The real diet of William Banting that "cured" his obesity

I just bit the big financial bullet and, upon discovering that it is available in Kindle form, purchased William Banting's Letter on Corpulence on Amazon.com (it's only $2.99, or you can read it online at Eades' site which I found later, it's also available in full text here - ht C.Grashow).  I do not think there's a low carb diet book and/or author that hasn't at least referred to Banting's weight loss as the quintessential example of low carb in all it's glorious action.

"I am now nearly 66 years of age, about 5 feet 5 inches in stature, and, in August last (1862), weighed 202 lbs., which I think it right to name, because the article in the Cornhill Magazine presumes that a certain stature and age should bear ordinarily a certain weight, and I am quite of that opinion. I now weigh 167 lbs., showing a diminution of something like 1 lb. per week since August, and having now very nearly attained the happy medium, I have perfect confidence that a few more weeks will fully accomplish the object.

Few men have led a more active life - bodily or mentally - from a constitutional anxiety for regularity, precision, and order, during fifty years' business career, from which I have now retired, so that my corpulence and subsequent obesity was not through neglect of necessary bodily activity, nor from excessive eating, drinking, or self-indulgence of any kind, except that I partook of the simple aliments of bread, milk, butter, beer, sugar, and potatoes more freely than my aged nature required, and hence, as I believe, the generation of the parasite, detrimental to comfort if not really to health."

And so: 

The items from which I was advised to abstain as much as possible were: Bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer, and potatoes, which had been the main (and, I thought, innocent) elements of my existence, or at all events they had for many years been adopted freely.  {KL#108-110}

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Agents of Health & Death

Now that I've got your attention ...

Another day, I'll have a few more words to say about the recent editorial in the British Medical Journal "exonerating" saturated fat, but for now, one of the things that stuck out at me was the following (I broke the paragraph up a bit):

Indeed, recent prospective cohort studies have not supported any significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk. Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective.

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Does Elevated Glucose Cause Dementia?

Does elevated glucose cause dementia?  Even in non-diabetics?

This would seem to be the initial conclusion based on a recent study published in the NEJM:

Glucose levels and risk of dementia.  

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Revelations from Gedankenexperiments vs. Wirklichenlebenexperiment

Traffic Bump!

Occasionally I see traffic to old posts whilst perusing stats.  I saw this was getting a few hits and decided to bump it.  Especially since the fervor for finding the single bogeyman dietary agent of all doom seems to be hitting a fever pitch lately.  Even Dr Oz is getting on board, and as the Judith Mazel of the low carb world tells us:

Dr Oz is one of the most well respected conventional doctors—and he has major influence because he is educating millions of people every single day on his show.

{you can stop laughing now ...}

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Insulin Secretion in the Progression of Type 2 Diabetes ~ First/Early Phase

Another one that fell through the cracks in the draft bin.   A continuation of the posts discussing:  β-Cell dysfunction vs insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes: the eternal “chicken and egg” question.   The primary post on this article here.  There may be some repetition from other posts that have been published in the interim, but what the heck, I'm publishing it up.

I've screenshot and C&P'd the relevant section that I'll be discussing in this post.  If it is difficult to read, etc., you can of course go to the original paper.

The main point of this section is to highlight the loss of first phase insulin secretion that precedes frank diabetes.  In Figure 2 we see that the (yellow) NGT response is a spike in insulin production within the first few minutes.  

In nondiabetic individuals, approximately 50% of the total daily insulin is secreted during basal periods, suppressing lipolysis, proteolysis, and glycogenolysis. The remainder of insulin secretion is postprandial.  In response to a meal, there is a rapid and sizable release of preformed insulin from storage granules within the beta cell.  This "first phase" of insulin secretion promotes peripheral utilization of the prandial nutrient load, suppresses hepatic glucose production, and limits postprandial glucose elevation. First-phase insulin secretion begins within 2 minutes of nutrient ingestion and continues for 10 to 15 minutes. The second phase of prandial insulin secretion follows, and is sustained until normoglycemia is restored....

