Dr. Jonny Bowden

Tag: diet

  • It’s Not Sexy… But It Works for Weight Loss!

    It’s Not Sexy… But It Works for Weight Loss!

    Mention fiber, and you might immediately recall those gigantic tubs of Metamucil your grandma stocked up on at warehouse stores. In other words: not sexy.

    I don’t need to remind you of fiber’s many benefits, which include reducing inflammation, triglycerides, and cholesterol. But I really get people’s attention when I say fiber is the number-one supplement for weight loss.

    Fiber helps you burn fat in several way:

    • delays stomach emptying
    • curbs ghrelin (your hunger hormone that tells your brain to eat)
    • buffers carbs so your blood sugar doesn’t spike so dramatically

    In short: nobody likes to talk about fiber, but it works.

    A decades-long study just published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health concludes that our paltry-fiber modern diet contributes to diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

    No kidding.

    “Consuming adequate quantities of dietary fiber can lead to improvements in gastrointestinal health, and reduction in susceptibility to diseases such as diverticular disease, heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes,” researchers concluded. “Increased consumption has also been associated with increased satiety and weight loss.”

    The study also argued that supplements are an easy way to get more fiber in your diet.

    Here’s a super-quick fiber lesson. There are two forms of dietary fiber: soluble and insoluble.

    • Soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance that, among its many duties, binds cholesterol and balances your blood sugar.
    • Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, absorbs water and keeps things moving along.

    In other words, you benefit from both types.

    The average American gets a sad 5 – 14 grams of fiber a day. Our lean, athletic Paleo ancestors put us to shame by getting a whopping 60 grams or more!

    I want you to eat as many fiber-rich foods you can every day. Nuts and seeds, leafy green vegetables, legumes, berries and other fruits like avocados are loaded with fiber.

    Now, granted, you can get enough fiber from food, but it takes a lot of planning and math. And even when you do load up on high-fiber foods, it’s not always easy to get 50 – 60 grams a day. Let’s face it: few of us are getting anywhere near that amount in our diet.

    There are lots of really great fiber supplements on the market. But PaleoFiber from Designs for Health is the Rolls Royce of them all.

    Each serving of PaleoFiber contains 8 grams of fiber from 12 sources including fruits, vegetables, roots, seeds, and tree extracts like apple pectin and prune fiber. The formulation mimics the diet our Paleo ancestors thrived on and the one you’re most likely to thrive on too.

    What’s more, PaleoFiber packs prebiotics from inulin, probiotics, and a powerful antioxidant punch. You’re not going to find those benefits in your drugstore run-of-the-mill fiber powder.

    I love to toss a scoop of PaleoFiber mixes in my morning protein smoothie to get a powerful fiber wallop. Unlike other fiber powders, PaleoFiber comes in a pleasant-tasting original or delicious berry that makes meeting your fiber quota quick and pleasant.

    So eat as many varieties of fibrous vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds as you can. And then ratchet it up a few notches with PaleoFiber to get therapeutic amounts of this nutrient that can benefit your health in numerous ways and help you get the lean, sexy body you want.

  • Green Tea Extract and Weight Loss

    Green Tea Extract and Weight Loss

    A fascinating new study adds to the growing body of literature showing that green tea can impact weight gain and be an important tool in the fight against obesity.

    In the current study, published in Obesity, obese mice that were fed a weight-gaining diet put on significantly less weight when they were supplemented with green tea extract.

    The mice were allowed to eat as much as they wanted anytime they wanted. Their diet consisted of unlimited amounts of the mice equivalent of McDonald’s, with everything on the menu supersized.

    In addition to this Vegas buffet of mice chow, one group of mice were fed EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), the polyphenol in green tea that has been found to have the most profound effect on metabolism and weight. The other group was not.

    The group getting the EGCG supplement gained weight at about 45% the rate of the non-supplemented mice.

    “There’s no difference in the amount of food the mice are eating”, Lambert told Science Daily. “The mice are essentially eating a milkshake, except one group is eating a milkshake with green tea”.

