Nutrition Lecture Week 9: Paleolithic Diet, Blood Types, Sweeteners

[liveonearth]

PALEOLITHIC DIET
a semi-starvation diet
higher % of diet was protein (25-30% of diet)
but lower # of calories overall
not sure how long paleo people lived
hunting and gathering: game, fruits, veg, nuts, seeds
seasonal availability
recent archeological findings suggest
that these ancestors were free of the degenerative dzs that afflict humans today
may have lived longer than most think
pre-ag 26 years life expectancy, post-ag 19

PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
ice ages galore
stone tools and cave paintings
progression to antler tools and tools made from animals
Lucy 3.2 million years ago, 3.5 feet tall
Neanderthals lived up to 30,000 years ago
upper paleo 30,000ya to 10,000 years ago
middle paleo 150,000 - 40,000 years ago
lower paleo 2 million - 200,000 years ago

NEOLITHIC
began with end of last stone age
10,000 years ago
marked by development of agriculture
domestication of animals
creation of textiles, pottery
wheat was hybridized, kernel fell to ground instead of blowing away
grains-->acidic blood-->osteoporosis
ate less variety

AG DIET VS PALEO
farmers have 50% more enamel defects indicating malnutrition
farmers show 4x increase in IDA (detected via porotic hyperostosis)

PALEO DIET
Paelolithic Prescription 1987 theory behind diet

no grains or dairy
no processing
raw food
carbs: 46% (high)
protein: 33% (high)
fat intake low: 21%
omega 3 high (% est 4:1 omega 6:3)
fiber high: 100-150gm/day
flavonoids: high
**8-9x more beta carotene in paleo diet, carotenoids
nuts and seeds: moderate
rich in: vit A & beta carotene, E, K, all the B's, biotin, folate, and C
no vit D: got it all from the sun
prob got B12 from bacterial contamination
vit K intake 1,454% more than current RDA
contrary to allo medicine for pt on coumadin:
don't take vitamin K away, add more and measure drug, adjust drug level
**vit C 9x higher (Linus Pauling advocated 10g/day)

THE COMING ICE AGE
we're at the end of our 10,000 year window
each ice age preceded by increase in carbon dioxide in atmosphere
this CO2 bump the biggest yet
this coming ice age will be a doozy??

CORDAIN'S VERSION OF PALEO DIET
prot 31%
carb 32%
fat 37%
omega, fiber, flavonoids: high
nuts and seeds: moderate

IN SEARCH OF ORIGINS
3 part video sez
prob scavenged for bone marrow, rich in omega 3 fats
Don Johanson

VITAMIN C
James Lind study
on scorbutic sailors
we need 3mg vit C/day to prevent scurvy
other primates eat great quantities of vit C containing vegetation
we are missing just one enzyme
a few people have the ability to make just a little bit
most mammals make vitamin C for themselves
make it according to stress level
opossum study
island off Va, no predators there
mainland possums live 1/2 as long as island ones, had predators
stress level higher on mainland-->much higher vit C synthesis
we have constant stress and probably need much more vitamin C than RDA
Linus Pauling Institute says vit C RDA should be 400
Linus Pauling advocated 10g/day
Marz thinks it should be in the thousands

PALEO DIET IN MODERN AGE
AVOID
grains, bread, pasta, noodles
beans, string beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas, peas
potato incl sweet pot
dairy unless fermented
sugar, salt
most oils except olive, canola, flax, avo, walnut
peanuts (they're beans)
cashews (not sure where)
DO EAT
meat, chick, fish, organ meats, liver, kidneys, eggs
fruit fresh
veggies
nuts: walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almond
berries, straw, blue, rasp
increase intake of root veg: carrot, turnip, parsnip, rutababa, Swedes

BLOOD TYPE DIET
James and Peter D'Adamo
mols on sfc of RBCs influence recognition
1901 Carl Landsteiner reported diff types of blood
ABs can attach to RBCs causing agglutination
80% of people are secretors (not sure about meaning of this)

SWEETENERS
big business
Sweet and Dangerous John Yudkin book
sugar is special food, we crave it
paleolithic eaters chowed down berries
grizzly bears eat 70,000 calories/day in berries, root veggies, getting ready to hibernate
he's showing carb intake history slide again: we're almost back up to turn of century level
if something in nature is sweet it is probably caloric and safe to eat

HISTORY OF SWEET
late 1800's we had sucrose or table sugar from cane or beets (fructose & glucose)
valuable commodity, security was key

TYPES OF SWEET
maltitol
alitame
xylitol
sorbitol
sucralose made by J&J is starting material of splenda
(sucrose source unknown, it is chlorinated, this form not well studied)
aspartame (nutrasweet) (more studied, should never have been permitted in food)
saccharin (banned, causes bladder cancer in animals)
cyclamates (also banned, same as saccharine)
acesulfame K (in equal)
lactitol
steviosiol
isomalt
thaumatin
mannitol
crystalline fructose
glycycrrhizin (from licorice root extract)

SWEETNESS VARIES
alitame and thaumatin VERY sweet
next level steviosiol, sucralose
next level acesulfame K, aspartame, saccharine, glycyrrhizin
the rest are not that sweet

