Recent History
December 31, 1939
Kabloona
“He’d been living on nothing but caribou, seal and fish for six years, yet he was none the worse for it.”
Tom Naughton writes on fathead-movie.com
He soon realizes it’s not such a bad idea to toss bloody seal guts into the corner of an igloo when you’ll abandon that igloo in a couple of days and move on. He even begins to appreciate the simplicity of living in a shelter that’s basically an icebox: catch your fish, toss them into the corner, and they’re preserved by the cold. Wake up, warm the fish with your hands and breath, then enjoy cold sushi for breakfast.
He’s also amazed by the endurance of the Eskimos. The nutritionists who parrot their textbook knowledge that “you need carbohydrates for energy!” should read this book. Poncins recounts running along trails with Eskimos for hours – he was fatigued and panting, while they barely seemed to notice the effort. After a year in the Arctic, Poncins finds he is beginning to prefer their diet, even though he had supplies of “white man” food on the sled carrying his belongings. As he explains in one passage, boiled rice could warm him up temporarily, but then he’d feel colder an hour or two later. By contrast, raw meat or raw fish was cold going down, but then he felt warmer for the rest of the day.
In the far northwest Arctic, Poncins eventually meets up with a priest who’d been living among the Eskimos for six years. The priest was a fellow Frenchman, and Poncins had brought him some “civilized” food as a gift – a block of cheese being the real prize. But the priest, Father Henry, politely explains that he’s lost his taste for civilized foods. He no longer likes rice, biscuits, or cheese. As Poncins writes, “He’d been living on nothing but caribou, seal and fish for six years, yet he was none the worse for it.”
December 2, 1941
The value of meat as an antiscorbutic
The origins of the idea that there wasn’t enough vitamin C in meat to prevent scurvy came from the failure of meat to prevent scurvy in guinea pigs: the concentration of vitamin C in the meats tested wasn’t high enough for the guinea pigs who could only eat small quantities of meat since they are herbivores.
The value of meat as an antiscorbutic
The American Journal of Digestive Diseases volume 8, pages454–463 (1941)Cite this article
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Summary
Meat exclusive of such visceral organ as the liver has been regarded as a food playing no role or at least a very insignificant role as an antiscorbutic. The inability of muscle meat to prevent and to cure scurvy is an idea which has taken root because of the experiments of the earlier investigators. These workers did not appreciate the importance of freshly killed meat in contradistinction to fresh market meat. Furthermore, they used the guinea pig as a test animal. This animal has a limited gastro-intestinal capacity. It can, therefore, be fed only a small quantity of a food biologically assayed for Vitamin C content. If this small quantity possessed sufficient Vitamin C to cure or prevent scurvy, the food was said to possess antiscorbutic potency. If, however, this small quantity did not contain sufficient Vitamin C to cure or prevent scurvy, the food was regarded as one devoid of antiscorbutic potency. More recent experiments with freshly killed meat indicate that quantities fed within the physical capacity of the guinea pig possessed decided antiscorbutic value.
The chemical method for Vitamin C does not have the disadvantages of the guinea pig bio-assay method.
January 1, 1944
The Sheffield Experiment on the Vitamin C Requirement of Human Adults by H A Krebs
An experiment in 1944 concludes that scurvy can be prevented on less than 10 mg of vitamin C per day, meaning that the Carnivore Diet could easily supply enough through meat alone.
In 1938 the League of Nations Technicaly Commission on Nutrition estimated the daily vitamin C requirement of human adults at 30 mg. In 1943 the National Research Council Committee on Food and Nutrition recommended an allowance of 75 mg. Some authorities put the daily requirements much below 30 mg.
The main facts relevant to the assessment of the requirement are as follows:
(1) A supplement of 10 mg cured clinical scurvy in all six cases examined.
(2) A supplement of 10 mg protected seven volunteers throughout the period of observation, which, for three of them, extended to 424 days.
(3) When a 10 mg supplement was withdrawn from three volunteers after 160 days and was followed by a period of 195 days during which the intake varied slightly, with an average of three of 3.2, 3.2, and 4.5 mg Vitamin C daily, no definite clinical signs of scurvy appeared.
