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
See also
*
Paleolithic diet
The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or stone-age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era.
The diet avoids processed food and typically incl ...
*
Hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
*
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 ...
, researcher
*
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 ...
, researcher
*
Staffan Lindeberg
Staffan Lindeberg (1950–2016) was an associate professor of family medicine at the Department of Medicine, University of Lund, Sweden. He was a practicing GP at St Lars Primary Health Care Center, Lund, Sweden. Lindeberg researched the paleol ...
, researcher
*
Jared Diamond
Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author best known for his popular science books ''The Third Chimpanzee'' (1991); ''Guns, Germs, and Steel'' (1997, awarded a Pulitzer Prize); ...
*
Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...
*
Louis Leakey
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...
*
Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A pro ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, S. Boyd
American radiologists
1938 births
Living people
Harvard Medical School alumni
Paleolithic diet advocates
Duke University alumni