The Regression Curve (Research & Thoughts on the Paleolithic Diet)

The Paleo diet is not just another fad diet; it is the diet humans were designed to eat. Also known as the Primal diet, the Caveman diet, and the Stone Age diet, the Paleo diet focuses on low-carb, high-protein meals, and removes all processed foods – “Paleo for Beginners,” John Chatham

So begins Paleo for Beginners, a cookbook dedicated to a new kind of diet – a regression to the Stone Age. Initially, the high-protein, low-carb diet seems logical. Removing all processed and unnatural foods from our diets seems logical. Since the Stone Age, humans haven’t evolved much (right?), so why should our diet evolve? These natural and non-processed ingredients are what our bodies were meant for.

The Stone Age Diet by Dr. Walter L. Voegtlin was one of the first books to mention this primitive diet, but now, these Paleolithic cookbooks are found in Barnes & Noble and Costco.

However, in my research I’ve found several points to disprove the effectiveness of the Paleo diet.

One: the name of the diet. The Paleolithic period began about 2 million years ago and ended around 6,000 BCE, encompassing one of the longest phases of mankind’s history. It is divided into the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic periods. With that in mind, Mark Thomas, professor of evolutionary genetics at University College London, says “One thing you can be absolutely certain of is there was never one single Paleolithic diet.”

But some may argue that the modern Paleo diet encompasses the major of Paleolithic types of foods, and that the name is a general representation of what was eaten most commonly at the time. Fine.

Two: the difference in meat. Two million years ago, there were no crossbred cows or genetically modified chicken. Michael Pollan, an author of multiple best-selling books about food and agriculture, argues that the problem with Paleo is “they’re assuming that the options available to our caveman ancestors are still there.” Modern farming produces livestock fed with artificial diets of corn and grain, injected with hormones and antibiotics. Are these animals close enough to the ones that were extant in the Paleolithic Era?

Additionally, the emphasis on meat in the Paleo diet can prove to be pernicious as well. The human gastrointestinal tract houses trillions of bacteria that assist with the breaking down of food and extraction of nutrients and energy – also known as the gut microbiome. These bacteria can break down plant fibers to extract essential compounds like vitamins and SCFA to benefit the health of humans enormously. Paleo suggests that pre-agricultural diets are more beneficial to the human body – no grains, legumes, potatoes and that it is in the innate ability of humans to consume meat. But a study in 2011 by Harvard University showed that bacterial levels and bacteria types can fluctuate in response to the consumption of protein.

Paleo believes that eating protein and meat is safe because humans don’t have the genes to digest plants, but fails to realize how intimately the digestive system and gut microbiomes are connected.

Third: meat consumption can be linked to cancer rates. The International Agency for Research on Cancer found that processed meats like hot dogs, sausage, and bacon were “carcinogenic to humans.” Meats like lamb, pork, and beef were “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Fourth: humans have developed enzymes that help digest cooked starches and enzymes that digest the sugar in milk. Domestication of livestock has been incorporated into our genetic evolution. Mark Thomas believes that “the classic example is lactase persistence; the ability to produce the enzyme that digests the sugar in milk,” he says. “Go back 10,000 years, virtually nobody could do that.”

And finally, our lifestyle. Humanoids in the Paleolithic Era survived by running and hunting their food. Nowadays, most people live sedentary lifestyles. Is it possible to compare the hunter-gathers of the Stone Age to the desk workers now?   

Some use Paleo as a way to lose weight (See An Unhealthy Obsession) or a way to become healthy and ‘cleanse’ one’s body. During my research on the Paleo diet however, I encountered many alternatives – the Mediterranean diet, the microbiome diet, the zone diet, the plant-based diet. Recently, there have been countless kinds of fad diets, each one proclaiming they are better than the next. Whether or not Paleo works is hard to say, but there is one thing that is sure to remain true: there will be contention either way.



Sources:

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Paleolithic_Age

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-raphael-kellman/final-blow-to-the-paleo_b_8649198.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

http://www.mercola.com/article/diet/caveman_cuisine.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-de-sena/vegan-vs-paleo-the-yin-an_b_8402254.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

http://www.outsideonline.com/1915546/truth-about-paleo?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-04/paleo-schmaleo-why-paleo-diet-wrong?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

http://www.boxrox.com/conflict-of-diets-paleo-zone-iifym/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard