Thursday, February 25, 2010

Corn Oil and Cancer: Reality Strikes Again

The benefits of corn oil keep rolling in. In a new study by Stephen Freedland's group at Duke, feeding mice a diet rich in butter and lard didn't promote the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells any more than a low-fat diet (1).

Why do we care? Because other studies, including one from the same investigators, show that corn oil and other industrial seed oils strongly promote prostate cancer cell growth and increase mortality in similar models (2, 3).

From the discussion section:
Current results combined with our prior results suggest that lowering the fat content of a primarily saturated fat diet offers little survival benefit in an intact or castrated LAPC-4 xenograft model. In contrast to the findings when omega-6 fats are used, these results raise the possibility that fat type may be as important as fat amount or perhaps even more important.
The authors seem somewhat surprised and pained by the result. Kudos for publishing it. However, there's nothing to be surprised about. There's a large body of evidence implicating excess omega-6 fat in a number of cancer models. Reducing omega-6 to below 4% of calories has a dramatic effect on cancer incidence and progression*. In fact, there have even been several experiments showing that butter and other animal fats promote cancer growth to a lesser degree than margarine and omega-6-rich seed oils. I discussed that here.

I do have one gripe with the study. They refer to the diet as "saturated fat based". That's inaccurate terminology. I see it constantly in the diet-health literature. If it were coconut oil, then maybe I could excuse it, because coconut fat is 93% saturated. But this diet was made of lard and butter, the combination of which is probably about half saturated. The term "animal fat" or "low-omega-6 fat" would have been more accurate. At least they listed the diet composition. Many studies don't even bother, leaving it to the reader to decide what they mean by "saturated fat".


* The average American eats 7-8% omega-6 by calories. This means it will be difficult to see a relationship between omega-6 intake and cancer (or heart disease, or most things) in observational studies in the US or other industrial nations, because we virtually all eat more than 4% of calories as omega-6. Until the 20th century, omega-6 intake was below 4%, and usually closer to 2%, in most traditional societies. That's where it remains in contemporary traditional societies unaffected by industrial food habits, such as Kitava. Our current omega-6 intake is outside the evolutionary norm.

Lengthening Lifespans With An Alkaline Lifestyle

Americans are enjoying health benefits courtesy of innovations in medical technology, but they still suffer the consequences of their own lifestyle choices, according to a major report released Wednesday.

The annual complication, "Health, United States, 2009," is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 574-page document reports that one of the biggest transformations in American health care has been the use of technology, especially imaging tests. MRI, CT and PET scans were ordered in 14 percent of emergency room visits in 2007, compared to less than 4 percent in 1996.

The CDC uses the most recent data available to offer a snapshot of American wellness. For 2009, the CDC used information from '06-'07.

Advances in technology are lengthening lifespans, but some experts say the quality of life isn't improving because people continue to have poor diet and exercise habits. Here, a hospital worker prepares a patient for an MRI.

The study offers several reasons to explain the increased use of technology. Machines are more readily available and more effective than they were in the 1990s. But they remain expensive: A single scan costs upwards of $500.

And safety hazards remain a concern. The report notes that imaging tests have been linked to increased rates of cancer, depending on radiation dose. A single CT scan can emit as much radiation as over 400 chest X-rays.

Scans aside, Americans are making use of new medical options. The percentage of those taking at least one prescription drug has soared, from 39 percent between 1988-1994 to 47 percent between 2003-2006. Hip replacements are up by 60 percent. The use of assisted reproductive technology has doubled.

More effective imaging tests, combined with other technological innovations like knee replacements and organ transplants, are credited with improving our life expectancy. A girl born today can anticipate living until age 80, whereas a baby boy will reach 75.

But some experts warn that this technology is improving lifespan, without improving quality of life. "The more societal resources we allocate to medical technology, the less we may devote to supporting the lifestyle practices that can actually build health at its origins," Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale School of Public Health.

And quality of life is an area that Americans still need to work on. According to the 33rd edition of the CDC report:

Only 31 percent of us get adequate exercise, and the number hasn't moved in the last decade.

Rates of obesity have doubled since 1976. As of 2006, 35 percent of adult Americans were obese.

More Americans than ever live without health insurance -- 16.6 percent of those under 65. But we're facing more out-of-pocket spending on medical care -- an average of $6,200 per person.

Around 20 percent of American adults still smoke, a decrease of only one percentage point in the last decade.

As life expectancy rises alongside health care costs, the CDC warns that there's a limit to the benefits we can gain from life-saving technology. "Questions remain about how much improvement is possible when resources are scarce and costs continue to increase," the report says.

The potential for technology will no doubt reach a limit, because of the limits of rapid innovation or the cap on our own pocketbooks. If we want to see improvements in health, the CDC report illustrates, our lifestyles and diets are what really need to change.

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of Research at the pH Miracle Living Center, "the key to extraordinary health and fitness throughout ones life is maintaining the alkaline design of the body with an alkaline lifestyle and diet. This lifestyle and diet focuses on daily exercise for at least 1 hour, alkaline food including liberal amounts of green fruit and vegetables, drinking at least 4 liters of alkaline water at a pH of 9.5 daily, ingesting at least 3 ounces of polyunsaturated oils daily and finally eating 12 grams of mineral salts every day."

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Dis-Ease

  1. What are phytonutrients and where are they found?
  2. What are the major classes of phytonutrients?
  3. How do phytonutrients protect against acidic dis-eases?
  4. What is the evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health?
  5. Are Americans eating enough fruits and vegetables?
  6. What is the present state of phytonutrient research?

1. What are phytonutrients and where are they found?

The term "phyto" originated from a Greek word meaning plant. Phytonutrients are certain organic components of plants, and these components are thought to promote human health. Fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts are rich sources of phytonutrients. Unlike the traditional nutrients (protein, fat, vitamins, minerals), phytonutrients are not "essential" for life, so some people prefer the term "phytochemical".

2. What are the Major Classes of Phytonutrients?

Some of the common classes of phytonutrients include:

  • Carotenoids
  • Flavonoids (Polyphenols) including Isoflavones (Phytoestrogens)
  • Inositol Phosphates (Phytates)
  • Lignans (Phytoestrogens)
  • Isothiocyanates and Indoles
  • Phenols and Cyclic Compounds
  • Saponins
  • Sulfides and Thiols
  • Terpenes

About Carotenoids



Of all the phytonutrients, we probably know the most about carotenoids, the red, orange and yellow pigments in fruit and vegetables. The carotenoids most commonly found in vegetables (and in plasma) are listed below along with common sources of these compounds. Fruit and vegetables that are high in carotenoids appear to protect humans against certain cancerous conditions, heart disease and age related macular degeneration.



