December 9, 2016 · 9:28 AM

Control Blood Sugar With Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean DIet

Naturally low-glycemic index Caprese salad: mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil

Italian researchers found that extra-virgin olive oil taken with meals helps to reduce blood sugar elevations after meals in type 1 diabetics. This may help explain the lower observed incidence of diabetes seen in those eating a traditional Mediterranean diet, which is rich in olive oil.

Before going further into the weeds, remember that glycemic index refers to how high and quickly a particular food elevates blood sugar. High-glycemic index foods raise blood sugar quicker and higher compared to low-glycemic index foods.

The study at hand is a small one: 18 patients. They were given both high- and low-glycemic meals with varying amounts and types of fat. Meals were either low-fat, high in saturated fat (from butter), or high in monounsaturated fat from olive oil. Meals that were high-glycemic index resulted in lower after-meal glucose levels if the meal had high olive oil content, compared to low-fat and butter-rich meals.

If meals were low in glycemic index, blood sugar levels were about the same whether the diet was low-fat, high in saturated fat, or rich in olive oil.

Action Plan

If you have type 1 diabetes and plan on eating high on the glycemic index scale, reduce your blood sugar excursions by incorporating extra-virgin olive oil into your meals.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Bozzetto, Luigarda, et al. Extra-virgin olive oil reduces glycemic response to a high-glycemic index meal in patients with type 1 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care, online before print, February 9, 2016. doi: 10.2337/dc15-2189

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December 7, 2016 · 10:37 AM

Does Type 2 Diabetes Cause Alzheimer’s Dementia?

dementia, memory loss, Mediterranean diet, low-carb diet, glycemic index, dementia memory loss

“More basic research is critical.”

Several scientific studies, but not all, link type 2 diabetes with Alzheimer’s disease. Some go so far as to say Alzheimer’s is type 3 diabetes.

My Twitter feed brought to my attention a scientific article I thought would clarify the relationships between diabetes, carbohydrate consumption, and Alzheimer’s dementia (full text).

It didn’t.

Click the full text link to read all about insulin, amylin, insulin degrading enzyme, amyloid–β, and other factors that might explain the relationship between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s dementia. You’ll also find a comprehensive annotated list of the scientific studies investigating the link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Bottom line: We still don’t know the fundamental cause of Alzheimer’s disease. A cure and highly effective preventive measures are far in the future.

Action Plan For You

You may be able to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by:

  • avoiding type 2 diabetes
  • preventing progression of prediabetes to diabetes
  • avoiding obesity
  • exercising regularly
  • eating a Mediterranean-style diet

Carbohydrate restriction helps many folks prevent or resolve obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Schilling, Melissa. Unraveling Alzheimer’s: Making Sense of the Relationship Between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 51 (2016): 961-977.

LCHF Mediterranean diet

LCHF Mediterranean diet

 

 

 

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December 5, 2016 · 1:00 PM

David Mendosa Loves Chana Dal

Indian woman cooking chapati

Indian woman cooking chapati, a type of wheat-based bread

Chana’s not a woman’s name.

Chana dal is a particular legume popular in India. It seems to be a variety of chickpea. Dal is an Indian term for legumes: beans and peas. A serving of most legumes has a relatively high carbohydrate count, which could spike blood sugar too high if you have diabetes.

David Mendosa has type 2 diabetes. As far as I know, he’s still a vegetarian, but somehow manages to restrict dietary carbohydrates. He notes that regardless of carb grams, chana dal has very little effect on his blood sugar. Maybe that’s because of relatively high fiber content. Chana dal’s glycemic index is only eight, which is very low, especially for a legume.

You may be aware that a third or so of Indians in India are vegetarian of one stripe or another. Dals (legumes) are a very important source of protein for them. Dals are usually consumed with meals that include bread or rice.

Chana dal is a Hindi word. The British English equivalent is Bengal gram dal. In Bengali, it’s chholar dal. BTW, over 50 languages are spoken in India.

