Saturated Fat Part Two: Gauging Your Heart Disease Risk

You are at risk of a heart disease if you have 3 out of the following 5 indications of metabolic syndrome:

A fasting insulin level above 3

A triglyceride to HDL ratio above 2

Low HDL

A waist circumference indicating overweight or obesity

High blood pressure

Another major risk factor for heart disease that receives virtually no attention is high iron levels. In menstruating women, this is not an issue since they lose blood on a monthly basis. This is actually part of why premenopausal women have a decreased risk of heart disease.

In men, iron levels can rise to dangerously high levels. In my experience, the majority of adult males and postmenopausal women have elevated levels that put their health at risk. Checking your iron levels is easy and can be done with a simple blood test called a serum ferritin test. If your levels are high, all you have to do is donate blood a few times a year.

The Connection Between Saturated Fats and Diabetes

Malhotra cites a 2014 Lancet study looking at the association between dietary saturated fat, plasma saturated fat and type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, while dietary saturated fats found in dairy products were strongly inversely associated with the development of type 2 diabetes (meaning it was protective), endogenously-synthesized plasma-saturated fat was strongly associated with an increased risk.

Endogenously-synthesized plasma-saturated fats are fatty acids produced by your liver in response to net carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol.These findings suggest eating full-fat dairy products may protect you against type 2 diabetes,whereas consuming too many net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) will increase your risk of type 2 diabetes –in part by raising the saturated fat levels in your bloodstream.

Healthy Fat Tips

Here are a few tips to help ensure you’re eating the right fats for your health:

• Use organic butter made from raw grass-fed milk instead of margarines and vegetable oil spreads.
• Use coconut oil for cooking. It is primarily a saturated fat and more resistant to heat damage than other cooking oils. It will also help improve your ability to burn fat and serve as a great source of energy to help you make the transition to burning fat for fuel.
• Sardines and anchovies are an excellent source of beneficial omega-3 fats and are also very low in toxins that are present in most other fish.
• To round out your healthy fat intake, be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, and olive oil, and also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.

Why Statins Are a Bad Idea for Most People

In addition to the recommendation to follow a low-fat diet, many doctors are still avid prescribers of statins, which help lower your cholesterol.

“This is a drug that was marketed over the last three decades as being a wonder drug. We’re only now realizing that the benefits of statins have been grossly exaggerated and the side effects underplayed. One of the reasons for that is that most if not all of the studies that drove the guidelines were industry-sponsored studies.

One of the things we have neglected in medicine is this issue around absolute risk and relative risk. The reality is if you look at the published data … if you have heart disease and you’ve had a heart attack, then taking a statin every day for five years, there’s a 1 in 83 chance that [statin] will save your life.

    That means in 82 of 83 cases, it’s not going to save your life.

People with low risk should know that if they haven’t had a heart attack, according to the published literature, they’re going to live one day longer from taking statins.”

Statins Are Associated With Serious Side Effects

Then there’s the issue of side effects. According to Malhotra, between 1 in 3 and 1 in 5 patients suffer unacceptable side effects (that interfere with or diminish the quality of your life). Muscle pain is the most significant side effect reported followed by fatigue (mostly in women) because statins are essentially a metabolic blocker and mitochondrial poison.

They inhibit an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. This is how they lower cholesterol. But that same enzyme is also responsible for a number of other things like making coenzyme Q10, which is why muscle pain and fatigue are so common. This is in fact a sign that your CoQ10 is being depleted, and you don’t have enough cellular energy.

Statins also block the formation of ketones, which are an essential part of mitochondrial nutrition and overall health. If you can’t make ketones, you impair the metabolism in your entire body, including your heart, thereby raising your risk for heart problems and a variety of other diseases. It’s also recently been established that within a few years of taking statins, the drug causes type 2 diabetes in one out of 100 patients.

That too can be a significant tradeoff that needs to be taken into account, as diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease and other chronic diseases. Dr. Michel De Lorgeril, a well-respected French cardiologist at Grenoble University recently reopened the debate about statins after publishing a review in which he questions whether statins actually have any benefit at all.

“He pointed out several discrepancies in the original trials … statistical manipulation, conflict of interest … ” Malhotra says. ”He’s actually suggested that maybe nobody benefits from statins; even people on statins for prevention.