These facts suggest that in the group under test the 'minimum protective dose' of vitamin C, as measured by the criteria of the presence of scurvy, was in the region of, perhaps somewhat below, 10 mg daily.
January 1, 1945
Preliminary Survey of Dietary Intakes and Blood Levels
of Cholesterol and the Occurrence of Cardiovascular
Disease in the Eskimo
Showing the Results of Analyses of Eskimo Foods - Ringed Seal, Bearded Seal, Walrus, Polar Bear, Mountain Sheep, Reindeer, Caribou, in terms of Blubber, Liver, Skin, Meat, Oil, Boiled Head and more.
The results of analyses of Eskimo foods are presented in Table 1. On the basis of nutritional surveys with individual food weighings in different families from four Eskimo settlements in Alaska and the above-mentioned results of cholesterol determinations in Eskimo foods, supplemented by figures available for the cholesterol content of nonEskimo foods (Okey, 1945; Pihl, 1952), the cholesterol intake of Eskimos has been estimated (Tables 2, 3). From these calculations it is observed that the mean caloric consumption of the 45 adult male and female Eskimos was about 2,700 calories, the fat consumption was 105 g and the mean cholesterol intake was roughly 340 mg daily, varying from 150 mg to 700 mg per day. It should be noted that these cholesterol figures may be considered as minimum values because several of the food items ingested could not be included in the calculation since the cholesterol content was unknown. It may also be noted that the cholesterol intake varies greatly from one Eskimo group to another, depending on the different dietary habits. Thus, it was observed that among the inland Eskimos, the Nunamiuts at Anaktuvuk Pass, some of the men consumed as much as 70 grams or more of boiled brain from mountain sheep in a single evening meal yielding almost 600 mg cholesterol from this food item alone.
It is thus evident that some Eskimos have fairly high cholesterol intakes compared with healthy American white men, although the mean intake for the 45 Eskimos studied is in the order of 2.5 g per week (varying from 1 to 5 g) . This corresponds to the group of moderate habitual cholesterol intakes reported for normal American men (Keys, 1949) while in the Inland Eskimos the mean figure is in the order of 4 g cholesterol per week, which corresponds to the group of highest habitual cholesterol intakes for normal American men, reported by Keys (1949).
Keys (1950) has estimated that the American diet varies with regard to cholesterol content from a low of 200-300 mg daily to 700-800 mg, depending on the food consumed. Gubner and Ungerleider ( 1949) have given the figure 200--360 mg for daily cholesterol intake on a mixed diet.
It thus appears that the estimated mean figures for cholesterol intakes in Eskimos may be comparable to those of Whites on a mixed diet.
The average figure for the daily fat consumption in the 45 Eskimo subjects reported here was only about 105 g (377 of the calories), while in a larger survey the average daily fat consumption in Alaskan Eskimos was 139 g (40 % of the calories). In normal white men living in Alaska the fat consumed represented 37.5 %( of the calories ingested.
In the Eskimo subjects the mean serum cholesterol concentration was 203 mg per 100 ml (Table 4) which is about the same as is found in normal Whites. Thus L. J. Milch (personal communications) found an average level of 207 mg cholesterol per 100 ml serum in Whites 30-35 years old.
On the other hand, the Eskimo serum concentration of Sf 12-20 lipoproteins was 20 mgl100 ml as against 28 mgl100 ml in Whites of similar age, observed by Milch (personal communications). For Whites under 25 years of age Milch found 24 mg/lOO ml, and for Whites 40-45 years of age 38 mg/l 00 m!.
January 1, 1946
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Not by Bread Alone
Stefansson describes what he learned living with the Eskimo and eating all meat diets for 5+ years, and then discusses his experiment in New York City where he ate only meat for a year. The second half of the book talks about pemmican.
The Fat of the Land is a 1956 update of Not By Bread Alone, and I will review both here, as they appear to be identical, with the addition of commentary at the front of The Fat of the Land by Frederick J. Stare, Paul Dudley White, and the author, Vilhjalmur Stefansson.
Mr. Stefansson seems to have been quite a character, and led an interesting life of anthropology and arctic exploration. Many controversies surround the man and his actions, which led me to take his words with a grain of salt at the beginning. But his captivating writing style and generosity of spirit soon won me over. I don't know how accurate his interpretation of anthropology would have been considered during his lifetime, and how well it has stood the test of time - I think one should read many sources to formulate an opinion. But I found the various subjects covered in the book quite interesting. I especially enjoyed the chapter titled: "And Visit Your Dentist Twice a Year."
