4. The Fat of the Land: Notes on Paleolithic Diet in Iberia

Keyword(s):  
Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019
Author(s):  
Barbara Frączek ◽  
Aleksandra Pięta ◽  
Adrian Burda ◽  
Paulina Mazur-Kurach ◽  
Florentyna Tyrała

The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the impact of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on selected health indicators (body composition, lipid profile, blood pressure, and carbohydrate metabolism) in the short and long term of nutrition intervention in healthy and unhealthy adults. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of 21 full-text original human studies was conducted. Both the PD and a variety of healthy diets (control diets (CDs)) caused reduction in anthropometric parameters, both in the short and long term. For many indicators, such as weight (body mass (BM)), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC), impact was stronger and especially found in the short term. All diets caused a decrease in total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), albeit the impact of PD was stronger. Among long-term studies, only PD cased a decline in TC and LDL-C. Impact on blood pressure was observed mainly in the short term. PD caused a decrease in fasting plasma (fP) glucose, fP insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the short run, contrary to CD. In the long term, only PD caused a decrease in fP glucose and fP insulin. Lower positive impact of PD on performance was observed in the group without exercise. Positive effects of the PD on health and the lack of experiments among professional athletes require longer-term interventions to determine the effect of the Paleo diet on athletic performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 634-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Ghaedi ◽  
Mohammad Mohammadi ◽  
Hamed Mohammadi ◽  
Nahid Ramezani-Jolfaie ◽  
Janmohamad Malekzadeh ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThere is some evidence supporting the beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. This diet advises consuming lean meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and avoiding intake of grains, dairy products, processed foods, and added sugar and salt. This study was performed to assess the effects of a PD on CVD risk factors including anthropometric indexes, lipid profile, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers using data from randomized controlled trials. A comprehensive search was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases up to August 2018. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to estimate the pooled effect size. Meta-analysis of 8 eligible studies revealed that a PD significantly reduced body weight [weighted mean difference (WMD) = −1.68 kg; 95% CI: −2.86, −0.49 kg], waist circumference (WMD = −2.72 cm; 95% CI: −4.04, −1.40 cm), BMI (in kg/m2) (WMD = −1.54; 95% CI: −2.22, −0.87), body fat percentage (WMD = −1.31%; 95% CI: −2.06%, −0.57%), systolic (WMD = −4.75 mm Hg; 95% CI: −7.54, −1.96 mm Hg) and diastolic (WMD = −3.23 mm Hg; 95% CI: −4.77, −1.69 mm Hg) blood pressure, and circulating concentrations of total cholesterol (WMD = −0.23 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.42, −0.04 mmol/L), triglycerides (WMD = −0.30 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.55, −0.06 mmol/L), LDL cholesterol (WMD = −0.13 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.26, −0.01 mmol/L), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (WMD = −0.48 mg/L; 95% CI: −0.79, −0.16 mg/L) and also significantly increased HDL cholesterol (WMD = 0.06 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.11 mmol/L). However, sensitivity analysis revealed that the overall effects of a PD on lipid profile, systolic blood pressure, and circulating CRP concentrations were sensitive to removing some studies and to the correlation coefficients, hence the results must be interpreted with caution. Although the present meta-analysis revealed that a PD has favorable effects on CVD risk factors, the evidence is not conclusive and more well-designed trials are still needed.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Barone ◽  
Silvia Turroni ◽  
Simone Rampelli ◽  
Matteo Soverini ◽  
Federica D’Amico ◽  
...  

AbstractThe progressive reduction of gut microbiome (GM) biodiversity along human evolutionary history has been found to be particularly exacerbated in Western urban compared to traditional rural populations, and supposed to contribute to the increasing incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases. Together with sanitation, antibiotics and C-section, the Western diets, low in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs) while rich in industrialized and processed foods, are considered one of the leading causes of this shrinkage. However, significant questions remain unanswered, especially whether high-MAC low-processed diets may be sufficient to recover GM diversity in Western urban populations. Here, we profiled the GM structure of urban Italian subjects adhering to the modern Paleolithic diet (MPD), a dietary pattern featured by high consumption of MACs and low-to-zero intake of refined sugars and processed foods, and compared data with other Italian individuals following a Mediterranean Diet (MD), as well as worldwide traditional hunter-gatherer populations from previous publications. Notwithstanding a strong geography effect on the GM structure, our results show an unexpectedly high degree of GM biodiversity in MPD subjects, which well approximates that of traditional populations. Increasing the consumption of MACs at the expense of refined sugars, and minimizing the intake of processed foods, both hallmarks of the MPD, could be the key to rewild the Western microbiota, counteracting the loss of GM diversity and thus restoring evolutionarily important functionality to our gut for improved human health.


Author(s):  
P.K. Newby

What is the Paleolithic diet? What did hunter–gatherers actually eat? While “Paleo” diets may seem to be a 21st-century fad, the concept has solid scientific roots in the disciplines of evolutionary biology and anthropology. The first article discussing the diet of early humans...


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 942-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savini Britto ◽  
Richard Kellermayer

Abstract The nutritional developmental origins of inflammatory bowel disease[s] (IBDs: Crohn’s disease or Crohn disease [CD] and ulcerative colitis [UC]) and their diet-based treatments continue to receive increasing attention. There is growing evidence for the success of nutrition-based treatments, such as exclusive enteral nutrition [EEN] and the specific carbohydrate diet [SCD], in both paediatric and adult patients. Beyond these two dietary interventions, symptomatic benefit in IBD has also been shown from a gluten-free diet [GFD] and paleolithic diet [PALEO], among others. These nutritional therapies may point to critical factors in not only the pathology, but also the pathogenesis of the disease group. It is difficult, however, to discern a common element within the large number of diet-based causation theories [e.g. emulsifiers, processed foods, refrigeration, increased total fat intake, low fibre intake, carbohydrate dominant food, etc.] and the varied dietary treatments of IBD. This Viewpoint article highlights that carbohydrate variation links diet-based causation theories, and that carbohydrate monotony or persistence is the commonly shared characteristic of diet-based IBD therapy. Further research directed towards carbohydrate monotony may critically advance the prevention and treatment of these highly morbid conditions.


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