Animal Pharm

'Western medicine is in crisis. Continually increasing resources are being expended to combat the age-related diseases that include diabetes and metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Yet the causes of these diseases remain a mystery, while their incidence and morbidity either remain constant or are increasing.'

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD
Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics, Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Biological Chemistry, and Pediatrics
University of California, Irvine, California
'Mitochondria as Chi'

Eric Turner and Tinie Tempah
'Written in the Stars'
Courtesy Youtube.com

Evolutionary Medicine

Dr. Tourgeman, Mr. Billy E (from Nephro-paleo) and many others subscribe to an evolutionary (revolutionary) approach for the delivery and science of medicine and reversal of neoLETHAL diseases. The failures of pharmaceutical treatments (ACCORD--diabetes treatment, STATINS S*CK AND DEBILITATE MITOCHONDRIA, etc), out of control incidence of dia-besity and exponential increases in autism, autoimmune disorders and cancer never cease to astound. Modern medicine illustrates too well where we are going wrong with a false foundation of non-functional exercise prescriptions (lack of intensity and weight bearing), high carb grain-based diets and ignorance for ancestrally cemented diurnal/circadian hormesis patterns.

Busy With Blog- and BOOKLUST *ha aaaaahh!*

I've been reading, reading, reading and absorbing... Yeah... it's awful... multitasking my reading b/c I cannot choose and they are all awfully EXCELLENT. Evolutionary medicine, horticulture/PHARMING, hormones and integrative medicine have the been the topics of keen interest the last few months.

Hofmekler--The Anti-Estrogenic Diet (of warrior diet fame)
Gedgaudas--Primal Body, Primal Mind (evolutionary integrative practitioner who understands our primordial past and neolithic strategies/testing to reverse neoLETHAL damage to the gut, mind and metabolism; 'paleo' is not enough)
Young--The pH Miracle
Hotze--Hormones, Health and Happiness (former ER doc and allergist turned anti-grain integrative physician)
Turner--The Hormone Diet (fixed her thyroid, hot ND hormone s*xxxxpert)
Somers--S*xxxy Forever (she's FINALLY addressing gluten and focusing on environmental toxins with consults from Crinnion and Blaylock; online resources: HERE incl integrative paleo Dr. LePine MD)
Kimball--The Dirty Life: On FARMING, Food and LOVE (NPR interview)
Peter Ballerstedt--Grass-based Health Blog (my fave post: LARD)
Rosensweet--Menopause and Natural Hormones
Stephenson--Awakening Athena (interview)
Werner--Why You Are Fat (gluten-free, hawwwt, hormone queen, trainer who fixed her low progesterone)
Taubes--Why We Get Fat (sublime, drool-inducing physicist)
Lepine--revolutionary integrative Dartmouth-trained physician and educator
Teta brothers--The ME Diet (Metabolic Edge) -- paleo ND physicians and trainers
Kurzweil--Transcend (paleo high-tech)
Fossel et al--The Immortality Edge (paleo, HIIT telomere science)
Sara Godfried--organic gynecologist blog (giggle-worthy, ginormously gifted Harvard-trained integrative physician)
Rich Stagliano MD--Blog, former ER doc now blog-astic integrative MD
[Pending, Energy and Life: The Promise of Evolutionary Medicine and the Vital Role of Mitochondria by Douglas C. Wallace, Robert Cooke]

Integrative Medicine

Lately I've had the pleasure and oportunity to meet many other integrative practitioners. For one, last year I have had more time after going part-time working 2/days per week at a new position at an integrative medicine/BHRT compounding pharmacy. With chances to talk to integrative practitioners and patients who are ahead of the curve happening all day long, knowledge gaps are being filled in. Sometimes tales do morph to reality. Integrative medicine is where the rubber meets the road -- an interface between high and low tech; between science and folklore. We know paleo works but does it meet modern metrics? Yes naturally of course. You knew that. Is an evolutionary diet and lifestyle enough? Why not, if not?

Wallace: Evolutionary Medicine

Below are a couple of abstracts from Wallace a scientist with a bend toward evolutionary medicine and special emphasis on mitochondrial medicine. Many of us including Tourgeman and I are enormous fans of mitochondria (read the seminal Nick Lane's Power, S*x, Suicide), our endocytosed bacteria what we host and cater to. Both plants and animals have mitochondria, yet only the ascent of man may be attributed to mitochondria and the efficient mitochondrial fatty oxidation of our adipose and ketones. The returns for optimal mitochondrial health are huge -- disease free longevity, happiness and efficient energy production to name just a few. The complexity of mitochondria involve physics, energy, systems biology, maternal genetics, epigenomes, membrane potentials, control of pollution (ROS), bioelectricity, ATP and the explosive, exothermic energy extraction of H2O synthesis.

Chi = Energy = Mitochondria

Wallace describes chi (ancient Chinese philosphy of energy and its flow) as mitochondria. For a Western conventionally-trained scientist, I find that to be mind-numbing and immense.

(Energetics, epigenetics, mitochondrial genetics. Wallace DC, Fan W. Mitochondrion. 2010 Jan;10(1):12-31.)

Our Uniqueness, Based on Bad*ss Factors like Mitochondrial Haplotypes and Migration

If we are all from Africa, then what separates us genetically? Why do some fail on 'paleo' or 'panu' or 'OD' or 'plant avoidance' or ketosis' or 'zone' or whatever? First of all, the dynamics of hormones, toxicity, and extent of neoLETHAL damage on endocrine/GI/brains cannot be overemphasized. Outside of these obvious factors, I conjecture the remainder of genetic variations that were selected for thriving and reproduction depended on our ancestors' local microenvironmental niches, climate changes and resultant food supply.

Omni-wh*res and Recent (3 - 16 kya) Evolution

Unlike guinea pigs or lions, humans are OMNI-WH*RES... *ha* We eat anything and everything edible... EVEN HYDROGENATED TWINKIES.

In Asians, once rice fermentation and alcoholic beverages evolved, so did the gene to process alcohol without toxicity (alcohol dehydrogenase, ADH1B). NY Times: Adventures in Very Recent Evolution.

Mitochondrial mtDNA Variants

Mitochondrial, Y Haplotypes and other DNA variants may indeed describe our bioenergetic differences on the most basic level. Mitochondria utilize for energy production and regulation of genes/growth/reproduction many co-factors: B-vitamins, coenzyme Q10, carnitine, lipoic acid, thyroid hormone (selenium, iodine, tyrosine), etc... Some inviduals have higher B vitamin and methylation requirements whereas others are fine with virtually none? Vitamin C requirements I hypothesize might actually vary by equatorial latitude perhaps in the same fashion perhaps as vitamin D and UV B photons. Where did your ancestors and mtDNA originate from?

Other references:

[edit] THANK YOU GENTLEREADER, TYLER (Blog at Evolutionary Health Systems)!!

Annu Rev Biochem. 2007;76:781-821.
Why do we still have a maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA? Insights from evolutionary medicine.

Abstract
The human cell is a symbiosis of two life forms, the nucleus-cytosol and the mitochondrion. The nucleus-cytosol emphasizes structure and its genes are Mendelian, whereas the mitochondrion specializes in energy and its mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes are maternal. Mitochondria oxidize calories via oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to generate a mitochondrial inner membrane proton gradient (DeltaP). DeltaP then acts as a source of potential energy to produce ATP, generate heat, regulate reactive oxygen species (ROS), and control apoptosis, etc. Interspecific comparisons of mtDNAs have revealed that the mtDNA retains a core set of electron and proton carrier genes for the proton-translocating OXPHOS complexes I, III, IV, and V. Human mtDNA analysis has revealed these genes frequently contain region-specific adaptive polymorphisms. Therefore, the mtDNA with its energy controlling genes may have been retained to permit rapid adaptation to new environments.

Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2010 Jun;16(2):114-9.
Bioenergetics and the epigenome: interface between the environment and genes in common diseases.

Abstract
Extensive efforts have been directed at using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify the genes responsible for common metabolic and degenerative diseases, cancer, and aging, but with limited success. While environmental factors have been evoked to explain this conundrum, the nature of these environmental factors remains unexplained. The availability of and demands for energy constitute one of the most important aspects of the environment. The flow of energy through the cell is primarily mediated by the mitochondrion, which oxidizes reducing equivalents from hydrocarbons via acetyl-CoA, NADH + H(+), and FADH(2) to generate ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). The mitochondrial genome encompasses hundreds of nuclear DNA (nDNA)-encoded genes plus 37 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)-encoded genes. Although the mtDNA has a high mutation rate, only milder, potentially adaptive mutations are introduced into the population through female oocytes. In contrast, nDNA-encoded bioenergetic genes have a low mutation rate. However, their expression is modulated by histone phosphorylation and acetylation using mitochondrially-generated ATP and acetyl-CoA, which permits increased gene expression, growth, and reproduction when calories are abundant. Phosphorylation, acetylaton, and cellular redox state also regulate most signal transduction pathways and activities of multiple transcription factors. Thus, mtDNA mutations provide heritable and stable adaptation to regional differences while mitochondrially-mediated changes in the epigenome permit reversible modulation of gene expression in response to fluctuations in the energy environment. The most common genomic changes that interface with the environment and cause complex disease must, therefore, be mitochondrial and epigenomic in origin.

Annu Rev Pathol. 2010;5:297-348.
Mitochondrial energetics and therapeutics.

Abstract
Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to a wide range of degenerative and metabolic diseases, cancer, and aging. All these clinical manifestations arise from the central role of bioenergetics in cell biology. Although genetic therapies are maturing as the rules of bioenergetic genetics are clarified, metabolic therapies have been ineffectual. This failure results from our limited appreciation of the role of bioenergetics as the interface between the environment and the cell. A systems approach, which, ironically, was first successfully applied over 80 years ago with the introduction of the ketogenic diet, is required. Analysis of the many ways that a shift from carbohydrate glycolytic metabolism to fatty acid and ketone oxidative metabolism may modulate metabolism, signal transduction pathways, and the epigenome gives us an appreciation of the ketogenic diet and the potential for bioenergetic therapeutics.

Flexibility = Adaptability

This gentleman was kind enough to let me take his photo by the West Lake in Huangzhou. His pose lasted longer than the time we had to hang out! I especially loved his timeless smile and ageless grace.

Fermented Foods of China

Quest for Fermented Food

In our first leg of our vacation in China, my husband and I had dinner with fellow blogger and fermentation fan Seth Roberts at his choice, a Yunnan restaurant which specialized in regional dishes. Wasn't difficult to track down dishes with fermented condiments or fermented flavors. Most traditional ethnicities incorporate fermented foods in daily meals from dawn to twilight no matter where you are on planet earth. (everywhere except the land of McDonalds, Velveeta doesn't count!)

From top to bottom:
-- roasted duck with fermented bean paste (I think, I can't recall now!)
--deep fried insects (grub have microbiota which ferment but *ugggh* the veggie oils)
--fish with fermented black bean sauce
--yak milk yogurt, fermented sweeten rice wine dessert w/tapioca balls, tea with milk (tea leaves fermented)
--(not shown) B-E-E-R, fermented grains (it aint that bad, no?)

YUM!

Exploring the Benefits of Fermentation

Our gut microbiome is primarily responsible for fermenting our undigested food. Under pathologic circumstances, fermentation happens where it is not supposed to, e.g. the stomach, small bowel or in our blood stream.

Below Jiménez describes the benefits and distinct role our gut microbiome plays in our health, longevity and maintenance. Some experts even propose that our gut microbiome fucntions as an neuro-endocrine organ. I would strongly concur. It is transplantable like any other organ and is so indisposable that we cannot live without it. When it goes awry in function, like any other organ, a host of chronic illnesses and disorders ensue -- obesity, autoimmune diseases, cancer, mental conditions/crankiness, infertility, heart disease, etc.

Table IV Primary Functions of Intestinal Microflora (per Jiménez) (free PDF)
I. Planktonic microflora --> METABOLIC

(a) To ferment indigestible substrates (fiber, extruded cells and endogenous mucus)

(b) To favor the growth of beneficial intestinal microflora
----(i) Improves lactose digestion----(ii) Modulates intsetinal gas production
----(iii) Increases genesis of short-chain fatty acids--> intraluminal acidication --> increases intestinal transit
----(iv) Increases the absorption of Ca, Fe, and Mg----(v) Synthesizes vitamins: K, folic acid, biotin, B12

II. Mucosa-associated microbiota (MAM)

(a) Protective
----(i) Barrier effect + bacteriocin synthesis --> prevention of invasion by exogenous pathogens
----(ii) Maintenance of intestinal permeability --> prevents bacterial translocation and systemic infection (e.g. PREVENTION OF POOP IN THE BLOOD STREAM)

(b) Trophic
----(i) Controls epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation of intestinal mucosa
----(ii) Maintains new cell growth in intestinal epithelial crypts
----(iii) Of the intestinal immune system: cells and serum (immunoglobulins)

Sources

Rev Esp Enferm Dig. 2009 Aug;101(8):553-64.
Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with probiotics. An etiopathogenic approach at last?
Bixquert Jiménez M.
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common functional digestive disorder, and may affect 11-20% of the adult population in industrialized countries. In accordance with Rome III criteria (2006) IBS involves abdominal pain and bowel habit disturbance, which are not explained by structural or biochemical abnormalities. Several hypotheses attempt to account for the pathophysiology of IBS, but the etiology still remains uncertain or obscure, perhaps multifactorial. Abnormalities in colonic microflora have recently been suggested in such patients, as has abnormal small-intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), or in particular a significant reduction in the amount of intraluminal Bifidobacteria or Lactobacilli, with consequences like the production of colonic gas, and motility or sensitivity disturbances of the intestinal tract. The disorder is difficult to treat, and the wide spectrum of non-drug and drug treatments shows our ignorance about the cause of the condition. Newer drugs, both pro- and anti-serotonin, have failed to show long-term efficacy or have been withdrawn due to concerns about harmful effects. Recent research has provided increasing support for the idea that disturbances of intestinal microbiota occur in patients with IBS, and that such abnormalities may contribute to IBS symptoms. Studies in Scandinavian countries in the last ten years emphasize the role of probiotics in the modulation of intestinal microbiota, and as a consequence in the regulation of the motility and hypersensitivity of the digestive tract. Although results between studies are difficult to compare because of differences in study design, probiotic dose, strain, and duration of therapy, some studies show symptom improvement. Lactobacilli are found among the normal bacterial flora of the gastrointestinal tract, and Lactobacillus plantarum (Lp) is one of the species frequently isolated from the human mucosa, which is capable of surviving the low pH of the stomach and duodenum, resisting the effect of bile acids in the upper small intestine when ingested, and temporarily colonizing the gastrointestinal tract by binding to the intestinal and colonic mucosa. Concurrent with colonization by Lp there is a decrease in bacterial groups with gas-producing ability, such as Veillonella spp. and Clostridia spp. Evidence has now accumulated to suggest the efficacy of certain probiotics like Lp299v, which may be capable of bringing about a significant reduction in pain, abdominal distension and flatulence, while increasing health-related quality of life in IBS.

Int J Mol Sci. 2009 Aug 27;10(9):3755-75. Free PDFThe improvement of hypertension by probiotics: effects on cholesterol, diabetes, renin, and phytoestrogens.
Lye HS, Kuan CY, Ewe JA, Fung WY, Liong MT.
Abstract
Probiotics are live organisms that are primarily used to improve gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, lactose intolerance, and to inhibit the excessive proliferation of pathogenic intestinal bacteria. However, recent studies have suggested that probiotics could have beneficial effects beyond gastrointestinal health, as they were found to improve certain metabolic disorders such as hypertension. Hypertension is caused by various factors and the predominant causes include an increase in cholesterol levels, incidence of diabetes, inconsistent modulation of renin and imbalanced sexual hormones. This review discusses the antihypertensive roles of probiotics via the improvement and/or treatment of lipid profiles, modulation of insulin resistance and sensitivity, the modulation of renin levels and also the conversion of bioactive phytoestrogens as an alternative replacement of sexual hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.

My sister 'M' is a masterful mastermind in the hearth of her house, the kitchen. Her sweet goodies and salty savories are the kibble for my soul and sanctuary. (And sometimes growing adipose cells! )

Each ingredient in her recipe is a SUPER FOOD by all comparisons.

Coconut flour is awesome stuff. Apparently it has great minerals, medium chain fatty acids and fiber. Fiber is good especially when it is lectin and phytic acid free (unlike legumes, raw nuts/seeds and wholebodydiseasegrains).

Red VPO (virgin palm oil) is one of the most popular oils in the world -- rich in deep orange carotenoids, antioxidant tocotrienols, coenzyme Q10, stigmasterol/plant sterols (anti-rheumatic Wulzen factor) and both oleic acid and palmitic acid (yes you need both -- read Peter Hyperlipid THE HORROR NEVER ENDS).

Onions, low carb, high protein -- these food factors make for great health and snacking. Onions and green onions are rich in sulfur and quercetin (if you don't have SIBO and can tolerate FODMAPs) which aid glutathione proteins to detox and keep toxins at bay.

Excessive carbs glycosylate and sugar-coat organs -- the tomatoes are fantastic long-acting carbs without impacting BGs.

High protein -- sustains growth, repair and regeneration.

Sausage biscuits are one of the easiest to make vehicles for coconut flour and the other super foods. These keep for a while and are simply convenient to snack on and easily transportable (though somewhat crumbly if smashed). Coconut flour absorbs a lot of water from the air -- the eggs from the protein seal the moisture in but you may have to adjust the liquid in the recipe depending on your house humidity and other factors.

These make great paleo bisonburger 'buns' when split apart in half...

Sausage Biscuit Recipe
(modified, courtesy of my sister 'M' YOU ROCK GRRRL!!)

4 eggs
1/4 c. virgin palm oil (or lard or ghee or coconut oil)
1/4 tsp. Utah salt
1/4 tsp. onion powder or grated onion, opt.
1/8 - 1/4 c. minced scallions (or shallots or white onions)
1/2 c. coconut flour, sifted
1/4 tsp. baking soda (Aluminum free)
1/2 c. organic sundried tomatoes
4 to 8 oz. sausage or ground beef/bison sauteed with sundried tomatoes and some tomato or fave spaghetti sauce until semi-dry but mildly moist (I like Mario Batali's sauces)

Blend together eggs, oil, salt and onion. Combine coconut flour with baking soda and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in minced sundried tomatoes and sausage. Let the batter rest for 4-5 min to thicken. Drop batter by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper), 2 in. apart. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min.

Makes 8 biscuits.

Related References:

Stephan Guyenet PhD: Palm oil -- one study 69% reduction in oxLDL. Palm oil contains Coenzyme Q10, tocotrienols (family of vitamin E's).
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/07/tropical-plant-fats-palm-oil.html

Expert Researcher Barry Tan PhD on carotenoids and tocotrienols in palm oil, interview and research articles.
http://www.drpasswater.com/nutrition_library/tan_1.html
http://americanrivernutrition.com/research/research-articles

History of Palm Oil and production
http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/palmoil.htm

More history: Introduction: nutritional aspects of palm oil.
Cottrell RC.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Apr;53(4 Suppl):989S-1009S. Review. (free PDF)

Vitamin E tocotrienols improve insulin sensitivity through activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors.
Fang F, Kang Z, Wong C.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Mar;54(3):345-52.
PMID: 19866471

Comparative effects of dietary corn oil, safflower oil, fish oil and palm oil on metabolism of ethanol and carnitine in the rat. [PO improves carnitine status]
Sachan DS, Yatim AM, Daily JW.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Jun;21(3):233-8.
PMID: 12074250 (free PDF)

Heated palm oil [FIVE-TEN TIMES] causes rise in blood pressure and cardiac changes in heart muscle in experimental rats. [unheated palm oil was associated with wt loss compared with control rats]
Leong XF, Aishah A, Nor Aini U, Das S, Jaarin K.
Arch Med Res. 2008 Aug;39(6):567-72.