... First-phase insulin secretion is often represented in clinical studies by the acute insulin response to an intravenous glucose bolus ...  it demonstrates the sensitivity to and insulin response of the beta cell specifically to the glucose stimulus. It is this loss of beta-cell glucose sensitivity and responsiveness that declines early in the development of type 2 diabetes, even while responses to amino acid and other stimuli are preserved

source (free membership may be required to view)

This paper discusses a perfused cat pancreas, but it sums up the insulin response to acute stimuli:  

• Insulin secretion is biphasic in response to either glucose or amino acid stimuli.
• Glucose caused a much more pronounced first phase release than did a complete amino acid mixture; whereas glucose and the amino acid mixture stimulated late second phase insulin secretion equipotently.

And another repeat of the graphic of glucose, insulin and proinsulin secretion following OGTT from this post and paper.  The "early" insulin release is shown to be the first to go here as well.  I discussed the relationship of and a clarification about "first phase" insulin response and the physiological relevance here.  This is shown in the diagram below right and a quote from the paper discussed in that post:

An increasing body of evidence indicates that the early insulin response following glucose ingestion plays a critical role in the maintenance of postprandial glucose homeostasis. The early surge in insulin concentration is capable of limiting the initial glucose excursion mainly through the prompt inhibition of endogenous glucose production, with the insulin mediated curtailment of glucagon secretion being particularly relevant.

Lastly, let's talk a bit about fatty acids. About a year ago I discussed this paper regarding how chronic exposure of beta cells to fatty acids (I use the acronym NEFA) essentially depletes the insulin content and/or production capability of the cells. The bottom line of that paper was while NEFA are involved in GSIS and contribute to this acute insulin secretion, they are also responsible for basal insulin release. Glucose stimulates both insulin secretion and transcription of proinsulin from which more insulin can be made, while NEFA stimulate secretion but not the refilling of the well. From the paper:

If this is so, the insulin content of the β-cell cannot be rapidly replenished after acute stimulation of insulin release by FFA. Under normal circumstances, only a small proportion of the β-cell’s insulin intracellular store is released after an acute stimulation by a secretagogue, so that short-term FFA-induced insulin release would have little adverse effect on the β-cell’s secretory capacity. However, chronic exposure to FFA could severely deplete the internal insulin stores since there is apparently no biosynthetic backup to compensate for FFA-induced insulin hypersecretion.

This may be one reason why low carb diets don't appear to improve insulin secretion similarly to interventions like the "crash diet".   I blogged about this study a while back demonstrating that NEFA release from adipocytes is not appropriately suppressed with a low carb diet.

In summary, while this is by no means comprehensive, I'd like to revisit in the near future, the dietary causes, if any, and the scientific evidence of same, in the development and/or progression of type 2 diabetes and wanted to publish this up as background.

Paleo Water III (and final)

I want to begin this post by apologizing to Tyler LeBaron for dragging him inadvertently into this "controversy" of sorts.  As I understand it, Tyler has done the chemical analyses on the water produced by the Alkaway filter, and can attest to its chemical properties, but has no other connection to this company.  After trading comments in my last post, we decided that speaking on the phone might be a more efficient way to discuss the science and misunderstandings.  From his point of view it seemed like I was dissing hydrogen water and the science there.  From mine, largely based on the electrolysis video, I thought he was misrepresenting the science.  As it turns out, neither of those impressions are true.  I also admit to baiting Ian in the comments about ORP and such, and this unfortunately snared Tyler.  As always, my comments are open to Tyler to expand/clarify/etc. whatever I've written here.   I hope this clears things up a bit anyway.  I had considered editing an update into the last post, but then deleting/editing/etc. would leave the discussion disjointed, thus I think this is the best option.

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The LC Dogma Duping of Robb Wolf ...

What duping?  Was he was duped, or does he dupe people?  

