Paleolithic diets as a model for prevention and treatment of Western disease.

"Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To explore the possibility that a paleolithic-like diet can be used in the prevention of age-related degenerative Western disease.

METHODS:

Literature review of African Paleolithic foods in relation to recent evidence of healthy nutrition.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Available evidence lends weak support in favor and little against the notion that lean meat, fish, vegetables, tubers, and fruit can be effective in the prevention and treatment of common Western diseases. There are no obvious risks with avoiding dairy products, margarine, oils, refined sugar, and cereal grains, which provide 70% or more of the dietary intake in northern European populations. If stroke, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer are preventable by dietary changes, an ancestral-like diet may provide an appropriate template."

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Cardiovascular disease resulting from a diet and lifestyle at odds with our Paleolithic genome: how to become a 21st-century hunter-gatherer.

"Abstract

Our genetic make-up, shaped through millions of years of evolution, determines our nutritional and activity needs. Although the human genome has remained primarily unchanged since the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, our diet and lifestyle have become progressively more divergent from those of our ancient ancestors. Accumulating evidence suggests that this mismatch between our modern diet and lifestyle and our Paleolithicgenome is playing a substantial role in the ongoing epidemics of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Until 500 generations ago, all humans consumed only wild and unprocessed food foraged and hunted from their environment. These circumstances provided a diet high in lean protein, polyunsaturated fats (especially omega-3 [omega-3] fatty acids), monounsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other beneficial phytochemicals. Historical and anthropological studies show hunter-gatherers generally to be healthy, fit, and largely free of the degenerative cardiovascular diseases common in modern societies. This review outlines the essence of our hunter-gatherer genetic legacy and suggests practical steps to re-align our modern milieu with our ancient genome in an effort to improve cardiovascular health."

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Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet

"Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases-'diseases of civilization'. We investigated in humans whether a diet similar to that consumed by our preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors (that is, a paleolithic type diet) confers health benefits.

METHODS:

We performed an outpatient, metabolically controlled study, in nine nonobese sedentary healthy volunteers, ensuring no weight loss by daily weight. We compared the findings when the participants consumed their usual diet with those when they consumed a paleolithic type diet. The participants consumed their usual diet for 3 days, three ramp-up diets of increasing potassium and fiber for 7 days, then a paleolithic type diet comprising lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts, and excluding nonpaleolithic type foods, such as cereal grains, dairy or legumes, for 10 days. Outcomes included arterial blood pressure (BP); 24-h urine sodium and potassium excretion; plasma glucose and insulin areas under the curve (AUC) during a 2 h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT); insulin sensitivity; plasma lipid concentrations; and brachial artery reactivity in response to ischemia.

RESULTS:

Compared with the baseline (usual) diet, we observed (a) significant reductions in BP associated with improved arterial distensibility (-3.1+/-2.9, P=0.01 and +0.19+/-0.23, P=0.05);(b) significant reduction in plasma insulin vs time AUC, during the OGTT (P=0.006); and (c) large significant reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides (-0.8+/-0.6 (P=0.007), -0.7+/-0.5 (P=0.003) and -0.3+/-0.3 (P=0.01) mmol/l respectively). In all these measured variables, either eight or all nine participants had identical directional responses when switched to paleolithic type diet, that is, near consistently improved status of circulatory, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism/physiology.

CONCLUSIONS:

Even short-term consumption of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans."

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Evaluation of biological and clinical potential of paleolithic diet

"Abstract

Accumulating evidences suggest that foods that were regularly consumed during the human primates and evolution, in particular during the Paleolithic era (2.6-0.01 x 10(6) years ago), may be optimal for the prevention and treatment of some chronic diseases. It has been postulated that fundamental changes in the diet and other lifestyle conditions that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution, and more recently with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution are too recent taking into account the evolutionary time scale for the human genome to have completely adjust. In contemporary Western populations at least 70% of daily energy intake is provided by foods that were rarely or never consumed by Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, including grains, dairy products as well as refined sugars and highly processed fats. Additionally, compared with Western diets, Paleolithic diets, based on recently published estimates of macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet, contained more proteins and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and less linoleic acid. Observational studies of hunter-gatherers and other non-western populations lend support to the notion that a Paleolithic type diet may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cancer, acne vulgaris and myopia. Moreover, preliminary intervention studies using contemporary diet based on Paleolithic food groups (meat, fish, shellfish, fresh fruits and vegetables, roots, tubers, eggs, and nuts), revealed promising results including favorable changes in risk factors, such as weight, waist circumference, C-reactive protein, glycated haemoglobin (HbAlc), blood pressure, glucose tolerance, insulin secretion, insulin sensitivity and lipid profiles. Low calcium intake, which is often considered as a potential disadvantage of the Paleolithic diet model, should be weighed against the low content of phytates and the low content of sodium chloride, as well as the high amount of net base yielding vegetables and fruits. Increasing number of evidences supports the view that intake of high glycemic foods and insulinotropic dairy products is involved in the pathogenesis and progression of acne vulgaris in Western countries. In this context, diets that mimic the nutritional characteristics of diets found in hunter-gatherers and other non-western populations may have therapeutic value in treating acne vulgaris. Additionally, more studies is needed to determine the impact of gliadin, specific lectins and saponins on intestinal permeability and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases."

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