I was getting on my friend's nerves during the movie because I couldn't stop commenting on the beautiful teeth, broad faces and great skin nearly everyone had. These were not actresses, they were regular people. They almost all had straight teeth and broad dental arches. I came to realize during the movie that people who have a great smile typically have a broad dental arch. There's something about seeing that wide, straight row of front teeth that attracts us. Here's a shot of one of the main characters (click for a larger view):
The Maoist army claimed to be 40% women. They were marching with heavy sacks and rifles all over the countryside, fighting the royal Nepalese army. That's no job for the feeble. Of course, I had to look up Nepalese food as soon as I got home. It centers around rice, legumes and dairy, with a few spices, some vegetables and a modest amount of meat. Their primary fats are ghee (clarified butter) and yak butter. The national dish is called dal bhat, which means "lentils and rice". Here's one of the first recipes I found in a Google search:
Did you catch the quantity of butter it calls for? 6 tablespoons of ghee and a tablespoon of butter! By my calculations, that's 784 calories worth of dairy fat for a 3,124 calorie dish, or about 25% butter by calories. I'd be willing to bet their butter is not the anemic industrial variety. With the amount of vitamin K2 MK-4 their diet is providing, it's no wonder their dental arches and teeth look so good. I'm sure not everyone can afford to eat that quantity of butter, but it's clearly a staple food in Nepal.Plain Rice (Bhat)
2 cups rice (Basmati or Long grain preferred)
4 cups (1 lt) water
1 tsp butter (optional)Lentils (Dal)
1½ cups lentil (any kind)
4 to 5 cups of water (depends preference of your consistency of liquid)
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic, minced
6 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
3/4 cup sliced onions
2 chillies (dried red chilies preferred) (depends on your preference)
Salt to tasteOPTIONAL
¼ tsp (pinch) asafetida
¼ tsp (pinch) jimbu
1 tbsp fresh ginger paste
Rice: Wash rice and soak for 5 minutes. Wash rice and soak for 5 minutes. Boil the rice over medium heat for about 10 -15 minutes. Stir once thoroughly. Add butter to make rice give it taste as well as make it soft and fluffy.
Turn the heat to low and cook, covered, for 5 more minutes until done
Lentils:
Wash lentils and soak lentil for 10 minutes.
Remove anything that float on the surface after it and drain extra water.
Add drained lentils in fresh water and bring to a boil again. Add all spices.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes until lentils are soft and the consistency is similar to that of porridge.
In a small pan heat the remaining of butter and fry the onions, chilies and garlic.
Stir into the lentils few minutes before you stop boiling. Serve with rice.
That recipe would typically be made with split lentils, which it's not critical to soak (although I still do). Recipes that called for whole lentils typically recommended a long soak before cooking.
Nearly everyone in the movie had great skin as well. Even the older people had nice skin. It was wrinkled, but firm and smooth between the wrinkles. Yet another feature of healthy cultures. Take a look at chief Sealth of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes at 78 years old (photo taken in 1864). He's the city of Seattle's namesake. He lived most of his life as a hunter-gatherer in the Pacific northwestern United States:
OK, it's not the sharpest picture, but I think it's clear his skin is relatively smooth and firm for a 78-year-old. The object on his knee is the tribe's traditional reed hat. I'll leave you with a quote from a book I'm currently reading, Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture:
Dental crowding should be indicative of nutritional or other chronic, severe stress since teeth will be less affected by chronic stress than alveolar bone size. Widdowson and McCance (1964) have demonstrated this effect in undernourished piglets and Trowell and co-workers (1954) have noted increasing crowding and impacted molars in severely malnourished children. Increased dental crowding may be indicative of severe and chronic stress in archaeological populations. However, we are unaware of the use of this potential indicator in any evaluation of health in prehistory.So in archaeological sites, dental crowding is "indicative of nutritional or other chronic, severe stress", but in modern populations it's a fact of life? I think this is a testament to how resistant people are to coming to logical conclusions that challenge cultural norms.