The effect of dietary red palm oil on the functional recovery of the ischaemic/reperfused isolated rat heart: the involvement of the PI3-kinase signaling pathway.
Engelbrecht AM, Odendaal L, Du Toit EF, Kupai K, Csont T, Ferdinandy P, van Rooyen J.
Lipids Health Dis. 2009 May 29;8:18.

Cardioprotection with palm oil tocotrienols: comparision of different isomers.
Das S, Lekli I, Das M, Szabo G, Varadi J, Juhasz B, Bak I, Nesaretam K, Tosaki A, Powell SR, Das DK.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2008 Feb;294(2):H970-8.
PMID: 18083895 (free pdf)

Dietary red palm oil supplementation reduces myocardial infarct size in an isolated perfused rat heart model.
Bester DJ, Kupai K, Csont T, Szucs G, Csonka C, Esterhuyse AJ, Ferdinandy P, Van Rooyen J.
Lipids Health Dis. 2010 Jun 18;9:64.
PMID: 20565865 (free pdf)

Replacement of dietary fat with palm oil: effect on human serum lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins.[11% increase in human subjects of HDL2b, the cardio- and disease-protective HDL fraction with palm oil]
Sundram K, Hornstra G, von Houwelingen AC, Kester AD.
Br J Nutr. 1992 Nov;68(3):677-92.

Effect of dietary palm oil on lipoprotein lipases: lipoprotein levels and tissue lipids in rat. [higher HDL, lower TG compared with control diet arms]
Pereira TA, Sinniah R, Das NP.
Biochem Med Metab Biol. 1990 Dec;44(3):207-17.

Palm and partially hydrogenated soybean oils adversely alter lipoprotein profiles compared with soybean and canola oils in moderately hyperlipidemic subjects. [Palm Oil Increases in HDL, increases in apoA1 and both are disease/longevity-protective -- Table--in only 35 days, with palm oil, increased HDL, apoA1, and lowered TG, Lp(a) compared with canola, soy and hydrogenated soy; I ignored authors' conclusions]
Vega-López S, Ausman LM, Jalbert SM, Erkkilä AT, Lichtenstein AH.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):54-62. (free PDF)

Palm oil and health: a case of manipulated perception and misuse of science.
McNamara DJ.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2010 Jun;29(3 Suppl):240S-244S.

Thor/Chris Hemsworth
(Picture at Celebitchy.com)

Today I'll be presenting deep thoughts.

Mhhhhmmm.... Mighty God of Thunder and weather... Thor (played by haaawwwt and humble aussie Chris Hemsworth) and his *haa ah!* mitochondria...

SUMMER FLICKS ARE HERE LADIES!

Watch 'em (and try to stop drooling). It was a toss up between Thor and the FF/XXX franchise (2 hotties) which was a t-o-u-g-h-i-e. [Celebitchy Thor and his mig hty abdominal muscles rule the box office was a factor.]

Mr.Hemsworth [and his mitochondria] talk about his workout H ERE. Bulking out excessively on heavy lifting made him 'blocky' and unable to move lithely, but provided the beef. However, switching it up to 'cardio and crossfit-style' workouts gave him the final movie form (listen at 1:33), fit that fancy Nordic warrior outfit and save Asgard and the world.

Courtesy: Youtube.com
Nelly Furtado Mash-Up

DNA Mash-Ups

Who do you look like?

Genotypically and phenotypically, which relative (or mailman) do you resemble? Like our DNA, we're mash-up expressions of our ancestral pasts... My Taiwanese relatives tell me I physically resemble my maternal grandmother, yet my youngest sister is an uncanny amalgamation of my paternal grandmother and my dad's older sisters.

Cetus Corp

In Advanced Bio in high school, our prof taught us how to extract DNA using high tech equipment from Cetus (bought out by Chiron, later bought out by Roche) and protocols from Cold Spring Harbor. Funny how technology merges or gets hijacked. My teacher was Mr. D and was the coolest because he gave us the key to the lab (and yes, we goofed around like all seniors).

Science can make indelible impressions, no?

How to Extract DNA 101

Here is a low tech home science project which is incrediblyfun and easy to do. DNA is the language of life -- 4 letters (A T G C) in a pair linked helix translate proteins to organs to life. Extract it from anything (bananas, beans, etc) with a little clear soap (EDTA -- an organic molecule which chelates and sequesters trace and heavy metals). The end step involves swirling the DNA 'snot' onto a glass rod or q-tip.

o Learn Genetics (Univ of Utah) How to Extract DNA From Anything Living
o PBS Nova Extract DNA From a BANANA Recipe (example HERE)
o Scientific American: Find DNA in a BANANA (see picture)

[Great U of Utah resources here: Evolution starts with DNA and Ingredients for evolution: variation, selection and time]

DNA Flow = Gene Flow (e.g. s*xxx)

In 99% of flora and fauna on earth, gene flow is carried forward via the confluence of events known as fertilization by the combination of an egg and sperm. Rare exceptions include slime molds, asexual fungi and 'immaculate conception'.

Researchers can now trace the ancestral carriage of certain genes by examining the frequence of polymorphisms in expressed proteins like ACE, APOE and APOB. APOE (apolipoprotein E) has been particularly interesting to me because of its role in immunity, neurobiology, and lipoprotein/fat/cholesterol metabolism. Modern medicine ignores the role of Apo E and its impact on lab metrics. Many in the paleosphere appear to *LOVE* calculating their LDL using the Iranian formula, however like Friedewald this metric is highly flawed. Not only is the premise for the LDL-heart hypothesis inherently incorrect, humans and other mammalian species do not conform to uniform cookie-cutter lipoprotein patterns.

See prior nephropal: Apo E4, Highest LDL Expression

Human DNA Migration (mtDNA)
Let's return briefly to Douglas Wallace, one of the originators of the mitochondrial medicine model (Wallace DC. Am J Hum Genet. 57:201-223, 1995. Free PDF). The above diagram traces the path of mtDNA following human migration since leaving Africa over 100,000 years ago. I think it will be quite neat later when they can include mtDNA data from the skeletal remains of neanderthals, H. heidelbergensis and H. erectus, our other ancestors.

Apo E4 = Ancestral Allele

(above diagram, see Luduc et al) Apo E4 not only is associated with higher Triglycerides (TG) and LDL cholesterol, but also aboriginal and ancestral hunter-gatherer societies. It is argued but widely accepted that apo E4 is the ancestral allele associated with the far past tightly evolved from our 200,000 YBP (years before present) to 4 million YBP hominid ancestors. Apo E3 showed up and evolved at least 300,000 year ago (found also in Neanderthals, Luduc et al), however apo E2 has only appeared recently according to scientific estimates. Rarely does any Amerindian culture exhibits apoE2 without obvious agrarian European gene flow.

Climate: Hot and Cold Extremes Selected ApoE4

The recipe for evolution and the excelling domination of a certain characteristic (phenotype/genotype) are: variation, time and selection. An increasing frequency of apoE4 has been witnessed along a south-to-north gradient in Europe (e.g.increasing with cold and fatty acid requirements for thermogenesis BAT). For equatorial cultures, on the other hand, a north-to-south contrasting pattern has been fully elucidated (increasing with heat and salt/mineral requirements with losses in sweat). Eisenberg et al (see below diagrams) hypothesizes that extreme climates which require higher cholesterol requirements and temperature regulation contributed to the higher apoE4 incidence. Agrarian practices appear to have initiated the latest allele appearance, apo E2, which is associated with less carbohydrate toxicity/sensitivities and an apparent buffer to modern SAD chronic conditions (mental, metabolic, autoimmunity).

Apo E4 Global Distribution

Carriers of apoE4 are 'survivors' since the dawn of time. In the medical literature, apo E4 has had a lot of attention because of its association with Alzheimer's, dementia, autoimmune disorders, Western SAD chronic conditions and obesity/metabolic syndrome/T2DM.

Highest allele frequency observed in:
--Africans
--northern Europe (e.g. my hypothesis, Neanderthal clades)
--northern China (Mongolia, ancestral Han)
--southern India (equatorial)
--Amerindians
--Aboriginal/hunter-gatherer subpopulations

Purpose and Role of ApoE4

Apo E has been associated with protection from infectious disease (diarrhea, viral, bacterial) and perhaps survival in select climate extremes (cold/harsh and hot/equatorial). E4 carriers (2/4, 3/4 or 4/4) exhibit heightened absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and cholesterol from the gut. Singh et al describes apoE4 'has also been proved to be a useful marker for evaluation of biological carriers are more responsive to dietary fats and this could be an advantage when food supplies are scarce or irregular. It is associated with better intestinal absorption of lipids including the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. This may be the reason that APOE E4 appears to be more common in hunters–gatherers than the long-established agricultural communities, e.g. southern Europe, Southeast Asia and Central America (Gerdes et al. 1996a; Corbo and Scacchi 1999) (Singh et al. Annals of Human Biology, 2006).' ApoE4 guards against cholesterol loss and maintains cholesterol homeostasis and cholinergic integrity in the central nervous system (e.g. brain).
In New Zealand, researchers found a correlation between apoE4, heavy metal toxicity and chronic diseases (chronic fatigue, western diseases, heart disease). After chelation of metals, chronic disease status improved. In the ApoE4 protein structure at position 112 (see Luduc diagram above), arginine occupies the site. In E3 and E2 however cysteine has evolved to occupy position 112. Cysteine has advantages in metal dominant environments.

Godfrey et al explain the variance on heavy metal accumulation by the influence of apoE4 v. E3 v. E2, below.

Isomer ε2 has two cysteine
amino-acids in its structure, ε3 has one cysteine and
one arginine, and ε 4 has two arginine amino-acids and
no cysteine [6]. Cysteine, with its sulphydryl (-SH)
bonds, is potentially able to bind to, and remove metals
(e.g., mercury and lead) from tissues, whereas arginine,
lacking the -SH bonds, would be unable to do this.
Apo-E genotyping therefore becomes relevant once it
is acknowledged that prolonged exposure to mercury
has been associated with neurotoxicity, including the
pathological histology unique to Alzheimer’s senile
dementia, namely, ﬁbrillary tangles, amyloid plaques and
increased phosphorylation of tau protein [12,27,28,32].

Conceivably, IMHO, the ancestral allele allowed hominids and mammals to evolve away from rich marine-mineral sources to northern latitudes and above-sea-level altitudes which were physical terrains and landscapes devoid of and lacking brain/body nutrients: minerals (iodine, mag/calcium, zinc), omega-3 and UVB radiation for skin-synthesized vitamin D3. Our DNA mash-ups and heterogeneity explain not only our current health status but can illuminate the path to physiological recovery of neolethal damage and full health optimization.

See prior nephropal: Survival of the PHAT-est

Citations

1. Influence of apolipoprotein E genotype on the reliability of the Friedewald formula in the estimation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations.
Tremblay AJ, Bergeron J, Gagné JM, Gagné C, Couture P.
Metabolism. 2005 Aug;54(8):1014-9.

** Iranian (for apoE2, inherently low TGs) v. Friedwald (for wildtype apoE3). See resource. **

2. The apolipoprotein E polymorphism: a comparison of allele frequencies and effects in nine populations. Free PDF.
Hallman DM, Boerwinkle E, Saha N, Sandholzer C, Menzel HJ, Csázár A, Utermann G.
Am J Hum Genet. 1991 Aug;49(2):338-49.

3. The effect of apoE genotype and sex on ApoE plasma concentration is determined by dietary fat in healthy subjects. (Email me for PDF)
Moreno JA, Pérez-Jiménez F, Moreno-Luna R, Pérez-Martínez P, Fuentes-Jiménez F, Marín C, Portugal H, Lairon D, López-Miranda J.
Br J Nutr. 2009 Jun;101(12):1745-52.

4. Apolipoprotein E isoform phenotype and LDL subclass response to a reduced-fat diet. Free PDF. [Higher LDL-IVb 'death band' with 'low fat diet']
Dreon DM, Fernstrom HA, Miller B, Krauss RM.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1995 Jan;15(1):105-11.

5. Carbohydrate intake, serum lipids and apolipoprotein E phenotype show association in children.
Ruottinen S, Rönnemaa T, Niinikoski H, Lagström H, Saarinen M, Pahkala K, Kaitosaari T, Viikari J, Simell O.
Acta Paediatr. 2009 Oct;98(10):1667-73.

6. Apolipoprotein E genotyping as a potential biomarker for mercury neurotoxicity. Free PDF.
Godfrey ME, Wojcik DP, Krone CA.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2003 Jun;5(3):189-95.

7. Function and Comorbidities of Apolipoprotein E in Alzheimer's Disease. Free PDF
Valérie Leduc, Dorothée Domenger, Louis De Beaumont, Daphnée Lalonde, Stéphanie Bélanger-Jasmin, and Judes Poirier
Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2011; 2011: 974361.

8. Worldwide allele frequencies of the human apolipoprotein E gene: climate, local adaptations, and evolutionary history. (Email me for PDF)
Eisenberg DT, Kuzawa CW, Hayes MG.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2010 Sep;143(1):100-11.

Ancestral Nutrition: The Imperfect Diet Cleaves Adaptive Genetic Polymorphisms

Hat tip to B. Pottenger for the latest science daily (HERE) on the importance of ancestral, customized nutrition for our health. Chilton et al found desaturase/FADS variants in African Americans which take medium chain n-6 PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) and convert them into long chain n-6 PUFAs, like arachidonic acid which may increase systemic inflammation. They purport this may explain the inordinate increase in Western diseases observed in African Americans who display a certain FADS genotype variant for fatty acid disposal when they eat the high n-6 PUFA Western diet, including prostate cancer, diabetes, diabetic complication, heart attacks, obesity and dementia/Alzheimers. [I edited the last post -- continental Africans also have a high rate of apoE4 in addition to current hunter-gatherer groups in Africa.]

ApoE4, The Ancestral Allele = Carnivorous and Fatty Acid-Adaptive Allele

It is clear that our ancient hominid predecessors had something special that allowed them to leave Africa ~2 mya and navigate the terrain and uncertain food, energy and climate allotments. Like others I subscribe to the marine hypothesis (Cunnane SC) that certain brain nutrients are essential for IQ and brain function. Both Cunnane and Jonathon CK Wells writes about the 'fattiness' of the human brain and how this factored into our brain evolution and global domination of every potential ecological niche... not withstanding the moon and interplanetary travel as well. Wells' book 'The Evolutionary Biology of Human Body Fatness: Thrift and Control' details the fats that built our history and brains.

A couple evolutionary biologists also assert that the APOE4 allele is our 'meat-adaptive' gene. Well. This makes sense to a finite degree however no research that I could find illustrates apoE increasing proteins into the brain or digestion... On the other hand, the research is highly demonstrative of apoE4 increasing FATTY ACIDS into our brains, mitochondrial metabolism and enhancement of neural efficiency.

My view:
apoE4 -- Infiniti of cars (same Nissan engine), running on super premium fuel (ancestral allele)
apoE3 -- Nissan Maxima (wild type allele), runs both regular and premium fuels
apoE2 -- Nissan Sentra, on regular unleaded (agarian allele??)
apoE combos -- Prius hybrids (phenotype varying by degrees)

One change of the protein structure of apoE at the 61 spot from T to R/arginine may have set the stage for evolution of other nervous system and housekeeping genes that not only grew a superior engine in the brain but also the chassis/architecture of our hard drives. The ancestral apoE4 allels may be one among several genetic variations that sets us vastly apart from our not so distant primate past.

Super Brain Power + Super Brain Fuel

Though in the medical literature is rife with negative associations between apoE4 and a variety of conditions, my observations are that in those who exhibit high LDLs appear to display the most supreme levels of super-healing and extraordinary intelligence. See Hyperlipid (Peter D. for studies where high LDL associated with positive improvements and longevity, HERE J-LITT. Please also review the neurobio series on Alzheimer's by the wonderful Emily D. at Ev Psych and how low cholesterol is associated with lower cognition HERE.

As you can see from Mahley and Rall's 2000 publication, LDL sharply corresponds to apoE status. E4, the highest; E2, the lowest LDL. Do most cardiologists know this as they prescribe cookie-cutter NCEP/ATPIII-aligned statins? Please.

The density of the LDL determines its function. Small dense is damaging. For E4, dietary carbohydrates and dietary deficiencies of saturated fat dramatically shape and create small, dense, harmful LDL particles. The only rare cases of coronary calcification improvement on EBCT at a coronary heart website were the uncommon participant on a lower carb, HIGH SATURATED FAT intake. E4 appear exquisitely more sensitive to diet, exercise, fats/carbs and environmental toxicants.

Mondadori et al used new technology fMRIs to brain scan young chess-playing individuals and compared their the apoE status. The apoE4 showed increased memory, retrieval, neuropsychology and apparently neural efficiency. E4 indeed appear to run their brains on better fuel, e.g. fatty acids, the currency of nervous system cells.

Why is this not observed in E4 carriers in older age in the industrial populations? In the prior post, researchers discussed how the cysteine amino acid is lacking in E4, at the 112 site. E2 has 2 cysteine's per allele; E3, 1 cysteine; E4, N-O-N-E. This protein conformation apparently stupendously reduces the capacity for apoE to shuttle trace metals out of nervous system tissues. Many enzymes regulate and control metals in the brain however having the E4 allele is like a neuronal death sentence in a world that is contaminated by metals, not excluding one's own oral cavity. Sources of neolethal metal: dental amalgams (50% are mercury which gas off), stents, ortho/dental implants, well water, water purification at municipal plants (alum/Al), lead from leaded fuel/diesel, copper piping, fish intake (the EPA advises pregnant women limit fish, shouldn't we non-pregnant as well?), vaccines (Hep B, flu, whooping cough, Td, etc) and broken Hg thermometers.

Super Fertility = (Pre-Industrial) ApoE4 Populate the World

The literature abounds with cases of higher infertility in apoE4 women. FYI All literature needs to be viewed from an evolutionary perspective and in this context the great majority of these studies for me only demonstrate that the Western diet/lifestyle are particularly adverse to the hunter-gatherer types who carry the E4 allele. If a person carries the E4, then consuming an anti-HG diet (e.g. refined, non-ancestral), then the preponderance of small dense, oxidizable LDL and a hyperactive immune system which searches and scars, yes of course, will result in higher rates of infertility, fibroids, ovarian cysts, PCOS and less pregnancies, as countless PubMed articles report.

One study looked at HG super fertility... In African-Ecuadorians and a HG group, Capaya Indians, indeed the # of gestations and pregnancies were astoundingly higher in E4 carrier women. See citation below Corbo et al. They hypothesize that higher rates of sex hormone steroidogenesis can potentially occur with the E4 genotype.

My own family may also be a prime example. On low carb, mod-high sat fat, my LDLs are greater than 130s which is 'high' for the medical establishment, EVEN THOUGH THE HDL-CHOLESTEROL ECLIPSES THE S.A.D. HDL for women at 105 mg/dl. Both my father and stepmother's side each have 12 children (with 1-2 nonsurviving siblings). How is this humanly possible, as a mom, I used to WONDER OUT LOUD IN HORROR. I think Catholic families might relate... I could have a litter kids if I didn't have a brakestop. My parents and step mother are from an ancient nomadic group (Hakka, part of Han) and in all likelihood harbor the E4 allele somewhere, as my LDLs my appear to indicate. Each of my siblings and I (4 total) have had an autoimmune disorder and are somewhat sensitive to modern pollution and toxicants (gluten, dairy/casein, medications, and sulfa-, nickel-, metal-allergies).

Super Immunity

In a seminal article in PNAS, Caleb Finch's 'Evolution of the human lifespan and diseases of aging: Roles of infection, inflammation, and nutrition' talks about how humans evade infections and the role of apoE4. As a carnivorous creature, hominids had access to ingestion of better protein, trace minerals and fats. The apoE system shuttles cholesterol and the contents of LDL and HDL particles into nervous system tissues (iodine, zinc, tocopherols, ubiquinone, vit K2, etc).