Carotenoid

Common Food Source

alpha-carotene

carrots, grasses, sprouts

beta-carotene

leafy green and yellow vegetables (eg broccoli, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots), grasses, sprouts

beta-cryptoxanthin

citrus, peaches, apricots, sprouts

lutein

leafy greens such as kale, spinach, turnip greens, grasses, sprouts

lycopene

luctene

tomato products, pink grapefruit

avocado products

zeaxanthin

green vegetables, citrus, grasses, sprouts





For a more detailed discussion of carotenoid content of fruit and vegetables see Chug-Ahuja et al, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993;93:318 and Mangels et al. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993;93:284-296. For carotenoid values of specific foods see the USDA-NCC Carotenoid Database for U.S. Foods on the website of the Nutrient Database Laboratory.



About Polyphenols



Polyphenolic compounds are natural components of a wide variety of plants; they are also known as secondary plant metabolites. Food sources rich in polyphenols include onion, pine bark, apple, tea, red grape, grape juice, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and certain nuts. The average polyphenol / flavonoid intake in the U.S. has not been determined with precision, in large part, because there is presently no U.S. national food database for these compounds. (USDA scientists and their colleagues are in the process of developing a database for foods rich in polyphenols.) It has been estimated that in the Dutch diet a subset of flavonoids (flavonols and flavones) provide 23 mg per day. Earlier estimates of dietary intake that approximated 650 mg per day (Kuhnau, World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 1976;24:117) are generally thought to be too high as the estimate was based on data that were generated by "old" (less specific) methodology. Scientists at the Food Composition Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center are currently developing new methodology for the accurate measurement of polyphenols in foods.



Polyphenols can be classified as non-flavonoids and flavonoids. The flavonoids quercetin and catechins are the most extensively studied polyphenols relative to absorption and metabolism.



Nonflavonoids

Sources

ellagic acid

strawberries, blueberries, raspberries

coumarins



Flavonoids

Sources

anthocyanins

fruit, pine bark, grasses, sprouts

catechins

grape, grape seed

flavanones

citrus

flavones

fruit, vegetables, grasses and sprouts

flavonols

fruit, vegetables, grasses and sprouts

isoflavones

soybeans, soy sprouts



3. How do phytonutrients protect against disease?

The following are commonly proposed mechanisms by which phytonutrients may protect human health. More research is needed to firmly establish the mechanisms of action of the various phytochemicals.



Phytonutrients may:

  • serve as antioxidants or anti-acids

  • supports immune response in helping maintain the integrity of the internal environment

  • enhance cell-to-cell communication
  • reduce estrogen as an acidic waste product of reproductive function

  • convert to vitamin A (beta-carotene is metabolized to vitamin A)
  • cause cancerous cells to biologically transform (apoptosis)
  • repair DNA damage caused by smoking and other toxic exposures
  • detoxify carcinogens through the activation of the cytocrome P450 and Phase II enzyme systems
  • chelate environmental, dietary and metabolic acids that cause all sickness and dis-ease.

4. What is the evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health?

Evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health is accumulating from large population (epidemiological) studies, human feeding studies, and cell culture studies. Listed below are a few selected population studies from the literature linking fruit and vegetable consumption to health. For an excellent review concerning vegetables, fruit and cancer prevention, see Steinmetz and Potter, Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1996;96:1027.

See the World Cancer Research and American Institute for Cancer Research 10 year study on Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective.



Evidence that Carotenoids are Protective



Fruit and vegetable consumption has been linked to decreased risk of stroke -- both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. Each increment of three daily servings of fruit and vegetables equated to a 22% decrease in risk of stroke, including transient ischemic attack (Gillman et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1995;273;1113).



Elderly men whose intake of dark green and deep yellow vegetable put them in the highest quartile for consumption of these vegetables had about a 46% decrease in risk of heart disease relative to men who ranked in the lowest quartile. Men in the highest quintile had about a 70% lower risk of cancer than did their counterparts in the lowest quintile. The differences in vegetable consumption between high and low intake rankings was not striking. Men in the highest quartile or quintile consumed more than two (>2.05 and >2.2) servings of dark green or deep yellow vegetable a day; those in the lowest quartile or quintile consumed less than one serving daily (<0.8>



Consumption of tomato products has been linked to decreased risk of prostate cancer. Men in the highest quintile for consumption of tomato products (10 or more servings a week) had about a 35% decrease in risk of prostate cancer compared to counterparts whose consumption put them in the lowest quintile (1.5 or fewer servings of tomato products a week) (Giovannucci et al. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1995;87:1767).



People in the highest quintile for consumption of spinach or collard greens, plants high in the carotenoid lutein, had a 46% decrease in risk of age-related macular degeneration compared to those in the lowest quintile who consumed these vegetables less than once per month (Seddon et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1994;272:1413).



Evidence that Polyphenols are Protective



Flavonoid consumption has been linked to lower risk of heart disease in some, but not all, studies. Elderly Dutch men in the highest tertile of flavonoid intake had a risk of heart disease that was about 58% lower than that of counterparts in the lowest tertile of intake. Those in the lowest tertile consumed 19 mg or less of flavonoids per day, whereas those in the highest tertile consumed approximately 30 mg per day or more (Hertog et al. Lancet. 1993;342:1007). Similarly, Finnish subjects with the highest quartile of flavonoid intake had a risk of mortality from heart disease that was about 27% (for women) and 33% (form men) lower than that of those in the lowest quartile (Knekt et al. British Medical Journal. 1996;312:478).



However, in other studies the protective effect of flavonoids could not be confirmed. For Welch men, flavonol intake did not predict a lower rate of ischemic heart disease and was weakly positively associated with ischemic heart disease mortality (Hertog et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1997;65:1489). For U.S. male health professionals, data did not support a strong link between intake of flavonoids and coronary heart disease (Rimm et al. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1996;125:384).



5. Are Americans Eating Enough Fruit and Vegetables?

An excellent source of information on fruit, vegetable and grain intake of Americans is USDA's 1994/96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted by the Food Surveys Research Group, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center. The following information comes from that survey

.

About Vegetable Intake



On average, Americans consume 3.3 servings of vegetables a day. However, dark green vegetables and deep yellow vegetables each represent only 0.2 daily servings.



On any given day, about 49% of the population consumes at least the minimum number of servings of vegetables recommended (3 servings per day); 41% consume the number of servings recommended based on caloric intake (3 servings per day for those consuming less than 2200 calories, 4 servings per day for those consuming 2200-2800 calories, 5 servings per day for those consuming 2800 calories or more). About 10% of the population consumes less than one serving of vegetable per day.



About Fruit Intake



On any given day about 29% of the population consumes at least the minimum number of servings of fruit recommended (2 servings per day); 24% consume the number of servings recommended based on caloric intake (2 servings per day for those consuming less than 2200 calories, 3 for those consuming 2800 calories, 4 for those consuming 2800 calories or more). About 48% consume less than one serving of fruit a day.



