Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Following my previously asked question, I have gotten in on a deal for 25 cents/lb. liver as well(grass-fed from a reputable company in Canada). Given the "super-food" label that liver has been set with, would it be a problem to "suup"-up the diet with daily liver? Is this going to pose a danger as far as hypervitaminosis-A is concerned? How much, generally, is too much LIVER(P.S I don't care about taste although liver tastes fine to me). What about other micronutrient excesses--would a 6 oz. serving of liver daily speed me towards a hannible-lecter style death where I will literally eat my own liver out or some sort of thing....Any feedback would be appreciated.

flag	asked Mar 31 2011 at 1:02 PersonMan

	I know it's something of a cliche, but sometimes "less is more" – DudleyP Mar 31 2011 at 8:43
	is it grass-fed AND finished? something to keep in mind.. – The Primalist Apr 14 2011 at 1:46
	What do you mean by "finished"? I'll keep it in mind when I know;) – PersonMan Apr 14 2011 at 3:00
	Sometimes, there's a period of >6 weeks leading up to the time of slaughter where the farmer will take the cow off the pasture and feed it grain to fatten it up. It completely screws up the fatty acid profile of the meat. Always worth asking the grower if the "finish" their meat with grass feeding, because as far as I know, in America, you can claim "100% grassfed" on a label without feeding the beef grass during the finishing period. – becker May 12 2011 at 12:30
	Neither grassfed nor finished my dear sir. Once again , limited resources... – PersonMan May 12 2011 at 14:04

RG73 · Answer 1 · 2011-04-14 04:46:14Z UTC

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So apparently paleo doesn't cure OCD.

answered Apr 14 2011 at 4:46

RG73
3,148●3●13

	Orthorexia is one thing, worrying about overdosing on a fat-soluble nutrient that becomes toxic at high concentrations is another. It's clear that liver is both extremely nutritious and high in Vitamin A, and we have unlimited access to it. It isn't so clear how much HGs ate/eat or how much we can handle before getting sick. – becker May 12 2011 at 12:33
	I had been getting dry hair as late as well as altered skin pigmentation(slightly more reddish/pinkish than normal) as well as vague symptoms of fatigue. Of course the latter may be due to over-exercise with my two-a-day seesions Bulgarian style! – PersonMan May 12 2011 at 13:58

Kamal · Answer 2 · 2011-03-31 01:19:36Z UTC

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PersonMan: this question was asked before: http://paleohacks.com/questions/9307/offal-and-nutrient-overload#axzz1I8NkV3tV

Also, you may be able to find the answer to your other offal question in previous hacks, or by googling around about the taste of kidneys. Or just try some!

answered Mar 31 2011 at 1:19

Kamal♦
27k●1●47●163

	Edit: I see you don't care about kidney taste. Nevermind! – Kamal♦ Mar 31 2011 at 1:32
	Thanks for the link – PersonMan Mar 31 2011 at 1:34
	Sorry Kamal, but the link doesn't address or adequately answer the question just adduces cautionary advisements re: "make sure you are moderate, etc." Is 6 oz. of Liver per day and the same or double that of kidney per day excessive micronutrient-wise? Also, Is the Bioavailability of organ protein BETTER or WORSE than muscle meat? Hence my question, there seems to be no answers which relate to 'dosage' in the 'average' person. – PersonMan Mar 31 2011 at 1:45
	I can roughly answer those questions. The bioavailability of muscle meat is so high that any marginal increase from organ meat should be negligable. To answer the first question, you can search "Tolerable Upper Intake" and "Vitamin A" (or any other micronutrient). Unless you are eating polar bear liver or eating lots of liver daily, I'm guessing it's okay. Wouldn't hurt to check vitamin A - vitamin D balance in your diet, though. – Kamal♦ Mar 31 2011 at 2:13
	Is organ meat more bioavailable than muscle meat? And 6 oz.of liver per day is fine? Usually I consume 1/4-1/3 lb of butter and 1 tbsp. cod liver oil also, which might exceed the T.U.I/R.D.A, etc. Any ideas re: gelatin bioavailability(skin, collagen)? I got a deal on pigs feet and ordered 30 lbs.at $0.70/lb. so I hope I'm getting my money's worth;) – PersonMan Apr 14 2011 at 3:07

Kate · Answer 3 · 2011-05-12 12:19:10Z UTC

According to fitday, 6 oz of cooked beef liver has 23.8 mg of copper. Upper limit is 10 mg a day, and problems have been observed at 7 mg a day. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2005/050621.htm The Jaminets in The Perfect Health Diet recommend eating a quarter pound of beef or lamb liver a week, to bring one's copper average to about 2mg a day.

UncleLongHair · Answer 4 · 2011-05-12 12:51:22Z UTC

Generally, I feel that it is very hard to "overdose" on any nutrients/vitamins/minerals from food sources, because they are assimilated by your body at the normal rate and your body has a way of eliminating the surplus.

I think there is a greater danger of overdoing it when taking tablets or supplements, with which you can overload your body with something without going through the usual digestion routine.

But I don't think you could harm yourself by eating too much liver, unless there is some kind of toxin in it that you'd be getting a lot of (akin to mercury in certain kinds of fish).

On the other hand, you might not reap the usual benefits from it either... if your body gets enough of the vitamins and nutrients in the liver, it will just pass the excess, and you may as well be eating something else. I would think that a full serving of liver 2-3x per week is sufficient, generally speaking.

Travis Culp · Answer 5 · 2011-05-12 15:48:42Z UTC

Throughout human history there must have been many thousands of people who exceeded this amount due to the fact that livers are generally quite large in relation to the size of an animal. If a lamb yields 2 pounds of liver, then I can only imagine that a bull Columbian mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, megatherium etc. would yield a substantial amount of liver. It seems to me that we must have some way of coping with it. Perhaps adequate vitamin D precludes one from experiencing retinol overdose. Perhaps we're far more deficient in Cu than we realize.

That all being said, I would never personally exceed 3/4 - 1 lb/wk as I simply don't have enough information.

limits to LIVER

5 Answers