The nutritional analysis of chana dal is a matter of some debate. Here’s one that David found. In 100 g of dry chana dal:

  • 3.7 g fat
  • 25.4 g protein
  • 47.4 g carbohydrate3.2 g ash (inorganic material, such as minerals)
  • 11.2 g crude fiber
  • 327 calories

See David’s post for much more detail, including recipes and sources of chana dal. I think he’s been working on this post since 2001 and has revised it several times. He notes that in recipes calling for garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), chana dal can be substituted. (I assume garbanzo beans have a much higher glycemic index.)

If you’ve had chana dal or try it in the future, I’d love to hear your comments on it, especially how it affected your serum glucose levels.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: If this post is closed for comments, you can reach me at steveparkermd (at) gmail (dot) com.

 

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December 5, 2016 · 11:29 AM

Does LCHF Eating Help Indians With Diabetes?

Surfing the net, I ran across an Indian lady named Tina who is successfully treating her T2 diabetes with LCHF eating (low-carb, high-fat). Both she and her husband lost excess weight, too. Click for her website.

In turn, she directed my attention to a YouTube channel by Dr. S. Vijayaraghavan, who is also a LCHF advocate for people with diabetes, type 2 anyway. Check out Goodbye Diabetes.

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December 2, 2016 · 9:30 PM

FDA Says Jardiance Can Claim Cardiovascular Death Prevention 

Jardiance is a diabetes drug in the class called SGLT2 inhibitors.

How do they work? Our kidneys filter glucose (sugar) out of our bloodstream, then reabsorb that glucose back into the bloodstream. SGLT2 inhibitors impair that reabsorption process, allowing some glucose to be excreted in our urine. You could call it a diuretic effect. For example, an SGLT 2 inhibitor called dapagliflozin, at a dose of 10 mg/day, causes the urinary loss of 70 grams of glucose daily.

How drugs like this could prevent cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetics is a mystery to me.

From MPT:

“The diabetes drug empagliflozin (Jardiance) may be marketed for prevention of cardiovascular death in patients with type 2 diabetes and co-existing cardiovascular disease, the FDA said Friday.

It’s the first such claim ever allowed for a diabetes drug.

Empagliflozin, first approved in 2014, is an inhibitor of the sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) pathway, reducing blood glucose by causing it to be excreted in urine.Its benefit for cardiovascular risk reduction was demonstrated in the so-called EMPA-REG trial, results of which were reported in 2015.”

Source: Jardiance Wins CV Prevention Indication | Medpage Today

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November 16, 2016 · 8:59 AM

Turkish Get-Up

I’m going to start doing Turkish get-ups again. I fell out of the habit a couple years ago. Turkish get-ups promote flexibility, balance, joint range of motion, and strength. If you’re just doing the Big Five exercises, TGUs will strengthen some of the smaller muscles (and portions of major muscles) you may be neglecting.

Below are a couple YouTube examples. They are not complete tutorials. You can use a dumbbell or kettlebell. Start with either no weight in your hand, or just a small one. Then work up to higher weights as you get stronger.

These videos may only show how to work one side of the body; you work both sides, of course, and call it a pair. I used to do only five pairs with a 25-lb dumbbell. In weightlifting lingo, you’d call that 1 set of five reps (repetitions). It was exhausting.

Do enough reps and it will be both strength and aerobic training.

Steve Parker, M.D.


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November 14, 2016 · 11:36 PM

What About a Low-Carb Vegetarian Diet for Diabetes?

Spaghetti squash with parsley, olive oil, snow peas, garlic, salt, pepper

Spaghetti squash with parsley, olive oil, snow peas, garlic, salt, pepper

It works for David Mendosa, who’s been doing it for three years. He shares some ideas on how to do it at the link below. From the intro:

About nine years ago, I started to eat only food low in carbohydrates that don’t have a high glycemic index.  I knew that this was the only proven way to bring my blood glucose level down where I wanted it to be without using drugs or supplements. My most recent A1C test showed that my level is 5.1 percent, well within the range considered normal.

While continuing to eat this way, about three years ago I added the further restriction of eating no meat, fish, or seafood. This was a substantial shift in what I was eating, and I made it mainly because I don’t want to be intentionally responsible for the death of animals or other sentient beings. Only later did I begin to realize its health benefits.

