Patrick A.

McCoy
ANTH 127
9/1/2016
The Paleo Diet: An Analysis
The Paleo Diet, a low carb, low fat, high protein based diet, is one of
the more interesting diet to come out of the early 21st century. While similar
in structure to any of the low carb movements, this one has the peculiarity of
claiming to be over ten thousand years old. Dr Loren Cordain, the architect of
The Paleo Diet, claims that our bodies evolved to conform to the huntergatherer diet our genetically identical Paleolithic ancestors thrived on over
three hundred generations ago. He backs his claims with a body of research
he made on over two hundred modern hunter-gatherer cultures. In his first
book, Cordain gives us a promising image of Paleo man, munching on
delicious lean meats like turkey, chicken, omega 3 enriched eggs and lean
beef. Nutrient dense leafy green vegetables like asparagus and broccoli, as
well as sweet and juicy fruits like bananas and strawberries were frequently
gathered by our cave man ancestors. These mighty hunters roamed the
ancient landscape, being long lived and disease free.
Was this a genuine image of Paleolithic humans? Of course not, and to
his credit, Dr. Cordain did try to reign in this romantic exaggeration in his
revised materials. But by then the damage was done, and people flocked to
this new age lifestyle based on Cordains stylized version of events. The

Paleo Movement was well entrenched, with people filling blogs with low carb
recipies and exercise tips, and having people demonize bread or pulling cars
to simulate dragging mammoths our ancestors hunted. The Paleo Man
became a mascot of all things we are supposed to be doing to live healthier
lives.
Just because the Paleo Diet is more fad than fact, does not mean that
some of the basic principles of the diet are not beneficial. It is true adopting
a low carb diet is extremely well suited for people with obesity or metabolic
conditions like diabetes. The Paleo Diet however has too many inaccuracies
and contradictions to be accepted as a Paleolithic diet model, but its
fundamental principles indicative of a low carb diet shows favorable overall
improvement to human health.
According to Cordain, author of The Paleo Diet, and according to his
website the leading authority on the Paleolithic diet:
We are returning to the diet we were genetically programmed to
eat. The Paleo Diet is more than a blast from the past. Its the
key to speedy weight loss, effective weight control, and above
all, lifelong health. The Paleo Diet enlists the bodys own
mechanisms, evolved over millions of years, to put the brakes on
weight gain and the development of chronic diseases of
civilization. It is the closest approximation we can make, given
the current scientific knowledge, to humanitys original, universal

diet the easy-to-follow, cravings-checking, satisfying program

that nature itself has devised. (Cordain, 2002).
Simply stated, The Paleo Diet supposedly is returning to the diet
anatomically modern humans ate in the Paleolithic era, approximately
10,000 years ago. This is important because Cordain asserts that our DNA
has evolved little from our ancestors a mere 333 generations ago (Cordain,
2010). What do Paleolithic people have to do with us? Actually, quite a bit.
DNA evidence shows that genetically, humans have hardly changed at all to
be specific, the human genome has changed less than 0.02 percent in
10,000 years. This means that the genome makeup of Paleolithic people is
virtually identical to our own (Cordain, 2002).
The Paleo Diet has a basic structure. 60% of your intake is lean protein,
with animals only from free-range, grass fed, or pasture raised. Game meat
such as venison, wild boar, squirrel and reindeer are highly recommended.
My research demonstrates that although there was no single Stone Age
diet, animal food was always favored over plant food. Our analysis of 229
hunter-gatherer societies showed that animal foods composed about 60
percent of the total daily caloric intake (Cordain, 2002). Also included by
Cordain are Omega-3 enriched eggs. He is quite fond of Omega-3 eggs, and
only suggests only eating Omega-3 enriched eggs. He fails to mention why
exactly he makes this particular distinction, but it should be noted that
enriched eggs are not only unnatural, but he makes no connection with the
Paleolithic diet.

