Paleolithic Diet

Excerpt

The Paleolithic (Paleo) diet is the modern interpretation of our hunter-gatherer ancestors' presumed dietary pattern during the Paleolithic era or "Stone Age," which began approximately 2.5 million years ago and ended around 10,000 BCE with the development of agriculture. During this era, humans evolved and underwent physiologic and anatomic adaptations that resulted in larger brains and reduced gastrointestinal tract size. These evolutionary changes were likely linked to diets prioritizing nutrient-dense, easily digestible foods. Increased brain size requires greater caloric and nutrient intake, and a smaller gut suggests a reduced capacity to digest fibrous plant material compared to earlier primates. Paleolithic Age people crafted stone tools to obtain, prepare, and cook the food they hunted or foraged. Cooking made food more digestible and allowed them to extract more energy from plants and animal products. They likely consumed an omnivorous diet, with variations depending on the climate, location, and season.

The modern Paleo diet dates back to 1975, when gastroenterologist Walter L Voegtlin, MD, published The Stone Age Diet. In his book, Voegtlin proposed that humans are naturally adapted to a meat-heavy, low-carbohydrate diet, drawing from prevailing beliefs about the dietary habits of early hunter-gatherers. In 1985, S Boyd Eaton, MD, published a landmark paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, proposing that modern chronic diseases stem from a mismatch between contemporary diets and the foods humans evolved to eat. He argued that the diet of early hunter-gatherers is best suited to modern humans. The Paleo diet gained widespread popularity in 2002 after Loren Cordain, PhD, published The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat. Since then, the public has exhibited tremendous interest in this diet, known as the "caveman diet." Proponents contend that it aligns modern eating habits with the patterns of our ancestors, emphasizing foods to which humans are biologically suited.

Today's Paleo diet emphasizes whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, lean meats, nuts, fish, honey, and eggs and excludes grains, dairy products, legumes, added sugars, and processed foods. Individuals most frequently choose the Paleo diet for weight loss and perceived health benefits, although leading health organizations do not widely endorse it. Clinicians should know the details of this diet to counsel patients about its potential benefits and risks and assist them in making informed decisions.