Paleo Diet, Is It Really Good For Health? Here's The Expert Opinion

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JAKARTA - Increasing mental and physical health through improving diet is currently being intensively carried out. In recent years, the Paleolithic diet or also known as the Paleo diet is the most popular among the people.

Despite the popularity of the paleo diet, many researchers and health professionals argue that this diet is not necessarily the best for benefiting overall health. In fact, some experts believe that this diet may be harmful.

The paleo diet, also known as the stone age diet or caveman diet, is a diet that aims to reflect the hunter-gatherer diet of thousands of years ago.

People who follow the paleo diet eat lots of meat, fruit, vegetables, and limit their intake of nuts and seeds.

Foods and drinks that are frequently consumed by someone following a paleo diet include, meat, fish, eggs, water, herbal teas, fruit, vegetables, spices, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, such as walnuts or olive oil.

Meanwhile, foods that are often avoided by someone who follows a paleo diet include dairy products, sugar, salt, peanuts, legumes, artificial ingredients, processed foods, soft drinks, rice, wheat, and potatoes.

People on the paleo diet believe that the shift from a hunter-gatherer diet to an agricultural diet has increased the prevalence of chronic diseases worldwide, including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

They believe that the human body is not genetically equipped to consume the modern foods that have been introduced by agricultural practices. As a result, they think that our overall health will improve by following a diet similar to that of our ancestors.

The purported benefits of the paleo diet include:

Cholesterol levels decreased blood pressure decreased improved glycemic control reduced waist circumference and weight loss improved satiety improved gut health reduced disease-causing mortality

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition Trusted Source aimed to investigate the association of the Paleolithic diet and the Mediterranean diet with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

The study found that those who followed a paleo or Mediterranean diet had reduced disease-causing mortality, reduced oxidative stress, and reduced mortality from heart disease and cancer.

A meta-analysis from 2020 reviewed four studies to compare the paleo diet with the Mediterranean diet, diabetes diet, and other diets recommended by the Dutch Health Council. The researchers looked at the effects of this diet on glucose and insulin homeostasis in individuals with altered glucose metabolism.

They found that people on the paleo diet did not experience significant improvements in fasting glucose, insulin levels, or HbA1c levels compared to those following other types of diets. Researchers concluded that the paleo diet was not superior to other nutritious diets in people with altered glucose metabolism.

Additionally, a study featured in the journal Nutrition in January 2020 examined the effectiveness of different diets, including the paleo diet and intermittent fasting.

Researchers found that, to date, there is no one specific diet that can effectively support weight loss in all individuals. They concluded that the best diet for weight loss consisted of balancing negative energy while focusing on food quality.