6. What is the Present Status of the Art of Phytonutrients Research?

Population studies have linked fruit and vegetable consumption with lowering the risk for chronic diseases including specific cancerous conditions and heart dis-ease. However, media and consumer interest in phytonutrients and functional foods is far ahead of established proof that documents the health benefits of these foods or food components for humans. Phytonutrients research is experiencing remarkable growth. Hopefully, more specific information on phytonutrient consumption and human health will be forthcoming in the near future. For now, it appears that an effective strategy for reducing risk of cancerous conditions and heart dis-ease is to increase consumption of alkalizing, electron-rich phytonutrient-rich foods including green fruit, vegetables, grasses, seeds, nuts and sprouts.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Magnesium and Insulin Sensitivity

From a paper based on US NHANES nutrition and health survey data (1):
During 1999–2000, the diet of a large proportion of the U.S. population did not contain adequate magnesium... Furthermore, racial or ethnic differences in magnesium persist and may contribute to some health disparities.... Because magnesium intake is low among many people in the United States and inadequate magnesium status is associated with increased risk of acute and chronic conditions, an urgent need exists to perform a current survey to assess the physiologic status of magnesium in the U.S. population.
Magnesium is an essential mineral that's slowly disappearing from the modern diet, as industrial agriculture and industrial food processing increasingly dominate our food choices. One of the many things it's necessary for in mammals is proper insulin sensitivity and glucose control. A loss of glucose control due to insulin resistance can eventually lead to diabetes and all its complications.

Magnesium status is associated with insulin sensitivity (2, 3), and a low magnesium intake predicts the development of type II diabetes in most studies (4, 5) but not all (6). Magnesium supplements largely prevent diabetes in a rat model* (7). Interestingly, excess blood glucose and insulin themselves seem to reduce magnesium status, possibly creating a vicious cycle.

In a 1993 trial, a low-magnesium diet reduced insulin sensitivity in healthy volunteers by 25% in just four weeks (8). It also increased urinary thromboxane concentration, a potential concern for cardiovascular health**.

At least three trials have shown that magnesium supplementation increases insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant diabetics and non-diabetics (9, 10, 11). In some cases, the results were remarkable. In type II diabetics, 16 weeks of magnesium supplementation improved fasting glucose, calculated insulin sensitivity and HbA1c*** (12). HbA1c dropped by 22 percent.

In insulin resistant volunteers with low blood magnesium, magnesium supplementation for four months reduced estimated insulin resistance by 43 percent and decreased fasting insulin by 32 percent (13). This suggests to me that magnesium deficiency was probably one of the main reasons they were insulin resistant in the first place. But the study had another very interesting finding: magnesium improved the subjects' blood lipid profile remarkably. Total cholesterol decreased, LDL decreased, HDL increased and triglycerides decreased by a whopping 39 percent. The same thing had been reported in the medical literature decades earlier when doctors used magnesium injections to treat heart disease, and also in animals treated with magnesium. Magnesium supplementation also suppresses atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries) in animal models, a fact that I may discuss in more detail at some point (14, 15).

In the previous study, participants were given 2.5 g magnesium chloride (MgCl2) per day. That's a bit more than the USDA recommended daily allowance (MgCl2 is mostly chloride by weight), in addition to what they were already getting from their diet. Most of a person's magnesium is in their bones, so correcting a deficiency by eating a nutritious diet may take a while.

Speaking of nutritious diets, how does one get magnesium? Good sources include halibut, leafy greens, chocolate and nuts. Bone broths are also an excellent source of highly absorbable magnesium. Whole grains and beans are also fairly good sources, while refined grains lack most of the magnesium in the whole grain. Organic foods, particularly artisanally produced foods from a farmer's market, are richer in magnesium because they grow on better soil and often use older varieties that are more nutritious.

The problem with seeds such as grains, beans and nuts is that they also contain phytic acid which prevents the absorption of magnesium and other minerals (16). Healthy non-industrial societies that relied on grains took great care in their preparation: they soaked them, often fermented them, and also frequently removed a portion of the bran before cooking (17). These steps all served to reduce the level of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. I've posted a method for effectively reducing the amount of phytic acid in brown rice (18). Beans should ideally be soaked for 24 hours before cooking, preferably in warm water.

Industrial agriculture has systematically depleted our soil of many minerals, due to high-yield crop varieties and the fact that synthetic fertilizers only replace a few minerals. The mineral content of foods in the US, including magnesium, has dropped sharply in the last 50 years. The reason we need to use fertilizers in the first place is that we've broken the natural nutrient cycle in which minerals always return to the soil in the same place they were removed. In 21st century America, minerals are removed from the soil, pass through our toilets, and end up in the landfill or in waste water. This will continue until we find an acceptable way to return human feces and urine to agricultural soil, as many cultures do to this day****.

I believe that an adequate magnesium intake is critical for proper insulin sensitivity and overall health.


* Zucker rats that lack leptin signaling

** Thromboxane A2 is an omega-6 derived eicosanoid that potently constricts blood vessels and promotes blood clotting. It's interesting that magnesium has such a strong effect on it. It indicates that fatty acid balance is not the only major influence on eicosanoid production.

*** Glycated hemoglobin. A measure of the average blood glucose level over the past few weeks.

**** Anyone interested in further reading on this should look up The Humanure Handbook

Lindeberg on Obesity

I'm currently reading Dr. Staffan Lindeberg's magnum opus Food and Western Disease, recently published in English for the first time. Dr. Lindeberg is one of the world's leading experts on the health and diet of non-industrial cultures, particularly in Papua New Guinea. The book contains 2,034 references. It's also full of quotable statements. Here's what he has to say about obesity:
Middle-age spread is a normal phenomenon - assuming you live in the West. Few people are able to maintain their [youthful] waistline after age 50. The usual explanation - too little exercise and too much food - does not fully take into account the situation among traditional populations. Such people are usually not as physically active as you may think, and they usually eat large quantities of food.

Overweight has been extremely rare among hunter-gatherers and other traditional cultures [18 references]. This simple fact has been quickly apparent to all foreign visitors...

The Kitava study measured height, weight, waist circumference, subcutaneous fat thickness at the back of the upper arm (triceps skinfold) and upper arm circumference on 272 persons ages 4-86 years. Overweight and obesity were absent and average [body mass index] was low across all age groups. ...no one was larger around their waist than around their hips.

...The circumference of the upper arm [mostly indicating muscle mass] was only negligibly smaller on Kitava [compared with Sweden], which indicates that there was no malnutrition. It is obvious from our investigations that lack of food is an unknown concept, and that the surplus of fruits and vegetables regularly rots or is eaten by dogs.