By absorbing fats from the intestines quickly, this sequesters fat from parasites, bacteria and other pathogens. It is believed this might be one mechanism of super immunity which is observed in E4 carriers. Finch and Stanford (QJB, 2004) report 'In chronic infections by hepatitis C virus (HCV), apoE4 carriers had milder liver disease (Wozniak et al. 2002). The protection against HCV by apoE4 is consistent with the role of lipoproteins in transmission of HCV and other viruses (Wozniak et al. 2002), and fulfills hypotheses that apoE4 is a resistance factor for lipophilic parasites (Martin 1999) and that apoE4 confers advantages in early life (Charlesworth 1996). ApoE may also influence infections by other viruses and by prions, but the evidence is less clear (Table 3, Note 1d and Appendix).'

Human Migration: Evolution of Machinery to Convert Saturated Fat into Omega-3 PUFAs

How did humans go so far north, such high altitudes where seemingly harsh climate and terrains existed? Many SNP variants have apparently evolved which helped our ancestors thrive and live very full lives in certain microecological niches on earth. One thing that has baffled me to know end is the apparent n-3 pufa sources in northern Europe, Africa or northern China as hominids moved there 200,000 years ago. The FADS gene clusters of polymorphisms definitely explains a lot as to how the delta 5 and 6 desaturases control elongation of fatty acids to the ever important essential brain nutrient n-3 pufa.

Terrestrial Brain nutrient allocation and Adaptation from Sahara marine-sources (hypothesis):
EPA DHA n-3 pufa: ???! from where, ?megafauna and small animal predation
ALA n-3 pufa: wild greens
Iodine: ApoE4, possible iodine-oral cavity cellular conservative adaptations, polymorphs of MT1,2,3
Zinc: ApoE4
Magnesium: ApoE4
Taurine: Raw megafauna hunt successes, small animals, fish/seafood from local rivers/tributaries
UVB induced vitamin D: grubs, lighter eyes, lighter skin, melanin reduction, megafauna livers
Red wine: j/k

In a prospective human intervention trial, Dabadie et al gave myristic acid, a 14 carbon SATURATED FATTY ACID, to humans and showed an increase and significant enrichment of DHA, omega-3 pufa, in tissues. The authors later performed another study, increasing the myristic and giving ALA and found a J- or U-shaped curve where less DHA changes were seen at higher saturated fat intakes.

I think this is the first and only study that I could find where saturated fat can be under the influences of our desaturases to produce and synthesize a necessary and essential brain long-chain omega-3. Lard is 1% myristic, the head oil of sperm whale 15% and dairy fat 10%.

Citations

1. The impact of FADS genetic variants on ω6 polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism in African Americans. Mathias RA, Sergeant S, Ruczinski I, Torgerson DG, Hugenschmidt CE, Kubala M, Vaidya D, Suktitipat B, Ziegler JT, Ivester P, Case D, Yanek LR, Freedman BI, Rudock ME, Barnes KC, Langefeld CD, Becker LC, Bowden DW, Becker DM, Chilton FH.
BMC Genet. 2011 May 20;12:50.

2. Genetic variants in the metabolism of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids: their role in the determination of nutritional requirements and chronic disease risk.
Simopoulos AP.
Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2010 Jul;235(7):785-95.

3. A 'desaturase hypothesis' for atherosclerosis: Janus-faced enzymes in omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism.
Martinelli N, Consoli L, Olivieri O.
J Nutrigenet Nutrigenomics. 2009;2(3):129-39.

4. Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and fertility: a study in pre-industrial populations.
Corbo RM, Ulizzi L, Scacchi R, Martínez-Labarga C, De Stefano GF. Free PDF.
Mol Hum Reprod. 2004 Aug;10(8):617-20.

5. n-3 Fatty acid erythrocyte membrane content, APOE varepsilon4, and cognitive variation: an observational follow-up study in late adulthood. Free PDF. [This will be discussed later (someday). N-3 is a surrogate for mercury toxicity via fish/seafood consumption esp in apoE4 who hoard/harbor trace metals.]
Whalley LJ, Deary IJ, Starr JM, Wahle KW, Rance KA, Bourne VJ, Fox HC.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Feb;87(2):449-54.

6. Moderate intake of myristic acid [MEDIUM CHAIN SATURATED FAT] in sn-2 position has beneficial lipidic effects and enhances DHA [OMEGA-3 PUFA] of cholesteryl esters in an interventional study [HUMAN].
Dabadie H, Peuchant E, Bernard M, LeRuyet P, Mendy F.
J Nutr Biochem. 2005 Jun;16(6):375-82.

7. Omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid increases SorLA/LR11, a sorting protein with reduced expression in sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD): relevance to AD prevention. Free PDF.
Ma QL, Teter B, Ubeda OJ, Morihara T, Dhoot D, Nyby MD, Tuck ML, Frautschy SA, Cole GM.
J Neurosci. 2007 Dec 26;27(52):14299-307.

8. Better memory and neural efficiency in young apolipoprotein E epsilon4 carriers. Free PDF.
Mondadori CR, de Quervain DJ, Buchmann A, Mustovic H, Wollmer MA, Schmidt CF, Boesiger P, Hock C, Nitsch RM, Papassotiropoulos A, Henke K.
Cereb Cortex. 2007 Aug;17(8):1934-47.

9. Superior performance [CHESS PLAYING/STRATEGIZING] and neural efficiency: the impact of intelligence and expertise.
Grabner RH, Neubauer AC, Stern E.
Brain Res Bull. 2006 Apr 28;69(4):422-39.

10. Evolution in health and medicine Sackler colloquium: Evolution of the human lifespan and diseases of aging: roles of infection, inflammation, and nutrition. Free PDF.
Finch CE.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jan 26;107 Suppl 1:1718-24.

11. Accelerated evolution of nervous system genes in the origin of Homo sapiens. Free PDF.
Dorus S, Vallender EJ, Evans PD, Anderson JR, Gilbert SL, Mahowald M, Wyckoff GJ, Malcom CM, Lahn BT.
Cell. 2004 Dec 29;119(7):1027-40.

12. Apolipoprotein E: far more than a lipid transport protein. Free PDF.
Mahley RW, Rall SC Jr.
Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2000;1:507-37.

13. Meat-adaptive [URRG fat adaptive] genes and the evolution of slower aging in humans. Free PDF.
Finch CE, Stanford CB.
Q Rev Biol. 2004 Mar;79(1):3-50. Review.

** Hat tips to both Mr. Tyler Simmons of Evolutionary Health Systems Blog and a wise, flexible, strong mentor, Mr. Marc Simonson.

The 'Genetic Landscape': Apo E4 Gradient in Europe, China, India and Japan

Mr. Simonson's insights for the migration of pastoralists across Europe, originating from the fertile crescent first started my thinking (nutritional bricolage) for how the world populations have exhibited endless varieties of phenotypes and infinite genotypes (mtDNA, apo E, HFE, and thyroid/autoimmune disorders). He often says that no two people are alike unless they are IDENTICAL TWINS. Therefore, no two dietary prescriptions can be alike.

I'd strongly concur. The perfect human diet is perhaps the one suited to one's ancestral past, unique genomic profile, neolethal toxicity/damage status and metabolic goals.

The below quote comes from Lars Ulrik Gerdes work on Apo E4. He's a FANTASTIC APO*E freak! His thesis is mindblowing. I don't agree w/all of his thoughts but he has plucked through the data comprehensively and thoroughly. Regarding the ApoE4 gradient in Europe (which has also been observed in other countries and continents) 'there is a conspicuous south-to-north gradient of APOE*4 frequencies in Europe, with the proportion of APOE*4 carriers rising from only 10-15% in the south to 40-50% in the north. In contrast, the proportion of APOE*2 carriers is a little higher in Central Europe than in the south and the north. Many other genetic polymorphisms show similar south-to-north gradients in Europe, and this peculiarity of the 'genetic landscape' on our continent is presumably caused by the demic expansion of agriculture (i.e. migrations of farmers) from the Middle East that began about 10,000 years ago. The farmers first migrated westwards along the north coast of the Mediterranean sea, and later turned towards the north. Thus, the APOE*4 gradient could have arisen as an 'admixture gradient', if the apoE*4 frequency were low in the migrating populations of farmers but high in the original populations of hunters/gatherers in the north.'

Evolutionary Adaptation To Lower UV Radiation at Northern Latitudes?

Gerdes has hypothesized that apo E4 allele carriers have less of a need for UV radiation derived vitamin D due to internal adaptations to preserving vitamin blood levels and maximizing intestinal absorption from dietary sources. One of the earliest indications that this was the case was research from Willnow et al. With vitamin D binding protein and apo E protein binding sites being shared regions at the same receptor in the proximal tubule of the kidneys, Gerdes theorized that E4 may have escaped the normal urinary losses of vitamin D and its metabolites. E4 typically produce higher protein amounts of apolipoprotein E (high carb diets lower apo E protein concentrations). From Gerdes' thesis, I restated, see the below. Lard, other pastured animal fats, foraged grub, and organ meats contain substantial, rich sources of fat soluble vitamins including vitamin D. For the ancestral hunter-scavenger-forager 200,000 years ago, these fatty sources of vitamin D, K and A may have been crucial and critical for growth, maintenance and reproduction.

In migrating northward out of sun-drenched Africa, with smaller guts, less fruit/fiber/fish and subsequent lower fermentation of fiber that resulted in SCFA (short chain fatty acids like the potently anti-inflammatory butyrate), how in the world did ancestral HGs survive and have babies?

Upregulation of receptors in the gut for the fat soluble goodies from food and downregulation of the kidney's capacity to leak these fat soluble hormones, metabolites and low molecular weight proteins out...? SUPER HIGH FERTILITY, DIESEL BRAIN FUEL, AND LIPOPHILIC BULLETPROOF IMMUNITY...?

Apo E4, I believe, apparently have ALL of these amazing survivor traits.

Does APOE*4 protect against vitamin D deficiency? [p. 33 from Gerdes' thesis]

A putative association of APOE with bone metabolism has been ascribed to an impact of APOE polymorphism on the transport of vitamin K (see page 40), but it could also relate to vitamin D metabolism and embrace a very strong selection pressure. Hypovitaminosis D in childhood (rickets) causes bone deformations, which can reduce the probability of surviving to adulthood, and perhaps more importantly, can cause pelvic deformations in girls that later may cause their death during delivery under primitive conditions, and also the death of their offspring. Inadequate endogenous production of vitamin D3 can be due to insufficient dietary supplementation or reduced intestinal uptake of the vitamin, or to low exposure to sunlight (UVB-radiation). The latter can be a particular problem to people with dark skin, because melanin blocks for ultraviolet photons and thus limits the synthesis of previtamin D3 [Vogel and Motulsky, 1986].

Mourant and co-workers showed that the frequency of Gc-2-allele for the gene coding for vitamin-D-binding protein (DBP; previously known as the group-specific component, Gc, of the α2-globulins of human plasma) was high in populations living in areas with low levels of sunlight and vice versa (with some exceptions). They suggested that the distribution could be explained by means of natural selection if the encoded isoform were more efficient in binding vitamin, and so in protecting Gc-2 carriers from rickets [Mourant et al., 1976]. This may be true, although the concept has been weakened by an analysis including more detailed climatic data [Cavalli-Sforza et al., 1994].

Interestingly, a very consistent pattern appears if one correlates the frequency of APOE*4 in aboriginal peoples around the world to their skin pigmentation, while also considering the intensity of solar radiation in their habitats:

• The APOE*4 frequency is generally higher in dark-skinned humans than in humans with less melanin, and the frequency is particularly high (40-50%) for instance in Papuans, Pygmies and Khoisan, who are dark peoples and whose (recent) habitats are tropical forests where the intensity of sunlight is relatively low.

• High APOE*4 frequencies (20-30%) are also found in Saami and Inuit, who are moderately pigmented humans living in regions with low average solar radiation, and in peoples living in South American rain forests.

• Conversely, the lowest frequencies of APOE*4 (5-10%) is found among lightly or moderately pigmented humans living in areas of high insolation, i.e. around the Mediterranean Sea, in East Asia, in the southern parts of North America and in Central America.

• The APOE*4 gradient in Europe (and possible also in Japan) could be interpreted to indicate natural selection for this allele with decreasing solar radiation.

The putative advantage of APOE*4 could be related to better intestinal absorption of vitamin D (see page 30), but could also be related, somehow, to the fact that apoE and DBP both binds to megalin. This receptor plays a central
role in vitamin D metabolism, since it binds and internalizes DBP on the luminal surface in the renal proximal tubuli. The function prevents systemic loss of vitamin D through the urine and is also a step in the conversion of 25-hydroxy- vitamin D3 to the biologically active 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 [Willnow et al., 1999].

Study: Carriers of apo E4 have higher vitamin D (25OHD) blood levels compared to population controls

411 news flash...New research from last month in FASEB supports an earlier speculaton that carriers of the ApoE4 allele require less vitamin D. Willnow's research and Gerdes' theory have a line of evidence for confirmation. To prevent vitamin D deficiency and subsequent health risks (female pelvic dysplasia, fatal childbirths, growth, maturation, steroidogenesis, rickets, testosterone/progesterone production, etc), an evolutionary adaptation to recycling of vitamin D at the kidney level that raises serum vitamin D in apo E4 carriers may have occurred. The researchers state ' The novel link suggests ε4 as a modulator of vitamin D status.'

(Sorry didn't have time for tracking this PDF but if anyone can toss over would be horribly AWESOME *BIG WINK*)

FASEB J. 2011 Jun 9.
APOE {varepsilon}4 is associated with higher vitamin D levels in targeted replacement mice and humans.
Rimbach et al

Abstract
The allele ε4 of apolipoprotein E (APOE), which is a key regulator of lipid metabolism, represents a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease. Despite its adverse effects, the allele is common and shows a nonrandom global distribution that is thought to be the result of evolutionary adaptation. One hypothesis proposes that the APOE ε4 allele protects against vitamin D deficiency. Here we present, for the first time, experimental and epidemiological evidence that the APOE ε4 allele is indeed associated with higher serum vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels. In APOE4 targeted replacement mice, significantly higher 25(OH)D levels were found compared with those in APOE2 and APOE3 mice (70.9 vs. 41.8 and 27.8 nM, P<0.05). Furthermore, multivariate adjusted models show a positive association of the APOE ε4 allele with 25(OH)D levels in a small collective of human subjects (n=93; P=0.072) and a general population sample (n=699; P=0.003). The novel link suggests ε4 as a modulator of vitamin D status. Although this result agrees well with evolutionary aspects, it appears contradictory with regard to chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. Large prospective cohort studies are now needed to investigate the potential implications of this finding for chronic disease risks.

Vitamin D Dosing Revisited

For those supplementing vitamin D exogenously, care and caution for adverse effects should be monitored. Sunlight derived vitamin D can be shut off -- we have enzymes and systems that control blood/cellular levels, however for supplementation just as taking a birth control or exogenous hormone medication, what goes in, stays in. Previously I listed contraindications for vitamin d supplementation ((a) hypomagnesemia -- get mag up before supplementation because vitamin D will lower serum Mag; (b) sarcoidosis or other condition associated with elevated 25OHD or 1,25OHD3). Now I would add those with E4 should like monitor closely and avoid supratherapeutic levels which probably need to be addressed on an individual basis. With E4 there may be suggestions that intracellular 1,25OHD3 may be higher and this would not necessarily be reflected in serum levels (just like Mag levels are not, intracellular $$$$$ tests are required to accurately assess). Supratherapeutic needs to be individually defined...

So, what's an optimal, ancestral, nutrigenomically perfect serum vitamin D 25OHD and 1,25OHD3 level? I dunno. Who really knows?

Relevant Citations:

LU Gerdes Thesis HERE

The common polymorphism of apolipoprotein E: geographical aspects and new pathophysiological relations.
Gerdes LU.
Clin Chem Lab Med. 2003 May;41(5):628-31.

APOE {varepsilon}4 is associated with higher vitamin D levels in targeted replacement mice and humans.
Huebbe P, Nebel A, Siegert S, Moehring J, Boesch-Saadatmandi C, Most E, Pallauf J, Egert S, Müller MJ, Schreiber S, Nöthlings U, Rimbach G.
FASEB J. 2011 Jun 9.

Essential role of megalin in renal proximal tubule for vitamin homeostasis. Free PDF.
Christensen EI, Willnow TE.
J Am Soc Nephrol. 1999 Oct;10(10):2224-36.

Lipoprotein receptors: new roles for ancient proteins.
Willnow TE, Nykjaer A, Herz J.
Nat Cell Biol. 1999 Oct;1(6):E157-62.

Expression profiling confirms the role of endocytic receptor megalin in renal vitamin D3 metabolism.
Hilpert J, Wogensen L, Thykjaer T, Wellner M, Schlichting U, Orntoft TF, Bachmann S, Nykjaer A, Willnow TE.
Kidney Int. 2002 Nov;62(5):1672-81.

An endocytic pathway essential for renal uptake and activation of the steroid 25-(OH) vitamin D3.
Nykjaer A, Dragun D, Walther D, Vorum H, Jacobsen C, Herz J, Melsen F, Christensen EI, Willnow TE.
Cell. 1999 Feb 19;96(4):507-15.

The uptake of lipoprotein-borne phylloquinone (vitamin K1) by osteoblasts and osteoblast-like cells: role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans and apolipoprotein E. Free PDF.
Newman P, Bonello F, Wierzbicki AS, Lumb P, Savidge GF, Shearer MJ.
J Bone Miner Res. 2002 Mar;17(3):426-33.

Admission: I partied like a R O C K S T A R . *big wink /squeeze*

How about you???

Living (or re-living like me) vicariously through the Ancestral Health Symposium (AHS) roundups and reviews?

How it started: Brent Pottenger like his ancestors dared to dream a dream...

An angel named Mr. Jacobsen planted seed money, AHS was born and as they say the rest is history. Not unlike suffrage ending, for me it was powerful and freeing to attend an event where none of us needed to 'preach to the choir' or convince or persuade anyone that optimal health is within reach by embracing a few precepts modeled by our distant ancestors (more play, less grains, vary your life/n=1, more fighting, attend to gut symbionts, etc). For the initiated, we all had each other's vote for some time now, if not stark fan-following.

Everyone rocked my world!!!!!!!!! ...from fans of the blog (esp the pharmacy boys, keep up the good work and d*mn it publish something to rock the neolethal medical world), other bloggers, AHS presenters, volunteers and interviewers.

Here's my critical top ten for the peeps that attended and made this happen:

1. Prof Aaron Blaisdell ('Xavier' with lots hair), Brent Pottenger (legacy in the making), Mr. Jacobsen (king of angels and sun energy), Seth Roberts, and all the 50+ volunteers that made AHS smoothly operate and happen from behind the scenes to IN THE SCENES. Synergy in action. Awesome dream team!

2. Erwan Le Corre and Clifton Harski -- Thank you for not letting me leave my face or *ss on Muscle Beach/Venice Beach. MovNat is brilliant for all levels and all ages and my take is that it's probably more versatile and healing than crossfit or endurance workouts. I felt great afterwards. My sister noticed she had this kid-like bountiful energy she hadn't felt in years. I'd concur. My daughters were wondering why the h*ck sand was in the bed the next morning and I pleasantly remembered the funked out contortions and mobility combos we did on Sunday for the workshop including laying in the sand for some defensive/ground exercises. Honestly I am not the most coordinated therefore if I can do movenat moves than really anyone can. We swung up bars (mimicking tree branches), climbed up bars barehanded/footed, ran barefoot, jumped with a wavey-hand move, lifted gripless sandbags, and climbed on all fours in sand, on curbs and concrete. I couldn't deadlift much including my sister. Got snickered into deadlifting Erwan, but downgraded to do a functional move like dragging him ~ 4 meters [but had to stop from peeing in my pants from laughter... Do all French parkour experts smell/feel as good as Erwan? I dunno but I'd attend the seminar again to find out.] Clifton ROCKED as our torture master *scratch* I mean, instructor, and as others have mentioned he had the best agility, nimbleness and s*xxxy chest of AHS!!! [And it twitched when he got excited] I would concur with the other female elements of our group... ripping your shirts off did something. I dunno... Request: please do it earlier in the day. It's better than caffeine. Climb a tree? Tell me how high and how fast?? The quiet parts of the day were when Clifton and Erwan explained the philosophy of MovNat... we need to explore and be aware of our terrain. Prepare for the predictable but expect the unexpected. Stress? We all have stress and doing MovNat is one of the best de-stressors. To a question from Amy Holms, Erwan replied that the best way to decrease stress is being with friends and family, be in Nature as Nature is the best de-stressor, listen to reggae, move and do MovNat... We all may have stress (even Erwan). Don't know about you, but I'm taking the G-R-E-E-N P-I-L-L and that's the best thing I learned from AHS.

