In a study published last year, researchers wanted to see if a Paleo-style diet would be helpful to Type 2 Diabetics.
The study included 13 patients with type 2 diabetes (3 women & 10 men)
Over two consecutive 3 month periods, the test subjects ate either:
A Paleolithic diet based on lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, eggs and nuts, or
A Diabetes diet designed in accordance with dietary guidelines
Researchers looked at numerous variables to determine the effectiveness of both diets. These variables included:
changes in weight,
waist circumference,
serum lipids,
C-reactive protein,
blood pressure,
glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c),
and areas under the curve for plasma glucose and plasma insulin in the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test.
At the end of the study, the Paleo diet produced superior results in the following variables:
lower levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)
lower levels of triacylglycerol
lower diastolic blood pressure
lower body-weight
lower BMI
lower waist circumference
and higher mean values of high density lipoprotein cholesterol
CONCLUSION:
Over a 3-month study period, a Paleolithic diet improved glycemic control and several cardiovascular risk factors compared to a Diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes.
QUESTION
So, how come the ADA is still telling diabetics to eat whole grains and low-fat dairy.
In fact, why is the ADA advocating low-fat anything? Dietary fat lowers GI/GL
You can’t watch the news today without hearing about the “obesity epidemic”.
In fact, recent research has shown that obesity is a bigger health threat than smoking.
But wait, it gets worse.
Now, we learn that our lifestyle has lead to an unprecedented increase in the rates of Type 1 Diabetes.
According to medical journalist Dan Hurley, “the incidence of type 1 diabetes is now twice as high among children as it was in the 1980s, and 10 to 20 times more common than 100 years ago.”
While rising levels of type 2 diabetes are well known (and typically linked to increasing obesity), the corresponding rise in type 1, or “juvenile,” diabetes has rarely if ever been described in the news media, despite a substantial body of scientific evidence.
While widely accepted by leading diabetes researchers, the increase in type 1 has as yet received scant attention from leading diabetes advocacy organizations.
Scant attention???
I had no idea that the rates of Type 1 Diabetes had increased one iota.
Did you?
Hurley thinks that “the media has given so little coverage to the rise of type 1 because it simply doesn’t fit with the conventional wisdom that it’s supposed to be a super-rare disease caused by a genetic predisposition. Obviously, genes haven’t changed, so something in our environment or lifestyle has.”
And, once again, it looks like lifestyle is kicking some genetic butt.
But, what is it about our lifestyle that has caused this spike in Type 1 Diabetes?
In his new book, Diabetes Rising, Hurley examines five leading scientific hypotheses that offer an explanation:
The “accelerator hypothesis,” which asserts that the rising weight and height of children over the past century has “accelerated” their tendency to develop type 1 by putting the insulin-producing beta cells in their pancreases under stress.
The “sunshine hypothesis,” which holds that the increased time spent indoors is reducing children’s exposure to sunlight, which in turn reduces their level of vitamin D (the “sunshine vitamin”). Reduced levels of vitamin D, and reduced exposure to sunshine, have each been linked to an increased risk of type 1 diabetes.
The “hygiene hypothesis,” which holds that lack of exposure to once-prevalent pathogens results in autoimmune hypersensitivity, leading to destruction of the body’s insulin-producing beta cells by rogue white blood cells.
The “cow’s milk hypothesis,” which holds that exposure to cow’s milk in infant formula during the first six months of life wreaks havoc on the immune system and increases the risk to later develop type 1.
The “POP hypothesis,” which holds that exposure to persistent organic pollutants increases the risk of both types of diabetes. “
The book cites recent studies which show that back in 1890, the reported annual death rate from diabetes for children under the age of 15 was 1.3 per 100,000 children in the United States. “Because any death due to diabetes in those days had to be caused by what we now call type 1, researchers consider the 1.3 per 100,000 figure to be a rough estimate of the yearly incidence of new cases at that time,” Hurley writes. “In Denmark, the rate was fairly similar, about 2 per 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. From that baseline, things took off.
By the mid-1980s, the yearly incidence of new cases of type 1 had jumped to 14.8 per 100,000 children in Colorado.
By the opening years of the 21st century, the incidence rate in six geographic areas of the United States, as measured in a new study run by the CDC, had climbed to 23.6 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic white children.