This book tells the story of the 1928 experiment conducted by the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology at Bellevue Hospital in New York and affiliated with the Medical College of Cornell University, in which Karsten Andersen and Mr. Stefansson ate essentially nothing but meat for one year, and how very well they fared on this diet - provided they had substantial amounts of fat as well as lean.
Two chapters of the book discuss scurvy, and give examples of people who became ill (and some who died) with it, in spite of having citrus fruit juice; whereas many traditional groups of people that rarely ate fruits or vegetables never encountered the disease. The author proposes that the necessity in preventing scurvy lay in obtaining fresh foods, whether meat or plant-based. (I am currently reading Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and he states that American Indians in northern Canada explained to him that eating small parts of adrenal glands of animals prevented the disease. And it looks like vitamin C was originally isolated from adrenal glands by Albert Szent-Györgyi.)
The last five chapters of the book tell everything one would probably ever wish to know about pemmican - originally a "travel food" made from dried lean bison meat combined with rendered fat; occasionally with berries added. Mr. Stefansson sings the praises of this compact and energy-dense food not only to his readers, but tells of his efforts to sway the United States military establishment to include it in rations for soldiers. After reading these chapters, I would like to try pemmican - also biltong, a southern African dried meat which the author mentions.
I first learned of this book in William Campbell Douglass's lively work, The Milk of Human Kindness . . . is Not Pasteurized, and had wished to read it for some time. Mr. Stefansson is also mentioned by Broda Barnes in his classic, Hypothyroidism - Unsuspected Illness; and the arctic explorer and meat-eater opens the first paragraphs in Nina Teicholz's wonderful new book: The Big Fat Surprise.
Ancient History
Germany
50000
B.C.E.
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic kill-butchering sites: the hard evidence
The upper paleolithic is characterized by advanced hunting of large animals with various weapons, and planning to maximize easy prey
Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Hunting:
the archaeological record leaves us some direct evidence of man's hunting activities. At Meiendorf (Rust 1937) and Stellmoor (Rusf 1937), some bones of reindeer and birds still conserve weapon marks and a few pieces of silex have remained thrusted in mammalian bones; man kills reindeer with harpoons and sticks (fractured skulls), birds with bows and maybe slings. Three fractured skulls of red deer in Abri Pataud (Bouchud, 1975), and one bovid skull with a circular orifice in Saint Marcel (Allain, 1952) suggest the practice of the so called " co'up de merlin": man has delivered a blow similar to the one used today to butcher cattle. Probably the animal already immobilized (wounded or entrapped) was hit on the frontal with a big stone. At Kokorevo I (Siberia), a large scapula of bison is pierced by the upper end of a point made of bone (Boriskowksi, 1965). At High Furlong (Mesolithic), an elk was discovered with the marks of L7 wounds made by barbed points, of which two were found in the site, and by other arms. The animal had apparently been attacked at two distinct occasions: during the first one, hunters aimed at the legs to lame the animal (fig. 6), later hunters hit the thoracic region and the lungs to kill it. However the elk died in a little lake, perhaps imprisoned in the ice, and man had no access to the meat. The animal represents in fact a hunting loss (Hallam et a1.,1973).
Planning: very good. Many sites belong to Wpe e, were occupied periodically or seasonally and specialised in the capture of a particular game (e.g., horse, reindeeq, ibex). Game drive towards cliffs have been claimed and Solutre (Combier & Thevenot,1976) has long figured as an example, but the evidence is far from conclusive.
Scavenging: no doubt H. sapiens still killed or exploited animals in the occasional and opportunistic way of Lower Palaeolithic times. According to Lindner (Lindner,1941), hunters at Predmost utilised the carcasses of hundreds of mammoths that probably succumbed as a result of natural catastrophes, as food.
Food transport: selective transport of the most useful animal parts is claimed for many sites.