The Population of Kitava occupies a unique position in the world in terms of the negligible effect that the Western lifestyle has had on the island.
The only obese Kitavans Dr. Lindeberg observed were two people who had spent several years off the island living a modern, urban lifestyle, and were back on Kitava for a visit.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a scholarly interest in health and nutrition, and somewhat of a background in science and medicine. It's extremely well referenced, which makes it much more valuable.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

One of the top home natural healer's


One of my favorite natural remedies that is a great benefit to my health, and is used widely in alternative health is the fatty acid Omega-3.

You may think that fat is bad for you but Omega-3 mainly found in salmon, mackerel, and fresh tuna plays a key role in many vital body processes.

I have used Omega-3, in supplement form, for many years in the hope it will lower cholesterol levels, and lower blood pressure
. I am sure it has helped my health to some degree. The recommended dose of fish oil supplements is usually 3,000-5,000mg per day.

In natural therapy, Omega-3 is used for the following conditions:
Arthritis, Asthma, Bursitis and tendinitis, Depression, Dry skin, Eczema, Gout, High blood pressure, High cholesterol. Hives, Inflammatory bowel disease, Memory problems, Menstrual problems, Nail problems, Palpitations, Prostate problems, Psoriasis and Wrinkles. There is also some evidence that cancer may also be helped with Omega-3.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Join The Alkaline Movement!

In every age in history, there are those rare individuals who lead the way of new thought, new science that can transform the world. Dr. Robert and Shelley Young are two of those individuals. Their work and teaching on the New Biology is changing lives and healing the planet.

I have profound gratitude for being able to study and work with Dr. Young at the pH Miracle center. He is truly a pioneer and I believe, one of the most learned men about medicine and the human body.

I am a licensed naturopathic doctor and have been going to medical seminars for over 20 years. The microscopy courses I have taken have by far, been the best training that I have ever attended. Live blood analysis is one of the most valuable tools that we have to see the quality of the blood and the overall health of the body. It can reveal patterns of disease before they manifest. This is truly preventative medicine.

Live blood analysis can also guide you through a holistic health program, showing the effects on your blood. People waste hundreds and thousands of dollars on natural health products and programs that don't work. With live blood analysis, you can see whether or not the supplements and diet you are following are really benefiting your body, actually saving you money.

I would encourage anyone who is thinking about learning more about the new biology to attend the training or come to a retreat to find out more.

The microscopy course is not just for doctors!! Anyone can learn.

Here's what else I liked about the courses:

Dr. Young is generous. I was surprised that he gave us all of the lectures and power point presentations he has developed over the years. You are given all the tools to share this information with others in a powerful way. Many people who teach seminars give you bread crumbs and try to sell you on their next course. Dr. Young gives you everything he has, freely.

Dr. Young is FUNNY. We had a blast. I have never laughed so hard in my life, and usually do on a daily basis while working at the ranch. A good sense of humor is a sign of a healthy person. Laughing keeps you alkaline and healthy!

Dr. Young really lives the lifestyle. Just being with him is an inspiration. He starts at 7 am with one hour of yoga, then runs for 30 min or more. He glows with health, happiness and vitality.

While at the course, you have a retreat experience in a beautiful setting. No stuffy hotel room. You have three delicious alkaline meals per day and really get to experience the alkaline lifestyle.

You also receive one on one attention. While attending the course you have time to practice and receive individual help in making sure you know how to implement the tools.

You have to immerse yourself to really integrate these teachings. The new biology is a paradigm shift. It's much more than following a diet. It's about a whole different way of thinking. There are so many incorrect myths about the body. Dr. Young dispels these myths. People leave the seminar saying it has totally changed their life.

I have witnessed many "so called" medical miracles while working at the pH miracle center. These were actually not miracles at all, but merely the application of the principles of health which Dr. Young teaches. If you learn these principals and apply them to your life, you can have vibrant health.

What are the gifts you receive from the New Biology?
Freedom from fear.

If you know how your body works and you take care of it, you won't be sick. If you maintain the alkaline design of the body, give it the fuel it needs and stop taking in acidic foods and drinks, you will not get infections. You don't need to be afraid of every new supposed flu or pandemic that is in the news.

Empowerment

You will know what to do to achieve and maintain health. Its up to you. You have simple and easy tools. Just measuring you urine pH shows you every day what is going on in your body and how to adjust your diet and lifestyle.

Live blood analysis has been the best addition to my practice. It is either an affirmation of good lifestyle habits or a wake up call to make serious changes. People are truly inspired to make positive changes in their lifestyle after seeing their blood.

Join the alkalarian movement! Become part of the pH Miracle Family.
If you have questions about attending the course or retreats, feel free to call at:
760-751-8321
or you can contact me at:
Matea Polisoto, N.D.
drmatea@phmiracleliving.com
www.drmatea.com
858-779-9120

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Dissolve Away those Pesky Bones with Corn Oil

I just read an interesting paper from Gabriel Fernandes's group at the University of Texas. It's titled "High fat diet-induced animal model of age-associated obesity and osteoporosis". I was expecting this to be the usual "we fed mice industrial lard for 60% of calories and they got sick" paper, but I was pleasantly surprised. From the introduction:
CO [corn oil] is known to promote bone loss, obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and thus represents a useful model for studying the early stages in the development of obesity, hyperglycemia, Type 2 diabetes [23] and osteoporosis. We have used omega-6 fatty acids enriched diet as a fat source which is commonly observed in today's Western diets basically responsible for the pathogenesis of many diseases [24].
Just 10% of the diet as corn oil (roughly 20% of calories), with no added omega-3, on top of an otherwise poor laboratory diet, caused:
  • Obesity
  • Osteoporosis
  • The replacement of bone marrow with fat cells
  • Diabetes
  • Insulin resistance
  • Generalized inflammation
  • Elevated liver weight (possibly indicating fatty liver)
Hmm, some of these sound familiar... We can add them to the findings that omega-6 also promotes various types of cancer in rodents (1).

20% fat is less than the amount it typically takes to make a rodent this sick. This leads me to conclude that corn oil is particularly good at causing mouse versions of some of the most common facets of the "diseases of civilization". It's exceptionally high in omega-6 (linoleic acid) with virtually no omega-3.

Make sure to eat your heart-healthy corn oil! It's made in the USA, dirt cheap and it even lowers cholesterol!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Using Reiki to benefit health.

I think at this time my health may benefit from Reiki and I intend to find a therapist who may be able to help me.

One of the greatest Reiki healing health benefits is stress reduction and relaxation, which triggers the bodies natural healing abilities, and improves and maintains health. Reiki healing is a natural therapy that gently balances life energies and brings health and well being to the recipient.

This simple, non-invasive healing system works with the Higher Self of the Receiver to promote health and well being of the entire physical, emotional and psychic body. Therefore it is truly a system of attaining and promoting wholeness of Mind, Body and Spirit.
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Friday, February 12, 2010

Thou Shalt NOT Eat MEAT!

The bible has been manipulated in so many ways that the original teachings are a contradiction in themselves. Here is a quote from the Bible and an explanation of what it means.

