Apr
14
2018

Where Does Fat Go With Weight loss?

People often wonder where does fat go with weight loss? This question recently came up in a CNN conversation.  The answer was originally researched by Dr. Ruben Meerman and Professor Andrew Brown.

Dr. Meerman is an assistant scientist at the University of New South Wales and author of “Big Fat Myths: When You Lose Weight, Where Does the Fat Go?” Professor Brown is the head of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the same university.

When you lose 1 kilogram of fat, where does fat go with weight loss?

The interesting answer to this question is that fat gets metabolized. Dr, Meerman and Prof. Brown pointed out that originally Leifson et al. answered this question who used heavy oxygen and found out that this was metabolized into heavy water.

Technically these experiments are fairly complex, but they allow the researchers to see exactly where the body incorporates these chemicals and where they end up with breakdown of fat. The BMJ paper describes that the breakdown of 1 kg of fat follows the following pattern: It breaks down into 0.84 kg of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and 0.16 kg of H2O (water). In other words, the lungs are the primary organs that get rid of fat and the kidneys excrete the water. There is a bit of extra energy in this chemical reaction as well, which dissipates through the skin and through exhaled air.

What did health professionals think where the fat would go?

The health professionals were doctors, dieticians and personal trainers. About 65% of them thought fat would evaporate into energy/heat. About 10% thought fat would end up in the feces. 5% thought fat would turn into muscle. Another 5% thought fat would turn into sweat or urine. 8% were correct that fat would become CO2 and H2O. 7% said they did not know.

The chemistry of fat deposits and metabolizing fat

The body deposited triglycerides from the liver metabolism of sugar and fatty acids into fat cells and stored them as oleate (C18H34O2), palmitate (C16H32O2), and linoleate (C18H32O2). Part of this are many chemical reactions, including a number of enzymes. These fatty acids form esters and turn into gigantic molecules with this chemical formula: C55H104O6. The BMJ paper further says that an overall chemical description of metabolized fat would look like this:

C55H104O6+78O2→55CO2+52H2O+energy. In plain English it means that 1 molecule of fat ester (from fat storage) is metabolized together with 78 molecules of oxygen. This results in 55 molecules of carbon dioxide, 52 molecules of water and energy.

Fat turns into carbon dioxide and water

Based on this chemical reaction a calculation of the breakdown of fat into carbon dioxide and water was possible. The surprising result is that 84% of fat becomes carbon dioxide and only 16% of fat becomes water. We exhale the carbon dioxide from our lungs and it is mostly the kidneys that excrete the water. People who lose weight are aware that they have to urinate more often. But they do not notice that they get rid of a lot of carbon dioxide, as this is a subtle process.

Some observations from the fasting mimicking diet

The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) was at the center of the most recent anti-aging conference in Las Vegas I attended. This was the 25th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas, Dec. 14-16, 2017. Late in December 2017 I started 5 days of FMD and have just completed my 4th round of it (FMD is done 5 days out of each month). My main interest in doing this is to prevent heart attacks and strokes and I like the idea of stimulating telomeres for anti-aging and increasing stem cell production. See more details under this link.

Personal experience of fasting mimicking diet

I keep meticulous records of my body measurements using daily body composition scales, which I record in a booklet. Between March 23, 2018 and March 28 I lost 1.5 kg from 64.8 kg to 63.3 kg. Fat composition was reduced from 14.1% to 12.2%. Visceral fat was reduced from 6% to 5%. My muscle percentage rose from 38.1% to 39.1%. The basic metabolic rate was 1471 Calories on March 23 and went down to 1449 Calories on March 28. My body mass index went from 22.0 to 21.5.

I definitely noticed the frequent urination, something I had noticed in the past in 2001 when I lost 50 pounds over 3 months. Of course it is understandable when you reduce your daily calorie intake to 600 Calories per day that you will lose this amount of weight. People have different metabolisms. It may be that you won’t lose as much as I did.

What causes mainly weight loss?

There are many people who think that extra exercise would help you lose weight. But a publication has established that only about 8% of weight loss is due to exercising. 92% of weight loss is due to dieting.

Regular exercise is important for conditioning of your lungs, heart, muscles and joints. But to keep things in balance a reasonable diet, like a Mediterranean diet, should also be part of the regimen.

Sugar overconsumption

The obesity wave in the US started to take off between 1976 and 1980. 40 years later it is still rising. It is interesting to note that both wheat flour and sugar consumption in the US were increasing parallel to the rising obesity figures. In the 70’s the old-fashioned wheat has changed into the force hybridized Clearfield wheat, which is now 100% of the commercially available wheat. Clearfield wheat contains 7-fold higher gluten amounts than the old-fashioned wheat that your grandparents consumed. Gluten stimulates your appetite, so you crave more wheat and you crave more sugar. This becomes a vicious cycle.

Excess calories are stored as fat

The liver metabolizes sugar from regular food and from processed food into triglycerides and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol that plugs up arteries). As I mentioned above, the body stores any excess triglycerides as fat and deposits the excess into fatty cells. You see from this that essentially sugar and wheat end up as fat deposits. I suggest you change your food intake into eating sensible food with fewer calories. Start by eliminating most of your sugar, wheat and processed food intake. This will help you to melt fat away as I showed with an example of my 5 day FMD.

Where Does Fat Go With Weight loss?

Where Does Fat Go With Weight loss?

Conclusion

I reviewed facts about the chemistry of melting fat away. The question is where does fat go with weight loss? In the process of weight loss fat breaks down into carbon dioxide and water. I also documented how you can lose fat in just 5 days (1.1 kilogram) on a 600-calorie diet and reduce the body mass index from 22.0 to 21.5.

Most people do not recognize the importance of watching their diet to achieve weight loss. 92% of weight loss occurs as a result of dieting. Wheat and sugar consumption have a direct connection to the obesity wave that started between 1976 and 1980. I have cut out all wheat, all sugar and all processed food in 2001. This allowed me to lose 50 pounds then and my body mass index today is 21.5. It can be done, even if you are 73 years old.

Nov
26
2017

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

If you want to prevent cancer, cut sugar! This is the message of an Oct. 13, 2017 study. The research team had done experiments for 9 years, when they concluded that it was refined sugar that caused spontaneous mutations of RAS proteins. RAS proteins are responsible for cell growth. When a substance like sugar turns them on all the time, they can cause mutations that lead to cancer. In this article research concentrated on yeast cells, and the publication is in Nature Publication. The CNN publication describes this in simpler language. Essentially the research team found that a sugar molecule, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, was responsible in obese patients and in diabetic patients to mutate a RAS protein, which as a result can turn into an oncogene causing cancer.

Evidence that sugar causes obesity and type 2 diabetes

  1. A September 2017 US study followed 41 children age 9 to 18 with initial fructose consumption of >50 g/d. The treatment of the children consisted of an isocaloric fructose restriction of only 9 days. Following that their liver fat content decreased from 7.2% to 3.8%. In addition intraabdominal fat decreased and new fat production was reduced from 68% to 26%. The authors pointed out that reduction of sugar consumption in obese children was a very effective treatment tool.
  2. This August 2017 study from Helsinki followed 71 obese males for 12 weeks. They consumed 75 grams of added fructose every day in addition to their normal food intake. The liver fat content increased and cardiovascular risk factors worsened as blood tests showed. The investigators concluded that the adverse cardiometabolic effects were a result of the added fructose. They were not secondary to the weight gain (a theory in the past).
  3. This February 2017 study from the US the Taiwanese Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study in Taiwan was also of interest. It consisted of a 5-year long study involving middle-aged and elderly patients with type 2 diabetes. The result was that patients with more physical activity, a better diet and a higher score regarding psychosocial health did much better with respect to managing their diabetes. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is particularly important for the elderly to prevent diabetes.