The balance of the Paleo Diet is made up of an indiscriminate amount

of fruits and vegetables. If you love fruit and are convinced it is making you
fat, dont worry. It wont make you fat on this diet, even in unlimited
amounts (Cordain, 2002). He makes no mention of the high caloric fructose
content in fruits, and in fact heavily criticizes fructose in a different section of
his book. In fact, he really makes no mention of calorie limitations and only
suggests to have just over half your calories come from meat. He gives little
limitations on vegetables, with the exception of corn or potatoes. He also
eliminates all legumes, including peanuts, beans and lentils. Other than the
modern nutritional issue of high glycemic, autoimmune or metabolic issues
related to their consumption, he claims, these foods were rarely on Stone
Age menus (Cordain, 2010).
The central themes of Cordain throughout both his 2002 book and the
updated material in his cookbook are that, Saturated fats are mostly bad.
Theyre found in meats and whole dairy products; most are known to raise
cholesterol (Cordain 2002). This is also his reason for removing dairy from
his Paleo Diet, as well as fatty meats. He ties his claim of the dairy ban with,
Paleolithic people ate no dairy food. Imagine how difficult it would be to milk
a wild animal, even if you could somehow manage to catch one (Cordain,
2002). Cordain eliminates several food staples from his Paleo Diet, including
any cereal from the agricultural age, such as wheat, corn, oats, and anything
with a high carbohydrate profile. This also includes potatoes, but allows
limited quantities of yams or red potatoes, unless there is the presence of a

metabolic syndrome. Potatoes are excluded because they maintain high

glycemic loads that may adversely affect your blood sugar and insulin levels.
Corn actually is not a vegetable, but rather is a grain, and like all other grains
was not a staple component of preagricultural diets (Cordain, 2010). It is
important to note that Cordain does not provide a Paleolithic or huntergatherer reason why potatoes are excluded.
In Dr. Cordains Curriculum Vitae he cites Dr. Boyd Easton and his work
Paleolithic Nutrition A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications
as his introduction to the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer diet (Cordain, 2016). As
the Paleo DietTM is purely the work of Dr. Cordain an analysis of evidence of
the Paleolithic diet is necessary to see what indeed humans are supposedly
biologically compatible to eat. Easton utilizes a combination of
archaeological remains of animal bones and Paleolithic technologies to form
a basis of his reconstruction of a Paleolithic diet. This is significant, as it
provides the archaeological basis of our hunter-gatherer class. He then
supplements with modern hunter-gatherer data, much as Cordain has
contributed to several papers on the diets of modern hunter-gatherers
(Cordain, 2010). In this way, this provides the scientific basis of incorporating
modern hunter-gatherer data into Paleolithic diet models. Dr. Easton
concluded the opposite of The Paleo Diet; 65% plant based and only 35%
animal meat. Even Cordains own research of hunter-gatherers does not
agree with the Paleo Diet. His findings show a more diverse selection of
carbohydrates and starches than allowed on his Paleo Diet but still have the

same health benefits. According to a paper co-authored by Cordain, the

number of kilo-calories in grains and legumes is relatively large. Starchy
roots yielded 1200 6300 kilocalories, and grass seeds, acorns, and pine
nuts were consumed in the amounts of 4000+ kilocalories (Cordain et al,
2002). The actual research into the Paleolithic diet provide a good argument
against the Paleo Diet. Not only do they completely contradict each other,
but Cordains own research show hunter-gatherers not only have a higher
intake of carbohydrates and frequently eat food banned on his Paleo Diet,
but they still manage to avoid many diseases and conditions Cordain
attributes to those foods.
A more direct contradiction to Cordains assertion that our genetic makeup hasnt
changed since Paleolithic times exists in the form of our modern bodies ability to consume milk.
A study on the origin of lactase persistence reveals:
The vast majority of adult Europeans were lactose intolerant as recently as 7,000
years ago milk drinkers became widespread in Europe only after dairy farming
had become established thereMost mammals lose their ability to digest milk
after being weaned, but some humans can continue to benefit from the calciumrich, high-energy liquidThis is because they carry a mutation that lets them
continue producing lactase, the gut enzyme needed to break down the milk sugar
lactose, in adulthood (Itan, 2009).
However, we can see that our genetic structure adapts to many things, including diet. Such is the
case of the assertions of C. Naugler of the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dalhousie
University. He proposes:
Hereditary hemochromatosis and in particular the common HFE C282Y mutation
may represent an adaptation to decreased dietary iron in cereal grain-based