3. Rockstars -- there are seriously too many to list but at the top for me is Denise Minger. Not only is she a glam ROCKSTAR but she can also nail any crazy-rabid vegetarian straight to down to the ground with just a whoosh of her Louboutin heels and with blinding kindness and grace. My sister and I had the honor to meet and be one of the first to greet at Prof Blaisdell's house at the pre-party and she was far more interested in hearing where we came from than to introduce herself. When she told us of her ghetto motel story (woman screaming from next thin-walled room) you just want to protect and shield her from all idiots and danger. But as we know, she's TOUGH. Anyone who can fell the myth wearing the emperor's clothes (T. Colin Campbell, the statistics hoaxster who rivals Ancel Keys) deserves glorious kudos. Tucker Max accuses the primal/ancestral movement of deficiencies of violence??? Did he listen to Minger present?? She was VIOLENTLY HILARIOUS and VIOLENTLY EFFECTIVE. Period.

[BTW I think Tucker is right on. Even my peaceful futuristic explorers Spock and Captain Kirk fought effectively in hand-to-hand or weapon-assisted combat, when required. Tucker's talk was also a huge highlight]

4. Mat LaLonde -- he doesn't blog so under my radar. WTF. Where did he come from? He is the best brainiac warhead for the paleo/primal folks who don't want to lose credibility (like me) and who want to prevent smackdowns from core academic sciences (NOT fun, been there...). His command for plant derived chemicals and biochem belie his pretty, luminous skin and f*ckme gorgeous biceps+ quads. Is he a supergeek or strongman? Like most of AHS I think he's a renaissance guy and multitalented. Thank you for all the science language tips. It's helpful to not sound like a freak or moron, or worse both.

5. Richard Nikoley/Queen Bea, Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Seth Roberts, Gary Taubes, Keith Norris and Missus TTP, Mary and Mike Eades, Doug McGuff, Stephan Guyenet, Pedro Bastos-- These are my mainstay pillars of knowledge and wisdom and good to see them again in our AHS element (actually my VIRGIN TIME meeting Doug, the Eades, the Norrises, Pedro, having lunch w/Stephan). I refer tons of people to their blogs/books and websites (as well as the below). They cure, heal and free many of my favorite human animals, making my zoo world a better place. Thank God and Gaia for them.

6. Emily Deans and Jamie Scott -- Emily's a HARVARD-TRAINED PHYSICIAN and HARVARD CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR and SHE GETS IT. Also you'd think that with her sweet online presence she is this delicate, cerebral, tiny, white, lily flower but actually she is a *%$&@ TOTAL BAD*SS and hit the bars at MovNat with ferocity and persistence. Yes. And. She lifted sarcophilic Jamie Scott onto her BACK [he aint heavy, he's my brother]. Her presentation at AHS was the best physician talk IMHO that I heard; it reviewed the history of mental medicine and the recent relevant studies regarding psych on magnesium (which can reduce anxiety and important for adrenals), food toxins, gluten, and many other vital factors (no pharmaceuticals). Jamie Scott is as hunky, calm and sauve as you'd imagine and add the intoxicating NZ accent! Thanks for the tip too! I was having problems with running lately and developed hip pain and he hacked it right on. I stopped hyper-lifting my leg and pushed back more as he kindly suggested, which fixed it. I suspect MovNat was a jaunt in the Christchurch earthquake park for Jamie. It seemed effortless... From his talk, he discussed in length the implementation of the corporate primal/paleo program he is involved with. The world desparately needs more cutting edge programs like this. Can Jamie clone himself and apply these concepts at Google or Wall Street or Microsoft? Resilience? These two are the epitomy.

7. Craig Stanford. He and Caleb Finch have done amazing work in primates and studying behavior. He presented many insights from his research including a really interesting study on chimp meat-eating which occurred in a spastic frenzy for ~10 wks that coincided with the mense of the female chimps. Meaning? Who knows but similar to many things that I find fascinating about evolution is that it presents more questions than answers. This talk just geeked it out for me...

8. Melissa McEwen. For me, she is the rational voice for sustainability, evolutionary tracking and the gut microbiota. A recovering/recovered vegetarian like many who presented and attended, she speaks with authority and experience about the ancestral/primal backdrop that improved her health. Her talk exemplified 'hunting for hypotheses'. What does the literature say? Well. Not much about evolution in many circumstances. So many clues exist but without the proper context, what can we make of it? The last research she brought up in her wonderful talk was how H. pylori, a questionable pathogen, has co-evolved and migrated with humans since tens of thousands of years if not longer. Most of the world are colonized with H. pylori yet in industrial countries the carriage has diminished with sanitation and widespread antibiotic use. She brought up many potential ramifications of its extinction in industrial guts, including the increase in GI disorders and new epidemic levels of esophageal adenocarcinoma (one of the most lethal cancers in 50+ yr olds).

9. Paleo bloggers and Paleohackers. Melissa and Dallas from Whole9 are absolutely stunning, as is their awesome program. [did Melissa's gorgeous xfit gams come all the way up to my eyeballs...??] If anyone appears on Oprah or Oz, I do place my bets on the Whole9. Finally I met my Bay Area sustah from a different mutha: the stellar, hot, MiLFy Nom Nom Paleo 'M' and her ripped husband 'H' at FITBOMB, a blog cracks me the f*ck up a lot. Nom nom has a nutritional sci background and IS A PALEO PHARMAICST(I'm like HER!! and we both c*ss almost as bad as Richard and Bea! wtf). Nom nom is much cuter and does unspeakable things w/her Sous Vide and camera (see rated XXX food porn: HERE). My sister and I had an unforgettable, fresh and unlimited Korean BBQ buffet dinner with author/blogger/thinkr J. Stanton/Gnolls.org and Jolly, gifted photographer, both are experts at knowing how to groove and chill-lax to the ultimate. [Did i gain wt? Coz i ate as much as J. but no coz I did movnat 2 days later. All the upper body/chest/back work... I think my b**bs grew like Clifton's. No. I. Am. Not. Envious. *haa!*] Others in the house were my generous and neato co-speaker Dr. Tim Gerstmar, David Despain (I think we were separated at birth), and the incredible superstar Jaminets. FYI Stanton knows how to EAT WELL as a carnivore. Must be the mohawk contingency factor. The restaurant he chose had had a one-hour-wait and somehow he charmed US ALL IN< 10-15min. The clubbing music, fermented pickles, raw salad, and meat MEAT meaaatttt (!! pork belly, stomach, organs, beef, etc) were nothing short of orgasmically perfect. What an amazing way to finish Day 1. Did you see Jolly's mouthing-watering meat pictures?? Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet are a beautiful and amazing couple. My sister and I loved every minute we had with them. We are big-time fans of their book, blog, generosity and knowledgable insights. I met some PH'ers, THEY ARE SO FUN! I've gotten PDFs and tons of (free, me-lurking) advice from them at Patrik's brilliant site. WCC Paul (dude thanxxx), Kamal (u r WAY way prettier in person), Aravind (watched you 'come out' *haa*), Gone2Croatan (love ur style, sorry didn't realize who you were (!!) next to the droll j/k Andrew/Evolvify) at Napa Grill, etc. Dinner on Day 2 was equally exciting but I was fading fast. I'm so glad to meet and hang out with my bud Christian Wernstedt from Modern Paleo.

10. Chris Masterjohn and Nora Gedgaudas tie for clinically relevant for my personal interests. Gedgaudas: Nora's talk really aligned the mental, nutritional and healing aspects of what I am into -- identifying neoLETHAL damage (mercury toxicity, gluten, EDCs, etc) and health recovery. I wish I had met her but I'm certain our paths will cross or I'll attend her seminar at some point. Masterjohn: My foray into blogging started with cardiology, so I was really appreciated Masterjohn's presentation regarding the 'molecular degeneration' in heart disease. He shredded the topic of atherosclerosis to unidentifiable pieces. HANDS DOWN. Personally out of all the videos that will go viral, I hope this ONE makes major waves. With cheer and acute sarcasm, he tackled, maimed, bled out and academically dismembered the 50+years-embedded cholesterol-heart hypothesis. He reviewed the curious history of the rabbit model for atherosclerosis (everything injected/given did not produce plaque until non-rabbit food, cholesterol, was fed) and additionally discussed the role of thyroid, omega-3 deficiency, plant/animal antioxidants and oxLDL. His charm and beguilingly, azure-blue eyes shield the courage, humor and sharp scientific scrutiny he focuses on any topic he engages in. I've asked him for help to look at stats and studies and until you meet someone in person, you really cannot appreciate the non-online PERSON. I think this is the aspect about AHS that I loved the most. Flesh. Blood. Pheromones. Yaa! Meeting friends who were online comrades over hotel or hallway hugs, hearing presentations that were aurally and visually stimulating experiences (say PHEROMONES), mutual admiration, meals, wine, sharing close company (OKAY... f*ndling primal biceps and brains) and PARTYING LIKE ANCESTRAL ROCKSTARS.

What a lovefest.

My theory is that like many others I'll be in withdrawal from the reward hits from the lovefest for some time...

'Angel' Feral Kitten: Alloparenting
Here's Angel our feral kitten that we fostered for a couple of weeks until she could eat solids on her own. My kids brought her home one day from the pet store where she was apparently dropped off. My kids are in fact anaphylactically allergic to cats yet cannot seem to stay away from them (KITTYCR*CK). At ~ 4 weeks old she was the size of a teacup. I've been busy and we just gave her back this week to be adopted hopefully at the store. In the beginning she had to be handfed softened food every 2 hours and had diarrhea. My kids and I gave her fish oil, probiotics (Flora Balance) and vitamin D supplements as well and as a result the diarrhea ended and she apparently grew like the carnivore that she is! When she first arrived, she walked with a wobbly gait and hopped on her hind legs like a d*ng bunny, but now at 8 weeks old she strides fast and long, like a predator ...bites like one too... then disappears into thin air.

Lactation and Weaning

It is interesting how quickly carnivores are weaned from their mothers and adapt to solid and semi-solid foods compared to primates. Kennedy reports that 'Though humans have a longer period of infant dependency than other hominoids, human infants, in natural fertility societies, are weaned far earlier than any of the great apes: chimps and orangutans wean, on average, at about 5 and 7.7 years, respectively, while humans wean, on average, at about 2.5 years.' Why? Because we're predators, not bunnies.

HunterAngel acts like a predator, day and night. She practices

hunting, capturing and stalking her prey. Only predators are playful in the animal kingdom. Here is a picture, she leaped 12-18 inches to grab the camera flash! Other targets including our face, our feet and plump fingers! I have dozens of microscropic puncture wounds from her lovely feral baby claws. After her nails were clipped, it wasn't so painful playing with her. Naturally she practices HIIT -- bursts of hyperactivity and playful brutality with our body parts or her toys, then long, extended naps. She's young and sleeps all day. Unfortunately the pet store feeds the S.A.D. version of cat-kibble, but with us she was given something similar to the below Canadian brand and real food (raw yolks, meat, bone broth).

Orijens: 'biologically appropriate' (grain-free) food for cats and dogs sourced from free-range meat or wild-caught seafood (80/20/0 = meat/vegfruit/grain).

Homo Purgare, Scavenger

Somewhere in our hominid timeline, humans have regressed and are de-evolving -- our guts, our brains, our skeletal system, our fertility/gonads... See top. Like captured predators, zoo humans eat pre-digested and refined, mass manufactured 'food'. Where's our playfulness? Our carnivory lifestyles? The RAW?? On forums and digital savannahs??? Recently we moved from the cement suburbia into the cement jungle of the big city of Shanghai... A lot of adjustments but in some ways neat adventures for us.

Purgare is Latin for 'to clean' (according to my handy dandy Latin dict) or to salvage or scavenge. [please correct me!] Are we as a species in the modern, tech age and interstate/intercountry commerce, more homo purgare than sapien sapien ('doubly wise')?

Milton states that 'As human evolution progressed, young children in particular, with their rapidly expanding large brain and high metabolic and nutritional demands relative to adults would have benefited from volumetrically concentrated, high quality foods such as meat [and fat, I say]. Today, many humans, particularly those in high income nations, have a variety of high quality, non-ASF [animal sourced food] dietary alternatives, but such foods were not generally available to paleolithic human ancestors nor to many people today in low income nations.' Yes. GMO soy products, formula, hydrized high-gluten wheat, GMO rice and refined packaged foods are not available in some third world countries but that is rapidly changing. Big Agra and Fast Food Nation have hit. India, China and Africa are besot with mass produced, manufactured foods now and it shows. Feedlot eggs, dairy, poultry and meat are commonplace as well. Fields of GMO rice and crops growing on vast landscapes (on industrial waste typically, like Pearl River). Obesity and T2DM are epidemic, especially in China where the rule is one child per family, leading to 3 sets of over-feeding influences (parents, 2 sets of grandparents).

Courtesy Youtube.com
ATB ft Tiff Lacey - Ecstasy (Chill In The Sunrise Mix)

Predator of Prized Brain NutrientsAdmittedly, Angel's never going to hunt except a few lost flies or mosquitoes, unless she escapes to the outdoors. We did let her scavenge at the dinner table with my kids alloparenting her with pre-chewed scraps (and human mouth flora!)... Going back to Kennedy... Competition with other carnivores (like Angel's predecessors like saber tooth tigers, leopards, etc) may have encouraged selection for earlier weaned humans and scaling the care-giving role from mother to extended family or pack members. What were the nutrients they were competing for? Kennedy argues that acquisition of protein (and thus fats) selected for brain survival and early weaning. Like carnivores, mother's milk wasn't enough to continue growing the predator brain. Like some carnivores, one, single mother alone wasn't enough and alloparenting evolved. Humans are mega-caregivers for long-lived offspring requiring intensive rearing, as well as mega-consumers of specific brain nutrients from protein sources: omega-3, minerals, amino acids, fats. It's a curious combination deeply forged in evolution. Eating tongue-to-testicle and muzzle-to-marrow are the only ways to source the required nutrients for optimal brain maturation and growth. For predators with big brains.

"Assuming that living great apes demonstrate the ancestral weaning pattern, modern humans display a derived pattern that requires explanation, particularly since earlier weaning may result in significant hazards for a child. Clearly, if selection had favored the survival of the child, humans would wean later like other hominoids; selection, then, favored some trait other than the child's survival. It is argued here that our unique pattern of prolonged, early brain growth--the neurological basis for human intellectual ability--cannot be sustained much beyond one year by a human mother's milk alone, and thus early weaning, when accompanied by supplementation with more nutritious adult foods, is vital to the ontogeny of our larger brain, despite the associated dangers. Therefore, the child's intellectual development, rather than its survival, is the primary focus of selection. Consumption of more nutritious foods--derived from animal protein--increased by ca. 2.6 myr ago when a group of early hominins displayed two important behavioral shifts relative to ancestral forms: the recognition that a carcass represented a new and valuable food source-potentially larger than the usual hunted prey-and the use of stone tools to improve access to that food source. The shift in the hominin "prey image" to the carcass and the use of tools for butchery increased the amount of protein and calories available, irrespective of the local landscape. However, this shift brought hominins into competition with carnivores, increasing mortality among young adults and necessitating a number of social responses, such as alloparenting. The increased acquisition of meat ca. 2.6 Ma had significant effects on the later course of human evolution and may have initiated the origin of the genus Homo."

References: 1. Boaz N. Eco Homo. 1997. Basic Books. [Chapter One, NYT] 2. Shlain L. Sex, Time and Power. 2003. Penguin, New York, NY. 3. Switek B. Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record and Our Place in Nature. 2010. Bellevue Literary Press, New York, NY. 4. Cunnane S. Survival of the Fattest: The Key to Human Brain Evolution. 2004. World Scientific. 5. From the ape's dilemma to the weanling's dilemma: early weaning and its evolutionary context. Kennedy GE. J Hum Evol. 2005 Feb;48(2):123-45. 6. Meat-adaptive genes and the evolution of slower aging in humans. Finch CE, Stanford CB. Q Rev Biol. 2004 Mar;79(1):3-50. 7. The critical role played by animal source foods in human (Homo) evolution. Milton K. J Nutr. 2003 Nov;133(11 Suppl 2):3886S-3892S. Internet sources:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12721432/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/ancient-die-off-blamed-climate-not-humans/http://www.beringia.com/centre_info/exhibit.html http://www.onelife.com/evolve/index.html http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview1c.shtml http://www.thefutureoffood.com/resources.html Alloparenting -- John Hawks Neolithic Equids -- Why the Long Face? Jamie Scott, That Paleo Guy post http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/behavior/Spring2009/Landfried/index.html http://www.biology-online.org/articles/alloparenting-what.html

Courtesy Youtube.com
Chill Out Music- Mattina By V Dimension

Bloggers Are Disrupting the Fabric of Society, AGAIN *haa*

"I started Paleo because what I was doing (basically eating SAD, not thinking about diet, and never exercising any more) had turned me from a smokin’ hot, excellent athlete into a pumpkin-shaped bag of sand. There are some medical reasons as well, but those only amplified the problem.

Then one day I read a post somewhere in which Diana Hsieh mentioned
Paleo and FTA and MDA. So I came here (here first because you have the cooler blog title), read my first ever paleo article, and had that “middle finger” moment. (I’d had my “middle finger to religion” moment long before.) Apart from a detour where meds I had to be on fucked everything up for about 9 months (despite remaining Paleo), everything has been smooth sailing.

So Diana was the trigger, and you, Richard, are the smoking gun."

Quoted on Richard Nikoley's blog FTA by Michael P (@PizSez blog) on the pulsing, sublime post 'And why are you paleo?'.

'Middle Finger' Movement

It appears to me that amongst the most vocal individuals who have embraced Paleo/Ancestral/Primal lifestyles, there are a bunch middle-finger moments which may add up to h*ll of a lot of moments. Will it crescendo? Grow to be heard? Granted there are all different flavors and versions of 'paleo' so I have no idea which contortion will speak to mainstream. Personally I enjoy somewhere in the middle between the Lynda Frasetto version and Nora Gedgaudes translation. From my observations, 'middle finger' moments are not a common theme on every blog or every forum but the most ardent do not deny it. Following any version of 'paleo' wreaks havoc on people surrounding us who unquestioningly support and follow authorities with titles and engage in formalized associations (AMA, ADA, AHA, FDA, USDA, etc). Apparently it is sacrilege to omit an entire 'food group' (wheat/grains) and decline to engage in scavenging off by-products of grain subsidies (by eschewing grains/GMO/gluten, grain-fed livestock/pork/poultry, and processed junk food products) which put money from the pockets of tax-payers to the pockets government to subsidized farmers back to the deep pockets of Monsanto, pesticide producers and other parasites.

Zoo Keeper Selection Day FTA

Penis Enlargement: Lose Weight More classic FTA

What Was Your Wakeup Call? J. Stanton Gnolls.org, 70+ comments and paleo stories

Steve Cooksey's Blog: Diabetes Warrior [Taking the American Diabetes Association to task and how he reversed T2DM with paleo and HIIT]

Nutrition and Metabolism Society

Can't trust NPR... PH thread

Can't trust Dr.Oz... PH thread but we already knew that from Robb Wolf 'Framework Matters'

What has been the best unintended consequence of your paleo lifestyle? [One of my favorite threads of uncomparable paleo stories Paleohacks.com]

Defining moment on Paleo? [Another fave]

Litmus test...look in the mirror! No fancy modern med testing needed. PH thread, o-k-a-y it's penises again

The Future of Our Food, movie

I have a middle finger too. I exercise it. EVERYDAY. *ahaa ha!*

Next post:
Meditation (middle-finger meditation)

Prior posts:
Bloggers Have Destroyed Fabric of Society Blog-asm II: More Bloggers Disrupting Fabric of Society

Modified and Courtesy of a FDA.gov website

Let's review some subfractionation techniques. On the market 3 main methods exist. They all work. Dr. Davis prefers NMR. Superko and Krauss are affiliated with Berkeley HeartLab which uses GGE. Density gradient ultracentrifugation is also very popular (VAP-II). Recently, Krauss also appears to be introducing a new technology based on ion-mobility.

