Re: Stefansson - My Life With The Eskimos

[Guest guest]

Marla,

>>What did Steffansson eventually die of? Do you know?<<

I found the below in the articles on Stefansson in Dr. S. Byrnes

newsletter.

I guess old age was the cause of death, although I'd like to have seen

him to live to be a centurian.

<<Steffansson continued to live on the Eskimo diet for many decades, in

very good health, until his death at the age of 83.>>

You wrote:

>>But, he believed that was not because of a faulty diet, but due to the

rigorous ordeal of weather and the long Arctic nights. I don't know if

that's the real or only reasons, but that shouldn't have applied to

Steffansson since he only stayed there for a short time in relation to

his whole life.<<

Here is what is said about the lifespan of the Eskimos. I don't

think they were saying it was a faulty diet, just one that speeds up the

up the metabolic processes.

<<While meat eaters seem to average well in heath, we must in our

conclusion draw a caution from the most complete modern example of them

the Eskimos of Coronation Gulf, when he was anthropologist on my third

expedition, that the two chief causes of death were accidents and old

age. This puts in a different form my saying that these survivors of the

stone age were the healthiest people I have ever lived among. I would

say the community, from infancy to old age, may have had on the average

the health of an equal number of men about twenty, say college students.

The danger is that you may reason from this good health to a great

longevity. But meat eaters do not appear to live long. So far as we can

tell, the Eskimos, before the white men upset their physiological as

well as their economic balance, lived on the average at least ten years

less than we. Now their lives average still shorter; but that is partly

from communicated diseases.

It has been said in a previous article that I found the exclusive meat

diet in New York to be stimulating - I felt energetic and optimistic

both winter and summer. Perhaps it may be considered that meat is,

overall, a stimulating diet, in the sense that metabolic processes are

speeded up. You are then living at a faster rate, which means you would

grow up rapidly and get old soon. This is perhaps confirmed by that

early maturing of Eskimo women which I have heretofore supposed to be

mainly due to their almost complete protection from chill - they live in

warm dwellings and dress warmly so that the body is seldom under stress

to maintain by physiological processes a temperature balance. It may be

that meat as a speeder-up of metabolism explains in part both that

Eskimo women are sometimes grandmothers before the age of 

twenty-three, and that they usually seem as old at sixty as our women do

at eighty.>>

[Guest guest]

This commentary below regarding " speeding of metabolism " accelerating

aging is pure conjecture and could not be further from the documented

truth. This is commentary related to the false notion that a heart

has a limited number of beats in it and when they are done they are

done. This is absolutely wrong. The increased metabolism meaning

increased thyroid function, basal temps and heart rate are all

associated with EXTENDED longevity.

The far more likely association with their earlier demise is PUFA,

Darkness, and simply the rigors of their extreme climate. Keep in

mind that there are few places in the world that are worse

for " hairless " animals (humans) to live. The fact they were as long

lived as they were is still impressive.

DMM

> <<While meat eaters seem to average well in heath, we must in our

> conclusion draw a caution from the most complete modern example of

them

> the Eskimos of Coronation Gulf, when he was anthropologist on my

third

> expedition, that the two chief causes of death were accidents and

old

> age. This puts in a different form my saying that these survivors

of the

> stone age were the healthiest people I have ever lived among. I

would

> say the community, from infancy to old age, may have had on the

average

> the health of an equal number of men about twenty, say college

students.

> The danger is that you may reason from this good health to a great

> longevity. But meat eaters do not appear to live long. So far as we

can

> tell, the Eskimos, before the white men upset their physiological as

> well as their economic balance, lived on the average at least ten

years

> less than we. Now their lives average still shorter; but that is

partly

> from communicated diseases.

> It has been said in a previous article that I found the exclusive

meat

> diet in New York to be stimulating - I felt energetic and optimistic

> both winter and summer. Perhaps it may be considered that meat is,

> overall, a stimulating diet, in the sense that metabolic processes

are

> speeded up. You are then living at a faster rate, which means you

would

> grow up rapidly and get old soon. This is perhaps confirmed by that

> early maturing of Eskimo women which I have heretofore supposed to

be

> mainly due to their almost complete protection from chill - they

live in

> warm dwellings and dress warmly so that the body is seldom under

stress

> to maintain by physiological processes a temperature balance. It

may be

> that meat as a speeder-up of metabolism explains in part both that

> Eskimo women are sometimes grandmothers before the age of 

> twenty-three, and that they usually seem as old at sixty as our

women do

> at eighty.>>