38 comments:
Hey Stephan,
Great blog. Your research on non-industrialized diets is very fascinating. It provides a window into proper nutrition that keeps things more simple as opposed to going into the biological properties of each type of food (although that is fun too). After looking at Kitava, the Inuit, the Hunza, the Pima, Tokelau, the Kuna, and now the people of Nepal, I think I understand the underlying message for proper nutrition. The following foods are fine to eat in any ratio and amount: animal meat (grass-fed is always best), raw dairy, all vegetables and fruit (root vegetables included), nuts and seeds, legumes (prepared properly, i.e. soaking), rice (again, prepared properly, I would think white is preferred over brown), and eggs. The problems seem to be with wheat and sugar. I think corn in it's base form is fine, off the husk, but I could be missing something there. After all my research, it seems to come down to something this basic. What do you think?
Thanks
Hi Stephan,
I am really enjoying your comments but do have a question regarding your posts on maldigestion. Why is it that when eating just a very small amount of say 50g thily sliced roast beef, very plain, lighlty cooked, simple, chewed really well etc, I still get the rumbles etc afterwards that kick in 30 mins later. . don't drink with it.. should all be ideal for food digestion. Don't eat anything else with it.. have had a long break before hand - maybe something at 7am and then beef at 2pm.
Any ideas - is a real pain- literally.
Any ideas very welcome.
elizabeth,
Um, I think you're just eating too little after a moderate period of fasting. Try eating an egg and raw-milk cheese along with the roast beef. And a little fruit (especially berries) afterward to refresh the pallet so to speak.
Stephan,
This diet is typical in the entire India as well, to which Nepal is culturally almost identical. Hell, it could be another state of India just like Canada is another state of US :). This "Bhat" or daal-chaval is a daily staple. So that definitely does not account for cranial development in Nepali people.
Stephen said:
Add drained lentils in fresh water and bring to a boil again.
I'm missing something. When did we boil the lentils the first time?
Mark, I think that Stephan might suggest that the healthiest corn has been "nixtamalated" or treated with lime in a traditional manner. This neutralizes the corn/grain toxins. Any tortilla that includes "traces of lime" on the ingredient list has been treated this way, as has masa harina (corn flour).
Fresh corn in small doses may not be problematic for most. But a diet based on untreated corn meal would be problematic. As, of course, would a modern diet that includes corn oil.
Scott
I watched a movie on tibet last nite! My wife is big into their culture and says a staple meal is yak butter and tea.
(ref. my wife 2009)
I think Chief Sealth looks fantastic, but the 78 yo women I see around So Cal would cringe to look like him, and they probably avoid butter, too. On a daily basis around town I see women over the age of 40 (and even some men) with really obvious cosmetic alteration of their faces (I can only hope that someone is getting good enough work done that it escapes casual detection). These smooth plastic-y "masks" look really creepy to me, but like fake "hollywood smiles" achieved with cosmetic dentistry (which *don't* look as nice as the natural dental examples in N&PD), the "bad toupé" look of the face is becoming the norm around here (which means it's moving out into the rest of the world, too). But unlike a "bad toupé", a bad face job can be hard to take off.
Aging Gracefully with Traditional Nutrition - a title we'll probably not see on the bestseller rack at Borders. :-)
Elizabeth,
Based on my experience I might give different advice from Aaron. I am cursed with a very touchy digestive system. Fasting, even for short periods, can make my whole system rumble when any food is reintroduced. The harder it is for the stomach to break down the food (even well-chewed food), the more of the issue I experience.
I would consider going the other way and "restart" your system with a small amount of something very easy on the stomach. A starch (1/2 banana, small skinless potato) might do the trick, and then wait 45 minutes before proceeding with meat. Or, if you are avoiding carbs, one egg or a little cottage cheese might do it.