Basically, the denser the particle, the faster and mobile (like sp*rm *haa*) the particle moves through a gel (GGE). The denser the particle, the smaller the diameter (Angstroms or nanometers) as determined via electromagnetic resonance (NMR) or absorbance via density ultracentrifugation (VAP, which are indirectly compared to known sizes).

Pattern 'A' is good (all nice large buoyant fluffy particles).

Pattern 'B' is clearly BAD. Dense small stupid cr*ppy stuff. Guess what causes it? Excessive dietary carbs and/or fruit. Lack of omega-3 fats. Excessive omega-6 refined veggie oxidized refined fats not meant for human or animal consumption. Lack of saturated fatty acids. Lack of antioxidants. Lack of hormones.

The medical literature is rife with studies demonstrating that the conversion of small dense LDL to buoyant LDL is associated with regression of coronary artery disease.

Measuring LDL-Cholesterol Alone is Faulty and a Farce

Why is subfractionation via NMR/gel electrophoresis/UC of lipoproteins the most accurate way to assess cholesterol ? In doing so, the density and particle counts can be determined.

Only the marketing ploy of the statin/fibrate/zetia industries want to measure LDL-C alone without particle sizing. Yes. It is not cheap -- $99 via different labs. Some insurances cover it. Most don't at this time.

LDL-C alone tells nothing. It is like looking at someone's debt. Is it good debt (student loans, low fixed interest)? Or is it all bad debt (variable ARM, no down, several high interest boat/car/house loans)??!? Or No Debt? Or a mix (no debt on car boat house but low good student + low fixed vacation house debt)?

Do you have a good accountant? Do you have a good investor (eg, YOU)? Would you trust your money with a loser? With someone who has no money in the bank? With your statinator cardio-idiot? How many coronary events did he/she avert? Using 'tracking' EBCT/MDCT technology and targeted strategies to raise HDL2 and lower small dense LDL and Lp(a), both Drs. Davis and Blanchett (in Colorado, our colleague) have ancedotally seen single-digit events in their practices that span almost 10 years. HeartHawk likes to refer to this phenomenon as 'no event, no matter what score.' Even if the coronary calcification score is 4-digit, literally no events are seen. The failures they do see are related to noncompliance with the program and calcification scores consistently increasing 10+% or 20+%, respectively.

Well, when you trust your local neighborhood statinator, eg local General Practitioner, internal med LDL-centric drug-rep-pimped-up doc, cardiologist with lipidology credentials and certifications, what do they have in the bank? You must ask them. If they don't provide a good enough answer, seek new advice I would heartily suggest.

What do I look for?

No debt. High safe investments. High money in the B A N K . Demonstrated portofolio performance.

...EBCT regression or no EBCT score at all.

Personally I believe non-physician individuals like Richard Nikoley or Dr. Stephan Guyenet PhD or Dr. Dr. Petro Dobromylskyj (vet) or elite athlete Mark Sisson or Robb Wolf MS (Paleo/Xfit protege) know far more than your local GP statinator ninnyhead who are only focused on NCEPIII-LDL-centric guidelines. Quality of lipoproteins trumps quantity alone. Holds true for economic debt too. Does your statinator know that?!?

Lowering LDL-C Alone Does Not Reverse Heart Disease

Remember Cardio Controversies and Dr. Superko? LDL-C reduction alone was no better than placebo. Event rates barely were improved when Superko look at the whole picture comparing statin trials v. niacin trials. Yes, he made a variety of inferences. Yes, Niacin trumps all statin trials. Niacin in alone or in combo trumps ALL STATIN TRIALS in all-cause mortality, cardiac-death, and cardiac events. Superko makes educated, non-biased, medical-literature-based inferences.

So what? He is correct.

Statins raise %-sdLDL. sdLDL is oxLDL. See below. Statins create and sustain Pattern B which is predominance of small dense LDL. On statin therapy, often the LDL are 50-100% all small dense particles. sdLDL cr*p. OxLDL. On our TYP forum, the same phenomenon does appear to occur. Statins appear to prevent regression. What?? I think Superko is super-right.

On statins, the EBCT progression fails to halt despite niacin, omega-3 fish oil ULTRA high dose, 10-20+ lb fat loss, body recomposition, Lp(a) reduction, HDL2 increases... despite all TYP-directed efforts... EBCT scores increase 10-25+% annualized. Why?

Statins s*ck.

They maintain a high oxLDL concentration which the body cannot escape. It is not unlike bad revolving debt.

This is worse in those with Lp(a) -- anything greater than 3 mg/dl.

Yes. It doesn't matter how much Lp(a) one exhibits. Any amount jacks up the picture. Dr. Hecht, Superko's partner in cardio controversies, has shown that. Hecht, like Drs. Davis and Blanchett, is one of the earliest, most vocal proponents of using CT technology for screening of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. I'll be going over later how he thrashes the retarded Heart Protection Study which marketing ploys by statin companies attempted to lower the LDL-C health standards. *urrg*

It is a good thing at TrackYourPlaque that we no longer rely on this useless drug class. (BTW fibrates s*ck. BTW zetia s*cks too.)

Niacin and n-3 fatty acids trump them all.

Statins Increase OxLDL
For oxLDL to 'transform' to Large fluffy healthy LDL, CETP needs to deposit cholesterol esters into the particles. How can it if statins block cholesterol synthesis? Or if worse Zetia blocks dietary cholesterol uptake from the gut. Frankly the lipoproteins are f*cked. They never seem to attain the large, fluffy particle size associated with regressive Pattern A in the niacin regression trials (70% converted to Pattern A compared with Placebo, HATS trial NEJM 2001).

Statins Raise %-sdLDL, Lp(a) OxLDL (or OxLDL/apoB)

Mechanism? Lp(a) 'tracks' inversely with analogously with growing and increasing Large LDL and HDL2. Statins s*ck. Statins lower all LDL species, including the good stuff, the buoyant LDL which are necessary for regression. A new marker is the oxLDL/apoB ratio and several trials found an increase in oxLDL proportions related to apoB. Yet another adverse finding was an increase in oxPL (oxidized phospholipids) which bind Lp(a). Does oxPL increase toxicity of Lp(a)? I don't know but it probably does not help and likely explains many of the increases in EBCT scores in statinators. How long are these effects in place? I wish I knew.

Increases in Lp(a) were found with every statin tested.

--COMPELL
--PROVE-IT
--lipitor and zocor
--MIRACL
--REVERSAL

Krauss and Superko: Only the Densiest Particles Predict CAD

Superko and Krauss found evidence in 2001 that the small dense LDL-III a+b subspecies tracked the best with CAD. However more recently Krauss made note that the smallest, densest fraction out of 7 subspecies actually tracked the most predictable with progression of subclinical and clinical coronary artery disease. I call this band on gel electrophoresis the 'death band'. No, I'm not talking about a rock 'n roll band. The LDL-IVb fraction is the 'death band'. The goal at Berkeley Heartlab is to achieve < 2.5% based on one trial (when angiogram stenosis > 30%). However, this goal is not low enough. We see EBCT and MDCT progression even at > 1.5%. Likely stenosis is < 30% as the trials demonstrate continued progression.

Other researchers have found similar correlations with small dense LDL being superior in predicting CAD (Koba S et al. J Atherothromb 2008).

Berkeley Heart Lab in fact advise for Pattern B a 'high 40% fat diet.' That is pretty progressive! But they fail to specify the components of the fat: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, n-3 v. n-6 and saturated. Are they afraid of liability? Are they afraid of success? Are they afraid of regression? I dunno.

They do fail to address the carb intake therefore it probably would be fair to say that they can not broach diet unless carbohydrate intake is fairly accurately laid out.

Only two studies exist that I can find that implicate Large LDL in coronary artery disease risk. Krauss wrote the first one in 1995, then re-clarified oh just last month. I briefly discussed HERE. In the clarification, he and other researchers retrospectively analyzed 3 large seminal trials and found no independent correlation between Large LDL and coronary atherosclerosis. One trial included in the review was the Quebec Cardiovascular trial.

TITLE: Low-density lipoprotein subfractions and the long-term risk of ischemic heart disease in men: 13-year follow-up data from the Québec Cardiovascular Study.
Lamarche B et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005 Mar;25(3):553-9.

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that estimated cholesterol levels in the large LDL subfraction were not associated with an increased risk of IHD in men and that the cardiovascular risk attributable to variations in the LDL size phenotype was largely related to markers of a preferential accumulation of small dense LDL particles.
PMID: 15618542

Full Sail By Ryan Farish
Courtesy Youtube.com

Stargirl: "You have to find your own way. Sometimes I try to erase myself. I imagine a big pink soft soap erase, and it's going back and forth, back and forth, and it starts down at my toes, back and forth, back and forth, and there they go -- POOF! -- my toes are gone. And then my feet. And then my ankles. But that's the easy part. The hard part is erasing my senses -- my eyes, my ears, my nose, my tongue. And last to go is MY BRAIN. My thoughts, memories, all the voices inside my head. That's the hardest, erasing my thoughts... And then, if I've done a good job, I'm erased. I'm gone. I'm nothing. And then the world is free to flow into me like water into an empty bowl."

Leo: "And?"

Stargirl: "And...I see. I hear. But not with eyes and ears. I'm not outside my world anymore,a nd I'm not really inside it either. The thing is, there's no difference anymore between me and the universe. The boundary is gone. I am it and it is me. I am a stone, a cactus thorn. I am rain..."

Leo: (...something did happen. A small thing. I was aware of stepping over a line, of taking one step into territory new to me. It was a territory of peace, of slience. I had never experienced such utter silence before, such stillness. The compmotion withint me went on, but at a lower volume, as if someone had turned down my dial. And an eerie thing happened. While I never did totally lose awareness of myself, I believe I did, so to speak, lose Cinnamon [Stargirl's pet rat he is cradling]. I no longer felt his pulse, his presence, in my hands. It seemed we were no longer separate, but were one.)

--From Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (sequel:
Love (comma) Stargirl) which NYT reports
it is a 'poetic allegorical tale about the magnificence and rarity
of true nonconformity.' The books are
young adult fiction from my
kids (versus O-L-D-*-S-S adult...)

Dr. Michel de Lorgeril

The French physician who has busted Big Pharma myths synthesized regarding statins, dietary fat and cholesterol, Dr. Michel de Lorgeril has a new published article on the Okinawa ancestral lifestyle. He spent a few weeks living in Okinawa and observing this unique island culture known for one of the highest density of centenarians on earth.

The Okinawan diet: a modern view of an ancestral healthy lifestyle.One-page preview.
Salen P, de Lorgeril M.
World Rev Nutr Diet. 2011;102:114-23.

De Lorgeril is really cool. I discussed him earlier HERE (JUPITER=FAIL). Like Peter at Hyperlipid, he's been blogging about disease and health misconceptions for years (archives back to 2008). Also, recall Pedro Bastos, Loren Cordain et al, he wrote a critical re-appraisal for the benefits of dietary saturated fats for heart disease prevention. I added his English/French blog to the animal pharm blogroll (BLOG-ASM) along with several other highly noteworthy resources such as Healthy Guts (by the gorgeous Ms. Consuela Werner who blogs also at RobbWolf.com) and GAPS practitioners + guides.

Benefits of Compassion

Why does chill-axing bring perspective, calm and serenity? Are humans meant to attain higher levels of cerebral functioning for maximal health, longevity and community contributions?

What can be learned from the Okinawans and also our respective ancestors?

De Lorgeril and Salen report 'Besides the traditional diet, three important aspects of the Okinawan lifestyle are physical fitness, the social support network and the spirits of Okinawa. These are all interconnected since keeping physically fit is part of the spiritual belief system of Okinawa, and physical activity can be as simple as ‘kitchen gardening, where plants and herbs are considered imbued with spiritual energy’ [1]. However, physical activity may be a more structured activity such as ‘traditional dance which is meditative and celebrates myths of ancient times’ [1], or it may be an ‘invigorating martial art like karate which demands a harmonious blend of mind and body’ [1]." Emphasizing the strong ties to ancestors and the social network present in their community, Okinwans celebrate frequently with feasting and festivities and memorials for deceased ancestors. In the same spirit, 'Yuimaru is a typically Okinawan concept, and means that everyone must share and help each other' writes Salen and de Lorgeril.

I discussed traditional Okinawa lifestyles and diet HERE which was high saturated fat and high protein compared to mainland Japan. They are fishermen, farmers and pastoralists enjoying many fermented foods, bitter and sour greens and vegetables, raw goat sashimi, raw goat milk and other traditional pork-centered meals.

Oxytocin

This is somewhat unrelated but yet maybe. Watch this TED video by Paul Zak 'Trust, morality -- Oxytocin'.

Where do you get your hits of Oxytocin?

I love e-hugs and hugs from the people I hang with; I think it gives me hits of Oxy-T.

Our little kitten 'Angel' that we fostered for about ~1 month shot up my Oxytocin briefly whilst she tagged around me all day, letting me cuddle and love her and as I watched my daughters care deeply for her like their own baby. After I had to sent her back to the petstore for an opportunity for adoption, the Oxytocin drain out like a dead battery. [BTW she was quickly adopted within 10 days, and we're grateful.]

Oxytocin. Neat hormone.

I'm not sure I'd agree to call it a morality hormone like some scientists. Like a rage or hits of 'E', (not that I'd know) it appears to me to ellicit deep empathy and facilitate connections; imbibing concreteness to emotions which are typically positive (though not always, for instance when baby is crying/shrieking). Scoping and feeling out your family, friends, coworkers (or enemies), businessmen and connecting to what they're experiencing brings understanding that transcends differences no matter how epic. It promotes GAME. Got your game on?

Campbell and Garcia reported in an article Neuroanthropology: Evolution and Emotional Embodiment that 'For instance, among male Arrial pastoralists from northern Kenya, self-reported quality of life, which may be thought of as a measure of well-being, is predicted by the number of male supporters as well as amount of body fat (Campbell unpublished data).' I thought was weird but it makes sense... success in the hunt or herding is tied to cooperation, empathy with your co-patriots and co-herders and effective communication. Better GAME.

Evolution, Oxytocin, Sociality, and the Primate Brain

Researchers Campbell and Garcia also write:

The social brain hypothesis holds that it is the demands of complex social interactions in groups that have spurred the adaptive increase in brain size across the biological order Primates (Dunbar, 1998, 2009), a relationship not found in other mammalian orders (Shultz and Dunbar, 2007). The importance of bonding among primates would explain why affiliation through physical touch initiates a neurochemical cascade, involving oxytocin and opiates, that is positively reinforcing and fundamental to effective social cohesion (Dunbar, 2010). While such neuroendocrine mechanisms remain important in human social interaction, they do not appear sufficient to explain group cohesion among humans for whom language and technology form the foundation for greatly expanded spheres of social interaction.

Social, Complexity, Cortex, and The Behavioral Regulation of the Internal Milieu

Reading more on evolution, the brain and oxytocin, I'm blown away by Schulkin who wrote Social Allostasis: Anticipatory Regulation of the Internal Milieu. 'Most primates are highly social except for the solitary orangutan, with the exception, of course, of a long relationship between the mother and her offspring, present in all primates, including the orangutan (Robson and Wood, ; see Figure Figure22). Core features in the origins of the genus Homo consist of some of the following (Stringer and Andrews, ; Robson and Wood, ): longer gestational period, long life spans, forward locomotion with heel and hind limb dominance, dominance of stereoscopic vision and forward movement of the eyes, and expanding use of the hands... hysiological cognitive systems are oriented to the social milieu. Their evolution and expression underlie the diverse forms of complicated social assessments; group size, for

instance, is correlated with cortical expansion (Dunbar and Shultz, ). Consider the complex social relationships of primates, the hierarchy, and the distribution of food resources, shelter protection, dominance, and comfort through co-alliances. Such systems are quite varied and all involve cephalic innervations and expression.' The side figure depict an 'endocast of the frontal region of a putative Homo around two million years ago and a representation of (a) chimpanzee, (b) orangutan, (c) gorilla, and (d) human frontal plane (Falk, ).' In Table 3 the EQ (encephalization quotient) of each hominid is estimated in evolutionary time. I am not sure how accurate the Homo Neanderthal EQ is presented here; I thought I had read that the cranial volume was larger than Hss but need to dig that out. Hormone pathways, infrastructure and neurons (Von Economo neurons (VENs)) supporting the fabric of hominid social interconnectedness (cortisol, CRH, oxytocin, vasopressin, etc) are located in the frontal cortex of great apes and humans.

Many of the prosocial behaviors and the evaluative processes in cephalic systems are anticipatory and not only reactive to events. Information molecules such as CRH (or oxytocin or vasopressin) underlie diverse forms of anticipatory behaviors. The concept of “allostasis” is in part to take account of anticipatory control (Sterling and Eyer, 1988) amidst diverse forms of adaptation underlying this regulatory adaptation that supports social contact and internal milieu (Schulkin, 2003). Importantly, feedforward and social regulation of neuropeptide expression is an important factor.Social contact is at the heart of ontogenetic development, a long noted piece of epistemological history differently expressed across diverse cultures. Family and group structure through meaningful contact is essential for our mental health. Supportive social contact is not an absolute prophylactic but a helpful ameliorative in combating disease and breakdown (Steptoe et al., 2002), along with predictive abilities (Miller, 1957, 1959); intermittent unpredictable aversive events are a long known production of pathology (e.g., gastric Weiss, 1970), increasing allostatic load (e.g., Schulkin et al., 1998; Tannenbaum et al., 2002).Unremitting social distress, high cortisol when cumulative, decreases social competence process (e.g., brain morphology and decreases in memory function (Sapolsky, 1992, 1995), and increases the allostatic load (McEwen and Stellar, 1993; Johnston-Brooks et al., 1998; McEwen, 1998; Seeman et al., 2001). Allostatic load is one predictive factor in aging (Karlamangla et al., 2002; Hellhammer et al., 2004); age, health, and economic disparities are all functionally related to allostatic overload (Crimmins et al., 2003; von Kanel et
al., 2003; Carlson and Chamberlain, 2005; Szanton et al., 2005).

What is really freaky is that Schulkin points out the epigenetic data on cortisol and oxytocin. 'Interestingly, oxytocin and CRH are also altered by maternal care across generations of offspring. Cross-fostering studies in rodents have shown that variation in maternal care is transmitted in both genomic and non-genomic mechanisms; individual differences in maternal behavior are transmitted from one generation to another (Francis et al., 1999; Meaney, 2001; Champagne, 2003).One example is the link between maternal licking and grooming (high or low) which is consistently transmitted to female offspring; moreover, decreased social comforting contact has long-term implications for most mammals studied (e.g., Levine, 1975; Meaney et al., 1996; Liu et al., 1997). There is wide variation in this phenomenon that has long-term implications on cephalic systems; those rat pups comforted by social contact have greater regulatory capacity as adults on diverse systems in the brain, including neuropeptide and neurotransmitter systems (dopamine, serotonin, CRH).' So yeah. Some people may be able to blame their mothers! Grandmothers! And Great-Grandmothers! The lack of licking, caring and grooming does affect perceptions and confidence. [reminds me... need to hug/s-mother my kids more]

Here is a diagram of cortisol release relative to brain structures. Cortisol is great for short term adaptation to situations. Detriment occurs with long-term cortisol disruption of proper signalling: (See Table 4)
• Disruption of immune response
• Protein loss
• Growth and reproductive disruption
• Bone loss
• Brain deterioration

In PTSD (post-tramautic stress syndrome), cortisol and CRH (cortisol releasing hormone) are dysregulated. Low production and inappropriate release of cortisol are common. Prozac deficiency? No. It is an evolutionary programming system with a major bug in it. Gold et al discusses some research done in military Special Forces in high stress circumstances with 2 intereresting findings. Positive correlation was been found between DHEA/Cortisol ratio and better performance. DHEA and Allopregenolone supplemention provided 'resilience to stress by helping terminate HPA activation and preventing harmful effect of glucocorticoids.'

