would you provide this reference? this is a great stat.

thanks much…

I don’t have the reference. If anyone does, I would love to see it. If someone has the citation, let me know, and I’ll be able to retrieve it and make it available to all.

MRE

Hi Jeff–

As far as aging and Paleolithic man goes, take a look at the book Why We Age by Steven N. Austad. It is an excellent book on aging and, I think, deals with the aging of early man. I say I think because I’m in the middle of rearranging my books right now and can’t lay my hands on my copy to check specifically. If it’s not in the book, then it’s in one of his many papers. Even if it is not in the book, the book is by far the best book I’ve ever read on aging.

To read a ton of stuff on Paleolithic man take a look at the following website:

http://paleodiet.com/

This website contains a wealth of information on all aspects of the Paleolithic diet. But, beware, it is, like virtually everything on the web, subject to double checking.

Have fun–

MRE

Hi Audley–

Given the diet the Civil War soldiers followed, I would imagine that the guy pictured was mainly skin and bones.

I’ve seen many people like your friend, and ‘skinny-fat guys’ is a good name for them. The old saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink certainly applies to these people.

Best–

MRE

The original Civil War man was around 20 years old when the picture was supposedly taken whereas the current soldier is 55 years old.

Many 20 year olds when they reach the age of 55 will look like the current soldier.

Hi Ron–

That’s a valid point. The article pointed out that the 55 year old man was larger in every dimension, not just in belly size. Pictures of average people back then–even at age 55–show most of them to be non-obese, even slim.

Best–

MRE

The following is from �The Skinny on Fats� from Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon on The Weston A. Price Website.

Before 1920 coronary heart disease was rare in America; so rare that when a young internist named Paul Dudley White introduced the German electrocardiograph to his colleagues at Harvard University, they advised him to concentrate on a more profitable branch of medicine. The new machine revealed the presence of arterial blockages, thus permitting early diagnosis of coronary heart disease. But in those days clogged arteries were a medical rarity, and White had to search for patients who could benefit from his new technology. During the next forty years, however, the incidence of coronary heart disease rose dramatically, so much so that by the mid fifties heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans. Today heart disease causes at least 40% of all US deaths.

So which is it? Was heart disease rare due to early death from infectious diseases or was it not noticed due to poor statistical reporting or is Dr. Fogel incorrect in his statistics? Another possibility is the extreme stress of war, especially the Civil War, also contributed to heart disease. My readings on the subject indicated that foot soldiers in the civil war lived in very poor conditions and thus may not be suitable subjects as a typical American male of the 19th Century.

As always thanks for the time and space.

P.S. There’s a discussion of the limitations of statistical reporting on the Cholesterol Skeptics website at http://www.thincs.org/discuss.April02.htm.

Hi Mark–

A couple of things. First, there is a fair amount of controversy over whether or not heart disease was common in the late 19th/early 20th century. Heart disease (we’re talking myocardial infarction, i.e., heart attack) is typically a disease of older people. When lifespans are short due to infectious diseases and trauma–as they were in those days–many people die before they are able to have a heart attack. As people start living longer–thanks to antibiotics and good trauma care–they live into the ages where they do have heart attacks. Also, there is some speculation that, since the first symptom of an acute heart attack is sudden death in a third of the cases, deaths from heart attack were undiagnosed and underreported. In fact, I’ve heard some of my ancient relatives–before they passed on–talk about how so and so took such and such medicine and fell over dead. I’m sure in many cases like these that so and so was feeling some measure of discomfort from the early stages of an MI, took a dose of something for it, and succumbed to sudden death. I don’t really have an opinion on whether or not heart disease was as rampant 100 years ago as it is today because I haven’t looked into it in depth and so don’t have a firm opinion. I am pretty sure that the famous Scottish surgeon John Hunter died of a heart attack in 1793 at the age of 65. He had experience several years of classic angina, crushing substernal chest pain, whenever he became agitated, leading to his famous remark: “I’m at the mercy of any rogue who chooses to provoke me.” He ultimately had the big one.

I should have mentioned it in my post, but I believe the heart disease most of the post-Civil War subjects of this study had was probably congestive heart failure or so-called dropsy, which can also occur with protein malnutrition. I doubt that they had myocardial infarction type heart disease.

Also, the men that were the subjects of this study fought in the Civil War but were studied using their medical information from then along with their medical information throughout their lives. Presumably, after the war their living conditions improved considerably. If my living conditions now were the same as they were when I was in college, God only knows what kinds of health problems I would have.

Cheers–

MRE

Thankee kindly

Hi Simon–

There is indeed evidence that hyperinsulinemia causes apical (on the crown of the head) baldness. I don’t know that anyone knows the mechanism.

Best–

MRE

Not to jump the subject track, one thing I’ve always been curious about is that Paleolithic man is always touted as being big and strong due to the high-protein diet, but didn’t he also die young? I remember in my anthropology classes in college life expectancy 100,000 years ago was late twenties or early thirties. Was this a falsehood or were their other factors involved? Low-carb has worked swimmingly for me but I have a friend who’s terrified that if she eats like a cave person she’ll be dead in five years.

Hi Patricia–

Actually the Brits in Dr. Smith’s study did drink some beer, but not nearly as much as would be expected.

The idea that Paleolithic man died early is a misconception. In fact, it’s such a misconception that I’ll probably blog about it in detail in due course. Studies of the lifespan of early man have shown that some individuals lived as long as we do today. The overall shortness of mean lifespan came as a result of their extremely hostile environment as compared to ours today. An early 20th epidemiologist studying the differences in aging between whites and Native Americans who lived in the same area found that their were about 20 Native American centenarians to every white centenarian. At the time the Native Americans were still living a Paleolithic lifestyle (or at least the centenarians had been for most of their lives). So, in brief, the old argument that it doesn’t matter what was healthy for Paleolithic man because he died young doesn’t really hold water.

Best–

MRE

Hi Jenny–

One thing I would change about PP during pregnancy would be to add more colorful fruits and vegetables to the regimen of meat and good fats.

Thanks for writing.

MRE

Hi James–

I already posted one. See the first photo in the Eades/Cordain picnic blog. Right in the middle is a scantily clad woman eating meat. And you’re right; I’ve had no comments about my lack of taste and sensitivity since. Maybe you’re on to something.

Cheers–

MRE

Hi Nancy–

I’m quite sure that a lot of it came from their large consumption of bread. Their diet sounded awful, indeed.

Best–

MRE