Roughly 10 months ago, Robb Wolf posted the first installment on his "current" views about carbohydrates in the diet:  Low Carb And Paleo: My Thoughts Part 1.  In it, Robb describes his changing views on dietary composition and body composition through his personal prism of going from highly active, running a gym, etc. to a more sedentary lifestyle involving lots of writing time.  As he relates:

I had a tough time remaining lean. I’d cut carbs…but to no effect on body composition. Slowly I realized, both by experimentation and by really looking at the literature: CALORIES MATTERED MORE THAN CARBS FOR BODY-COMP.

I have to say this was a pretty big shake-up for me. I’d assumed one could eat as much fat as one desired and STILL get leaner.

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Perfect Health Diet Macronutrient Ratios ~ Part I: Breast Milk

If this post seems a bit out of the blue, it's because it was written a while ago and I'm currently going through the draft bin attempting to publish up some of that mostly done stuff.

---

First, it is important to note that there are actually three versions of The Perfect Health Diet book (perhaps four, I am unsure if the Kindle version was updated from the first print version, but I'll refer to the self-published Kindle version as v.2).  I mention this because the first ebook was published in 2010 as was the self-published paperback and the latest version was completed late in 2012.  While there are some minor changes, the core of the basis for the PHD has not changed much, if at all and if there were major changes I would expect Paul to highlight them in his various appearances.  So, in v.1 and v.2  the rationale behind the macronutrient content was put forth in a very straightforward manner in a section entitled:

Four Reasons to Believe in a 20-65-15 Macronutrient Ratio (Carb-Fat-Protein)

1. This was the composition of the Paleolithic Diet
2. This is the composition of breast milk (adjusted for adult brain size) 
3. This is the composition of the human body - Eat what you are.
4. Omnivorous animals prefer to eat this diet

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Disgusted with Diet Doctor

The Swedish Diet Doc (does he have any patients?) has been on a roll of late, and it's reached a point where I just have to comment.

For starters, although it would be impossible for every bariatric doc or even a small minority of them to be real-life examples (in the been there, done that department) to be able to promote what has worked for them, at least one might expect that such a doctor wouldn't hold such disdain for them.  When you think about it, medicine is one of those professions where the experts rarely have first-hand knowledge of the fields in which they are often doling out the most personal of advices.  But if you don't like "fat people" then why are you making a living off of "treating" them and dissing them behind their backs (and to their faces)?  

Diet Doc even has a label:  Why Americans are Obese.  Sounds OK though.  Yeah, obese is the technical term.  But here is one of the posts on that label: http://www.dietdoctor.com/why-americans-are-fat-part-2.  Note that I didn't change the bare URL which belies the original title of the post, and many others, before someone informed the doc that calling people fat might be insulting and not appropriate for a person of his stature to be doing.

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Paleo Water Update

Wasn't sure where to discuss this, but I figured it might as well be on the blog.  A week or so ago, I blogged on Paleo Water.  James Fell also blogged on this atrocity that popped up in ads on Jimmy Moore's Livin la Vida Low Carb blog.  His post:  Paleo has jumped the shark.  

At that time, the Paleo Water page was green and looked like a spoof.  There was a caveman top left, Jimmy Moore's eight year old "thinker pose" photo on top right with “As recommended by Jimmy Moore of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” .  It then listed, along with alkalinity, all the ways paleo water was more like the water our paleolithic ancestors drank.  Free of bacteria and parasites, the water was touted as "as close as scientifically possible to the water our genetic blueprint demands – but no longer receives".  

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Celebrity Diabetes ~ Tom Hanks now

Before Paula Deen got in hot water over racial issues, she was the subject of controversy a few years back with her belated disclosure that she had Type 2 diabetes, and then became a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk's Victoza.  The "mainstream" balked, including rebukes from fellow celebrity chefs for using so much butter in her cooking while hiding the effect it had on her health.  When the news hit the LC community, it of course went nuts.  I discussed this pretty thoroughly HERE.  A quick summary might be that the low carbers didn't like that people blamed the fat in her foods and finger pointed at the carbs (ignoring sedentary lifestyle entirely).  Further, they didn't like that she was dieting per mainstream guidelines and using Victoza rather going on a LC diet.   Stress certainly has taken a toll on Deen, but she seems to have maintained her weight loss, perhaps even losing a few more pounds.  It would be interesting to get an update on her condition, but somehow I doubt we will.

