Yearly Archives: 2011 - Page 9

Our prayers to those in harm’s way: To the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan, and earlier in Christchurch, our prayers and best wishes.

Here are things that caught my eye this week:

[1] Congratulations, Emily! Dr. Emily Deans is now writing for Psychology Today. It’s great that a wide audience will now be hearing her helpful ideas – for instance, that magnesium may be the healthiest antidepressant.

P.S. – Kurt Harris will be there too!

[2] Secrets to longevity: Longevity project authors say that careful, conscientious people live longer than optimists; hard-working people live the longest; worrying is OK; good marriages extend lifespan, difficult marriages don’t; starting school at a very young age shortens lifespan (that’s bad news for Shou-Ching, she started school early to be with her older brother). Their advice: make a lot of friends, and be active doing things you enjoy.

[3] What’s He up to now?: When commenters leave blog addresses I visit their blogs. Mary of Midlife Makeover Year made me smile with this:

Love this picture of Mary … keeping an eye on her Son who is probably messing up the spice rack again.

[4] Self-Recommending Paper: With Staffan Lindeberg, Loren Cordain, Pedro Bastos, and other leading Paleo figures in the author list, “The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization” is bound to be good. Download here.

[5] Nice to hear: Our Ox Feet and Seaweed Soup is “Absolutely fantastic!”

[6] A new difference between chimps and humans: Penile spines. John Hawks explains that chimpanzees have pointy cactus-like penises while Neandertals and humans don’t. Scientists are wondering when and why our ancestors lost these prickly appendages. The loss makes sex far more enjoyable.

I’m glad I’m human!

[7] Animal photo for no reason whatsoever: Via Yves Smith

[8] Are smokers more creative?: Bruce Charlton wonders if smoking improves mental function.

[9] Don’t eat cardboard: Barry Groves says cardboard breakfast cereal boxes are no longer healthier than the cereals they contain. Sadly, not because the cereals got better.

[10] Don Rumsfeld works at a standing desk, Piers Morgan thinks it’s odd: There are few single life adjustments more likely to improve your health than working at a standing desk. I’ll blog about why after I finish building mine. Don Rumsfeld looks great for 78, and his standing desk probably has something to do with it. Here’s Piers Morgan trying to make it sound weird:

I wonder what would have happened if Rummy had worn his Vibrams!

[11] Cure worse than the disease syndrome: In Science Daily, some excited scientists proclaim a new cure for obesity:

An important discovery in mice may make a big difference in people’s waistlines thanks to a team of Harvard scientists who found that reducing the function of a transmembrane protein, called Klotho, in obese mice with high blood sugar levels produced lean mice with reduced blood sugar levels. This protein also exists in humans, suggesting that selectively targeting Klotho could lead to a new class of drugs to reduce obesity and possibly Type 2 diabetes for people….

“Our study is a small step toward reducing the sufferings of obese and diabetic individuals to bring back the joy of healthy life,” said M. Shawkat Razzaque, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity at Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston. “In the dark horizon of obesity and diabetes, Klotho brings a ray of hope.”

I happen to have a passing familiarity with Klotho; it is discussed in this paper which was cited in my post The Amazing Curative Powers of High-Dose Vitamin D in Aging and Autism. Klotho knockout mice experience accelerated aging and die young. Another paper summarizes, “Klotho hypomorphic mice (klotho(hm)) suffer from severe growth deficit, rapid aging, and early death.” From a Nature article, here’s a picture of a normal mouse and a Klotho deficient mouse. Can you guess which mouse had its obesity cured?

Of course, rapid aging and early death is a problem for the longevity researcher, not the obesity researcher. If Klotho blocking cures obesity, the obesity researcher’s job is done, and it’s up to longevity researchers to find a drug that extends the life of anti-Klotho-drug-consuming humans.

[12] 88% of Bavarian doctors have prescribed placebos: Guardian story here.  The study (in German) is here. Hat tip: Tyler Cowen.

I suspect that if US doctors could follow their own clinical judgment without fear of lawsuit or clinical review or patient complaints, placebos might make up a majority of prescriptions. And health might improve! Not because the patients are psychosomatic, either.

[13] Jamie Scott, “That Paleo Guy,” is eloquent about constipation.

[14] Fallon, Nevada, provides evidence for an infectious origin of leukemia.

[15] Weekly Video: The rhythms of traditional life (via Fanatic Cook)

Things that caught my eye this week:

(1) Great New Weight Loss Diet!!!: Man loses 7 pounds in his first 3 days on the “dog food diet.”

Let’s see, that’s 2.3 pounds per day, which if it came from fat would be a calorie deficit of 9,500 calories per day.

Are we really sure this isn’t the “look at dog food and decide not to eat it” diet?

