Paleo vs. Standard American Diet

Let’s check out some interesting information generated by my mentor, Prof. Loren Cordain. What I want to look at is the fallacy that grains, legumes, and dairy are nuritious or that you will be missing something if you don’t have them in your diet.

Many people have been taught that the only place we can obtain vitamins, minerals, and fiber is from the government-sponsored grain-a-thon and the USDA recommended food pyramid. Let’s look at these common misconceptions and put this all into perspective.

Common Misconceptions

1. Grains and dairy are particularly nutritious.
2. One will experience some kind of deficiency without grains, legumes, and dairy in the diet.
3. The only place to get dietary fiber is from grains and legumes.

Let’s look at the following tables and do a little thinking. Table 1 comes from this paper ¹

In the far left column, we have a list of vitamins and minerals. The other columns show various food categories and how those foods rank for specific nutrients (comparing equal, 100-calorie portions). The ranking system is on a scale from 1-7 with 1 being lowest and 7 being highest. What we observe is that whole grains and milk are not particularly nutritious on a calorie-per-calorie basis as compared to meats, seafood, veggies, and fruits.

This chart handily addresses misconception #1 (grains and dairy are particularly nutritious) and it implies that if we are considering nutrition on a calorie-by-calorie basis, grains and dairy are not the winners.

Mean nutrient density of various food groups (418-kJ samples)*

Nutrient	Whole grains	Whole milk	Fruit	Vegetables	Seafood	Lean Meats	Nuts and Seeds
Vitamin B-12 (µg)	0.00 [4]	0.58 [5]	0.00 [4]	0.00 [4]	7.42 [7]	0.63 [6]	0.00 [4]
Vitamin B-3 (mg)	1.12 [4]	0.14 [1]	0.89 [3]	2.73 [5]	3.19 [6]	4.73 [7]	0.35 [2]
Phosphorus (mg)	90 [3]	152 [5]	33 [1]	157 [6]	219 [7]	151 [4]	80 [2]
Riboflavin (mg)	0.05 [2]	0.26 [6]	0.09 [3]	0.33 [7]	0.09 [4]	0.14 [5]	0.04 [1]
Thiamine (mg)	0.12 [5]	0.06 [1]	0.11 [3]	0.26 [7]	0.08 [2]	0.18 [6]	0.12 [4]
Folate (µg)	10.3 [4]	8.1 [2]	25.0 [6]	208.3 [7]	10.8 [3]	3.8 [1]	11.0 [5]
Vitamin C (mg)	1.53 [3]	74.2 [5]	221.3 [7]	93.6 [6]	1.9 [4]	0.1 [1]	0.4 [2]
Iron (mg)	0.90 [4]	0.08 [1]	0.69 [2]	2.59 [7]	2.07 [6]	1.10 [5]	0.86 [3]
Vitamin B-6 (mg)	0.09 [3]	0.07 [1]	0.20 [5]	0.42 [7]	0.19 [4]	0.32 [6]	0.08 [2]
Vitamin A (RE)	2 [2]	50 [5]	94 [6]	687 [7]	32 [4]	1 [1]	2 [3]
Magnesium (mg)	32.6 [4]	21.9 [2]	24.6 [3]	54.5 [7]	36.1 [6]	18.0 [1]	35.8 [5]
Calcium (mg)	7.6 [2]	194.3 [7]	43.0 [4]	116.8 [6]	43.1 [5]	6.1 [1]	17.5 [3]
Zinc (mg)	0.67 [4]	0.62 [3]	0.25 [1]	1.04 [5]	7.6 [7]	1.9 [6]	0.6 [2]
Sum rank score	44	44	48	81	65	50	38

* Food types within food groups are based on the most commonly consumed foods in the US diet. Values in brackets represent relative ranking (7=highest; 1=lowest). The micronutrient concentrations for each food group were derived from reference 64. RE, retinol equivalents.

Let’s next consider table 2, which lays out a sample 2,200 calorie meal plan composed of lean meats, seafood, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. If you notice, there are no processed foods in this plan – but is it nutritious? What we notice in table 3 tells the story. 42 grams of fiber from fruits and vegetables. Also interesting is the fact that our essential fatty acid ratio is perfect.

Sample 1-day menu for a modern diet based upon Paleolithic food groups for females (25 yrs, 2200 kcal daily energy intake). ²

	Food quantity (g)	Energy (kcal)
Breakfast
Cantaloupe	276	97
Atlantic salmon (broiled)	333	605
Lunch
Vegetable salad with walnuts
Shredded romaine lettuce	68	10
Sliced carrot	61	26
Sliced cucumber	78	10
Quartered tomatoes	246	52
Lemon juice dressing	31	8
Walnuts	11	70
Broiled lean pork loin	86	205
Dinner
Vegetable avocado/almond salad
Shredded mixed greens	112	16
Tomato	123	26
Slivered almonds	45	260
Sliced red onion	29	11
Lemon juice dressing	31	8
Steamed broccoli	468	131
Lean beef sirloin tip roast	235	400
Dessert (Strawberries)	130	39
Snacks
Orange	66	30
Carrot sticks	81	35
Celery sticks	90	14

Macronutrient and other dietary characteristics in contemporary diet based on Paleolithic food groups for females (25 yrs, 2200 kcal daily energy intake).

Protein (g)	217
Protein (% energy)	38
Carbohydrate (g)	129
Carbohydrate (% energy)	23
Total sugars (g)	76.5
Fiber (g)	42.5
Fat (g)	100.3
Fat (% total energy)	39.0
Saturated fat (g)	18.0
Saturated fat (% total energy)	7.0
Monounsaturated fat (g)	44.3
Polyunsaturated fat (g)	26.7
Omega 3 fat (g)	9.6
Omega 6 fat (g)	14.2
Cholesterol (mg)	461
Sodium (mg)	726
Potassium (mg)	9062

The really interesting information is in table 4. The Paleo diet not only meets the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of all the vitamins and minerals (with the exception of calcium, which I’ll discuss in a moment), but we have anywhere from several hundred to a thousand times the RDA. It is well understood that the RDA is a minimum and does not reflect the optimum nutrient level for performance, health, and longevity.

As to the calcium issue, this is simple chemistry. Look at how much magnesium we obtain on the Paleo diet. Calcium and magnesium work synergistically in the body, and if our magnesium intake is high, our calcium needs dramatically decrease.

Trace nutrients in a modern diet based on Paleolithic food groups for females (25 yrs, 2200 kcal daily intake).

	TOTAL	% RDA
Vitamin A (RE)	6386	798
Vitamin B1 (mg)	3.4	309
Vitamin B2 (mg)	4.2	355
Vitamin B3 (mg)	60	428
Vitamin B6 (mg)	6.7	515
Folate (µg)	891	223
Vitamin B12 (µg)	17.6	733
Vitamin C (mg)	748	1247
Vitamin E (IU)	19.5	244
Calcium (mg)	691	69
Phosphorus (mg)	2546	364
Magnesium (mg)	643	207
Iron (mg)	24.3	162
Zinc (mg)	27.4	228