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End of Winter Miscellany

Doc Gumshoe checks in on Alzheimer's, Coffee, Gluten, Diabetes, C. Diff and Fish

[ed. note: Michael Jorrin, who I like to call Doc Gumshoe, is a longtime medical writer (not a doctor) who writes about non-financial health and medical issues for us a couple times a month (past submissions can be found on his author page here). Like all of our authors, he chooses his own topics and his words and opinions are his alone. Enjoy!]

When I first started doing this kind of thing – by which I mean writing about health and medical subjects – I used to have to make my way to the New York Academy of Medicine Library, at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, to do my research.   There I would consult Index Medicus, a huge, comprehensive, multivolume index of medical journals all over the world.   I would quickly find the journal papers my particular project required, request those volumes of the journals from the library circulation desk, read those papers, request photocopies of those papers that I felt I would need to refer to in my mission, pay the 10 cents per page fee, and depart, feeling that I had accomplished the crucial first step in my task.

No more.   Index Medicus ceased publication in 2004, because, apparently, nobody but nobody used it anymore.   All research was being done on line.   And, in the meantime, the internet has deduced that I am interested in matters medical, and swamps my inbox with emails alerting me to every sort of medical and health news.   I welcome this, up to a point.   But it requires me to weed my inbox assiduously.   If I don’t keep on top of it, it will become disastrously overgrown.   Sometimes I miss the old way – I could skim Index Medicus a whole lot faster than PubMed or Medline.   I could decide in an Augenblick if a paper might be worth reading.   “Yes” to papers in Lancet or the New England Journal, “no” to papers in the Pseudomedical Consortium of Lower Slobbovia.

But among the daily internet weeds there are flowers of interest, and some of these merit, I hope, inclusion in Doc Gumshoe dispatches.   Here are a few.

Is there a link between elevated cholesterol intake and dementia or Alzheimer’s?

Based on a study in Finland (Ylilauri MPT, Am J Clin Nutr 2017), the answer appears to be no.   Whether this is good news or not good news depends on your appetite for meat, eggs, butter and cheese.

In the past, an association has been noted between elevated cholesterol levels and dementia.   In particular, a focus of attention has been the APOE4 gene, which appears to increase the risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and also plays a role in the processing and use of cholesterol and other lipids in the brain.   However, elevated cholesterol is frequently observed in persons with high blood pressure as well as diabetes, so it is difficult to pinpoint cholesterol as the factor that contributes to AD.   The data that tends to support the link between elevated cholesterol and dementia is that persons who take statins have a somewhat lower risk of developing dementia.   But, as Doc Gumshoe never tires of pointing out, that is an association and not a proof of causation.   It’s possible that the population that takes statins is different from the non-statin users in other respects than having a high cholesterol level.   And it’s also possible that statins reduce the deposition of whatever brain-crud results in dementia or AD in a way that’s independent of their effect on cholesterol synthesis.

The study in Finland, however, is nothing if not robust.   It followed 2,497 men, ages 42 – 60 years, who were free from dementia at baseline, for a total of 21.9 years, and found no association whatever between the intake of dietary cholesterol and the development of dementia or AD.   Both total diet and egg intake were measured, and increased egg intake was associated with better performance on neuropsychological tests and executive function.   Better, not worse!

What this seems to say is that we cannot reduce our risk of developing dementia or AD by cutting back on dietary cholesterol.   I would, however, introduce a small Note of Caution: dietary cholesterol as cholesterol is by no means the only culprit in elevated cholesterol levels in the bloodstream.   Remember, we ourselves make somewhere around 80% of the cholesterol in our systems, and we need to keep doing it, because cholesterol is a key component of many of our bodily tissues.   So questions about the link between cholesterol and dementia are definitely still open.

Coffee, tea, and cardiovascular events

This was a substantial study (Miller PE, Am J Med 2016) in 6,508 persons described as “multi-ethnic” who were classified according to coffee and/or tea consumption.   The background to this is that the health effects of coffee drinking in particular are somewhat controversial.   Caffeine is known to increase heart rate, peripheral vasoconstriction, and blood pressure.   At the same time, coffee consumption has definitely been linked with decreased risk of developing diabetes.   The studies that demonstrated that link showed that diabetes benefit occurred with bona fide caffeinated coffee, but not with decaf.    Doc Gumshoe, ever the skeptic, had wondered whether it was because at least some of the non-coffee drinkers might chug down more soda pop, but the difference between drinking caf and decaf put his doubts to rest.   A fairly recent meta-analysis has also found that coffee-drinking is associated with somewhat lower over-all cardiovascular risk.