"For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and who eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats the body of death. For in his blood every drop of their blood turns to poison; in his breath their breath to stink; in his flesh their flesh to boils; in his bones their bones to chalk; in his bowels their bowels to decay; in his eyes to scales; in his ears their ears to waxy issue. And their death will become his death."

The Essence Gospel of Peace, Book 1.

I know the acidic negative effects that animal flesh has on your bowels, blood and in turn to your body. I know that the acid from animal protein (uric acid, nitric acid) gives rise to bacteria, yeast and mold and all sickness and dis-ease. I know that boils and pus created by bacteria and yeast comes from animal protein acid. I know that to buffer the double loss of alkalinity from eating animal protein the body leaches calcium from the bones causing osteoporosis. Look into an old person's eyes, they are not white, they are a cloudy, consistency from the bad formation of blood in the bowels, which, in turn, makes eye cells. Again, how did the ancients know this?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

S. 3002 Must Be Overhauled or Scrapped - Act Now!

S. 3002 Must Be Overhauled or Scrapped - Act Now!

Introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) on February 4th as the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010,” S. 3002 is designed, according to the bill preamble, to “more effectively regulate dietary supplements that may pose safety risks unknown to consumers.”

The bill follows a surge of anti-doping initiatives and announcements dating back to September 29, 2009 (when the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs heard the testimony of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA), and to a December 2nd, 2009 USADA press conference. If passed, the proposed bill would dramatically harm consumers, cripple the nutritional products industry, and do absolutely nothing to stem the tide of laboratory-concocted, performance-enhancing drug hybrids masquerading as dietary supplements.

It is important to recognize that Senator McCain is a true American patriot known for his independence and Senator Dorgan has shown leadership in the area of net neutrality, which is critical to the free flow of health information for consumers.

However there are a host of problems in the bill serious enough to make it a completely irreparable and untenable piece of legislation. These include:

(1) The creation of completely outrageous European Food Supplements Directive (EFSD)/Health Canada-esque facility registration requirements for all brands, products and ingredients, despite the fact that food facilities are already required to be registered;

(2) The effective removal of the "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) status for most major dietary supplement/herbal ingredients, thereby deeming most supplements as "adulterated" unless they are included on the FDA's "Accepted Dietary Ingredients" list;

(3) The creation and maintenance of voluminous safety dossiers on every dietary supplement and ingredient;

(4) The requirement that “all adverse events” (not just serious adverse events) relating to supplements be reported, including non-serious, trivial and unsubstantiated reports; and

(5) The codification of arbitrary and capricious cease-and-desist and recall authority based merely on the FDA’s “reasonable probability” that an item is adulterated or misbranded (this action can be taken regardless of whether the manufacturer is properly challenging the order).

This bill’s proposed establishment of an “approved list of ingredients” (much like EFSD’s approved lists of supplement ingredients and ingredient forms) is something to which the U.S. government (specifically the U.S. Codex delegation) has been adamantly opposed. So why would that same U.S. government endeavor to create “lists” - within its own borders - that it sees fit to battle against internationally?

In addition, the proposed provision that would require “all” adverse events to be reported would bog the AER system down with hundreds, if not thousands, of trivial and product-unrelated reports. This would serve to bury reports noting potential areas of commonality (signal events) in a garbage heap of useless information.

Once this bill is shelved, Citizens for Health will be happy to work with Senators McCain and Dorgan to come up with solutions directed at increasing and improving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement against labs-for-hire that spike food products with steroids and other banned drugs.

But the priority now is to ensure this bill never sees a vote in the Senate. Send a letter to your Senators now, urging them to reject S. 3002, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010.

Arizona and North Dakota residents: Since your Senators are the sponsors, you will be sending them a letter urging them to withdraw the bill from consideration. In addition, Arizona residents in one of the districts represented by Congressmen Jeff Flake, Trent Franks and John B. Shadegg will also be sending them a letter asking them to reach out to Senator McCain, urging him to withdraw the bill.

Please take action immediately and send the following letter to Senators. Tell your senators NOT to co- sponsor the detrimental legislation and to do everything in their power to defeat it. Then forward this to your friends and family and ask them to do the same!

Here is a sample letter to send to your Senators:

Do Not Co-sponsor Senator McCain's Attack on Dietary Supplements

Dear [Senator],

Please do not co-sponsor Senator McCain's Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA). Please instead oppose it!

DSSA would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). DSHEA protects supplements if 1) they are food products that have been in the food supply and not chemically altered or 2) if they were sold as supplements prior to 1994, the year that DSHEA was passed. If a supplement fits one of these two descriptions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot arbitrarily ban it or reclassify it as a drug.

If this bill passes, the FDA would have full discretion and power to compile a discreet list of supplements allowed to remain on the market. Supplements drawn entirely from food and long established supplements or supplement potencies could be arbitrarily banned.

McCain's Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) appears to be supported by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which is funded by major league sports teams including baseball, football and others. In his comments, Senator McCain cited six NFL players recently suspended for testing positive for banned substances and purportedly exposed to these substances through dietary supplements.

The problem here is of course one of illegal sale and use of steroids. So why dismantle the supplement industry in order to control already illegal substances?

The FDA currently has complete and total authority to stop illegal steroids and, more broadly, to regulate dietary supplements. If the agency were doing its job, it could and would have prevented the sale of illegal steroids. The answer to this problem is not to give FDA more power; we should instead demand that the FDA do its job.

Why would a bill be offered to solve an illegal steroid problem that does not really address the steroid problem but instead gives the FDA complete and arbitrary control over all supplements?

One possible explanation is that the bill's sponsor buys into the often heard argument that supplements and drugs should be treated identically, that both should be brought through the FDA's drug approval process in the same way. This is a completely false argument. The FDA drug approval process costs as much as a billion dollars. It is not economically feasible to spend such vast sums on substances that are not protected by patent, and natural substances cannot legally be patented.

This is the great "Catch 22" of American medicine. The FDA is unfriendly to supplements because they do not come through the drug approval process. But the drug approval process only makes sense for patentable substances that will sell at very high prices. This leaves the FDA, which is supposed to guard and promote our health, hostile to the kind of natural medicine--based on diet, supplements, and exercise--that represents the real future of healthcare.

If McCain's bill passes, we can look to Europe for a snapshot of what we may be in for: EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, has sharply reduced the list of available supplements and is in process of reducing potencies to ridiculous levels, such as less beta carotene than can be found in half of a large carrot.

Please refuse to co-sponsor and otherwise oppose the Dietary Supplement Safety Act!

Kindest regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Life of ALL Flesh Is The Blood

"The first writing of embryology, cellular microbiology and biological transformation (pleomorphism) is found in the Old Testament: 'For the Life of All Flesh Is the Blood' (Leviticus 17:14).

The Life and Death of the body Is In The Blood! What's Blood Got To Do With It? Everything!

