Nutrition

"Vitamin D may be more important to colon cancer prevention than previously believed, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 290, No. 22: 2959-2967). The study examined people with no symptoms of colon cancer to determine what role diet, exercise, smoking, and other behaviors played in the development or not of colon polyps, small growths in the colon that can turn into cancer if they aren't removed."

Assessment of dietary vitamin D requirements during pregnancy and lactation. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 May;79(5):717-26. Review. PMID: 15113709 We found that high-dose maternal vitamin D supplementation not only improves the nutritional vitamin D status of breastfeeding infants but also elevates the maternal concentrations into the mid-normal range. Thus, a dual benefit is achieved from high-dose maternal supplementation. It is noteworthy that in the Finnish study, the authors added a disclaimer, "A sufficient supply of vitamin D to the breastfed infant is achieved only by increasing the maternal supplementation up to 2000 IU/d. Such a dose is far higher than the RDA [DRI] for lactating mothers [and therefore] its safety over prolonged periods is not known and should be examined by further study." This point of concern was valid when this study was conducted in 1986 (92); however, on the basis of the current findings of Vieth et al (2) and of Heaney et al (3)-which showed that vitamin D intakes <= 10 000 IU/d (250 µg) are safe for prolonged periods (up to 5 mo)-we believe that it is time to reexamine the understated DRI of vitamin D for lactating mothers. This work is now being conducted in our clinics and laboratory.

Circulating vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in humans: An important tool to define adequate nutritional vitamin D status. Hollis BW, Wagner CL, Drezner MK, Binkley NC. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Mar;103(3-5):631-4. Epub 2007 Jan 10. PMID: 17218096 In the present study, we sought to investigate what circulating 25(OH)D levels would result in populations exhibiting no substrate limitations to the vitamin D-25-hydroxylase. To perform this, we chose two distinct populations. The first were individuals from a year-found sunny environment who spent a good deal of time outdoors. The second were a group of lactating women receiving a substantial daily oral dose of vitamin D3. Surprisingly, a study such as this previously had not been undertaken. There are several reasons for this. First, finding a group of sun-exposed individuals is not an easy task; in fact, we had to go to Hawaii to find them. Secondly, very few studies have been performed where subjects actually received adequate vitamin D3 supplementation to make them replete. Finally, it is very difficult and costly to measure circulating vitamin D3 and relate it to circulating 25(OH)D. The results of our study are far-reaching. This study also demonstrates that individuals can be vitamin D deficient with significant sun exposure if the skin area exposed is limited as was suggested several years ago (19). Finally, whether one receives their vitamin D3 orally or through UV exposure, the vitamin D-25-hydroxylase appears to handle it in an equivalent fashion with respect to maintaining circulating 25(OH)D levels. Thus, we believe that the relationship between circulating vitamin D and 25(OH)D may define adequate nutritional vitamin D status.

Vitamin D requirements during lactation: high-dose maternal supplementation as therapy to prevent hypovitaminosis D for both the mother and the nursing infant. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6 Suppl):1752S-8S. PMID: 15585800

Nutritional vitamin D status during pregnancy: reasons for concern. Hollis BW, Wagner CL. CMAJ. 2006 Apr 25;174(9):1287-90. PMID: 16636329 doi:10.1503/cmaj.060149.

The material presented on this site comes from individuals with years of hard-won experience either practicing alternative diets or observing those who do. As you'll find, no two writers will necessarily agree on all topics. A unifying theme, however, is the intent to squarely acknowledge and discuss the sometimes serious problems that can occur on alternative diets but often go unreported, and to go beyond the simplistic dogmas readily available elsewhere--in fact almost everywhere--to "explain them away." A sense of admirable idealism is often a motivating factor encouraging people to take responsibility for their own health and to explore different diets. However, the development of emotional attachments to philosophies underlying such diets can often end up becoming far more important for some individuals than the results they obtain--or fail to. One result has been widespread refusal in the alternative diet community to face health and behavioral problems that may arise on these diets. A common thread in what you'll read here is that a kind of subjective, "blinded naturalism" has become more or less endemic in the vegetarian, raw-food, and alternative diet movements, which can lead to serious health troubles.