Part of the focus of this study was the deposition of calcium in the coronary arteries, which is sometimes considered to be an early sign of arteriosclerosis.   The results were a bit contradictory.   The single largest effect was seen in persons who drank one or more cups of tea per day.   These persons had an odds ratio for developing coronary artery calcium of 0.64, which translates to a risk reduction of 36%, compared with the group that never drank tea.   Overall caffeine intake was linked with lower coronary artery calcium deposition, by about 19%.

The single largest difference regarding cardiovascular events was between regular tea drinkers – more than one cup per day – and non-tea drinkers.   The regular tea drinkers had a 29% lower risk of cardiovascular events than the tea teetotalers.

The authors tentatively suggest that the benefits of tea may be through polyphenols such as flavonoids, which have antioxidant properties that decrease the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol, improve endothelial function, and decrease the progression of atherosclerosis.   They point out that intervention studies, in which subjects have been given flavonoids in their diet, have yielded conflicting results, but they endorse the Mediterranean diet for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

So, if you are persuaded by those two studies, might breakfast consist of tea and a boiled egg?   But seriously, those studies are careful attempts to shed light on common threats to our health and their relationship with our daily diet.   The conclusions aren’t sweeping or revolutionary, but they are reassuring, up to a point.   To wit, you don’t have to go on a no-meat-no-eggs diet to avoid dementia, and a couple of cups of tea per day might just lower your cardiovascular risk.

Comparing drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) 

What about another disease that affects huge and growing numbers of our species –T2DM?   Are any of the current drugs head and shoulders above the rest?   Considering the large number of drugs used to treat T2DM, that’s a question worth investigating carefully, and that’s what a huge JAMA meta-analysis has recently done (Palmer SC, JAMA 2016).

First, a bit of background.   Diabetes, as most of us know, is a particularly sneaky disease, because at least in its early stages no obvious symptoms manifest, while at the same time irreversible damage is taking place, particularly in the circulatory system and in the eyes.   Many diabetics are not diagnosed until their disease has progressed considerably, and then only if they have a medical emergency which requires a blood test.   In the US alone, about 25 million people have T2DM.   That’s about 8% of the population.   In about 7 million of these, diabetes is undiagnosed.   If present trends continue, about a third of all American adults will have diabetes by the year 2050.

The drug which nearly every newly-diagnosed T2DM patient gets is metformin (Glucophage), which slows down the release of stored glucose from the liver and also increases the sensitivity of insulin receptors and the uptake of glucose throughout the body.   But for most persons with T2DM, metformin is not a permanent answer; they will require a second or even a third drug with a somewhat different mechanism of action.   Doc Gumshoe posted a fairly comprehensive survey of T2DM treatment a couple of years ago, “The Why and the What of Diabetes Management,” which you can find in the archive.   But here’s a quick summary of those agents:

  • Sulfonylureas  stimulate the beta cells to produce more insulin.   Amaryl (glimepride), Diabeta (micronase), and Glucotrol (glipizide) are common sulfonylureas.
  • Meglitinides and d-phenylalanine derivatives act to boost the first-phase insulin response.   Prandin (repaglinide) and Starlix (nateglinide) are members of this class.
  • Thiazolidinediones, also known as glitazones, act on muscle and adipose tissue to increase glucose utilization, and on the liver to decrease glucose release.   Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone) are members of this class.
  • DPP-4 (dipeptyl peptidase 4) inhibitors, also known as gliptins.   These agents enable the action of incretin, a digestive peptide that boosts the first-phase insulin response.   Januvia (sitagliptin), Onglyza (saxagliptin), and Tradjenta (linagliptin) are DPP-4 inhibitors.
  • Incretin mimetics, as the name implies, mimic the activity of incretins.   Byetta (exenatide) and Victoza (liraglutide) are incretin mimetics.
  • Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors work by preventing the digestion of carbohydrates, which are normally converted into simple sugars.   Precose (acarbose) and Glyset (miglitol) are α-glucosidase inhibitors.
  • SGLT-2 (sodium glucose transporter 2) inhibitors, the most recent T2DM agents, have an entirely different mechanism of action.   SGLT-2 inhibitors block the return of glucose from the kidney to the bloodstream, thus lowering blood glucose levels.   Invokana (canagliflozin) and Farxiga (dapagliflozin) are recently approved SGLT-2 inhibitors; others are in the works.