The rates were 68 percent higher than those reported in Colorado in the 1980s, and more than twice as high as reported in Philadelphia in the 1990s.”
Back in the 70s, Colonel Steve Austin was the Six Million Dollar Man…a NASA astronaut nearly killed during a test flight.
But, luckily for him, NASA had the technology to rebuild him…better than he was before..better..stronger..faster
And luckily for all of us, we are pretty close to having the technology to help make us leaner..stronger..fitter…and healthier.
Thanks to researchers at St. Louis University, we may soon have access to smartphone applications that will help us transform our bodies from fat to fit.
And I am not talking about first generation apps that tell you the number of calories in a Big Mac or produce a generic computer generated workout.
CADA interface
I am talking about software that is being used currently on a group of elderly Chinese diabetic patients (not necessarily the most tech-savvy group on the planet).
This new technology uses interactive smartphone games and various logging features to help the elderly diabetics manage their health and learn more about their condition.
Initial studies of the interactive diabetes self-management system, called the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant (CADA), are promising, researchers found. The system enables diabetics to track their blood glucose, weight, diet, exercise, mood and blood pressure – valuable information that will assist their doctors in providing the best care possible.
“This project did not start out as a gaming project, but we did a lot of groundwork – from looking at the health care infrastructure in China to conducting focus groups with older diabetics and interviewing various providers – and found that gaming was a persuasive way to engage patients in managing their personal health.”
The games vary in purpose. For example, researchers created a “food pyramid” type game, which encourages gamers to eat a balanced diet, limit high-sugar foods and watch their daily intake of fat and salt.
Applications including a trivia game and a tile matching game, in which gamers connect the necessary components for a healthy lifestyle, were popular educational choices among the test group.
While games engage and motivate the patients, smartphones makes the technology convenient.
First, smartphones are mobile, meaning patients can use them at any time or any place. They can be used as small, inexpensive computers even if no network infrastructure is in place. If connections are in place, smartphones make it easy for patients to share health information with their providers, care givers and others within personal network. Also, because many users are already mobile phone owners, including some smartphone users, adapting the technology is feasible for patients, providers and hospitals.
Smartphone technology may even offer a solution to better managing health care costs for chronic conditions, says Mark Gaynor, Ph.D., associate professor of public health at the School of Public Health.
“The only way to cut the cost of caring for people with chronic conditions is to enable the patients to self manage their health. In order to do that, though, self-management must be reasonable and easy to do. Smart phone technology makes it easy for patients to track important health information.”
So what about us non-diabetics?
There are almost endless opportunities for using smartphone technology in health care, researchers say.”Imagine walking into a McDonalds and having your cell phone recognize your location and make healthy menu recommendations – all this and more is possible with smartphone technology.” (why do they always use McDonalds as the restaurant example?)
Researchers say smartphones can make tracking one’s health easier and more convenient. In the future, CADA users will be able to share information with their providers and receive important health reminders. They are also working on Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as a scale that communicates with the phone to record and track daily measurements and a blood sugar monitor that automatically records daily readings on the phone.
And while it’s true that this technology doesn’t have the pizzazz of a pair of bionic legs, I think that its potential to integrate healthier behaviors into our day to day lives is powerful stuff.
True, it took an explosion in global obesity levels to get peoples attention, but finally, there is growing public awareness that we can and should take better care of our bodies.
And, if tools like the CADA smartphone make it easier to get fit, then maybe, just maybe, we aren’t doomed to a future where we evolve into this…
In yesterday’s post, I introduced you to a study which showed that plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.
More specifically, the researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.
I was so excited by this low-tech, inexpensive weight loss trick that I contacted the author of the study.
And to my surprise, he emailed an even more recent study which looks at the fat-burning effects of vinegar on actual human beings….no more mice studies.
The Science
In this study, researchers investigated the effects of vinegar intake on the reduction of body-fat mass in obese Japanese students.
The 175 students were randomly assigned to three groups of similar body-weight, BMI and waist circumference.
During the 12 week study, the participants ingested 500ml daily of a beverage containing either 15 ml of apple vinegar (750 mg AcOH – acetic acid), 30 ml of vinegar (1500 mg AcOH) or 0 ml of vinegar (0 mg AcOH, placebo).
