I like learning about historical diets, and this article talks about why some people may handle starchy foods better than others.

Basically, populations who've relied heavily on starchy foods have evolved to produce greater levels of an enzyme (amylase) which digests starches.

I know some raw fooders have trouble digesting starchy foods so maybe this is part of the reason.


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[www.ucsfhealth.org]

Carb-reliant people show better starch digestion

September 13, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People living in societies that rely heavily on starch for nutrition have evolved to digest these foods more effectively, research suggests.

Dr. Nathaniel J. Dominy of the University of California at Santa Cruz and colleagues found that the more copies a person has of a gene called AMY1 that makes the starch-digesting protein amylase, the more of the enzyme they produce in their saliva. And, on average, people from populations with starch-rich diets -- such as agricultural societies or hunter-gatherer groups living in desert regions -- have more copies of the gene.

"Higher AMY1 copy numbers and protein levels probably improve the digestion of starchy foods and may buffer against the fitness-reducing effects of intestinal disease," the researchers offer in a report in the journal Nature Genetics.

The human diet has undergone substantial changes, with one of the largest being the move to agriculture for some populations, which meant consuming more starch, the researchers point out.

To determine if the number of AMY1 copies a person had in their genome influenced amylase production, the researchers tested 50 European-Americans, and found that the amount of the protein in their saliva did indeed rise with the number of AMY1 copies.

The researchers then compared the number of AMY1 copies in seven different groups: 50 European-Americans and 45 Japanese, representing agricultural societies; 38 Hadza hunter gatherers, who eat a starchy diet heavy in roots and tubers; 36 Biaka and 15 Mbuti rainforest hunter-gatherers, who consume little starch; and 17 Datogs and 25 Yakut, both of whom are pastoralists with animal-protein-based, starch-poor diets.

Among the high-starch populations, 70 percent had at least six copies of the AMY1 gene, compared to 37 percent of people in the low-starch groups. When the researchers compared genes from Japanese and Hakut individuals, who also are Asian, they found again that the Japanese carried more AMY1 copies on average than the Hakut.

It's likely, Dominy and his colleagues say, that a shift to a starch-heavy diet exerted evolutionary pressure favoring individuals with more AMY1 copies who were hence better starch digesters; for example, infants and children who have an easier time digesting starch may be better able to absorb energy from food during bouts with diarrhea, which remains a leading killer of young children around the world.

SOURCE: Nature Genetics, September 9, 2007.

Interesting. I am learning more about evolution on this board.

Is this why Native Americans develop diabetes more often than Non-Hispanic whites [www.diabetes.org] - scroll down to see chart.

ooh neat, Jono, thanks for posting that! I'm always fascinated by historical & indigenous diets. Neat stuff.

. yeah, I posted this the day it came out...it was a good article for proving once and for all that the folks running around with lab coats are just never going to get it. they'll be dieing from de-generative diseases right out of college..still popping the drugs that will allow them to eat ho-ho sandwiches without bile acid buring the back of their tongues.

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]


. adaptation to crap...(while apparently necessary at one point in history) by definition means giving up health.

. how many cigs can your aunt smoke?...how many can a baby smoke?

. how much booze can your uncle drink? how about your nephew?

. how many starchy tubers can a healthy person eat without creating some kind of symptomology/mucus etc...



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. phew..that was alot of scientific thinking for the day...