The JAMA study evaluated 301 clinical trials, including 177 trials in 56,598 patients of drugs as monotherapy, 109 trials in 53,030 patients of drugs added to metformin, and 29 trials in 10,598 patients of drugs added to dual therapy with metformin and a sulfonylurea.    Compared with metformin, the other drugs, including sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, α-glucosidase inhibitors, and DPP-4 inhibitors, resulted in somewhat higher HbA1C levels.   (HbA1C, in case you don’t remember, measures blood cells that are bound with glucose.   They remain in the bound state for several weeks, so HbA1C levels provide a better picture of a person’s blood glucose levels over time than a direct blood glucose measurement.)

When drugs from one of the other classes were added to metformin or to a dual therapy regimen including metformin, no differences in HbA1C levels were observed with the different classes of drugs.    And there were no significant differences in associations between any drug class as monotherapy, dual therapy, or triple therapy with regard to odds of cardiovascular or all-cause mortality.

Why is this study worth paying attention to?   First, I would say that a physician would have to have a pretty good reason to prescribe a drug other than metformin as a first line agent for T2DM.   The JAMA study strongly supports the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association that metformin is the drug to go with for a newly diagnosed person with diabetes.

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But if you so much as scanned the list of drugs above, you surely noticed several that have been receiving exceedingly heavy promotion.   And, since most diabetics will require a second or even third drug, the question is, which drug is good for which patient.   That will depend on the individual patient, of course.   But a responsible physician will pay close attention to the patient’s life style, particularly as reflected in the patient’s dietary and exercise habits, weight, and overall health.   Some patients may particularly benefit from the classes of drugs that specifically boost the first-phase insulin response, while others may do better with drugs that increase the insulin response after a full meal.   Overall, the good news is that there are many effective drugs out there, as well as treatment plans that maximize the patient’s total health.   It’s more than ever before possible for a person with diabetes to live a long and healthy life.

Good news about C. diff

Clostridium difficile is not the most lethal “superbug,” but there’s no doubt that it has been a growing and difficult problem.   The usual scenario is that a person has an infection and gets treated with a common antibiotic.   The infection goes away, so, okay so far.   But then the person falls ill again, this time with an infection that simply doesn’t respond to treatment with the usual antibiotics.   Time to call in the heavy hitters.   No help for it – the patient then receives a much more powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects.   Metronidazole (Flagyl) or vancomycin are the usual recourse.   If those don’t work – and sometimes they don’t – it may be time to try a procedure that has been receiving quite a bit of attention lately.   That’s fecal transplantation, specifically the introduction of donor feces into the digestive tract of the patient, thus restoring the normal healthy bacterial population that dwelt in the innards of the patient before the antibiotic treatment.

But now comes an observational study in Lancet Infectious Diseases (Dingle KE, Lancet Inf Dis 2017).   Without going into unnecessary detail, here’s what the study reported:

Between 1998 and 2006, the incidence of C. diff  in hospitals in Oxfordshire and Leeds (in the UK) increased markedly, despite intense deep cleaning and sanitizing efforts.   This coincided with an increase in antibiotic use, not only in hospitals, but in the community.   Then, beginning in 2006, hospitals reduced the use of some antibiotics, especially fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, and the incidence of C. diff  began to decline.   The genomes of more than 4000 C. diff  isolates were analyzed.     The findings were, to say the least, eye-opening.

The incidence of fluoroquinolone-resistant C. diff  isolates declined from 67% in 2006 to less than 3% in 2013.   C. diff  appears to be innately resistant to cephalosporins, thus, the overall decline in C. diff  infections was due only to the reduction in fluoroquinolone use, especially ciprofloxacin.   Or, to put it another way, cutting back on cephalosporins did not increase the prevalence of resistant C. diff  isolates, since this particular bug is mostly resistant to cephalosporins to start with.

The conclusions drawn by the study authors were that the labor-intensive and expensive “deep cleaning” procedures that hospitals had adopted to reduce C. diff infections were ineffective and could be dispensed with, while a reduction in fluoroquinolones would be highly effective in controlling C. diff.   

Those findings certainly do not imply that hospitals should simply stop employing fluoroquinolones, which will continue to be valuable drugs in the control of several infections.   That’s in spite of the fact that some of the fluoroquinolones have been linked with troubling toxicities, and some of the more recently-introduced fluoroquinolones have been taken off the market for that reason.   However, carefully targeted use is likely to continue.

