Paleolithic Diets and the Diseases of Civilization

Diet quality is one of todays major issues. One can hardly watch television or visit a grocery
store without being bombarded by advertisements of products boasting natural ingredients and an
organic, farm-fresh background. As diet-related sicknesses such as obesity, diabetes, and chronic
heart disease skyrocket, Americans are beginning to look more critically at their pre-packaged diets
and seek out healthier alternatives. Many people attempt to cut out the ever-prevalent processed,
packaged foods in favor of all-natural alternatives in the hopes that a return to nature will
improve their quality of life. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Paleolithic (or Paleo) Diet has
rocketed into popularity in recent years and has become a go-to fad diet for those looking to lose
weight and get healthy. The idea of a Paleolithic, or Hunter-Gatherer, Diet stems from the
evolutionary discordance hypothesis, which theorizes that the human body has not evolved quickly
enough to keep up with the agricultural and technological changes that contribute to the modern
diet. Its advocates believe that eating like the ancestral Paleolithic hunter-gatherer humans has
beneficial health effects because the basic nutritional necessities have remained the same
throughout that large period of time. It emphasizes lean protein and plant-based foods, effectively
cutting out dairy products and cereal grains which developed relatively recently with twentieth
century agricultural innovations. Consumers tend to buy into this diet because it is thought that the
modern mainstream diet, which does include cereal grains and dairy, contributes to the chronic
diseases that plague us today. Chronic diseases ail their victims for long periods of times
(sometimes lifetimes) and are often caused by inactivity and poor diet choices.2 Because of the
sharp increase in the incidence of these relatively recent illnesses, food guidelines for Americans
have been set to promote healthier eating habits that can reduce the risks. However, some wonder
if the Western agricultural diet itself is the problem. Can consuming a Paleolithic diet reduce the
risk of these chronic diseases? Clinical researchers have analyzed the effect of Paleo diets in Type II
Diabetes, obesity, and overall healthfulness in order to gauge the benefits of this trending food
regimen.
One of the most daunting diseases which has risen to the forefront in the modern health
crisis is Type II Diabetes. A metabolic study attempted to understand the possible effects of a Paleo
diet in managing this chronic disease by asking affected patients to eat either a Paleo diet or a
traditional Diabetic diet as prescribed by the current dietary guidelines, then switching to the
other after three months.3 The traditional diet used for people with diabetes is well-balanced and

includes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and minimal saturated fats while emphasizing
carbohydrates as a source of energy. The Paleo diet, on the other hand, eliminated all cereal grains,
dairy products, and refined fats and sugars. The researchers were especially interested in the effect
of the diets on the patients glycemic control, which determines how carbohydrates are stored in
the body and can contribute to this form of diabetes.2 At the end of the three-month periods for
each type of diet, the patients were measured for various health outcomes including their glycemic
index, blood pressure, weight, and HDL cholesterol levels, which is the good cholesterol that
cleans up the loose cholesterol in the body. The study found that, in comparison to the diabetic
diet, the Paleolithic diet improved glycemic control in the diabetic patients, likely due to the
reduced glucose and insulin levels. The researchers were then able to conclude that a Paleo diet
may actually be more helpful for diabetic patients than the traditionally recommended one because
of the improved glycemic control it initiated.
Another prevalent issue in health today is the increasing obesity epidemic, which itself is a
major contributing factor to various other problematic chronic diseases. Researchers were
interested in whether people who eat a Paleolithic diet have different energy expenditures, or
levels of usage of the energy stored in the body, than people who ate the more common
agricultural diet. A natural diet like the Paleo was thought to result in higher energy expenditure
as compared to the more processed diets of the west, therefore limiting incidences of
overweightness.4 In order to test this, an epidemiological study was conducted which measured the
daily energy expenditure of 30 adults of the Hadza, an indigenous population in Tanzania whose
hunter-gatherer diets are very similar to that of the Paleolithic ancestors. Their body weights and
body compositions were also measured over the eleven-day period of the experiment. The study
revealed that although the Hadza lived physically active lifestyles and had lower body fat
percentages, their total energy expenditures did not vary significantly from that of their western
counterparts, even when considering height, weight, sex, and other criteria. The conclusion drawn
from this experiment was that the Paleolithic diet did not seem to decrease the energy expenditure
of those who consumed it regularly, nor does it seem that energy expenditure level by itself is the
main reason for the increased rates of obesity in western civilizations. A Paleolithic diet, therefore,
may not be the optimal diet for someone looking to lose weight by changing the amount of energy
the diet utilizes, although there is an association between the diet and healthier body weight
measurements.

In addition to looking at specific chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity, those
participating in diets such as the Paleo diet often want to know the overall health benefits of this
lifestyle and how these can reduce risk of chronic disease in general. A metabolic study was
conducted to discover the Paleolithic diets effects on certain health factors which are thought to
contribute to the chronic diseases of civilization on which the modern diet has been blamed. 5 It
required nine slightly overweight but non-obese adults with limited physical activity to eat three
consecutive diets which gradually transitioned from their normal diet to the Paleolithic-type. The
subjects were measured for a variety of physiological factors such as blood pressure, calcium and
potassium excretion, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol, all of which have been known to contribute
to various chronic diseases, throughout this time period. After their full transitions to the Paleo
diets, it was found that the subjects showed significant decreases in all of the aforementioned
statistics, leading researchers to believe that a Paleolithic diet can improve the health of
Westerners specific to the factors which have been associated with their agricultural diet. The exact
factors were not determined in this study, but it seems as though a returning to more natural diets
like the Paleo diet can therefore improve health and reduce the chances of developing the chronic
diseases we try so hard to prevent.
As a whole, the Paleolithic diet with its emphases on natural foods has been shown to
have numerous health benefits which correct the nutritional shortcomings affiliated with the
modern diet. There were definite shown improvements in cardiovascular and insulin health in those
that participated in this primitive-type diet, as well as an association with healthier body weights.
For a society which has become increasingly reliant on processed foods with unnecessary additives,
the Paleo diet seems to be an effective way to return to the basics and reduce the chances of
developing the life-altering chronic diseases that threaten our health today.

References
1. Konner S., Eaton SB. Paleolithic Nutrition: Twenty-five Years Later. Nutrition In Clinical Practice.
2010;25:6
2. Applegate, L. (2-13) Nutrition Basics for Better Health and Performance (3rd Edition). S.l.: Kendall
Hunt.
3. Jnsson T, Granfeldt Y, Ahrn B, et al. Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk
factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009;8:35.
4. Pontzer H, Raichlen DA, Wood BM, Mabulla AZP, Racette SB, et al. (2012) Hunter-Gatherer
Energetics and Human Obesity. PLoS ONE 7(7): e40503.
5. Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A. Metabolic and
physiologic improvements from consuming a Paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Eur J Clin
Nutr.2009;63:947-955.