In place of vinegar, the placebo group ingested 1250 mg of lactate.
To make them more palatable, all beverages contained the equal amount of flavor and artificial sweetener.
The Results
After only 4 weeks, the vinegar-group participants saw their body-weight, BMI and body-fat percentages improve. These improvements continued in a dose dependent manner for the entire 12 weeks
Translation: more vinegar = more fat loss
In addition to BF, BMI and BF%, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, LDL cholesterol and serum TG (triglyceride) levels also fell (starting in week 8).
These results can be considered to be due to the body-fat loss because the VFA (visceral fat), SFA (subcutaneous fat) and TFA (total fat) values were significantly lower in the vinegar groups than in the placebo group.
Does the vinegar make these "diet" chips?
Conclusion
15 ml (0.5 oz or 1 tbsp) of vinegar per day is enough to significantly improve your:
Body-Weight
BMI
Body-Fat Percentage
Waist Circumference
Waist-Hip ratio
LDL Cholesterol
Serum TG
Visceral Body-Fat, and
Subcutaneous Body-Fat
And considering that these health markers are associated with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome, perhaps it might be wise to consider adding a tbsp or two of vinegar to your daily diet.
It turns out that the acetic acid found in plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.
The Science
Earlier this year, Japanese researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.
Based upon their findings, the scientists believe that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accumulation in the body.
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects
In fact, the CCF was so upset, that they produced their own rebuttal ad and had it printed in the New York Times
BTW, a full page ad in the Times costs upwards of $158,004.
$158,004
And we’re not even including the costs associated with creating the ad.
We’re talking big money.
BIG MONEY
And thinking about that big money awakened the skeptic in me. And that inner skeptic started thinking…who is the Center for Consumer Freedom and why are they spending a ton of money defending our freedoms against anti-cola advertisements?
To them, the CCF is nothing but a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries.
It runs media campaigns which oppose the efforts of scientists, doctors, health advocates, environmentalists and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, calling them “the Nanny Culture — the growing fraternity of food cops, health care enforcers, anti-meat activists, and meddling bureaucrats who ‘know what’s best for you.’ ”
Over 40 percent of the group’s 2005 expenditure was paid to Rick Berman’s PR company, Berman & Co. for “management services. As part of its operations CCF runs a series of attack websites.
So, how come “many overweight patients are not being advised to lose weight, diet, or exercise”.
In fact, when it comes to medical intervention in cases of obesity, the numbers are as follows:
Having a doctor tell the patient about the health problems associated with being overweight (48.0%),
Suggesting diet and exercise (46.5%),
Referring the patient to a formal diet program (5.2%),
Prescribing a weight loss medication (4.0%),
Recommending a non-prescription weight loss product (1.8%),
Recommending stomach bypass surgery (1.5%).
I don’t know about you, but considering that obesity is fast becoming the western world’s #1 health issue, I think that the global medical community should be taking obesity prevention/treatment much more seriously.
I don’t know if it’s a lack of knowledge or the threat of discrimination lawsuits or the frustration of being ignored by obese patients over and over and over, but if we want to reverse the tide of obesity related disease, real steps need to be taken.
It looks like my prediction of a AmericanSoda Tax may soon come true.
According to ABC News, “several of the nation’s leading health experts are calling for a tax on soda as a means of curbing America’s obesity-epidemic”.
But wait, here’s the good part:
Their paper, appearing in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, calls for a tax on “sugar-sweetened” drinks in order to reduce the consumption of the drinks and lower health costs as well as fund government-run health programs.
FUND GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH PROGRAMS
“A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is really a double-win,” said Dr. David Ludwig, a co-author of the paper and director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital, Boston.
“We can raise much-needed dollars while likely reducing obesity prevalence, which is a major driver of health care costs, the paper states.
“Ultimately the government needs to raise more money to cover the deficit, and in terms of ways of raising that revenue, a tax on sugar sweetened beverages is really a no-brainer.”
So, there you go.
Just like I said here, the government will take advantage of America’s Obesity Epidemic™ and introduce a soda tax in order to help reverse the defecit.
But will it help reduce the nation’s obesity problem?
According to the latest research, small tax increases will have little effect on behavior.
On the other hand, big tax increases should do the trick. Especially for America’s poor.
