Paleo diet may be bad for heart health

[Emily_MHManager]

New research has found that people who follow the Paleolithic, or Paleo, diet have high levels of a blood biomarker tied to heart disease. The finding raises some red flags about this type of diet, which, the researchers suggest, is not balanced enough to ensure good health.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325832.php

[Paxiled]

This is what nutritionists have been saying for decades -- too much protein, especially animal protein, isn't good for you long-term.  But you can get short-term weight loss from it and also it does help if you're trying to add muscle, and most people seem to prioritize these things over health.  The truth is, the paleo diet isn't one diet, it's several, and all of them are marketed to make money, not for health.  The whole premise is that in our pre-history we ate a whole bunch of animal protein and didn't eat grains and the like, and this isn't factually true -- animals were very hard to catch and plants were very easy to catch, so people have always eaten mostly plants until some migrated to places unhospitable to plants, such as the far north or very high altitudes, or in the great plains where mostly grasses grew.  Those people did eat mostly animal, but what records we have show short life spans.  

[Rosiecont]

No, Paleo diet is very good for health included heart health and other health, because paleo diet is rich in fruits, vegetables and nuts, which are all elements of a healthy diet. These foods are not only healthy but also very cheap.

[Paxiled]

Nuts and fruits are definitely not too cheap depending, nor is a paleo diet high in vegetables and fruits.  It's high in protein, mostly animal protein.  Now, there is no one paleo diet -- this is a collection of diets that are a marketing scheme, not anything based on reality or science.  The theory behind these diets is that prehistoric peoples -- the paleo part -- ate mostly protein.  But of course they ate mostly plant food, because animals were very hard to catch.  There's a whole lot more to it that is just plain ahistorical.  But mainly, the only diets studied long-term that have shown to be healthful are what we falsely call Mediterranean Diets, falsely because they occur in many places, not just that region.  Those are all low in animal protein, high in carbs.  It's fine if you find one of the paleo diets to suit you, we all get to choose how we want to live, and individuals will differ as life is very complicated.  But I do point out whenever these diets are mentioned that they are generally not considered healthy in the long-term, though they have shown some short-term weight loss and muscle building results.  It is what it is.  We all wish it were otherwise.  

[MollieRhodes]

I personally do not believe in a one-size-fits-all diet. Diet depends upon many factors like the health of the person,  region where he/she stays, what physical activities he/she does throughout the day and many more. And yes I would say the paleo diet is not all a good option for Vegetarians.

[AlbertinaG]

Paleo diet has both negative as well as positive effect on heart health & its's always better to take advice from doctor before starting a diet.

[Paxiled]

I don't actually think there is any evidence showing Paleo has any positive effect on heart health -- not sure it's negative either.  It would be very hard to do controlled studies on this diet as it hasn't been around very long, isn't used by that many people, has many different forms that are being sold by many different companies trying to make money off of it which would make it hard to even define it, and it's based on a false premise to begin with, which was that early humans ate a lot of animal protein or any kind of protein, which is factually untrue.  I'm also not sure doctors are the best source of info on how to eat, as they don't actually study nutrition all that much in school and so have only very general and shallow understanding of how people eat.  I guess I'm saying that knowing the best way to eat is just very hard to ever know for certain, as for most of history people ate what was available.  They didn't have freezers and refrigerators and global shipping, so they had to live on what was available where they lived when they needed to eat.  There was some commerce in food, but nothing like today.  All we can say is that there are several long-term studies going on looking at how people fare eating a certain way, and only one diet ever comes up with widespread good data, and that's the so-called Mediterranean Diet which is a moderate protein high carb diet.  All the others don't look good when the long-term is looked at, though short-term high protein diets can cause some temporary weight loss and can also aid in muscle building, which has nothing to do with health but is nice to have.  It always comes back to, eat lots of fruits and veggies, get your protein from legumes and food from the ocean, eat whole grains, and hope for the best.  Peace, all.