Specialised activities: sometimes the material is dislocated in distinct clusters that could reflect specialised activity areas as for example at Solutre (Combier & Thevenot, 1976). Site topography: some hunting sites were located in valleys enclosed by steep slopes as at Rascano (Gonziilez-Echegaray, 1979), Stellmoor (Rust, 1937), Meiendorf (Rust 1937), or at the foot of rocky cliffs at Solutr6 (Combier & Th6venot, 1,976).
4. Conclusions
Most of the Lower Palaeolithic sites analysed here belong to category a (butchering sites); other kind of concentrations are rare and difficult to ascertain. A number of hunting stations (category e) and a hunting stop (category f) form my sample for the age of Neanderthal man and related people. The Upper Palaeolithic is characterised by many hunting stations, while in Mesolithic times a hunting loss (category d ) was found as well as several sighting sites (category g). The foregoing distribution seems to reflect in a vague way an evolution from scavenging and haphazard opportunistic hunting to well organised, selective hunting activities. However, this reflection results no doubt in part from a priori assumptions concerning the evolution of hominid meat procurement often colouring the interpretations offered for the osseous "hard" data; these are frequently equivocal.
Vindija, 42000, Varaždin, Croatia
28500
B.C.E.
Neanderthal diet at Vindija and Neanderthal predation: The evidence from stable isotopes
The isotope evidence overwhelmingly points to the Neanderthals behaving as top-level carnivores, obtaining almost all of their dietary protein from animal sources
Archeological analysis of faunal remains and of lithic and bone tools has suggested that hunting of medium to large mammals was a major element of Neanderthal subsistence. Plant foods are almost invisible in the archeological record, and it is impossible to estimate accurately their dietary importance. However, stable isotope (13C and 15N) analysis of mammal bone collagen provides a direct measure of diet and has been applied to two Neanderthals and various faunal species from Vindija Cave, Croatia. The isotope evidence overwhelmingly points to the Neanderthals behaving as top-level carnivores, obtaining almost all of their dietary protein from animal sources. Earlier Neanderthals in France and Belgium have yielded similar results, and a pattern of European Neander- thal adaptation as carnivores is emerging. These data reinforce current taphonomic assessments of associated faunal elements and make it unlikely that the Neanderthals were acquiring animal protein principally through scavenging. Instead, these findings portray them as effective predators.
Stable Isotope Analyses.
Mammal bone collagen δ13C and δ15N values reflect the δ13C and δ15N values of dietary protein (14). They furnish a long-term record of diet, giving the average δ13C and δ15N values of all of the protein consumed over the last years of the measured individual's life. δ13C values can be used to discriminate between terrestrial and marine dietary protein in humans and other mammals (15, 16). In addition, because of the canopy effect, species that live in forest environments can have δ13C values that are more negative than species that live in open environments (17). δ15N values are, on average, 2–4‰ higher than the average δ15N value of the protein consumed (18). Therefore, δ15N values can be used to determine the trophic level of the protein consumed. By measuring the δ13C and δ15N values of various fauna in a paleo-ecosystem, it is possible to reconstruct the trophic level relationships within that ecosystem. Therefore, by comparing the δ13C and δ15N values of omnivores such as hominids with the values of herbivores and carnivores from the same ecosystem, it is possible to determine whether those omnivores were obtaining dietary protein from plant or animal sources.
Cheddar Reservoir, Cheddar BS26, UK
12000
B.C.E.
FOCUS: Gough’s Cave and Sun Hole Cave Human Stable Isotope Values Indicate a High Animal Protein Diet in the British Upper Palaeolithic
We were testing the hypothesis that these humans had a mainly hunting economy, and therefore a diet high in animal protein. We found this to be the case, and by comparing the human δ15N values with those of contemporary fauna, we conclude that the protein sources in human diets at these sites came mainly from herbivores such as Bos sp. and Cervus elaphus
We undertook stable isotope analysis of Upper Palaeolithic humans and fauna from the sites of Gough's Cave and Sun Hole Cave, Somerset, U.K., for palaeodietary reconstruction. We were testing the hypothesis that these humans had a mainly hunting economy, and therefore a diet high in animal protein. We found this to be the case, and by comparing the human δ15N values with those of contemporary fauna, we conclude that the protein sources in human diets at these sites came mainly from herbivores such as Bos sp. and Cervus elaphus. There are a large number ofEquus sp. faunal remains from this site, but this species was not a significant food resource in the diets of these Upper Palaeolithic humans.
