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A detail not mentioned here was that (if I remember correctly) they initially ate an all-muscle-meat diet and had real problems; it was only after they included

A detail not mentioned here was that (if I remember correctly) they initially ate an all-muscle-meat diet and had real problems; it was only after they included a lot of organ meat (imitating the Inuit) that things stabilized. I think eating liver can get you enough Vitamin C, for example.

saagarjha 8y ago
Liver also has enough Vitamin A to give you hypervitaminosis A if you’re not careful.
- virtuallynathan 8y ago
  You have to eat a heck of a lot, but definitely be careful with polar bear liver :)
latch 8y ago
Inuits, and possibly others, also consumed predigested vegetation in animal stomachs (1) Also, worth noting that a meat-heavy diet can also kill you from lack of fat. This is known as protein poisoning. This obviously depends on what your source of meat is. (1) https://www2.dmu.dk/1_viden/2_publikationer/3_fagrapporter/rapporter/fr528.pdf https://www2.dmu.dk/1_viden/2_publikationer/3_fagrapporter/r...
- mtgx 8y ago
  Weren't the Inuits or some other population preferring the fatty sides of the animal and throwing the muscle to their dogs? I heard that about them somewhere.
  - gnulinux 8y ago
    Muscle tissue is very protein rich, but is of very low protein and micronutrient density. Humans need a certain amount of protein per day, and it's very easy to get that from any animal tissue. The hard part is getting micronutrients and calories. Well, fats are calory dense, and organ tissue is micronutrient dense. I don't think not eating muscle tissue makes any sense in modern day. Nobody will just eat whale organ tissue any more, realistically. I mean, if you really do eat it, it might work, but will you really do that? You need those lean proteins from animals and you'll hopefully supplement fats, vitamins and minerals from other sources. Animals muscle is very Omega 6 rich, so ideally you wanna eat lean proteins (chicken, turkey breast, lean red meat...) and supplement your diet with Omega 3 sources like salmon, acai berry, walnut, flaxseed etc...
- gnulinux 8y ago
  If you eat meat meat, as in complete meat from an animal, you're gonna be ok (although you probably need to supplement Omega 3, something Inuit had in excess because they ate fish too). If you eat organic low fat meat from Trader Joe's you'll have a bad time for various reasons. Not only will you not get enough fats, but you're gonna get very little amount of micronutrients, which are not prevalent in muscle tissues.
  - virtuallynathan 8y ago
    Meat has plenty of omega3 and omega6 (usually more omega6) The ratio in the standard American diet is about 20:1 (3:6) eating a grass fed ruminant will get you much closer then that. Eating some marine products might get you closer to the (possibly optimal) 1:1.
    - gnulinux 8y ago
      I meant to write Omega 3, that's a typo, fixed. (i.e. animal muscle tissues are usually too omega 6 rich, so you need extra omega 3 sources)
  - latch 8y ago
    I don't think this is 100% true. Some wild meat is too lean. The other name for "protein poisoning" is "rabbit starvation." Wiki makes 2 separately sourced references that eating nothing is better than only eating rabbit meat (1) (1) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning
eesmith 8y ago
To be more specific, the doctors wanted Stefansson to start with an all-lean diet. Stefansson had already lived for much of 10 years on a meat diet and had a better idea of what to eat. Quoting the original medical publication at http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf : > At our request he began eating lean meat only, although he had previously noted, in the North, that very lean meat produced digestive disturbances. On the 3rd day nausea and diarrhea developed. When fat was added to the diet, a full recovery was made in 2 days. Concerning the meat, > The meat used included beef, lamb, veal, pork, and chicken. The parts used were muscle, liver, kidney, brain, bone marrow, bacon, and fat. While on lecture trips V. S. occasionally ate a few eggs and a little butter when meat, was not readily available. The carbohydrate content of the diet was very small, consisting solely of the glycogen of the meat. The men, except during short periods of special observation, ate as much as they wanted and proportioned the lean meat to the fat as they desired. T. S., in 31 days of special diet in the ward in which he was free from digestive disturbances, took an average of 0.81 kilos of meat per day while K. A. for 110 days averaged 0.70 kilos per day.
- tomp 8y ago
  Another problem with lean meat is protein poisoning. If your body has no other sources of energy than protein, you’ll eventually produce too much waste for your kidneys and liver to handle.
  - eesmith 8y ago
    Yes, that was covered in a cousin thread, with a link to the Wikipedia page.
  - scottlocklin 8y ago
    Citations needed. Bodybuilders eat ridiculous amounts of protein; way beyond what a normal person does, and don't seem to suffer from this condition.
    - ilovetux 8y ago
      Here is the wikipedia article [0] on protein poisoning. Like mentioned above adding fat to the diet helps avoid this condition. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning

saagarjha 8y ago

Liver also has enough Vitamin A to give you hypervitaminosis A if you’re not careful.

