Ahem! Avoid Margarine

In Ireland there used to be a children's insult-rhyme with lyrics implying that people who eat margarine are no good and sickly (butter and lard were apparently the preferred fats):

Me Mother Is Gone to Church

Ahem! Ahem!
Me mother is gone to church.
She told me not to play with you
Because you're in the dirt.
It t'isn't because you're dirty,
It t'isn't because you're clean,
It's because you have the whoopin' cough
And eat margarine! [or "from eatin' margarine"]

The Clancy brothers tell a bit of the story and recite the rhyme here starting at 3:27 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDh7Ck1aF4

This poem was an oral folk news warning to not eat the new-fangled margarine because people had noticed that those who did were more likely to get the sometimes-deadly whooping cough that reached epidemic proportions in the early twentieth century. 

The Irish were right to link manufactured margarine to ill health:

Margarine Lung

Margarine Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Disease

You'd butter believe it: Margarine consumption is linked to lower IQs in children

People have forgotten this poem and its lesson and vaccination rates have been declining, so the whooping cough is slowly on the rise again:

Number of whooping cough cases doubles this year (Ireland)
http://www.thejournal.ie/whooping-cough-cases-double-ireland-714392-Dec2012

Whooping cough epidemic declared in Vermont (USA)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/12/13/whooping-cough-epidemic-declared-in-vermont/1768527

The Procrustean Error: fitting humans to an unnatural world instead of restoring the natural order

Nassim Taleb, the philosophical and geographical flâneur (a stroller, physically and metaphorically, who has a "complete philosophical way of living and thinking" and a process of navigating erudition, that is, deep learning through experience, experimentation, socializing and self-directed reading, rather than through formal insitutional education) discussed in his The Bed of Procrustes the modern tendency to try to make life and the world fit our narrative notions instead of adapting our ideas to reality or admitting ignorance. Below are examples of modern variants of the Procrustean error supplied by Nassim and the Swedish "diet doctor," Aaron Eenfeldt, which involve medicating or even surgically altering our bodies to try to adapt them to modern diets and lifestyles instead of trying to restore the foods and environment we are naturally adapted to:

"Procrustes, in Greek mythology, was the cruel owner of a small estate in Corydalus in Attica on the way between Athens and Eleusis, where the  mystery rites were performed. Procrustes had a peculiar sense of hospitality; he  abducted  travelers, provided them  with a generous dinner, then invited them to spend the night in a rather special bed. He wanted the bed to fit the traveler to perfection. Those who were too tall had their legs chopped off with a sharp hatchet; those who were too short were stretched (his name was  said to be Damastes, or Polypemon, but he was nicknamed Procrustes, which meant "the stretcher").

[W]e humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas, reductive categories, specific vocabularies, and prepackaged narratives, which, on the occasion, has explosive consequences. Further, we seem unaware of this backward fitting, much like tailors who take great pride in delivering the perfectly fitting suit—but do so by surgically altering the limbs of their customers. For instance few realize that we are changing the brains of schoolchildren through medication in order to make them adjust to the curriculum, rather than the reverse." -Nassim Taleb, PhD, The Bed of Procrustes (see http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com for more info)

Regarding bariatric surgery: "It's like trying to surgically alter our bodies to adapt to industrial food." -Aaron Eenfeldt, MD, "Evolution of a Diet Revolution," 2011 Ancestral Health Symposium, http://vimeo.com/29464690 (see http://www.dietdoctor.com/ for more info)

Update on What I'm Eating

[Edit - Warning: Please don't take my diet info as a recommendation for you and do your own homework. 

2.2.14 The below diet was low in resistant starch and I think this contributed to gradually rising fasting blood glucose that peaked at 115 mg/dl and I started to also feel colder, after it had deceptively early on made me feel warmer and good. Adding more resistant starch into my diet helped reverse this within days. Other people are reporting serious illnesses from diets that were too chronically low in carbs and resistant starch and kept them in chronic ketosis, and also reporting other benefits from resistant starch. Please read up on resistant starch.

I'll leave this diet here as a warning to myself and others to not do this. Surprisingly, not even the carby foods were enough to prevent my FBG from rising and other issues. I suspect that resistant starch is particularly important.]

My description of what I've been eating is overdo for an update, as I've expanded my food selection significantly since the more heavily carnivore phase, which I had been hoping I could do some day. Eating almost no plant foods provided many benefits, but my past chronic constipation was worsening again after initial improvement, so I reintroduced some foods to my diet and I've been emphasizing softer animal foods like eggs and marrow.

I don't seem to have problems with root veggies that are edible raw, such as parsnips and carrots, and it's interesting that recent paleoanthropological research has led scientists to hypothesize that pre-human primates like Australopithecus and Ardepithecus consumed raw roots and tubers and nuts as staple foods, possibly more so than fruits (EARLY HUMANS SKIPPED FRUIT, WENT FOR NUTS).