He says that unless we get access to the raw data, independent analysis, the actual claims about the benefits of statins are not evidence-based.”

In case you missed it, please read

Saturated Fat Part One: Great Britain’s Most Outspoken Cardiologist Sets the Record Straight

Is saturated fat dangerous to your health?

Hospitals and Medical Personnel Are Far From Paragons of Health

For Past 60 Years, the Wrong Fats Have Been Vilified

What Are the Real Risk Factors for Heart Disease?

Here is the link https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/saturated-fats-part-one-great-britains-most-outspoken-cardiologist-sets-the-record-straight/

Part One and Two have been condensed from Dr. Mercola’s post: Great Britain’s Most Outspoken Cardiologist Sets the Record Straight on Saturated Fats

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/06/05/saturated-fat-heart-disease-risk.aspx

Please see the original for the Footnotes and Citations for the scientific studies.

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

Email: lpolstra@sympatico.ca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2healthyhabits/

Blog: https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Contact Us

Δ

Worst Artificial Sweeteners, Plus Healthy Alternatives.

If you haven’t stopped using artificial sweeteners, please do so immediately!

The side effects simply aren’t worth it. They cause symptoms that range from headaches and migraines to weight gain and even more serious conditions like cardiovascular disease.

Artificial sweeteners retrain the taste buds to need more and more, sweeter and sweeter foods. This leads to even greater incidences of obesity, type 2 diabetes, kidney damage and so much more.

Holly Strawbridge, former editor of Harvard Health, points out that while FDA studies have “ruled out cancer risk” for non-nutritive sweeteners, all of the studies conducted were based on significantly smaller doses than the 24 to 50 ounces a day of diet soda commonly consumed.  These portions have not been evaluated for their safety.

In addition, another study on the effects of artificial sweeteners on atherosclerosis found that daily consumption of drinks with artificial sweeteners creates a 35 percent greater risk of metabolic syndrome (conditions that occur together: increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels), and a 67 percent increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Atherosclerosis is when plaque builds up inside the arteries leading to strokes, heart attacks and even death.

There is additional evidence that links artificial sweeteners to the development of glucose intolerance and other metabolic conditions that result in higher than normal blood glucose levels.

A 2018 study published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases also revealed that the artificial sugar, sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) and maltodextrin, intensifies gut inflammation in mice that carry Crohn’s-like diseases. Specifically, the artificial sweetener increases the number of Proteobacteria – a microbe bacteria associated with E. coli, Salmonella and Legionellales – in the mice who carried a Chrohn’s-like disease.

Additionally, the ingestion of artificial sugar intensified myeloperoxidase (an enzyme in white blood cells) activity in individuals that have a form of inflammatory bowel disease. This study indicates that it may be practical to track Proteobacteria and myeloperoxidase in patients to adjust their diet and monitor the disease and gut health.

Common Artificial Sweeteners:

Aspartame, Acesulfame potassium, Alitame, Cyclamate, Dulcin, Equal, Glucin, Kaltame, Mogrosides, Neotame, NutraSweet, Nutrinova, Phenlalanine, Saccharin, Splenda, Sorbitol, Sucralose, Twinsweet, Sweet ‘N Low, Xylitol.

Partial List Of Where Dangerous Artificial Sweeteners Hide:

Toothpaste and mouthwash

Children’s chewable vitamins

Cough syrup and liquid medicines

Chewing gum

No-calorie waters and drinks

Alcoholic beverages

Salad dressings

Frozen yogurt and other frozen deserts

Candies

Baked goods

Yogurt

Breakfast cereals

Processed snack foods

“Lite” or diet fruit juices and beverages

Prepared meats

Nicotine gum

Please avoid these artificial sweeteners:

1. Aspartame – also marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Sugar Twin and AminoSweet, Calcium cyclamate, Cyclamates, Saccharin, Sodium cyclamate, Sweetening agent.

It is currently used in more than 6,000 consumer food and beverage products, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, sugar-free gum, candy, condiments and vitamins, and over 500 prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.

According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine aspartame has carcinogenic effects.

A recent study points to alarming news for women who consume artificial sweeteners during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. It appears that aspartame can predispose babies to metabolic syndrome disorders, and obesity, later in life.

