Nutrition Info 101: Do low carbohydrate or high carbohydrate diets increase risk of heart disease?

Recent scientific studies are pointing to refined carbohydrates as one of the bad guys in the development of cardiovascular disease. Dietary fat, and saturated fat in particular, had been fingered as the ring leader of heart disease culprits since the 1950s.

Recent science (see references below) contradicts this long held hypothesis. Ancel Keys fabricated the lipid hypothesis controversy, which was not based on sound science: "Subsequent and independent analysis of the data that were available to Keys shows that he "cherry picked" only those countries with numbers that supported his hypothesis and omitted a significant amount of data that showed there was actually no correlation between dietary fat, cholesterol, and arteriosclerosis. But this information has been largely ignored." From Smart Heart Living website. Read more.

The new model for chief culprit in causing heart disease is inflammation. See 'Growing proof inflammation is a major risk factor for heart disease' published by The Cleveland Clinic. Chief contributors to inflammation are ... read more, view research links, and watch the video.

Why the obesity and diabetes epidemics won’t resolve overnight

The twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes go hand in hand, and for many reasons, may never be resolved. Not to sound a negative tone, but various factors are at play in these health issues. They are intertwined in ways that make them more dangerous and hard to overcome as a society.

I had a dream the other night that I was out running a flood. I reached high ground, looked back and saw people drowning just above a set of steps I just ascended that could easily save them. If they just put their feet down they could find the steps the desperately needed. I told them, “The steps are right there. Just put your feet down and save yourself.” Only one did, (oddly enough, a young, naked Merle Haggard. Unfortunately, I woke up).

I interpreted the dream on many levels, but it could easily represent the tide of obesity overtaking us and our seeming inability to implement the simple steps that could save us from suffering from overweight, obesity, and diabetes, and the other devastating diseases that accompany them.

I’ve observed the following among family, friends, acquaintances, and former nutrition clients:

Read more and watch the video.

Fructose Proves An Unhealthy Option

Fructose Metabolism More Complicated Than Was Thought

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2008) — A new University of Illinois study suggests that we may pay a price for ingesting too much fructose. According to lead author Manabu Nakamura, dietary fructose affects a wide range of genes in the liver that had not previously been identified.

See also:

* Diabetes
* Obesity
* The Double Danger of High fructose corn syrup
* Fructose Intolerance
* Carbohydrate overload
* Soft drink dangers

Chances are you consume quite a bit of fructose. Most Americans do—in refined sugars such as sucrose or table sugar (which is half fructose) and in high-fructose corn syrup, used in products as diverse as soft drinks, protein bars, and fruit juice.

But many scientists believe that high dietary fructose contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that predict heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Read more at Science Daily.

Fruit Juice Is Bad, Obesity Epidemic Gets Worse, and Sleep Deprivation Leads To Overeating

Dietary Factors Appear To Be Associated With Diabetes Risk

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages or eating fewer fruits and vegetables both may be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas eating a low-fat diet does not appear to be associated with any change in diabetes risk, according to three reports in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Diabetes rates continue to increase, particularly in developed countries, according to background information in the articles. By the year 2030, 11.2 percent of U.S. adults are expected to have the condition. Obesity is the strongest modifiable risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.

In one study, Julie R. Palmer, Sc.D., of the Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University, and colleagues examined the association between type 2 diabetes, weight gain and the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks in 43,960 African American women. In 1995 and again in 2001, the women completed a questionnaire about the types of foods and beverages they typically consumed. A total of 17 percent reported drinking one sugar-sweetened soft drink each day, 32 percent drank one sweetened fruit drink each day and 22 percent had at least one glass of orange juice or grapefruit juice.

Over 10 years of follow-up, 2,713 of the women developed type 2 diabetes. Those who drank more regular soft drinks and fruit drinks—including regular soda, other fruit juices, fortified fruit drinks and Kool-Aid but not diet soda, orange juice or grapefruit juice—were more likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less of those beverages. Read more.


Study Suggests 86 Percent Of Americans Could Be Overweight Or Obese By 2030

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Most adults in the U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2030, with related health care spending projected to be as much as $956.9 billion, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Their results are published in the July 2008 online issue of Obesity.

“National survey data show that the prevalence of overweight and obese adults in the U.S. has increased steadily over the past three decades,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030 with approximately 96 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 91 percent of Mexican-American men affected. This would result in 1 of every 6 health care dollars spent in total direct health care costs paying for overweight and obesity-related costs.”