My Current Staple Foods:

Fertile chicken eggs and duck eggs
Grassfed ground beef
Fats: Bone Marrow, Suet and Tallow, Lard (all grassfed or pastured)
Tuna, Yellowfin, wild, Hawaiian sushi grade or regular, frozen
Salmon, wild, sockeye, frozen or wild "fresh" (previously frozen) or sushi grade, wild clams, and other wild fish
Liver, GF beef/lamb
Heart, chicken
Carrots and Parsnips (edible raw, spicy, high potassium, a starch I can tolerate, one local farm grows excellent-tasting parsnips, but they're no longer sold at my local market)
Lemons (low sugar, alkaline, high vit C; I squeeze the juice out of them)
Blackberries (moderate sugar, high vit C)
Duck breast
Bone broth usually made with pastured marrow bones
Raw fermented cod liver oil, mint flavored (for the vitamins A and D)
Raw high vitamin butter oil (for the vitamin K2)
Water, mineral water, teas------

My Current Secondary Foods:

Really Raw brand fermented raw honey (does wonders for my hair and scalp flakes for some reason, though this didn't work for a friend of mine)
Fresh figs (not dried)
Strawberries (low sugar, high vit C), raspberries and some other fruits
Pastured ground bison or pork, pork loin, top round steak, ribeye steak, wild oysters and other meats/fish/organs
Celery and other nonstarchy, low-toxin veggies [edit: but starchy veggies also appear to be important]
Ginger, fresh or pickled
Wasabi mustard
Kelp
Sea salt, black pepper, spices

I try not to get carried away with fruit or raw fermented honey. If I eat too much of either, I start to develop skin and dental problems like chapped lips, dry skin, scalp flakes, increased dental plaque and loosening teeth. Tubers that require cooking, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, produce similar symptoms in me and little or no of the benefits from honey and fruits re: GI functioning, hair and scalp condition, or taste, so I only eat them occasionally. [Edit: But I now consider tubers especially important because of their resistant starch content when raw or cooked and cooled for 8-12 hours or so. I get around the problems by supplementing with potato starch and eating dried raw plantains and other foods rich in resistant starch that I appear to handle better than freshly cooked hot tubers. 2.2.14]

Lex Rooker interviewed at Joanne Unleashed

Don't miss this excellent interview of a brilliant and honest man who has had great success with a raw carnivorous diet (for example, his migraines and precancerous lesions disappeared with this diet) but does not hide the problems he runs into.

Paleo Goes Mainstream

Well, it's happening. Both the Washington Post and New York Times have reported on Paleo diets in short order. The Paleo diet is making the radar, becoming known to the media elites and the masses. This could have both bad and good consequences. I'm hoping for more of the latter.

Below is a link and a couple of excerpts from the NYT article, which is much better than the Post article, though it unfortunately pokes a little fun at raw Paleo (but it's amazing that it even mentioned it):

The New Age Cavemen and the City

...."Several identify themselves as libertarians." [I noted this interesting connection in a post at the RawPaleoForum. Granted, the fact that prominent early adopters and near-adopters like Art De Vany, Michael Eades, Nassim Taleb and Kurt Harris appear to be libertarian-oriented probably skews the current, still-early numbers.]

An Upper East Side physician, Grant Macaulay, said he has recommended the diet to hundreds of his patients, and sends them to Barnes & Noble to buy a copy of Mr. Cordain’s “Paleo Diet.” [It's good to see more and more physicians recommending various versions of it.]

Water Consumption Important for Carnivores

In addition to fat, water is very important for carnivores, including humans eating a carnivorous diet. Inuits still eating a meat/seafood-heavy diet reportedly drink large quantities of water:

[The Inuit drink] large quantities of water (5 to 6 litres per day), characteristic of the protein-rich diet that triggers renal elimination of the products of catabolism. Jeremy MacClancy, Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions, p. 123

There's also the example of wolves and other carnivores who drink copious amounts of water after feasting on flesh. This vid is not of an actual wolf, but you get the idea: Josie Wales Wolfdog Wolf Dog drinking Water

Five to six liters is about 10.5 to 12.5 pints of water a day. That sounds excessive to me, so if anyone has any information on how much water the Inuit drank, I'd appreciate it.

I drink mostly mineral water myself, as some studies indicate it provides additional benefits and I figure Stone Age water was probably more mineral-rich than most of today's tap or bottled water.

Update: Still Doing Great

I'm still doing great on my stricter version of a Paleo diet (raw carnivore, with only occasional plant foods--basically an Inuit-style diet). The recent relapse of symptoms disappeared within a couple of months and my health is once again better than it's been in decades--even better than it was at my peak during the more conventional Paleo diet.

I don't tell people what to eat. I think folks should work out for themselves what foods they do best on. However, if you don't even try a Paleo diet, how will you know whether it works for you or not?

Note: when eating near-zero-carb like I am currently, one needs to eat a lot of fat to avoid eating excess protein and potentially even risking "rabbit starvation" (which is "protein poisoning" and malnutrition that occurs when eating too little fat or carbs with protein). I seem to do best on around 75 - 85% calories as fat.

