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“Listen to Dr. Greger!”
I ran across some nutrition-advice videos of Dr Michael Greger six months ago and started following his twittering. It didn’t take me long to figure out he favors a vegetarian or vegan diet. Dr. Harriet Hall at Science-Based Medicine has Dr. Greger in her crosshairs, challenging many of his claims. Well worth a read. An excerpt:
Vegans tell us the Inuit, who lived almost exclusively on food of animal origin, had a short life span. That’s not true. Statistics on the Inuit between 1822 and 1836 showed that their average life expectancy was about the same as that of European peasants of the time who ate a diet overwhelmingly based on bread. 25% of Inuit lived past 60, and some lived into their 80s and 90s.
Filed under Uncategorized, Vegetarian Diet
ScienceDaily has the report. This is exciting. But don’t hold your breath; human trials are years away.
Man’s Best Friend was also instrumental in the discovery of insulin.
h/t David Fisher RD
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Olives, olive oil, and vinegar: classic Mediterranean foods
EcoSalon has an interview with Tom Mueller, author of a new book on olive oil, Extra Virginity. Regarding olive oil…
Consumption is rising swiftly, quality olive oil shops are springing up nationwide. BUT, there’s zero government control of olive oil quality (the FDA has openly abdicated its legal role), and ignorance of what quality olive oil means is still rampant. Lots of bad oil, sometimes adulterated, is being sold as ” extra virgin olive oil” throughout America.
Here are Tom’s top three tips for choosing an olive oil:
1) Harvest date: must be fresh (within the current harvest year).
2) Who made this, and where? Specific producer and specific location of trees as well as oil-bottling.
3) Mention of specific cultivars (though by no means a guarantee of quality, I’ve found mention of specific olive varieties on the label tends to indicate a more professional/serious oil-maker.
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“Dr. Parker, what can I do about these belly cramps?”
Four weeks of fermentable carbohydrate restriction reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, according to UK and Australian researchers.
Here’s the theory of how it works. Our intestines—colon, mostly—are loaded with bacteria. The food you feed your bacteria—fermentable carbohydrates, for example—may have an effect on the bacteria. Changes in bacterial populations in response to feeding, in turn, may lead to changes in irritable bowel syndrome and other aspects of health. This “gut microbiome” is a hot area of research and speculation.
I don’t have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but did notice a major decrease in gastrointestinal gas production when I reduced my digestible carbohydrate consumption to less than 50 g/day. That alone has at least potential to reduce IBS symptoms.
IBS is extremely common, affecting 10–15% of individuals in the developed world. Only 15% of those bother to seek medical attention. Of all referrals to gastroenterologists (stomach specialists), at least 25% are for IBS. There are few reliable treatments and cures. In some cases it mysteriously resolves on its own.
So I got excited when I ran across the study I reference above. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it because I’ve already spent too much trudging through the article, and I don’t have much to show for it.
The way the investigators wrote their report gave me some heartburn:
Have you heard of FODMAPs? That seems to be the intervention diet that restricted fermentable carbohydrates. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols.
You need a break. Enjoy.
Let me summarize their results simply by saying they found changes in gut bacteria and a reduction in irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, as compared with control subjects. The particularly responsive symptoms were bloating, borborygmi, and the urge to defecate. Abdominal pain strongly tended to improve but didn’t quite reach statistical significance. Diarrhea wasn’t affected. Also note that the IBS patients allowed into the study were not the type with constipation as a major issue.
So What?
If you want to try a FODMAP diet for your IBS, you won’t be able to figure out what to eat based on this report. Consult your own physician about it. I wonder whether many of them have even heard of FODMAP. Barbara Bolen, Ph.D., at About.com says the diet should be undertaken only with the supervision of a qualified nutritionist.
Reference: Staudacher, Heidi, et al. Fermentable Carbohydrate Restriction Reduces Luminal Bifidobacteria and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Journal of Nutrition, 142: 1520-1518 (2012)
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MRI scan of brain
Healthy bodies keep blood sugar levels in a fairly narrow range. You might think you’re fine if you’re anywhere within the defined normal range. Think again. Australian researchers found that folks with fasting blood sugars toward the upper end of the normal range had more degeneration (atrophy) in parts of the brain called the hippocampus and amygdala, compared to those in the low normal range. Degeneration in those areas is often manifested as dementia.