The researchers conducted projection analyses based on data collected over the past three decades from nationally representative surveys. Their projections illustrate the potential burden of the U.S. obesity epidemic if current trends continue. Read more.

Sleep Restriction Results In Increased Consumption Of Energy From Snacks

ScienceDaily (June 11, 2008) — Bedtime restriction in an environment that promotes overeating and inactivity is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks. This behavior may contribute to the increased risk of weight gain and obesity associated with short sleep hours, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 11 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

The study authors led by Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago, followed 11 healthy volunteers who each completed two 14-day studies in random order at least three months apart. Studies were carried out in the laboratory with five-and-a-half or eight-and-a-half hour bedtimes and ad lib food intake.

According to the results, when bedtimes were restricted to five-and-a-half hours study subjects consumed more energy from snacks. The carbohydrate content of ingested snacks also increased for this group. Read more.

Metabolism Society Petition - Make Your Voice Heard

I received this email a few days ago asking to have my readers sign a petition to urge the NIH to acknowledge the existing science and fund more research by the experts who have experience with carbohydrate restriction as a means of treatment for diabetes. If you're inclined to sign the petition just click the link below.

(I bet this will be on EVERY low carb blog on the internet. They likely mailed everybody).

Metabolism Society
You Are Making A Difference!

We appreciate your dedication to educating people on the benefits of low carb living, we acknowledge your accomplishments and we thank you.
The Metabolism Society requests your assistance.
Biomedical science needs your help. The public needs your help.

Please ask your readers to sign this petition.

The NIH must acknowledge the existing science and fund more research by the experts who have experience with carbohydrate restriction as a means of treatment for diabetes.

June 12, 2008

New England Journal of Medicine published the ACCORD study results. "We investigated whether intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels would reduce cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes" (intensive therapy meant intensive drug therapy).

Conclusion:
"As compared with standard therapy, the use of intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels for 3.5 years increased mortality and did not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events. These findings identify a previously unrecognized harm of intensive glucose lowering in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes."

An elementary understanding of science lets one recognize that it is likely the treatment (intensive drug therapy) that has the (unrecognized?) harm. A substantial background of studies shows that not reducing glycated hemoglobin is a health risk.
It is the absence of any consideration of dietary carbohydrate restriction, the most safe and effective method of improving glycemic control that is so objectionable.

Scientists are stymied. Fighting with the NIH is not simple, generally not a career builder, and the number of people involved in this trial is in the hundreds. Only the public can help. We need your help in reaching them.

Please ask your readers to contribute by signing this petition.


Thank you.

Richard Feinman
Professor of Biochemistry
Founder, Metabolism Society
www.nmsociety.org
Nutrition & Metabolism Society
424 E. 73rd Street, #1RW
New York, New York 10021

In The News - Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

I'm still on vacation so I don't really feel like writing a proper blog post. I am making notes for my coming post on my "reverse" carbohydrate and calorie cycling experiment in which I, in fact, eat, drink, and be lazily merry...until Monday.

Here's some great articles and news stories to check out:

Eat...

Weight Loss Tips - Eat More Often to Lose Weight

I’m sure you have heard it before, but one of the best ways to control your caloric intake and lose weight is to eat more often throughout the day. Ideally, you should eat 5 to 6 times per day, with 2 ½ to 3 ½ hours between each meal or snack. There are several reasons why this works.

* Eating more frequently gets your metabolism going and keeps it working at an elevated level continuously throughout the day.

* It will amp up your energy and keep your insulin level constant.

* Because you are eating more frequently, you should eat a smaller portion at each meal or snack. Use some common sense here and remember the key word is SMALL! If you are eating your normal portions, this won’t work! This isn’t as hard as it sounds, because you just won’t be as hungry since you just ate 2 or 3 hours ago.

* Since you are not as hungry, it is much easier to pick a lean and healthy snack. When you let yourself get very hungry, you are much more likely to grab whatever is in sight. This is also when you start to crave all of those things that are so high in fat and calories, and you will probably eat more of it.

* Even though you will ideally be eating LESS food that you are now, you will feel like you are eating MORE. Your mind and body will equate eating more frequently with more food, and therefore feeling more satisfied.

* Knowing that you will be eating more often, you should plan ahead for your meals and snacks. This, too, will help to insure that you pick foods that are good for you and fit into a lean and healthy diet. Read more.

Burn Fat with the Thermic Effect of Food

When it comes to losing fat and building muscle, eating less food is not the answer to getting lean and cut. Others will try to tell you that losing excess fat is simply a matter of using more calories than you eat. What they don’t tell you is that eating less will slow your metabolism.