Carnivorous Raw Paleo Diet working for me

After experiencing some relapse of certain symptoms I re-investigated my health and diet and tried a stricter approach, which quickly generated positive benefits. A very restrictive diet seems to work best for me. This is unfortunate, because it means that healthy foods are even less available for me than I realized and my diet is much less socially acceptable. I'm hoping I'll be able to stick with it despite the obstacles, as my health benefits dramatically when I do.

I decided to eliminate all foods that are questionable from a Paleo perspective:

Nightshades: Nightshades (like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, though not black pepper) are mostly New World foods. Even those available in the Old World were inedible during the Stone Age and had to be selected for reduced toxicity over time to be made edible. Recent research by Dr. Loren Cordain and others has implicated nightshades in diseases of civilization ("How to Treat Multiple Sclerosis with Diet;" multiple videos; covers the role of tomatoes in MS, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkmDHLCUEs). Nightshades had also been linked in the past to arthritis and other diseases of civilization by many the anecdotal accounts of many patients. They were viewed as toxic for many centuries in Europe. I had been skeptical of these accounts, but not any more.

Foods inedible unless cooked: This mainly meant winter squashes for me (I got to the point of eating them nearly every day), but also some potatoes and occasional french fries. I had been eating increasing amounts of these starchy foods that are indigestible raw in a vain effort to gain weight and increase social acceptance of my diet. I know, stupid mistake on my part and I've actually gained more weight since going carnivorous, as it has improved my health and appetite.

Cheats: I decided to end all cheats. Once I started cheating by eating a "natural" corn-sweetener-free fruit juice popsicle or other cheat, I found myself eating more and more of them almost unconsciously. Such sweet treats are just too addictive for me.

I eliminated nightshades, foods inedible raw, and cheating first and the health benefits were fairly dramatic within a month.

Sugary foods: No more fruit juices or sweetened drinks, no matter how natural. No more dried fruits, or even fresh, sugary fruits like tropical fruits. Eliminating these helped immensely. I appear to be very sensitive to carbs.

Tree nuts: This one surprised me, as I thought that eating lots of walnuts was actually helping me. Yet, when I eliminated nuts I did even better. They do contain antinutrients, as do all plants, and tree nuts are a fairly common allergen. Being a Paleo dieter I had of course already eliminated non-tree "nuts" like peanuts that aren't actually nuts at all, but legumes.

The remaining plant foods: All plants contain antinutrients. They have to in order to survive, because these antinutrients are natural insecticides that fend off predators. Therefore, eating plants every day may theoretically build up toxic levels of antinutrients. Even primates that have been eating lots of plants for millions of years, such as chimps, have to consume clay and other detoxicants in order to offset the accumulated antinutrients they absorb by eating wild plants nearly every day.

Plus, I decided to try a carnivorous, raw Paleo diet, as that was where my experience and research were leading me, and that is what Lex Rooker was doing with tremendous success. I discovered his story here: http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/journals/lex%27s-journal/.

All beverages other than water: I don't stick to this one 100%, occasionally having some black coffee or tea, and I greatly resisted trying it, but I'm glad I did. Water was the only beverage of our early ancestors. I found that by not drinking sweetened or flavored beverages, water tastes much better to me. Whenever I'm the slightest bit dehydrated, water actually tastes rather sweet to me. People more experienced with this than me claim that it's the body's natural mechanism to keep my body properly hydrated.

So far, so good. I started going purely zero carb as of 8/5/2009, with only occasional spring greens or tea. As of 8/12/2009 I gave up those things and reached pure carnivory, eating only raw meats and fish (mostly pasture-fed or wild), low-heated beef jerky, low-heated tallow, raw bone marrow, raw suet and water. I know, it sounds weird and I never expected I would be eating this, but experience and research have led me here and the benefits have been marvelous: all remaining acne gone (and I no longer need to take zinc supplements to keep it under control), potassium-deficiency cramps gone and only return if I eat carbs, dental health dramatically improved (I actually have a hole in a tooth that is remineralizing--i.e. filling in--and my loose teeth no longer move when wiggled nor require a retainer to keep them standing straight), etc., etc.

Eating a mostly-raw carnivorous diet sounded impossible, even to me, but it hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I especially love jerky with tallow, pemmican, and raw ground venison.

Paleo Nutrition explained in 5 minutes

This video is the best brief summary I've seen yet of Paleolithic nutrition. I can't imagine how it could be made any simpler, yet, astoundingly, some people still don't get it after viewing the vid.

Paleo/Primal in a Nutshell

Ancestral Way of Eating Basics

Here is some basic information about the ancestral way of eating, also called the Paleolithic diet, among other things (Paleolithic means "old stone," as in "Old Stone Age"):

The ancestral way of eating is not so much a weight loss program--although that is a positive common side effect--as it is a health optimizer. It's the only diet based upon a fundamental explanatory model--biological evolution (or intelligent design, depending on your perspective). It's the only diet that humans are designed to eat and the only one designed by nature (or nature's God). Rather than a single, narrow fad-diet, it's actually a whole category of diets that includes a wide range of indigenous diets that were consumed by all of humanity for the first two and half million years of human existence. It is the original and longest-lasting human diet.