Evidence that obese patients and type 2 diabetics get more cancer

  1. In this 2016 study from Poland the effect of diabetes causing various cancers was under investigation. The authors pointed out that worldwide in 2014 there were 387 million cases of type 2 diabetes and it was still rising. When they looked at correlation between various cancers and type 2 diabetes they found that diabetes had the strongest association between pancreatic cancer and liver cancer. But there was also an association between diabetes and breast cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer. Head and neck cancers were more frequent among diabetics. Some diabetic medications made cancer frequencies worse, others, like metformin made them better.
  2. In this March 2016 article from the BJC (British Journal of Cancer) cancer frequencies were correlated to patients with obesity and to patients with diabetes. Researchers found that some types of cancer correlated with obesity, whereas others did with diabetes and not with obesity. They found that type 1 diabetes had its own set of cancer risks while type 2 diabetes had a different set of cancers that correlated to the disease

More on cancer risks in diabetics

  1.  A 2015 study from Malaysia with an 11-year follow-up describes that type 2 diabetes had increased in the population which researchers studied. The investigators concentrated on a female population where they found a strong correlation between diabetes and endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer. In a group of 860 cancer patients they found that 26.5% were diabetics. They were at a much higher risk of getting these cancers.
  2. A 2016 study from the US examined 2,836 veterans who had problems with their esophagus. 1,704 received a diagnosis of esophageal adenocarcinoma, 1,132 of them had gastroesophageal reflux disorder. Among the cancer patients there were 30.8% diabetics. The researchers calculated that for diabetics there was a 2.2-fold higher risk of developing esophageal cancer. The only other risk factor they could identify was nicotine dependence, which showed an association with a 1.7-fold risk of to develop esophageal cancer.

Evidence that sugar causes cancer

As explained earlier research found that fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is responsible in yeast cells to lead to RAS mutations. Human cells have the same metabolism as yeast cells, and they also have RAS protein and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is important for cancer development in humans. Yeast cells are diploid cells as are human cells. But yeast cells are not human organisms, so the parallel stops at one point.

  1. A 2014 study from China showed that fructose-bisphosphate aldolase was a marker for lung cancer metastases. This enzyme breaks down fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. Depletion of fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A reduces cell motility of cancer cells and the ability to cause more tumors. In other words, the key for cancer cells to thrive is the presence of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.
  2. In this 2013 study from Beijing gastric cancer biopsies research examined these samples for fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, the enzyme that breaks down fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.

The enzyme was under expressed in 86.2% of the gastric cancer biopsies. This meant that glycolysis was stimulated in the cancer cells. An overabundance of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate caused tumor cells to get into an active phase and to metastasize.

Discussion of why sugar causes cancer

I have previously discussed this topic in a blog 3 ½ years ago. At the time a few steps were missing from the knowledge we have today. Nothing has become different regarding the connection of sugar overconsumption and the risk of developing cancer. First of all, we have learnt that fructose overconsumption or sugar overconsumption leads to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate in the blood, which stimulates RAS proteins to mutate and stimulate oncogenes to cause cancer. In addition, people who are overweight, obese or have diabetes have too much insulin production, which can also lead to cancer causation. Finally, obese people have a lot of very active kinins in the blood that can cause cancer as well. In conclusion, what has changed between March 2014 and now is that we have a lot more detail why things happen the way they do. Connections that used to be obscure have now a rational explanation.

The message is that we need to cut out refined sugar from our diet, cut out starchy foods and cut out processed foods. This will improve our metabolism and reduce our risk of getting cancer. We will also lose weight, which I have experienced in 2011 when I lost 50 pounds over 3 months. What did I do? I was just doing what I described to you: cutting out sugar, starchy foods and processed foods.

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

Conclusion

Want to reduce your risk for getting cancer drastically? Then cut out sugar and starchy foods along with processed foods (which have too much sugar in it).  Strangely enough it was only now that researchers have found the missing link. The culprit is fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, a metabolic byproduct from sugar consumption. It stimulates a RAS gene, which can mutate, turn into an oncogene and eventually cause cancer. This fact was not known a few years ago. But the knowledge that cancer can occur due to diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance goes back a long time.

We need to learn from science: cut out refined sugar, starchy foods and processed foods. This will change insulin resistance into insulin sensitivity. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate will not accumulate, but get normally metabolized. This way fructose-1,6-bisphosphate does not pose a problem for RAS proteins. Your insulin level will normalize, the previous kinin overproduction will disappear and your risk for cancer will decrease.

We have allowed the sugar industry to undermine our health for too long. It is time to take back the control over our lives, assess our food habits and make the necessary changes.

Sep
23
2017

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

 

A 20-year study showed that close diabetes control prolongs life. A study divided 160 people with diabetes into two groups. The one group continued to get standard care. Yet the other group received a multi targeted, aggressive treatment protocol. As a result after 20 years the group with the intensive treatment protocol lived 7.9 years longer than the group with the standard treatment.

Dr. Oluf Pederson was the senior investigator of the physician team that followed the diabetes group. He said that they concentrated on a number of known adverse factors and treated them aggressively. These factors were first of all high blood glucose values and clotting risks, also high blood pressure and high triglycerides and in addition cholesterol values. Behavior modification was the therapeutic method to get people with risk factors to exercise more, adopt a healthy diet and stop smoking. Medication in select cases also played a role.

More details about the study

The intervention of intensive treatment lasted 8 years. After that the patients were still in a follow-up study for 13 years. At the beginning of the study patients were on average 55 years old and were borderline obese.

The investigation team screened for complications of diabetes. This included screening for kidney disease, heart disease and blindness. Dr. Joel Zonszein, the director of the New York Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center said: ”These results are impressive and most patients do not receive the correct treatment, according to national surveys.”

Other studies about diabetes  

Foreign studies

Study from Croatia
  • Another study from Croatia involved 200 patients. It concentrated on patients who did not respond to metformin. Physicians used alternative treatment modalities, and they observed and measured blood sugars and hemoglobin A1C in the following 6 months. The study concluded that those patients who received aggressive treatment of their condition did better than those who did not receive the same vigorous approach.
Study from Japan
  • This Japanese study documented that female patients with type-2 diabetes developed kidney damage earlier than their male counterparts.  Consequently, the investigators pointed out how important it is to treat diabetes aggressively to avoid kidney damage.
Study from Singapore
  • This 2016 study from Singapore analyzed retroactively the impact of diabetes on the long-term survival after coronary bypass grafting (CABG).  5720 consecutive patients had their isolated first CABG surgery between 1982 and 1999. The mean follow-up was 13 years. 34.6% of the patients had diabetes, 51% had high blood pressure and 46.6% had elevated blood lipids. The initial mortality after the CABG surgery was 2.4% in the diabetic group and 1.8% in the non-diabetic group. 20-year survival rates following CABG surgery were 30.9% in diabetics and 49.2% in the non-diabetics, an 18.3% difference. The 20-year freedom from cardiac mortality rates was 56% in diabetics and 68.4% in non-diabetics. Other risk factors that led to cardiac mortality were the following: female gender (1.43-fold risk), diabetes (1.51-fold risk), previous heart attack (1.54-fold risk) and a low left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 35% (2.6-fold risk). The conclusion from this study was that long-term survival in diabetics following CABG surgery was much lower than that of non-diabetic controls. Hence the key to improving long-term survival for diabetics is to treat comorbidities like high blood pressure and elevated lipids aggressively as well as getting blood sugars and hemoglobin A1C values under control.