Part of the secret to eating the right amounts of food while keeping your fat levels in check is to use the thermic effect of food to your advantage.

The thermic effect (also referred to as specific dynamic action) is the incremental energy requirement above your resting metabolic rate used due to the cost of digestion, absorption, and disposal of ingested food.

Translation: Some of the foods you eat speed up your metabolism more than other foods.

You’ll find it much easier to reduce your fat levels if you consume plenty of foods with a higher thermic effect. Proteins tend to have a much higher thermic effect than other types of foods. Read more.

How to Make Your Body Burn More Calories

You can make weight loss quicker and easier by increasing your metabolic rate and burning more calories – here’s how:

5) Eat Little and Often

There is some evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.

Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you less likely binge. Read more.

Drink...


Red Wine's Resveratrol May Help Battle Obesity

ScienceDaily (Jun. 17, 2008) — Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study.

Past research found that resveratrol protected laboratory mice that were fed a high-calorie diet from the health problems of obesity, by mimicking the effects of calorie restriction. Researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany wanted to know if resveratrol could mimic the effects of calorie restriction in human fat cells by changing their size or function. The German team used a strain of human fat cell precursors, called preadipocytes. In the body, these cells develop into mature fat cells, according to the study's lead author, Pamela Fischer-Posovszky, PhD, a pediatric endocrinology research fellow in the university's Diabetes and Obesity Unit.

In the cell-based study, they found that resveratrol inhibited the pre-fat cells from increasing and prevented them from converting into mature fat cells. Also, resveratrol hindered fat storage. Most interesting, according to Fischer-Posovszky, was that resveratrol reduced production of certain cytokines (interleukins 6 and 8), substances that may be linked to the development of obesity-related disorders, such as diabetes and clogged coronary arteries. Also, resveratrol stimulated formation of a protein known to decrease the risk of heart attack. Obesity decreases this substance, called adiponectin.

The new finding is consistent with the theory that the resveratrol in red wine explains the French paradox, the observation that French people eat a relatively high-fat diet but have a low death rate from heart disease.

"Resveratrol has anti-obesity properties by exerting its effects directly on the fat cells," Fischer-Posovszky said. "Thus, resveratrol might help to prevent development of obesity or might be suited to treating obesity." Read More.

Coffee Drinkers Might Live Longer
June 17, 2008 02:22 PM ET | Deborah Kotz |

I'm sure the folks at Starbucks are rejoicing at yesterday's headlines announcing that "coffee drinkers might live longer." Women who drank more than six cups of coffee a day were found to have a 17 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses over 24 years of follow-up compared with those who drank less than one cup a month. My editor had a big smile on her face when she heard this news and happily told me that she downs eight cups of freshly brewed coffee every morning before she comes to work. Though I hate to burst her bubble, I have to point out that women who drank four to five cups per day actually had better protection: a 26 percent lower risk of dying. Read more.

Bottoms Up: What Your Favorite Beverage Can Do for You

by B. Radley, Jan 28, 2008
Here's what your favorite beverage can do for you.

"Beer, if drank in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health." - Thomas Jefferson

Studies show that moderate drinkers are generally healthier than those who do not drink and those who drink excessively. Research indicates that moderate alcohol consumers have fewer heart attacks and strokes and have less incidence of conditions such as high blood pressure, peripheral artery disease, cognitive disorders such Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, kidney stones, digestive ailments, stress and depression, hepatitis A, pancreatic cancer, gallstones, liver disease, etc. The list goes on.

Here's what your favorite beverage can do for you. Remember, moderation is the key. Read more.

Be Merry...

Study: Diabetics have elevated risk of depression

BLOOMBERG NEWS 12:02 AM EDT, June 18, 2008

People with diabetes are more likely to become depressed as they face a lifetime of keeping their disease in check, researchers said.

About 21 million Americans have diabetes, which requires patients to adhere to a strict diet and exercise routine and to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly, often by pricking their finger. People being treated for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, were 52 percent more likely to develop depression than those without the disease, according to a paper published in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study adds to a growing body of research showing a link between depression and diabetes, researchers said. Doctors may want to consider screening those with diabetes for depression because it may affect how well patients follow recommendations and their risk of developing complications of the disease, researchers said.

"Clearly this link between diabetes and depression exists. People need to be aware of these associations," said John Buse, the American Diabetes Association's president of medicine and science, in a telephone interview today. "It's a very tough business to take care of diabetes." Read more.