Get ur GAME on... Keep cortisol in check... And don't forget oxytocin, it's not just for boobs (e.g. breastmilk-let downs).

Maybe this is the one of secrets of Okinawan and African Arrial pastoralists...

References:

Oxytocin may mediate the benefits of positive social interaction and emotions.
Uvnäs-Moberg K.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1998 Nov;23(8):819-35. Review.
Short-Term Compassion Training Increases Prosocial Behavior in a Newly Developed Prosocial Game. Susanne Leiberg, Olga Klimecki, Tania SingerPLoS One. 2011; 6(3): e17798.

Integrated metabolic regulation during acute rest states [TCM-like states] in man, similarity to fasting: a biochemical hypothesis.
Jevning R.
Physiol Behav. 1988;43(6):735-7. Review.

Long-term endocrinologic changes in subjects practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program.
Werner OR, Wallace RK, Charles B, Janssen G, Stryker T, Chalmers RA.
Psychosom Med. 1986 Jan-Feb;48(1-2):59-66.

Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review
Jennifer L. Goetz, Dacher Keltner, Emiliana Simon-Thomas
Psychol Bull. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Psychol Bull. 2010 May; 136(3): 351–374.

Neuroanthropology: Evolution and Emotional Embodiment
Benjamin C. Campbell, Justin R. Garcia
Front Evol Neurosci. 2009; 1: 4. Prepublished online 2009 July 24.

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms in Mind-Body Medicine: Development of an Integrative Framework for Psychophysiological Research
Ann Gill Taylor, Lisa E. Goehler, Daniel I. Galper, Kim E. Innes, Cheryl Bourguignon
Explore (NY) Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 January 1.
Published in final edited form as: Explore (NY). 2010 January; 6(1): 29.

Social Allostasis: Anticipatory Regulation of the Internal Milieu
Jay Schulkin
Front Evol Neurosci. 2010; 2: 111.

The Neuroendocrine System and Stress, Emotions, Thoughts and Feelings
George E. Vaillant
Mens Sana Monogr. 2011 Jan-Dec; 9(1): 113–128.

Adrenocortical activity during meditation. [Testosterone -- same 3 groups, Cortisol --no change in controls, slightly lowered after 3-4 mos TCM practice, significantly lowered and for long time after by long-term TCM practitioners]
Jevning R, Wilson AF, Davidson JM.
Horm Behav. 1978 Feb;10(1):54-60.

Neuro-psychopharmacogenetics and Neurological Antecedents of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Unlocking the Mysteries of Resilience and Vulnerability
Abdalla Bowirrat, Thomas J.H. Chen, Kenneth Blum, Margaret Madigan, John A. Bailey, Amanda Lih Chuan Chen, B. William Downs, Eric R. Braverman, Shahien Radi, Roger L. Waite, Mallory Kerner, John Giordano, Siohban Morse, Marlene Oscar-Berman, Mark Gold
Curr Neuropharmacol. 2010 December; 8(4): 335–358.

Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans.
Seltzer LJ, Ziegler TE, Pollak SD.
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Sep 7;277(1694):2661-6.

The Okinawan diet: a modern view of an ancestral healthy lifestyle.
Salen P, de Lorgeril M.
World Rev Nutr Diet. 2011;102:114-23.

Beautiful People
Courtesy Youtube.com

Jimmy's Moore's LLVLC Podcast!

I did Jimmy Moore's podcast! And joined the beautiful people... We initially had some technical (cough cough Chinese (?saturated broadband/censorship)) difficulties which required EIGHT ATTEMPTS, but it's complete. I think Jimmy let out a BIG gentlemanly sigh of relief. Jimmy talked also about his latest and pending labs, the idea for the next epic post on sustainable, local farming/livestock and his thoughts on heavy metal chelation, which I am really REALLY into.

I was/am Jimmy, hormonally. Like Jimmy I have been stubbornly challenged with regaining and relosing 10-20% of my body weight in the last few years after the initial epic loss of 50 lbs (Jimmy, ~180 lbs).(!!!!frustr-WTF-ating!!!!)

At the worst, my hormone signatures might resemble what Jimmy reported (if I actually measured):
-- high rT3, unstable cortisol, leptin resistance, insulin resistance
-- estrogen dominance
-- wacko FSH/LH (like a menopausal 'menopot')
-- testosterone/thyroid/adrenal deficiencies

Massive Endocrine Disruption (x3), Weight Re-Gains and Reversal

I wish that the Paleolithic Diet was enough. It's not. Paleo is emphatically not enough for decades of neolethal disease and accumulated damages on our biochemical pathways, adipose storage and mitochondrial health (modern toxins -- omega-6, seed oils, pharmaceuticals, dental amalgams, AMA sanctioned mercury laden vaccines, industrial solvents, new house and carpeting 'gas off', bromide antifungals on food, in California ubiquitous flame retardants, etc).

My problem was 5-10 lbs yo-yo wt gains and yo-yo losses over the last few years after the initial 50 lb loss, which I attribute to MASSIVE endocrine disruptions (three times). The first hormone dyscrasia involved the Mirena IUD (levonorgestrel, a potent fake/mimicker of progesterone), then followed by adrenal fatigue with the popular intermittent fasting and ketosis, and lastly gut dysbiosis with mercury and metal toxicity (tetanus shot, accumulation of annual flu shots/vaccines, and a drilled on titanium dental implant). What helped me after multiple episodes of adrenal fatigue including one after moving to Shanghai, China was a high carb (150-200 g/day) non-paleo 'adrenal reset' modeled by Diana Schwarzbein MD in her book 'The Schwarzbein Principle II'.

It worked.

My daily consumption of low and high GI foods went up (rice, meat/vegs, ice cream, chocolate) and carbs totalled 150-200 grams daily, most days. It worked; I gained 8-10 lbs of fat and my adrenals stabilized. More importantly the serum insulin ECLIPSED the serum cortisol which was high/inappropriate due to various factors (stress from transcontinental moving, circadian shifts from jet lag, gut dysbiosis, metal toxicity, etc). Similar plans are in the blogosphere (high carb Bulletproof, PHD, Masterjohn, Kresser, high carb MDA, high carb GAPS (fruit+honey), Ray Peat, high carb Archevore, 4-Hour Body Slow Carb, Matt Stone). Many individuals have kevlar adrenals and perfectly execute IF/ketosis whilst hiking twenty mountain tops sans food, fasting. NEARLY BAREFOOT. (Asclepius and J. Stanton) But the rest of us are mere mortals.

Successful ketosis requires adequately timed and sufficiently secreted (and appropriately down-regulated) cortisol and adrenaline (NE, EPI).

Someday... I'll re-grow my kevlar and bulletproof organs... *haa ahaaa!*

However after getting tired (and frustrated) with the 8-10 lbs of weight gain, I finished the Schwarzbein 'adrenal reset' and easily transitioned to a high carb Kruse 'leptin reset'. I did attempt the Kruse leptin reset with 100g/day (50 g carbs in the morning) but it didn't work the first few times until AFTER I had gained 8-10 lbs on the Schwarzbein 'reset'. I dunno why this was the case. Recently I returned to a stable LC (paleo) + rice + workouts (which worked for my initial 50 lbs fat loss; 50-100 grams carbs/day) and lost a few kilograms in the last month and half.

Adrenal Resets are Leptin Resets IMHO And Vice Versa

The beauty of the Kruse 'reset' is that imho it is also an 'adrenal reset' (and vice versa). Notwithstanding, I believe for many who are adrenally challenged and severely metabolically damaged (like in cases of metal toxicity, environmental toxicity or former vegetarians, yo-yo dieters, over-trainers, under-eaters, etc), the value of an extreme high carb reset (150-200 g/day) with (or without) fat gain may be inconceivable and controversial but UNQUESTIONABLY HIGH if all else fails... Per Schwarzbein, she reports for some extremely metabolically damaged folks two years on the program are mandatory. For me apparently 2 months was ok and sufficient. To safeguard, FYI I still avoid all ketosis, VLC (very low carb) and IF'ing (intermittent fasting). I continue to consume 1/4 to 1/2 tsp Real salt (Utah Redmonds) and maximally play/nap/laugh as much as I can. Adaptogens, liver/GI support, getting morning sunlight, slow BSS/burn, and 'oxygenizing' (employing slow-twitch muscles) without driving excessive cortisol squirts are unbelievably key to staying on track for me. Also my carbs are substantially higher on workout days (100-150 grams wholly based on glycolytic activity and stress) and the weight is still going down without triggering the adrenals.

Heavy Metal Toxicity and Chelation

Jimmy and I talked about chelation and our thoughts; my family and I are still chelating as it requires a minimum of 6-12 months time. I don't endorse many products but this is one I exceptionally fancy because I find it to be safe, gentle, and gradual; the product has been used for over 10 years in physician and practitioners' offices: ExtendedHealth's oral chelator.

More info on Adrenal 'Resets' and Hormones (T, E1 E2 E3, DHEA-S, Preg, P, Cortisol, Leptin, FT4 FT3 rT3):

Pretty in Primal: Adrenal Fatigue

Integrative hormone approach Case Study in insulin resistance and identifying inflammation causes By Dr. Alicia Stanton, Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD

Another integrative medicine approach to thyroid and adrenal insufficiency (Paul Reller, L.Ac.) - he reports 80% of sluggish thyroids (hypometabolism) is co-related to adrenal insufficiency

Charles Poliquin (integrative practitioner, instructor, elite athlete trainer): Top 10 Rules for Carbohydrate Intake for OPTIMAL Body Composition (depends on glycolytic physicality and activity)

Jack Kruse MD: Leptin Reset and Post-Leptin Reset

The intrepid brainiacs at the Paleohacks.com on Adrenal Function: 'adrenal' tag

WAPF blogger, Wise Traditions presenter Kaayla Daniel PhD CCN with Galen Knight PhD 'How to avoid toxic metals and clear them from the body'

Robb's testosterone blogpost 'Paleo and Testosterone' biohacking

Chris Espinosa, blogger at robbwolf.com, xfitter and Poliquin-certified, Testosterone Part II and Estrogen Balance

Jack Kruse MD: Hormone Cascade 101 (Testosterone/E, Cortisol/Adrenal, Thyroid) , Gut and Hormones, and Adrenal/Adaptogens

The LLVLC Show (Episode 520): Jeff O’Connell’s ‘Sugar Nation’ And ‘Animal Pharm’ Blogger Dr. B G

The topics in our e-coffeetalk (from Jimmy's site)...

• The infectiousness of her e-mail writing style
• Her work in a plant biology lab that showed she hated research
• The love/hate relationship she has with the USDA
• The one-year residency she did working in geriatrics
• The certified diabetes education that she pursued
• Her hesitancy to start blogging with so many great bloggers
• Her contributions to the PaleoHacks.com web site
• The “chronic cardio” she believes is right for her
• The slow rate of weight loss she experienced (50 pounds in 5 years)
• How Keith Norris has a “Zen-like charm” about him
• What her experience was like at the Ancestral Health Symposium
• The important message of Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt in Sweden
• How Aaron Blaisdell and Brent Pottenger are changing the world
• Recollections of past interviews with Gary Taubes
• The positive contributions Taubes has made to the low-carb cause
• How the Dietary Guidelines are making Americans sicker
• The autoimmune issues she and her siblings dealt with growing up
• How even some grass-fed beef can taste a little “off”
• The “scary” nature of finding real food in China
• Whether America would have been successful without carbs
• Her take on the “safe starches” debate that’s happening right now
• The great admiration she has for Dr. Robert Su
• How there are plenty of Asians who get “sick” eating white rice
• How she “completely burned out my adrenals” on intermittent fasting
• Why some people have issues that make it more difficult to get healthy
• The high-carb adrenal resets that need to have for many people
• Why you have to have balance with all of your hormones
• Her weight gain from heavy metal toxicity
• What the future of her “Animal Pharm” concept is
• The book she is writing with her sister on gut health with recipes
• Why she wants to open up a gluten-free cafe to teach cooking
• Her desire for us to outsource the Low-Carb Cruise to China

Rumer
'Slow'

Ex-Pat Living

The singer above Rumer grew up as an expat kid in Pakistan she said once in an interview. My 11- and 12-year old daughters are also gaining a global experience and deeply learning a second language here in Shanghai, China. For me, it has been a semi-rough transition with a couple of maladapted bumps... Some days are excellent and other days just kind of 'man I miss the states' days...!

Shanghai Top 10

Things so far that I love, looking at the positive side...

10. Excellent food. For the Chinese, eating is a friend and family sport here (high end restaurants are all Vegas-glam and top in taste, presentation, style)

9. All 4 seasons exist -- cold, COLD, hot, humid-HOT

8. Socializing is mind blowing. Actually I've been very fortunate to meet the utmost friendliest and coolest people from all over the world (and many from my old hood, the Cali BayArea and even the small East coast town that I grew up until ~9 in Philipsburg, PA). I am meeting the rare paleolithically-persuaded folks contrary to predictions *ha ahaa!* Courtesy of the net.

7. Yes there are athletes here. In fact, I met Macca an elite Australian triathlete at an event last November! See side picture. D*mn Aussies, they're so HAAAAWWT.

6. My kids attend international school so we're lucky to have both American and Chinese holidays... lots of fun traveling so far (tropical paradise SanYa, Kyoto Japan, little weekend trips, etc). We hope to visit Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Europe...

5. Like Cali, near the water (Shanghai means 'on the water' in Chinese)

4. Unmistakenly cultured and open, Shanghai is also known as the New York City of the Orient

3. No rules (it's C-h-i-n-a). They have capital punishment but little control over the common running of red lights or other driving hazards (cell phones, pedestrian right-of-way, speeding, drunk driving, etc)

2. Cheap shopping

1. Cheap labor (the excellent ayi, e.g. housekeeper/cook/shopper, costs US$100-150 per month for a few hours every other day)

XerXes
'Cell Progression'
Photography from a hot-air ballon by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

"With Earth from above, I simply want people to see the Earth as it is today, as faithfully as possible. What motivates me is the impact a photograph can make within the framework of environmental preservation. The great novelty of our time is that mankind has the power to change its environment and I want my photos to testify to this fact so people can realise this."

--Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Demything Myths in My Mind

A couple of things I harass and harp on are now shaded in grey instead of the archetypical black-white which I tend to prefer for simplicity and reductionism. My kids eat gluten (at school and parties) and in choosing my battles, I've accepted certain facts of life. They're going to be exposed, they like it and we just all have to do our best. And our best is a template based on strictly relative terms (e.g. my mood). Gluten is definitely a struggle stillsince it permeates all restaurant food and sauces. On alibaba.com, one can purchase cheap bags of high-protein (high-toxicity) hybridized modern wheat or maize gluten (vital wheat gluten 75% of total protein wet content) in which a restaurant, supplier or large-scale cook can 'doctor up' their goodies. Gluten imparts many favorable food benefits: moisure, 'perfect viscoelasticity', taste, addiction, bounciness, baked good fluffiness, sauce thickening, dough extension, sausage filler, meatball tenderness (lionhead casseroles are infamous), petfood 'protein', etc.

With all that said, since moving to Shanghai, quite honestly I have been surprised by the number of people aware of gluten intolerance and progressive in that manner, and grateful that the volume of gluten is far less here in China than the USDA-Big Agra-permeated culture of the U.S.

Anyway. Call me skeptical today...

Seven (Paleo) Myths that I've Slowly Come to Highly Suspect

1. Gluten is 100% bad and toxic
--Demyth: Not for everyone (especially if no intestinal permeability), every moment, every minute, every dose

2. Dairy is non-paleo
--COME ON. Human variance, intestinal permeability, status of DPP-IV (casein enzymes) and gut flora determine this. Same with gluten...

3. Intermittent fasting is 100% safe
--See prior adrenal tagged posts. Martin Berkham fanboys [I'm jealous of y'lls kevlar-coated adrenal glands] may go please very gently f*ck yourselves...and continue cortisol-inducing yo-yo dieting and eating cheesecake. Sorry. #FAILEO if one has f*cked up adrenals.

4. VLC/ketosis is 100% safe
--Demyth: see above

5. High glycemic index safe starches are 100% safe
--Demyth: high GI carbs can induce inflammatory cascades of gene expression. For who? See the FUNGENUT study. I dunno...

6. Low carb (less than 200 grams/day) or VLC/ketosis induces 100% fat loss
--Demyth: it depends on hormones and insulin sensitivity(primarily adrenal/NE/EPI and anabolic

ones, progesterone and testosterone and if there is excessive E or xenoestrogens). See Ebbeling Ludwig et al JAMA 2007; side figure those who exhibit decent insulin sensitivity (maintain low insulin after 75 grams of lines of glucose) can lose weight on any kind of diet (this study used hypocaloric, low GI, 170 g v. 220 g carbs). IR=insulin resistance

7. High glycemic index safe starches (white stuff -- lines of dextrose, white rice, white modern potatoes, table sugar, etc) induce 100% optimal health and fat loss
--I'm ambivalent because I cannot and I know a lot people who this is the case. Why? Hormone fluxes are sometimes OFF and subOPTIMAL. Who loses fat and gains optimal health with higher glycemic loads and higher GI foods? I've seen this work well in the athletic, the insulin sensitive and the ones who perform high or decent volume glycolytic activity. See Poliquin on Carb Intake to Meet Glycolytic Repetition Volume. Also gotta see Sloth and Astrup.

What I Do Know

1. Modern wheat is SUPER TOXIC, SUPER ADDICTIVE, SUPER FATTENING, SUPER INFLAMMATORY

2. Modern wheat contains an estimated SEVERAL HUNDREDS-FOLD more (toxic) proteins than heirloom or non-hybridized wheat

3. The USDA is playing a joke on us... I don't trust the pyramid or anything else they purport, especially if it involves Monsatan or their former executives who now frequently staff places like the FDA or EPA (Environmental 'Protection' Agency). BRILLIANT.

4. If intestinal permeability exists, you'll be guaranteed suboptimal health, chronic sublethal infections and significant levels of cellular inflammation which may or may not ever be detectable by standards of non-integrative medicine

5. Pharmaceuticals generally do not work and in fact worsen. The worse pharmaceuticals cause long-range adverse effects on intestinal permeability and endogenous hormone fluxes (broad spectrum antibiotics, Z-paks, proton pump inhibitors, acid blockers, oral birth control, synthetic hormones, glucocorticoids, prednisone, etc)

6. Too much sugar is toxic, addictive, fattening and inflammatory. When I'm not stressed out and working out a ton, I can do sugar with relative impugnity. YET. During certain times of my menstrual cycle or when I am not strenuously working out, I notice if I hit (some) sugar (e.g. organic palm, organic coconut sugar, white stuff, etc) then I will inevitably want to do lines of crack/sugar over and over and over and over infinitum again (e.g. candy cigarettes or almond flour pound cake or cookies).

7. Everything makes horrorific sense in light of evolution

8. Bell shaped curves -- I like these; these typically represent well

9. I don't need RCTs to tell me the sky is blue or that something makes sense
(sometimes the ridiculousness in Pubmed makes me throw my hands up)

10. We're omni-whores, consumers of everything and we still survive

References

Live probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis bacteria inhibit the toxic effects induced by wheat gliadin in epithelial cell culture. K Lindfors,* T Blomqvist,* K Juuti-Uusitalo,* S Stenman,* J Venäläinen,† M Mäki,* and K Kaukinen‡. Clin Exp Immunol. 2008 June; 152(3): 552–558.

INFECTIONS, TOXIC CHEMICALS AND DIETARY PEPTIDES BINDING TO LYMPHOCYTE RECEPTORS AND TISSUE ENZYMES ARE MAJOR INSTIGATORS OF AUTOIMMUNITY IN AUTISM. A. VOJDANI,J.B. PANGBORN; E. VOJDANI; E.L. COOPER. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMMUNOPATHOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY Vol. 16, no. 3, 189-199 (2003).

