Quick Book Review: The Jungle Effect

Just finished thumbing through The Jungle Effect, an anthropological look at some of the healthier people on Earth and what their unique diets might tell us about disease prevention. It sticks to exotic cultures, like the Tarahumara in Mexico, the Okinawans in Japan, the Cretans in the Mediterranean, and so on. Daphne Miller, the MD-turned-anthrocurious-traveler who authored The Jungle Effect, practices medicine in San Francisco and teaches nutrition at UCSF, so that's how come you're supposed to listen to her. But as you may know, the medical establishment often vies with the evolutionary-proned biases you see here on this blog. So, yeah.

The book adheres loosely to the slow-carb diet, where non-paleo foods are encouraged based on the fact that these exotic cultures eat lots of them and seem to be just fine. "Just fine" meaning that they don't have diseases. I certainly wouldn't say she is seeking health optimization, like so many of us do here in the paleo community. (The book oddly reminds me of Weston A. Price, who concluded that raw milk was good for you based on reasons similar to Daphne Miller's.)

It was fun to read about the Tarahumara, because I finished Born to Run yesterday, which is all about running and the Tarahumara take center stage in that book. (Born to Run yesterday, The Jungle Effect today -- it's like I'm an English major again!)

The Tarahumara are examined in the realm of Type 2 Diabetes. They eat a diet of primarily maize (corn) and beans, and they run hundreds of miles at a time. She concludes that a similar slow-carb diet could be equally beneficial for Westerners with Diabetes since the Tarahumara don't get the disease. That means 70% of total calories from carbohydrate sources. On the plus side, she acknowledges that their use of lard as a good choice for cooking, though only in tiny amounts.

So why am I even reviewing this book when I don't usually review books?

While I respect her anthropological perspective on health and her honorable background in medicine at a fine institution, I was bothered by a few things worth highlighting for you, esteemed reader.

Obscure line of reasoning. The Tarahumara don't have diabetes, so mimic their corn and bean diet? Sounds especially strange from an MD. Although, her true recommendation only leans that way moderately.

Overemphasis on diet. While she did a great job examining the anthropology of diet, I would have liked a great deal more information on the other major factors of health: sleep, stress, posture, movement, community, toxin exposure, etc.

Maybe it goes to show that part of why anthropological evidence can be so frustrating is because it's so inconsistent. You get people eating mostly carbs that have minimal disease (Tarahumara), then people eating mostly fat that have minimal disease (Eskimo). Therefore, it's hard to take one example conclusively, especially when there are equally viable ones elsewhere ready to rebut.