(2) Even Our Bugs Have Bugs: The bacterium C. pneumoniae which contributes to so many diseases is often infected itself, by an even tinier bacteriophage. Infected C. pneumoniae is less dangerous to us. (Source: Hoestgaard-Jensen K et al. Influence of the Chlamydia pneumoniae AR39 bacteriophage ?CPAR39 on chlamydial inclusion morphology. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2011 Feb 23 http://pmid.us/21348900.)

(3) Early Elective C-sections Not Good: The Wall Street Journal has the story:

[A] growing body of medical evidence indicates that gestation even a few days short of a full 39 weeks can lead to short- and long-term health risks….

A 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that of 24,000-plus repeat elective C-sections, more than a third were performed before 39 weeks. The risk of complications, including respiratory distress, seizures and bloodstream infections, increased even among babies delivered in the last three or four days of the 38th week.

According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, infants born at 37 to 38 weeks face problems with brain development and function, including psychological, behavioral and emotional problems.

I was early – not sure how many weeks, but 4 pounds 10 ounces at birth. If I seem to have psychological, behavioral and emotional problems, this may explain it.

(4) Two Incredible Things: I was reading a BMJ editorial, and this paragraph shocked me:

He drew attention to rodent experiments10 showing that adult energy balance can be preprogrammed by administering leptin in utero and in early life. “Might one be able to supplement human milk with leptin?” he wondered aloud in a recent press interview—triggering yet another frenzy of speculation.

First, if giving leptin to pregnant women will make their babies grow up skinny, wouldn’t fat mothers (with high circulating leptin) produce skinny children, and thin mothers (with low circulating leptin) fat children?

Second, does the editor really expect us to believe that a scientist’s musings were greeted with “frenzy”?

(Source: Watts G. In search of fat profits. BMJ. 2007 Jun 23;334(7607):1298-9. http://pmid.us/17585156.)

(5) Dick Cheney has no heartbeat: See here for details.

(6) You Be the Doctor Quiz #2: How do you cure this problem?

I vote for anesthesia in the jugular, or chili sauce on the cheek.

(7) Nature photos: Michel Denis-Huot in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve photographed three cheetahs catching a baby impala – and, because they were not hungry, playing with it before letting it go:

Click the image for more photos and the story.

(8) OxLDL Can Break the Blood-Brain Barrier: This interests me because the blood-brain barrier is important for protecting the brain from infections. OxLDL could be a major risk factor for dementia. Stay away from omega-6 fats! (Source: Lin YL et al. Resveratrol protects against oxidized LDL-induced breakage of the blood-brain barrier by lessening disruption of tight junctions and apoptotic insults to mouse cerebrovascular endothelial cells. J Nutr. 2010 Dec;140(12):2187-92 http://pmid.us/20980646.)

(9) The 10-Minute Cure for Menstrual Cramps: We are guardians to two nieces and a nephew, and one of the nieces was home from college this week. On Friday we came home to find her in bed, suffering from a bad case of menstrual cramps. She looked rather like Little Nell:

I gave her 750 mg of magnesium. Ten minutes later she bounced out of her room, smiling.

She is now a convert – to the belief that chocolate should be eaten daily!

(10) Do They Have a Mud-Wrestling Match at the End?: Gary Taubes (“The man who thinks everything Dr. Oz says is WRONG”) is going to be on the Dr. Oz show Monday. Check out the promo. Looks like fun!

(11) Weekly Video: The National Park Service is doing videos now and some of them are beautiful as well as informative. I thought I knew a lot about Yosemite, but I didn’t expect to see the beautiful coals at 4:30. Meet Horsetail Fall on El Capitan:

[1] CoQ10 and niacin not good for Top Gun pilots: You don’t get useful supplement information like this at other Paleo sites.

The case presented here details a Naval Aviator who experienced reduced G tolerance over two successive flights with a temporal relationship of starting a new supplement. Two components of the supplement, coenzyme Q10 and niacin, are highlighted here for their hemodynamic effects. After stopping the supplement the aviator regained his normal G tolerance and had no further issues in flight.

Barker PD. Reduced G tolerance associated with supplement use. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2011 Feb;82(2):140-3. http://pmid.us/21329031.

[2] Thank you, science, this is helpful:

• Cell phones are dangerous.
• Cell phones are not dangerous.

[3] N-acetylcysteine and choline reverse insulin resistance in rats. This is for biology junkies. How does physiological insulin resistance get reversed? Feeding signals do it, and cysteine and choline may be primary signals. Also, there is liver and brain involvement, since denervation of the liver causes insulin resistance. A hypothesis: there is a “hepatic insulin sensitizing substance” (HISS).

Lautt WW et al. Bethanechol and N-acetylcysteine mimic feeding signals and reverse insulin resistance in fasted and sucrose-induced diabetic rats. Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2011 Feb;89(2):135-42. http://pmid.us/21326345.