Low glycemic index diets and body weight. B Sloth and A Astrup. International Journal of Obesity (2006) 30, S47–S51.

Effects of a Low–Glycemic Load vs Low-Fat Diet in Obese Young Adults. Ebbeling, Ludwig, et al. JAMA. 2007;297(19):2092-2102. 297(19):2092-2102.

Emancipator
'Greenland'

Modern Big Tobacco-Agra/Monsatan Crops

Crops are generally coated with pesticides for the last 30-50 years. Are they toxic? Pesticides are upregulated into the food chain via consumption (corn, soy) by feedlot livestock and poultry. Let's not forget tobacco (cigarettes, snuff, cigars, etc). 'Tobacco is a pesticide-intensive crop. With nearly 27 million pounds of pesticides (including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and suckercides) applied to the U.S.-grown crop from 1994 to 1998, it ranks SIXTH in terms of the amount of pesticides applied per acre. The tobacco industry regards pesticides as essential to tobacco production, stating that “the crop could not be produced economically without them”.'

Additionally pesticides are employed in municipalities (public schools, parks, government land) and personal home use (termites, ant control, weeds control, lawns, etc). Although pesticides do not taste, smell or look toxic, they are not benign and without metabolic dysregulation consequences.

New studies in PubMed are cropping (pun intended) up in number pointing directly to insulin resistance, obesogenic, neurologic and inflammatory damage secondary to this broad group of pervasive chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). They are difficult to avoid as once in the soil, air or bodies of water, fish, birds and animals, they typically fail to degrade and significantly impact the environment.

The researcher Alavanja states 'Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the United State (US) each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide (1). In many developing countries programs to control exposures are limited or non-existent. As a consequence; it has been estimated that as many as 25 million agricultural workers worldwide experience unintentional pesticide poisonings each year (4). In a large prospective study of pesticide users in the United States, the Agricultural Health Study, it was estimated that 16% of the cohort had at least one pesticide poisoning or an unusually high pesticide exposure episode in their lifetime (5).

Although attempts to reduce pesticide use through organic agricultural practices and the use of other technologies to control pests continue, exposure to pesticides occupationally, through home and garden use, through termite control or indirectly through spray drifts and through residues in household dust, and in food and water are common (6). The US Department of Agriculture has estimated that 50 million people in the United States obtain their drinking water from groundwater that is potentially contaminated by pesticides and other agricultural chemicals (7, 8). Children from 3-6 years old received most of their dermal and non-dietary oral doses from playing with toys and while playing on carpets which contributed the largest portion of their exposure (9-12).'

U.S.A. Obesity Trends With Pesticide Use

Guess what?

Pesticide use on crops grown in the South (tobacco) and Mid-West (corn, wheat, soy) trends well with U.S.A. obesity patterns [hat tip: LePine MD]. Above is the trend of obesity that starts mid-1980s then grows exponentially each few years. Maps are from Lim et al and BFRSS data.

Smart people in Korea (Lim et al) report that 'There is an apparent overlap between areas in the USA where the herbicide, atrazine (ATZ), is heavily used and obesity-prevalence maps of people with a BMI over 30. Given that herbicides act on photosystem II of the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, which have a functional structure similar to mitochondria, we investigated whether chronic exposure to low concentrations of ATZ might cause obesity or insulin resistance by damaging mitochondrial function.'

Pesticides Kill Pests, Including Our Bug-like Mitochondria

It's therefore not surprising to read about the toxic effects of pesticides on pests whose networked pathways overlap almost precisely with our own cells. Atrazine is a mitochondrial toxin, and our mitochondria are the sole energy generators and powerhouses whether the substrate is glycogen, glucose or fatty acids.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Causes Fatness and Insulin Resistance (IR)

'A close association between mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance is well established [1]–[3]. In in vitro studies, we found that artificial induction of mitochondrial dysfunction induced insulin resistance [4], [5].' This is discussed by Lim et al. He and his colleagues performed an experiment on rodents. They fed low levels of atrazine to rats then examined lab parameters for insulin resistance (IR). What happened? The higher the dose of atrazine, the higher the obesity and insulin resistance. Atrazine was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, higher visceral (organ) fat deposition, higher blood glucoses and decreased energy metabolism.

Another group of researchers, Ruzzin et al, tested a similar hypothesis. They fed crude Atlantic salmon oil to rodents and examined IR parameters. They state 'POPs accumulate in the lipid fraction of fish, and fish consumption represents a source of POP exposure to humans (; ; ). Therefore, certain European countries have dietary recommendations to limit the consumption of fatty fish per week (Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition 2004).' They discovered similar insulin resistant results when they exposed fat cells in vitro to a POP mixture that mimicked the relative abundance of contaminants found in crude salmon oil. Insulin signalling was broken and impaired.

References

BRFSS, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System www.cdc.gov/brfss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNW-NgYZ2s [Obesity trend map and cdc slides]

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/obesity_trends_2006.pdf [BRFSS raw data by state and year]

Pesticides Use and Exposure Extensive Worldwide. Michael C.R. AlavanjaRev Environ Health. 2009 Oct–Dec; 24(4): 303–309.

The Tobacco Industry and Pesticide Regulations: Case Studies from Tobacco Industry Archives. Patricia A. McDaniel, Gina Solomon, Ruth E. Malone. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 December; 113(12): 1659–1665.

Chronic Exposure to the Herbicide, Atrazine, Causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance. Soo Lim, Sun Young Ahn, In Chan Song, Myung Hee Chung, Hak Chul Jang, Kyong Soo Park, Ki-Up Lee, Youngmi Kim Pak, Hong Kyu LeePLoS ONE. 2009; 4(4): e5186.

Persistent Organic Pollutant Exposure Leads to Insulin Resistance Syndrome. Jérôme Ruzzin, Rasmus Petersen, Emmanuelle Meugnier, Lise Madsen, Erik-Jan Lock, Haldis Lillefosse, Tao Ma, Sandra Pesenti, Si Brask Sonne, Troels Torben Marstrand, Marian Kjellevold Malde, Zhen-Yu Du, Carine Chavey, Lluis Fajas, Anne-Katrine Lundebye, Christian Lehn Brand, Hubert Vidal, Karsten Kristiansen, Livar FrøylandEnviron Health Perspect. 2010 April; 118(4): 465–471.

Effect of Endocrine Disruptor Pesticides: A ReviewWissem Mnif, Aziza Ibn Hadj Hassine, Aicha Bouaziz, Aghleb Bartegi, Olivier Thomas, Benoit RoigInt J Environ Res Public Health. 2011 June; 8(6): 2265–2303.

Titanium (Cover of Sia, David Guetta)
Collin McLoughlin

Pesticides -- Shanghai Problem

Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are big problems here in Shanghai. Apparently we live in the city with the highest reported field application of pesticides (kilograms per hectare) out of the whole country. According to the report by Zhang et al 'Global pesticide consumption and pollution: with China as a focus' Shanghai applies 12.72 kilograms per hectare of pesticides, which was the heaviest utilization of 32 cities and provinces studied. The lowest utilization rates were in the least industrialized provinces, Inner Mongolia and Tibet (0.15, 0.01 kg/ha respectively).

Prior animal pharm: Pesticides May Cause U.S.A. Insulin Resistance and Obesity Trends

Pesticides are (Obviously) Toxic and Kill

Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides may not be lethal to large mammalian hosts like humans but the mechanisms in which they wreak chemical havoc to pests, weeds/grasses and fungus/molds can affect us either directly or our gut ecosystem which contains 100 trillion mitochondrial-like creatures (bacteria, mycobacteria, protozoa) and fungi. ~~Half of the deaths that occur worldwide secondary to pesticide exposures are here in China. 'According to a report of WHO and UNEP, worldwide there are more than 26 million human pesticide poisonings with about 220,000 deaths per year (Richter, 2002). In the United States, there are 67 thousands human pesticide poisonings per year. In China, there are 0.5 million human pesticide poisonings with 0.1 million deaths per year. (Zhang et al 2011)'

The mechanisms of toxicity of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides usually target a specific neurochemical or metabolic mechanisms that translate toxicity to the cellular, organ and organismal levels:
--sodium channel disturbances (yes our sodium channels are vital; see prior nephropal Evolutionary Brain)
--glyphosate toxicity (see Dr. Tourgeman's nephropal post: Can Glyphosate Herbicide Formulations Damage Humans?)
--mitochondrial toxicity -- electron transport
--mitochondrial toxicity -- fatty acid metabolism
--mitochondrial toxicity -- respiratory complex
--trace heavy metals -- mercury, asenic, cadmium and lead --which severely depress metabolic enzymes (mitochondrial, thyroid, adrenal, neural, gut i.e. DPP IV, pancreatic/digestive, etc)

Pesticides: Global Problem

Although the knowledge and understanding are incomplete, the data and information on how pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are transported, degraded and distributed into the ecosystem are pretty damning. The toxicity effects may not immediately disable and maim but may be chronically sublethal and epigenetic. Since all life on earth is interconnected, the network of disturbances can be subtle. Damaging effects perhaps act in concert either additively or synergistically with other stressors, gut dysbiotic factors and amplified by our trigger-happy immune systems. Zhang et al say that 99% of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides do not even hit the intended target. 99% of pesticide applications are distributed into the environment and ecosystem by spray drift and surface water runoff. The investigators Zhang et al state 'High-residual pesticides like DDT have been detected in the Greenland ice sheet and the bodies of Antarctic penguins which were resulted from atmospheric circulation, ocean currents and biological enrichment of pesticides.' The early players of the damage and adverse effects are the bees, insectal larvae and algae on land and in related water masses. In the next tier of ecological effects, their predators (insects, fish, sealife) are affected either indirectly by reduction of food availibility or direct biochemical, metabolic, immune, endocrine, sexual and reproductive disruptions.

And... Up and up the PREDATOR ECOSYSTEM CHAIN.

[I doubt humans can claim being apex predators, but perhaps apex pests and homo purgare]

Fish: One of the Most Pesticide-Ridden and Toxic Foods

My family and stopped eliminated 80-90% of our fish and seafood consumption (both farmed and wild) when I was first pregnant 12 years ago. I figured what wasn't safe for my baby and I just was not safe, PERIOD. We try to eat ancestrally but seafood just is not part of the equation at this time. Many cultures who subsist on fish and their marine predators (seal, whale) are documented to have elevated levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs, pesticides, PCBs, solvents, etc) and heavy metals: Great Lake Anishinaabe, Arctic and Greenland Inuit, natives of the Alaskan Aleutian Islands, Amazon Brazilians, Peruvians, and Faroe Islands inhabitants. Where is the source? Pesticides and industrial pollution are bioaccumulated in algae, daphnia, marine life and large predacious fish and marine mammals. Human variance shows that not everyone is severely affected by heavy metals (mercury) and pesticides but certainly some are more sensitive than others or bioaccumulate at extremely higher rates than other individuals. The carriers of apo E4 allele, the ancestral 'efficiency' allele, appear to exhibit higher harboring and decreased detoxification of trace heavy metals (iron, copper, lead, mercury). This may explain the link between increased incidence of central obesity, metabolic syndrome, T2DM, Alzheimer's and dementia and those of ethnic descent where the apo E4 allele is more dominant (Inuit, Amerindians, aborigine subpopulations, northern Chinese, northern European, Africa).

The Jungle: Food Safety in China

Living in China has many 'challenges' (I could list but that would be a brick of novella) but I would have to say food safety TOPS my MANY MANY MANY lists. On one hand Shanghai is one of the most progressive cities of the world I have been fortunate to visit (Paris, Hamburg, NYC, Chicago, SF, Tokyo, Kyoto, Taipei) yet in the context of food safety and standards of quality, I think it is one of the cities with the least quality control and national oversight. For every daily food safety scandal that hit the media, I always wonder how many dozens didn't hit the media under China's scrupulous censorship. We live here in the times that pre-date Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle' (free PDF HERE, courtesy of Penn State).

Super wonderful people here in Shanghai have been graciously generous in sharing their food suppliers ('The Avocado Lady'), chains of safe food purveyors and organic grassfed meat and egg sources, CSAs (see picture BIOFarm) and safe homemade goodies. Part of the adventure of expat living has been meeting other like-minded freaks in a foreign country.

References

Global pesticide consumption and pollution: with China as a focus. Zhang et al. Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2011, 1(2):125-144.

Greenpeace 2009 News. Pesticides: Not Your Problem?
http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/news/China-pesticides/

Medscape, Maternal Fish Consumption, Mercury Levels, and Risk of Preterm Delivery: Discussion
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/553133_4

Is "USDA Organic" a seal of deceit? The pitfalls of USDA certified organics produced in the United States, China and beyond.

Mercury Toxicity and Treatment: A Review of the Literature. Robin A. Bernhoft. J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 460508.

Sources of Mercury Exposure for U.S. Seafood Consumers: Implications for Policy. Noelle E. Selin, Elsie M. Sunderland, Christopher D. Knightes, Robert P. Mason. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 January; 118(1): 137–143.

The influence of nutrition on methyl mercury intoxication.L Chapman, H M Chan. Environ Health Perspect. 2000 March; 108(Suppl 1): 29–56.

Neurobehavioral effects of developmental methylmercury exposure.[low chronic levels cause neurologic effects] S G Gilbert, K S Grant-Webster. Environ Health Perspect. 1995 September; 103(Suppl 6): 135–142.

New Evidence on Variations of Human Body Burden of Methylmercury from Fish Consumption.René Canuel, Sylvie Boucher de Grosbois, Laura Atikessé, Marc Lucotte, Paul Arp, Charles Ritchie, Donna Mergler, Hing Man Chan, Marc Amyot, Robin Anderson. Environ Health Perspect. 2006 February; 114(2): 302–306.

Impacts of traditional food consumption advisories: Compliance, changes in diet and loss of confidence in traditional foods. Claire McAuley, Loren D Knopper. Environ Health. 2011; 10: 55.

The Changing Landscape of Arctic Traditional Food. Tim Lougheed. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 September; 118(9): A386–A393.

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) allele distribution in the world. Is APOE*4 a 'thrifty' allele? Corbo RM, Scacchi R. Ann Hum Genet. 1999 Jul;63(Pt 4):301-10.

Apolipoprotein E and atherosclerosis in Greenland Inuit. Boudreau DA, Scheer WD, Malcom GT, Mulvad G, Pedersen HS, Jul E.Atherosclerosis. 1999 Jul;145(1):207-19.

Synergy between the C2 allele of transferrin and the C282Y allele of the haemochromatosis gene (HFE) as risk factors for developing Alzheimer's disease. [the effects areextremely exacerbated in apoE4 carriers] Robson KJ, Lehmann DJ, Wimhurst VL, Livesey KJ, Combrinck M, Merryweather-Clarke AT, Warden DR, Smith AD.J Med Genet. 2004 Apr;41(4):261-5.

Alzheimer disease: mercury as pathogenetic factor and apolipoprotein E as a moderator. Mutter J, Naumann J, Sadaghiani C, Schneider R, Walach H.Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2004 Oct;25(5):331-9.

An observational study on the influence of the APOE-epsilon4 allele on the correlation between 'free' copper toxicosis and EEG activity in Alzheimer disease.Zappasodi F, Salustri C, Babiloni C, Cassetta E, Del Percio C, Ercolani M, Rossini PM, Squitti R.Brain Res. 2008 Jun 18;1215:183-9.

Bioaccumulation syndrome: identifying factors that make some stream food webs prone to elevated mercury bioaccumulation. Darren M. Ward, Keith H. Nislow, Carol L. Folt. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 May; 1195: 62–83.

Fish Consumption and Advisory Awareness in the Great Lakes Basin. Pamela Imm, Lynda Knobeloch, Henry A. Anderson, the Great Lakes Sport Fish Consortium. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 October; 113(10): 1325–1329.

Evaluation of Mercury Exposure Reduction through a Fish Consumption Advisory Program for Anishinaabe Tribal Members in Northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. J. A. Foran, A. D. DeWeese, M. J. Hudson, N. E. Kmiecik. J Environ Public Health. 2010; 2010: 802584.

Adult Women’s Blood Mercury Concentrations Vary Regionally in the United States: Association with Patterns of Fish Consumption (NHANES 1999–2004). [higher mercury in the more affluent, more Asian, more coastal, more fisheating] Kathryn R. Mahaffey, Robert P. Clickner, Rebecca A. Jeffries. Environ Health Perspect. 2009 January; 117(1): 47–53.

Elevated Mercury Concentrations in Humans of Madre de Dios, Peru. Katy Ashe. PLoS One. 2012; 7(3): e33305.

Research into Mercury Exposure and Health Education in Subsistence Fish-Eating Communities of the Amazon Basin: Potential Effects on Public Health Policy.José G. Dórea. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2010 September; 7(9): 3467–3477.

A preliminary study of mercury exposure and blood pressure in the Brazilian Amazon. Myriam Fillion, Donna Mergler, Carlos José Sousa Passos, Fabrice Larribe, Mélanie Lemire, Jean Rémy Davée Guimarães.Environ Health. 2006; 5: 29.

Hydroxylated PCB metabolites and PCBs in serum from pregnant Faroese women.Britta Fängström, Maria Athanasiadou, Philippe Grandjean, Pál Weihe, Ake BergmanEnviron Health Perspect. 2002 September; 110(9): 895–899.

Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Three Organochlorine Pesticides in Fish from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.Sara Hardell, Hanna Tilander, Gretchen Welfinger-Smith, Joanna Burger, David O. Carpenter. PLoS One. 2010; 5(8): e12396.

Re-evaluation of blood mercury, lead and cadmium concentrations in the Inuit population of Nunavik (Québec): a cross-sectional study. Julie Fontaine, Éric Dewailly, Jean-Louis Benedetti, Daria Pereg, Pierre Ayotte, Serge Déry. Environ Health. 2008; 7: 25.

Assessment of dietary exposure to trace metals in Baffin Inuit food.H M Chan, C Kim, K Khoday, O Receveur, H V Kuhnlein. Environ Health Perspect. 1995 Jul-Aug; 103(7-8): 740–746.

Determinants of polychlorinated biphenyls and methylmercury exposure in inuit women of childbearing age.G Muckle, P Ayotte, Dewailly E, S W Jacobson, J L Jacobson. Environ Health Perspect. 2001 September; 109(9): 957–963.

This site is all about evolutionary changes, health from the ancient/paleo perspective, and how our genes are imprinted to adapt and survive (whether we want to or not).

Role of Hyperinsulinemia = ENERGY DIES

Chronically high insulin (from high refined carbs, from gluten/food-stressors, hypothyroidism, low progesterone, adrenal dysfunction, metal toxicity, endocrine disruptors, etc) raises insulin resistance in our organs which can lead to increased small dense LDL, high TG and low HDLs. A cascade of further hormone changes and vascular adjustments occurs. Vascular blood pressure may increase. Pre-clinical hypertension can develop and eventually atherosclerosis ('scarring' in affected vessels) and diabetes (inappropriate and chronically elevated blood glucoses). Later, the natural progression of this hormonal storm of insulin dysfunction includes diabetes complications or target organs (kidney, eye, nerve damage), heart failure and heart events (revascularization surgery, heart attack, angina, sudden death, bypass and/or stent placements).

Keep The Insulin Low

Lamarche B et al wrote an editorial in 1996 (see Ref 1) and NEJM (N Engl J Med. 1996 Apr 11;334(15):952-7.) and wrote that the higher quintiles of insulin were highly associated with higher rates of atherosclerosis and heart events in the Quebec Cardiovascular trial. 67 pmol/L (= 9.3 mIU/L) was used as odds ratio = 1.0 (it's still high IMHO; goal = 4 mIU/L in other words less than ~28 pmol/L). See above bar graph (Ref 1).

Convert pmol/L by dividing 7.175 for mIU/L. More about 'normal' fasting insulin HERE.

The Lamarche B et al state "For example, an 11-fold increase in ischaemic heart disease [IHD] risk was noted among men with both hyperinsulinaemia and elevated apo B levels, these two metabolic abnormalities being common among individuals with abdominal obesity, especially when associated with high levels of visceral (intra-abdominal) adipose tissue.