You would have to see what works for you. It may be one of three factors causing the problem: macronutrient (carb, protein, fat), consistency/digestibility, or volumne. Experimentation would reveal the right approach for you.
Scott
Scott
Thanks for this
--"Mark, I think that Stephan might suggest that the healthiest corn has been "nixtamalated" or treated with lime in a traditional manner."
G G Pique in his far-sighted book "Omega 6 Excess Polyunsaturate Folly" look at the treatment of corn with heat and lime 190 degrees for about half an hour and suggested the process;
- Hydrolysed the corn
- Liberated the amino acids
- Enhances lysine availability by 280%
- Breaks down 21% leucine
- Reduces the high levels of Omega 6
Others used ash rather than lime.
Robert Brown
Author Omega Six The Devils Fat
www.omegasixthedevilsfat.com
Hi Stephan. Take a look at this article. You should have a field day with the conclusions about how recent human evolution explains changes in stature, skull size/structure, dental crowding, etc.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29123062/
You note their heavy use of butter and their skin condition. Just recently, I've begun taking 1 t. butter oil daily. I've already noticed a difference in my skin texture. My pores have become much smaller.
Ladies who want nice skin should eat their butter. :) Butter! Not just a health food -- a beauty treatment, too!
What about other differences between hunter/gatherers and modern civilizations other than diet? What about hot showers? Do hunter gatherers take hot showers? I'm being serious - they lower blood sugar and blood pressure, but raise heart rate and maybe raise stress hormones?
stephen,
i was wondering what your thought are of the studies using super stable PUFA's. Like say taking Udo's 3-6-9 blend(which is supposed to be super stable omega 6's) as your only PUFA source and staying away from processed, hydrogenated, cooked, or altered/damaged PUFA's , and eating a ton of butter, ghee, beef tallow, coconut oil, raw cheese, raw cream, raw milk, and some olive oil?
I have been reading the studies on the over consumption of omega 3 fatty acids from fish oils, and how they are rapidly damaged and oxidized causing all the problems. The Fermented cod liver oil from green pastures probably not being a problem, with super low levels of the omegas anyways, but nice levels of Vit A and D. Even Sally fallon and Mary Enig talk of the toxicity you can have from to many omega 3s.
What would you think of adding in Udos 3-6-9 blend, and staying away from all other sources of PUFA's, besides the ones naturally occurring in animal foods which seem to not be a problem with the high level of saturated fats are present with them. I stay away from seeds, nuts, and all other veggie oil. And i use only butter, ghee, and coconut oil in everything i cook. I just don't know what to think anymore...except to eat any fatty acid in its most natural form, or that stays intact.
troy
Mark,
I think your comment is very perceptive. I do try to keep things as empirical as possible because in the end that's the best information we have.
I think the summary you gave is pretty much on the mark. Anything "paleo" is great (including starchy tubers), plus a few other foods: properly prepared non-gluten grains and legumes in moderation, full-fat dairy. I think those are the colors from which the diet is best painted, but within those foods the optimum will vary from person to person.
By the way, I agree with what Scott said about nixtamalizing corn. Corn that hasn't been treated properly is dangerous; it causes pellagra among other problems. Many traditional S American cultures nixtamalize and then ferment their corn. That turns it into a far superior food than it was to begin with.
Elizabeth,
I'm not sure, other commenters have shared some ideas above. Another possibility could be low stomach acid.
P,
I know they eat lentils and rice in India, but the amount of ghee and the ratio of ghee to vegetable fats varies considerably throughout India. It looks like the Nepalese get most of their fat from ghee/butter, whereas that's not the case in all of India. I could be overgeneralizing about Nepal.
Robert,
I don't know, I lifted that recipe off a website without editing it...
Anna,
I like that idea. Maybe you should write a book on it in 30 years?
Dave,
That is an interesting article. Never would have guessed it would pop up on MSNBC.
Monica,
I noticed the same thing when I took the butter oil.
David,
There are definitely a lot of factors that could potentially contribute. I happen to think diet is the biggest, but that doesn't rule out other possibilities.
Troy,
I just don't see how that could be better than getting your fats from good quality food. I think you have a level of knowledge about food that's high enough that I doubt that supplement would do anything for you. I also don't think anyone needs extra omega-6 in 2009 America.
I think I agree with Fallon etc. that a lot of omega-3 isn't ideal. Although I always have to point out that the Inuit ate a lot of it and did just fine. So it's OK at least in certain dietary contexts. And I don't think it's as damaging as excess linoleic acid, perhaps because it isn't stored.
I think supplementing and your omega 3 source depends on where you live and how mush sun exposure and saturated fat you get in your diet.
To me, i think sunlight and saturated fats from animals or coconut/palm oil are your most superior nutrients. When you have that base covered then you could eat moderate levels of nuts, seeds, plant fat, or there stable oils and your body should convert these into and usable and perfect porportions of DHA and EPA that your body needs at any given time. Any you should get a nice dose from say raw butter or milk fat.
Now if i lived in say portland again or your case Seattle...then i would use the green patures fermented cod liver oil...but not for the omegas, only its high level of vitamins A and D...and that happens to be how the formula comes...Very low DHA and EPA compared to the many cod live oil, and fish oil supplements on the market right now. The brain doesn't need but trace amounts of DHA...not as much as the so called experts are preaching. Even then if i was eating foods high in Vitamin A like eggs, raw cream, butter, liver, maybe i would just take straight vitamin D and not bother with the cod liver oil.
Now i live further south, San Diego to be exact. I get lots of sunlight now. As i said i eat lots of raw butter, good eggs(not horrible omega 3 enriched eggs), raw cream and milk, coconut oil, ghee, and bone marrow....with all that saturated fat i am surely protected from any oxidized or altered omega 6 that might get in my diet... But i keep them really low anyways...but....what i am wondering is if i have a clean source of omega six in my diet what the potential it might have to my health. Its alot harder now to get a clean omega six source...and one thats not soy, canola, or has been processed, oxidized, and damaged. Thats where the Udo's 369 blend would come in. A clean source of omega six. I have read when someone is exposed to more sunlight in there climate its better to have more clean omega six in the skin than omega threes. That makes perfect sense...in the tropical areas, fish has less fat(less omegas) and more protien, and they eat more tropical saturated fats and other sources of saturated animal fat with it, equals perfect skin. In climates with less sun, more cold water fish, more fat(more omegas, but with tons of A and D) in those fish...no sun equals no skin problems, plus they get the D in there fish that there missing with out lots of sun exposure.
someone who gets alot of sun might not be benefitting his or her own health and skin by taking in way to many omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil...the fish oil omega 3s will compete for more room in ones cells which should be a majority of saturated fat, and may contribute to skin cancer. I think a little bit of omega 6 would be better for your skin and health, and of course from and unaltered source(amimal fats or raw nuts and seeds, olive oil etc.) over omega 3 DHA and EPA. Then your body could convert what it does need from ALA LA fats to DHA and EPA in the body.
We are all on base with eating alot of good quality saturated fat, then ones thyroid should be adequately fueled. You couldn't go wrong with taking in some clean Omega six PUFA's. Eat Starches over Fructose, and even less damage the PUFA's could do to your liver, or glands.
I think people are being way to mislead into taking rancid super processed fish oils, and may unkowingly over dose on them, while they make tons of money and over fish and destory the ocean eco system.
I am not downing fish consumption...if it is fresh and local to where you live...but if you live in a sunny area and get lots of sunlight, why would you want to order a fish oil thats from iceland, Norway or alaska to get Omega 3 DHA EPA, vitamin D, when you don't need it.
Also what if you eat too much fish with alot of saturated fat...all that saturated fat fueling your thyroid nicely..add in some fish in, say some alaskan sockeye salmon...cause a iodione overload on you thyroid and you could shut it down.
Hell...i don't know anymore...but i cut out fish oil and my skins way better...and from looking at everyone elses comments...the saturated fats are the reason. They are king of fats...not the Omegas. Any maybe the omega 6's are getting to much of a bad rap, only because industry went and ruined them by processing...just like there doing to the poor fish that should come as a whole food, locally, clean, and all the cofactors intact.
time for bed...
troy
I turned 26 while i was writing that comment...
oh yah,,,awesome blog, and great comments as always!
troy
Nepalese food can be fantastic, often one can find lots of Tibetan and Indian dishes as well. To say that Nepal and India are culturally identical is a bit of a stretch though.
Anyone who has trekked or mountainbiked in Nepal will be familiar with just how much of a staple food dal bhat is. When biking from Kathmandu to Pokhara (220 km) we stopped at a guesthouse and ate dal bhat with fried vegetables (the only thing on the menu) before we went to sleep and exactly the same thing in the morning.
Does creating ghee from butter alter any of the beneficial properties of the butter? In particular, does it remove any K2? Is it equal/better/worse than good pasture butter?
What about animal saturated fats? I know that marrow is good and organs are good, but what about the plain fat? Like on a steak or chicken skin?
Also, someone said recently that white rice is better than brown. Is that true?
Eating "real" food has made normal grocery stores 90% useless...
One more question...
Troy, you say you avoid nuts and seeds. Why? I thought those were ok...
Another thought-provoking post Stephan . . .
As with you, reading Price's Nutrition & Physical Degeneration has definitely changed my thoughts when I look at teeth, dental arches, nostrils, facial structure, and skin etc.
Think nutrient-dense food rich in fat-soluable vitamins and avoiding the typical processed, industrialized Frankenfood, as a lifestyle, but most especially for pregnant mothers and the growing years . . .
hey julie,
no i don't avoid nuts and seeds, just most of the ones in your local health food and regular grocery store. If you have access to fresh raw nuts that you shell yourself i think there great. I can get fresh unshelled really raw nuts here at farmers markets here in southern california. Most raw almonds and cashews in grocery stores aren't really raw. When they have been shelled also they start to oxidize creating rancid oils you may be ingesting. Thats why i though about the udos 369 blend though...if you have digestive troubles, and you want to avoid fiber until you heal, you could use the stable udo's blend for you PUFA's requirements, plus alot of saturated fat from butter and coconut oil etc etc.
I think alot of us have damaged intestinal health from years of horrible fiber and damaged PUFA intake, from hydro soy oil, corn, and so on. So alot of us could do without the fiber till we heal.
also on the iodine and saturated fat intake i mentioned above....i meant to say is, i think alot of people are overcompenstating with iodine and selenium rich foods in there diet and not balancing it well enough with saturated fat and PUFA's, or say properly prepared cruciferous veggies. More people are taxing there thyroid by rushing to the store to buy iodine rich food and supplements, when they should be buying butter, ghee, coconut oil and so forth.
i don't know... i don't think i know what i am talking about anymore... i can't make since of it all.... all i will ever know is that saturated fats are the greatest thing you can take... and my health has never been better with the additions of all the saturated fats i eat.
help make sense of all this to me stephen. I have been following chris masterjohns blog and he seems to be at kinda the sam conclusion to fish oils.
troy
Ghee from Butter:- The Indian medicine system of Ayurved recommends minimum 3-4 tsps of ghee intake daily. This ghee should be made from cow's milk and in the traditional way. Not from western style butter. Raw- milk- heated and cooled condensed cream collected, yogurt cultures added and whisked to obtain butter.
Troy,
Happy birthday!
My thinking on the 3-6-9 supplement is simply that it's unnecessary. Why take more omega-6 when your diet already contains enough of it?
