Stone Age nutrition

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Stone Age diet , Stone Age diet , Paleo Diet or Paleo diet (after German spelling actually paleo diet or paleo diet ) is a form of nutrition of the people who are on the presumed diet of Paleolithic oriented; What is meant is the time before the Neolithic Revolution (beginning around 20,000 to 10,000 years ago), after which agriculture and cattle breeding were increasingly practiced. However, the Neolithic Revolution is an archaeological theory .

principle

In contrast to the low-carb diet, unlimited amounts of highly glycemic components - such as dried dates or figs - are allowed in the Stone Age diet . If naturally grown fruits and honey have less proportion, the Stone Age diet corresponds to a diet based on the low-carb principle.

The Stone Age diet consists exclusively of foods that are believed to have been available as early as the Paleolithic. The diet consists mainly of vegetables, meat (from game), berries, fish, seafood , shellfish, eggs, fruit as well as herbs , mushrooms , nuts , chestnuts and honey . Milk and dairy products should be avoided , as well as cereals and cereal products such as bread . Industrially processed foods such as sugar , alcoholic beverages or ready meals as well as foods that can only be consumed through complex technical processing should also be avoided. The use of vegetable oils is controversial. Some only avoid oils and fats that were not available in sufficient quantities in the Stone Age, such as B. peanut butter , olive , corn germ or grapeseed oil . Others do without all vegetable oils because they are industrially processed, have an unfavorable ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids and mostly contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can oxidize and become rancid during storage. The ratio of fatty acids in our ancestors was 1: 3 to 1: 5, modern humans have a significantly higher ratio of 1:15 to 1:20. Water and tea made from herbal infusions are recommended as drinks.

The diet with insects , larvae and worms , which early representatives of the Homo genus served as a source of protein and is still eaten by many ethnic groups today ( entomophagy ), is unusual in western cultures . However, eating insects is not a mandatory part of the Stone Age diet.

Origin of the designation

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For example, a Stone Age diet was suggested by Arnold DeVries in his 1952 book Primitive Man and His Food . and also described by Walter L. Voegtlin in 1975. The term does not exactly apply to the diets discussed, as radical changes in diets have taken place over the course of the centuries, in particular through the transition to agriculture , which is described as the Neolithic Revolution . Voegtlin and others referred more to some presumed forms of nutrition from the Old Stone Age, the Paleolithic. The terms Paleolithic diet , paleo diet or genetically adapted diet (in the English-speaking world , paleo diet ) would therefore be more appropriate .

In the 1990s, Loren Cordain became the most famous representative of Stone Age nutrition in the USA. In 2000 Nicolai Worm published the book SYNDROME X or a mammoth on your plate - With a Stone Age diet out of the food trap . However, Worm expressly does not consider himself to be a representative of the Stone Age diet.

Basic assumptions

The Paleolithic period spans roughly two million years ago to around 20,000 years ago. During this epoch, the hominini , which are the subsidiary lines and ancestors of anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ), lived as hunters and gatherers .

In 1975 Walter L. Voegtlin published Theses on Genetic Adaptation to Food in his book. However, he claimed that humans are carnivores , while prevailing scientific opinion regards them as omnivores due to their physical characteristics . In the 1980s Voegtlin's thesis was taken up by Boyd Eaton, who published a corresponding article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985 and the book Paleolithic Prescription in 1988 . He made the corresponding theses known to a wider public.

The basic assumptions of the Stone Age diet are based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution , according to which in the course of evolution the species that were best adapted to their environment and thus also to the available food sources prevailed. For the derived theories on human nutrition and health, among others was of Cordain the term evolutionary medicine ( medicine Evolutionary or Darwinian medicine ) coined. Another basic assumption is that the human genome has not changed since the Stone Age . Consequently, the Stone Age diet is the only "species-appropriate diet" for humans, as the human organism has adapted perfectly to it over the course of millions of years. Loren Cordain: "Living organisms thrive best in the milieu and on the diet to which they were evolutionary adapted (...)" (Eng .: Living organisms thrive best in the milieu and with the diet to which they are evolutionarily adapted).