The 'carnivore connection'--evolutionary aspects of insulin resistance. Colagiuri S, Brand Miller J. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2002 Mar;56 Suppl 1:S30-5. Review. PMID: 11965520

The carnivore connection: dietary carbohydrate in the evolution of NIDDM. Miller JC, Colagiuri S. Diabetologia. 1994 Dec;37(12):1280-6. PMID: 7895958

"In the pages that follow, two scientists at the top of their respective fields--Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, author of The China Study and Dr. Loren Cordain Professor, Department of Health & Exercise Science, Colorado State University, author of The Paleo Diet-make their competing cases for the role of dietary protein in health and disease. Download Article as PDF"

On December 15, 2006, this editor received an email from Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of the 'China Study' which read as follows: "Recently, I was invited to debate Professor Loren Cordain, author of the Paleo Diet, on the question of the optimum recommendation for dietary protein. We each wrote an opening piece, then we wrote a rebuttal. From my perspective it is an unfinished debate (if ever it is finished?).

"I've been meaning to post my take on the debate about dietary protein (large pdf) between Loren Cordain and T. Colin Campbell. A reader does it for me."

Evolutionary health promotion. Eaton SB, Strassman BI, Nesse RM, Neel JV, Ewald PW, Williams GC, Weder AB, Eaton SB 3rd, Lindeberg S, Konner MJ, Mysterud I, Cordain L. Prev Med. 2002 Feb;34(2):109-18. Review. PMID: 11817903 doi:10.1006/pmed.2001.0876

Dr. Staffan Lindeberg has published a new study using the "paleolithic diet" to treat type II diabetics (free full text). Type II diabetes, formerly known as late-onset diabetes until it began appearing in children, is typically thought to develop as a result of insulin resistance (a lowered tissue response to the glucose-clearing function of insulin). This is often followed by a decrease in insulin secretion due to degeneration of the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells. After Dr. Lindeberg's wild success treating patients with type II diabetes or glucose intolerance, in which he normalized the glucose tolerance of all 14 of his volunteers in 12 weeks, he set out to replicate the experiment. This time, he began with 13 men and women who had been diagnosed with type II diabetes for an average of 9 years.

I bumped into a fascinating paper today by Dr. Loren Cordain titled "Plant-Animal Subsistence Ratios and Macronutrient Estimations in Worldwide Hunter-Gatherer Diets." Published in 2000 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the paper estimates the food sources and macronutrient intakes of historical hunter-gatherers based on data from 229 different groups. Based on the available data, these groups did not suffer from the diseases of civilization. This is typical of hunter-gatherers. Initial data came from the massive Ethnographic Atlas by Dr. George P. Murdock, and was analyzed further by Cordain and his collaborators. Cordain is a professor at Colorado State University, and a longtime proponent of paleolithic diets for health. He has written extensively about the detrimental effects of grains and other modern foods. Here's his website.

When I wrote the Overcoming the Curse of the Mummies chapter in Protein Power, I wrote mainly about the evidence of disease found in the mummies of ancient Egyptians and correlated this disease with their high-carbohydrate diet. Along with all the material on mummies, which is the part everyone seems to remember, I wrote about a study done in the United States in the 1970s that persuasively demonstrated the superiority of the hunter diet as compared to an agricultural diet, which no one seems to remember. I came across that study a couple of days ago and decided to present it in a little more detail than I was able to in Protein Power. The anthropological record of early man clearly shows health took a nosedive when populations made the switch from hunting and gathering to agriculture. It takes a physical anthropologist about two seconds to look at a skeleton unearthed from an archeological site to tell if the owner of that skeleton was a hunter-gatherer or an agriculturist.

Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study. onsson T, Granfeldt Y, Ahren B, Branell UC, Palsson G, Hansson A, Soderstrom M, Lindeberg S. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009 Jul 16;8(1):35. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19604407 doi:10.1186/1475-2840-8-35

Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb 11. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19209185 doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2009.4

Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Aug;63(8):947-55. Epub 2009 Feb 11. PMID: 19209185 doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.4 Conclusions: Even short-term consumption of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans.