Paleo diet

The paleo diet – also known as the caveman diet – is based on the idea of eating similar foods to our ancestors from the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age, who lived around 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago.

The concept of a paleo diet was first introduced in the 1970s and has gained in popularity since, most notably following Boyd Eaton’s 1985 paper outlining what exactly constituted Palaeolithic nutrition.

The paleo diet isn’t strictly defined, but the consensus is to stick to fruit, vegetables, lean meat, fish and nuts and avoid processed foods and anything containing lots of refined sugar, salt, trans fats and dairy. Essentially, followers of the diet aim to consume only the types of food that could be hunted or gathered in the time of our Stone Age ancestors. Because it was considered unlikely that cavemen would have eaten grains – which were once thought to have only entered our diet after the invention of agriculture and cooking – these are off-limits too. The same applies to legumes such as beans and peas. These also contain lectin and phytic acid “anti-nutrients” that reduce the ability of our digestive system to absorb essential nutrients.

Proponents of the paleo diet suggest that the basis for eating similar foods to our ancestors lies in our genetic make-up. The argument goes that our bodies are evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and therefore for a diet that best reflects this. Processed and fast foods that are now a common part of the modern-day diet might explain the rise in heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure since the Palaeolithic age. If we go back to our dietary roots, we can offset these effects and improve our general health, they suggest.

But this is fervently disputed. Eating the same foods as our ancestors doesn’t necessarily mean paleo is better for us or can curb modern day health conditions. We live in a different time to cavemen and now have many more food choices available to us, so it could be that a diet that takes our current lifestyles into account is a better approach.

In addition, we’re still learning what an actual paleo diet consisted of all those years ago. For example, our ancestors in the Stone Age actually ate many more plants than we first thought. In fact, whether they even ate as much meat as we thought is unclear. Thanks to transportation, globalisation and intensive farming, many parts of the world now have access to meat and fish; this was much more difficult for people living millennia ago who were largely confined to their geographical locations.

Various studies looking at the history of human diet have suggested that the idea that our ancestors didn’t eat grains and legumes until farming took root might not be true either. Banning legumes has been controversial for another reason: they are high in protein, iron and fibre – nutrients that have known health benefits.

There is also the argument that our ancestors may not have been much healthier than us after all.

So is a paleo diet good for you? Studies have shown a range of benefits in those who have adopted this diet, especially if they already had health problems, including weight loss, lower blood pressure and better management of diabetes. Many of these benefits are likely to be a result of slashing carbohydrates and processed foods. However, research has shown that the advantages of a high-protein diet such as paleo are overblown. Following a restrictive diet that suggests cutting out whole grains and dairy can also lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.