The Paleolithic covered a period of almost 2.4 million years, all other ages until today only around 15,000 years. The livestock was first 10,000 years ago in the Neolithic introduced the agriculture about 12,000 years ago. Dairy products and cereal products are therefore relatively new foods in relation to the entire history of mankind. "(...) 100,000 generations of people were hunter-gatherers, 500 generations have depended on agriculture, and only 10 generations have lived since the start of the industrial age (...) In other words, our diet today fails to provide the biochemical and molecular requirements of H. sapiens. ”(Eng .: 100,000 generations were hunters and gatherers, 500 generations were dependent on agriculture and only ten generations have lived since the beginning of the industrial age (...) In other words, our diet today does not correspond to the biochemical and molecular ones Needs of Homo sapiens ).

According to the findings of paleopathology, the so-called Neolithic Revolution led to increased infant mortality, an increase in infectious diseases , a significantly lower life expectancy and a reduced body size. Bone and tooth damage also increased. “Paradoxically, then, sufficient food production led to deficiency symptoms; and the 'agricultural revolution' in the Neolithic (...) a step backwards in health. "

Some representatives of evolutionary medicine assume that the so-called diseases of civilization in western industrialized countries are mainly due to the "unsuitable" diet with post-stone age foods, especially hyperinsulinism and insulin resistance due to a high proportion of carbohydrates in the common "civilization diet ". Other diseases of the metabolic syndrome are hypertension , hyperlipidemia and hyperglycaemia . Findings from paleopathology should prove that the Paleolithic ancestors were larger and healthier than the people of the following epochs. However, bone finds only allow limited conclusions to be drawn about the condition of the internal organs and blood values ​​that are no longer preserved. The medical statements are also based on the results of studies on peoples who still live today as nomads or hunters and gatherers . These led to the conclusion that they did not suffer from typical lifestyle diseases even in old age.

With the help of Stone Age nutrition, not only should the metabolic syndrome be prevented, but the risk of cancer and allergies should also be significantly reduced and performance increased. So far there are no long-term scientific studies on this form of nutrition that could confirm this.

meat consumption

The Stone Age spanned a period of around two million years, during which several species of the genus Homo lived in different habitats . There was therefore no uniform “Stone Age diet”, and the meat content was very different from region to region.

Boyd Eaton's dietary recommendations are not the same as Cordain's. Eaton refers to the findings of paleoanthropology on the nutrition of the Stone Age people and assumes a predominantly vegetable and fiber-rich diet; Meat consumption does not play a decisive role. The optimal nutrient ratio according to Eaton: 33 percent protein , 46 percent carbohydrates and 21 percent fat . 65 percent of the energy consumed came from fruits and vegetables. Cordain and Nicolai Worm , on the other hand, refer to today's indigenous peoples and favor daily meat consumption. Data from the Ethnology Atlas from 1999 on 181 ethnic groups showed that 65 percent of the diet is of animal origin versus 35 percent of plant-based foods. However, these are statistical mean values; the composition differs considerably between the different peoples, see below.

The target fat percentage in the diet is controversial. A diet with only lean meat probably does not correspond to the protein-fat ratio of a Stone Age diet in which the whole animal was eaten. A diet based exclusively on meat and fat is possible with the transition to ketosis , but the fat calorie percentage should not fall below 30% for the purpose of a sufficient supply of essential fatty acids . If you give test eaters the free choice, they eat about the same amount of fat as muscle mass. Outside the arctic regions and especially in spring, however, many wild animals contain only a significantly lower percentage of fat. Beef jerky and pemmican as two traditional foods of the Indians of the Midwest of the USA have very different fat percentages, namely only 2-7% compared to around 50% fat.

If Eskimos take much of the energy as proteins, because only rabbits are instead of fatty marine animals available, the so-called occurs Rabbit Starvation ( rabbit wasting on).

Nutrient supply

Since the body can synthesize them in sufficient quantities from proteins and fats, no deficiency symptoms are to be expected even if carbohydrates are completely avoided.

Loren Cordain points out that to ensure an adequate supply of vitamin D, either a daily stay in the sun of at least 15 minutes in summer or correspondingly more in winter or the consumption of around 100 g of fatty sea fish (especially salmon , tuna and cod liver) with drawbacks too; Hering , halibut and sardines ) or a corresponding amount of fish oil should be provided.

A magazine for Australian general practitioners advises looking out for calcium intake when there is a risk of osteoporosis . There is evidence that certain ingredients in dairy products and grains hinder the absorption of trace elements such as calcium, iodine , iron and zinc in the small intestine. Since these foods are dispensed with in the case of palaeo nutrition according to Loren Cordain, the supply should be guaranteed.

