Ancestral Nutrition Patterns
Whole Health Source looks at research into the eating habits of our ancestors. No, this is not another website pushing the "Paleo Diet". Instead, the author gives a balanced look at many different diets and cultures. The author has a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Virginia in 2002 and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Washington in 2009, so he brings some expertise to the discussion. In his latest post, the ubiquitous potato is analyzed. Surprisingly, the potato is extremely nutritious, despite its somewhat unjust criticism as being a high glycemic food. In fact, some people have subsisted almost solely on potatoes and fat with good results:
Dr. Hindhede discovered that potato protein is high quality, providing all essential amino acids and high digestibility. Potato protein alone is sufficient to sustain an athletic man (although that doesn't make it optimal). A subsequent potato feeding study published in 1927 confirmed this finding (17). Two volunteers, a man and a woman, ate almost nothing but potatoes, lard and butter for 5.5 months. The man was an athlete but the woman was sedentary. Body weight and nitrogen balance (reflecting protein gain/loss from the body) remained constant throughout the experiment, indicating that their muscles were not atrophying at any appreciable rate, and they were probably not putting on fat.
Read his entire post here.
posted by Greg at 7:59 AM
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