The Garden of Eden: Implications for cardiovascular disease prevention

Creationists and evolutionists acknowledge that the human diet has passed through at least four phases. The original plant food-based diet; a second phase of increasing meat consumption; a third phase of agricultural dependence on starchy foods; and, finally, the supermarket high-saturated fat, low-fibre phase with minimal energy expenditure. Our aim is to define the value of the original or 'Garden of Eden' diet and to speculate on which components should be retained in the modern supermarket diet. The original plant-based diet would have been high in vegetable proteins, plant sterols, dietary fibre and antioxidants, and low in saturated fats with no trans fatty acids. This diet would increase fecal cholesterol losses from the body as bile acids and neutral sterols, while providing little stimulus to cholesterol synthesis. To replace the bile acid losses we would have adapted to a relatively high capacity for cholesterol synthesis. Now, in the high-saturated fat, low-fibre supermarket age, this may be a disadvantage and predisposes consumers to high serum cholesterol and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. We believe part of the solution is a return to the plant-based 'Garden of Eden' diet combined with physical activity. A lipid-lowering portfolio containing vegetable proteins, especially soy, plant sterols and high fibre intakes combined with low saturated and trans fatty acids and cholesterol, would go a long way to reducing serum lipids and coronary heart disease risk seen in the modern Western diet.