The Diet of Civilization is Starch-Based

Without exception, every major civilization in the history of the world has lived on a starch-based diet. The Chinese and the Japanese ate rice, the Mesoamericans ate corn, the Incans ate potatoes, and the empires of Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome all lived on barley and wheat. Even hunter-gatherer groups often consume a majority of their calories from tubers, roots, and other starchy vegetables. Only marginal civilizations have survived without a starch--and probably not by choice.

Low-carbers and paleo-dieters often make reference to two of these marginal groups in order to prove that starches are not necessary for robust health. The Inuit of North America traditionally have lived on a diet of whale blubber and fish, while a group of African herdsmen known as the Masai live exclusively on milk, meat, and blood. If nothing else, the existence of these two groups does prove that when forced to live under harsh conditions, human beings can survive without carbohydrates.

So starches are unnecessary, just like meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and anything else people regularly eat. Human beings are wonderfully designed omnivores, capable of living and even thriving on an unbelievable diversity of food. But we are not concerned about what people can survive on, but what we would choose to eat in optimal circumstances. And civilized people, both rich and poor, have always favored starch as the centerpiece of their diets--and they have flourished on it.

With this mass of historical evidence against them, paleodieters still claim that their starch-free diets are favored by human evolution and lead to optimal health. While some of their claims are based on scientific research, others seem almost mystical. Indeed, the difficulty of their extreme position often reduces them to absurdities, such as when they talk about the lean, muscular, and healthful physiques of the Masai. You be the judge. Do these people look well-nourished?


































Almost the only source for the paleodieters health claims about the Inuit and Masai is the work of Weston Price, an American dentist who traveled the world investigating the diets of traditional societies and comparing these diets to the people's dental health. While the Inuit and Masai did have excellent dental health, so did a number of other groups that Price investigated, including purely vegetarian groups. To conclude from this data that a starch-free diet is optimal requires VERY selective reading. In fact, anyone who has actually read Price's book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, will know that the good dentist is a zealous advocate of whole grains and never once recommends the Inuit or Masai diet to people living in more productive climates. It's a bad sign when your guru doesn't even agree with you.

The historical evidence is incontrovertible. There have been very few groups who have lived on starch-free diets, while the mass of human civilization, with all its dynamism and creativity, has flourished on starch, and very often on just one starch supplemented by meat and vegetables. The ancient Greek word opson means roughly, "food that you eat with bread" and refers to pretty much everything else. Bread is the staple, the basis of nutrition, and in fact we can live in robust health for long periods on bread alone.

So what explains the popular trend to demonize starches, particularly wheat, which has been the basis of all Western civilization? For that topic we will have to wait until the next post.