Paleo-type Foods:
-Wild/Pastured Meats and Organs, Fat depots like bone marrow and perinephric fat (aka suet and pork leaf fat), Seafood and Eggs (eggs or egg whites can be a problem for sensitive individuals)
-Vegetables (especially leafy green veggies and those which can be eaten raw; [some Paleo dieters consider sweet potatoes and white potatoes Paleo, but most still don't, though even Dr. Cordain recommends sweet potatoes for elite athletes--as always, find out what works for you])
-Fruits (optional in limited quantities, focusing on the less sugary ones like berries and avoiding or minimizing fruit juices and dried fruits; some people apparently tolerate the sugars in fruits better than others)
-Teas, Spices and most Herbs

Controversial Foods (considered Paleo or near-Paleo by some, but not others, and may be problematic for some people): nuts, seeds, heated fats (tallow, lard, etc.), honey, [processed] commercial meats, African yams, sweet potatoes, beets, sea salt (added salt may be necessary for carnivorous-style dieters, according to Jay Wortman, MD), [low-lactose and low-casein fatty raw dairy products like raw butter and some raw cheeses, legume tubers that are edible raw, such as jicama, yacon, Jerusalem Artichoke and Chinese Artichoke], alcoholic beverages (like wine, champagne, mead, hard liquor)

Don’t Eat (or strictly minimize) the Agrarian/Processed Foods:
-Grains (wheat, rye, barley, corn, etc.)
-Dairy (bovine, goat, etc., especially pasteurized milk and pasteurized yogurt that has sugar/sweetener/jam added)
-Beans (a.k.a. legumes; includes soy, peas and peanuts)
-Starchy root vegetables that require thorough cooking, like [white] potatoes and tapioca [I learned that sweet potatoes MAY be edible raw if soaked--they certainly taste good that way anyway, though I'm not recommending it and don't know how healthy it is to eat them that way]
-Yeast ([grain] vinegar, foods pickled with [grain] vinegar, alcoholic beverages, etc. [note: natural fermenting without yeast or high heating is supposed to be superior to industrial fermenting])
-Artificial & processed additives like sweeteners, colorings, flavorings, preservatives, excessive salt, etc.
-Heavily processed oils
-Other foods you are sensitive to (at least not at first)

Some resources:
-http://www.paleodiet.com - includes many links
-http://www.paleonu.com - Kurt Harris, MD
-http://www.thepaleodiet.com - Loren Cordain, PhD (leading scientist in the field of Paleolithic nutrition)
-http://listserv.icors.org/ARCHIVES/PALEOFOOD.HTML - Paleofood email list archives (Paleo and near-Paleo dieters)
-http://www.beyondveg.com - includes many articles
-http://ancestrallifestyle.blogspot.com - My blog
-www.ctds.info - Sandy Simmons' Connective Tissue Disorder site--good info on diet, supplements, and some disorders that result from consumption of modern foods
-www.ms-diet.org - The Multiple Sclerosis Resource Center, with info on Ashton Embry's Best Bet Diet (very close to the Paleo Diet)
-http://gluten-free.org/hoggan/ - Ron Hoggan's articles on gluten intolerance and other subjects
-www.cup.org/books/kiple/introduction1.htm - The Cambridge World History of Food

For pets:
-http://dogtorj.com, website of a veterinarian who successfully treats dogs with a biologically appropriate diet
-http://www.barfworld.com, Dr. Billinghurst’s Biologically Appropriate Raw Food

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles and studies on this and related subjects. If you have any special health issues, like diabetes or kidney dysfunction, make sure to check with your doctor to address your special needs.

Updates (Paleolithic nutrition is a new and evolving field and I incorporate new information into this summary post when warranted):

4.13.10 Divided controversial foods into a separate middle section; made fruits optional and emphasized less sugary fruits (some people seem to handle sugary fruits fine and others, like me, have difficulty handling any fruit); moved nuts and seeds into the controversial category (they contain mildly toxic compounds that plants use to discourage predation that may adversely affect some people); replaced "lean meats" with the better term "pastured meats"; added a link

[Note, 2009: it may seem strange that I didn't post a summary explanation of this diet until 2009, but the field was new and evolving, with controversies over what foods should be included, and I didn't feel it was sufficiently clear to me to post them until 2009. My views on what is Paleo have continued to evolve since as more information is provided by the field or my own experience. Maintain a healthy amount of skepticism and pay attention to what your own body tells you.

Update 6/20/11: I've moved mention of some foods up a level, such as sweet potatoes and raw fatty dairy products, because enough people do well on them to warrant it and the evidence against them is mixed, even though I don't tolerate some of them well myself]

Clayton's ADHD Success Story

Here is an uplifting ADHD success story to start off the new year on a positive note. It very vividly illustrates the benefits of nutritional treatment (which can benefit everyone, not just ADHD patients):

Recovering from ADHD


Watch for the change in Clayton's handwriting.

