Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I've read a few FAQs and lengthy explanations on paleo, but I don't know enough to understand how this study fits in or contradicts paleo.

When I first read the headline, I thought 'So? Eating more fatty food isn't a bad thing at all.' But as the article progressed I found it harder to understand. Some questions:

The mice chose the high-fat food every time and eventually became obese.

...

After mice ate the fatty food, stress was produced in the brain's hypothalamus, which controls appetite, and they craved more fatty food. The study revealed that eating brown rice was effective in controlling the stress.

How could high fat food make you obese and stressed? Is this simply them mixing good and bad fats up?

As brown rice also inhibits the absorption of fat in the bowels, the concentration of sugar and neutral fat in the blood decreased.

I thought paleo revolved around the theory that non-paleo foods create a sugar spike in our bloodstream - or am I wrong?

Thanks for explaining!

Edit: I thought I'd point out that mice are frequently used in experiments, with the results projected on humans because their biological makeup is largely the same as ours. I get that the study's strange conclusions could be because of the incompatibility between the physiology of human and mice, but any other theories/explanations? Thanks!

edited Aug 1 at 12:14

asked Aug 1 at 8:52

Charmaine
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Christopher Gagnon · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-01 12:39:39Z UTC

I'm not reading the study, but the first question I always ask is: what were they feeding the mice? Specifically? Did they offer pure fat, fat with meat (unlikely), fat with vegetables, or fat in the form of some sort of refined carb-laden food? If so, then it seems like we would have a difficult time teasing out meaningful results from all the confounding factors.

It seems that the combination of high fat and high refined carb = negative health outcomes, but high fat in the context of meat, vegetables, and practically no refined carbohydrate (this doesn't mean a low-carb diet) causes fewer problems. I've read numerous discussions of studies where the fat fed to test subjects was not isolated, or presented in the context of whole foods only, but fed in the form of a mix of fat and refined carb, yielding predictably bad results. After all, that is the SAD in a nutshell.

BoneBrothFast · Answer 2 · 2012-08-01 08:56:37Z UTC

These studies are done on mice. Always remember, that although some of the scientific research done on other mammals may apply to us, it's hardly ever a 1=1 conversion. Just because fat is bad for mice does not mean fat is bad for homo sapiens.

Paleo foods can spike blood sugar, but generally not as well as a lot of SAD food.

Also if brown rice curbs cravings for foods that make you fatter, does that mean it kills cravings for carbs and starches? ;)

hunts-with-wolves · Answer 3 · 2012-08-01 09:36:11Z UTC

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mice are not suppose to eat fat.. i don't see how this is relevant to humans at all. :/ maybe brown rice contains the same stuff that wheat does.. robb wolf in the paleo solution did a whole chapter on why grain don't want you to eat them..

answered Aug 1 at 9:36

hunts-with-wolves
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I believe mice are one type of mammal adapted to eat grains and seeds. Actually, they adapt to eating just about anything, depending on environment. They do seem to love fat, if you consider the foods we use to trap them: cheese, peanut butter, not seeds or vegetables. – Christopher Gagnon Aug 1 at 12:45

Thoughts on this study:“brown rice curbs craving for fatty food”?

3 Answers