Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228423.600-otzi-the-icemans-stomach-throws-up-a-surprise.html

They attribute it to the animal fat but how would someone who couldn't eat anything but a real food diet get three gall stones? Lack of vitamin C perhaps?

flag	asked Dec 11 2011 at 17:48 sarah-ann 4,919●14●31

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i'm more disturbed by the fat deposits in his artery walls :( – sage_ Dec 11 2011 at 18:08

Don't be disturbed by his arteries, he ate wheat. See my post below. – raydawg Dec 11 2011 at 18:15

his teeth were also rotted – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Dec 11 2011 at 20:05

thank you raydawg – sage_ Dec 11 2011 at 23:20

raydawg · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-11 18:14:30Z UTC

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Probably for the same reasons that SAD eaters get gallstones - celiac disease caused by grains.

Remember Otzi was not really from the stone age as we paleo eaters would consider. A bronze axe head was found on him, and so were wheat remains in his stomach. So he's from around the start of agricultural settlements. I think I remember seeing that he's about 5 thousand years old.

answered Dec 11 2011 at 18:14

raydawg
14.5k●9●32

According to wikipedia, he may have had a "grain-heavy, high carbohydrate diet." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi_the_Iceman – Phoenix Dec 11 2011 at 18:19

Thanks!............. – sarah-ann Dec 11 2011 at 18:34

Yeah, he was probably from a poor marginal agricultural settlement and ate mostly grains. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Dec 11 2011 at 20:07

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It does make me question WAPF-style diets. He was eating all organic whole food and heritage grains, but he was not in good health at all. However, he also had parasitic infections, so that was probably a factor, and once your teeth start to rot it can start contributing to other health problems. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Dec 11 2011 at 20:08

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There is also the question of food preparation. Was he soaking, sprouting, or fermenting? That's important to WAPF. Also thhere is a distinction to be made between grains as a staple and simply eating grains. Unless it's white rice I don't think that grains make a healthy staple, and actually even white rice causes deficiency diseases if you rely on it too much. But Chris Masterjohn said that he didn't think that moderate grain consumption was a killer if combined with other foods. One big problem (of many) with the Agricultural Revolution argument is that over-reliance on g reduced nutrition – Stabby Dec 11 2011 at 22:04

David Rourke · Answer 2 · 2011-12-12 00:46:26Z UTC

This is a sample size of one. Imagine grabbing one corpse from a Brooklyn morgue and extrapolating the health of everyone in Brooklyn. That one might be very representative or a complete outlier. If the only evidence you had was that one body, you'd never know.

conciliator · Answer 3 · 2011-12-12 15:19:27Z UTC

You realize that diet will not protect you from every disease?

"I got cancer, but I never ate gluten, what gives?"

"My wife left me, but I haven't eaten legumes in years!"

"Been 100% primal for months and have yet to win the lottery, what gives?"

"So, now that we're gonna live forever (due to our diets), what should we do with our lives?"

Why did Otzi have gall-stones?

3 Answers