Health Consequences Studies

Little research has been done on the effects of Stone Age nutrition. On the other hand, many specific studies have already been carried out on one-sided nutrition and the effects of toxins in our food, but these have mostly been limited to a few aspects. First holistic studies showed improved blood sugar levels and a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases as a result of the Stone Age diet .

With an extremely low-fat diet or very one-sided fat intake, there is a risk of a lack of essential fatty acids . If a low-carbohydrate diet is followed as part of the paleo-diet, essentially the same criticisms apply to the health risks as with the Atkins diet . Short-term changes in diet with reduced calorie intake can also lead to the yo-yo effect. The weight is not permanently reduced and can even increase.

Various studies show the positive influence of a paleo diet on various health factors. The incidence of colon cancer is reduced as well as the markers for inflammation and oxidative stress and mortality .

As with similar diets, and especially with the low-carbohydrate diet, there have been reports of the general increase in well-being and significant health improvements from the paleo-diet. It can be assumed that in many cases this is not necessarily due to the strict selection and restriction of certain, approved foods, but rather to the accompanying circumstances of a change in diet:

  • By following the guidelines of a particular school of thought on stone age nutrition, the range of available foods is often drastically reduced. The fact that the intended foods are not available everywhere, snacks and fast food generally do not fit into the nutritional scheme and that eating in gastronomy is generally only possible to a limited extent means that most of the unhealthy and high-calorie foods that are often found nowadays are eliminated make up a large part of food intake.
  • Even if it is ensured that the intended food is available in sufficient quantities at all times, so that the renouncement of "forbidden" food can basically be compensated by the consumption of a larger amount of "permitted" food, it is usually reduced anyway calorie intake, as the body often cannot absorb natural foods in particularly large quantities. When eating meat and vegetables, a feeling of satiety generally arises more than with a high-carbohydrate diet and lasts longer. Vegetables that are under-processed contain phytochemicals which can hinder digestion and prevent the ingestion of larger quantities. Finally, most of the flavor-enhancing and appetizing additives and sauces are omitted from the paleo diet.
  • Just foregoing industrially processed ready meals and ingredients, as well as restricting them to foods that our great-grandparents already knew, should help to improve most diet-related metabolic disorders and prevent lifestyle diseases.
  • The intensive preoccupation with the topic and the change in diet are often accompanied by a change in other habits and a generally healthier lifestyle. By doing without calorie-containing instant food, weight reduction and an improvement in general physical condition often occur. These factors increase the enjoyment of physical activities, so that more sport is often done as a result, which has further positive health effects and increases well-being.

If the intake of carbohydrates is reduced until ketosis develops , there is in many cases a significant decrease in seizures in epilepsy patients, especially in children.

A small study has shown that the glucose values ​​in patients with coronary artery disease and glucose intolerance or type 2 diabetes improve significantly when switching to a Stone Age diet compared to a Mediterranean diet .

criticism

The representatives of the Stone Age diet state that humans are not genetically adapted to the modern "civilization diet", but only to foods that were eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. Therefore, the common diet in western industrialized countries leads to diseases that are known as diseases of civilization . A major point of criticism is that the statements about nutrition in the Stone Age and its health benefits are predominantly hypotheses without extensive scientific evidence.

For evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists , the development of anatomically modern humans, the so-called hominization , does not begin in the Stone Age, but much earlier. Common criteria are the upright gait, which was already present in Australopithecus (biological evolution ), or the use of cultural techniques (cultural evolution) in Homo erectus . Australopithecus ate fruits, seeds, mushrooms, roots, leaves, eggs and small animals, but mostly vegetarian. The diet of the subsequent Homo habilis was similar, also with a low meat content. Homo erectus was then able to supplement the plant food with hunted prey.

The representatives of the Stone Age diet indicate that this also corresponds to the diet of the hunter-gatherer peoples. In fact, the diet of these populations differs considerably, depending on their habitat, and ranges from predominantly vegetarian food for the North American Gwi and African ǃKung to the almost exclusive diet of meat and fish for the Inuit in Greenland . For the Maasai and the Turkana - both nomadic peoples - milk is the main food.