The basic diet this physician uses in his treatment program is very similar to the Ancestral Diet, and his findings match what I have found in my own research and observation of those who eat modern vs. ancestral foods.

The principles that helped this child can help adults as well, as Dr. Hyman explains in his other videos (be forewarned that Dr. Hyman laughs too much during his lectures--though maybe that's a sign of good mental and physical health).

Deviated Septum--Another Connective Tissue Disorder

While viewing an image of a deviated septum [here's an example: Deviated Septum] in a medical text I'm studying for a course I'm taking, I noticed that it reminded me of the exaggerated S-curve of scoliosis. I realized that the septum is composed of cartilage--a connective tissue--and that deviated septum can therefore be classed as yet another connective tissue disorder. I looked into it and found two sources that indicate that deviated septum is associated with Marfan syndrome (see below).

As Sandy Simmons has pointed out in her excellent website, Sandy Simmon's Connective Tissue Disorder Site, large amounts of accumulating evidence indicate that connective tissue disorders like Marfan syndrome are associated with modern foods, malabsorption and nutritional deficiencies. So deviated septum looks like yet another "disease of civilization" with diet as a likely cause, possibly the primary cause (with genetics being another factor).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ageing in Marfan Syndrome
“With the exception of deviated septum, ENT features were not significantly more prevalent in patients with MFS than our controls.”

Marfan Syndrome: Long-term Survival and Complications After Aortic Aneurysm Repair
“A complete review of systems was obtained and medical records were reviewed to identify other potential pleiotropic manifestations of Marfan syndrome related to aging. Twenty-two percent of patients had been diagnosed with arthritis by a physician, with the mean age of 33 years at diagnosis. Twenty-three percent of patients had varicose veins not associated with pregnancy (19 of 47 women and 14 of 51 men). Fourteen percent of patients had experienced a ruptured or herniated disc. Ten percent of the women had prolapse of the uterus, and 10% of women had prolapse of the bladder. Twenty-eight patients (15%) had gallstones. Twenty-two of the patients (11%) had a deviated nasal septum.”

Atkins Beats Ornish, Ornish Spinning

The results of a study that compared the Atkins, Zone, Ornish and Yale/LEARN diets are out and the Atkins diet beat out the others in terms of weight loss (though not by much) and--more importantly--health statistics. While I'm no fan of the Atkins diet (it includes lots of unhealthy dairy products), it is certainly closer to the optimal science-based diet (an ancestral/Paleo/biologically appropriate diet) than the Ornish diet, which was largely inspired by Ornish's conversion to Hinduism rather than science [if the reports are correct at "Sri Swami Satchidananda, founder of Integral Yoga," http://www.swamisatchidananda.org/docs2/health.htm and "A Matter of Lifestyle," Frontline magazine of India, http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1606/16060920.htm]. It didn't take long for the gurus of the losing diets to start spinning the results. Dr. Dean Ornish in particular tried to re-interpret the results in a more favorable light, but his words only further undermined his cause.

Ornish said, "It's a lot easier to follow a diet that tells you to eat bacon and brie than to eat predominantly fruits and vegetables." That's hardly a criticism, since a diet that's easier to follow is more likely to be maintained, and thus more likely to be successful in the long term. Given that the Atkins dieters lost a bit more weight than the Ornish dieters and had better health statistics, the fact that the Atkins diet is also "easier to follow" is a definite plus.

Professor Kelly Brownell of Yale University said the study "shows that nothing works very well." It's amazing that Brownell admits here that his LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition) diet doesn't work very well and is no better than the other major diets, despite also including an exercise program. If he believes that, then why is he still promoting LEARN?

Zone diet creator Dr. Barry Sears said the study "had a good concept and incredibly pathetic execution." Could the fact that the dieters who tried to follow his soy-promoting diet lost the least weight have anything to do with his response?

These sour-grape comments contrast sharply with those of some prominent scientists. Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health said, "This is the best study so far to compare popular diets," pointing to the size of the study population, the duration (a year) and the small number of subjects who dropped out. The study's findings "are pretty much in line with what all the other studies have shown comparing Atkins and low-fat diets," according to Bonnie Brehm, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.

It seems the diet guru's definition of a good study is one in which his diet comes out on top.

Here's a link to the study report:

Gardner CD et al, "Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets for change in weight and related risk factors among overweight premenopausal women: the A TO Z Weight Loss Study: a randomized trial." JAMA. 2007 Mar 7;297(9):969-77.

Intestinal Epithelial Cells Defend Against Invaders

"How the immune system is switched on and off, or how it detects friend or foe, has baffled scientists for years. New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine shows that tiny cells called intestinal epithelial cells play a central role in both turning on anti-microbial immune responses and turning off harmful responses that can cause chronic inflammation in the intestine.