US studies

  • In this US study 558 youth (age less than 21) between February 2012 to July 2015 received follow-up. Between 40% and 50% of these diabetics needed insulin to improve their diabetes. Unfortunately their diabetes showed poor control, as their high hemoglobin A1C values indicated. Median HbA1C was 6.7%, 8.5%, 9.6%, and 9.7% in those with disease duration less than 1 year, 1-2 years, 2-3 years and less than 4  In other words, the longer the young patients had diabetes, the less seriously they took their treatment. Only 33% treated their high blood pressure and only 11% their elevated blood lipids. Microalbuminuria, an indicator of diabetic kidney disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were present in 5% to 6% of these young diabetic patients. The authors came to the conclusion that there were serious gaps in treating these young diabetics. Further follow-up data of the same group of patients in the coming years will provide further data. In conclusion, the new hemoglobin A1C ranges of 3.8% to 4.9% as the new normal range explains why these youths who do not treat their diabetes properly are at high risk to develop complications from their poorly controlled diabetes.
Heart attacks and erectile dysfunction
  • Heart attacks are more common among patients with uncontrolled diabetes. This US study classified diabetics according to the tightness of their diabetes control. Researchers found examining 606 men and 606 women with diabetes that they could reduce their risk of a heart attack, if they controlled smoking, glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C), systolic blood pressure, and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The control of all these risk factors could contribute to the prevention of heart attacks. 35% of men and 45% of women could prevent having a heart attack. A laxer control still would prevent 36% of heart attacks in men and 38% in women. A very aggressive diabetes control could prevent 51% of heart attacks in men and 61% in women. Most noteworthy: close diabetes control prolongs life.
  • Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a big problem among diabetic men. This study from Seattle shows the investigation of 136, 306 men with erectile dysfunction. 19, 236 of these men had diabetes prior to their ED problem. Over a two-year observation period diabetic men had much worse ED problems. As a result they needed to receive secondary line treatments  like penile suppositories or injectables. Others needed tertiary treatments like penile prostheses. In those whose diabetes control was good, oral agents as first-line therapies were usually sufficient.
More studies about risks and benefits of lifestyle
  • Middle-aged women with diabetes have a 4- to 5-fold higher risk for developing heart attacks while men do not show such a higher risk. It is probably particularly important for women to control diabetes when they are diagnosed with it to reduce the risk of coming down with a heart attack.
  • In 2011 Taylor from Newcastle University showed in a group of diabetes patients that he could cure diabetes permanently with an extremely low calorie diet. The trial was simple: he took overweight or obese patients with diabetes and put them on a starvation diet of 600-700 calories per day for 8 weeks. Consequently 43% of diabetic patients received a permanent cure of their diabetes. More info: http://nethealthbook.com/news/cure-diabetes-permanently/

 

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

Conclusion

The new hemoglobin A1C ranges that are desirable are between 3.8% to 4.9%. When diabetics bring their hemoglobin A1C level into this range, they do not get complications from their previously poorly controlled diabetes. Close diabetes control prolongs life. But as can be seen from a brief review of the literature physicians tend to be lax, patients are lax, and diabetes is often not well controlled. This leads to erectile dysfunction in males, to heart attacks and kidney failure in both sexes. Blindness and painful diabetic neuropathy are also common complications of poorly controlled diabetes. Amputations from clogged arteries are also among the complications. “Close diabetes control prolongs life” is the new mantra that everybody with diabetes needs to follow.

Lifestyle changes control diabetes and prolong life

As stated above Dr. Taylor from Great Britain has shown that a brief 600 to 700 calorie diet can cure 43% of diabetic patients permanently. Quit smoking, bring the glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C) into the normal range, control your systolic blood pressure as well as your total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Do all these things, exercise regularly, and your diabetes will be well controlled. Remember: close diabetes control prolongs life!

Incoming search terms:

Jul
15
2017

Getting Rid Of Sugar

Scientific papers describe how unhealthy added sugar is, so getting rid of sugar in your diet is the answer.

An article was published in CNN that describes a one-month sugar detox program.

Brooke Alpert, the co-author of the book “The Sugar Detox: Lose the Sugar, Lose the Weight — Look and Feel Great” describes the details of a sugar detox program.

 The first three days of sugar detox

You need to go cold turkey for three days to eliminate any sugar to break the addiction cycle. During this time you may experience anxiety, sugar craving and moodiness.

You must not consume any added sugars during the first 3 days, but also keep away from fruit. Avoid starchy vegetables. This includes corn, sweet potatoes, peas and butternut squash. You also need to avoid dairy, because of the milk sugar in it. In addition avoid grains and alcohol. “You’re basically eating protein, vegetables and healthy fats”, says Alpert. You would enjoy a breakfast with 3 eggs any style. Lunch contains 6 oz. of poultry, tofu or fish. Add a green salad. For dinner your helpings are bigger, but it would be similar to lunch, perhaps with added vegetables. Snacks can be 1 oz. of nuts or a few slices of bell peppers with hummus. Your beverages: unsweetened tea, black coffee or water.

People should avoid sweeteners according to Alpert. Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of Pediatrics and member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco agrees. He said that artificial sweeteners cause you to store more fat. Dr. Lustig added: “You also end up overeating later on to compensate for the increased energy storage”.

Day four of sugar detox

On day 4 the patient can reintroduce an apple. It will now taste a lot sweeter, because in the past sugar suppressed the natural fruit sugar taste. Full fat, unsweetened cheese and yogurt are also part of the diet. Alpert added: “Fat, fiber and protein slow the absorption of sugar, so taking out fat from dairy will make you absorb sugar faster.” Higher sugar content vegetables like carrots, snow peas and high-fiber crackers can be part of the diet in the second half of the first week.  Those who like it can also add three glasses of red wine.

Second week of sugar detox 

Add a serving of berries that are full of antioxidants. Also add an extra serving of dairy. You can also eat more starchy vegetables like winter squash and yams.

Third week of sugar detox

Barley, quinoa and oatmeal can now be added back. Grapes and clementines are now also allowable. Those who like wine can now add another glass of red wine. One ounce of dark chocolate per day can also be added. “Week three should be quite livable,” Alpert said.

Week four of sugar detox

You now can have two starches per day, like bread and rice. In addition you can enjoy high-fiber crackers. You can have 5 glasses of red wine per week. You may want to eat a sandwich. Once you have completed 31 days no fruit is off-limits. You can allow yourself the occasional indulgences like an ice cream or a piece of cake at a birthday party. “Because the addictive behavior is gone, having ice cream once or twice will not send you back to square one. The whole purpose is to give people control and ownership and a place for these foods in our life,” Alpert said.

Weight loss with sugar detox

There can be a lot of weight loss with a sugar detox; depending on how much sugar the person was consuming before the detox started. Alpert recalled that of 80 subjects who tested the sugar detox people lost between 5 and 20 pounds within 31 days. Many people reported that their belly fat was going and they had to readjust their belts. There were other things participants noted: brighter eyes, fewer dark circles around the eyes, clearer skin, more energy and not as many mood swings.

Many people are not properly educated; they reduce fat intake, but add sugar and start gaining weight. By cutting out sugar and adding healthy fats in their diet, they now feel satisfied. The sugar craving has disappeared.

Side effects of sugar detox

You may feel grumpy and weak. This likely is due to low blood sugar and a piece of fruit will help you overcome this. In other cases it could be due to too little fluid intake and when you drink some water, this feeling will pass. Make sure you have supportive family and friends through the first three-day of sugar detox. “You need people around you to help you be successful,” Dr. Lustig said. “The whole family has to do it together.” Some irritability is expected due to sugar and caffeine withdrawal. This will pass and get better with every day. There are persons who should not go on this program: diabetics, people who take medicine to control blood sugar and extreme athletes. Pregnant women should also not follow a sugar detox program.

Why it is important to limit sugar intake

The American Heart Association (AHA) clearly spelled out what the limits are for added sugars:

For men: a daily dose of 9 teaspoons of sugar from all foods,

For women: a daily dose of 6 teaspoons of sugar from all foods.