In his dissertation entitled Diet as an influencing factor on human evolution, Tobias Lechler states that an exact reconstruction of diet in the Stone Age and before was not possible and that it is also not possible to determine whether modern humans are now genetic the diet of early Homo sapiens , to that of Homo erectus , Homo habilis , australopithecines or that of other primates was adapted. The ecotrophologists Alexander Ströhle and Andreas Hahn from the Institute for Food Science at the University of Hanover fundamentally doubt the theses on human adaptation to certain foods and point out that the morphological evolution of a living being does not necessarily correlate with genetic evolution. Even a function change without morphological adaptation is possible.

Although Lechler initially starts from the same hypotheses as the representatives of the Stone Age diet in his dissertation, he comes to completely different conclusions. He concludes that precisely the lack of specialization and adaptation of the homo genus to a certain diet was the decisive survival advantage that made it possible to occupy very different ecological niches . This view is shared by Ströhle and Hahn, who refer to the multitude of nutritional cultures that arose during hominization and since the Stone Age.

Ströhle and Hahn also contradict the thesis that a type of diet can be described as "optimally suitable" simply because people have survived with it over a long period of time. The only conclusion that can be drawn is “that such was or is adequate for survival and reproduction. It cannot have been entirely wrong. (...) Any further interpretation, e.g. B. with regard to (...) their suitability for the prevention of chronic degenerative diseases must remain speculative (...). 6,000 to 10,000 years of food culture including grain, edible oil, wine and milk in Europe has no less “evolutionary proof” than 50,000 years of the Stone Age regime. "

The statement that the human genome was optimally adapted to the environment during the Stone Age (i.e. changed), but not afterwards, is also not tenable. Scientists have found around 700 genetic changes that have occurred over the past 10,000 years. These genetic changes include the development of lactose tolerance in adults, especially in the descendants of the strains that introduced cattle farming around 10,000 years ago and which now live in Europe, the USA and Australia. Here, up to 80 to 90 percent of the adult population have the enzyme lactase, which is necessary for processing milk sugar . Contrary to the thesis of the representatives of the Stone Age diet, this adaptation to a new food has long taken place in a relatively short period of time. Numerous other studies have also shown that so-called “rapid evolution” (changes in the allele frequency within a few dozen generations) also occurs in humans.

The term Neolithic Revolution is also criticized by various archaeologists, as the term “revolution”, for example, suggests a brief period of upheaval. In fact, however, these are long-term developments and transitional phases in human history that took place at different times in different places.

