Was Paleo Diet Low Fat

From: Ray Audette (rso456_at_airmail.net)
Date: 08/20/04 

Date: 20 Aug 2004 06:44:04 -0700

Many have compared my book to Loren Cordain's "The Paleo Diet"
especialy his emphasis on eating low fat given that modern game
animals contain such low amounts of fat.

My book by contrast recommends a very high fat diet as I have found in
my studies that modern hunter-gatherers prefer fatty meat and in some
cases ( such as when Inuit hunt walrus) they throw the red meat away,
keeping only the blubber.

Loren responded:
............................................................................
>From Cordain

The fossil record shows
that the worldwide extinction of animals that took place at the end of
the
Pleistocene occurred primarily in animals over 100 kg (220 lbs) (5).
Using
the Pitts and Bullard regression (2), a 220 lb mammal would be
expected to
have about 15% body fat. Applying our cubic regressions (4) to this
value,
a 220 lb mammal would have 60 % of its total body energy as fat and
40% as
protein. The protein value then is very close to maximal protein
ceiling
(also 40 % of energy) -- hence it is not surprising that the "cutoff"
values for megafauna extinction (100 kg) corresponds almost exactly to
the
value for the maximal physiological protein ceiling in humans. In
animals
weighing less than 100 kg, the entire carcass cannot be consumed
unless
there is a carbohydrate source, whereas in animals weighing more than
100
kg, the entire carcass can be eaten with no worry about protein
toxicity and
with no need to find a carbohydrate source.

2. Pitts GC, Bullard TR. Some interspecific aspect of body
composition
in mammals. In: Body composition in animals and man. Washington
D.C.:
National Academy of Sciences, 1968:45-70. (Publication 1598).

4. Cordain L, Brand Miller J, Eaton SB, Mann N, Holt SHA, Speth
JD.
Plant-animal subsistence ratios and macronutrient energy estimations
in
worldwide hunter-gatherer diets. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71:682-92.

5. Stuart AJ. Mammalian extinctions in the late pleistocene of
northern eurasia and north america. Biol Rev 1991;66:453-562.
................................................................................

Hope this clears up the conflict between our two views of Paleolithic
Nutrition.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
www.NeanderThin.com

Relevant Pages

  • Paleo Diet Low Fat?
    ... > O'Keefe JH Jr, Cordain L. ... > circumstances provided a diet high in lean protein, ... Loren based his recommendations on the fat content of modern game ... When asked about the fat content of Pleistocene animals, ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • Re: Paleo Diet Low Fat?
    ... >>O'Keefe JH Jr, Cordain L. ... >>circumstances provided a diet high in lean protein, ... When asked about the fat content of Pleistocene animals, ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • Re: Paleo Diet Low Fat?
    ... When asked about the fat content of Pleistocene animals, ... The protein value then is very close to maximal protein ... > The point to tbe made from the different interpretations of paleo diets ...
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