The researchers report their findings in Nature. ..."

[Click the title to read the full article]

Are Modern Foods the Main Underlying Factor In the Molecular Mimicry Of Autoimmune Diseases?

Molecular mimicry caused by similarities between cells in modern foods, infectious agents and human self tissues has been identified as a mechanism for the development of autoimmune disease in the case of celiac disease and is likely involved in other autoimmune diseases. This may be the most crucial aspect of evolutionary nutrition, and the most important area of research in evolutionary medicine.

SUMMARY:
> some modern, agricultural foods (grains, dairy and legumes) contain high concentrations of proteins that are structurally similar (homologous) to proteins in humans, bacteria and certain viruses; these homologous proteins have similar cell structures due to their similar peptide sequences (a.k.a. amino acid sequences)
> bacteria and certain viruses have these homologous protein cells on their surfaces, and they use them for attachment, locomotion and transmission
> the human body has its homologous protein cells on the surfaces of many of its internal and external tissues; they often even look similar to their bacterial and viral counterparts, frequently having a hair-like, bristle-like, filamentous, or whip-like appearance (which is characteristic of many fibrous proteins and filamentous globular protein chains); these homologous protein cells are often the targets of a misdirected immune system in autoimmune illness

--------------------------------

HISTORY

A possible connection between food and autoimmune disease was suggested as early as 1981 (Ronald Williams, MD, "Rheumatoid arthritis and food: a case study." British Medical Journal, 1981; 283:563). In 1996, Dr. Kalle Reichelt proposed that dietary proteins "may be responsible for many autoimmune diseases" through molecular mimicry (Kalle Reichelt, M.D., Food and mental problems, 26 Feb 1996, http://gluten-free.org/reichelt.html). Margo C. Honeyman et al suggested a three-way molecular mimicry link between dietary proteins (in milk, wheat and beans), viruses and human cells (Margo C. Honeyman, Stone NL, Harrison LC, "T-cell epitopes in type 1 diabetes autoantigen tyrosine phosphatase IA-2: potential for mimicry with rotavirus and other environmental agents," Molecular Medicine, 1998 Apr;4(4):231-9:). This three-way link is the current form of the dietary molecular mimicry hypothesis.

Loren Cordain, Ph.D. explained why and how modern food proteins trigger molecular mimicry by using Dr. S. Boyd Eaton's theory of evolutionary dietary discordance* ("The Late Role of Grains and Legumes in the Human Diet, and Biochemical Evidence of their Evolutionary Discordance," by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., copyright 1999, http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/grains-leg/grains-legumes-1b.shtml). Cordain focused on the best understood case of food proteins triggering autoimmune disease--wheat gluten's triggering of celiac disease. He pointed out that "wheat contains peptide sequences which remain undigested and which can enter into systemic circulation" and that "These peptide sequences are homologous to a wide variety of the body's tissue peptide sequences and hence induce autoimmune disease via the process of molecular mimicry." Cordain posited that "All autoimmune diseases develop because of interactions between the genes and one or more environmental factors, such as a viral or bacterial infection or exposure to a certain food." Cordain cited rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 (juvenile) diabetes as examples of autoimmune diseases. Ray Audette, author of NeanderThin, expanded on the list by mentioning "arthritis, diabetes, allergies, colitis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, endometriosis, many forms of cancer, lupus, and most arterial diseases (heart attacks and strokes)" (Ray Audette, NeanderThin, 1999, p. 17).

--------------------------------

The full story involves more than just gluten and celiac disease. There appears to be a general mimicry link between modern food proteins and surface proteins in the cells of human tissues and infectious agents (bacteria and certain viruses). The surface proteins of mitochondria in humans may also be involved. The common factor shared by these food and human cell proteins is that they are similar to the surface proteins of bacteria and viruses that the human immune system has evolved defenses against. Interestingly, many of these surface proteins appear to share a hair-like (filamentous or bristly) structure in these three sources (modern foods, human tissues, and infectious agents). If these proteins are investigated, further amino acid sequence similarities may be found beyond those which have been identified.

Types of bacteria surface proteins and the structure(s) they are found in:
> hair-like fibrous glycoproteins - fimbriae (pili), and possibly the fibrous sheath of the flagellum
> filamentous globular proteins (tubulins) - core of the flagellum (surrounded by a fibrous sheath)
> transmembrane proteins (composed of beta strands connected into sheets) - porins

Types of virus surface proteins and the structure(s) they are found in:
> hair-like fibrous (external transmembrane) glycoproteins - peplomers (spikes)
> other transmembrane glycoproteins such as hemagglutinin (HA), the fusion protein of influenza viruses