Common side effects of aspartame include headaches, migraines, mood disorders, dizziness and episodes of mania. Comprising phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol, these substances can stay in the liver, kidneys and brain for quite some time.

Dozens of studies have linked aspartame to serious health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, stroke and dementia, as well as negative effects such as intestinal dysbiosis, mood disorders, headaches and migraines.

2. Sucralose (Splenda)

Sucralose, derived from sugar, was originally introduced as a natural sugar substitute. But it’s a chlorinated sucrose derivative. Chlorine is one of the most toxic chemicals.

At 600 times sweeter than sugar, it can contribute to an addiction for overly sweet foods and drinks. A medical study that found it could be linked to leukemia in mice.

A study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found that cooking with sucralose at high temperatures can generate dangerous chloropropanols – a toxic class of compounds. Human and rodent studies demonstrate that it can be metabolized and have a toxic effect on the body.

3. Acesulfame K (ACE, ACE K, Sunette, Sweet One, Sweet ‘N Safe)

Composed of a potassium salt that contains methylene chloride, Acesulfame K is routinely found in sugar-free chewing gum, alcoholic beverages, candies and even sweetened yogurts. It’s often used in combination with aspartame and other noncaloric sweeteners. It found in highly processed foods and baked goods.

Long-term exposure to methylene chloride has been shown to cause nausea, mood problems, possibly some types of cancer, impaired liver and kidney function, problems with eyesight, and perhaps even autism.

4. Saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low)

Many studies link saccharin to serious health conditions. Sadly, it’s the primary sweetener for children’s medications, including chewable aspirin, cough syrup, and other over-the-counter and prescription medications. It’s believed that saccharin contributes to photosensitivity, nausea, digestive upset, tachycardia and some types of cancer.

5. Xylitol (Erythritol, Maltitol, Mannitol, Sorbitol and other sugar alcohols that end in –itol)

Sugar alcohols aren’t absorbed well by the body and cause an allergic reaction for those who have a sensitivity to it. In addition, it has gastrointestinal side effects that include bloating, gas, cramping and diarrhea. Its laxative effect is so pronounced that it’s actually part of the chemical makeup for many over-the-counter laxatives.

WebMD states: “Not enough is known about the use of xylitol during pregnancy and breast feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.”

Special note to dog owners:

Sugar alcohol-based artificial sweeteners are a life-threatening toxin to dogs. Be mindful of breath mints, candies, sugar-free gum, frozen desserts and other foods when your pets are around.

Healthy Alternatives to Artificial Sweeteners:

Maple syrup, coconut sugar, stevia (safe as a fresh herb), fruit purees and raw honey are great, healthy substitutions.  Start working to retrain your palette to enjoy the natural sweetness of foods.

Try adding other flavors like tangy, tart, warm and savory to please your palette. For example, vanilla, cocoa, licorice, nutmeg and cinnamon enhance the flavor of foods, so you need less sweetness.

When you crave a sweet drink, try homemade infused waters. Start sweetening your iced tea with honey, coconut sugar or even maple syrup for a twist.

America’s obesity epidemic continues to grow, and it coincides with an increase in the widespread use of non-nutritive artificial sweeteners including aspartame, sucralose, saccharin and sugar alcohols.

Research shows that artificial sweeteners don’t satiate you the way real foods do. Instead, you end up feeling less satisfied and more prone to eating and drinking more, resulting in weight gain, in addition to potentially suffering dangerous side effects associated with artificial sweeteners.

Everyone should avoid artificial sweeteners, but it’s particularly important for children and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. The risk is simply too great.

Today’s Post has been condensed from: The 5 Worst Artificial Sweeteners, Plus Healthy Alternatives By Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DMN, CNS https://draxe.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners/

Please see the original for the Footnotes and Citations for the scientific studies.

There are plenty of natural, healthy sweeteners available that provide essential nutrients and taste great. To learn more visit:

11 Best Sugar Substitutes (the Healthiest Natural Sweeteners)

11 Best Sugar Substitutes (the Healthiest Natural Sweeteners)

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

 To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Contact Us

Δ

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

Email: lpolstra@bell.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2healthyhabits/

Blog: https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

Cholesterol: The Standard Measure Of Blood LDL Cholesterol Is Inaccurate

For the last 5 decades, most medical and nutrition scientists have focused on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (“bad cholesterol”) as a primary cause of coronary heart disease. While cholesterol lowering therapy has become the standard of care for some individuals with well-defined heart disease risk, this focus on cholesterol in general – and LDL cholesterol in particular – remains very controversial.