[4] Do eggs eliminate need for carbohydrates? Seth Roberts recounts an interesting n=1 experience:

Joseph Buchignani … discovered that a meat-only diet eliminated his IBS. However, it also caused craving for carbs. Because carbs caused IBS, he couldn’t simply eat carbs. He tried many ways of getting rid of the craving for carbs: eating more animal fat, eating less animal fat, eating oil, eating lard, and eating different kinds of animals and cuts of meat. He varied how he cooked the meat, eating especially fresh meat, and eating fresh whole fish. All of these attempts failed. He did not try taking a multivitamin pill.

Finally he tried adding egg to the meat. That eliminated his craving for carbs…

Sure, some cravings reflect nutrient deficiencies. (Not all cravings: An alcoholic craves alcohol.) But in the cases I know about, there is an obvious or semi-obvious connection between the craving and the deficiency. For example, people who chew too much ice (pagophagia) crave ice to chew. They are iron-deficient. Eating iron eliminates the pagophagia. Long ago, a craving to eat something crunchy would have led you to eat bones. Bone marrow is high in iron. So the craving makes sense. In contrast, there is no obvious or semi-obvious connection between carbs and eggs.

The explanation for Mr. Buchignani’s experience is not obvious to me either. However, here’s a hypothesis:  Eggs are rich in cysteine and choline, so maybe they give an especially strong feeding signal that over-rides the appetite signal generated by carbohydrate deficiency.

[5] We need a good mucus barrier to prevent self-digestion. Every once in a while I assert in the comments that we need a good mucus barrier to protect our own cells from digestive enzymes, and so people with bowel problems (hence a deficient mucus barrier) should be cautious about taking protease or lipase enzymes. Then somebody asks for a reference (tough crowd!).

Well, here’s a paper that came out this week. It’s about proteases. The new part to me was that NAC is mucolytic and aggravates the injury. So reversing your insulin resistance with NAC might damage your gut … trade-offs, trade-offs.

Qin X et al. The Mucus Layer is Critical in Protecting Against Ischemia-Reperfusion-Mediated Gut Injury and in the Restitution of Gut Barrier Function. Shock. 2011 Mar;35(3):275-281. http://pmid.us/20856173.

[6] Most pesticide-contaminated vegetable? Celery. “This stalky vegetable tops the dirty list. Research showed that a single celery stalk had 13 pesticides, while, on the whole, celery contained as many as 67 pesticides.”

[7] Paleo cavities and chronic infections: Rhodesian Man, dated to between 125,000 and 300,000 BC, had cavities in ten upper teeth and pitting in his skull indicates he was probably killed by a chronic dental or ear infection. Paleo diets were not a cure-all for infectious disease. Via Melissa McEwen.

[8] Love in nature:

(Via Yves Smith)

[9] Vegan recovers health by eating animal foods: That’s not news. But she wrote a beautiful essay:

I wanted desperately for it to be right, for my ethics to outweigh my physiology.

Then she got death threats.

(Via Newmark’s Door)

[10] Shows how out of touch I am: If Richard Nikoley hadn’t blogged about it, I wouldn’t have known he has detractors. Whatever for? Has he been teasing the vegans again?

[11] Does the body have a fat mass setpoint? Pål Jåbekk of Ramblings of a Carnivore has a discussion of why the word “setpoint” may mislead. I agree – fat mass “equilibrium” or leptin “target” would probably be better words.

Pål objects to the setpoint language because he thinks it has encouraged a simple fat in / fat out mechanistic view of weight gain, and promotes a therapy of “starve and do insane amounts of exercise.” Pål suggests instead a lake metaphor:

When it comes to the body fat setpoint, I rather like the lake comparison. A lake can for those less informed seem to have a set point of water level. Despite rather large fluctuations in temperature, evaporation and water going into and out of the lake, the lake maintains it water level because the factors mostly responsible for the level influence each other. This does not mean that it is difficult to change the level, nor does it mean the lake “attempts to defend against change.” Build a damn dam and the water level will go up. Drain it, and the level goes down. It’s not very hard, you just have to push the right buttons.

I like this metaphor because it expresses the equilibrium concept – fat mass is in equilibrium the way water in the lake is in equilibrium; the equilibrium can change. On the other hand, the way to adjust water level is to reduce water in and increase water out. Doesn’t this metaphor promote the calories in / calories out view? And isn’t that the view that suggested the failed “starve and do insane amounts of exercise” weight loss regimen?

My conclusion: Semantic disagreements can be hard to resolve!

(Note to readers: For our thoughts on how to lose weight, peruse the “Weight Loss” category).

[12] Weekly video: The Cleveland zoo discovers that gorillas get healthier when they eat natural foods instead of sugary biscuits. This is a revelation to zoology:

(Via John Durant)