virtuallynathan 8y ago
You have to eat a heck of a lot, but definitely be careful with polar bear liver :)

latch 8y ago

Inuits, and possibly others, also consumed predigested vegetation in animal stomachs (1) Also, worth noting that a meat-heavy diet can also kill you from lack of fat. This is known as protein poisoning. This obviously depends on what your source of meat is. (1) https://www2.dmu.dk/1_viden/2_publikationer/3_fagrapporter/rapporter/fr528.pdf https://www2.dmu.dk/1_viden/2_publikationer/3_fagrapporter/r...

mtgx 8y ago
Weren't the Inuits or some other population preferring the fatty sides of the animal and throwing the muscle to their dogs? I heard that about them somewhere.
- gnulinux 8y ago
  Muscle tissue is very protein rich, but is of very low protein and micronutrient density. Humans need a certain amount of protein per day, and it's very easy to get that from any animal tissue. The hard part is getting micronutrients and calories. Well, fats are calory dense, and organ tissue is micronutrient dense. I don't think not eating muscle tissue makes any sense in modern day. Nobody will just eat whale organ tissue any more, realistically. I mean, if you really do eat it, it might work, but will you really do that? You need those lean proteins from animals and you'll hopefully supplement fats, vitamins and minerals from other sources. Animals muscle is very Omega 6 rich, so ideally you wanna eat lean proteins (chicken, turkey breast, lean red meat...) and supplement your diet with Omega 3 sources like salmon, acai berry, walnut, flaxseed etc...
gnulinux 8y ago
If you eat meat meat, as in complete meat from an animal, you're gonna be ok (although you probably need to supplement Omega 3, something Inuit had in excess because they ate fish too). If you eat organic low fat meat from Trader Joe's you'll have a bad time for various reasons. Not only will you not get enough fats, but you're gonna get very little amount of micronutrients, which are not prevalent in muscle tissues.
- virtuallynathan 8y ago
  Meat has plenty of omega3 and omega6 (usually more omega6) The ratio in the standard American diet is about 20:1 (3:6) eating a grass fed ruminant will get you much closer then that. Eating some marine products might get you closer to the (possibly optimal) 1:1.
  - gnulinux 8y ago
    I meant to write Omega 3, that's a typo, fixed. (i.e. animal muscle tissues are usually too omega 6 rich, so you need extra omega 3 sources)
- latch 8y ago
  I don't think this is 100% true. Some wild meat is too lean. The other name for "protein poisoning" is "rabbit starvation." Wiki makes 2 separately sourced references that eating nothing is better than only eating rabbit meat (1) (1) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning

eesmith 8y ago

To be more specific, the doctors wanted Stefansson to start with an all-lean diet. Stefansson had already lived for much of 10 years on a meat diet and had a better idea of what to eat. Quoting the original medical publication at http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf : > At our request he began eating lean meat only, although he had previously noted, in the North, that very lean meat produced digestive disturbances. On the 3rd day nausea and diarrhea developed. When fat was added to the diet, a full recovery was made in 2 days. Concerning the meat, > The meat used included beef, lamb, veal, pork, and chicken. The parts used were muscle, liver, kidney, brain, bone marrow, bacon, and fat. While on lecture trips V. S. occasionally ate a few eggs and a little butter when meat, was not readily available. The carbohydrate content of the diet was very small, consisting solely of the glycogen of the meat. The men, except during short periods of special observation, ate as much as they wanted and proportioned the lean meat to the fat as they desired. T. S., in 31 days of special diet in the ward in which he was free from digestive disturbances, took an average of 0.81 kilos of meat per day while K. A. for 110 days averaged 0.70 kilos per day.

tomp 8y ago
Another problem with lean meat is protein poisoning. If your body has no other sources of energy than protein, you’ll eventually produce too much waste for your kidneys and liver to handle.
- eesmith 8y ago
  Yes, that was covered in a cousin thread, with a link to the Wikipedia page.
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  Citations needed. Bodybuilders eat ridiculous amounts of protein; way beyond what a normal person does, and don't seem to suffer from this condition.
  - ilovetux 8y ago
    Here is the wikipedia article [0] on protein poisoning. Like mentioned above adding fat to the diet helps avoid this condition. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning