Our Paleolithic ancestors ate a low toxicity
diet in general—though they did
eat some toxic foods. However, Paleolithic diets were
much less toxic than modern diets for
several reasons:
1. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers ate a
much wider variety of plant foods
—hundreds of species15 rather
than a handful as in Western diets
—so the quantity of any one toxin
was far lower. Since “the dose
makes the poison,” this reduces
the toxicity of the diet.
2. The most toxic foods in the
modern diet were not available:
• Grains and legumes were eaten
seasonally, not stored for yearround
consumption. Nor were
they eaten in quantity even when
in season: since grains require
laborious processing and
cooking, they may have been
backup or “starvation” foods.
• Aside from honey and fruits,
there were no available sources
of fructose. The discovery of
how to crystallize sugar cane
was not made until A.D. 350, and
as late as 1500 imports of sugar
into Europe were only a few
tons.
• High-omega-6 vegetable oils did
not enter the human diet until
industrial processing methods
were available to remove toxins
and concentrate the oils.
Paleolithic fats were
overwhelmingly from animals,
though some plant oils—palm
oil, coconut oil, tree nut oils,
olive oil—were probably
extracted. Mesolithic American
Indians extracted hickory nut
oil.
3. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, like
modern hunter-gatherers, probably
prepared plant foods in ways that
reduced the toxin load. For
instance, seeds may have been
soaked in water overnight to start
the germination process, or
fermented. Modern industrial food
processing, on the other hand,
tends to be optimized for speed
rather than health.
Eating Paleo-style—excluding grains,
legumes, vegetable oils, and sugars and
including a diverse array of plant foods
—generates a diet very low in food
toxins.