When you start reading labels, which I started to do since 2001, you realize that it is very easy to exceed these daily limits. What does this do? It makes your pancreas produce more insulin than is good for you. You start switching your metabolism into the metabolic syndrome, you gain weight, and you get inflammation. This is what the AHA is concerned about. You start developing high blood pressure; get high LDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, and atheromatous plaques in your coronary and brain arteries. Eventually you come down with a heart attack or a stroke.

In the last 100 years sugar consumption per person has skyrocketed.

This has led to a disbalance of our diet and it is because of this that we are facing the obesity wave now. All I am saying is replace sugar with stevia extract, which to my knowledge does not have the undesirable side effects that other sweeteners do and eat a Mediterranean type diet, which we know is balanced.

Watch the maximum recommended sugar intake per day set by the American Heart Association and balance your meals, and you will do a lot better than on the Standard American diet. The Mediterranean diet is anti-inflammatory.

Getting Rid Of Sugar

Getting Rid Of Sugar

Conclusion

We learnt about how a sugar detox can get you off sugar addiction. I also summarized why it is important to keep sugar consumption within limits set by the American Heart Association. Too much sugar can derange our metabolism, which is called metabolic syndrome. This can lead to diabetes. Eating a Mediterranean diet and keeping sugar intake low is the pathway to good health. It also keeps inflammation at bay.

Incoming search terms:

Jun
24
2017

Lower Blood Sugar Prevents Diabetes

It seems like conventional medicine has ignored for several decades that lower blood sugar prevents diabetes. Medical researchers reevaluated the normal range for blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C, which is a 3 months average of blood sugar values.

In 2016 UCLA researchers reported that 46% of adults in California are either prediabetic or have diabetes.

In contrast 33% of young adults (age 18 to 39) also have prediabetes.

What is worse is the fact that even patients with prediabetes get complications. Normally only patients with diabetes suffer from these. These include kidney disease, retinal problems with loss of vision, neuropathy, hardening of the arteries and cancer.

Key to preventing this from happening is to recognize that prediabetes is already the beginning of diabetes. Not only is it important to prevent diabetes, but prediabetes as well.

Determination of prediabetes and diabetes

The conventional test for diabetes is a fasting blood sugar.

Prediabetes

In the past there was a consensus that patients with prediabetes had a fasting blood sugar between 100 and 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L).

Diabetes

126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L) or higher on two separate tests indicates that you have diabetes.

Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test

This test gives an average of blood sugar over 2 to 3 months. Physicians thought that a hemoglobin A1C test below 5.7% would be normal, between 5.7 and 6.4 percent they considered it to be prediabetes and at 6.5 or higher on two separate tests meant a diagnosis of diabetes.

Re-evaluating normal ranges to diagnose diabetes and prediabetes

Many researchers have said that the normal values from the guidelines for blood sugar or for glycated hemoglobin A1C are too high. This is the reason why diabetic complications developed even with prediabetes.

At the 22nd Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine In Las Vegas (Dec. 10-14, 2014) Dr. Piliszek stated that the normal range for hemoglobin A1C is skewed in the medical literature. It should be: 3.8% to 4.9%. This is very important to know for diabetics and any caregiver who looks after diabetes patients. If you consider a hemoglobin A1C of 6.0 as “normal”, the diabetic patient has the risk of dying prematurely of a heart attack or a stroke. According to the new guidelines even a patient whose hemoglobin A1C is 5.5 has diabetes and needs aggressive treatment to prevent complications associated with diabetes. Conventional guidelines would have considered this patient to be normal.

A 1999 study made it clear that patients with a blood sugar of more than 85 mg/dL were at risk of developing diabetes complications. Researchers observed about 2000 patients with fasting blood sugars of more than 85 mg/dL over 22 years. About 40% of them died of heart attacks or strokes! Because of studies like this, physicians demanded the new diabetes guidelines.

The authors concluded that fasting blood glucose in the upper normal range was an independent risk factor of cardiovascular death.

New guidelines

Prediabetes is not a separate diagnosis, but is mild early diabetes, which is reversible with aggressive treatment. Dietary changes (cutting out sugar and refined carbs) are often effective. In some cases the addition of metformin may be required.

The new normal ranges are:

Fasting blood sugar of 85 mg/dL or less is normal.

Hemoglobin A1C of 3.8% to 4.9% is the new normal range.

These values are based on observing patients over a long period of time and seeing whether or not they develop complications from diabetes.

Most noteworthy, uncontrolled diabetes leads to complications like damage to the lining of the arteries in all the key organs. It is the cause for the following conditions: kidney damage (nephropathy), eye damage (retinopathy), brain and nerve damage (neuropathy), as well as heart attacks and strokes (vascular damage).

Certainly, patients often end up with dialysis when kidney failure has set in. Retinopathy causes blindness and neuropathy leads to excruciating pain. Heart attacks and strokes often cause premature death. Those who ingest a high-glycemic diet have a 49% higher risk of getting lung cancer than those with a low-glycemic diet as this link from the MD Anderson Cancer Center showed.

Calorie restriction

A research group found that calorie restriction reduced fasting insulin levels in a group of overweight men and women.

Another study showed that restrained eating patterns lower fasting glucose and postprandial (after meals) glucose. As a result it also improved insulin sensitivity in normal weight individuals.

Some practical hints about diets to treat diabetes

  1. First of all, the obvious fact is that excessive sugar intake is harmful. But in addition a drastic reduction of refined carbs is also needed, as they just turn into sugar within half an hour of ingesting them. Cut out potatoes, pasta, and bread. You may have a slice of rye bread or full grain bread occasionally. This type of diet is called a low-glycemic index diet. Hence, as indicated earlier a study from the MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown that lung cancer is more common the higher the glycemic index is and is also more common in diabetics.
  2. Also, a Mediterranean diet has been shown to be anti-inflammatory. As diabetes and prediabetes are associated with chronic inflammation, it is useful to go on a diet that counters inflammation. Similarly, the DASH diet, which was developed for high blood pressure patients, is also anti-inflammatory. Here are a few examples of snacks that may be helpful.
  3. Finally, include fish and fish oil supplements in your diet. These contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory. Another useful piece of advice: eat lots of vegetables and salads as they contain healthy bioflavonoids and antioxidant vitamins. This stabilizes the lining of your arteries.
Lower Blood Sugar Prevents Diabetes

Lower Blood Sugar Prevents Diabetes

Conclusion

The old blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C guidelines need a significant revision. In contrast, new guidelines based on actual measurements and clinical trials that showed no complications of prediabetes on the long term have replaced them.

A fasting blood sugar of 85 mg/dL or less is normal. A hemoglobin A1C of 3.8% to 4.9% is now the new normal range.

Consequently, the doctor needs to be more aggressive about early nutritional intervention and probably include metformin as well to restore insulin sensitivity. It is no longer appropriate to allow complications of diabetes like nephropathy, retinopathy or neuropathy to develop. Unfortunately food manufacturers still overload processed food with sugar. Each patient needs to be vigilant about the food he/she eats. Therefore, low glycemic nutrition is the mantra to follow. Also stick to natural, unprocessed foods instead of the highly processed foods that populate the shelves of the supermarkets.

Feb
04
2017

Benefits Of The Ketogenic Diet

Dr. Jeff Volek, PhD, RD gave a talk that clarified the benefits of the ketogenic diet. He is a professor at the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and teaches in the Kinesiology Program. His lecture was part of the 24th Annual World Conference on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas, Dec. 9 to 11, 2016.

There were 58 slides, some of them very detailed. I will summarize as best as I can what the presentation was all about.

History of diets

Dr. Volek stated that there were unintended consequences when the low fat/ high carb diet was introduced in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Ancel Keys, a physiologist had proposed in his diet heart hypothesis that saturated fat was the culprit that caused heart attacks.

