Re: Meat-eaters and bone loss

Staffan Lindeberg (staffan.lindeberg@dalby.lu.se)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 01:35:31 +0100

dalford wrote:
>
> Talk to any anthropologist who looks at skeletons, and you'll learn our
> hunting ancestors had vastly more bone mass than people do today.

Those that I talked to would certainly not state this as fact, but if it
is true for those that David talked to, it is extremely interesting.

> And yes, that might be a correlation [to bone mass] as well, since they also
> exercised more.

There are also other factors of potential benefit: Prehistoric
hunter-gatherers spent more time in the sun (which increases production
of vitamin D) and they had low intakes of phytic acid (which inhibits
calcium absorption) and salt (which increases urinary losses of
calcium).

Staffan Lindeberg MD PhD