Source: How to Manage Your Diabetes with a Low-Carb Vegetarian Diet – Diabetes

David seems to adhere to the lacto-ovo strain of vegetarianism, rather than vegan or pesco-vegetarian. In other words, he’ll eat eggs and milk products but not fish. I suspect he eats under 40 grams/day of digestible carbohydrate.

Here are more of David’s ideas on implementation of a very low-carb vegetarian diet.

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November 13, 2016 · 8:00 PM

Seafood Linked to Lower Alzheimer Dementia Risk in Those Genetically Predisposed

…according to an article at the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study involved Chicago-area residents who had provided information about their eating habits. After death, their brains were biopsied, looking for typical pathological findings of Alzheimers Disease.

fresh salmon and lobsters

Rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, sardines, herring, trout, and mackerel

Participants who ate seafood at least once a week had fewer Alzheimers lesions in their brains, but only if they were carriers of a particular gene the predisposes to Alzheimers. The gene is called apolipoprotein E or APOE ε4.

You’ve heard that seafood may be contaminated with mercury, right? The seafood eaters in this study indeed had higher brain levels of mercury, but it didn’t cause any visible brain damage.

The Mediterranean diet, relatively rich in seafood, has long been linked to a lower risk of dementia.

A weakness of the study is that the researchers didn’t report results of clinical testing for dementia in these participants before they died. You can have microscopic evidence of Alzheimers disease on a biopsy, yet no clinically diagnosis of dementia.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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November 12, 2016 · 4:42 PM

Recipe: Roasted Radishes and Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Radishes and Brussels Sprouts. Copyright Steve Parker MD

Roasted Radishes and Brussels Sprouts.
Copyright Steve Parker MD

A year ago I ran across online praise for roasted radishes. I’m not a big fan of radishes, perhaps because they weren’t part of Parker cuisine when I was growing up, but finally gave them a try.

Beautiful, huh?

Beautiful, huh?

This won’t be as detailed as most of my recipes because I need to get into the hospital soon.

Raw Brussels Sprouts

Raw Brussels Sprouts

My basic ingredients were raw radishes and Brussels sprouts, diced onions, a bit of parsley (probably not needed), extra virgin olive oil, dried rosemary (i.e., not fresh), coarse salt, and pepper.

With the radishes, I cut off the little rootlet and green top, then cut them in half unless they were tiny radishes. Brussel sprouts take longer to cook, so I cut them in half, too. I put all the veggies  into a bowl, added just enough olive oil to coat them, sprinkled in some salt and pepper, then mixed with a spoon. Then I spread all that on a cooking sheet and popped it into an oven pre-heated to 425°F. (I covered my cooking sheet with aluminum foil to ease cleanup.)

All ingredients mixed in a bowl

All ingredients mixed in a bowl

I cooked in the oven for 17 minutes (15-20), using a turner to flip the veggies once or twice while cooking.

Ready for roasting

Ready for roasting

They were a little bland, so I topped off with Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb Seasoning. I enjoyed them and will do it again. Next time I may try coating with melted butter rather than olive oil. I felt very virtuous for eating my vegetables.

Steve Parker, M.D. 

PS: I ate half of this in one sitting. I refrigerated the rest and ate it about six hours later. It was much more flavorful. If you’re one of those people who never eats leftovers…

…reconsider.

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November 11, 2016 · 2:00 AM

Another Theory to Explain the Obesity Epidemic

Dr. Michael Eades of Protein Power fame thinks he knows why we’ve gotten fat starting 35 years ago (at least in the U.S.):

Along with carbohydrates, vegetable oils have increased dramatically in the typical American diet. Over the same time period, we’ve all started eating away from home more and more, so that we’ve lost control of exactly what kinds of fats we’ve been eating.

Click the link for the details of his hypothesis, which involves the effects of various dietary fats and carbohydrates on intracellular energy metabolism and insulin resistance.

Steve Parker, M.D.

low-carb mediterranean diet

Front cover of book

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