I perceive from thirty years of blood research that the blood is the basic material of which the human body is continually being created or formed. I have referred to the red blood cell as the foundational stem cell. As is the blood, so is the body. Why? Because body cells are created from blood - the red blood cells. Continuing with this thought, I also perceive, so is the body, so is the brain. And, as is the brain, so is the quality of thought. As a man or woman buildeth, so is he or she. And as a man or woman IS, so thinks he or she.

Solomon's temple is an allegory of a man or woman's temple -- the human body. This house is built without a sound of a saw or hammer. And the quality of that temple is dependent upon the quality of the food, drink, and thought one puts into it. The saying 'you are what you eat' or 'you are what you think' is at the foundation of organized earthly matter.

Your body is the temple of the living God. But man, blinded by selfishness and pride, searches here and there. Scours the heavens with his telescope, digs deep into the earth, and dives into the ocean's depths, in a vain search for the 'Elixir of Life' that may be found between the soles of his feet and the crown of his head.

Our human body is a miracle of organization. No work of man can compare with it in accuracy of its process and the simplicity of its law. This law is the law of the universe, the law of opposites or opposition - and there needs to be opposition in all things that we might learn by our experience. So we can understand cold by experiencing hot or health when we experience sickness or dis-ease.

As I perceive the complexity of the human body I realize this: at maturity, the human skeleton contains about 165 bones, so delicately and perfectly adjusted. The muscles are about 500 in number. The length of the alimentary canal is 32 feet long.

The amount of blood in an average adult is 5 to 6 liters weighing over 30 pounds or one-fifth of the total body weight and is a living flowing organ. There is over 3 million red blood cells made every second and 11 million body cells made from blood per second.

The heart is six inches in length and four inches in diameter, and beats seventy times per minute, 4200 times per hour, 100,800 per day and 36,720,000 per year. At each beat, two and one-half ounces of blood are thrown out of it, 175 ounces per minute, 656 pounds per hour, or about 8 tons per day. All the blood in the body passes through the heart every three minutes. And during seventy years it lifts 270,000,000 tons of blood.

The lungs contain about one gallon of air at their usual degree of inflation. We breath, on an average, 1200 breaths per hour and inhale 600 gallons of air, or 24,000 gallons daily. The aggregate surface of air-cells of the lungs exceed 20,000 square inches, an area nearly equal to that of a room twelve feet square.

The average weight of the brain of an adult is three pounds, eight ounces. The average female brain is two pounds, four ounces. The convolutions of a woman's brain cells and tissues are finer and more delicate in fiber and mechanism, which evidently accounts for the intuition of women. It would appear that the difference in the convolutions and fineness of tissue in the brain matter is responsible for the degrees of consciousness called reason and intuition.

The nerves are all connected with the brain directly, or by the spinal marrow, but nerves receive their sustenance from the blood, and their motive power from the solar plexus dynamic. The nerves, together with the branches and minute ramifications, probably exceed ten million in numbers.

The skin is composed of three layers, and varies from one-eight to one-quarter of an inch in thickness. The average area of skin is estimated to be about 2,000 square inches. The atmospheric pressure, being fourteen pounds to the square inch, a person of medium size is subject to a pressure of 40,000 pounds. Each square inch of skin contains 3,500 sweat tubes, or perspiratory pores (each of which may be likened to a little drain tile) one-fourth of an inch in length, making an aggregate length of the entire surface of the body 201,166 feet, or a tube for draining the body nearly forty miles in length.

Our body takes in an average of five and a half pounds of food and drink each day, which amounts to one ton of solid and liquid nourishment annually. So in seventy years a man or woman eats and drinks 1000 times his or her weight.

There is not known in all the realms of architecture or mechanics one little device which is not found in the human organism. The pulley, the lever, the inclined plane, the hinge, the 'universal joint,' tubes and trapdoors, the scissors, grindstone, whip, arch, girders, filters, valves, bellows, pump, camera, harp, irrigation plant, telegraph and telephone systems. All these and a hundred other devices which man thinks he has invented, but which have only been telegraphed to the brain from the Solar Plexus and crudely copied or manifested on the objective canvas.

No waterway on earth is so complete or so populous as that wonderful 'river of life', the blood stream. It has been said that 'all roads lead to Rome.' I have discovered that all roads of real knowledge lead to the 'river of life' -- the blood. The blood is an epitome of the universe. When man turns the mighty searching's of reason and investigation within the 'river of life' of the blood, a new heaven and earth will appear.

While I have theorized that all body cells are made by the transformation of the red blood cells - It is also true that blood is made from the food and supplements that we eat and the liquids that we drink. The foods and the liquids that we eat and drink are set free by the process of transformation called digestion and carried into the circulation through the delicate villi and microvilli of the small intestine. The villi and microvilli are analogous to the roots of a tree or plant with the same biological purpose - to make embryonic cells or stem cells.

Air breathed into the lungs enters into the arteries and chemically unites with the minerals and living anatomical elements of the blood stream, and by a wonderful transformation creates blood, known as 'hematopoiesis', which then through transformation creates flesh, bone, muscle, nerves, organs, hair, nails, etc.

The quality of the food we eat and the supplements we take and the liquids we drink determines the quality of the blood. As is the blood, so is the body - so is the body, so is the brain - as is the brain, so is the quality of thought. As a man or woman buildeth, so is he or she. And as a man or woman IS, so thinks he or she. Through my research I have found that the best way to build healthy blood is with green foods, green drinks and polyunsaturated fats.

Everyday the body works extremely hard to keep the 'river of life', the fluids of the blood at a delicate pH balance of 7.365. Any variation from this delicate pH balance the body goes into preservation mode to protect and maintain the integrity of this fluid at 7.365. If the pH of the blood is higher then 7.365 this indicates a state of acidosis in the tissues as the body is attempting to maintain the pH balance of the blood. If the blood pH drops below 7.365 then the buffering system is either depleted or struggling and the acids are in the blood indicating a more serious acidic or degenerative condition. This is called by medical savants decompensated acidosis. The body will do everything it can to maintain the blood pH at the expense of other organs and organ systems to prevent decompensated acidosis. This can lead to latent tissue acidosis which can be determined by measuring the pH of the urine. In latent tissue acidosis the pH of the urine will be less than 7.2 at any time during the day but most prominent in the morning urine. If the problem of latent tissue acidosis is not resolved then serious degenerative dis-ease or so-called disease will ensue. This includes heart disease and especially ALL cancerous conditions.

One of the major buffers of the blood is fat, and especially the electron rich polyunsaturated fats found in the blood and body cells. Fats are used to buffer acids for the purpose of maintaining the plasma or extracellular pH at 7.365. These fats bound to acids are then eliminate or stored away from the organs and organ systems that sustain life.

