• Preface and introductory remarks

• Knowledge gap in vegetarian community about evolutionary data/implications
  
  • Many Natural Hygienists identify the system with certain dietary details, even though the system itself flows from principles independent of those details.
    
  • Hygienic and vegan diets are a significant restriction of the diet(s) on which humans evolved.
    
  • Avowed Shelton loyalists are actually the ones who have most ignored his primary directive.
    
  • Only two insights remain that are still somewhat unique to Natural Hygiene.
    
    • Strong recognition of the principle of the body as homeostatic self-healing mechanism.
      
    • Fasting as a tool to promote such self-healing.
      
  • In some ways Natural Hygiene now resembles a religion.

• The rift in the Natural Hygiene movement over raw vs. cooked foods
  
  • Character of the rift: doctors vs. the rank-and-file.
    
  • One side ignores the need for philosophical consistency. The other denies practical realities and real-world results.
    
  • Is there a way these two stances in the conflict over cooking can be reconciled and accounted for scientifically?

• When was fire first controlled by human beings?
  
  • Evidence for very early control of fire is sparse and ambiguous.
    
  • Earliest dates for control of fire accepted by skeptical critics.
    
  • Crux of the question: first control of fire vs. earliest widespread use.
    
  • Sequence of stages in control: fire for warmth vs. fire for cooking.
    
  • Opportunistic exploitation of animal kills by predators after wildfires.

• Potential adaptation to cooking in light of genetic rates of change
  
  • Rates of genetic change as estimated from speciation in the fossil record.
    
  • Measurements of genetic change from population genetics.
    
  • Influence of human culture on genetic selection pressures.
    
  • Relationship between earliest milking cultures and prevalence of lactose tolerance in populations.
    
  • Genetic changes in population groups who crossed the threshold from hunting-gathering to grain-farming earliest.
    
  • Recent evolutionary changes in immunoglobulin types, and genetic rates of change overall.
    
  • Rates of gluten intolerance.
    
  • What do common genetic rates of change suggest about potential adaptation to cooking?

• Are cooking's effects black-and-white or an evolutionary cost/benefit tradeoff?
  
  • Cooking introduces some toxic by-products but neutralizes others.
    
  • We have a liver and kidneys because there have always been toxins in natural foods the body has had to deal with.
    
  • The belief that a natural diet can be totally toxin-free is an idealistic fantasy.
    
  • Cooking may favorably impact digestibility.
    
  • Cooking practices of Aborigines in light of survival needs.

• The role of individual experimentation given evolutionary uncertainties about diet
  
  • Fly in the ointment: dietary changes since advent of agriculture.
    
  • The need to be careful in making absolute black-and-white pronouncements about invariant food rules that apply equally to all.
    
  • Conflicting data from various modern lines of evidence means people must experiment and decide for themselves.
    
  • Openness means challenging any rigid assumptions we may have through experimentation.

• Conflicts between paleo/anthropological vs. biochemical/epidemiological evidence
  
  • Cornell China Study conclusions about cholesterol and animal protein are contradicted by evidence from studies of modern hunter-gatherers.
    
  • Large and significant differences between domesticated meat vs. wild game.
    
  • Protein and calcium loss: fossil remains of Paleolithic humans reveal high bone mass despite presumed high protein intake.

• Caveats with respect to using modern hunter-gatherers as dietary models
  
  • Not all "hunter-gatherer" tribes of modern times eat diets in line with Paleolithic norms.
    
  • Infectious disease in modern hunter-gatherers.
    
  • Fasting vs. extended nutritional stress/deprivation seen in some modern hunter-gatherers pushed onto marginal habitats.
    
  • Animals in the wild on natural diets are not disease-free.

• Uninformed naturalism and unrealistic expectations in diet
  
  • Unrealistic perfectionism leads to heaping inhumanity and guilt on ourselves.

• Health improvements after becoming ex-vegetarian

• Uncertainties about earliest use of fire for cooking

• Incompatibilities between dairy consumption and human physiology
  
  • Genetic changes due to "neoteny" (such as adult lactose tolerance) not indicative of overall rates of adaptation.
    
  • Additional indications of incongruence between dairy and human physiology.
    
    • Lactose and heart disease.
      
    • Poor Ca:Mg ratio which can skew overall dietary ratio.
      
    • Saturated fat.
      
    • Molecular mimicry/autoimmune response issues.

• Signs of evolutionary mismatch between grains and human physiology
  
  • Certain wheat peptides appear to significantly increase the risk of diabetes through molecular mimicry.
    
  • Research suggests that celiac disease is probably also caused by autoimmune responses.
    
  • Phytates in grains bind the minerals iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium.
    
  • Hyperinsulinism, excess carbohydrate consumption, and "Syndrome X."
    
  • Hyperinsulinism and diabetes.
    
  • Recent studies indicate diets higher in protein reduce symptoms of Syndrome X.

• Why do cooked or denser foods often improve raw/vegan health?
  
  • For those who do not thrive on raw vegan diets, do the benefits experienced from grains/dairy outweigh any downsides?
    
  • Long-term concerns.
    
  • Mitigating circumstances.
    
    • Noteworthy difference between lacto-vegetarian subpopulations and raw-foodists adding grains/dairy.
      
    • For previous raw-foodists, the supplemental amounts are usually relatively modest.
      
  • Information about cooking's ultimate impact on health at the biochemical level of detail is still inconclusive.
    
  • Big picture is more clear: Impact of cooking is likely to be much less important than other overarching considerations.
    
  • Magnitude of effect from macronutrient ratios likely plays the most influential role.
    
    • Types of fats, and their ratios and sources.
      
    • Factors that may precipitate Syndrome X.
      
  • Eating all natural foods or all-raw by itself does not automatically result in a prudent diet.
    
    • Which foods are, in fact, the most natural for humans.
      
    • Which natural foods can be important to minimize or avoid.
      
    • What balance of macronutrients, whether raw or cooked, results in best long-term nutrition?

• Update on protein intake and bone loss
  
  • Animal protein has greater impact on calcium excretion.
  • Paradox of high bone mass in pre-agricultural skeletons despite large animal protein intake points to compensating factors.
    
  • Eskimos and osteoporosis.

• Brief miscellaneous points

SEE BIBLIOGRAPHY

SEE TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR: PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

GO TO PART 1 - Setting the Record Straight on Humanity's Prehistoric Diet and Ape Diets

GO TO PART 2 - Fire and Cooking in Human Evolution

GO TO PART 3 - The Psychology of Idealistic Diets / Successes & Failures of Vegetarian Diets

Back to Frank Talk by Long-Time Insiders