literature

per paleodiet
contra paleodiet

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ How too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3 is making us sick. In: chriskresser.com , accessed on November 28, 2012 (English)
  2. ↑ Everything You Should Know About Fat. In: blog.paleosophie.de , accessed in March 2017.
  3. ^ Newton, David E. (2019). Vegetarianism and Veganism: A Reference Handbook . ABC-CLIO. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4408-6763-7
  4. ^ Walter L. Voegtlin: The stone age diet: based on in-depth studies of human ecology and the diet of man . Vantage Press, 1975 ( google.com [accessed June 11, 2014]).
  5. ^ Sally Fallon, Mary G. Enig: Caveman Cuisine. In: westonaprice.org
  6. ↑ a b c Alexander Ströhle, Andreas Hahn: Evolutionary nutritional science and “Stone Age” nutritional recommendations - stone of alimentary wisdom or stumbling block? Part 1. In: Nutrition review. Volume 53, No. 1, 2006, pp. 10–16, full text (PDF; 137 kB)
  7. ↑ a b c Kenneth F. Kiple: What we can learn from the Stone Age. In: GEO knowledge. No. 28, pp. 64-69.
  8. ↑ Loren Cordain: Implications of Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Diets for Modern Humans.
  9. ↑ a b c Jack Challem: Paleolithic Nutrition: Your Future is in your Dietary Past. ( Memento from June 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ A b Loren Cordain et al: Realigning our 21st Century Diet and Lifestyle with our Hunter-gatherer Genetic Identity. In: Directions in Psychiatry. Vol. 25, 2005.
  11. ↑ Rolf Degen: With a Stone Age diet against excess carbohydrates. ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tabula. 01/2001 (PDF file)
  12. ↑ Staffan Lindeberg, Loren Cordain and S. Boyd Eaton: Biological and Clinical Potential of an Paleolithic Diet. In: Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. Volume 13, No. 3, 2003, pp. 149–160, doi: 10.1080 / 13590840310001619397 , full text (PDF; 84 kB)
  13. ↑ a b c d Alexander Ströhle, Andreas Hahn: Evolutionary nutritional science and "Stone Age" nutritional recommendations - the stone of alimentary wisdom or the stumbling block? Part 2. In: Nutritional review. Volume 53, No. 2, 2006, pp. 52-58, full text
  14. ^ WDR article: The original human diet ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Boyd Eaton: Evolution, Diet and Health
  16. ↑ Interview with Loren Cordain: The Paleolithic Diet and its Modern Implications. In: mercola.com
  17. ^ Loren Cordain: High protein diets, fish and tubers. In: listserv.icors.org , 1997, accessed August 2009
  18. ↑ Articles on rabbit starvation on Paleodiet (English), last viewed in August 2009.
  19. ↑ Loren Cordain's information on vitamin D.
  20. ^ Christopher E Pitt: Cutting through the Paleo hype: The evidence for the Palaeolithic diet. In: Australian Family Physician. Volume 45, No. 1, Jan./Feb. 2016, pp. 35–38. PMID 27051985 .
  21. ↑ Loren Cordain also recommends avoiding gluten-free grains such as millet
  22. ↑ DC Klonoff: The beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on type 2 diabetes and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In: Journal of diabetes science and technology. Volume 3, Number 6, November 2009, pp. 1229-1232. PMID 20144375 , PMC 2787021 (free full text).
  23. ^ German Society for Nutrition. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
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  25. ↑ KA Whalen, ML McCullough, WD Flanders, TJ Hartman, S. Judd, RM Bostick: Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores Are Inversely Associated with Biomarkers of Inflammation and Oxidative Balance in Adults. In: J. Nutr. June 2016. PMID 27099230 , PMC 4877627 (free full text), doi: 10.3945 / jn.115.224048 .
  26. ↑ KA Whalen, S. Judd, ML McCullough, WD Flanders, TJ Hartman, RM Bostick: Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores Are Inversely Associated with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Adults. In: J Nutr. Feb. 8, 2017. PMID 28179490 , doi: 10.3945 / jn.116.241919 .
  27. ↑ HF Bligh, IF Godsland, G. Frost, KJ Hunter, P. Murray, K. MacAulay, D. Hyliands, DC Talbot, J. Casey, TP Mulder, MJ Berry: Plant-rich mixed meals based on Palaeolithic diet principles have a dramatic impact on incretin, peptide YY and satiety response, but show little effect on glucose and insulin homeostasis: an acute-effects randomized study. In: Br J Nutr. February 28, 2015. PMID 25661189 , doi: 10.1017 / S0007114514004012
  28. ^ A. Genoni, P. Lyons-Wall, J. Lo, A. Devine: Cardiovascular, Metabolic Effects and Dietary Composition of Ad-Libitum Paleolithic vs. Australian Guide to Healthy Eating Diets: A 4-Week Randomized Trial. In: Nutrients. May 23, 2016. PMID 27223304 , PMC 4882726 (free full text), doi: 10.3390 / nu8050314
  29. ^ Zsófia Clemens, Anna Kelemen, András Fogarasi, Csaba Tóth: Childhood Absence Epilepsy Successfully Treated with the Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet. In: Neurol Ther. online, September 21, 2013; doi: 10.1007 / s40120-013-0013-2 , PMC 4389034 (free full text)
  30. ^ S. Lindeberg, T. Jönsson, Y. Granfeldt, E. Borgstrand, J. Soffman, K. Sjöström, B. Ahrén: A Palaeolithic diet improves glucose tolerance more than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease. In: Diabetologia. 2007 Sep. PMID 17583796 , doi: 10.1007 / s00125-007-0716-y
  31. ↑ John Coleman: Palaeolithic Nutrition? ( Memento from March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  32. ↑ Tobias Lechler: Diet as an influencing factor on human evolution. Dissertation. 2001, p. 67 ff.
  33. ↑ Tobias Lechler: Diet as an influencing factor on human evolution. 2001, p. 141.
  34. ↑ Tobias Lechler: Diet as an influencing factor on human evolution. 2001, p. 184.
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    Emmanuel Milot et al .: Evidence for evolution in response to natural selection in a contemporary human population. In: PNAS . Volume 108, No. 41, 2011, p. 17040–17045, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1104210108
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    Strong positive selection has changed the appearance of Europeans over the past 5,000 years. On: idw-online.de of March 10, 2014
    Humans are still evolving - and we can watch it happen. On: sciencemag.org from May 17, 2016
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