    Lambert estimates that a person would need to drink ten cups of green tea each day to match the amount of EGCG used in the study. But remember, most estimates of how much EGCG are in one cup of brewed tea range from 5-40 mg, so at that rate, sure, ten cups would give you anywhere from 50 to 400 mg of EGCG.

    One single capsule of EGCG (green tea extract (EGCG) provides 250 mg, the amount you’d get from 10 cups providing 25 mg each, or approximately 6 cups providing 40 each.

    The researchers in this study also noted that fecal fat excretion was 30% higher in the EGCG mice. The belief is that EGCG somehow reduces production in the pancreas of the fat-digesting enzyme lipase so that some of the fat you eat isn’t actually digested. (This is exactly how the weight loss pill ALLI works).

    “There seems to be two prongs to this”, said Lambert. “First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat”.

    The excellent thing about drinking green tea and taking green tea supplements is that even if they don’t help you lose weight—and there’s no reason they shouldn’t!—they do a million other good things for you.

    Green tea (and green tea extract, EGCG) have been shown to have preventive effects in obesity, insulin resistance, and hypertension. Green tea polyphenols like EGCG have been shown to have a role in cancer prevention. And green tea itself contains a nice relaxing compound called Theanine which is actually used as a drug in Japan for anxiety and which is available as a supplement.

    There aren’t too many supplements you can take that can positively impact your weight and have as “side effects” anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-insulin resistance, anti-hypertension and anti-cancer activity!

  • Featured Recipe: Savory Slow Cooker Tender Turkey Drumsticks

    Featured Recipe: Savory Slow Cooker Tender Turkey Drumsticks

    The following recipe is from “The Healthiest Slow-Cooker Recipes on Earth”, by myself and Jeannette Bessinger, available on Amazon.com – order here.

    Savory Slow Cooker Tender Turkey Drumsticks

    Turkey is a great, healthy source of protein (over 20 grams per serving) and turkey drumsticks are always a favorite. And you don’t have to wait till the holidays to enjoy them. This recipe is super easy, super fast, and when you use the slow cooker it cooks to a delicious tenderness in its own juices –no added fat calories. Yum. Seriously.

    Perfectly healthy fat replaces the conventional gravy or commercial cream of mushroom soup that generally smothers a dish like this. (Note: a can of commercial cream of mushroom soup has an astonishing 1995 mg of sodium. Need I say more?)

    Onions are a rich source of sulfur, so good for the skin, not to mention that they are one of the richest sources of a flavonoid called quercetin which is one of the most anti-inflammatory plant compounds on the planet. (Quercetin has also been shown to have significant anti-cancer properties.) Something to remember: Turkeys are frequently raised under horrific factory farmed conditions, so if possible, get the free-range variety. They’re almost always better for you anyway.

    Ingredients

    •  1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 3 turkey drumsticks
    • Sprinkles salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
    • 1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
    • 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced into thin coins
    • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
    • ½ teaspoon dried sage, crumbled
    • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped (or use 1 teaspoon dried)
    • 1 lemon, halved

    Directions

    1. Oil the bottom of the slow cooker and the drumsticks with olive oil.
    2. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, to taste.
    3. Place onions and carrots in the bottom of the cooker and top with prepared drumsticks.
    4. In a small bowl, mix garlic, sage, parsley and thyme together and sprinkle evenly over the drumsticks.
    5. Gently squeeze the lemon halves to release their juices into the vegetables and nestle them in at the bottom of the pot.
    6. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 4-5 hours or until meat is cooked through and meat and veggies are very tender.

    Yield: 4 servings

     

  • Does Broccoli Really Fight Cancer?

    Does Broccoli Really Fight Cancer?

    Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli have long been known to contain plant chemicals like indoles that have anti-cancer action. Now a new study confirms that another plant compound found in broccoli—sulforaphane—also has cancer-fighting properties.

    The latest study, done by Emily Ho and a team of researchers from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, found that sulforaphane—a powerful antioxidant found in abundance in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables—has the power to selectively target and kill cancer cells, meanwhile leaving normal prostate cells unaffected.