The fluoroquinolone/C. diff  link is just one specific instance of the global threat posed by increasing and indiscriminate antibiotic use.   Health authorities characterize this as an imminent catastrophe, as resistant strains of pathogens emerge that do not respond to any currently-available antibiotic – the so-called “superbugs.”   Pharmaceutical companies are loath to invest hugely in developing new antibiotics, because if they should happen to bring an antibiotic to market that is indeed effective against some of the more dangerous resistant microbes, the medical community will – wisely! – refrain from using that new miracle drug unless it’s absolutely essential to do so.   So the pharm outfit spends billions on the new drug and it sits on the shelf waiting for the call to arms.   This is a huge and highly important topic, and Doc Gumshoe will take a deeper look at it in an upcoming post.

A bit more evidence supporting fish in our diets

The dietary guidelines issued jointly every five years by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture resemble a big playground where some kids run around together happily and cooperatively, some assume a bossy and dictatorial tone, and yet some others reveal their inner bullies.   Some kids are clearly outcasts (carbs, added sugars), some feel themselves unfairly discriminated against (salt, fats), some preen themselves as being loved by all (green leafy vegetables), and some feel certain of their worth but not as popular as they deserve (fish).

As it happens, about half of us Americans almost never eat fish, or when they do, it’s apt to be a tuna sandwich or something of the sort.   That’s despite the rock-solid evidence in support of the Mediterranean diet, which tends to be a “customary” diet rather than a “prescribed” diet.   In other words, it’s just what folks in that part of the world happen to eat as a regular thing, and that happens to include a high proportion of fish.   A study in Spain confirmed that people who followed the Mediterranean diet as a usual daily practice had a lower incidence of cardiac events than people who were on a prescribed diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and minimizing fats of any kind – more like the “food pyramid” diets and diets put forward by the American Heart Association.   Also, a study conducted under the Nurses’ Study program found that the Mediterranean diet was associated with longer telomeres.   Telomeres protect our DNA, and longer telomeres should lead to increased longevity; therefore the Mediterranean diet might favor increased longevity.

But despite recommendations from Federal departments, Americans seem to be unable to be persuaded to eat fish as often as we should, at least according to those experts.   Maybe a lot of us don’t like fish, maybe it’s inconvenient to shop for fresh fish, maybe we’d just rather have the chicken-fried steak.

So, how do we deliver the benefits of the Mediterranean diet to people who just don’t eat fish?

A widely-held view is that the benefits of eating fish essentially come from fish oil –the omega-3 fatty acids in fish – docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) eicosapentanenoic acid (EPA).   A surprising study (Del Gobbo LC, JAMA Int Med 2016) supports the position that those two omega-3 fatty acids reduce the incidence of fatal heart attacks, although they have a much smaller effect on the total incidence of heart attacks.   If we believe that study, which is a review of fourteen different cohort studies – i.e., not prospective randomized studies  – DHA and EPA don’t have much effect with regard to preventing the heart attacks.   Instead, they reduce the severity of the heart attacks.

Now, along comes a study that supports the benefit of those omega-3’s even more robustly.   The study (Alexander DD, Mayo Clinic Proc 2017) is a meta-analysis which included large retrospective studies as well as prospective randomized studies.   The large population-based studies compared persons who either ate fish regularly or took omega-3 supplements with those who did neither, and found that the fish or omega-3 consumers had an 18% lower overall risk of developing heart disease than the persons who abstained.

The prospective randomized trials, in which people were assigned either to take the omega-3 supplements or placebo, the omega-3 supplements demonstrated the greatest benefit in the individuals at the highest cardiovascular risk.   Persons with elevated LDL-cholesterol taking the omega-3 supplements had a 14% lower incidence of coronary heart disease incidents than their counterparts who were not taking the supplements, and persons with elevated triglycerides had a 16% lower incidence.

I find the prospective randomized trials much more persuasive than the population studies.    It’s quite likely that there are big life-style differences between people who regularly take omega-3 supplements and those who don’t.   My guess is that the supplement cohort are also more likely not to smoke, to watch their weight, to eat a somewhat healthy diet, to exercise, and in general to behave like good little boys and girls, while the non-supplement cohort are perhaps a bit more likely to break the rules.

But it’s also possible that some people in the supplement cohort figure that since they’re taking their omega-3 pills, they don’t need to eat fish.   Taking those pills gives them permission to eat whatever the heck they want.   Probably chicken-fried steak and soda pop.

Red yeast rice: not so healthy as some people had assumed?