When the diet is over-acidic, this can draw down or use up the essential fats both in the cells and in the extracellular fluids causing a fatty acid deficiency leading to poor bi-lipid membranes or weak blood and body cells and many associated symptomologies: anemia (low concentrations of iron which acts as the oxygen carrier of the red blood cell), anisocytosis (irregular and unhealthy blood cells), rouleau (when the blood cells chain together causing oxygen deprivation from poor ciriculation), disseminated vascular coagulation (when the blood begins to clot prematurely and thicken. This causes high blood pressure), and cellular breakdown leading to major disorders.

I have studied live and dried blood for over thirty years. I utilize a high powered phase contrast and bright field light microscope to view a drop of blood from a client's fingertip, obtained with a sterile lancet. The purpose is to examine the structure of the blood cells and plasma fluid, to determine the relative level of cellular health and cleanliness, and to view areas of balance and imbalance suggested by the blood picture. I use live blood analysis to evaluate the internal biochemical internal environment referred to as the biological terrain to see whether or not it is dirty or clean and the strength and weakness of the red and white blood cells.

Healthy blood under live blood cell analysis shows a clean internal environment and unhealthy blood shows a dirty internal environment full of yeast, bacteria and damaged blood cells with a high white count trying to clean up the cellular debris from an over-acid lifestyle and diet. Where standard laboratory blood tests are generally quantitative (how many cells are there?), live and dried blood cell analysis is qualitative (what is the condition of the cells?). Standard laboratory tests are often used as pre and post studies to live blood cell analysis because there is correlative value in knowing both the quantity and quality of the client's blood cells.

Viewing live blood under a microscope is probably as old as the microscope itself. But it was the work of European scientists Dr. Antoine Bechamp and Dr. Gunther Enderlein in the mid-19th and early 20th Centuries that would advance the use of the microscope, challenge the medical establishment of the day and propose new ways of interpreting what was being viewed in blood. Other microscopists included noted physiologist, Dr. Claude Bernard, who coined the term 'internal milieu,' 'Germ Theory' advocate Louis Pasteur, Californian Dr. Virginia Livingston Wheeler and Canadian scientist Gaston Naessens.

In the 1920s, European medical practitioners added another twist to unconventional microscopy when they began looking at dried blood samples, later called the Oxidative Stress Test. A glass microscope slide is dabbed onto a bead of blood on the finger in sequence several times, resulting in a slide with 8 individual drops of blood pressed upon the slide and allowed to air dry.

The resulting clotting patterns seen in the dry blood under the bright field microscopy format reveal a characteristic 'footprint' which can be seen in similar cases and, thus, are predictive of certain generalized pathologies. For instance, cases of advanced degenerative disease show very poor clotting, minimal fibrin formation with many white 'puddles' disseminated throughout the sample. A healthy control subject's blood shows a tight, fibrin rich clotting pattern with no white polymerized protein puddles.

In the 1930s, the head of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. H.L. Bowlen, MD, introduced the dry blood test to America. Dr. Bowlen learned the dry test from President Dwight D. Eisenhower's physicians, Drs. Heitlan and LaGarde. In the 1970s, one of Heitlan-LaGarde's students, Dr. Robert Bradford of the American Biologics Hospital in Mexico, began teaching other practitioners including Dr. Robert O. Young over 30 years ago. So now there is over 70 years of dry blood testing data by hundreds of health care practitioners worldwide.

One of the most significant theories I can share with you is the primary site where hematopoiesis or red blood cell production takes place - and that is in the intestinal crypts of the small intestine. It is in the intestinal crypts that liquidfied food is biologically transformed into the erythroblast, and then into the primary cell, the erythrocyte, or the red blood cell. It is through this understanding that you will come to understand the importance of this article's heading, 'what does blood have to do with it?'

It has everything to do with it! The red blood cell is the primary cell that becomes a bone cell, a muscle cell, a heart cell, a liver cell when needed. The quality of the blood determines the quality of the body cells and the quality of the blood is determined by what you eat, what you drink and what you think! So, if you are eating proton-rich acidic foods and drinks, you will have weak blood cells and eventually weak body cells. All major disorders are a result of weak blood and weak blood is a result of the lack of electron-rich alkaline food and drink.

In 1952, four physiologists, Drs. Donn, Cunningham, Sabin and Jordon performed a two-week starvation experiment using chickens and doves. They found that the red blood cell production was from the bone marrow. When fasting or starving, the cells of the bone marrow, adipose tissue, muscular tissue and liver tissue transform into red blood cells. The process always begins with the bone even when the bowels are congested, or in the case of the condition of ciliac sprue, when there is damage to the intestinal villus.

In spite of what the four physiologists discovered, the primary site of normal blood production originates in the intestinal crypts. When we are congested in the bowel from eating proton-rich acidic foods the production of the red blood cells stops in the intestine and the body cells transform reversely to the red blood cells in order to keep constant the amount of red blood cells at 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter.

This is the reason folks on high protein diets, like Atkins and the South Beach diets, lose weight. They are wasting their body cells away to make red blood cells at the expense of their health while they are congested in the bowels with morbid undigested animal matter!

Rabbits have 5.5 million to 6 million red blood cells. If they are fed nothing, they will die in 2 to 3 weeks. Now, I have never heard of obese rabbits nor I have I heard of rabbits dieing of cancer let alone having reproductive challenges. However, the amount of red blood cells rarely decreases to less than 3 million. Why does the rabbit keep a constant amount of red blood cells without producing them physiologically? The reason is the same as in humans; body cells are reversed transformed into red blood cells. Therefore, such rabbits and even humans will show empty body cells after autopsy.

For example, the liver will retain its shape but its cytoplasm will have vanished. The cells of all organs of the rabbit or the human - dead from starvation - reveal considerable damage. The cells of the liver, kidney, and even the brain become porous. This is caused, as I have said before, from the reverse transformation of the body cells. Through this reverse transformation our body organs can function with a minimum amount of red blood cells until the very end of life.

Current medical science distinguishes between the red blood cells and the tissues or body cells. In reality, they are related to each other and can be transformed - one to another - in both directions. This is what I have termed biological transformation or pleomorphism, but it is currently not accepted by current medical savants!

When a person is eating electron-rich alkaline food and drink, they are building healthy red blood cells and healthy body cells. The body stays energetic and at a healthy weight. When the bowels become congested or damaged from proton-rich acidic food, red blood cell production is impaired and body cells are reversed transformed into red blood cells. Understand that red blood cells not only deliver oxygen and remove cellular acidic wastes, but they are the primary foundational stem cells for creating new bone, muscle, and nerve cells, etc. All current diets put your red blood cells at risk and will eventually lead to cellular breakdown and major sickness and dis-ease, hopefully later than sooner.

Since 1952, medical science has deducted that red blood cells in humans is made in the red marrow of the bone. This is true and only true when one is starving to death. When the body is starving, body cells transform back to red blood cells in order to maintain the balance of human blood at an ideal 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter.