    Sulforaphane- which is also a potent antioxidant—apparently inhibits HDAC enzymes (histone deacetylase) which play an important role in whether or not certain genes—like tumor suppressor genes—are “expressed” (activated) or not. HDAC inhibition is a very promising are of cancer treatment and researchers are working on both pharmaceutical and dietary approaches to inhibiting this group of enzymes.

    Cancer is characterized by inappropriate cell growth, but HDAC inhibitors can help restore cells to their normal function. Previous studies at Oregon State have demonstrated that the growth of prostate tumors in mice were significantly slowed by diets containing sulforaphane. Lead researcher Emily Ho—an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Science at OSU– told Science Daily, “(Sulforaphane) does appear to be a phytochemical that can selectively kill cancer cells, and that’s always what you look for in cancer therapies”.

    And sulforaphane’s cancer-fighting ability doesn’t come solely from its ability to inhibit the HDAC enzymes. As I wrote in “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, sulforaphane increases the activation of enzymes in the liver which help fight carcinogens. These enzymes-  known as phase-2 enzymes—are essential for detoxification and are believed to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. According to research from the Department of Urology at Stanford University published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, sulforaphane is the most potent inducer of phase-2 enzymes of any phytochemical known to date!

    Other studies have demonstrated the cancer-fighting power of cruciferous vegetables. In 2007, Victoria Kirsh, PhD., of Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto and her team found that eating fruits and vegetables in general was not associated with decreased prostate cancer risk, but greater consumption of dark green and cruciferous vegetables were. “A possible means to reduce the burden of this disease may be primary prevention through increased consumption of broccoli, cauliflower and possibly spinach”, wrote the authors.

    The best news of all is that you don’t have to eat that much broccoli (or broccoli sprouts, which has over 50 times the amount of sulforaphane found in regular mature broccoli) to get  cancer-risk-reducing benefit. An earlier study—also by Emily Ho—found that eating some broccoli sprouts on top of a bagel with cream cheese (not recommended!) resulted in HDAC inhibition.

    “The compound in broccoli may be one of the strongest anti-cancer fighters we have”, said Ho.

    It’s important to remember that the way you cook your broccoli has a lot to do with getting the most cancer-fighting ability out of the vegetable. Broccoli contains an important enzyme of its own, called myrosinase, which has to be present to form sulforaphane. Myrosinase can be destroyed by overcooking their broccoli, so make sure not to do that! Steaming it for 2-4 minutes is absolutely ideal.

    You can also up the sulforaphane content of broccoli—or even of broccoli powder or green drink powders that contain it—by simply adding some broccoli sprouts. One study found a strong synergistic effect between broccoli powder and sprouts. The lead author of that study, Elizabeth Jeffrey of the University of Illinois, told Science Daily, “There was almost a twofold increase in sulforaphane absorption when sprouts and powder were eaten together”.

    So there you have it. An ordinary inexpensive food with solid research backing its cancer-fighting ability. That’s a whole lot more promising than most of the expensive over-hyped “anti-cancer” products on the market!

  • Three Great Ways to Make a Protein Shake

    Three Great Ways to Make a Protein Shake

    From time to time I hear from people who absolutely love the whey protein powders we sell on our website like Dream Protein, Whey Cool Protein and Paleomeal, but are stuck for ideas on how to use them.

    Sure, you can just add water, or some frozen berries, but after a while that can get kind of boring.  So I asked my cookbook writing partner, chef Jeannette Bessinger, to come up with a few original whey protein shake recipes that taste terrific. Here are three she specifically designed for the book of meal plans and recipes that are included in our sensational new program: Unleash Your Thin.

    As a bonus, one of them is dairy-free, while the other two are gluten-free:

    1. Oatmeal Smoothie

    Yield: 1 serving (Dairy-Free)

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup chilled unsweetened vanilla almond milk
    • 1/4 cup whole rolled oats (uncooked)
    • 1 tablespoon almond butter
    • 1 small ripe banana
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, optional
    • 1 scoop protein powder
    • Few drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia, or Xylitol.

    Instructions

    Combine all ingredients in a powerful blender and blend until very smooth.