As a result all major health agencies recommended the low fat/high carb diet. Obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes were the consequences. Another offshoot later from this was the statin craze where everybody was put on statins as high cholesterol was symptomatically treated. Nothing changed the diabetes and obesity wave and heart attacks and strokes continued to kill the affected persons. Among performance athletes the hypothesis was formed that carb loading would increase muscle performance. Researchers showed evidence that carb loading would improve performance. But athletes were dissatisfied with prediabetes and metabolic problems. Both the average consumer as well as the performance athlete noted that they felt better on a low carb/high fat diet. This is what the ketogenic diet is all about.

Diet heart hypothesis

With the diet heart hypothesis the saturated fat was removed from the diet and replaced by vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid. Dr. Volek explained that blood tests and other investigations were done on people who ingested the low saturated fat/high carb diet. The question was whether this would reduce heart attack rates and deaths by lowering serum cholesterol.

The Minnesota Coronary Experiment was a double blind study, which answered this question.

Cholesterol was reduced in the experimental group. But there was no reduction of heart attacks or strokes compared to a control group. Of concern was the large amount of refined carbohydrate content with the low fat diet. This essentially was responsible for the obesity and diabetes wave. The excess sugar turned into fat deposits and to insulin resistance, which caused diabetes. The low saturated fat/high carb diet of the 1960’s to 1990’s did not reduce heart attacks and strokes. To the contrary: the obesity/type 2 diabetes wave it had caused increased mortality from strokes and heart attacks further.

Laboratory tests on low fat/high carb diet versus the ketogenic diet

Forget hypotheses for a moment. Let us review what the different diets do in terms of lab tests. In a study where physicians put 40 overweight people with metabolic syndrome on a low fat diet or a low carb/ketogenic diet, they received the following blood test results. There were 20 patients in each group.

  1. Low fat/high carb diet

Triglycerides in the blood went down by 20%, saturated fatty acids by 22%. LDL (the bad cholesterol) rose by 4%. Insulin levels went down by 17% and leptin levels also down by 17%. Glucose levels were down by 1%.

  1. Low carb/ketogenic diet

Triglycerides went down by 52%, saturated fatty acids by 57%. LDL (the bad cholesterol) went down by 18%. Insulin levels went down by 49% and leptin levels by 42%. Glucose levels were down by 11%.

In this group of 20 subjects for each group the body mass index went down by 5% for the low fat diet and by 10% for the ketogenic diet after 3 months. The abdominal fat went down in that time by 12% for the low fat diet and by 20% for the ketogenic diet. The conclusion from these laboratory results and from the body measurements is that the low fat diet is showing some results of weight loss, but the ketogenic diet has superior results. The same is true for the blood tests. Only the ketogenic diet showed reduction of 7 key anti-inflammatory markers. In contrast, the low fat diet did not trigger the production of a single anti-inflammatory marker.

Anti-inflammatory benefits of the ketogenic diet

A 2008 study showed that several anti-inflammatory markers were greatly reduced from the ketogenic diet while a low fat diet did not show such a reduction.

As this 2009 study showed the LDL particles were getting bigger under the influence of a ketogenic diet, but they were getting smaller with a low fat diet.

Large LDL particles are also called pattern A particles, while small LDL particles are also called pattern B particles.

As this link shows there is good evidence that small LDL particles oxidize easier and are more atherogenic (causing hardening of the arteries). This means they lead to hardening of the arteries easier translating into heart attacks and strokes down the road. It is one thing that a ketogenic diet leads to larger LDL particles, which are more resistant to oxygenation. But it is another good thing that this diet is also anti-inflammatory. Overall this means that a ketogenic diet is counteracting the development of heart attacks and strokes.

Are saturated fatty acids in the diet causing heart attacks or strokes?

Dr. Volek discussed several large studies that have investigated this question. One of these studies discussed was a metaanalysis from 2010. Like all the other studies it showed that saturated fatty acids do not cause heart attacks and strokes. This is the secret behind the Inuit and the Eskimo diet. It is a high fat and meat diet. There is lots of seafood on the menu as well, which provides omega-3 fatty acids.

Dr. Volek pointed out that if you replace a certain percentage, let’s say 5% of saturated fatty acids with carbohydrates, this would cause 7% more heart attacks. He showed literature evidence to back this up. What causes increased heart attacks and strokes is more refined carbs in your diet (sugar and starchy foods!).

Do saturated fatty acids in your blood increase the risk for disease?

Dr. Volek showed several slides with references to various publications. Elevated saturated fatty acids in the blood cause a higher risk of getting a heart attack, heart failure, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. But this does not happen with a ketogenic diet. The values of the saturated fatty acids in the blood are 4% lower with the start of a ketogenic diet. With a low carb diet the calories derived from carbs are 12%. In comparison a low fat diet has 56% of carbs. Protein content in the low fat diet is 20%, in the ketogenic diet 28%. Saturated fat content in the low fat diet is 24%, in the ketogenic diet it is 59%.

Comparison of saturated fatty acid diet with the ketogenic diet

Let’s assume that both diets remain at 1500 Cal. per day. Then the saturated fat content for the low fat diet is 12 grams and the carbohydrate content is 208 grams. For the ketogenic diet these values are as follows: 36 grams of saturated fat and 45 grams of carbohydrates. Although there was a threefold higher saturated fatty acid intake, measurements of the circulating level of saturated fatty acids were 4% lower.

You are what you eat, but go easy on carbs

Dr. Volek pointed out that what makes you healthy or sick is how many carbs you include in your diet. If you follow a ketogenic diet with only 12% carbs you are much better off than when you follow a diet like the low fat diet with 56% of carbs. The higher the carb percentage in your food, the higher the production of saturated fatty acids in your system and the higher the storage of saturated fatty acids in your body fat. Conversely, the lower the carb percentage in your food is the higher the oxidation of saturated fatty acids will be.

Low fat diet compared to ketogenic diet

In other words the saturated fatty acids disappear from your blood. Also, with a ketogenic diet the storage of saturated fatty acids is lower in your body fat. With a low fat diet your insulin resistance increases, while with a ketogenic diet insulin resistance decreases. The difference in calories in these two diets (56% derived from carbs in a low fat diet versus 12% derived from carbs in a ketogenic diet) explains why the obesity/type 2 diabetes wave has developed and why heart attacks and strokes still top the mortality figures today.

Endurance athletes win medals on a ketogenic diet

Dr. Volek shared a few cases of world-class athletes that are on a ketogenic diet. They did well for themselves winning medals. Tim Olsen won the Western States 100-mile endurance run from Squaw Valley to Auburn, CA in 2012. Zach Bitter was the 100-mile track record holder in 2015. Mike Morton won the American 24-hour distance running record for 172 miles. Two Tour De France bicyclists made first and second place, Chris Froome (first place) and Romain Bardet (second place).

Sports teams also have been successful on a ketogenic diet: the Columbus Crew soccer team; New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks; the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team are all on ketogenic diets.

Dr. Volek also pointed out that the military has tested the ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet restores metabolic health, gives the soldiers more endurance, more stress resistance and decreased fatigue.

Benefits Of The Ketogenic Diet

Benefits Of The Ketogenic Diet

Conclusion

A ketogenic diet is on the one end of the carb spectrum with only 10 to 12% of calories derived from carbs. At the other end is the low fat/high carb diet that caused the obesity/diabetes wave. The Mediterranean diet is in the center. The more you are able to cut down the carb percentage in your diet by cutting out sugar and starchy foods, the more your metabolism stabilizes and blood tests can be measure this. The ketogenic diet makes you lose weight down to your ideal weight and makes you gain more muscle strength and physical endurance. Sophisticated blood tests have shown that inflammatory markers go down on a ketogenic diet and factors that lead to hardening of arteries also go down.