Taking a statin to control cholesterol has a bad rap among some people.   There’s no doubt at all that there are individuals who cannot tolerate statins and experience significant adverse events when taking statins.   Happily, for those persons there are now quite effective but also quite expensive alternatives, such as the PCSK9 inhibitors.    But there’s also the community of drug-shunners, people who want nothing to do with drugs developed by Big Pharma, prescribed by the medical establishment, and approved by the FDA.   For many of those, a recourse for addressing elevated cholesterol has been supplements made from red yeast rice.

Red yeast is the product of rice fermented with Monascus purpureus yeast.  It turns out that the active ingredient in red yeast rice extracts is lovastatin, or Mevacor.   There have been squabbles between Merck, the manufacturer of Mevacor, and the makers of the red yeast rice extracts.   Logically, the side effects that are seen with lovastatin would also be likely to be seen with red yeast rice extracts.   These would likely be liver damage and muscle aches and pains.

A study now confirms this (Mazzanti G, British J Clin Pharmacol 2017).   The study was conducted by the Italian Surveillance System of Natural Health Products, and was based on adverse events reports that were received from 2002 to 2015.   Of a total of 1,261 adverse events reports, 52 were related to red yeast rice extracts.   The most common events were myalgia (19 events), GI reactions (12 events), and   liver injury (10 events).   There were nine hospitalizations and one case of rhabdomyolysis, in which the muscle tissue is destroyed.

Stopping the red yeast rice extract resolved the adverse effect in 73% of the cases.   The study authors noted that the short interval from taking the drug to onset of the adverse events as well as the absence of concomitant drugs or predisposing conditions strongly suggest that it was the red yeast rice extract that caused the adverse events.

Another factor to weigh is that while the dosage of prescription drugs is always part of the prescription, similar precision is not usually part of taking supplements.   The precise amount of the active ingredient in the supplement is not known, and users are more apt to be free with the supplement in a way that they would not be apt to be with a prescription drug.   Therefore, the likelihood is that the users of red yeast rice extract might be overdosing.

All in all, red yeast rice extract seems to be a poor choice for persons wishing to avoid a statin.

Perils of the gluten-free diet

A gluten-free diet is essential for persons with celiac disease.    Doc Gumshoe did a piece, “Celiac Disease and the Ubiquitous Gluten-Free Diet” just about two years ago, and not a whole lot has changed since then.   The essentials were, and are still, that less than 1% of Americans have celiac disease, and nobody else really requires a gluten-free diet.  The best data available on the prevalence of celiac disease in the US comes from NHANES, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the CDC.   They examined nearly 8000 people and found a total of 35 with celiac disease.   Of those 35, only 6 had received a diagnosis.   That survey was back in 2011; in the meantime, awareness of celiac disease has no doubt soared.   That may account for the increase in the diagnosis of celiac disease, but the actual prevalence of the disease remains around 1%.

At the same time, many of our fellow Americans have adopted a gluten-free diet based on a general supposition that it is healthier.   This seems to be the case whether or not they actually are affected by celiac disease, or even have the serological markers for celiac disease, which are tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA).   A prevailing view among these individuals is that the wheat products that we are consuming these days are not the same as the ones our ancestors relied on for their daily bread.   According to them, we have developed new wheat varieties whose chief virtues are that they are more productive and more disease resistant, but somehow lacking in essential nutrients.   The beneficiaries of these new wheat strains are those gigantic chemical companies that develop the seeds and manufacture the fertilizers, as well as the industrial farmers.

If we’re going to avoid gluten, obviously we need to avoid wheat products.   So, what do we eat instead?   The answer, for many people, is rice and products made with rice flour.   A paper in the journal Epidemiology, published just a few days ago (Bulka CM, Epidemiol 2017), found that persons on a gluten-free diet had double the levels of arsenic in their urine as the people not on a gluten-free diet.   And the gluten-free diet cohort also had elevated levels of mercury.   Those levels do fall short of what are considered dangerous levels.   But a characteristic of both arsenic and mercury is that we mostly do not excrete these metals through normal channels – neither in the urine nor in the feces.   They tend to accumulate in the body.   Relatively small amounts are present in the skin, hair, and nails, so that as we shed old skin and hair and trim our nails, we do get rid of a certain amount of this stuff in that way.   Whatever levels of arsenic in the urine of those persons discussed in that paper, they probably had much more arsenic in their systems that they had not been able to excrete.   And if their gluten-free diet continued, those amounts would increase.   Meantime, their skin, hair, and nails would look elegant.

A small historical note: horse-breeders in England formerly fed arsenic to their show horses, because it made their coats look extra glossy.   I don’t think they do that anymore.