When one is not eating right you lose weight by wasting body cells that are biologically transformed into red blood cells. When one is congested in the bowel from eating proton-rich acidic foods and drinks, the body begins to waste body cells to make new red blood cells.

This is why the scripture in Leviticus is so important to understand! It describes the biology of the human cell. And I repeat, 'The life of all flesh is the blood.' This scripture does not say, 'The life of all flesh is in the blood.' No, flesh is blood and blood is flesh, and the quality of the flesh is determined by what you eat, drink and even think! So, as they say in the computer world, 'garbage in garbage out.' This is why ALL diets will eventually fail you because they do NOT address the significance of the red blood cell - and the foods, drinks and thoughts that will build healthy blood that, in turn, will build a healthy energetic body that is neither underweight or overweight - but perfect weight!"

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Saturated Fat and Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity is a measure of the tissue response to insulin. Typically, it refers to insulin's ability to cause tissues to absorb glucose from the blood. A loss of insulin sensitivity, also called insulin resistance, is a core part of the metabolic disorder that affects many people in industrial nations.

I don't know how many times I've seen the claim in journal articles and on the internet that saturated fat reduces insulin sensitivity. The idea is that saturated fat reduces the body's ability to handle glucose effectively, placing people on the road to diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Given the "selective citation disorder" that plagues the diet-health literature, perhaps this particular claim deserves a closer look.

The Evidence

I found a review article from 2008 that addressed this question (1). I like this review because it only includes high-quality trials that used reliable methods of determining insulin sensitivity*.

On to the meat of it. There were 5 studies in which non-diabetic people were fed diets rich in saturated fat, and compared with a group eating a diet rich in monounsaturated (like olive oil) or polyunsaturated (like corn oil) fat. They ranged in duration from one week to 3 months. Four of the five studies found that fat quality did not affect insulin sensitivity, including one of the 3-month studies.

The fifth study, which is the one that's nearly always cited in the diet-health literature, requires some discussion. This was the KANWU study (2). Over the course of three months, investigators fed 163 volunteers a diet rich in either saturated fat or monounsaturated fat.
The SAFA diet included butter and a table margarine containing a relatively high proportion of SAFAs. The MUFA diet included a spread and a margarine containing high proportions of oleic acid derived from high-oleic sunflower oil and negligible amounts of trans fatty acids and n-3 fatty acids and olive oil.
Yummy. After three months of these diets, there was no significant difference in insulin sensitivity between the saturated fat group and the monounsaturated fat group. Yes, you read that right. Even the study that's selectively cited as evidence that saturated fat causes insulin resistance found no significant difference between the diets. You might not get this by reading the misleading abstract. I'll be generous and acknowledge that the (small) difference was almost statistically significant (p = 0.053).

What the authors decided to focus on instead is the fact that insulin sensitivity declined slightly but significantly on the saturated fat diet compared with the pre-diet baseline. That's why this study is cited as evidence that saturated fat impairs insulin sensitivity. But anyone who has a basic science background will see where this reasoning is flawed (warning: nerd attack. skip the rest of the paragraph if you're not interested). You need a control group for comparison, to take into account normal fluctuations caused by such things as the season, eating mostly cafeteria food, and having a doctor hooking you up to machines. That control group was the group eating monounsaturated fat. The comparison between diet groups was the 'primary outcome', in statistics lingo. That's the comparison that matters, and it wasn't significant. To interpret the study otherwise is to ignore the basic conventions of statistics, which the authors were happy to do. There's a name for it: 'moving the goalpost'. The reviewers shouldn't have let this kind of shenanigans slide.

So we have five studies through 2008, none of which support the idea that saturated fat reduces insulin sensitivity in non-diabetics. Since the review paper was published, I know of one subsequent study that asked the same question (3). Susan J. van Dijk and colleagues fed volunteers with abdominal overweight (beer gut) a diet rich in either saturated fat or monounsaturated fat. I e-mailed the senior author and she said the saturated fat diet was "mostly butter". The specific fats used in the diets weren't mentioned anywhere in the paper, which is a major omission**. In any case, after 8 weeks, insulin sensitivity was virtually identical between the two groups. This study appeared well controlled and used the gold standard method for assessing insulin sensitivity, called the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp technique***.

The evidence from controlled trials is rather consistent that saturated fat has no appreciable effect on insulin sensitivity.

Why Are We so Focused on Saturated Fat?

Answer: because it's the nutrient everyone loves to hate. As an exercise in completeness, I'm going to mention three dietary factors that actually reduce insulin sensitivity, and get a lot less air time than saturated fat.

#1: Caffeine. That's right, controlled trials show that your favorite murky beverage reduces insulin sensitivity (4, 5). Is it actually relevant to real life? I doubt it. The doses used were large and the studies short-term.

#2: Magnesium deficiency. A low-magnesium diet reduced insulin sensitivity by 25% over the course of three weeks (6). I think this is probably relevant to long-term insulin sensitivity and overall health, although it would be good to have longer-term data. Magnesium deficiency is widespread in industrial nations, due to our over-reliance on refined foods such as sugar, white flour and oils.

#3: Sugar. Fructose reduces insulin sensitivity in humans, along with many other harmful effects (7).

As long as we continue to focus our energy on indicting saturated fat, it will continue distracting us from the real causes of disease.


* For the nerds: euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp (the gold standard), insulin suppression test, or intravenous glucose tolerance test with Minimal Model. They didn't include studies that reported HOMA as their only measure, because it's not very accurate.

** There's this idea that pervades the diet-health literature that all saturated fats are roughly equivalent, all monounsaturated fats are equivalent, etc., therefore it doesn't matter what the source was. This is beyond absurd and reflects our cultural obsession with saturated fat. It really irks me that the reviewers didn't demand this information.

*** They did find that markers of inflammation in fat tissue were higher after the saturated fat diet.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Thank You

I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me through donations this year. The money has allowed me to buy materials that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford, and I feel it has enriched the blog for everyone. Here are some of the books I've bought using donations. Some were quite expensive:

Food and western disease: health and nutrition from an evolutionary perspective. Staffan Lindeberg (just released!!)

Nutrition and disease. Edward Mellanby

Migration and health in a small society: the case of Tokelau. Edited by Albert F. Wessen

The saccharine disease. T. L. Cleave

Culture, ecology and dental anthropology. John R. Lukacs

Vitamin K in health and disease. John W. Suttie

Craniofacial development. Geoffrey H. Sperber

Western diseases: their emergence and prevention. Hugh C. Trowell and Denis P. Burkitt

The ultimate omega-3 diet. Evelyn Tribole

Our changing fare. John Yudkin and colleagues


Donations have also paid for many, many photocopies at the medical library. I'd also like to thank everyone who participates in the community by leaving comments, or by linking to my posts. I appreciate your encouragement, and also the learning opportunities.

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