I recently got back from the second annual Ancestral Health Symposium was held this summer on the campus of Harvard University in Boston.  This is an annual conference sponsored by theAncestral Health Society who in their words state, “The Ancestral Health Symposium is a scientific conference serving To foster collaboration among scientists, healthcare professionals as well as laypersons who study and communicate about health from an evolutionary perspective, in an effort to develop solutions to our modern health challenges.”  It was cosponsored by the Harvard Food Law Society and held on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.

As the series of diseases that dentistry treats were not present in our Paleolithic ancestors I knew that viewing it and treating it from an evolutionary perspective would lead to enhanced patient outcomes.  Since parking was tight in town, I parked outside and took the T in.  There are many programs going on at once and it is impossible to attend them all here are the highlights from day one.

I made it just in time for the opening remarks delivered by Dr.Aaron Blaisdell.  This was followed by Dr. Dan Lieberman lecturing on, “What Humans are Adapted For,” in which he explained that most chronic disease represent a mismatch between our modern environment and what our genetics have adapted us to expect.  This to me is the meat of the issue.  He made it clear that he does not believe that there is one optimal way but rather what our genetics expects of us.  Listen to this pod cast by Dr Robert Su where he has Mark Sisson as his guest.  Mark does a great job of explaining how we should strive to give our genome what it expects of us to live optimally.

Next up was Dr. David Sloan Wilson who is a professor at SUNY-Binghamton, my old Alma Mata.  He talked about his testing diets for dietary markers and even ran a NESCent meeting on the subject. When the videos come out be sure to watch this one as I got to ask a question about using dental decay as a marker of health and explain al little bit about my own NESCent meeting.

Dr. Matt “The Kraken” Lalonde then spoke about a novel way to measure nutrient density in foods. His data was presented in a 3-D type graph.  I learned a few very important things here.  First, when a product is promoted as healthy, if it is low in a vital nutrient, say vitamin B12, the manufacturer can “redefine” healthy to remove that as a criteria and add non-important ones.  This seems like dirty pool to me and Matt’s novel approach was to take every vital nutrient into account while removing non-important ones such as fiber.  Animal foods fared much better than plant foods.  He also showed that grains and legumes are often measured in the raw state and that his data takes into account that humans eat these product cooked. The bottom line:  bacon, egg yolks good.  Apples, egg whites not so much.   This does not mean that they should not be eaten, just that there are not much in the way of nutrients.  Again, this eye opening presentation is one to watch when the videos are posted.

Next was a panel discussion moderated by Neil Rosenberg titled, “Seeds of Discontent:  Regulatory Hurdles to Practicing an Ancestral Diet.”  This talk identifies the problems we face today in why grains are subsidized while wholesome foods are over-regulated.  I touch on this in my own lecture when I talk about how we got to this current “grains are healthy” paradigm.

There were a few presentations later in the afternoon that dealt with sustainability.  Dr. Peter Ballasted gave one. Another by Drs. Alyssa Rhoden & Tess McEnulty.  Neither one held much interest for me as I believe that most of what was presented was speculation. I have yet to see a good discussion on what the carrying capacity of the planet actually is.  Dr. Ballerstedt believes we are over it.  I know that this is BS.  There are more calories produced than people to consume them.  While I do believe that sustainability is an important issue it is important to realize that change takes time and when there is a will a solution will be found.  Small thinking like this will prevent greater adaptation of a whole foods approach for everyone.

Next up was Robb Wolf, speaking on, “City Zero How Markets and Evolution Can Revolutionize Medicine.  Robb delineated some work he is doing with a lab to track fireman and police officers, identify those at risk of a stroke or coronary event and prevent it thru dietary intervention.  He envisions a world where people receive their health care thru gyms, not medical offices.  Robb is as funny and engaging in person as he comes across in the pages of The Paleo Solution.  I did not get a chance to speak to him as he was mobbed everywhere but he let me take this picture.

I missed Joel Salatin’s closing talk, titled, “Folks, This Ain’t Normal” as I had dinner plans with one of my former instructors Dr. Huw Thomas.  I heard later that it was excellent and look forward to watching it on youtube.  Huw Thomas, besides being a great pediatric dentist is now the Dean of Tufts Dental School.  In conversation I found out that he has never read Weston Price’s work on Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.  I sent him a copy of that as well as Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat.  These are two books that changed the way I look at the disease process.  I consider this one of my contributions to advance the ball as Huw is in a position to implement some of the information from there.  He promised me to read them and as Tufts has a School of Nutrition (He told me that is one of the reasons he went there.) Taubes’ book should stir the pot a little bit.

Finally I want to say a few words about the power of social media.  The twitter feed for the meeting can tell you just about anyone’s take on the meeting.  All the big bloggers such as Jimmy Moore, Chris Kresser, and Mark Sisson were there and very approachable.  Their blogs are full of stories and comments on the events. Meeting Wendy Holland, sharing notes and comments with her made the meeting much more enjoyable and a greater learning experience.  As it is impossible to take everything in, all the lectures were recorded and will be uploaded to youtube.  Free for all to watch. They said the editing process would take a month or two.  Stay tuned.