* * * * * * * * *

Those bits aren’t more than a nibble from the large platter of health and medical news that I’ve been sampling.   Some of it is somewhat cheerful and points to improved odds of living in good health.   Some of it is a bit minatory.   I read a piece in the Times a couple of weeks ago about a 106-year-old man who has set a record for bike riding for people over 100.   He’s going to try again next year, when he’s 107.   Who knew there even were such records?   But the existence of a 106-year-old bike rider is cheerful news.   (I hope my bike lasts that long!)   At the same time, this chap noted that the older he got, the more careful he became.   My aim is for all denizens of Gumshoeland to live to a healthy old age.   Be well, be careful, and thanks for reading.   Best, Michael Jorrin (aka Doc Gumshoe)

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Steve
Member
Steve
March 8, 2017 11:11 am

Thanks. A great read, very interesting. Something for maybe everyone.

Linus Pauling
Guest
Linus Pauling
March 8, 2017 11:25 am

Maybe I should write my own article…

The Perils of ill-informed authors and paid shills.

Emily
Guest
Emily
March 11, 2017 6:37 pm
Reply to  Linus Pauling

Are you the real Linus Pauling?

Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe
March 11, 2017 9:49 pm
Reply to  Emily

Stock Gumshoe is open to all, being dead for 30 years doesn’t disqualify you from sharing your thoughts 🙂

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macaries
Member
macaries
March 8, 2017 11:39 am

Very interesting I read the whole thing 🙂 Thanks Doc!

David B.
David B.
March 8, 2017 11:50 am

Interesting and well written article. Thank you. It’s particularly disturbing how little progress modern medicine has made on Alzheimer’s Disease. Hopefully, breakthroughs are coming soon.
Glad to hear that tea drinking reduces cardiac events, perhaps that is why my Mother who smoked while drinking tea is still alive at 96 (she quit smoking at age 83 which also helped).

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Rusty Brown in Canada
Member
Rusty Brown in Canada
March 8, 2017 12:02 pm

Re T2DM: worth a look, in my opinion:

“At the time, I didn’t have a clue about low-carb diets. Nevertheless, I instantly stopped eating carbs and thus embarked on an amazing journey of recovery and discovery.”

“The first thing that happened was that my blood sugar normalized. This was almost instant and was followed by a dramatic and steady loss of weight. I started dropping about a pound a day. My other symptoms swiftly vanished, too. I started seeing clearly, the excessive urination and thirst disappeared, my energy level went up and I began to feel immensely better.”

“I began to realize that my simple dietary intervention was rapidly and effectively resolving my own case of diabetes…”

Dr. Jay Wortman

http://www.drjaywortman.com/blog/wordpress/about/
A forum to discuss the documentary film, “My Big Fat Diet” , and the science of low carbohydrate diets.

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thinairmony
March 8, 2017 3:25 pm

Please define – devil-may-care ways? Forgive me for my ignorance. Have never heard of that verbiage. Sincerely , thinairmony

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thinairmony
March 12, 2017 2:44 pm

Well most people with diabetes is do with diet and body mass ( fat, overweight),I speak from experience. Most people won’t go to the doctor until after years of symptoms progress to, numbness of legs, hands, eye problems, etc.. But learning about foods can help one better balance their diet. To much sugar is the main culprit. But when you learn for example that potatoes (starch) turns to sugar after you eat it. Alcohol, white rice, white bread, sugar soda pop, tea, coffee, cake, ice cream, Cookie’s. Exercise daily walk or every other day, quit smoking. I started to listen to my doctor and by simple changes, no alcohol, sugar & starches. More salads, nuts, wheat, whole grain bread, vegetable’s, fruit, bottled water with sugarless flavor mixes like grape, strawberries, orange, fruity, etc. Over time blood work will start showing good #’s, weight loss will happen over time, B/P and you will feel better. Just sharing true story. Simple education from your doctor. Just being aware of what your eating and some simple moving even walking in place while watching T.V. or porch is my exercise area. 15mins to 30 minutes leaning at first what ever. The next day if you feel a little sore you’ll know you worked some muscle. And better to not count just do it right. Don’t cheat better to do 7 minutes with proper leg lift height (motion) than numbers of times. In 6 months I have gone from 290 to 268lbs. But the only time I look at weight is every 3 mos. Go back mid April. Just saying.

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Olya
Irregular
March 8, 2017 12:05 pm

Very interesting research and comments.

ScorpioRising
ScorpioRising
March 8, 2017 12:09 pm

Nice article, thanks!