The end result of being on a ketogenic diet

The end result on the ketogenic diet is that the rate of heart attacks and strokes goes down, something which was the original goal of Ancel Keys. It did not work, but it promoted a wave of diabetes and heart disease! Ironically adding saturated fat and other healthy fats while cutting down carbs will achieve disease prevention. This is the opposite of what Ancel Keys had recommended to do and what the processed food industry has mimicked. The ketogenic diet lowers mortality by cutting down heart attacks and strokes. With this knowledge it will finally be possible to get people on a path to better health.

More information about ketogenic diet: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto

Jan
14
2017

How To Avoid Being Hungry

Dr. Ludwig gave a lecture about how to avoid being hungry at a conference in Las Vegas. The actual topic was “Always Hungry?” I attended the 24th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine (Dec. 9-11, 2016) in Las Vegas where this lecture was given. Dr. Ludwig is a Harvard-based endocrinologist who has been researching weight loss methods and obesity for over 20 years. Here is a list of his major publications.

Dr. Ludwig stated that the low fat/high carb diet popular in the1980’s until the early 2000’s was misguided and probably even harmful. The theory at that time was that obesity was caused by too much saturated fat. This has since been proven to be wrong. Instead it has been proven that increased sugar intake is responsible for the obesity wave.

General information about weight gain

The carbohydrate-insulin model states that without insulin you cannot gain weight, because in order to store fat in fatty tissue you need insulin to transport fatty acids across the cell membrane of fat cells.

In this context it is important to note that high glycemic index food increases the blood sugar. This leads to stimulated insulin production, and the liver converts the extra sugar into fatty acids that get deposited as fat in fatty tissue.

The glycemic load from a person’s diet is the single best predictor for a rising blood sugar level. After food intake the blood sugar goes up, glucagon goes up, epinephrine goes up within 4 hours. It is the epinephrine, which after 4 hours makes you hungry again.

The nucleus accumbens is the addiction center. At 4 hours after a high glycemic index milk shake the nucleus accumbens was stimulated in 12 subjects of a double blind trial.

The nucleus accumbens does not work in isolation. It is not only involved in food satisfaction, but also in sexual satisfaction and even plays a role in satisfaction that some people get from playing video games.

Low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean or low-fat diet

In an Israeli study from the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008 investigators were interested to find out which diet was helping people to lose most weight.

322 moderately obese subjects that were aged 52 years on average were randomized to one of the following diet groups.

They compared

  1. a low fat diet (Atkins type, restricted calorie) with a
  2. Mediterranean diet (low carb, restricted-calorie) and a
  3. Low fat/high carb diet (low fat, non-restricted-calorie)

What was the result? The mean weight losses were: 2.9 kg (low fat group), 4.4 kg (Mediterranean diet group), and 4.7 kg (low fat/high carb group). Of the 272 participants who had completed the intervention after two years of the study the weight loss was 3.3 kg, 4.6 kg, and 5.5 kg in the same sequence as above.

Next the researchers examined the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is a measure for the heart attack risk. It was 20% lower from the baseline in group 2 (Mediterranean diet group). The low fat groups (group 1 and 3) were 12% lower from the baseline.

36 subjects had diabetes. There was a clear winner with respect to lower fasting blood sugar and insulin levels, namely the Mediterranean diet (group 2).

The authors concluded that the Mediterranean diet is preferable to low fat diets as they have shown an improvement in lipid profiles and in control of diabetes.

The “POUNDS LOST” study

This was a 2-year study that investigated 4 different lower calorie diets to help people lose weight. Despite the significant difference in diet composition, these 811 free-living overweight or obese adults ages 30-70 from Boston, MA and Baton Rouge, LA lost 16 pounds at 6 months and 9 pounds at the end of two years. The diets were 1) low fat (20%) or 2) high fat (40%) 3) average protein (15%) or 4) high protein (25% of total calories).

The authors concluded that any reduced, calorie-controlled diet would help obese or overweight people to achieve weight loss that lasts. It is interesting that it did not matter whether the diet was low or high in fat, or had low or high protein content. What did matter was that all diets were low in sugar.

Sugar is the driving force

Dr. Ludwig pointed out that without insulin you couldn’t gain weight. High glycemic index food increases blood sugar. The glycemic load is the single best predictor to indicate whether a person will gain weight or lose weight when you consume food. It is an irony that in the 1980’s and 1990’s the wrong assumption that a low fat/high carb diet would be heart healthy created the obesity wave. We have abundant data available that show otherwise: high sugar content of food brings the calorie count up as everybody can read on the food labels.

Sugar stimulates the food addiction center

This will lead to weight increase, which has been abundantly proven. Sugar also stimulates your nucleus accumbens, the food addiction center. As you probably know it is extremely difficult to get out of this food addiction cycle unless you cut out sugar. You even need to go one step further and include many starchy foods that will within 30 minutes of digesting them turn into sugar. Your system makes no difference whether you eat a few teaspoons of sugar or two slices of white bread. The response of your pancreas is insulin, which gladly stores the fatty substances your liver made as fat.

How to get out of the vicious food cycle

As the quoted publications and many other ones have shown, it only matters that you limit your refined carb intake. You can vary the fat content and you can vary the protein content and still lose weight provided you watch the low carb intake. You also need portion control, which is a given! Study glycemic index and glycemic load sites on the Internet. The links I provided are just some examples. The more you educate yourself about carbs, the better for you. Note that many fruit and vegetables belong to the low-glycemic load/index foods. Avoid the high glycemic index foods like dates and cornflakes. Stick to low-glycemic index foods, which are less than 55. With regard to low-glycemic load food the values should be below 10.

The Mediterranean diet is a very desirable diet, which has been proven to be anti-inflammatory.

The zone diet of Barry Sears is also an anti-inflammatory diet and he summarizes this in this link.

How To Avoid Being Hungry

How To Avoid Being Hungry

Conclusion

I have summarized the content of a talk given by Dr. Ludwig. We learnt from this that sugar and refined carbs are the driving force that leads to “feeling hungry”. This stimulates your nucleus accumbens, the food addiction center. Let’s assume that a person is obese or overweight and wants to lose some weight. You need to start by being strict with yourself. Cut out sugar and high-glycemic foods. This will remove the food addiction factor that keeps you going back to the wrong, high calorie foods. You will also consume more low calorie vegetables and fruit, which have more fiber that fills you up.

Monitor your body mass index

Once you are used to the new way of eating, there is no need to count calories. I recommend that you weigh yourself daily on body composition scales and record the results. This allows you to monitor your body mass index (BMI), your weight, your fat percentage, and your muscle percentage. Typically you will lose 2 to 3 pounds per week on such a low-calorie diet. Later the weight loss will slow down to 1 to 2 weeks per week until you reach your goal. Don’t go lower than a BMI of 21.0 to 22.0 and discuss your goal with your doctor.

Jul
16
2016

Mediterranean With Healthy Fat

If you want to lose weight, have you considered eating Mediterranean with healthy fat? A lot has changed in recent years regarding recommendations for healthy food intake. In the eighties and nineties there was a recommendation for a  low fat diet, which unfortunately was high in carbs and led to obesity. We learnt from this that carbohydrates break down in the gut into sugar. This converts into fatty acids, which go in storage as fat.

Studies regarding diets with unhealthy and healthy fats

Prospective study in the US

Here is a prospective study that followed 120,877 U.S. women and men over a longer time. Every 4 years there was weight gain of 1.69 lbs. for potato chips, 1.28 lbs. for potatoes, 1.00 lb. for sugar-sweetened beverages, 0.95 lb. for unprocessed red meats and 0.93 lb for processed meats. On the other hand from vegetables there was a weight loss of −0.22 lb., for whole grains −0.37 lb., for fruits −0.49 lb., for nuts −0.57 lb. and for yogurt −0.82 lb. The researchers checked cheese out and found it mostly neutral in terms of weight gain, while butter did cause weight gain.