SACCHARINE ASPARTAME AND SUCRALOSE ARE MAIN FAKE SUGARS CURRENTLY

SACCHARINE
banned in many countries
causes bladder canceri n animals
AMA Council on Sci Affairs sez that
until there is evidence it causes cancer in humans,
it should be made available as food additive

BIG MONEY
$10 billion/year in sales natural sugar
currently artificial sweetener biz in US worth $1.5 billion and rising
Equal $84 million 2001
Splenda $34 million in 2001
Merisant or Monsanto makes splenda
court: nutrasweet and equal makers attacking splenda makers, won a court battle
it wasn't a "natural sugar"

ASPARTAME
basic synthetic starting artificial
equal is aspartame, owned by Merisant, purcahsed it from GD Serle (monsanto subsidiary) in 2000
nurasweet is same
dry form approved and intro in 1981, considered quite safe
early research was doctored, not honest
100 million people consume it
1985 400,000 lbs used averaging 5.8lbs/person
1988 Monsanto grossed 736 million dollars with nutrasweet sales
Rumsfeld was key in getting it on market
former CEO and VP of Monsanto, also worked for FDA
Reagan??? appointed him to FDA
"we're going to bypass the science and get this approved so peopel can have it"
1983 appears in beverages
1985 400,000lbs consumed
from 1975-85 artificial sweetener consumption rose 6.2-->17lbs/capita
Russel Blalock book on Excitotoxins the taste that kills
(((1983 Stevia import to US was banned (coincidence? I doubt it)
then allowed as sunscreen, banned 1991-95 banned again, then allowed as food additive)))
phenylalanine, aspartic acid, methyl group
methyl group makes up wood alcohol, very toxic,
we can't metabolize like ethyl alcohol, liver doesn't metabolize it, it sits around
1 liter nutrasweet sweetened drink contains 550 mg aspartame: breakdown:
DL phenylalanine 275mg, methyl alcohol 55mg, aspartic acid 220mg
PKU sometimes not diagnosed, some people have lesser versions, these peeps more sensitive
1989 Italy 25 peeps died from drinking wine with 5% methanol
8.5mg methanol is safe max daily intake according to EPA
average softdrinkg contains 55mg methyl alcohol
metab 1/7 as fast as methyl alc
2 enzymes missing, can't transform to formaldehyde then formic acid
TOXIC EFFECTS OF ASPARTAME
retinal ganglia damage, swelling of optic disc
decr blood to brain, swelling of brain-->dementia, Parkinson's
cardiomyopathy
paresthesias and radicular pain
metabolic acidosis esp in children
withdrawal sx from nutrasweet if use was daily, sim sx to ethyl alcohol
400,000 pts on Antabuse in US in mid 90's, slows metab of methyl alc
PKU pt can't breakdown DLPA-->brain damage, retardation, convulsions, neuro complications
SUSCEPTIBLE PEEPS
DM1, alco, infants, kids, IDA, preg, OCP, obese, kidney dz
TOLERANCE TESTING for DLPA
100mg/kg body wt challenge dose, then measure blood levels
1/48,000 births have hyper phenylalanimemia (not dxd as PKU)
PKU is 1/15,000 births, some areas much more, esp Ireland and western Scotland
Ireland incidence of PKU is 1/4,5000, highest in world
genetic defect is Celtic in origin
1/8,000 among caucasians and natives in US
1/50,000 among Asians and blacks in US
Benton, D "Mild hypoglycemia and questionnaire measures of aggression" 1982
studied juveniles in homes, most are hypoglycemic, assoc w/ aspartame consumption
mood disorders, memory loss, nightmares, nausea, temper, depression
should be banned per Marz
Japan 1970's banned all artificial sweeteners, 41% now used there are stevia
HR Roberts book, but he likes Blalock's book best

STEVIA
sp rebaudiana
small perennial shrub native to NE Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina
Guarani Indians always knew about "sweet herb", used in tea
truvia is product with stevia new on US market, it's GMO
large corporation--Cargill has rights to truvia
Marz uses stevia, recommends to pts
1887 rediscovered by Moises Santiago Bertoni, botanist, explorer
extracts discovered by Rebaudi, research chemist in late 1800s
used to sweeten medicinal potions, local bitter tea incl Mate
leaves used in S America in 180s
200 species, just this one is super sweet
cultivation in early 1900s, first crop 1908
commercial production in Latin America adn beyodn
1918 stevia brought to US and to attn of US govt by botanist for USDA
3 yrs later commissioner for Mexican trade spoke of stevia
lack of toxicity, good for diabetics
currently approved in lots of Asian countries
1980's caught attention of US companies and FDA started to crack down on it
FDA confiscates
James May original researcher who brought stevia into us in 1982 before first ban
some extract 300x sweeter than table sugar
TOXICITY
none reported since 1887 in US, Japan, etc
in rats: reproductive and mutagenicity concerns, "very minimal"
poss contraceptive action in rats
mutagenicity worked on one strain of salmonella
human cell cultures showed no DNA changes

XYLITOL
a sugar alcohol
synthetic
safe
lots can cause diarrhea
non-absorbable
he has an intuitive "not a great feel" about it

ACESULFAME K
200x sweeter
approved in Eur in 1983
in lots of products

There are lots of new sugars that have come out since the last time he gave this presentation, most are synthetic. Marz prefers something he can grow to synthetics.