don’t lie When you first heard about the “caveman diet”, you laughed, right? Or maybe you grunted a little. Of course it sounded like another fad diet. I personally would have called it the Encino Diet with Brendan Fraisier as the posterboy to make it more competitive with Atkins, but hey, caveman marketing is a bit primitive.
Fortunately for us, this does not appear to be a scam. Many patients with autoimmune or autoimmune diseases seem to benefit from switching to a diet based on evolutionary principles. You’ve no doubt heard of some of the more popular ones: Paleo, Primal, Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), GAPS. There are plenty of resources on each diet, so I’ll focus on the main differences between these 4 most popular diets and delve into the metrics of success, when available, rather than the specifics of each diet.
Hey McFly, I’m borrowing the DeLorean to take a closer look at these dietary blasts from the past:
1. Paleo diet
By far the most popular, directed by Loren Cordain and Robb Wolf. The focus is on all-natural (ie grass-fed) animal fats and natural fats (ghee, avocado, etc.) and low carb (starchy root vegetables, white rice and other starches without antinutrients). The basic principle is that we have simply not evolved to optimize the digestion and absorption of agricultural products.
Success: There are no controlled studies on this diet yet, but there are many success rates over 90% reported by various doctors internationally. Dr. Jean Seignalet in France conducted a trial in autoimmune patients, and success was defined as a 50% reduction in symptoms, and these are the results:
Rheumatoid arthritis: 200 (sample size), 80% (success rate)
Lupus: 13, 100%Multiple Sclerosis: 33.97%
Fibromyalgia: 41.97%
IBS: 220, 98%
Crohn’s: 40, 100%
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: 11.85%
2. Primary diet
Mark Sisson is the main proponent. Basically the same as Paleo except it allows full fat dairy. Based on Mark’s pictures, shirts should also be avoided. Though I wouldn’t mind having that body!
Chris Kresser is another big Paleo advocate who has incorporated dairy products like butter and kefir into his protocol with great success. He talks about tolerating no more than a teaspoon of kefir at first, but gradually works his way up to pints a day. I’ve heard similar stories from ME/CFS patients who benefit from fermented dairy. His theory is that taking probiotics through kefir actually changes your microbiota, or gut flora, to allow your gut to tolerate dairy.
Success: I couldn’t track any primary diet specific stats, but because of its similarity to Paleo, I figure if you could tolerate dairy, the Paleo stats might be a good reference.
3. Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
This was developed by Sydney Valentine Haas, MD. At first glance, it sounds like a low-carb diet, but the basic principle is that carbohydrates feed the overgrowth of yeast and bacteria in the intestine, so limit the amount and types of carbohydrates so that they are well absorbed. The main difference from Paleo: Properly prepared vegetables such as beans are allowed, and like Primal, dairy is allowed.
Success:
The Autism Research Institute survey found that 71% of parents noted an improvement in their children with SCD.
“Advocates of the diet claim there is an 80% recovery rate for Crohn’s disease and a 95% recovery rate for diverticulitis.” – http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/specific_carb.htm
And most impressively, the results of a pilot study conducted on Irritable Bowel Syndrome:
“Remarkably, 9 of 11 patients could be managed without anti-TNF therapy, and 100% of patients had reduced symptoms.” – http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=cts_retreat
4. Diet for Gut and Psychological Syndrome (GAPS)
Based on the SCD diet and developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. The main difference from the other diets is the focus on cicatrization the intestine, rather than simply feeding it food that is optimally digested and absorbed. Main difference from SCD: emphasis on bone broth and fermented foods, fewer beans, gradual introduction of dairy casein to tolerance from Ghee (which is virtually lactose free).
Success: Because this diet is the newest on the list, statistics are so far missing. However, in my personal opinion, based on what we know about leaky gut, the use of bone broths to provide easily absorbed nutrition and stamp the gut on its way to developing tolerance to fermented products makes this diet especially attractive for severe LGS.
Final Thoughts: There are far more similarities in these diets than there are differences. GAPS was developed primarily as an improvement on SCD, and Primal was developed primarily as an improvement on Paleo. In the end, many professionals agree that ultimately an elimination diet where you eliminate one food for 30 days and then add one thing at a time (and monitor how you feel) is the way to determine which foods and amounts of those foods you need. body reacts to