     

    2. Coconut Lemon Smoothie

    Yield: 1 serving (Gluten-Free)

    Ingredients

    • 8 ounces chilled coconut water
    • ½ lemon, peeled and seeded
    • 3 tablespoons dried coconut
    • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
    • 1 scoop protein powder
    • Few drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia, or Xylitol.

    Instructions

    Add all ingredients to blender and blend until very smooth.

    3. Spiced Peach Smoothie

    Yield: 1 serving (Gluten-Free + Dairy-Free)

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
    • 1 fresh, ripe peach, unpeeled, pitted and halved  (or 2/3 cup frozen peach slices)
    • 1 scoop protein powder
    • 1 heaping tablespoon soaked chia seeds
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
    • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
    • Few drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia, or Xylitol.

    Instructions

    Combine all ingredients in a powerful blender and blend until very smooth.

  • Hormones Drive Weight Regain After Dieting

    Hormones Drive Weight Regain After Dieting

    A study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that rebound weight gain isn’t just a matter of having no willpower. Hormones play a huge role.

    Let me explain.

    Hormones related to appetite and hunger can be disrupted by dieting and weight loss, and can remain so for at least one year. When these hormones are out of whack, you can experience tremendous hunger and cravings, and even the best intentions can easily be derailed.

    “Maintaining weight loss may be more difficult than losing weight”, said lead researcher Joseph Proietto, PhD, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne’s Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, in Victoria, Australia. “This may be due to biological changes rather than [a] voluntary return to old habits”.

    I’ve said for decades that weight loss is relatively easy—it’s keeping it off that’s the issue for most people. (I’m always reminded of my father’s quip about stopping smoking: “It’s easy to stop smoking”, he’d always say, “I myself have done it 20 times!”)

    Researchers have long known that hormones found in the pancreas (like insulin and glucagon), the gut and the fatty tissues have a huge influence on body weight not to mention hunger, appetite and calorie burning. And when body fat percentage drops, that causes a decrease in certain hormones like leptin  while at the same time causing an increase in hormones like ghrelin.

    Leptin- when working properly– puts the brakes on eating by sending a signal to the brain saying, “Hey! Stomach’s full! Stop shoveling the food in!”. Ghrelin, on the other hand, does the exact opposite, effectively telling the brain, “Don’t listen to leptin! This dude’s starving! Chow down!”

    A decrease in the stop signals (leptin) coupled with an increase in the go signals (ghrelin) is a prescription for disaster when it comes to weight gain.

    The hormone changes that happen during weight loss have been known to scientists for ages. But what wasn’t clear before this new study was how long the hormonal changes actually persist.

    In the study, Proietto and his research team put 50 overweight men and women on a very low-calorie diet for ten weeks and then monitored their hormone levels for a full year.

    During the initial period on the low-cal diet, the average weight loss was 30 pounds, representing about 10% of starting body weight for most of the participants. Blood tests confirmed that levels of the hormones that affect appetite and weight gain (insulin, ghrelin and leptin) had indeed changed as expected. And- not surprisingly—the participants also reported being hungrier.

    After ten weeks on the low-calorie weight loss diet, the participants were told they could resume a “normal” diet, but they were given periodic advice by a dietitian and also strongly encouraged to get a half-hour of exercise on most days of the week. After a year, most of the participants had regained an average of 12 pounds.

    But the blood tests showed that hormone levels hadn’t really stabilized fully. And hunger levels remained a bit elevated as well.

    The moral of this story isn’t that you have to be a victim of your hormones. But it does mean that there are some hidden forces driving appetite and the more you can get them under control the better prepared you are. One of these “powerful forces” is the hormone insulin (also known—for good reason— as the “fat storage hormone”).

    Another of these forces—not discussed in the present study—is brain chemistry. In my weight loss program, New You in 22, we spend a great deal of time addressing the brain chemistry of cravings and appetite, and teaching you how to reprogram your brain so that these cravings don’t rule your life and determine your behavior. Sure, you may still feel a little stirring when you smell a Cinnabon baking, but you won’t be as compelled to do something about it!

    A healthy respect for hormones and brain chemistry is always a good thing, but it’s also good to remember that there’s a lot in our power that can affect these things, and that their power over us can be strongly modified by the actions we take and the choices we make.

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    Ask questions

    Take A Free Assessment!

    Want to know more about how your hormones affect you?  My friend Glen Depke has made his Adrenal Assessment available to the  Jonny Bowden community for free. You can access it by clicking here.

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  • Dark Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart

    Dark Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart

    A new study just came out adding to the growing body of research pointing to the conclusion that dark chocolate is a serious health food.

    You’ve heard me go on about the health benefits of dark chocolate more times than we both can count. But the research just keeps coming in, and dark chocolate keeps looking better and better!

    We already know from a previous study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that women with the highest weekly chocolate intake (45 grams a week or more) had about 1/3 the number of strokes as women who consumed the least amount of chocolate.

    We also know that dark chocolate:

    The new study—published in the Journal of Nutrition—examined the effect of flavonoid-rich cocoa on major cardiovascular risk factors including:

    • blood pressure
    • cholesterol, BMI (a measure of overweight)
    • C-Reactive Protein (a measure of inflammation)
    • fasting blood sugar
    • fasting insulin
    • insulin sensitivity/insulin resistance

    The researchers performed what’s called a meta-analysis, which is a study of other studies; researchers gather a whole bunch of papers (in this case twenty four) pool the information and look for consistent trends and findings.

    In this case, they found that flavonoid rich cocoa definitely affects a whole bunch of cardiovascular risk factors. Flavonoid-rich cocoa consumption significantly improved blood pressure, insulin resistance and lipid profiles.

    Researchers have long suspected that the health benefits of dark chocolate are due to the high flavonoid content of cocoa. Flavonoids are plant chemicals with multiple health benefits- they’re antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. The specific flavonoids found in dark chocolate are called flavanols, and are believed to be responsible for the benefits.

    The flavanols in cocoa also do something else that’s very important. They modulate a compound in the body called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide  is critical for healthy blood flow and healthy blood pressure and is a very important compound in the area of cardiovascular health. One reason that chocolate lowers blood pressure may well be that flavanol-rich cocoa actually supports the body’s ability to synthesize nitric oxide.

    Remember, all chocolate is not created equal! To get the kinds of benefits on cardiovascular health that the studies all point to, you must consume dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (60% or more, preferably 65-70%). As the percentage of cocoa goes up, the chocolate bar tastes less sweet and more bitter.

    A 100% dark cocoa bar is almost inedible;  but a bar with around 60-75% still tastes great and yet doesn’t tend to spark cravings the way a high-sugar bar would. Remember that commercial chocolate bars—milk chocolate, white chocolate, low-cocoa dark chocolate—tend t0.o be filled with sugar and chemicals. For the real deal, go for the organic kind and make sure the cocoa content is high so you’re assured of getting all those beneficial flavanols!

  • Whey Protein Stimulates Muscle Growth

    Whey Protein Stimulates Muscle Growth

    According to a new study, whey protein stimulates new muscle growth better than either of two forms of casein protein.

    Sarcopenia—the loss of muscle as we age- is a serious issue in aging. Losing muscle means losing strength and vitality. Studies suggest that our ability to synthesize (make) muscle in response to food intake is impaired in older adults. How well we create new muscle depends on the quantity—and to some extent the quality—of the protein we eat.

    The objective of the current study was to compare three types of protein and see which one had a better effect on muscle protein accretion (in plain English, the researchers wanted to see which protein was the best at helping subjects build new muscle, thus helping to ward off the effect of sarcopenia.)

    The clear winner was whey.

    Keep reading…

    3 Foods to Stop Eating Right Now…

    In this highly entertaining presentation you will discover:

    • The 3 so-called “healthy” foods that are silently making you gain more stomach fat.
    • At least 2 foods you probably thought were “unhealthy” that can actually HELP you to fight abdominal fat.
    • An unusual type of workout that is MUCH more effective (and shorter) than standard “cardio”.

    There are 2 different presentations for men & women »

    In this study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a total of 48 older men were randomly assigned to ingest a meal-like amount of whey protein, casein (milk protein) or casein hydrolysate. Though the experiment only lasted one day, the researchers were able to monitor blood levels throughout the day and performed muscle biopsies to see what was really going on.

