S. Boyd Eaton is a

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

and one of the originators of the concept of Paleolithic nutrition. In 1985, he and

Melvin Konner __NOTOC__ Melvin Joel Konner (born 1946) is an American anthropologist who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He studied at Brooklyn College, CUNY (1966), where ...

published a paper, ''Paleolithic Nutrition'', in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'' which attracted some attention from other researchers.

Life

Eaton was born on March 18, 1938, in

Old Town, Maine Old Town is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,431 at the 2020 census. The city's developed area is chiefly located on the relatively large Marsh Island, though its boundaries extend beyond that. The island i ...

. He attended

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1960. He graduated cum laude from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1964. His residency and fellowship training took place at the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

(1965–69).

Career

S. Boyd Eaton practiced diagnostic radiology for 41 years, specializing in musculoskeletal disorders. His patients often included members of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

, the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

, and the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He worked in West Paces Ferry Hospital for most of his career. In 1988, Eaton, Konner and

Marjorie Shostak Marjorie Shostak (May 11, 1945 – October 6, 1996) was an American anthropologist. Though she never received a formal degree in anthropology, she conducted extensive fieldwork among the !Kung San people of the Kalahari desert in south-western Af ...

expanded upon their previously proposed “discordance hypothesis” in ''The Paleolithic Prescription'' (Harper & Rowe), the first book in what would become one of the bestselling health categories worldwide. This theory proposes that conditions such as

high blood pressure Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

and

type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

result in part from the mismatch between the lifestyle common in

developed nation A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

s and that for which the human

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

was originally selected (through

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...

) during the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

Loren Cordain Loren Cordain (born October 24, 1950) is an American scientist who specializes in the fields of nutrition and exercise physiology. He is notable as an advocate of the Paleolithic diet. Education Loren Cordain obtained a B.S. in Health Science ...

writes, “There is no doubt in my mind that without Dr. Eaton... Paleo would not have become a household term now recognized by millions”. Eaton was adjunct associate professor of anthropology at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

, and also clinical associate professor of radiology at Emory's School of Medicine. In 1966 he was medical director of the Olympic Village Polyclinic during the

Centennial Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. He was featured in the 2012 documentary ''The Perfect Human Diet''.

References

Selected publications

*Eaton, Stanley Boyd, and Stanley Boyd Eaton III. "Paleolithic vs. modern diets–selected pathophysiological implications." European journal of nutrition39.2 (2000): 67-70. *Eaton, S. Boyd, et al. "Dietary intake of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during the paleolithic." World review of nutrition and dietetics 83 (1998): 12-23. *Eaton, Stanley Boyd. "Radiology of the Pancreas and Duodenum." (1973). *Eaton, S. Boyd, Stanley B. Eaton III, and Loren Cordain. "Evolution, diet, and health." Human diet: Its origin and evolution (2002): 7-18. *Eaton, S. Boyd, Stanley B. Eaton III, and Melvin J. Konner. "Paleolithic nutrition revisited." Evolutionary medicine (1999): 313-332. *Ungar, Peter S., and Mark Franklyn Teaford, eds. Human diet: its origin and evolution. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.

External links

ResearchGate profile

Life

Career

References

Selected publications

External links

See also