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Low Carb Circus Acts ...

In the Center Ring:

Jimmy Moore was on the Christian Broadcast Network's 700 Club yesterday.  I was going to leave this just for the social media stuff, but the appearance was quite disturbing in a few ways so I thought I'd share a few thoughts on that.  

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Ketogenic Triathlete?

I noticed a little traffic blip to my posts here on SuperStarch scamming which reminded me that AHS13 panel member on keto diets for athletes, and woo woo peddler, Ben Greenfield, would have completed his ketogenic diet fueled triathlon by now.   He has.  And for $9.99 you can get the full scoop on how it went.  No thanks.  Still, from reading the comments, one can surmise how he fared.

First, let me say this.  My hat goes off to anyone that can complete one of these races in any amount of time, etc. and all that jazz.  But at Ben's level, people don't generally compete in these things for recreation, there's money at stake -- whether it be endorsements/sponsorships or less directly involved in promoting his business.   So this was yet another publicity stunt, which is fine, but it doesn't seem to have been a success from any other viewpoint.  

I'm not a fan of his delivery, but Durian Rider is in fine form there in comments laughing at Ben.  

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The LoBAG Diets for treatment of Type II Diabetes and IGF-I: Updated & Expanded

Bump ...

Does dietary protein raise blood glucose?  Not in normal or Type 2 diabetics it doesn't.  This will be the topic of a post today or tomorrow.  There is a disturbing, in my opinion, trend in the low carb community to now demonize protein.  Your usual Atkins style diet is no longer "good enough" or "well formulated" enough for most.  This keto kraze has gotten really krazy!

As far as I'm concerned, the danger of people like Jimmy Moore is no better epitomized than by this trend.  You have lots of people regurgitating his claims that his liver makes too much glucose out of protein and this is implicated in his weight issues.  Nevermind all of the evidence to the contrary.  Leaving weight loss aside, yes, this is anecdotal, but we have no other "evidence" to go by!  Long term low carbers seem to have worsening glucose tolerance over time.  Almost to a one, and these are people who were not diabetic or in some cases even IR (by HOMA) at baseline.  

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The Cause of Hyperglycemia in Type 2 Diabetes

I will forever be grateful to (former?) blogger LynMarie Daye of Adipo Insights blog for bringing the following paper to my attention:

Insulin: understanding its action in health and disease

If you're a regular reader and you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?  If you're a new reader it's a must (unless of course you're just here for the gossip you claim is boring and inappropriate - grin).   The article is quite long, but it is written in very understandable fashion.  A lot of info, so perhaps best digested in small segments, but well worth the effort. 

The article begins with a history lesson about a physiology professor named Sir Edward Schafer, who "appears to have named insulin and described its actions" in a book published in 1916 entitled The Endocrine Organs.  Schafer, described a substance with dual and simultaneous functions: 

• Autacoid:  excitatory or stimulatory, e.g. glucose transport, lipid synthesis 
• Chalone:  inhibitory, e.g. inhibiting lipolysis, gluconeogenesis, ketogenesis

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Paleo Water?!

A quickie here, but I know many of my readers don't do the whole social media thing and this is just too something for words (can't even think of a good adjective there!)  

I try and read Jimmy's stuff in a reader to avoid the ads, but there it was ... screenshot right.

So I couldn't resist clicking ... and no, it's not April Fool's Day and no it's not a spoof!  Awww shucks ... you go to the link today and the paleo header is not displaying at the moment :(  It was a Geico-style cave man juxtaposed with Jimmy Moore's "The Thinker" and the LLVLC promo.  Hope they bring it back!!

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