Unfortunately the standard measure of blood LDL cholesterol is inaccurate, and when the various components of the blood LDL are measured they represent only a fraction of the lipid (fatty acids) and other biomarkers of heart disease risk.

A turning point in understanding the limitations of LDL and heart disease came with the publication of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. This randomized trial pitted a standard low fat diet against a Mediterranean diet for people with a prior heart attack. There was no difference in LDL cholesterol changes between the Mediterranean and low fat diet groups. The standard calculated LDL value did not seem to matter that much indicating that some very important drivers of coronary disease risk were going unmeasured.

In the recently published 1-year results from the IUH/Virta diabetes reversal study, they reported a small but significant rise in the average blood LDL cholesterol level in patients on a well-formulated ketogenic diet (WFKD). At the same time, however, they noted major reductions in a number of coronary disease risk factors including weight, blood pressure, and HbA1c.

The pattern of how these other risk factors change is independent of the changes in LDL.

In Figure 1, (please see the original post) the number of patients whose LDL went up was somewhat greater than the number whose LDL went down.

In the Figure 2, the 14 other risk factors with improved risk far outweigh those indicating a negative response. The heart disease risk factors indicate that a WFKD is much healthier than one might conclude by focusing on the single LDL risk factor.

Novel results from the IUH Diabetes Reversal Study:

Figure 2

Here is a table (figure 2) with the actual numbers for each of the risk factors shown in figure 1, plus HbA1c and weight. For each factor, there is a change between baseline and 1-year as a percent, the P-value indicating the chance this change might occur at random (i.e., the smaller the better), and then arrows up or down indicating how this change might influence overall heart disease and mortality risk.

These results are interesting for two reasons. First, none of the short term studies of ketogenic diets given to patients with type 2 diabetes lasting a few week to a few months have sustained these benefits without weight regain and/or rising HbA1c values after 1 year.

Second, no prior prospective outpatient low carbohydrate diet study has documented anything near this degree (0.6 mM at 10 weeks and 0.3 to 0.4 mM at one year) of sustained nutritional ketosis in such a large group past the first few months of treatment.

Note that only the arrow for calculated LDL cholesterol points up, whereas all of the other 16 point down. Also note that of these 16, only two have associated P-values that are non-significant or borderline. All of the others indicate a chance of random error of less than 1-in-ten-thousand. This means in turn is that these observations of reduced risk are statistically very strong.

This sustained nutritional ketosis may be a pivotal factor in risk reductions. The resultant beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB) is now understood to be a potent epigenetic signal controlling the body’s defenses against oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance.

What Blood Lipids Actually Do:

We have known for a long time that blood levels of both cholesterol and saturated fat tend to be independent of how much of these nutrients we eat.

But a completely different set of factors come into play when we eat less energy than we burn, which forces the body to dip into its energy stores and thus mobilize body fat. Similarly, when we restrict dietary carbohydrates, either body fat or dietary fat has to become the body’s principle source of energy. This is most profound in the keto-adapted state, where circulating lipids and blood ketones (made from fat in the liver) together provide 75-85% of the body’s energy. Lipoproteins play a critical role in the transport of lipid in the bloodstream, so changes in delivery needs in turn will impact lipoprotein lab results.

In response to the state of nutritional ketosis, humans can more than double their rates of fat oxidation (i.e., use for fuel) at rest and during exercise. So when you combine a doubling of fat intake with a doubling of fat use, clearly a lot more fat has to pass through the bloodstream.

We have spent a few decades studying how the body adapts to a WFKD, and have come to recognize a pretty consistent pattern for the changes in most blood lipids, but a quite inconsistent pattern for the calculated LDL cholesterol level in particular. The consistent changes are:

• A dramatic reduction in serum triglycerides
• A rise in HDL cholesterol and
• The same or lower levels of saturated fats in serum triglycerides

The one inconsistent variable in this otherwise predictable pattern of change is the calculated serum LDL cholesterol level. For some people, following a ketogenic diet makes their LDL cholesterol go down and for some it does not change. But for a fair number of people the calculated LDL cholesterol value rises, in some cases quite a lot. Thus the key question is: How important is the calculated LDL cholesterol relative to the other risk factors that have been recently characterized?