    Sure enough, those consuming the whey protein were able to synthesize new muscle proteins at a significantly greater rate than those consuming the other two protein supplements.

    The researchers suspect two things are at play here:

    1. The greater muscle protein response to whey is probably due to its faster digestion and absorption.
    2. The amino acid profile of whey protein is more conducive to muscle building due to its higher concentration of leucine, an amino acid that has been shown in other research to make a tremendous difference in the ability to put on muscle.

    Keep reading…

    Are Your Lungs Dying?

    If you do nothing about it the cells in your lungs are dying off faster than you replace them. By the time you’re fifty, 40% of your lung capacity will be gone! This will rob you of your energy and strength and it makes you an easy target for chronic disease.

    In just minutes a day you can get back the lung power of a 20-year-old.  And that extra power means:

    • Never taking a sick day, or need an afternoon nap…
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    All that, and you don’t have to change your diet or spend hours at the gym. It’s backed up by science and fully guaranteed! Get the lung power of a 20-year-old »

    Leucine has been shown to burn fat and spare muscle in studies by Donald Layman, PhD. “In studying exercise and how muscle develops, we found tha leucine has a particularly unique effect in tha it spares muscle proteins during weight loss, so you only lose the fat and not the muscle”, Layman told WebMD.

  • The Trouble With Vegetarian Diets

    The Trouble With Vegetarian Diets

    (The following is a guest article by my friend nutritionist Kaayla Daniel, slightly abridged from the original. Dr. Daniel is an outspoken critic of soy, the author of “The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food”, and is vice-president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.)

    An August 26 study in the journal Nutrition makes a strong case against plant-based diets for prevention of heart disease.

    The title alone  —  “Vegetarianism produces sub-clinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis” — sounds a significant warning.   The article establishes  why subjects who eat mostly vegetarian diets develop cardiovascular disease unrelated to vitamin B status and Framingham criteria.

    The study took place in Chad, and involved 24 rural male subjects age 18 to 30, and 15 urban male controls, age 18-29.   (Women in this region of Chad could not be studied because of their animistic beliefs and proscriptions against collecting their urine.)

    The rural men were apparently healthy, physically active farmers with good lipid profiles.  Their staple foods included cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, millet and ground nuts.   Cassava leaves, cabbages and carrots provided good levels of carotenes, folates and pyridoxine (B6).

    The diet is plant-based there because of a shortage of grazing lands and livestock, but subjects occasionally consume  some B12-containing foods, mostly poultry and eggs, though very little dairy or meat.

    Their diet could be described as high carb, high fiber,  low in both protein and fat, and low in the sulfur containing amino acids.    In brief, the very diet recommended by many of today’s nutritional “experts” for overall good health and heart disease prevention.

    The urban controls were likewise healthy and ate a similar diet, but with beef, smoked fish and canned or powdered milk regularly on the menus.  Their diet was thus higher in protein, fat and the sulfur-containing amino acids though roughly equivalent in calories.

    Dr. Kilmer McCully’s research over the past 40 years on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has shown the role of homocysteine in free radical damage and the protective effect of  vitamins B6, B12 and folate.   Indeed, many doctors today recommend taking this trio of B vitamins as an inexpensive heart disease “insurance policy.”

    Clearly it’s wise for people on plant-based diets to supplement their diets with B12, but protein malnutrition must also be addressed.

    And the issue is not just getting enough protein to eat, but the right kind.   We must eat  protein rich in bioavailable, sulfur-containing amino acids — and that means animal products.

    (Vegans at this point will surely claim the issue is insufficient protein and trot out soy as the solution.   Soy is indeed a  complete plant based protein, but notoriously low in methionine.  It does contain decent levels of cysteine, but the cysteine is bound up in protease inhibitors, making it largely  bioavailable. (For more information, read  my book The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, endorsed by Dr. McCully, as well as our petition to the FDA noted above.)

    So what did  the researchers find among the study group of protein-deficient people?