The Cortisol Connection

There is a natural, stress-related hormone called cortisol that may contribute to weight issues, particularly abdominal fat. High amounts of cortisol are released into the blood stream when you are under stress. Receptors for cortisol are located in your abdomen, which triggers fat storage there. In 2000, researchers found that women with a high waist-to-hip ratio -- both overweight and slim -- secreted more cortisol under stress and reported more stress in their daily lives than women with lower waist-to-hip ratios.

Additionally, excess cortisol may actually cause your metabolism to slow down. This could mean that even if you don't consume more calories than usual, you could gain weight. But since stress stimulates the appetite, it is likely that you take in more calories than usual when under stress, which only compounds the problem. Together, eating more calories and having a slower metabolism than usual is a "double-whammy" in the stress/weight connection; not only do you tend to take in more calories than usual, but you don't burn them efficiently, either. Read more.

The Importance of Mind-Set: Stress and the Scale From Jennifer R. Scott

Stress and Your Stomach

Did you know stress may have a direct connection to your weight? In recent years, research has shown that how you deal with everyday stress can affect your waistline in particular.

This can be a huge threat to your health because abdominal fat is more dangerous -- and increases disease risk more -- than fat located in any other part of the body. Excessive abdominal fat is linked directly to serious health conditions like hypertension and diabetes.

Women in particular have been found to accumulate more fat around their waists while they're under stress. In fact, a Yale University study showed that even otherwise-slim women who are under high stress levels are prone to put on weight on around their abdominal area.

The Cortisol Connection

What's the connection? When we are stressed out, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol has been proven to encourage fat storage in the abdominal area.

The worst part is if you don't learn to alleviate stress, cortisol levels stay high even when the original source of stress has subsided. Read more.

Help For Your Adrenal Stress Handlers! by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum M.D.

The stress of modern life, as well as infections, poor sleep and poor nutrition all take a toll on our stress handler gland (the Adrenal Gland). Inadequate adrenal function results not only in fatigue, anxiety and crashing with stress, but also in symptoms of low blood sugar (irritable when hungry). Adrenal support is easy and can leave you feeling much healthier, stronger and in control of your life.

In addition to adrenal exhaustion, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) are associated with low adrenal function caused by suppression of the control centers in the brain. An excellent recent research review by my friend and colleague Kent Holtorf MD again documents both the need for adrenal support in CFS/FMS and its effectiveness and safety. Read more.

In The News

Exercise can't compensate for sitting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (UPI) -- Even exercising for an hour a day isn't sufficient to reverse the effects of sitting the rest of the day, U.S. researchers found.

University of Missouri-Columbia researchers Marc Hamilton and Theodore Zderic found evidence that sitting had negative effects on fat and cholesterol metabolism and that physical inactivity throughout the day stimulated disease-promoting processes.

Hamilton said that there is a misconception that actively exercising is the only way to make a healthy difference in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle but his studies found that standing and other non-exercise activities burn many calories in most adults even if they don't otherwise exercise.

"The enzymes in blood vessels of muscles responsible for 'fat burning' are shut off within hours of not standing," Hamilton said in a statement. "Standing and moving lightly will re-engage the enzymes, and it stands to reason that when people sit much of that time they are losing the opportunity for optimal metabolism throughout the day."

Common non-exercise physical activities include: household chores, shopping, fidgeting and standing while watching a ball game, watching TV or talking on the telephone.

The findings are published in Diabetes and are to be presented at the Second International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health in the Netherlands.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Slim pickings for the women who are starving to look good
More magazine's latest offering serves up a depressing hotch-potch of information about dieting, resulting from interviews with 2,000 women across the UK. The headlines go like this: over a lifetime women spend, on average, more than £150,000 on diet products including books and dvds, gym membership, specialist foods and supplements. In spite of this, average weight loss is three pounds in any one year – most of which is put back on – so every pound lost costs £807.

The average length of time a woman tries to diet before a big event is four weeks, and young women now have a much more "short, sharp burst" attitude to weight loss than their mothers and grandmothers ever did.

Research says that women (the average age of the sample was 23) tend not to believe female celebrities whose bleating explanation for sudden dramatic weight loss is often either, "I just can't to keep weight on, no matter how much I eat..." or "It just dropped off after I had the baby...it must be down to breastfeeding."

Apparently 67 per cent of those surveyed thought the likes of Lily Allen, Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and her Spice Girls colleague Geri Halliwell actually achieve their wafer-thinness by opting for the "No Food Diet".

And thinking seems to go that if these suspected drastically slim pickings are okay for the celebs, that's where ordinary young women follow. Maybe this accounts in part for the fact that, although women in general have got bigger since the Second World War, the shops are selling clothes in ever-tinier sizes. We have a generation of younger women now who either gorge themselves or starve to be fashionable and emulate their icons.