Why LDL Cholesterol is Not a Single Number:

There are two important limitations of the commonly reported serum LDL cholesterol level.

First, the usual test procedure does not actually measure LDL – it reports a calculated value based upon measurements of serum total and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, along with a number of assumptions. And in particular, when the triglyceride value undergoes a big change, it can skew the calculated LDL value considerably.

Second, the circulating lipoprotein particles classed as LDL are actually quite diverse in size, and it is now recognized that the smaller, more dense particles (which carry proportionately less triglyceride) are the sub-fraction that is associated with vascular damage and heart disease.

In Figure 2, only the calculated LDL cholesterol value went in the ‘wrong direction.’ But in this case, it appears that this was due to a shift to a greater proportion of the larger particles because the total particle number did not change, the average particle size increased, while the small dense particle number was significantly decreased.

Inflammation as an Independent Risk Factor for Coronary Vascular Disease:

Three decades ago, a number of mainstream investigators noted that the total white blood cell count and then c-reactive protein levels appear to predict coronary disease and mortality independent of cholesterol.

The key question as to whether this was a mere association or causal. This question was resolved with the recent CANTOS Trial, which reduced coronary risk by 15% without any effect on LDL cholesterol levels.

Unfortunately a side effect of the antibody used in this study (an increase in fatal infections) cancelled out the coronary disease risk reduction, so the CANTOS Trial answered an important question but did not offer a therapeutic solution. However this does offer an interesting insight into the mystery of why the Lyon Diet Heart Study reduced coronary disease risk AND mortality. In that study, blood anti-oxidant levels increased and granulocytes (aka white blood cells) decreased, suggesting that a dietary anti-inflammatory intervention can have potent benefits absent the dangerous side-effects of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Blood Saturated Fats and CVD Risk:

The key fact to keep in mind is that while a primary source of saturated fat in the blood is de novo lipogenesis (i.e., the production of fat from excess dietary carbohydrate), there is little if any relationship between dietary saturated fat intake and blood saturated fat content. And most importantly, because the keto-adapted state doubles the body’s ability to burn saturated fat for fuel while at the same time shutting down de novo lipogenesis, blood levels of saturated fats are reduced independent of dietary saturated fat intake.

There is a review of this topic in the blog, The Sad Saga of Saturated Fat. https://wordpress.com/post/2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/698

Getting Beyond Single Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Risk:

There is a wide range of processes that contribute to atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease risk. American College of Cardiology offers a 10-year heart disease risk predictor that includes the following inputs: age, sex, race, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and medication use (statin, hypertension, aspirin).

Based upon this equation, the 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score in the recent Virta study decreased -11.9% (P = 5×10-5). This is a large beneficial effect experienced by the participants in the Virta study despite the observed changes in calculated LDL values.

Continuous doctor’s care treatment including nutritional ketosis in patients with type 2 diabetes improved most biomarkers of CVD risk after the Virta one-year study. The increase in LDL-cholesterol appeared limited to the large LDL sub-fraction; whereas LDL particle size increased, total LDL-P and ApoB were unchanged, and inflammation and blood pressure decreased.

There so many different factors are associated with coronary risk we need to avoid focusing on just LDL.

This Post has been condensed from the Virta blog: Blood Lipid Changes With A Well-Formulated Ketogenic Diet In Context by Rich Wood, PhD, Amy McKenzie, PhD, Jeff Volek, PhD, RD, Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD on May 2, 2018. Please see the original for the Footnotes and Citations for the scientific studies. Here is the link https://blog.virtahealth.com/blood-lipid-changes-with-ketogenic-diet/

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Contact Us

Δ

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

Email: lpolstra@bell.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2healthyhabits/

Blog: https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

The Sad Saga of Saturated Fat

In the US and Canada dietary guidelines do not take into consideration the recent extensive scientific research into role of saturated fats.

