In Defense of Food Part 5 of 10: Going Back to Basics
August 19, 2009 by dr. lam
We oftentimes cite the greater life expectancy today as evidence at least in part that our dietary knowledge and change in dietary habits maybe accounting for this improvement. Has scientific tinkering with nature truly succeeded? Pollan argues that for people of the same age bracket, there is increasing evidence of cancer and diabetes than those who lived at the turn of the 20th century, a hundred years ago. The rate of heart disease in 1900 is not widely reported, so comparisons are harder to establish. However, today we live with the idea that these modern diseases are a fact of life.
A group of ten Australian Aboriginals who had left the Outback for Western society started to develop obesity, diabetes, and were chronically ill. As part of a study, they were asked to return to their native tribes for 7 weeks part of the time split between the coastlands and part of time further inland to see what would happen. Without prepackaged foods, they subsisted on turtles, crocodiles, fish, shellfish, indigenous plants, and even insects. After 7 weeks in the wilds of Australia, the average weight loss was 17.9 pounds, diabetes disappeared, blood pressure was dramatically lowered, and their blood levels of omega-3 skyrocketed into the stratosphere.
Weston Price, a Canadian dentist, travelled the world in the 1930s to investigate the incidence of dental decay in less “civilized” cultures. Surprisingly, he found in cultures that had no processed flour, sugars, and other packaged goods, there was almost no evidence of tooth decay despite an absence of brushing and flossing. In fact, it did not matter if the diet consisted of meats, blood, and milk like the Masai of Africa or fruits and vegetables in other cultures, there was almost no dental compromise. Even in mountaineers who had a thick coating of green ooze covering their teeth, underneath it all, their teeth were in almost pristine condition.
In summary, what we tout to be Western advances for our health actually may only be a mask that has, in general, despite the advances of medicine and technology actually led to the demise of our health. Just look at the statistics: 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese; ¼ have a metabolic syndrome; 54 million are prediabetic; and the incidence of type 2 diabetes has climbed from 4 to 7.7% in the adult population (which is equivalent to more than 20 million Americans). We need to get back to basics: whole grains, plants, and fewer sugars and fast food detours.
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Very interesting, Dr. Lam, and a great point. Thanks for doing all this research!
you are welcome!