Sis,
I know what you mean about the grocery store. Most of it doesn't even feel like food anymore. I believe the K2 in butter is relatively heat-stable and so should survive in the ghee.
The fat on meat is good stuff too. Fat on red meat is superior because it's low in n-6 and can be gotten grass-fed. Chicken and turkey fat is not as good because it's higher in n-6 from the grains they eat. Pork is in between. Pastured beef tallow is a great cooking fat if you like the strong beefy flavor (I do).
I think white rice is good because it's easily digested and relatively non-toxic compared to other grains. But brown rice is clearly more nutritious. You just have to soak it overnight or ferment it before cooking.
P,
Sounds like they were on to something! There are a number of different types of "Western style butter". Traditionally in Europe, cream was allowed to ferment before churning as you described. You can still buy the equivalent today, "cultured butter".
Half Navajo
Re long chain Omega 3 and oxidation in the body.
Trials suggest that fish oil actually reduces rather than increase oxidative markers.
Omega 3s and skin cancer.
Omega 3 ALA reduces the risk of sunburn and long chain Omega 3 has been associated with lower risks of cancer, and DHA has been looked at as adjuvant treatment with Cox blockers in melanoma.
Udo's
Udo's will supply the plant based Omega 3 and some other fats eg coconut, but as Stephan points out 6 is plentiful in most diets and we do not need very much. Adding more may not be necessary.
A balanced intake of plant based Omega 3 and 6 is important too.
Consumption of the vegetable plants based fats does not guarantee conversion into the longer chain fats. Many factors in the diet can block conversion of the Omega 3 plant fats to DHA including high levels of Omega 6.
Conversion in men is often poor.
The safest option is to ensure an adequate intake of the long change Omega 3s in the diet through oily fish or fish oil.
Hey Stephan,
Do you think that it is possible to still have cranial development at 28 years old if you switch to a diet with plentiful amounts of animal based fat soluble vitamins?
Thank You
Daiikkon,
I don't. I think all of us adults are stuck with the skulls and teeth we have.
http://www.icnr.com/
Dr. Smith specializes in freeing up the cranium, and he told me he is able to help people even in their twenties by expanding their palates. He treats people of all ages with cranial adjustment and they often have instantaneous improvement in their hips as well.
Dental crowding should be indicative of nutritional or other chronic, severe stress since teeth will be less affected by chronic stress than alveolar bone size. Widdowson and McCance (1964) have demonstrated this effect in undernourished piglets and Trowell and co-workers (1954) have noted increasing crowding and impacted molars in severely malnourished children. Increased dental crowding may be indicative of severe and chronic stress in archaeological populations. However, we are unaware of the use of this potential indicator in any evaluation of health in prehistory.So in archaeological sites, dental crowding is "indicative of nutritional or other chronic, severe stress", but in modern populations it's a fact of life?
Certainly it could be indicative of nutritional or other chronic, severe stress. There is another explaination of dental crowding; especially in modern Europeans who are tall enough (over 6foot) to cast doubt on the sugestion of restricted bone growth. Selection for smaller jaws. Crowded teeth would have been rare when they could have resulted in a potentialy lethal abscess. Magdalenian Girl Is A Woman And Therefore Has Oldest Recorded Case Of Impacted Wisdom TeethCould it have been that there was strong selection for feminine characteristics like a small jaw long before tooth size selection relaxed. They wouldn’t be able to chew their food? Well maybe they knew a few tricks.
”What is the best way to cook meat?
Loren Cordain: The way we tend to cook meat these days is very different from the ways of hunters and gatherers who tend to slow-cook meats over a long period of time. A favored cooking procedure was digging a pit and putting in hot stones, putting in the whole animal or portions of it, putting in vegetable matter and other stones above the vegetable matter and cooking the meat all day long. So what is suggested is slow cooking at low heat.
Robert Crayhon: Throw out the microwave and get a crock pot.
