Paleo Diet studies "too small to lead to any generalized conclusions"

[DakCB-UK]

qz.com/537830/what-happened... includes this snippet about paleo diets. When dealing with a minority long-term condition like Familial Hypercholesterolaemia, there's even less evidence to suggest these diets will cure things. Mediterranean and portfolio diets have much more to commend them AFAICT.

[QUOTE]“There haven’t been any long-term studies done on the Whole30,” Hartwig told Quartz, saying however that the anecdotal reports reveal people having derived great benefit from the program. This is also true of the paleo diet at large: most of the studies only investigate its benefits on a small subset of people, in short-term studies and with a sample size (at times 15, 20 people), which is too small to lead to any generalized conclusions.

“What [the paleo diet proponents] forgot about is that the gut bacteria can adapt quickly in significant changes in one’s diet,” Raphael Kellman, a doctor and specialist in intestinal health who wrote The Microbiome Diet, told Quartz [/QUOTE]

[Penel]

Hi Dak

I'm always interested in reading about dietary approaches to treating health problems, but I think this article/author may have missed the point (or perhaps I have?)

The Whole30 diet seems to be an elimination diet. People usually undertake these kind of diets if they think they have a problem with specific foods, and then reintroduce them to see if there is a reaction. The author didn't appear to have a problem with grains etc so it's perhaps not too surprising that she didn't find any health benefits from it.

Most studies on the Paleo diet have looked at its effect on metabolic disorder and CVD. The reports on PubMed are positive, and there are a lot of them. I guess the studies did not go on for longer because of the cost. There don't seem to be any studies on the diets possible effects on FH, but I suspect it would not be helpful.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/262...

The concept of 'leaky gut' or intestinal permeability is well documented in scientific literature, and is associated with problems with gluten and certain bacteria. It has been linked with a wide variety of health problems.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

For some people with difficult health problems, like RA, a Paleo diet may be worth trying, but it isn't an easy option, or suitable for everyone.

[Penel]

This is a fairly comprehensive study of "ancestral" or Paleo diets, if you are interested. It looks at the complexity of the micro biome, and the possible benefits of a whole-food, grain-fee diet.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...