Dietary Fiber and Mineral Availability

Mainstream health authorities are constantly telling us to eat more fiber for health, particularly whole grains, fruit and vegetables. Yet the only clinical trial that has ever isolated the effect of eating a high-fiber diet on overall risk of death, the Diet and Reinfarction Trial, came up with this graph:Oops! How embarrassing. At two years, the group that doubled its fiber intake had a 27% greater chance of dying and a 23% greater chance of...

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Just a Reminder

I will not tolerate comments that are disrespectful or threatening to other commenters or myself. Feel free to disagree with anyone here, including me, in a courteous tone. I enjoy the intelligent discussions we have here, and I don't want them to degenerate into troll wa...

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A few thoughts on Minerals, Milling, Grains and Tubers

One of the things I've been noticing in my readings on grain processing and mineral bioavailability is that it's difficult to make whole grains into a good source of minerals. Whole grains naturally contain more minerals that milled grains where the bran and germ are removed, but most of the minerals are bound up in ways that prevent their absorption. The phytic acid content of whole grains is the main reason for their low mineral bioavailability. Brown rice, simply cooked, provides very little iron and essentially no zinc due to its high concentration...

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How to Eat Grains

Our story begins in East Africa in 1935, with two Bantu tribes called the Kikuyu and the Wakamba. Their traditional diets were mostly vegetarian and consisted of sweet potatoes, corn, beans, plantains, millet, sorghum, wild mushrooms and small amounts of dairy, small animals and insects. Their food was agricultural, high in carbohydrate and low in fat.Dr. Weston Price found them in good health, with well-formed faces and dental arches, and a dental cavity rate of roughly 6% of teeth. Although not as robust or as resistant to tooth decay as their...

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Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials Part III

I'm happy to say, it's time for a new installment of the "Paleolithic Diet Clinical Trials" series. The latest study was recently published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Dr. Anthony Sebastian's group. Dr. Sebastian has collaborated with Drs. Loren Cordain and Boyd Eaton in the past. This new trial has some major problems, but I believe it nevertheless adds to the weight of the evidence on "paleolithic"-type diets. The first problem is the lack of a control group. Participants were compared to themselves, before eating a...

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Flu Season is Here

I just checked Google Flu Trends and flu season is upon us. It's time to tighten up your diet, find a good source of vitamin D and avoid sick people. Avoid sugar, industrial vegetable oil and processed food in general as they lower immunity. If you feel like you're coming down with something, consider fasting to nip it in the bud. It works for ...

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Low Stomach Acid and Nutrient Absorption

As I mentioned here and here, low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria) causes many problems, including bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, lowered resistance to infection by ingested pathogens, an increase in gastric cancer susceptibility, and reduced nutrient absorption. It has the potential to underlie many other issues, including food sensitivities. The prevalence varies by age, increasing from less than 10% in the young to over 50% in the elderly. In a previous post, I mentioned a few nutrients I had come across that require full stomach...

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Cranial Development in Nepal, etc.

I saw a great movie on Saturday called "The Sari Soldiers". It's a documentary about the bloody three-way struggle between the Nepalese monarchy, Maoists, and political parties that ended with the dissolution of the monarchy in 2008. It's shot from the perspective of several very strong women affected by wartime atrocities.I was getting on my friend's nerves during the movie because I couldn't stop commenting on the beautiful teeth, broad faces...

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More Thoughts on Hydrogen Gas and Bacterial Overgrowth

It's probably not a coincidence that H. pylori lowers stomach acidity. It's trying to feed itself. Lowering stomach acidity promotes poor digestion and extra food for hydrogen gas (H2)- producing bacteria further down the digestive tract. H. pylori thrives on the resulting increase in H2. There are countless examples in nature of parasites manipulating hosts to get what they want. A pretty simple example is Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough. It secretes factors that irritate the trachea, causing the victim to...

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Sugar, Hydrogen, Bacteria and Maldigestion

There are several ways to cause a nutrient deficiency. The first is to eat too little of a nutrient. Another way is to burn through your body's nutrient stores at an accelerated rate, for example, what omega-6 vegetable oils do to vitamin E, and what wheat bran does to vitamin D. A third way is to eat enough nutrients but fail to absorb them efficiently. A good way to reduce your absorption of nutrients is to lower your stomach's acidity. This...

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Exercise and Bodyfat

I'm a firm believer that exercise is part of a healthy pattern of living. Hunter-gatherers had a word for exercise: "life". Getting outdoors and moving is one of the few things that differentiate modern humans from lab rats. That being said, there are some common misconceptions about the activity patterns of hunter-gatherers and healthy non-industrial groups. They aren't (usually) couch potatoes, but they don't necessarily exercise a lot either. They range from very active to positively lazy, depending on the culture, the season and the gender...

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