Two generations of researchers have tried to prove that eating saturated fat (such as beef, pork, dairy, eggs, chocolate, and tropical oils) causes heart disease. This hypothesis is false.For proof look to multiple recent meta-analyses of large populations followed carefully for decades, examining what they eat and what they die of.  All show no consistent association between dietary saturated fat intake and risk for heart disease or death from all causes.In fact some of these studies show just the opposite – they suggest that one’s risk for a coronary event increases when dietary saturated fat is reduced and replaced by carbohydrate.

By continuing to provoke fear about the harmful effects of saturated fat, the likely response is that people will seek out foods low in fat and higher in carbohydrate. In fact, according to a government-funded survey, Americans have decreased their consumption of saturated fat and replaced those calories with an even greater amount of carbohydrate. In the same time interval rates of obesity and diabetes have rocketed skywards.

Much of what we’ve been taught about dietary fat is wrong. How could this be – a good place to start would be to read Good Calories, Bad Caloriesby Gary Taubes andThe Big Fat Surpriseby Nina Teicholz, both highly regarded investigative journalists.

In short, 50 years ago diseased coronary arteries were found to contain buildups of cholesterol and saturated fat. Professor Ancel Keyes of the University of Minnesota hypothesizedthat too much of these two nutrients in the diet were the cause – i.e., his hypothesis was built on the flawed concept that you are what you eat. Then came well-done studies showing that blood levels of saturated fats predict future cases of heart disease and diabetes, thus appearing to support Keyes’ hypothesis. But this works only if you believe “you are what you eat”,a concept that doesn’t pass the common sense test.

Obviously, the key question here is, “what’s the precise relationship between dietary saturated fat and blood levels of saturated fat?”The scientific evidence clearly shows that dietary saturated fat intake has little to do with saturated levels in our blood, then what does? There is, in fact, sound evidence that dietary carbohydrate is a major determinant of serum saturated fat levels.

 We know this because two respected research groups fed humans carefully measured, weight-maintaining diets either high in carbohydrate or moderate in carbohydrate. In both studies, blood levels of saturated fats went up dramatically on the high carb diets, even though they were very low in fat.

We (Virta) performed a weight loss study during which we fed diets varying from 32 up to 84 grams of saturated fat per day, with “healthy carbohydrate” making up the energy difference when dietary fat was reduced. In blood triglycerides and cholesteryl esters, saturated fat levels trended upwards when the high carbohydrate, very low fat diet was consumed, despite the diet being energy restricted, causing on-going body fat loss.

A high carbohydrate intake has two effects in the body that promote higher levels of saturated fat.

First, carbohydrates stimulate the body to make more insulin, which inhibits the oxidation of saturated fat. Thus, when insulin levels are high, saturated fat tends to be stored rather than burned as fuel.

Second, a high carbohydrate intake promotes the synthesis of saturated fat in the liver.

This is particularly problematic for individuals with insulin resistance, characterized as “carbohydrate intolerance” in our recent book, (Volek J, Phinney SD. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. Beyond Obesity, May 2011.) Available through Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708

Insulin resistance makes it harder for muscles to take up and use blood sugar, thus causing a higher propensity for the liver to convert dietary carbohydrate into body fat.

This combination of decreased oxidation and increased synthesis of saturated fat therefore results in accumulation of saturated fats in the blood and tissues.The culprit then is clearly not dietary saturated fat, but rather consumption of more carbohydrate than an individual’s body can efficiently manage.This threshold of carbohydrate tolerance varies from person to person, and it can also change over a lifetime.

In addition to the studies mentioned above in which high carbohydrate feeding increased blood levels of saturated fats, we conducted a pair of studies allowing 6-12 weeks for adaptation to moderate carbohydrate or very low carbohydrate diets. Because these were not very low-calorie diets, the low-carb diets were naturally pretty high in fat, containing 2-3 fold greater intakes of saturated fat than the moderate carbohydrate diets used as controls.

The results were pretty striking: compared to low-fat diets, blood levels of saturated fat were markedly decreased in response to the low carbohydrate, high fat diets.Our data indicates that this occurred because the low insulin levels accelerated the oxidation of all fats (and particularly saturated fat); plus the relative few dietary carbohydrates meant there wasn’t much of it to be converted into saturated fats. Thus, from the body’s perspective, a low-carbohydrate diet reduces blood saturated fat levels irrespective of dietary saturated fat intake.