Lancet study from Spain

In a study from Spain that was published in the Lancet in June 2016. The researchers followed 7447 asymptomatic men (aged 55–80 years) and women (aged 60–80 years) for about 5 years. They all had type 2 diabetes and three or more cardiovascular risk factors. They were randomly assigned to three Mediterranean diet types: a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, a Mediterranean diet with nuts and a control group on a low fat Mediterranean diet.

Weight loss when on Mediterranean diet

The interesting finding after 5 years was that there was weight loss around the waist in both the patients on the Mediterranean diet with nuts and with olive oil. Their weight loss was 0.95 lbs. for the olive oil group and 2.82 oz. in the Mediterranean diet group with nuts. The Mediterranean diet group with olive oil had lost 0.22 inches in the waistline, the other group on nuts lost 0.38 inches. These are hardly impressive losses! The researchers concluded that fat restriction is not necessary on the Mediterranean diet, as there was no weight gain with unrestricted healthy fats after 5 years.

Summary from a cardiologist

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and epidemiologist of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy wrote an editorial regarding this Spanish study: ”A handful of nuts may be 160 calories, which is more calories than a can of Coke, but that doesn’t mean the can of Coke is a better choice”. He added: “Salt, sugar, starch, processed food and trans fats should be off the menu, not fat. Healthy foods are healthy foods, and bad foods are bad. It doesn’t matter, if the food is low fat or high fat. This is a separate issue.”

Mediterranean With Healthy Fat

Mediterranean With Healthy Fat

Conclusion

When wanting to lose weight, the key is to pay attention to your carb intake. Make sure it consists of unrefined carbs. You will do this if you eat vegetables and fruit. Cut out sugar and starchy foods as much as you can. Have lean, clean meats, but avoid red meat except perhaps for every two weeks some grass fed beef. Eat fish (important for its content of omega-3 fatty acids), also enjoy yogurt, nuts, olive oil and avocados. It is an extra benefit if you add regular exercise to this as well. You will notice that you gradually shed the unnecessary pounds. This is not a program for just a month or two. To stay well, make it a new lifestyle!

Apr
23
2016

Healing Powers Of Green Tea

Powerful catechins that are a special form of bioflavonoids provide the healing powers of green tea. Researchers have proven that these catechins are only in green tea, not so much in black tea. The most effective of several catechins contained in green tea is EGCG, which stands for EpiGalloCatechin-3-Gallate. It crosses the blood/brain barrier and is very important for the protection of the brain from Alzheimer’s disease. But green tea or green tea extract has a diversified pharmacological action. Researchers said that green tea protects you from cardiovascular disease, from obesity, from diabetes, from autoimmune disorders, from cancer, from Alzheimer’s and dementia.

In the following I like to comment on how green tea or its extract can protect from all of these diseases.

Alzheimer’s disease

Although there are 5 or 6 approved anti-Alzheimer’s drugs, none of them work for very long. They may at best postpone the deteriorating memory for 6 months, but then the effect of the drug wears off. The reason is that the drugs do not stop the production of the deadly beta-amyloid. It is the beta-amyloid that damages nerve cells that you want to preserve so you can think and memorize. In contrast a simple phytochemical, the catechin EGCG has been shown in animal experiments and in human trials to stop beta-amyloid production and increase solubility of beta-amyloid fragments in the brain. The end result is better memory and no further deterioration.

Two studies showing less strokes and better working memory processing with green tea

In a study of 13,988 elderly Japanese observed over 3 years the group that consumed 3 to 4 cups of green tea daily had 33% less strokes, cognitive impairment and osteoporosis.

Researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland enrolled 12 healthy volunteers aged 21 to 28 and fed them extracts of green tea or placebo fluid via feeding tubes. They did this to rule out taste as a factor. The patients underwent functional MRI scans and they also received memory-stimulating tasks. Only the green tea extract was boosting activity in the frontal brain of the subjects. This was located in a specific area, called dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area has a connection with language comprehension, reasoning and learning. It also switches short-term memory into long-term memory, called working memory processing.

Healing powers of green tea through new nerve cell development

Researchers showed with animal experiments that green tea extract protects nerve cells from the toxic effect of beta-amyloid. At the same time green tea extract triggers the production of new brain nerve cells (neurons). This is really good news for Alzheimer’s disease patients and their families: green tea extract delays further memory deterioration and stimulates the development of new nerve cells in the brain!

Cardiovascular disease

In a 2006 Japanese study 40,530 Japanese adults aged 40 to 79 years without history of stroke, coronary heart disease, or cancer at baseline were observed for 7 years. Diaries were kept about how many cups of green tea each person was drinking per day. The prevention of heart attacks and strokes was the the biggest effect of green tea extracts.

Men had a mortality reduction of 12% for heart attacks when they drank 5 cups or more of green tea; in women the corresponding mortality reduction for heart attack was 31%, a bigger effect. Overall mortality from strokes was lower than from heart attacks. This made the effect of green tea consumption even more beneficial with respect to stroke prevention. This study did not show any cancer prevention effect for green tea.

Obesity

It appears that green tea increases heat production and burns fat in the process. There was a small effect in terms of weight loss and a beneficial effect increasing the protective HDL cholesterol in this 2012 Polish study on obese patients. The authors compared either 379 mg of green tea extract, or a placebo, daily for 3 months. They concluded: “The results of this study confirm the beneficial effects of green tea extract supplementation on body mass index, lipid profile, and total antioxidant status in patients with obesity.”

Diabetes

Although there are claims in some studies that green tea would prevent diabetes, this question was thoroughly investigated in this Chinese 2014 study.

Researchers did not see any effects on fasting blood sugars or on hemoglobin A1C values. Hemoglobin A1C is a very sensitive indicator for the presence or absence of diabetes. All these lab tests showed no change following consumption of green tea or green tea extract. Forget using green tea for diabetes prevention; cut out sugar and starchy foods instead.

Autoimmune disorders

Sjogren’s syndrome and lupus are both autoimmune diseases. Green tea extract has shown in humans that symptom severity can improve; green tea polyphenols (GTPs) possess anti-inflammatory properties that benefit patients with autoimmune diseases.

In an animal model arthritis researchers determined that T helper cells are weakened and bone resorption is inhibited by EGCG from green tea extract.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA have noted that green tea extract is useful in calming down the immune response in autoimmune diseases. They concluded: “Altogether, these studies identify and support the use of EGCG as a potential therapeutic agent in preventing and ameliorating T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.”

Cancer

Many researchers found that EGCG from green tea extract has immune modulatory effects. Furthermore, they saw a positive effect when patients received EGCG in combination with chemotherapy. A combination of cisplatin therapy with green tea extract has been found to have more effects on colorectal cancer and ovarian cancer than each one on its own. Similarly chemotherapy of breast cancer had better results in humans when EGCG from green tea extract was added as an immune modulation. More research, particularly in humans is needed to fully understand the mechanism of action of EGCG.

Toxicity of green tea extract

Animal experiments showed that higher doses of green tea extract could cause toxicity in the liver and in the nose of rats and mice. I was not able to find objective evidence for green tea toxicity in the PubMed system with respect to humans.

Healing Powers Of Green Tea

Healing Powers Of Green Tea

Conclusion

Perhaps the most important discovery regarding green tea extract is as follows. It crosses easily through the blood/brain barrier into the brain. This can postpone Alzheimer’s disease and can even lead to new neuron formation. The beneficial cardiovascular effects are also useful and combine well with exercise and good nutrition for prevention. Particularly stroke prevention is a useful property of EGCG from green tea extract. The effect on obesity is marginal whereas there was no effect of green tea on prevention of diabetes. The immune modulatory effect of green tea extract is useful in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and of cancer. Existing treatments for these conditions are becoming more effective by adding green tea extract.