If the humans hunted and consumed mainly horse, then their 15N values should be c. 3–5‰ (Equus 15N value of 0·7‰+enrichment of 2–4‰). Instead, their 15N values make more sense if they lived mostly off Bos and Cervus elaphus (Bos and Cervus values of c. 3‰+enrichment of 2–4‰=the observed values c. 6–7‰). It is also possible that other species, including Rangifer tarandus, were consumed by these individuals. Rangifer tarandus has 15N values similar to Cervus elaphus (Richards, 1998), and has more positive 13C values, which may explain the observed slight enrichment in the human 13C values. A number of artefacts made from Rangifer tarandus have been found at Gough’s, but there is no other evidence that this species was being exploited for food
Province of Crotone, Italy
500
B.C.E.
On the Sociology of Ancient Sport
One report states that a trainer named Pythagoras recommended a meat diet to the Olympic athletes he trained.
A lack of animal-derived protein seems to have been rectified early in history, as there are two reports of the introduction of meat into the athletes’ diet. One report states that a trainer named Pythagoras recommended a meat diet to the athletes he trained. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/a-comparison-of-ancient-greek-and-roman-sports-diets-with-modern-day-practices-2473-6449-1000104.php?aid=69865
8 He [Pythagoras] is said to have been the first to train athletes on a meat diet. The first athlete he did this with was Eurymenes. Formerly they had trained on dried figs, moist cheese, and wheat. Some say that it was a trainer named Pythagoras and not the philosopher who was responsible for this innovative diet. For our Pythagoras prohibited killing, not to mention eating, life which possessed souls like our own.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 8.12
Sport and Recreation
To all appearances medical knowledge in general and nutrition in particular was widespread in Pythagorean circles in Southern Italy, especially in Kroton. Burkert has pointed out that the fmaous doctor Alcmaeon came from the Pythagorean center of Kroton. From the akousmata (secret doctrines), which doubtless contain old religious traditions, we learn that the Pythagoreans were not originally strict vegetarians; the consumption of meat was permitted, with the exception of lamb and the meat of draft oxen. Burkert considers there is some likelihood that Pythagoras introduced a meat diet for athletes. He believes this tradition arose when Pythagorean vegetarianism had not yet been completely developed. In later times, when vegetarianism had prevailed, a second tradition has possibly been invented, in which it was not Pythagoras, the philosopher from Samos and Kroton, but a homonymous person who wrot the great 'trainer's recipe book'.
57: There are similar issues regarding the transmission in later sources of Pythagoras advising the successful heavy athlete Eurymenes of Samos to use a special meat-based diet instead of the dried figs and cheese he had previously been eating.
On the Sociology of Ancient Sport - page 43.
Mantineia 221 00, Greece
480
B.C.E.
A Comparison of Ancient Greek and Roman Sports Diets with Modern Day Practices
Dromeus, a long-distance runner, is said to have first thought of eating meat for training instead of just cheese and won multiple victories.
The second report is that of Pausanias, who writes of Dromeus, a long-distance runner from Stymphalos [23].
“...he won two victories in the dolichos at Olympia, the same number in the Pythian Games, three at the Isthmian and five at the Nemean. He is said to have first thought of eating meat (as part of his training diet). Until then the food for athletes was cheese fresh out of the basket.”
Clearly, if his success is anything to go by, then Dromeus had really found a winner’s diet. There are also reports of athletes eating meat from oxen, bulls, goats and deer, a very” red-meat” diet which is a rich form of protein. Moreover, with meat as a part of their diet, the performance of competing athletes would most certainly have improved noticeably.
5 A man named Dromeus from Mantineia was said to have been the first we know of to have won the pankration by default [ = akoniti]. Pausanias 6.11.4
Dromeus, Long-Distance Runner
There was a man from Stymphalos, named Dromeus, whose record as a long-distance runner was exceptional: he won two victories in the dolichos at Olympia, the same number in the Pythian Games, three at the Isthmian and five at the Nemean. He is said to have first thought of eating meat (as part of his training diet). Until then the food for athletes was cheese fresh out of the basket.
