Paleo Diet: Raw Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Forum
Raw Paleo Diet Forums => Info / News Items / Announcements => Topic started by: Nicola on May 17, 2008, 05:15:28 am
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The high consumption of meat and dairy products is undoubtedly the major cause of atherosclerosis in modern times. However, long research by Dr Edward Howell indicates that the animal protein, fat and cholesterol contained in meat and dairy products are far less harmful if these foods are consumed raw.
Raw meat contains the proteolytic enzyme cathepsin and the fat-digesting enzyme adipose lipase. All animal fats, raw, contain lipase. When animal protein or fat is consumed raw, the enzymes accomplish a certain amount of predigestion in the cardiac (upper) stomach before being inactivated by the stomach acid further down, and so the final digestion of these substances in the intestine is more complete and they are assimilated in a relatively harmless form.
It has always perplexed nutritionists how primitive Eskimos and Masai natives could maintain good health as long as they do on diets consisting of almost lethal quantities of animal protein and fat. The answer to that puzzle, according to Dr Howell, is that apart from other lifestyle factors in their favor, these people, like the wild carnivorous animals, eat most of their food raw. (The name Eskimo is derived from the Cree Indian expression: "he eats meat raw".)
Dr Howell blames the cooking of food for practically every disease known to man. He points out that raw milk, containing 35 different enzymes, is an entirely different substance to the pasteurized dairy products of today, which are known to contribute to atherosclerosis. In his paper, "Lipase versus Cholesterol" (1983), Dr Howell says:
"Lipase is destroyed by cooking. Could it be that the bad reputation of cholesterol starts in the human digestive tract when fat, divorced from its lipase companion, is forced to remain idle and unaltered in the stomach during the period of 2 or 3 or more hours after it is swallowed? While ptyalin and then pepsin digest carbohydrate and protein in the stomach, lipase is absent and fat cannot be digested. But when fat is eaten raw, with its lipase undamaged by heat, it also can be digested in the upper stomach prior to the time the acidity becomes strong enough to prevent further action.
"When unaltered fat, deprived of its lipase companion, must confront strong hydrochloric acid in the human stomach, it faces a new and harsh experience. It may be left with a structural defect, or impairment with some undesirable trademark that prevents it from being properly digested in the intestine and hence improperly metabolized when it reaches the body tissues later. It must be remembered that in both animals and humans, it is impossible to prevent fat plus lipase from engaging in initial digestion during the first hour in the stomach.
"It has been shown that even ptyalin, which is more effective on starch near neutral pH, digests in the cardiac and fundic portion of the stomach for a period approaching an hour. The lipase associated with fat, in common with other food enzymes, has a pH optimum further down on the acid side of the pH scale, and therefore can be expected to digest fat in the upper stomach (the food-enzyme stomach) for a period at least as long as ptyalin can work on starch. This happens every day in the stomachs of millions of wild animals, and for epochal periods before the cooking era, evolution contrived to make it a regular scheduled event in the human stomach. It appears, therefore, that fat is being denied its traditional digestive rites during its passage along the digestive tract. And this may well be the reason that animals and humans, eating raw fat with its lipase, are immune to cardiovascular disease. Thus a strong reason emerges why research to explore this promising area is long overdue and merits top priority for allocation of research funds."
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020121horne/020121ch10.html
Nicola
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Hello Nicola,
Raw food is much easier to digest per my experience. The only problem I had was when I was eating way too much but even then, It wasn't nearly as bad as when I was eating cooked food. I'm sure enzymes do play a huge part in that.
I doubt that dairy is responsible for atherosclerosis but it does contribute to osteoporosis because of excess calcium.
There are many cooked low/zero carbers who dramatically improve their lipid profiles and diabetes/pre-diabetes while eating pasteurized cheese, cream, and butter. So, I do think that on any diet, abnormally high carb consumption is responsible for cardiovascular disease and cancer and vegetable oils also for cancer.
As Geoff has mentioned somewhere, people can improve on certain cooked paleo diets but not to the extent of true healing as on a RAW paleo diet. Dr Howell's assertion that cooked food is responsible for practally every disease known to man partially true. I believe that some diseases, such as auto-immune disorders, anxiety and depression, and other diseases not related to fat or carbohydrate consumption, are indeed caused by eating cooked food and cured by eating raw food.
Craig
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Does anyone know whether coconut oil contains lipase?
I cannot get anywhere near enough raw animal fat, so have been using increasing amounts of coconut oil - not the virgin stuff, as I can't stand the taste.
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Coconut oil doesn't have enzymes in it. Take a look at:
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/enzymes_and_coconut_oil.htm
-Mike
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No enzymes, well, that explains why it keeps well.
Thanks.
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Mary Enig says in that article that there aren't any enzymes in any edible oil. Coconut oil, like lard, keeps so well because it's highly saturated which helps prevent rancidity as it doesn't easily oxidize.
I though ALL raw food had enzymes! What's up with that?
Craig
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I doubt that dairy is responsible for atherosclerosis but it does contribute to osteoporosis because of excess calcium.
Craig
how does excess calcium cause osteoporosis?
ive heard that milk is more dominant in Phosphorus, and is therefore acidic in its breakdown which acidifies the blood which increases calcium excretion from bones.
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how does excess calcium cause osteoporosis?
ive heard that milk is more dominant in Phosphorus, and is therefore acidic in its breakdown which acidifies the blood which increases calcium excretion from bones.
It's actually the ratio of calcium to magnesium and other minerals. Other minerals can't compete for absorbtion because milk has too much calcium.
Here's a study saying that excess calcium causes iron deficiency: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/5/963
Here's one explaining how excess calcium eventually wears out the osteoblasts so that it may help bone density in the short term but can cause osteoporosis in the long term: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15949902&query_hl=1Lifetime
I'm curious about milk being more dominant in Phosphorous. Meat is high in phosphorous but low in calcium and it makes my saliva alkaline. More alkaline than on sad or raw vegan.
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I'm curious about milk being more dominant in Phosphorous.
cool, thanks for the links.
take that Phos/Cal comment with a grain of salt, it was awhile ago that (i thought) i remember David Wolfe mentioning it. maybe it was something to do with past. milk, and not raw milk.
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I agree that raw food is nearly always better digested than cooked food. However, some RAFers have claimed that those who are severely deficient in some minerals might even have a few problems eating raw animal food, at first.
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Does anyone know whether coconut oil contains lipase?
I cannot get anywhere near enough raw animal fat, so have been using increasing amounts of coconut oil - not the virgin stuff, as I can't stand the taste.
How have you been doing acquiring fats that work for you? I know I feel terrible when I can't get enough animal fat.
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I agree that raw food is nearly always better digested than cookd ood. However, some RAFers have claimed that those who are severely deficient in some minerals might even have a few problems eating raw animal food, at first.
I had practically no digestive ability for anything I was trying to eat before trying RAFs. Even so, I've had no problem digesting raw skin, raw tendon, etc.