Dec
19
2015

Beer Belly Bad News

You heard the expression “beer belly”, but now we learn “beer belly bad news”. It is an unflattering term for increased abdominal girth, especially in males. It is quite often that this picture is found in middle-aged men who consume more beer than what is good for them, but they may also mill around the hot dog stands at the ball game instead of being physically active. Any leftover calories are stored as belly fat, which protrudes their stomach as if they were pregnant.

There is a big difference between belly fat and body fat. Belly fat is metabolically much more active. Body fat is more sessile. So, it is the belly fat we need to do something about as this has been shown to be associated with heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

 

Abdominal girth to hip ratio instead of BMI

Originally it was thought that excessive weight would best be measured with the body mass index (BMI). But subsequently it was shown that athletes with well-developed muscles could have BMI’s that were in the overweight (between 25.0 and 30.0) or even obese category (more than 30.0). Also, some people with heavy bones can have excessive BMI values despite them being normal based on other measurements. The new measurement is the old fashioned abdominal girth to hip ratio.

Weight gain leads to metabolic syndrome

You measure the abdominal girth, the hip girth and divide the abdominal girth by the hip girth. Normally this should be 80% (=0.8) or less for women and 90% (=0.9) or less for men. But a person with a beer belly will have ratios of 1.2 or 1.5.

If you take blood tests of that person you would also find elevated triglycerides, lowered HDL cholesterol (the protective cholesterol) and elevated LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). In addition, we know from studies that often the insulin level is elevated in the sense of hyperinsulinism. In fact that person has often the metabolic syndrome, which is a characteristic change of the metabolism in an obese person. The blood is thicker with clotting factors floating around, there are inflammatory kinins that circulate and these factors work together on causing hardening of the arteries.

Why is a beer belly dangerous?

There are not only cardiovascular risk on the long-term causing heart attacks and strokes down the road. There is a danger of fat deposits in the liver, called fatty liver disease.

In time this can turn into liver cirrhosis and in some cases develop into liver cancer. Because belly fat causes inflammation in the system including in the lining of the blood vessels, this can in time also affect the immune system, weakening it and eventually allowing cancer to develop. Common cancers that are associated with obesity are breast cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer in women, prostate cancer in men and pancreas and colon cancer in both sexes.

Estrogen from aromatase in beer bellies

In men beer bellies produce a lot of estrogen, the female hormone. This is so because fat tissue contains the enzyme aromatase that metabolizes male hormones into estrogen. Estrogen in men is only good in traces, but when the body produces it massively, it will counter testosterone production and will cause heart attacks and strokes.

What can you do about a beer belly?

We need to understand how beer bellies develop. One of the sources of fat from beer bellies is the consumption of foods that contain a lot of fructose. Food manufacturers have been diligent in mixing high fructose corn syrup into sugary drinks and into a myriad of processed foods.

Sugar itself can only be processed and stored until the glycogen stores in the liver and the muscles are filled. The liver metabolizes a surplus of sugar into triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. This is also the case for any fructose that comes from metabolized sucrose (table sugar) and from the high fructose corn syrup popular with the food processing industry. One problem is that fructose can only be processed by the liver, while glucose gets directly taken up by cells with the help of insulin.

German obesity wave after WWII in the 1960’s

The surplus of fructose metabolizes into triglycerides and LDL cholesterol before the body stores it as fat in fat cells. Unfortunately a lot of the fat will end up between your guts, in the liver as fatty liver and in the beer belly, a metabolically more active form of fat.

The sad part is that in the 1960’s I have seen the German economic wonder (“Wirtschaftswunder”) where many mid fifty to mid sixty business men died as a result of obesity and subsequent heart attacks and strokes. At that time Germans who were starving during World War II lived it up. This was in the late fifties and 1960’s. They ate whatever they could: cakes, fatty cheeses, whipped cream, fatty foods like pork roasts and beef.

Unhealthy hydrogenated fats, starchy food and sugar caused beer bellies

They also consumed loads of bread, buns, pasta and sugar. Margarine also became popular with its hydrogenated fatty acids that also contained free radicals. The end result was that they gained weight, did not exercise and developed their beer bellies.

In the 1980’s the school of thought was that saturated fatty acids  were responsible for heart attacks, strokes and obesity.  A low fat/high carb diet became popular and continued to steadily increase. Sure, the hydrogenated fatty acids did not help and should be cut out. But the bigger problem was the consumption of high fructose corn syrup and over-consumption of high glycemic-index carbohydrates.

Steps of how to get rid of the beer belly

Here is the solution of what to do get rid of the beer belly.

Eliminate sugar and high fructose from diet

Remove sugar and high fructose corn syrup from your diet.

Remove empty starches from your diet

The second effective step is to cut out as many empty starches that you can cut out like white rice, bread, sweets, cookies, cakes, ice cream and pasta. Starchy foods metabolize in the gut into sugar, which causes an insulin response. The extra insulin is responsible for developing inflammation in the arteries, which eventually leads to heart attacks and strokes.

Regular exercise

Exercise on a regular basis. This will produce HDL cholesterol, the protective cholesterol, which balances LDL cholesterol.

Rebalance your food intake

Perhaps the most important step is to rebalance your food intake. With this I mean that you replace high glycemic-index carbs with low glycemic-index carbs. This means you will eat a lot of salads, steamed vegetables, and fruit. This gives you a lot of extra fiber, which your system needs to slow down the rate of sugar absorption. It also  helps you to lower LDL cholesterol and detoxify your body in the gut where fiber binds toxins.

Moderate your alcohol intake

If you are heavily into alcoholic drinks, this is another source of refined carbohydrates. They metabolize into LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and can cause fatty liver disease and liver cirrhosis. A moderate consumption of alcohol (one drink for women per day and two drinks for men per day) lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes, while excessive alcohol intake increases the risk.

Bioidentical hormone replacement

Bioidentical hormone replacement may be something you have not heard about. But if you are a woman above the age of 40 or a man above the age of 50 chances are that you need some hormone tests. As a male, your natural hormone production from your testicles or adrenal glands is likely not keeping up.  As a woman, your ovaries or adrenal glands are no longer keeping up with the demand of regular life. Part of the aging process is that the production of our sex hormones slows down. It does so shortly before menopause in women and shortly before andropause in men.

Lack of function of key organs in menopause and andropause

This will not only manifest itself in hot flashes and sleep disturbance in women. Men experience erectile dysfunction and grumpiness. Eventually this leads to a lack of energy production in the heart, the brain and other organ systems. When these organs have sex hormone receptors, but circulating sex hormones are missing, they cannot function optimally.

Lack of hormones causes heart attacks, strokes and cancer

A lack of hormones translates into yet another cause of heart attacks, strokes and certain cancers. This is an area where conventional medicine disagrees with anti-aging medicine. Years in general practice have taught me that heart attacks, strokes, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer happen more often when hormones are missing in both sexes. Cancer of the breasts, uterus and ovaries and prostate cancer are more common when sex hormones are missing. These cancers occur when natural sex hormone production declined.

On the other hand, with bioidentical hormone replacement the metabolism of all cells will return to normal. With this the likelihood of not developing all these illnesses at an earlier time is diminishing as well. It is not a panacea for eternal life, but it will add significant longevity. And with this comes the knowledge that you will not get premature disabilities, which is what we all need.

Beer Belly Bad News

Beer Belly Bad News

Conclusion

We need to assess our food intake habits and cut out the items that contribute to the beer belly. Next we need to ask ourselves what other change in lifestyle we require.  Think about anything to improve our body shape and our energy metabolism. Life is too precious to just throw away years of fruitful living in our golden retirement years. Work on these factors in midlife or even in younger years and you will enjoy disease-free aging.