Health and Nutritiion
On Mondays, I like to begin the week with a list of interesting articles, blog posts or other items that I've recently come across and want to highlight or comment about. And yes, I am once again messing with the site formatting.
Fat cells send out messenger cells. That fat cells aren’t just inert bags of lipid has been known for quite awhile.An international team of researchers led by City of Hope’s Bart Roep, Ph.D., the Chan Soon-Shiong Shapiro Distinguished Chair in Diabetes and professor/founding chair of the Department of Diabetes Immunology, has been able to justify an alternative theory about the cause of type 1 diabetes (T1D) through experimental work. The study results were published online today in the journal, Nature Medicine.
Sounds like the fat cells fight cells fat back if you overstuff them. At least in mice, because that’s what was studied here.MiRNAs, tiny pieces of RNA made inside cells, help control the expression of genes and, consequently, protein production throughout the body. But some tumble freely through the bloodstream, bundled into tiny packets called exomes. There, high levels of some miRNAs have been associated with obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
Changing the time twice a year is awful, and it gets more awful the older you get.
Developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a harbinger of future health concerns. Specifically, GDM is associated with developing metabolic syndrome later in life. As both conditions are associated with excess adipose tissue, this isn’t a surprising finding. Excess adipose tissue (having excess fat on your body) does affect health. All the righteous health at every size (HAES) blather on the planet doesn’t change that.
Metformin can cause vitamin B12 deficiency? Could this be why older, nonvegan adults can be develop a deficiency? The fact that nonvegans can develop a B12 deficiency in no way changes the fact that lack of B12 makes is major shortfall of the vegan diet. Deficiencies can develop for many reasons, Deliberately creating one should not be one. Vegans must supplement.Published in BMJ Open, the study also reported links between developing metabolic syndrome during a 7-year period following pregnancy with a higher BMI before pregnancy (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.11-1.29; P<0.001), and early GDM diagnosis (OR 9.18, 95% CI 1.82-46.20; P=0.007). Findings were similar in an adjusted multivariable regression model adjusted for BMI, GDM, and signs of glucose intolerance during previous pregnancies (OR 97.75 for early GDM, 1.50-40.0; P=0.014; OR 1.19 for increased pregnancy BMI, 95% CI 1.09-1.31; P<0.001).
The article is really a run through of the guidelines of how to get blood glucose levels under control with drug combinations. No talk of diet and exercise— I gather because those are recommended first, but if it’s obvious the patient isn’t compliant (and it would be) then drugs are what’s left.
Temper your enthusiasm that the microbiome is the answer to it all. That being said, paying attention to the reaction of my gut to what I swallow down at it has made a huge difference in my quality of life. I make no apologies for the choices I make— but neither do I make any grad promises about how they affect others doing the same.
My ranting that avoiding gluten is not harmful (because it isn’t) doesn’t alter the fact that for the vast majority of people avoiding it is not necessary. If you needn’t avoid it, don’t. But leave me and my different choice alone.
Sugar is not addicting. Foods with added sugar (and in many cases fat) are tasty and designed to tempt people to eat them. That’s not addiction.
Tree nut allergies are probably overstated. As someone who had an allergy test back in the day, I can guess why the bias is towards having an allergy. I wound up being allergic to most of the world. The reality is that I had extreme hay fever and an allergy to bee stings. I did the shots for a bit, and it does seem to have helped.The current findings indicate that sugary foods contribute minimally to ‘food dependence’ and increased risk of weight gain. Instead, they are consistent with the current scientific notion that food energy density, and the unique individual experience of eating, plays an important role in determining the reward value of food and promoting excessive energy intake.
Vitamin D supplementation doesn’t lower cancer risk in new study. The evidence for vitamin D is inconsistent. The authors point to the fact that people in the study didn’t have low D levels to being with, but that still suggests that having sufficient or elevated levels isn’t protective. Having low levels might be harmful.
I still take 4000 IUs a day, but mostly in hopes that it will help maintain my bone mass, not to avoid having cancer. Both the study and the accompanying editorial conclude that more research is necessary. The subjects were healthy post-menopausal women.
This wasn’t a study of straight vitamin D supplementation.The data showed that 3.89% of the supplement group and 5.58% of the placebo group had a new cancer diagnosis. By Kaplan-Meier analysis, the supplement group had a 4-year cancer incidence of 0.042 versus 0.060 for the placebo group.
I have concluded that Ca supplementation is a bad idea, but for reasons other than cancer.Participants were randomized to daily vitamin D (2,000 mg) and calcium carbonate pills (1,500 mg) or to placebo pills.