Loren Cordain: Well, yes. If you take a lean cut of venison, elk, or buffalo, and throw it on the barbecue, you’ll find it’s as tough as rubber but if you put it on a crock pot or a Dutch oven and cook it all day long, you’ll find that it will come out quite tender and also, the nutrient content remains relatively high. Also, you don’t have to worry about bacterial problems”
Small jaws must have paid off big time in the Magdalenian. Maybe as a result of selection for feminine characteristics. Narrower jaw means less prenatal testosteronization
Ken,
It's difficult to interpret the cause for the impaction in the skeleton you linked to. It could have been a rare event. Or it could be due to pre-agricultural diet changes during the "broad-spectrum revolution", during which HGs diversified from mostly animal foods to include more plant foods (often seeds), including grains in some areas. So she may have actually been eating a diet similar to an agricultural one.
I think it would be hard to attribute that to genetic selection. You would expect tooth size to change along with jaw size due to strong selective pressures, as it does in every species I'm aware of. Poor dental health could be deadly before modern medicine.
I also suspect the body has a way of adapting tooth size to jaw size during development to prevent crowding when races with different cranial characteristics mix. This adaptation is disrupted by a poor diet.
"HGs diversified from mostly animal foods to include more plant foods (often seeds), including grains in some areas. So she may have actually been eating a diet similar to an agricultural one".
I didn't know about the Broad Spectum Revolution but it seems to have been much too late for the Dordogne where the Magdalenian girl lived, (ok where she was found), it was steppe-tundra at the time. (A GIS-based Vegetation Map of the World at the Last
Glacial Maximum (25,000-15,000 BP).) which is confirmed by the reindeer frieze (no pun intended).
The skeleton was found in
Cap Blanc"near Laussel, northeast of Les Eyzies in France’s Dordogne region, is well known to the world of prehistory as the site of one of the finest sculptured friezes to survive the last Ice Age, the first to be unearthed, and currently the best to remain open to the public. Its figures of horses, bison and (rein)deer , albeit found in a much damaged condition at the time of their discovery by Dr. Gaston Lalanne of Bordeaux in 1909, remain a moving and powerful ensemble. Lalanne dug here and unearthed a fine collection of typical Magdalenian - about 15 000 years old - stone, bone and antler tools, including harpoons,"
She is dated as 13,000- to 15,000-years old so even if she grew up in the Med. basin she would have missed the BSR. I believe there were skeletal changes in this period that tie in with the theory that sexual selection was responsible. Also most of the European specific skin lightening alleles have estimated dates of about 12,000-3000- years old.
Straight teeth are attractive but I am not so sure that broad faces are, especially in women. Shape regression within females on the 2D:4D ratio
I think you find it hard to attribute the basic shape of peoples faces to genetic causes which are selected for in various ways. There are various explainations for Europeans having characteristics not found elsewhere. One that I favor can be read hereThe Nepalese diet you favor would certainly lead to better teeth, skin and general health,(and looks) than Western sugar loaded food though, no doubt about it.
Ken,
I should clarify what I mean by "broad faces". I don't mean a face that's uniformly broad or round-looking. That's partially a racial characteristic. What I really mean is a thorough development of the middle third of the face, the maxillonasal region. That is independent of race, although it manifests differently in different races. In most modern populations including the U.S., the majority of people have an underdeveloped maxillonasal region. It sometimes results in malocclusion, underdeveloped sinuses leading to heightened susceptibility to infections or mouth breathing, crowded teeth, but the mildest form is a narrowing of the maxilla that also narrows the mandible and doesn't leave enough room for wisdom teeth. This can occur in one generation due to changes in diet, as documented in several different races by Weston Price. It's something that's rare in hunter-gatherers and paleolithic skulls.
I don't dispute that there was a paleolithic woman with impacted wisdom teeth. But it's hard to draw a conclusion from n = 1. I find it hard to swallow that the cause was genetic selection. I just can't imagine that marginally greater attractiveness would have been selected for to the point of life-threatening dental pathology. If you have impacted wisdom teeth and no dentist, there's a chance it will kill you.
