Search Weight Loss Topics:




Feb 21

The original paleo diet included seafood with 22 times the safe limit of toxic metals, study finds – Insider – INSIDER

Diet Comments Off on The original paleo diet included seafood with 22 times the safe limit of toxic metals, study finds – Insider – INSIDER

Slices of raw yellowtail fish. Fuumi901/ Shutterstock

When most people think of the paleo diet, they picture a simple, back-to-basics eating style full of real food like grass-fed meats, sustainable seafood, and some fruits, veggies, seeds, and nuts.

What they don't imagine is a bunch of toxic metals, including lead and mercury but that's exactly what researchers found in a new study on the seafood diet of early humans in Norway, published January 28 in Quaternary International.

Researchers from the Arctic University of Norway and Stockholm University looked at 40 samples of skeleton remains of Atlantic cod and harp seal, both food sources for prehistoric humans, from eight archaeological sites in a region called Varanger in northeastern Norway. The bones were between 3,800 to 6,200 years old, representing a period of the Stone Age where humans in that region ate mostly seafood, along with some reindeer, beaver, hare, and occasionally some species of birds.

They found that evidence that both species contained toxic heavy metals cadmium and lead, in dangerous quantities. The amount of cadmium was between 15-22 times higher than what today considered safe for human consumption; the amount of lead was between three and four times higher than considered safe.

Researchers also found elevated levels of mercury, another toxic heavy metal, although not beyond what is currently regarded as safe.

All three types of heavy metals found in the seafood remnants are linked to human health issues. Exposure to cadmium can cause kidney, bone, and liver problems, while both lead and mercury can cause brain damage and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Researchers concluded, based on these findings, that "marine food during the Younger Stone Age in Varanger was unhealthy if not unsafe," according to the study.

However, it's not clear from the data in this study what the health effects of eating contaminated seafood may have been, or even if our Stone Age ancestors lived long enough to suffer the side effects of the toxins.

In trying to account for these results, researchers found a correlation between the surprisingly high levels of toxins and markers of climate change such as sea surface temperature and shoreline levels. They found that the higher levels of metals, at least in Atlantic cod, were linked to rising sea levels and sea temperatures, potentially due to erosion and/or volcanic activity.

However, this study was relatively small, so more research is needed, across more bone samples and a broader region, to better understand how changing temperatures and rising seas may have affected our ancestors' food sources and health.

Read more:

Intermittent fasting is the best diet for weight loss, but the Mediterranean diet is easier to stick to and healthier overall, study finds

Joe Rogan said the all-meat 'carnivore' diet gave him more energy and explosive diarrhea

'Intuitive eating' is on the rise, and experts say it's because people are fed up with diet culture

Visit link:
The original paleo diet included seafood with 22 times the safe limit of toxic metals, study finds - Insider - INSIDER

Related Posts

    Your Full Name

    Your Email

    Your Phone Number

    Select your age (30+ only)

    Select Your US State

    Program Choice

    Confirm over 30 years old

    Yes

    Confirm that you resident in USA

    Yes

    This is a Serious Inquiry

    Yes

    Message:



    matomo tracker