Friday, September 12, 2008

Lean Mean Hunting Machines in Paraguay

Describing the Paleo Diet & detailed inquiries; frequently asked questions about Paleolithic nutrition, health, and disease prevention
My research colleague, Dr. Kim Hill from the Univ of NM has spent the last 30 years studying the Ache people and has gone along with the men as they hunt peccaries in the forests. Kim reports that the men frequently would get up in the morning, eat no breakfast and then chase after peccary herds, in hunts that could last 6-8 hours or more. During this time the Ache men took no food and only drank water during the extended chase. Kim said he tried to "run with the hunt" with the Ache men, but could never do it. He always had to have his breakfast to be able to keep up. He told me the Ache men would laugh at him. Apparently, these hunters have metabolic systems that make magnificent use of the fatty acid metabolic pathways. It would be interesting to measure IMT stores, and beta-oxidation pathways (fat breakdown) in the Ache and compare them to westerners.


IMT stores? beta-oxidation pathways? Where's the home test kit?

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