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harpswell
harpswell
March 8, 2017 12:21 pm

I appear to suffer from IBS (hard to diagnose because it is more a collection of symptoms than a disease). The current preferred control is to avoid FODMAPS, or certain hard-to-digest complex sugars. Leading publications discourage consumption of wheat (although mysteriously sourdough bread appears to be lower in FODMAPS).
Anyway, it appears that there are other reasons to avoid wheat than the relatively rare occurrence of celiac disease.
However, the most effective control of my symptoms was spending a month in Italy, where glycophosfate and insecticide use is lower, so the jury is still out.
Comments?

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mike o
March 8, 2017 1:38 pm

I’m in the camp of ditching the supplements, more and more studies coming
out from “”reputable”” sources that they may do more harm than good. Not to mention many (if not most) don’t deliver what’s on the label.
Celiac–yep, very over hyped. If they even diagnose the people who have it
properly. And the gluten free overpriced crap they sell to the public–it is
“”all”” about marketing.
If you are concerned about mercury–ya better watch that fish that you are
talking about to get ones omega 3’s, especially in restaurants. And while on the restaurant subject :o)–about 80% (not sure of that # but it is high–maybe higher) of snapper they serve is talapia–natch you pay for the much more expensive snapper.
Health, supplements, etc. tough subjects.
Thanks for the read.

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tanglesome
Guest
tanglesome
March 10, 2017 2:53 pm
Reply to  mike o

Agree on supplements for the most part, though I am tempted to take in more vitamin D during winter through cod liver oil.

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Dayton
Member
Dayton
March 8, 2017 2:21 pm

When you were talking about coffee and tea, I was not sure if you were sort of suggesting they had similar affects. You seemed to start off with coffee and end up with tea. My parents were heavy coffee drinkers (as am I) and they lived into their 90s in spite of a steady diet of food fried in shortening and a lot of red meat. Lucky? Or good genes — I hope. So, are coffee and tea virtual equivalents???

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Kenneth Panzer
Kenneth Panzer
March 8, 2017 2:25 pm

I enjoy the stats and analysis..although the overall premise seems bent on discrediting notions of the ” health conscious crowd” In the name of what? Rhetorical of course.

Don
Guest
Don
March 8, 2017 3:22 pm

A very good read and chock full of good info. Extremely informative.

troubles
troubles
March 8, 2017 4:17 pm

Thank you!

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russwkennel
March 8, 2017 4:43 pm

Mr.Jorrin:

You mentioned Telomeres. , Your take on Dr. Michael Fossel ‘s book “The Telomere Revolution” would be interesting. He (Telocyte Inc) proposes curing Alzheimer’s by lengthening Micro Glio Telomeres.

He also says the cause of vascular disease is shortened telomeres of endothelial cells – thinning the lining.

Lifestyle – i.e. good diet, supplements, exercise only slow aging. Only longer Telomeres will reverse it according to Michael. His general analysis of supplements seem in line with what you have written, as they would be from his perspective of a Physician. –Russ

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russwkennel
March 8, 2017 7:15 pm
Reply to  russwkennel

CORRECTION:

“The Telomerase Revolution”

–Russ

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sandy_shore
March 8, 2017 5:07 pm

The Miller study fails to mention tannin (another polyphenol) contained in tea has long been known to be a calcium ‘modifier’. I get my tannins from red wine. Cheers.

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Andrew
Member
March 8, 2017 11:05 pm

Fantastic article Doc, very well put together, i wonder if the Chinese have something in the pipeline with thousands of years of natural remedies also living in China i noticed that the most common egg dish in the morning is eggs boiled in tea with other spices…… http://eqibeat.com/top-20-chinese-bio-pharma-stocks-market-cap/

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Tom S
Member
March 9, 2017 10:14 am

There are other studies which point to an association of AD/dementia and the use of statin drugs. (See the works of Dr. Peter Glidden and Joel Wallach). Seventy percent of the brain and spinal cord are made out of fatty tissue- or in other words- cholesterol which is why one needs to let the liver function normally. Take a statin drug, whose action is to prevent the production of cholesterol via inflaming the liver on purpose, you have the making of a physician caused disease. The Helsinki study more than proved this- that there is no association whatsoever between heart disease and high cholesterol . . . the patients with untreated high cholesterol significantly outlived patients who were on the drug. (Not to mention their quality of life.) Cardiologists in America are now pointing to the real cause of heart disease- inflammation of the arteries of the heart due to free radicals in the bloodstream. Once the tissue of the inner lining of the artery breaks down the body protects itself by “patching” the hole/disrupted tissue and that’s how this process begins. This process leads to complications from clogged arteries. Take a useless statin drug and over a period of time a patient develops a significantly high risk of developing dementia. When I run classes in pharmacology, pathophysiology, and cardiology at the university where I teach, I often point to the works of the above mentioned physicians as well as Dr. Mark Hyman . . . the leader of functional medicine. Drug companies are at war with him. But if you want to get healthy he’ll tell you about it in great detail.

