499 The Starch Diet [26 Nov 2018]

Years ago I learned that to get a balanced view we need to read widely, especially in the field of natural health. Writers focus on one nutrient or diet and make it sound like the most important or only logical choice. Only by reading many different authors can we begin to see the whole picture. That’s what I have tried to bring to you over the past 10 years writing these articles.

A case in point is Dr. John McDougall’s 2013 book The Starch Solution (read the first chapter here). McDougall advocates a diet rich in starchy foods like grains, legumes, potatoes and sweet potatoes, along with plenty of vegetables and fruit, while eliminating meat, dairy, processed foods and most oils. This is in sharp contrast to the currently popular low-carb high-fat paleo and keto diets.

McDougall observed that when people from other countries with a traditional starch based diet who were trim and healthy moved to the USA and adopted an American diet, they became obese and developed western diseases. The immigrant grandparents remained slim and healthy; their children were overweight and unhealthy; and the grandchildren obese and sick – the opposite of what we would expect. He believed the difference was the increased meat and dairy in their diets.

Over four decades Dr. McDougall developed his diet and helped thousands of patients regain their health. McDougall claims that a diet rich in starch:
• Allowed humans to move beyond the tropics and to develop our large brains;
• fuelled the rise of civilization and fed the Greek and Roman armies;
• Healthy populations around the world get most of their calories from starch;
• will let you lose excess weight almost effortlessly;
• will improve your blood pressure and cholesterol;
• will prevent diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis;
• will make you feel, function, and live better;
• will help save the planet (beef produces 14X more greenhouse gases than potatoes per calorie); and
• will significantly reduce your grocery budget.

I believe that minimally processed starchy foods are part of a healthy diet but I’m not sure I’d take it to the extreme that McDougall does eliminating all animal products. His diet does provide a welcome balance to the high-fat keto diets but I’d like to see some good research supporting his health claims.

Next week – The Last Post. I’m retiring this column after #500.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

494 Nitrates and Mania [22 Oct 2018]

A connection between nitrates in processed meats and mania has been accidentally discovered. Mania is a psychiatric disorder associated with hyperactivity, euphoria and insomnia. The link appears to be the effect of nitrates on gut bacteria.

I have previously written about the connections between gut bacteria and brain function [#320 Our Gut Microbiome & Our Brain; #422 The Brain-Gut Axis; #425 Autism and Gut Bacteria].

The nitrate connection was discovered in a study by Johns Hopkins published this July in Molecular Psychiatry. The study of more than 1000 people found that those hospitalized for an episode of mania were 3.5 times more likely to have eaten nitrate-cured meats prior to hospitalization. This finding was statistically significant. No association with other foods or other psychiatric disorders were found.

Animal studies were conducted to follow up on this association. Rats fed the equivalent of a human eating a wiener or one stick of beef jerky daily developed hyperactivity and sleep disorders within two weeks. The control group, fed the same food but nitrate free exhibited normal behavior. Differences were found in the bacteria living in their intestines, and in molecular pathways known to be implicated in bipolar disorder. It would appear that the nitrates change the gut microbiome which affects brain function triggering mania in susceptible individuals.

The same research group had published a study in 2017 with the finding that a probiotic supplement reduced the incidence of delusions and hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. They were also less likely to be rehospitalized following a manic episode. The study was too small to recommend it as a treatment just yet, but it does provide more evidence for the influence of the gut microbiome on mental health.

One of the researchers, Emily Severance, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, wrote:

The mental health field is in desperate need of new treatments for psychiatric disorders… The tiny living organisms that make up the human microbiome and the overwhelming evidence for a gut-brain axis together represent a new frontier for schizophrenia research.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

381 Protein Source – Plant or Animal? [8 Aug 2016]

An interesting study was published last week in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study examined data from two previous epidemiologic studies involving over 130,000 health professionals, average age 49, to see if source of protein – animal or plant – has an influence on health and longevity.

The study found that (after factoring out known risk factors) eating more animal protein (meat) was weakly associated with slightly higher mortality, particularly cardiovascular, while eating more plant protein was more strongly associated with a lower mortality.

Curiously these associations only occurred in people with at least one unhealthy lifestyle factor – smoking, heavy alcohol intake, overweight, or physically inactive. For those with a healthy lifestyle the source of protein did not affect mortality. The type of meat was also significant – replacing plant protein for processed meat had a greater reduction of mortality than replacing unprocessed red meat. And there was no association found with fish or poultry and mortality. Note that this is an observational study and does not necessarily show a causal relationship.