Homologous human proteins and the structure(s) they are found in:
> hair-like fibrous proteins - epithelial cell proteins such as collagens, keratins (found in such human structures as skin, hair, nails, tooth enamel, liver bile ducts, the salivary gland, the bladder, ureters, eyelashes, nose hairs, and external ear hairs), elastins, f-actin, and myosin
> globular proteins - albumins, globulins, histones, protamines, microtuble associated proteins (composed of tau proteins) and tubulins (found in such human structures as axons and dendrites, cilia of the kidney nephrons, oviducts, the uterus, the upper two thirds of the cervix, sinus cavity and mucus membranes, and nose cilia), kinase proteins (enzyme proteins found in such human structures as villi and microvilli of the small intestine, tongue villi, axons and dendrites, breast ducts and mammary gland, salivary gland, bladder, ureters, bronchial tubes of the lungs, certain pancreatic cells, gingival tissues, and skin)
> both fibrous and globular proteins like actin (which has both globular and fibrous forms), myosin (fibrous) and calreticulin (globular) can be found in smooth muscle cells
> transmembrane proteins (composed of beta strands connected into sheets) - porins in mitochondria (mitochondria are descendants of ancient bacteria)

Homologous modern food proteins and the food(s) they are found in:
> hair-like fibrous proteins - glycine-rich cell wall protein (GRP) [though a Wikipedia article claims that "Fibrous proteins are only found in animals"], which is in the cell walls of cereal grains and legumes, shares significant amino acid homology with human keratins, fibrillar collagen and procollagen, and with the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear (EBV) antigen-I (EBNA-I) [source: Claudio Lunardi et al, "Glycine-rich cell wall proteins act as specific antigen targets in autoimmune and food allergic disorders," International Immunology, Vol. 12, No. 5, 647-657, May 2000, http://intimm.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/12/5/647]
> globular proteins - gliadin, a lectin glycoprotein found in various forms in wheat, rye, barley, and other grains that shares homologous peptide sequences with human calreticulin; gliadin and other cereal grain prolamines (proteins with a high proline content) are homologous to Adenovirus 12E1b; high-molecular weight glutenin, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and other grains that is homologous to human elastin; hemagglutinin, a lectin found in soy and potato that is homologous to influenza virus proteins hemagglutinin HA1 and HA2

The human immune system is rough, rather than precise, which gives it the ability to develop defenses against ever-changing infectious agents. This unfortunately also makes it more susceptible to mis-identifying food proteins and proteins in the surfaces of self tissues as infectious agents.

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* Dr. Cordain credited Dr. Eaton thusly: "Although a few physicians, scientists, and anthropologists had been aware of this concept, it was Dr. Eaton's writings that brought this idea to center stage" (Loren Cordain, Ph.D., The Paleo Diet, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2001, p. 4).

SUGGESTED READING:

"The Late Role of Grains and Legumes in the Human Diet, and Biochemical Evidence of their Evolutionary Discordance," by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., copyright 1999, http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/grains-leg/grains-legumes-1b.shtml

Claudio Lunardi et al, "Glycine-Rich Cell Wall Proteins Act as Specific Antigen Targets in Autoimmune and Food Allergic Disorders,"
International Immunology, Vol. 12, No. 5, 647-657, May 2000, http://intimm.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/12/5/647

American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Cold Pizza for Children's Breakfast

In their brochure, "What's to Eat? Healthy Foods for Hungry Children" (subscription required), the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for a "good start" to "carry a child through an active morning" the odd "breakfast idea" of leftover spaghetti or pizza, served hot or cold. Even before I learned about the Paleo diet I knew that cold pizza was nowhere near a health food, and had never heard of it being recommended as a good breakfast food for children.

Not surprisingly, the AAP receives funding from such corporate sources as the Sugar Association and the International Food Information Council (the public relations arm of the food and beverage industries, including the Sugar Association, the National Soft Drink Association, makers of food additives, McDonald’s Corporation, Kraft Foods, M&M/Mars, etc.).

As I remember it, it used to be that pretty much everyone recognized that cold pizza or spaghetti made from refined grains was not health food or a good way to get energy for the day and certainly not breakfast food. The thinking behind cereal for breakfast is that whole grains provide fiber and are therefore healthy (bogus of course--but the standard view). I'm not sure what the AAP's thinking behind refined-grain pizza and spaghetti is. Maybe this is part of the carb-loading insanity--or maybe they were just guided by the modern food industry that funds them.

A Brief Paleo Diet Meal Plan

It's best if you can go "cold turkey" on modern foods and go right to eating a completely Paleo/ancestral diet for the first four months, or at least four weeks, so that you can see the difference an ancestral diet makes. Even if you go completely Paleo you will likely inadvertently eat some modern foods at times, since so many store-bought and restaurant foods contain modern ingredients, and you may find that you have sensitivity reactions to some of the modern foods when you mistakenly eat them or reintroduce them after avoiding them for a few weeks or more. These reactions should dissipate over time for most people, but they are instructive about the ill effects of modern foods.