Ninety per cent of women have gone at least one day without eating to lose weight, 30 per cent have starved themselves for two or more days, and seven per cent have fasted for four days.

Nearly half of those questioned said they eat only one meal a day, and that they started on this regime at the age of 15. A fifth follow a day of eating by a day of not eating, in order to lose weight or maintain weight loss.

Some of these will be seriously threatening their health, and some will be those who consume hardly any food on a Thursday to mitigate the calories they'll take on board on Friday night from a pizza and eight or 10 glasses of wine.

More's target audience isn't the older woman who knows better than to follow fad diets. The younger women who are probably the core of its readership will read the figures on diet provided by this survey and devour them – they are, after all, calorie-free.

The magazine's editor, Lisa Smosarski, says : "A whole generation of women have a dysfunctional eating pattern of endless mini starvation diets... It's very a very unhealthy, short-term approach to food, and means one day nothing will pass a girl's lips so that she can look 'hot' for a party..." Read More.

The Skinny on Carbohydrates (And don't leave me snotty or know it all comments because you're anti-all-carbs or only eat crescent rolls during a blue moon or pass on the apples and bananas because Jupiter is in the wrong alignment with your treadmill's model number. I don't give a snot).

Melina Jampolis, M.D.

Carbohydrates have been making a comeback lately. In the late '90s, the bun-less double bacon cheeseburger was considered health food, but in the past year or two, with even more research emerging on the importance of whole grains in disease prevention, we have been forced to rethink our boycott of the bread basket. Nevertheless, the average person is still confused about the role of carbohydrates for optimal health and weight loss. When it comes to carbohydrates, it is important to understand that quality and quantity matter.

Carbohydrate Quality: When we think of carbohydrates, we think of bread, pasta, rice, cereal, baked goods and potatoes, but they are also present in fruits, vegetables and dairy. All carbohydrates (except fiber) are eventually broken down into simple sugars, your body's favorite source of fuel. How quickly foods are absorbed and broken down into simple sugars (and therefore raise blood sugar), a value known as the glycemic index (GI), is an important criterion for evaluating carbohydrate quality. Whole, non-processed carbohydrates (vegetables, low-fat dairy) and carbohydrates that are high in fiber (whole grains) tend to be low glycemic while refined, processed and sugary carbohydrates like baked goods, juice, soda, white bread, white rice and white potatoes are generally high glycemic.

Why does the glycemic index of food matter? High-GI foods increase blood sugar very quickly, causing an exaggerated release of insulin. This leads to a subsequent crash in blood sugar, which can leave you feeling tired and hungry - neither of which is good for your waistline or your general well-being. In addition, having too much insulin in your bloodstream regularly can cause dangerous fat to accumulate around your midsection, significantly increasing your risk of heart disease. While studies on GI and weight loss have shown mixed results, in my practice, I find that a low-GI diet helps control hunger and keep energy levels stable throughout the day. And studies suggest it may decrease your risk of heart disease, age-related macular degeneration, breast cancer and diabetes, so even if you don't lose weight, a low-GI diet wins.

Carbohydrate Quantity: When it comes to weight loss, low=carbohydrate diets outperform the rest, in the short term. But most, if not all of the weight loss, is generally regained within a year because it is difficult, if not impossible, to stay on these diets long term. If you tend to carry your weight around your midsection, the so-called apple-shaped body type, studies suggest that you will lose more weight, particularly around your waist, by reducing carbohydrates. But rather than cut them completely, focus on cutting back and eating mainly fruits, vegetables (except potatoes) and whole-grain carbohydrates such as whole grain bread, brown rice, barley and high-fiber cereal. In my book, "The No Time to Lose Diet," I developed a carbohydrate calculator (click here) to help customize the number of starchy carbohydrates you should consume for weight loss. Studies show that eating at least 3 servings of whole grains per day is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. And for athletes (even weekend warriors), you need carbohydrates to fuel your muscles, otherwise you will run out of steam quickly or worse, burn muscle for fuel.

So as you can see, there is no need to fear the carbohydrate. The right carbs can help you become (or stay) healthier and slimmer.

Dr. Melina B. Jampolis is a board-certified physician nutrition specialist. She is the host of Fit TV's "Diet Doctor" and author of "The No Time to Lose Diet" (Nelson Books, 2007). She is in private practice in San Francisco focusing on nutrition for weight loss and disease prevention.

This article appeared on page P - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle