Science Says...

1. Gluten protein triggers many disease processes.
2. Gliadin protein breaks down to opium like compounds that stimulate hunger and craving.
3. Wheat germ agglutinin contains a lectin that can damage intestines.
4. Amylopectin A is the complex carbohydrate wheat responsible for the very high insulin response.
5. Omega 6 is proportionally high and that promotes inflammation.
6. Consumption of wheat promotes visceral fat that is associated with diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation.  Inflammation is the underlying process to nearly all disease.

"Think, think, think. "  -- Winnie the Pooh

This is a powerfully destructive combination.  Even if you aren’t sensitive to gluten.

What do I do?

What does this mean for me and my family?  We don’t eat wheat or wheat products since August of 2010.  We avoid most grain. Rice is our most common compromise and that is much less than ever before.  We eat some “gluten free” products but we have come to realize that those products are full of carbohydrates we don’t need.  They can make us fat and unhealthy too.  We have gotten much thinner and feel better without dieting or changing our exercise habits.  We didn't feel bad before, we just feel better now.

What do you do? 

That is up to you.  I like to teach, not to preach.

For additional information I recommend Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD,
The Diabetes Solution by Richard Bernstein, MD and The Perfect Health Diet by
Paul Jaminet, Ph.D.  and Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet, Ph.D.  All have good  bibiliographies for reference to research materials.  I recommend reading the papers, source material, but most people just can’t do that.  The above authors have distilled the science into something more understandable.

--Dave

Photo by Dave Carsten

Diagnosis Diabetes

The diagnosis of diabetes can be very upsetting for anyone.  It is certainly inconvenient.  It can be deadly.  Diabetes can mean pills, injections, blood tests, doctor visits, big changes in diet, and big changes in lifestyle.  That assumes that the patient decides to address the disease.

Common Sense Medicine
A friend and colleague recently got that diagnosis.  As I have observed, my medical and dental friends are no less likely to be in denial than anyone else.  They do have a better idea of the consequences.  He asked me what he should do.  I have seen many patients that were suffering the effects of diabetes, my relatives included.  I know from the current science that it is not inevitable to go blind, have kidney failure, lose sensation, and lose limbs.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet
I told him what I knew.  Nothing I invented.  It is in the scientific literature.  It is almost common sense.  Avoid grains(high glycemic and contain high omega 6), eat high quality protein, avoid chemicals that have bad side-effects, eat food that decreases inflammation, eat fiber, eat only small amounts of simple sugars, and get a moderate amount of regular exercise. Test what you eat by checking blood sugar often.  Everyone is a little different.  He did exactly that.  In about three weeks, he lost 15 pounds.  His blood sugar readings have dropped into normal range.  He is excited to find out what his lipid tests and HbA1c will look like in a couple months.  

Empathetic Healthy Doctor
This experience will make him a better doctor and his health may well be better than if he maintained his habits and didn’t get the diagnosis of diabetes. He will certainly have greater empathy for his patients that have diabetes. A blessing in disguise.  Pray it is.

--Dave

A study was very recently published in The Lancet reporting on atherosclerosis in pre-industrial mummies.  They studied the preserved remains of people from Egypt, Peru, ancestral Puebloans, and Unangans from the Aleutians.  They found that in all cases there was cardiovascular disease.  It should be noted too that Ötzi, the 5000 year old frozen man from the Alps, also had cardiovascular disease.  In their conclusion, they state that this may well invalidate the idea that indigenous diets would protect people against cardiovascular disease.  I disagree.  All of the mummies studied, with the exception of the Unangans, were from cultures that engaged in agriculture and ate grains.  The Unangans were the only hunter/gatherers in the sample.  There were five Unangan mummies studied and of that, three had cardiovascular disease.  The confounding factor is that they lived in such a cold, windy climate that their homes were thick earthen mounds that continuously had fires for warmth.  They were extremely sooty.  Breathing soot will cause atherosclerosis.  The authors suggest that atherosclerosis “is an inherent component of human aging and not characteristic of any specific diet or lifestyle.”  They also go on to say that there may be factors that we do not understand.  That may be true.  I would say that the study suggests that the advent of agriculture and or environmental factors (soot for instance) could be the primary causes in the development of cardiovascular disease.  These mummies have both of those factors in common with contemporary people.

--Dave

www.thelancet.com    Published online March 10, 2013    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60598-X

Discussion of the Mediterranean diet has been popular in the media for years.  The results of a multi-center study of the diet, the PREDIMED, were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  There were 7,447 participants studied between 2003 and 2011.  Three diet variations were studied.  Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil,  Mediterranean diet supplemented with tree nuts (almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts), and a low fat diet.  After five years the two Mediterranean diets showed a highly significant 30% reduction in the risk of suffering a cardiovascular death, a myocardial infarction or a stroke compared to the low fat diet.  This study runs directly contrary to the commonly held belief that low fat diets are better to protect the cardiovascular system.  It does suggest that the type of fats are important.

--Dave

Ramón Estruch, Emilio Ros, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Maria-Isabel Covas, D.Pharm., Dolores Corella, Fernando Arós, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, Valentina Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Miquel Fiol, José Lapetra, Rosa Maria Lamuela-Raventos, Lluís Serra-Majem, Xavier Pintó, Josep Basora, Miguel Angel Muñoz, José V. Sorlí, José Alfredo Martínez, Miguel Angel Martínez-González. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet. New England Journal of Medicine, 2013

Photo by Dave Hutt, www.dmddigitalphoto.com