Our ancestors didn't eat dramatically different foods at different times of the day. Sandwiches did not become lunchtime staples in America until the 1900's when bakeries started pre-slicing bread and cold breakfast cereal did not become popular until the twentieth century. Our Paleolithic ancestors cooked the fruits of the day's hunt and generally continued to eat them at each meal until they were gone, along with the fruits, vegetables and nuts that were gathered. When the meat or fish was too plentiful to be eaten in a few meals they dried, smoked or froze it (when the weather was sufficiently cold) to preserve it. To eat more like our ancestors you should try to follow the same principals, cooking meat and fish for dinner and finishing up leftovers at breakfast or lunch, drying, refrigerating or freezing any surplus.

Breakfast

Instead of the typical breakfast foods of cold cereal with milk, toast, bagel, muffin, donut, bacon or sausage for breakfast, an ancestral breakfast will typically include some combination of leftover or fresh meat, fruit, nuts or seeds. Breakfast is best suited to foods which are easy to prepare and digest quickly, so vegetables are less emphasized with this meal, but they can still play a role if you are creative (for example, veggies can be included in omelets). Eggs are common in the breakfast of both the Standard American Diet and the ancestral diet, but some ancestral diet advocates, like Loren Cordain, suggest limiting the intake of eggs because of concerns about weight gain and blood cholesterol levels. Choose omega-3 enriched eggs and think of the extra expense as an investment in your health.

Sample breakfast (your actual meals may differ depending on your needs, your appetite and your preferences):
Bowl of diced apple, shredded carrots, raisins and walnuts
Cold or reheated lean pork chop leftovers
Tea

Lunch

Instead of the typical sandwich or burger in a bun, an ancestral lunch will tend to more resemble a light dinner.

Sample lunch:
Ground beef and red sauce on spaghetti squash
Tossed green salad with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
Melon and strawberry slices
Water with lime wedge

Dinner

Dinner is the American meal that most resembles the ancestral way of eating. Try to forego modern components like bread, pasta, milk, margarine and butter.

Sample dinner:
Lean beefsteak
Steamed broccoli
Buttercup squash
Pitted, diced Medjool dates mixed with slivered almonds
Mineral water

Snacks

Ancestral snacks include fresh fruit, homemade beef jerky and dried salmon strips with no added salt, raw vegetables like carrots and broccoli, cold chicken breast and other leftover meats, sardines, unsalted or lightly salted nuts and seeds, dried fruit, trail mix, hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, homemade vegetable juice, and fruit smoothies (blended frozen fruit or fresh fruit and ice).

For more Paleo menus and ideas read The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. and NeanderThin by Ray Audette and see "The Paleolithic Eating Support List's Recipe Collection" and
"A Sample of Paleo Recipes".

There is controversy over how much animal fat, particularly saturated fat, to include in a Paleo diet, with Ray Audette advocating far more than Loren Cordain. The issue is too complex to get into here, but suffice it to say that you would include more animal fat in your Paleo meals than the sample meals here if you side with Audette. I find I can eat more animal fat than these meals contain without negatively affecting my LDL cholesterol levels, but I kept these sample meals relatively lean for those concerned with saturated fat (though there is more fat than the low-fat diet faddists would advocate).

Rheumatoid Arthritis Linked to Asthma

It's not surprising that a drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis would also treat asthma, as they are both diseases that involve chronic inflammation and both are "diseases of civilization" that accumulating scientific evidence is showing have an underlying cause of a modern diet that is in conflict with human biology.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Could Fight Problem Asthma
February 16, 2006 08:45:57 PM PST
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Yahoo! Health: Arthritis News

THURSDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Using a well-known rheumatoid arthritis drug to reduce high levels of an inflammatory protein could be a new means of fighting severe asthma, British researchers report.

Their study found that people with severe asthma have higher-than-normal concentrations of an inflammation-linked cytokine called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa). Reducing the levels using a TNF-inhibiting drug, etanercept, reduced asthma symptoms in people with refractory -- hard to manage -- disease.

....

Diabetes Epidemic

Diabetes has risen to "epidemic" levels and increased reporting does not account for all of the increase. More and more Americans are falling prey to this chronic disease and even higher diabetes rates have been predicted for the future as Americans eat more modern foods and become more sedentary. Dr. Loren Cordain reported that "the Average American now eats 83 pounds of corn syrup a year, plus 66 pounds of sucrose" [The Paleo Diet, p. 48.].

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported that from "1997 to 2003, the incidence of diagnosed diabetes increased 41% from 4.9 to 6.9 per 1000 population"
[The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 30, Issue 5 , May 2006, Pages 371-377, http://www.sciencedirect.com]. Linda S. Geiss, MA and the other authors of the report analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acne Cure

Loren Cordain, Ph.D. has just published an ebook titled The Dietary Cure for Acne. Cordain reviews the four known proximate causes of acne (pore blockage, excess oil production, bacterial infection and inflammation) and explains the underlying cause behind all of them: the modern diet. Cordain's ebook reveals how high glycemic foods increase oil production, and how dietary lectins prevent skin cells from sloughing off properly.

I personally have found a Paleo diet to nearly, though not yet completely, eliminate my chronic cystic acne. It is no longer significant enough to be noticeable to others.