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russwkennel
March 9, 2017 1:36 pm
Reply to  Tom S

Tom S.

But inflammation has a Cause. It’s not free radials as much as thinning of the endothelial due to shortened telomeres of endothelial cells reaching their Hayflick limit. The damaged / thinned lining generates inflammation and a coating of cholesterol as the body tries to make up for the deterioration – as I understand Dr. Fossel.

–Russ.

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russwkennel
March 9, 2017 1:47 pm
Reply to  russwkennel

Also, the thinning is worse where the artery bends because the endothelial cells are more stretched out and subject to more stress and pressure according to Fossel. When the build-up bursts and resulting clot Plugs up the flow, the heart fibrillates and you may die.

–Russ.

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Tom S
Member
March 9, 2017 11:05 am

Celiac disease, according to the journals, textbooks, etc., has what is called an unknown etiology. In other words we don’t know what causes it, which is flagrantly untrue if you follow functional medicine. Eliminate the cause and you eliminate the disease, yes? It was figured out long ago that gluten, found in wheat, barley, oats (yes oats!), and rye, acerbated the symptoms of celiac disease and once you eliminated these products from the diet the symptoms would disappear and patients could go on and live very normal lives. In fact, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel disorder are all part of the same problem, just at different levels according to the sensitivity of the patient to gluten products. All of these diseases I just mentioned could be dealt with, if not totally eliminated, by going on a gluten free diet. This is something you don’t have to go to a physician to figure out. The process goes like this . . . go 30 days without eating gluten, then on day 31 have pancakes, cinnamon rolls, toast, biscuits, etc. for breakfast, subs or sandwiches for lunch, and french bread, pizza, or any other gluten product for dinner and see how your body reacts. Chances are you won’t make it past lunch because your body will revolt, more than likely, violently. And that’s not the worst of it. The worst part of gluten is that these long, incredibly complex protein chains, gum up the works of the inner villi of the small intestine and, over time, mechanically destroy them. Yes, you may not react at all to gluten, but once the villi are destroyed you won’t be able to absorb nutrients and eventually die from one of the 800 diseases caused by one nutrient deficiency or another. That’s the real problem of gluten. The body needs 60 minerals, 16 vitamins, 12 amino acids and 3 essential fatty acids to function normally . . . with the villi damaged or destroyed at some level or another, a disease will manifest and cause discomfort, pain, and/or death.

All this information is out there and available. Our current medical model works against us by managing symptoms rather than finding and eliminating the causes of diseases- hence the need for functional medicine. Over time I believe functional medicine will save the entire medical apparatus by advocating preventative measures (healthy lifestyle choices) without the use of drugs, over the disorder we face today.

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mike o
March 9, 2017 12:48 pm
Reply to  Tom S

Your lips to Gods ears Tom,.. Problem is most know little about nutrition, and
most go where the $$ is. Without use of drugs ? Would be great, but don’t count on it.

macaries
Member
macaries
March 9, 2017 1:15 pm

AD to Dietary Cholesterol Study rigorous? The Study may be rigorous but it is flawed in design. Blood cholesterol and importantly the level of good HDL is mostly due to genetics and condition of your liver using the stuff you eat. Then what passes through the Blood Brain barrier is not well understood. Still it is a fact that your brain needs HDL to function so blood HDL should have been measured in the study. Almost entirely made of fat is your brain so stop drinking excessively and your liver stays healthy. Consume Fish oil coconut oil and olive oil so your liver can put HDL in your blood and hope to god it passes to the brain.

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pmd3nka
pmd3nka
March 10, 2017 2:31 am

pmd3nka (Phil),

Interesting article Doc. But I have heard, only this week, of several chemical analyses of Fish Oil pills. They found that, in commercially available such pills, the Omega 3’s were oxidised and far less effective than fresh oils. Problem seems to be that the pill contents are a side product of a more lucrative substance – fish meal for fish farming – and not protected from deterioration very much, since the pills are low in price. Doubtless there might be much better pills, but only the cheap ones are available in Australia.

To slightly complicate the overall problem, recent studies have shown that farmed Salmon have lower levels of Omega 3 than wild.

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