    Higher levels of homocysteine, of course.  Also significant alterations in body composition,  lean body mass, body mass index and plasma transthyretin levels.  In plain English, the near-vegetarian subjects were thinner, with poorer muscle tone and showed subclinical signs of protein malnutrition.   (So much for popular ideas of extreme thinness being healthy. )

    The plant-based diet of the study group was low in all of the sulfur-containing amino acids.   As would be expected, lab work on these men showed lower plasma cysteine and glutathione levels compared to the controls.  Methionine levels, however,  tested comparably.   The explanation for this is  “adaptive response.”   In brief, mammals trying to function with insufficient sulfur-containing amino acids will do whatever is necessary to survive.   Given the essential role of methionine in metabolic processes, that means deregulating the transsufuration pathway, increasing homocysteine levels, and methylating homocysteine to make methionine.

    Ultimately, it all boils down to our need for sulfur.   As Stephanie Seneff, PhD, and many others have written in Wise Traditions and on this website, sulfur is vital for disease prevention and maintenance of good health.

    In terms of heart disease, Drs. Ingenbleek and McCully — authors of the present study—have shown sulfur deficiency not only leads to high homocysteine levels, but is the likeliest reason some clinical trials using B6, B12 and folate interventions have proved ineffective for the prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

    Over the past few years, headlines from such studies have led to widespread dismissal of Dr. McCully’s  “Homocysteine Theory of Heart Disease” and renewed media focus on cholesterol, c-reactive protein and other possible culprits that can be treated by statins and other profitable drugs.   In contrast, Drs. McCully and Ingenbleek research suggests we can better prevent heart disease with three inexpensive B vitamins and traditional diets rich in the sulfur-containing amino acids found in animal foods.

    In the blaze of publicity surrounding Forks Over Knives and other blasts of vegan propaganda, few people are likely to hear about this study.   That’s sad, for it provides an important missing piece in our knowledge of heart disease development, a strong argument against the plant-based fad, and a bright new chapter in what the New York Times has called “The Fall and Rise of Kilmer McCully.“

  • Low Levels of Vitamin D Linked with Diabetes

    Low Levels of Vitamin D Linked with Diabetes

    A new Australian study links low levels of vitamin D with a higher risk of diabetes.

    This study comes on the heels of a finding presented at the American Diabetes Association 2011 Scientific Sessions that showed that examined data from the Diabetes Prevention Program which showed that participants in the upper third of vitamin-D levels had a 26% less chance of developing diabetes compared to the participants in the lower third.

    These studies add to the growing body of research demonstrating a positive effect of vitamin D on literally dozens of conditions ranging from cancer to obesity.

    In the Australian study, 5200 non-diabetic men and women were evaluated for blood sugar issues using a glucose tolerance test. In addition, the researchers tested their blood levels of vitamin D. The subjects were then followed-up for five years.

    During the five-year follow-up, 199 cases of diabetes were diagnosed. Those who developed diabetes had lower vitamin D levels compared to those who remained free of diabetes.

    Even after adjusting for all possible confounding variables like smoking, physical activity, hypertension, and family history of diabetes, each 25nmol/L increment in blood levels of vitamin D was associated with a 24% reduced risk of diabetes.

    Each 25 nmol/L increment in serum vitamin D was associated with a 24% reduced risk of diabetes.  A single vitamin D capsule of 1000 IUs of vitamin D would raise your blood levels of vitamin D by the amount needed to reduce the risk of diabetes by 24%. Two thousand IUS- the amount I generally recommend as a daily supplement— would reduce the risk by 48%. Not a bad return for one of the most inexpensive, easiest-to-take supplements on the planet!

    Another nice finding of this study:  higher levels of vitamin D were associated with greater levels of insulin sensitivity!

    (Insulin sensitivity is the opposite of insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, the cells stop “listening” to insulin; insulin resistance at the root of both metabolic syndrome and diabetes. You want your cells to be insulin sensitive, not insulin resistant!)

    Note that there are two systems of measurement for vitamin D levels in the blood. In Europe they use the nmol/L standard used in the present study, but in the US we mostly use ng/ml. If you have your vitamin D levels tested, make sure to compare apples to apples. According to the vitamin D council, optimal ranges using the US measurement of ng/ml are between 50-80.