[Research][Discussion] Scientific Evidence against the Paleo Diet!?

Plenty of good arguments in other comments that I don't want to repeat. A few unique ones to add.

First, said evidence is not evidence against Paleo diets. It is evidence against meat, which is only a part of a diet. It is natural to conclude that because meat is harmful that eliminating it must be better, right? Wrong. Meat comes with positives and negatives and it's contribution to a diet is a function of the other components of the diet. The question, then, becomes whether a Paleo diet with meat is better than one without it. The answer is definitely no, since it would lack enough protein. There are other protein sources but the evidence presented, though I didn't check it thoroughly, was not well controlled for all those sources. We have a limited set of alternatives.

Second, evidence is never conclusive. Paleo is as much faith as it is science. Why? Because we only know what the study authors wrote and it's really, really hard to control all the variables. They have biases, the studies may be small, the authors may have lied, etc. Coconut oil was considered poison until 15 years ago when some scientists started re-evaluating the evidence from the 80s and discovered all the experiments were performed incorrectly. Evidence changes over time and so do opinions.

Third, the dose makes the poison. Certainly a trivial amount of meat is likely to cause unmeasurable harm. Beef in particular is an amazing protein source and liver is the best natural vitamin you'll find on the planet. You'd have a hard time convincing me that you'll find an equivalent replacement for either of those in some quantity. That being said, even if the supposed toxicity exists it's almost certainly non-linear. That means there's probably some quantity at which the benefits of addition to a diet are gained while the harms are negligable. Where is that point? I don't know as I'm skeptical about the claims to begin with.

Fourth, just as microeconomics are very different beasts that macroeconomics, you can't study microbiology and make conclusions about macrobiology.

Last, these kinds of posts are really tiring to reply to. Keep reading, eventually you'll develop a good sense for how large and confusing the world of science really question. Question everything and go with your gut instincts.

/r/Paleo Thread