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> This may suggest that our lineage has evolved specific adaptations to digest starch-rich foods, underlining the long and continuing importance of these staple
by spraak 7y ago
> This may suggest that our lineage has evolved specific adaptations to digest starch-rich foods, underlining the long and continuing importance of these staples in our diet
This reminds me of the interest in keto dieting and the frustrating misunderstanding that carbs are the cause of excess weight, diabetes etc. If that were true, the whole world would be diabetic and obese, since everywhere has a staple carb. It's only with excess calories and fat that carbs contribute to, but are not the cause of, the problem.
- rhinoceraptor 7y agoThere are a few populations without (much) staple carbs, for example the Inuit and the Maasai. But I don't think many people solely blame carbs. It's processed carbs and sugar, hyper-palatable foods, lack of sleep, lack of sun exposure, microbiome damage from antibiotics, and a ton of other lifestyle factors. But once you're in a compromised state (autoimmune, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, etc.), the ketogenic diet can be a very good way to treat or reverse those conditions. It doesn't mean that no one can eat carbs, it just means there are a lot of people who really do benefit from it.
- ves 7y agoApparently Inuit people are actually fine on carbs because the meat they eat tends to retain its glycogen stores better because of the arctic conditions.
- BurningFrog 7y agoInuits have mutated to adapt to that diet. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2015/sep/how-inuit-adapted-ice-age-living-and-high-fat-diet https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2015/sep/how-inuit-adapted-ice-ag...
- taurath 7y agoAs societies get richer and more sedentary they do get more diabetic and obese though. That’s not really due to carbs existing of course - but as we get easier access to luxury ultra rich foods it causes a lot of problems.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- kccqzy 7y agoIt's usually more of an issue with simple carbs, ie monosaccharides and disaccharides. Starch isn't one of them.
- Noumenon72 7y agoIt is after amylase gets through with it. Amylase converts starch into disaccharides and trisaccharides. (Does that still count as simple?)
- dilap 7y agoUndoubtedly multi-factorial, but excessive omega-6 fats as a major driver is the most convincing theory I've heard. Interesting reading: https://www.breaknutrition.com/omega-6-fatty-acids-alternative-hypothesis-diseases-civilization/ https://www.breaknutrition.com/omega-6-fatty-acids-alternati...
- teslabox 7y agoYour link references the street lamp joke - love that one, referenced it in a comment yesterday. My understanding is the omega-3 oils are problematic for humans too, they’re just not as acutely toxic as the omega-6 oils. I started avoiding seed oils in college. It was not the specific intervention I needed, but I believe avoiding this anti-food has helped keep me from deteriorating like people commonly do...
- cheesymuffin 7y agoWhich scientific journals have you read on the matter to form your opinion? Just curious -- always looking to learn.
- BurningFrog 7y agoUntil recently, everyone has lived near the border of starvation, and not had an opportunity to get obese. Since the agricultural revolution, carbs are what we have been able to mass produce, and therefore breed ourselves to greater numbers on. That it probably hasn't been the ideal diet for us is a distant secondary concern. Now that we're finally overproducing food, we actually are getting obese on the carb diet. Coincidence? Maybe.
- twic 7y agoI think the Venus of Willendorf and her equally thicc cousins are, if you'll excuse the expression, ample proof that some people had an opportunity to get obese long before the agricultural revolution.
- BurningFrog 7y agoSure. When I said "everybody" I really meant "almost everybody". Of course, in preindustrial times, obesity was a sign of wealth, and that statue might be an ideal to strive for, made by paper thin worshippers.
- chrisco255 7y agoThe Venus is a fictional character. In the same era you would see statues of men with phalluses as big as their bodies. Obesity was probably rare before the agricultural revolution.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoDidn't someone put a theory out that the Venus of Willendorf was not venerating the Fat Goddess, but rather what someone sees when they look straight down at their body? (cuz cave people didn't have good mirrors and all) Deeper explanation: https://steemit.com/science/@deeallen/self-portraits-of-fertility-symbols-venus-figurines-of-upper-paleolithic-eurasia-nudity https://steemit.com/science/@deeallen/self-portraits-of-fert...
- twic 7y ago
- chrisco255 7y agoThe number of carbs your body can tolerate without being converted and stored as fat is highly variable and may come down to specific genetic factors that are largely inherited from one's racial makeup. There's no doubt that carbs and sugars make a higher percentage of our diets than historical, traditional diets.