Category Archives: Health

Health

Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health

The attached article was written in 1984 by Woodrow C. Monte, Ph.D., R.D., Director of the Food Science and Nutrition Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, and it was published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 36, Number 1, 1984.

See: aspartame_methanol_and_public_health

“Aspartame (NutraSweet)* is a small molecule made up of three components: Phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (wood alcohol). — Source: See Footnote 47

*NutraSweet is a trademark of G.D. Searl & Co.

Footnote 47:  Searle Food Resources, Inc. Sources and Metabolism of Aspartame and Representative Sweeteners. (1981).”

METHANOL CONTENT OF ASPARTAME SWEETENED BEVERAGES

Dr. Monte’s Article states: An average aspartame-sweetened beverage would have a conservative aspartame content of about 555 mg/liter, and therefore, a methanol equivalent of 56 mg/liter (56 ppm). For example, if a 25 kg child consumed on a warm day, after exercising, two-thirds of a two-liter bottle of soft drink sweetened with aspartame, that child would be consuming over 732 mg of aspartame (29 mg/kg). This alone exceeds what the Food and Drug Administration considers the 99 + percentile daily consumption level of aspartame.” The child would also absorb over 70 mg of methanol from that soft drink. This is almost ten times the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended daily limit of consumption for methanol.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency in their [1977] Multimedia Environmental Goals for Environmental Assessment recommends [as of 1977] a minimum acute toxicity concentration of methanol in drinking water at 3.9 parts per million, with a recommended limit of consumption below 7.8 mg/day .[See Footnote 8]

This report clearly indicates that methanol:

“is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the
body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are
toxic.”[8]

Footnote 8 — Source:  Cleland, J.G. and Kingsbury, G.L., Multimedia Environmental Goals For Environmental Assessment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: EPA-600/7-77-136b, E-28, November 1977.

Fitness, Health, Medical

Is obesity nothing more than a proxy for metabolic illness?

Video

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Surgeon Peter Attia

See: http://embed.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes.html

Should we not challenge all assumptions?  I never once questioned the conventional wisdom [. . . about the pathology of diabetes].  I actually assumed the pathological sequence was settled science.

You can think of insulin as this master hormone that controls what our body does with the food we eat; whether we burn it or store it.  It’s called fuel partitioning in the lingo? Insulin resistance is when cells become increasingly resistant to insulin trying to do its job.

Is conventional wisdom failing me and everyone else?

Most people believe that obesity is the cause of insulin resistance?  What if we have it backwards?   Is it possible that insulin resistance causes obesity?  The implication is profound.  What if obesity — that is, the storing of fat — is a coping mechanism to insulin resistance?   How much better would we be to treat the cause rather than the effect?

Despite eating well and exercising often, Peter Attia himself began to gain weight. He developed metabolic syndrome, a pre-cursor to diabetes in which a person becomes insulin resistant. He started to question the assumptions he and the majority of the medical community made about diabetes. He wondered: could it be that insulin resistance caused obesity and not the other way around? Could it be that, in the same way a bruise forms in order to protect the body after an injury, that gaining weight is a coping mechanism for a deeper problem at the cellular level?

“What if we’re fighting the wrong war—fighting the obesity rather than insulin resistance?

Fitness, Health

Dietary Fat Is Not a Major Determinant of Body Fat

Why Eating a Low-Fat Diet Does Not Lead to Weight Loss

According to a blog article by Mark Hyman, MD, “Pioneering research by Harvard Medical School’s David Ludwig reveals the reason that low-fat diets do not work — and identifies the true cause of obesity for most Americans.”

David Ludwig M.D., Ph.D. advocates a low-glycemic diet designed to stabilize blood sugar and insulin after the meal, promoting long-term satiety and supporting metabolism. He says that this approach, focused on nutrient quality rather than quantity, offers the widest possible range of food choices, providing a sense of abundance instead of deprivation. Dr. Ludwig explains that dozens of scientific studies suggest that this approach may be remarkably effective, not just for weight loss, but also to prevent heart disease and diabetes. See: Q & A with Dr. Ludwig, co-author with Suzanne Rostler M.S., R.D., of the book entitled “Ending the Food Fight: Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World.”

SEE THIS TABLE: Revised International Table of Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) Values—2008 By David Mendosa (1,000+ foods and beverages)

Health

What if there was a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and no one knew?

July 2008 Article by Mary Newport, M.D.  Download Article in PDF Here

News:  http://www.coconutketones.com/

Dr. Newport’s blog: http://coconutketones.blogspot.com/

New 2013 important Ketone Ester article from Dr. Richard Veech and others based on study ending in 2012.

Download Ketone Ester article here

Title:  A ketone ester diet exhibits anxiolytic and cognition-sparing properties, and lessens amyloid and tau pathologies in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

Authors: Yoshihiro Kashiwaya, Christian Bergman, Jong-Hwan Lee, Ruiqian Wan, Richard L. Veech, et al.

Published:  June 2013  Source:  neurobiologyofaging.org — Neurobiology of Aging Vol. 34, Issue 6, Pages 1530-1539

Health

Spring Hill couple inspires research into coconut oil for Alzheimer’s patients

Story by Jodie Tillman, Staff Writer for the Tampa Bay Times

See Article:  http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/spring-hill-couple-inspires-research-into-coconut-oil-for-alzheimers/2124596

According to this Article:

Researchers at the University of South Florida’s Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute recently received a $250,000 grant from a private foundation to conduct what is thought to be the first clinical trial of the effects of coconut oil on mild to moderate cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

“One hallmark of Alzheimer’s is that some parts of the brain stop processing glucose, the primary source of energy. What could plug that fuel gap and keep the brain cells alive? One theory: ketones.”

“In 2008, she [Dr. Mary Newport] read a report on a small study of a new medicinal drink. The brew’s key ingredient is a type of fat known as a medium chain triglyceride. The liver converts part of those fats into an energy source called ketones.”

“At that time, the medicinal drink in the study had not yet hit the market. Dr. Newport learned that nonhydrogenated coconut oil is made up mostly of medium-chain triglycerides. She bought a jar of coconut oil and started spooning it into her husband’s [Steve’s] oatmeal.”

“She [Dr. Mary Newport] says she started seeing results within days. Steve improved his score on an exam used to screen for dementia. His drawings of clock faces — an important test for Alzheimer’s progression — improved. His tremors subsided. He could engage with others.”