How to account for the lack of effect of protein source on the healthy lifestyle group? One possible explanation is that the healthy lifestyle people may have had more fibre and healthier plant foods in their diet, made healthier choices of animal protein (less processed meat, more poultry and fish), and cooked it in a healthier manner (not deep-fried or burned).

This study was limited to older adult health professionals and may not apply to other age or socio-economic groups. For example previous studies have shown that children and adolescents do better on animal protein from red meat (in moderation) as it provides significant and easily absorbed amounts of protein and micronutrients such as iron, zinc and Vitamin A which are crucial to growth and development, and may even help prevent chronic disease in adulthood.

In conclusion, it appears that increasing plant sourced protein may be especially helpful if you smoke, drink too much, are overweight or inactive, or if you have a chronic disease such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, or kidney disease.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

289 Bone Broth [14 Oct 2014]

Wait - don’t throw out your Thanksgiving turkey carcass! You can use it to make an easy, inexpensive and nutritious food called bone broth.

Bone broth is a very healthful addition to our diet for many reasons. Bone broth:
• is very easily digested
• is a good source of minerals, especially calcium, magnesium & phosphorus
• is a good source of amino acids, particularly arginine and glycine
• contains collagen, gelatin, glucosamine & chondroitin which reduce joint pain and inflammation
• promotes healthy bones, skin, hair and nails
• calms the stomach and is healing for the digestive tract
• helps heal leaky gut and reduce food allergies
• is a staple of the GAPS diet (see my columns #147, 172-175)
• boosts the immune system

Bone broth is made by simmering bones and vegetables to make a broth or soup stock. You can use bones from beef, poultry and even fish. Place about 2 lbs. of bones per gallon of water in a crock pot or stock pot. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar (white vinegar will do) to pull the minerals out of the bones. Add vegetables like onions, carrots, celery, parsley, etc. (since you discard the vegetables after cooking, use the peels, ends and any scrap that isn’t moldy). Bring to a boil and skim off the foamy scum every 20 minutes for 2 hours. Simmer for 24 hours for poultry, 48 hours for beef and 8 hours for fish. For extra flavor add herbs & spices like parsley and garlic for the last half hour. Cool and strain and store broth in the fridge or freezer.

You can now use the broth to make soups, stews, gravy & sauces, and for cooking rice, millet or quinoa. Or simply heat and drink a cupful every day like tea. There is a good reason Grandma fed us chicken soup when we were sick.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.

220 Red Meat & Heart Disease [10 June 2013]

Have you heard about the recent study connecting red meat with heart disease? Briefly the theory holds that carnitine, an amino acid found in red meat, is converted in the intestine to trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) by bacteria found in omnivores (people who regularly eat meat) but not in vegetarians. High blood levels of TMAO had previously been correlated with atherosclerosis, providing a new explanation for red meat as a risk factor for heart disease (besides its content of saturated fat and cholesterol).

Well, don’t swear off steaks just yet. The New York Times article questions whether the association between high TMAO levels and heart disease is cause & effect (i.e. will lowering TMAO reduce your risk?) and concludes “the study does not mean that red meat is entirely bad or that it is best to avoid it entirely…”

Chris Masterjohn, writing for the Weston A. Price Foundation, critiques this study raising other questions and objections:
• a 1999 study showed that beef did not generate significantly more (and often less) TMAO than most other foods including chicken and pork; vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, peas, and tomatoes; and milk, eggs and bread
• the only foods in the 1999 study which produced significantly more TMAO than beef (up to 100 X higher!) was seafood, which of course is known to lower the risk of heart disease
• the steak eating experiment studied only 5 people – one vegan and 5 omnivores – and the results were too varied to draw any firm conclusions
• numerous studies have shown that carnitine supplementation is beneficial to patients with heart disease
• finally, the whole premise of red meat and heart disease is debatable. Masterson writes “…the balance of epidemiological evidence fails to show an association between fresh, unprocessed red meat and heart disease.”

So don’t give up your steaks yet, at least not based on this study.

Sources:

original article
"Intestinal microbiota metabolism of l-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis" Nat Med. 2013 May;19(5):576-85

New York Times article
Culprit in Heart Disease Goes Beyond Meat’s Fat" New York Times, Gina Kolata, 7 April 2013

Weston A. Price Foundation - critique
Does Carnitine From Red Meat Contribute to Heart Disease Through Intestinal Bacterial Metabolism to TMAO? Chris Masterjohn, 10 April 2013

Mercola.com article - more on the subject
Will Eating Meat Really Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease? 22 April 2013

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.