There is convincing evidence that dietary carbohydrate exerts an important influence on how the body processes saturated fat. Thus, saturated fat, whether made in the body or eaten in the diet, is more likely to accumulate when aided and abetted by high levels of dietary carbohydrate, particularly in insulin-resistant individuals (as in type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome*).

* Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of at least three of the five following medical conditions: central obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein. Metabolic syndrome is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_syndrome

A one-size-fits-all recommendation to aggressively lower saturated fat intake with the expectation of lowering blood saturated fat levels is intellectually invalid and likely to backfire.

SOURCE: The Sad Saga of Saturated Fat by Jeff Volek, PhD, RD and Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD https://blog.virtahealth.com/the-sad-saga-of-saturated-fat/?fbclid=IwAR28z406CUcbrwZ-kdEWAoko7-gOMgPNJ4fgxy0HSeLkdLfZW1co244xP3cIn Categories: Science & Research. Please see the extensive list of studies under References.

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

 I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

 To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Contact Us

Δ

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

Email: lpolstra@bell.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2healthyhabits/

Blog: https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

Reversing Diabetes: The Clinical Evidence is Promising.

This is a follow up on last week’s Blog post, Reversing Diabetes 101 with Dr. Sarah Hallberg.

In this post I am highlighting the impressive results of following a low-carb diet.

Virta was founded in 2014 by several doctors including Drs. Hallberg, Volek and Phinney. Virta conducted a clinical trial in which they enrolled 262 adult volunteers with type 2 diabetes, who chose to receive this new, continuous care intervention utilizing nutritional ketosis.

For comparison, the study also enrolled 87 adult volunteers who received the typical care and support for treatment of type 2 diabetes (Usual Care), including appointments with their physician and consultations with registered dietitians regarding nutrition and lifestyle changes recommended by the American Diabetes Association.

Patients receiving the continuous care intervention had significant reductions in HbA1c, weight, and medication use in 10 weeks. Many people wondered if these improvements could be sustained for a longer period of time. After one year, the health outcomes for participants enrolled in the trial were published.

The inserted picture to shows the impressive results for Body Weight, ALT, ApoB, AST, HbA1c, HDL-C, High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein, Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), LDL-C, Serum Creatinine, Triglycerides and Uric Acid.

These results demonstrate that there are alternatives to usual care that improve health outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. Glycemic control can improve and be sustained while simultaneously reducing or eliminating medications and losing weight.

Not only can this intervention be delivered without negative impact on other aspects of health, it also improves atherogenic dyslipidemia, blood pressure, elevated liver enzymes, and inflammation.

Management of type 2 diabetes is commonly approached with pharmaceuticals to achieve better glycemic control, but these options are sometimes associated with increased cardiovascular risk or weight gain.

Low-carb patients can lower HbA1c without increasing cardiovascular risk or weight and while improving multiple independent cardiovascular risk factors.

The average Virta patient in this trial had diabetes for 8 years and 30% of participants were prescribed insulin when they enrolled; 94% of insulin users were able to reduce or eliminate the medication and 60% of participants were able to reverse their type 2 diabetes at one year.

Research interest in nutritional ketosis has skyrocketed in the last few years and evidence mounting to suggest it has a broad range of health benefits.

It’s clear from these data that improvement in type 2 diabetes can be sustained.  We know this lifestyle change to reverse type 2 diabetes requires a long-term commitment.

To learn more about the One Year Clinical Trial Outcomes Provide Evidence for Changing the Way We Care for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes please copy and paste this link into your address bar:

https://blog.virtahealth.com/one-year-clinical-trial-outcomes-type-2-diabetes/

Lifestyle change is often the first line of defense against the consequences of diabetes and comes with less risk and cost than other treatment options.

If you are taking medication while on the nutritional ketosis diet it may have to be reduced or discontinued therefore working with your doctor is strongly advised.

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

Please consider visiting Lydia’s Blog https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

It will be the same posting that I email, but you can search the Blog using key words. In the Blog I discuss the Ketogenic and GAPS (for gut health) diets, supplements and Super-slow High Resistance Training.

If you are interested in following my postings, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net using this form.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Contact Us

Δ

As always, I am interested in your thoughts on these topics.

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

lpolstra@bell.net