Neolithic diets. Both homozygous and heterozygous carriers of the HFE C282Y
mutation have increased iron stores and therefore possessed an adaptive
advantage under Neolithic conditions (Naugler, 2007).
Essentially, as our hunter gatherer ancestors went from a high iron diet in meats to a lower iron
grain based diet; the aforementioned mutation increased their stores of iron and prevented the
iron deficiency disease of hemochromatosis. These two mutations completely contradict
Cordains assertions that our genetics have remained relatively stagnant since Paleolithic times.
In fact, mutations show that even as recent as 6,000 years ago, our ancestors genetic
predispositions to food evolved as our food sources became more abundant and diversified.
Cordains distain for starchy foods and the unhealthy conditions they cause are not
entirely unfounded. For as long as humans have eaten starchy carbohydrates, there is strong
correlation with tooth decay. In a study of human remains from the late Pleistocene, a high
prevalence of dental caries is accompanied by evidence of the processing and consumption of
plants rich in fermentable carbohydrates. Studies of human teeth in a cemetery in Maghreb,
Morocco, show instance of dental caries in 51.2%. Macrobotanical remains from occupational
deposits dated between 15,000 and 13,700 B.P. show systematic gathering and processing of
carbohydrate rich plants such as acorns and pine nuts. The evidence infers that a transition from
hunter-gatherer food diet to food production of fermentable carbohydrates caused an early shift
toward a disease-associated oral microbiota in this population (Humphrey et al, 2013).
Low carb diets continuously show benefits in studies, and those who wish to adopt the
Paleo Diet as a low carb diet would be greatly benefited, not only to the average person looking
to maintain a healthy weight but also to athletes. In a study of a low carbohydrate/ketogenic diet
and athletic performance, Impaired physical performance is a common but not obligate result of
a low carbohydrate diet. Lessons from traditional Inuit culture indicate that time for adaptation,
optimized sodium and potassium nutriture, and constraint of protein to 1525 % of daily energy

expenditure allow unimpaired endurance performance despite nutritional ketosis. (Phinney,

2004). After athletes were given adequate time to adjust to the diet, found stamina in treadmill
tests almost doubled and subjects lost an average of 10kg in six weeks.
My overall opinion of the Paleo Diet is not very favorable. While a carbohydrate profile
much lower than the Western American diet consistently shows vast improvements in health, the
diet restrictions in the Paleo Diet appear largely arbitrary and even contradict each other. While
Cordain will demonize saturated fat as causing heart disease and eliminates fatty meats from his
diet, he will explain Large animals like deer and cows (for Paleolithic people, mammoths and
wild horses) contain more fat and less protein than smaller animalsyou would not develop
protein toxicity because youd be protected by the deers [or mammoths] higher fat content
(Cordain, 2002). He decides that legumes, beans, potatoes are all not what is on the menu, while
his own research argues against it. He provides his own evidence that his Paleo Diet is not Paleo
at all, nor does it parallel the hunter-gatherers he claims to have the diet based.
The inconsistencies of the Paleo Diet make it a fundamentally flawed concept. The
fundamental low carbohydrate diet of which the Paleo Diet really is shows consistently to
improve human health. However, there is no reason to eliminate certain foods even if Paleolithic
humans didnt generally eat them, as our digestive system will adapt to foods in agriculture,
pastoralism and horticulture.

References
Cordain, L. (2002). The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating
the Food You Were Designed to Eat. New York, NY: J. Wiley.
Cordain, L. and Stephenson, N. (2010) The Paleo Diet Cookbook: More Than
150 Recipes for Paleo Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and
Beverages. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Cordain, L. (2016). The Paleo DietTM. Fort Collins, CO: The Paleo Diet, LLC.
Thepaleodiet.com.
Cordain, L. (2016). Loren Cordain, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae. Fort Collins, CO:
The Paleo Diet, LLC. Thepaleodiet.com
Cordain, L. et al. (2002). The Paradoxical Nature of Hunter-gatherer Diets:
Meat-based, Yet Non-atherogenic." European Journal of Clinical
Nutrition 56, Suppl 1.
Humphreys, L. et al. (2013). Earliest evidence for caries and exploitation of
starchy plant foods in Pleistocene hunter-gatherers from Morocco.
PNAS Volume 111 number 3.
Itan, Y. et al. (2009). The Origins of Lactase Persistence in Europe. PLoS
Computational Biology. Volume 5 | Issue 8 | e1000491
Naugler, C. (2007). Hemochromatosis: A Neolithic Adaptation to Cereal Grain
Diets. Medical Hypotheses, Issue 70.

Phinney, S. (2004). Ketogenic diets and physical performance. Nutrition &

Metabolism, Volume 1, Number 1.
Pollan, M. (2006). The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.
New York, N.Y.: Penguin.