P.) Site of Sandy Hill, Mashantucket, Connecticut'' Ethnobiology Letters, , v. 4, p. 87-95, Sep. 2013. |publisher=Dx.doi.org |date= |accessdate=2014-01-29}}</ref> Additionally, recent understanding of the human genome has shown that modern humans typically have many copies of the AMY1 gene for starch digestion—suggesting widespread evolutionary adaptation to starch consumption by humans. Furthermore, the restriction of starchy plants, by definition, severely limits the dietary intake of microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs) and may negatively affect the ] in ways that contribute to disease.<ref name="SonnenburgSonnenburg2014">{{cite journal|last1=Sonnenburg|first1=Erica D.|last2=Sonnenburg|first2=Justin L.|title=Starving our Microbial Self: The Deleterious Consequences of a Diet Deficient in Microbiota-Accessible Carbohydrates|journal=Cell Metabolism|year=2014|issn=15504131|doi=10.1016/j.cmet.2014.07.003|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2014.07.003}}</ref> Starchy plants, in particular, are a main source of ] — a ] with strong ] properties. Resistant starches are not digestible by ] and are ] and metabolized by ] into ]s, which are well known to offer a wide range of health benefits. Resistant starch consumption has been shown to improve intestinal/colonic health, blood sugar, glucose tolerance, insulin-sensitivity and satiety. Public health authorities and food organizations such as the ], the ],<ref name="WHO, 1998">{{cite book | |||
| | author = | |||
| | title = Carbohydrates in human nutrition (Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation, Rome, Italy, 14-18 April 1997) | |||
| | url = http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/nutrientrequirements/9251041148/en/ | |||
| | publisher = ] | |||
| | series = FAO food and nutrition paper | |||
| | volume = 66 | |||
| | publication-date = 1998 | |||
| | isbn = 9251041148 | |||
| }}</ref> the ] recognize resistant starch as a beneficial carbohydrate. The Joint Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization Expert Consultation on Human Nutrition stated, ''"One of the major developments in our understanding of the importance of carbohydrates for health in the past twenty years has been the discovery of resistant starch."''<ref name="WHO, 1998" /> | |||
| <!-- It has been argued that the notion of humans being unable to adapt to modern food is based on a flawed ] logic,<ref name="Strohle768">{{cite journal | |||
| | author = Ströhle, Alexander; & Hahn, Andreas | |||
| | title = Evolutionary nutrition science and dietary recommendations of the Stone Age—The ideal answer to present-day nutritional questions or reason for criticism? Part 1: Concept, arguments and paleoanthropological findings | |||
| | journal = Ernährungs-Umschau | language = German | |||
| | volume = 53 | issue = 1 | pages = 10–16 | year = 2006 | |||
| | url = http://www.drmoosburger.at/pub/pub058.pdf | format = PDF }} | |||
| </ref> | |||
| and that modern people are adapted to modern foods, since most of the change in the frequencies of alleles occurs in the first few generations under selection.<ref>{{cite journal | |||
| | author = Hawks J, Wang ET, Cochran GM, Harpending HC, Moyzis RK | |||
| | title = Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolution | |||
| | journal = ] | |||
| | volume = 104 | issue = 52 | pages = 20753–8 |date=December 2007 | |||
| | pmid = 18087044 | pmc = 2410101 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0707650104 }} | |||
| </ref> For example, research has shown that various populations which have domesticated cattle have independently developed ]s for dairy tolerance.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zuk|first1=Marlene|title=Paleofantasy : what evolution really tells us about sex, diet, and how we live.|date=2014|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=0393347923|pages=92–106}}</ref> --> | |||
| ==Reception== | |||
| A ranking by ], involving a panel of experts, evaluated based on factors including health, weight loss, and ease of following. In 2014, it tied for last place out of 32 with the ].<ref name=usn2012bdo>{{cite web |url=http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-overall-diets |title=Best Diets Overall |publisher=U.S.News & World Report |year=2012}}</ref> | |||
| Evidence for the effect of the switch to agriculture on general ] is mixed, with some populations exhibiting an apparent decrease in life expectancy and others an apparent increase.<ref name="Harris1987">{{cite book | |||
| | editor = Harris,Marvin and Eric B. Ross | |||
| | title = Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits | |||
| | year = 1987 | publisher = ] | location = Philadelphia | |||
| | isbn = 0-87722-668-7 | |||
| | chapter = IV. Pre-State Foodways }}</ref> And according to ] and Bruce Carnes, "there is neither convincing evidence nor scientific logic to support the claim that adherence to a Paleolithic diet provides a longevity benefit."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Olshansky|first1=S. Jay|last2=Carnes|first2=Bruce A.|title=The quest for immortality : science at the frontiers of aging|date=2001|publisher=Norton|location=New York|isbn=978-0393323276|page=191}}</ref> | |||
| According to the ] the diet excludes key food groups, raising the potential for nutritional deficiencies.<ref name=nhs/> | |||
| Nutritionists have pointed out that there is no scientific evidence to support the diet.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Sandy|title=Nutritionists warn of dangers in Paleo dieting|url=http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/nutritionists-warn-of-dangers-in-paleo-dieting-20140805-100iup.html|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=7 October 2014}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{portal|food|health}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} | |||
| {{Diets}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Paleolithic Diet}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 23:53, 27 November 2014
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