I'd also expect that any sort of "attractiveness" selection would have shown up a long LONG time ago, given the direct link with reproductive success.
Yes maybe more chewing could alter things for the better: a broader maxillonasal and straighter teeth. A maxillonasal comparable to that of Nepalese would tend to go with a broader nose I think.
Dave,
I can give you an example of 'attractiveness' selection responding to an unusual reproductive focus, from Nepal.
The Tibetans and Nepalese are exposed to a lot of UV -
"Comparisons of UV-B radiation levels in Lhasa (Tibet), Oslo (Norway), and Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania) show that the UV-B dose rates during the summer in Lhasa are higher than the maximum value in Dar-Es-Salaam, which is at the sea level in the equatorial region, and 60% higher than in Oslo, which is at the sea level but 60 degrees North. We conclude that the UV-B dose rates during the summer on the Tibetan plateau are among the highest levels in habituated regions of the world. Maximum measured daily-integrated UV-B doses in Lhasa range from about 10 kJ/m2 in the winter to about 65 kJ/m2 in the summer."
from Ground-based measurements and modeling of solar UV-B radiation in Lhasa, Tibet Why then are Tibetans not very dark like those in Dar-Es-Salaam, and why are the Nepalese also light for their UV exposure?
Second to fourth digit ratio, sexual selection, and skin colour
Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 25, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 38-50
J. T. Manning, P. E. Bundred, and F. M. Mather.
"Abstract: Skin pigment may be related to mate choice, marriage systems, resistance to microorganisms, and photoprotection. Here we use second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) to disentangle the relationships among these variables. There is evidence that 2D:4D is negatively associated with prenatal testosterone and positively with prenatal oestrogen. We show (i) a negative association between skin colour and 2D:4D in Caucasian women, but not in men, suggesting that skin colour in women is partly dependent on prenatal oestrogen; and (ii) Caucasian subjects with low 2D:4D reported higher susceptibility to sun-burn, athlete's foot and eczema than subjects with high 2D:4D, suggesting that prenatal testosterone increases susceptibility to sunburn and skin diseases. Frost [Hum. Evol. 9 (1994) 141] has reported that with latitude controlled, highly polygynous peoples have relatively dark and monogamous peoples relatively light skin. We suggest that polygynous populations incur selection for high prenatal testosterone and low prenatal oestrogen because of competition among men for wives. Such groups have low 2D:4D, and high susceptibility to sunburn and skin infections which may result from the immunosuppressive effects of prenatal testosterone. Where polygynous groups are found at low latitudes, they have evolved dark skin for protection against UV and microorganisms. More monogamous peoples experience selection for low prenatal testosterone and high prenatal oestrogen as a result of mate choice for light-skinned oestrogenised women. Such groups have high 2D:4D, resistance to sunburn and skin infections, and light skin. The association between very dark skin and low latitude exists only when polygynous societies are found at low latitudes, as is common in sub-Saharan Africa, but not in the New World."
Polyandry is the opposite of polygyny and was practiced by Tibetans and Nepalese, hence their too-light-for-their UV exposure skin.
@Ken,
If there were an evolutionary advantage to higher prenatal testosterone compared to the relative UV sensitivity, infection susceptibility, etc. I would again presume that selection would have become dominant long ago.
Hard to see any evolutionary advantage to impacted molars and chronic sinus infections.
I loved the way you have presented the news plus the recipe.I made the dal as per your recipe and turned out to be really good.You can also check out some of the differentChickent & meat recipes of Nepal in the site.
This only proves what Nietzsche said about all you 'Nutritionists' viz that you promote anarachy and war to the detriment of the spread of civilization.
So do you confess your antipathy to Christianity, nutritionally poor western diets and other civilizing influences?
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