The hippocampus is critical for learning and memory formation and retention. The amygdala is also involved in memory as well as emotion. The two areas are intimately connected, literally.
How Was the Study Done?
Over 250 study participants aged 60 to 64 years had normal brains at baseline and were free of prediabetes and diabetes. They were mostly caucasian. MRI brain scans were done at baseline and again four years later. Significant atrophy (shrinkage) was seen in the hippocampus and amygdala over time, with greater atrophy seen in those with higher baseline fasting glucose levels.
Fasting blood sugar was measured only once, at the start, and ranged from 58 to 108 mg/dl (3.2 to 6.0 mmol/l). (Fasting glucose of 108 would be prediabetes according to the American Diabetes Association, but not by the World Health Organization.) Participants weren’t tested for deterioration of cognition (actual thinking).
So What?
The results of the study at hand are consistent with others that link higher rates of dementia with diabetes. Diabetics, even when under treatment, usually have higher average blood sugars than non-diabetics. The study authors speculate that damage from higher blood sugars may be mediated by inflammation and abnormal blood clotting (prothrombotic factors and platelet activation).
It’s interesting to contemplate whether non-diabetics and diabetics would have less risk of developing dementia if blood sugars could be kept in the lower end of the normal range. How could you do that? Possibilities include:
Reference: Cherbuin, Nicolas, et al. Higher normal fasting plasma glucose is associated with hippocampal atrophy: The PATH Study. Neurology, September 4, 2012, vol. 79, No. 10, pp: 1,010-1,026. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e31826846de
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Filed under Dementia, Diabetes Complications
Is there a trampoline out of view?
A ketogenic diet was safe and effective for weight loss in children and adolescents, according to a small study in the Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism. Fifty-six children were placed on either a ketogenic diet or a calorie-restricted diet. The investigators judged the low-carb ketogenic diet more effective.
I don’t treat children, so I don’t normally monitor the pediatric scientific literature. Thanks to Diet Doctor Andreas Eenfeldt for bringlng this to my attention. I’ve not read the full research report.
In 2010 I reported on research showing a low-carb, high-protein diet was safe and effective for severely obese adolescents.
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…according to a recent report in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Disease. LDL cholesterol is the type we think contributes to coronary artery disease and other forms of atherosclerosis.
Learn about glycemic index at NutritionData.
My Low-Carb Mediterranean and Ketogenic Mediterranean Diets are undoubtedly “low glycemic index.” The Advanced Mediterranean Diet would also be significantly lower GI than the standard American diet.
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…according to an article at MedPageToday. In brief, carb counting involves estimating the digestible carbohydrate grams in a meal, then dosing rapid-acting insulin based on those grams and the individual’s prior responses to insulin. Turns out there’s not a lot of hard clinical evidence to back up the practice.
Carbohydrate counting is the best known method for matching insulin dosing to meals, and is the recommended dietary strategy for achieving glycemic control in type 1 diabetes, though that recommendation has been largely based on expert consensus, Bell said.
One commentator said it doesn’t work very well because most folks aren’t very good at it, they’re not vigilant enough.
A review panel “compared carbohydrate counting with usual care, which consisted of either general nutrition advice or low dietary glycemic index (GI) advice.” They found no significant differences in hemoglobin a1c between the approaches.
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Although the incidence of diabetes has doubled in the U.K. and Canada, death rates in diabetics have fallen significantly over the last decade. This story is mostly about type 2 diabetes. An article at MedPageToday suggests explanations for the trend:
“Although caution should be exercised in identifying a trend-shift in the prognosis of patients with diabetes, more aggressive treatment during recent decades may be applicable to the present results,” Lind and colleagues observed.
Factors that may have contributed include the greater emphasis placed on glycemic control, lowering blood pressure, and use of statins.
However, the decrease in excess mortality also may relate to shorter duration of disease, the researchers pointed out.
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Bible Verse of the Day
Diabetic Mediterranean Diet 