BBC TV Airs Experiment Of 9 Volunteers on Caveman Diet

On a 3-day rota, typically:

• Broccoli, carrots, radishes Cabbage, tomatoes, watercress
• Strawberries, apricots, bananas Mangoes, melons, figs, plums Satsumas, hazelnuts
• (oily fish added second week)

As part of an experiment for a BBC programmed, nine volunteers spent two weeks eating the same diet as the great apes.

What if humans cast aside processed foods and saturated fats in favour of the sort of diet our ape-like ancestors once ate? Nine volunteers gave it a go, and were glad they did so.

The group of 9 volunteers opted to try to cut their blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

...this was an experiment filmed for BBC TV.
The idea, says Jill Fullerton-Smith, who helped organize the trial, was that modern diets, often dominated by processed foods and saturated fats, cause costly health problems.

So could an experiment on ordinary people's lives deliver the healthy eating message?

Nine volunteers, aged 36 to 49, took on the 12-day Evo Diet, consuming up to five kilos of raw fruit and veg a day. Hunter-gatherer style

The program......based on research showing such a diet could have health benefits for cholesterol levels and blood pressure, because it is made up of the types of foods our bodies evolved to eat over thousands of years.

based on, a three-day rotating menu of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey. The prescribed menu was: safe to eat raw; met adult human daily nutritional requirements.

Jon Thornton's wife signed him up for the experiment. Over 12 days he lost 5.7kg (12.5lbs), and reduced his cholesterol by 20%. His blood pressure also fell.

Despite nearly backing out at the start - the first day's food arrived in a cool-box, was raw and he was distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of broccoli - he was converted to eating vast portions of fresh fruit and vegetable.

"I didn't feel any loss of energy, I didn't feel ill at all," he says. "It's not a diet you'd recommend as a diet itself, but it worked to bring my cholesterol and blood pressure down."

With so much food bulk and plenty of calories the subjects did not go hungry - indeed most failed to finish their daily ration. And once they were over the withdrawal from caffinated drinks and some foods, says Ms Garton, they enjoyed good energy levels and mood.

So the "moments of unhappiness and grumpiness" that the TV crew was primed to capture failed to happen.

Overall, the cholesterol levels dropped 23%, an amount usually achieved only through anti-cholesterol drugs statins.

The group's average blood pressure fell from a level of 140/83 - almost hypertensive - to 122/76. Though it was not intended to be a weight loss diet, they dropped 4.4kg (9.7lbs), on average.

The regime provided an education for all, and a permanent change for some.

The TV production of this experiment, "The Truth About Food" appeared on BBC Two, Thursday, 11th of January

Editors Note: We ran this information on a 12 day experiment in the UK with it because we have long maintained that the caveman diet works and many of our readers have been skeptics. Note: 2...Their diet also cut salt intake about 90% not mentioned in our condensed version.  

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