Visceral (Intra-Abdominal) Adipose Tissue

What is Visceral Adipose Tissue? Do you have any? I do. On my belly. In my head... from the ravages of the high carb S.A.D., high omega-6 intoxification, high trans-fat/F*CK-TOSE intake from my childhood/teens/early-20s-30s (OK. a long time, most of my life), sedentary lifestyle, undiagnosed Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroidism, stress of LIFE, et cetera.

Fatty calcified livers (e.g. NASH, fatty liver, NAFLD, foie gras) ?

Fatty calcified atherosclerotic plaque?

Fatty calcified atherosclerotic plaque in arteries: Renal, Carotid, Coronary, Peripheral, PENILE (e.g. ***Erectile Dysfunction BABY -- you do not have a Viagra-deficiency) ?

Fatty calcified thyroids ?

Fatty calcified adrenal glands ?

Fatty calcified pineal glands (e.g. insomnia) ?

Fatty calcified pancreas glands (e.g. metabolic syndrome, diabetes) ?

Fatty calcified gallbladders (e.g. GERD, dyspepsia, heartburn, gas/bloating)?

Fatty calcified ovaries/ fallopian tubes/ fibroids/endometriosis/ PCOS?

Keep The Insulin Relatively LOW

Many benefits improve on lower carb Paleo/ancestral diets. Why? It works and best matches our DNA genetic expression.

Lamarche B et al in Quebec, Canada have elucidated a few things about insulin, e.g. chronically high insulin and insulin resistance (IR).

Insulin and IR are related to high TG, low HDL, and high dense LDL and high visceral fat and high belly circumferences.

MOREOVER... More morbidity. More mortality.

From their JAMA publication (see Ref 2 and below Table 2) they showed in the Quebec Cardiovascular trial that 3 factors are highly associated with death and cardiovascular events:

(1) elevated fasting INSULIN

(2) elevated TRIGLYCERIDES (because these reflect HIGH dietary carbohydrates and LOW essential saturated dietary and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids)

(3) apoB, any amount sdLDL, high sdLDL (refers to 'small dense LDL' not total LDL -- total LDL is total CR*P and though the authors talk about total LDL here they correct and clarify themselves in Ref #3, 5, and 8; these French Canadian investigators are not full of cr*p)

Lamarche B et al Also Showed That...

Associated with coronary plaque in the French-Canadian Quebec Cardiovascular trial (see reference list):

--Ref 3: presence of sdLDL

--Ref 4: low HDL2, the 'good' large HDL particles which are highly associated with regression of disease (the higher, the better in normal bell-shaped curves)

--Ref 5: Beyond LDL... total-LDL is meaningless, only sdLDL really matters. Conventional cholesterol panels and LDL are CR*P. The lipoproteins need to be fractionated by size and buoyancy for a progressive, accurate and sensitive reliable metric.

--Ref 6: visceral fat, it'll kill ya if exceeds a threshold

--Ref 7: high fibrinogen (which reflects high carbs, low n-3, low sat fat) + Lp(a) associated with DEATH and cardiovascular events

--Ref 8: 13 years later after the Quebec Cardiovascular STUDY... only thing that matters is sdLDL... the small dense LDL subfraction... related to death and cardiovascular events. Large LDL do not matter, the authors concluded. In fact many experts believe large buoyant LDL are anti-atherogenic and antioxidants. I highly agree. The larger, the PHATTER, the merrier.

Paleo Works. In Only Ten Days: Lynda Frassetto MD et al

Why is eating a (semi) unrefined, ancient-styled diet the way to go for reversal of chronic diseases and longevity? No simple answers but Paleo lowers chronic hyperinsulinemia. Frassetto et al at the University of California, San Francisco recently published a 10-day trial comparing metabolic changes and hypertension improvements on the paleolithic diet.

Paleo controls insulin better than Zone 40/30/30 and of course WAY way better than the S.A.D.

HOMA is a measurement of insulin resistance. Paleo (despite being high carb and low sat fat) achieved a 72% reduction in insulin resistance, HOMA (p=0.07). This was a high carb, low glycemic index with carbohydrates at ~~ 200 g/day diet. It was matched to the SAD diet. What an ingenius diet trial! Lower carb of course may be preferred for those with significant insulin resistance and fat-burning challenges. Higher sat fat, IDEAL in my opinion.

In this trial (see below Table 3), in terms of lipoproteins, Trigs were still high (e.g. excessive dietary carbs in the form of honey, pineapple, carrot juice, melon and excessive n-6 mayo) and HDLs still marginally suboptimal (e.g. saturated fat deficiency). HDLs often mirror the LDL particle size.

Lower carb high sat fat Paleo would have improved these parameters. See prior animal pharm posts:
Benefits of High Saturated Fat Diets: My Paleo PEEPS With High HDLs

The premise is to alter the neolithic, post-agriculture diet macronutrients and micronutrients (glycemic load, glycemic index, gluten, lectins/phytic acid, legumes and dairy). Amazing insulin changes happen.

Is this what our genes were designed for 2.5 million years to do? We don't live in a land of honey, sweets and fruit. We are meant to starve sporadically, lift heavy things occasionally, move intensely intermittently, relax daily, play, hug, make babies (umm.. do I need to elaborate?) and eat foods that our ancestors thrived on. Complying to the genetic programming and optimizing where the genes and genetic expression are screwed up will provide a reprieve in these neolithic times IMHO.

"CONCLUSIONS: Even short-term consumption [10 days worth] of a paleolithic type diet [no grains, no legumes, no dairy, low glycemic index, ALBEIT HIGH CARB matching the s.a.d. diet] improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans." [some were overweight UCSF medical school students]

UCSF Frassetto et al Shows Paleo Controls IR and Insulin

Compared with the 'usual diet' (e.g. standard American diet), the Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherer diets controlled insulin, HOMA (insulin resistance) better than the usual S.A.D. in overweight men and women ages 18+ years old. These results are nothing short of phenomenal in a Big Pharma-dominated medicine tradition. No drug replicates these results, especially in only 7-10 days. No drugs (except glandular, hormonal or omega-3 fish oil pharmaceuticals) are disease reversing; they serve only to band-aid and hide in my experience. In modern, conventionally-schooled medicine, no cause or pathophysiology is assigned to the disease known as hypertension. Apparently the role of insulin and refined dietary carbohydrates (or other endocrine disrupting factors) are not considered. Conventional weight loss, diet ('low fat') and exercise are always prescribed yet rarely in my observations is hypertension stopped or reversed by these means successfully and long-term. Why?

Previous blogosphere hits on Frassetto's seminal study:

--Dr. Mike Eades MD discussed HERE.

--Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple HERE

--Matt Metzgar recently discussed as well HERE.

--Even Lyle discussed briefly HERE.

--My bud master Chris @conditionresearch.com which is one website that lead to my rapid health reveral discusses naturally of course HERE.

--Dr. Briffa discussed HERE.

--My bud O Primitivo discusses HEREin Portuguese.

--And even Dr. Davis discusses HERE linking back to the inimitable, matchless Protein Power Dr. Mike Eades.

Aging and Insulin: EORS (Epigenetic Oxidative Redox Shift)

Aging and oncogenesis are related to insulin.

Brewer (Ref #10) has explained how aging is related to insulin and insulin resistance. What degrades mitochondrial efficiency?

In the modern Western diet (now currently imported globally to Europe and China along with Western diseases), high refined carbs, refined fructose, industrial pesticides, toxic heavy metals, and refined vegetable oils brimming with omega-6 PUFAs are the typical culprits adding to the insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia burden. Chronically elevated blood insulin leads to an overall fattening effect which can calcify and harden the liver, the arteries, and many other organs (thyroid, adrenals, arteries, endothelium, vasculature, pancreas, gallbladder, brain etc).

Brewer describes "This metabolic shift is epigenetically enforced, as is insulin resistance to reduce mitochondrial turnover. The low mitochondrial capacity for efficient production of energy reinforces a downward spiral of more sedentary behavior leading to accelerated aging, increased organ failure with stress, impaired immune and vascular failuresand brain aging. Several steps in the pathway are amenable to reversal for exit from the vicious cycle of EORS. Examples from our work in the aging rodent brain as well as other aging models are provided."

Low carbohydrate diet (15%) in rodents extends longevity and minimizes tumour growth compared with S.A.D. low fat, high carb diet. See Ref #12.

Resistance training reverses aging. See Ref #13. Burn baby burn.

References

1. Risk factors for ischaemic heart disease: is it time to measure insulin?
Després JP, Lamarche B, Mauriège P, Cantin B, Lupien PJ, Dagenais GR.
Eur Heart J. 1996 Oct;17(10):1453-4.

2. Fasting insulin and apolipoprotein B levels and low-density lipoprotein particle size as risk factors for ischemic heart disease.
Lamarche B, Tchernof A, Mauriège P, Cantin B, Dagenais GR, Lupien PJ, Després JP.
JAMA. 1998 Jun 24;279(24):1955-61.

3. Small, dense low-density lipoprotein particles as a predictor of the risk of ischemic heart disease in men. Prospective results from the Québec Cardiovascular Study.
Lamarche B, Tchernof A, Moorjani S, Cantin B, Dagenais GR, Lupien PJ, Després JP.
Circulation. 1997 Jan 7;95(1):69-75.

4. Associations of HDL2 and HDL3 subfractions with ischemic heart disease in men. Prospective results from the Québec Cardiovascular Study.
Lamarche B, Moorjani S, Cantin B, Dagenais GR, Lupien PJ, Després JP.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1997 Jun;17(6):1098-105.

5. Atherosclerosis prevention for the next decade: risk assessment beyond low density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Lamarche B, Lewis GF.
Can J Cardiol. 1998 Jun;14(6):841-51. Review.

6. Visceral obesity and the risk of ischaemic heart disease: insights from the Québec Cardiovascular Study.
Lamarche B, Lemieux S, Dagenais GR, Després JP.
Growth Horm IGF Res. 1998 Apr;8 Suppl B:1-8. Review.

7. Is lipoprotein(a) an independent risk factor for ischemic heart disease in men? The Quebec Cardiovascular Study.
Cantin B, Gagnon F, Moorjani S, Després JP, Lamarche B, Lupien PJ, Dagenais GR.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 1998 Mar 1;31(3):519-25.

8. Low-density lipoprotein subfractions and the long-term risk of ischemic heart disease in men: 13-year follow-up data from the Québec Cardiovascular Study.
St-Pierre AC, Cantin B, Dagenais GR, Mauriège P, Bernard PM, Després JP, Lamarche B.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005 Mar;25(3):553-9.

9. Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. [Free PDF CLICK]
Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Aug;63(8):947-55. Epub 2009 Feb 11.

10. Epigenetic oxidative redox shift (EORS) theory of aging unifies the free radical and insulin signaling theories.
Brewer GJ.
Exp Gerontol. 2009 Nov 26.

12. A low carbohydrate, high protein diet slows tumor growth and prevents cancer initiation.

Ho VW, Leung K, Hsu A, Luk B, Lai J, Shen SY, Minchinton AI, Waterhouse D, Bally MB, Lin W, Nelson BH, Sly LM, Krystal G.

Cancer Res. 2011 Jul 1;71(13):4484-93.

13. Resistance exercise reverses aging in human skeletal muscle.
Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA, Beckman K, Felkey K, Hubbard A.
PLoS One. 2007 May 2;2(5):e465.

[Revised from my Nephropal blogpost]

Migraine Headache Syndrome

Definition: 'A migraine is a throbbing, unilateral headache that is
often associated with nausea, vomiting, photophobia, or an aura
~i.e., a transient disturbance of vision or of various aspects
of neurological function. More than 10% of Americans
suffer from migraines, with the prevalence in women
being about 3 times that in men. The cause of migraine is
not well understood, although it is thought to be due in
part to vasoconstriction followed by reactive vasodilatation.'

Nutritional Medicine textbook, Ch 136, Dr. Alan Gaby MD

Disclosure -- I'm not afflicted by headaches often (unless my child flunks a math quiz) and, never, migraines, yet I've met a ton of people with migraines. Many of my friends experience migraines or used to (half of my favorite gal pals and guy friends). Certain phenotypic characteristics and 'gifts' are inescapable IMHO that I have observed in these individuals: extreme intuition, sometimes clairvoyance, approachability, and super-powered senses (smell, sound, sight, sensory stimuli, barometric pressure, mind-reading). Additionally, migraineur patients, acquaintances and friends have told me that random people just enjoy blindly going up to them and spilling their entire life stories. (No one does that to me) I think that is notable. What do you think of your migraineur family or friends? I'd like to hear other perspectives on this...

These pals who suffer headaches are special to me. They read my mind and I don't need to talk or articulate...wish I could marry them (...just kidding). Some I speak to rarely like Patrik V. who runs Paleohacks.com, yet before he has said things and I'll think 'wtf exit my head.' When some paleo friends first convened, he reported that he had once suffered incapacitating migraine headaches since age six (hiding under tables whilst his mother couldn't find him for hours) until he serendipitously discovered the headache-banishing benefits of the grain-free and dairy-free paleo diet. That's a common story in paleo-land.

Migraine headaches are a P-A-I-N and that is a distinct understatement if you talk to any patient who suffers from migraines which are described as debilitating to the point of impairing function leading to lost quality of life and days of work, family, and leisure time.

Takano and Nedergaard (see above photo) describe a migraine headache as a sweeping change in electrical depolarization across the brain which is followed by an extended period of neural torpor or suppression. They call it cortical spreading depression (CSD), stating 'Written accounts of migraine are nearly as old as writing itself. Descriptions of headaches, dating to roughly 3000 BCE, have been found in the ruins of the ancient Sumerian civilization.' Perhaps like narrow jaws, occclusions, and tight dental arches (per Weston A. Price), mass migraines and brain pain initiated with the advent of agriculture and the ubiquitous introduction of refined grain carbohydrates into the prehistoric human hunter-gatherer diet? Perhaps migraineurs have indeed a set of gifts that were naturally selected for despite the outstanding pain and discomfort?

Evolutionary Advantage of Migraine Headaches?

Harvard neurology professor Loder wrote a Cephalalgia review and presentation 'Migraineur in the Interictus' suggesting evolutionary benefits of the development of the characteristics seen in migraineurs. Highly responsive nervous systems that detect sensory stimuli at low inputs definitely would be traits worthy of evolutionary selection and retention in the progress of human civilization. 'Hearing the approach of enemies, being eaten by a saber-tooth tiger or detecting or avoiding spoiled or adulterated food' might have been compelling pressures that were affected by the communication of low or nearly negligible levels of sensory information in the environment, plants, people, animals and other living creatures.

Ancient Treatment for Migraine Headaches: Hole(s) in the Head, Trepanation

In ancient times, it is hypothesized that headaches and migraines were treated with trepanation (boring a hole or holes into skull to release the pressure and pulsation). If I had severe head pain I'd seriously consider but, yeah, I need a hole in my head like a new Jimmy Choo fake purse! Several lines of evidence relating to archaeological remains report that clinical outcomes and survival were astonishingly decent: HERE.

Photo credit: Asylum Science

Our Brains are Still Evolving

I'd wildly speculate that the ancestors of individuals with migraines had unique abilities which allowed them to thrive in certain conditions requiring sensitivity to environmental changes and influence in group cooperation, gaining trust, tight social networks and perhaps weather/storm predictions. In is not a coincidence that the individuals with migraines (if not completely unfunctional) are frequently leaders in their little (or big) so-called tribal units, in my shallow awareness. NY Times science writer Nicholas Wade wrote in The Twists and the Turns of History, Our DNA, 'The political scientist Francis Fukuyama has distinguished between high-trust and low-trust societies, arguing that trust is a basis for prosperity. Since his 1995 book on the subject, researchers have found that oxytocin, a chemical active in the brain, increases the level of trust, at least in psychological experiments. Oxytocin levels are known to be under genetic control in other mammals like voles.' He has written quite a bit more extensively that our sapien brains grew in size for the machinery necessary to handle intricate, complicated and peaceful social complexity.

Super Perception, e.g. Mind Reading

Many new studies highlight the salient features of oxytocin for perception, feedback, empathetic accuracy and affiliation reward reinforcement. Two recent human controlled trials showed a demonstrated increased gaze focus and the ability to visually read and interpret facial emotional cues after oxytocin administration (some authors called it mind reading). From sciencedaily.com one of the researchers Lerknes explained "We found that oxytocin intensified test subjects' awareness of the emotions present in the photos. Faces expressing anger stood out as angrier and less happy, and correspondingly, faces expressing happiness were happier." Graded results occurred -- "It turns out that those with the lowest aptitude for judging emotional expression properly -- that is, those with the poorest scores during the saltwater round -- were the ones who showed the greatest improvement using oxytocin."

Author Nancy Casey hypothesizes in a post 'Oxytocin Gaze' that human hunters emulated carnivorous predators in their meticulous gaze and visual assimilation of the terrain. She posits that the same gaze that is possibly related to oxytocin which maybe employed by mothers in surveying and tracking their newborn babies, meeting their needs, and ensuring their survival in the face of vast helplessness and under-maturity.

Modern Conventionally-Schooled Medical Treatment of Migraines: Overwhelmingly Uneffective

One out of every six women experiences migraine headaches of some form in America. The population prevalence is 11.7% and comparatively higher than the insane diabetes epidemic in adult Americans (11.3%, 2011 data). Migraine headaches are no small statistic. With a wide gender divide, women have triple (17.1%) the incidence as men (5.6%). It's also no coincidence women have more oxytocin than men as well; for us it can regulate love, lust, labor, lactation, and maternal caregiving.

Funny thing is that if migraineurs have mega mindfulness and their oxytocin is messed up by being either super fluctuating high/low or inappropriately inconsistent or unstable levels (like blood glucoses in the reactive hypoglycemia model), then it may explain why oxytocin given as a I.V. drug it was 100% successful in halting immediately two cases of refractory migraines seen in an ER unit and in a prospective human study where oxytocin was provided (intranasally, ya know, like cocaine) by Yeomans and Jacobs, Stanford pain researchers, to refractory patients was associated with halting 50% of migraines and reducing 27% (total, 77% better) compared with 11% of placebo.

My observations are that migraine prevalence and occurrence are unchanged despite great 'advances' in pharmacology (abortive triptans and preventive pharmaceuticals), diagnostic science and understanding of the physiology of this condition. Like essential hypertension and the great majority of textbook medical conditions, the underlying pathophysiology are still elusive and undetermined, despite wonderful and fantastic fMRI and genetic sequencing techniques. A recent review confirms these considerations, the prevalence of migraines is still the same as 15 years; absolutely no improvements despite the triptan class of medications (which can abort a migraine in 20-60 min 50-70s%, versus placebo 17-40%), preventive therapy (modification of neurotransmitters and vasculature; BP drugs, antidepressants, anti-epileptic drugs), and the standard 'migraine trigger avoidance diet' of avoiding the 5 C's (cheese chocolate coffee coke citrus). Pharmaceuticals and ridiculous wheat-based diets fail long-term.

What Does Work Long-Term for Migraines: Paleo/Oligo-Antigenic Diet (OAD)

Some of oxytocin's target organ sites include the brain, the gut and thymus. All are organs responsible for the enormous function of homeostasis, immunity and controlling inflammation. It is no wonder that the brain cannot function optimally in isolation from the gut, and no wonder at all that all things that promote healing of the gut can improve migraine headache prevention and amelioration.

The medical literature from the last 30-80 years in fact identifies wheat (78% Grant, Lancet 1979), cow milk (37%), other cereals, cane sugar, yeast, corn, citrus, and eggs as top migraine-inducing factors. Identification and elimination of food antigens is key to healing the gut. Sealing of the damage and microperforations by altering intestinal permeability is secondary and vital. The paleo/ancestral diet and oligo-antigenic diets maybe best with focus on individual susceptibilities and immuno-endocrine optimization. Similar to the results obtained by Frasetto et al in their 10-day paleo experiment for reversal of pre-clinical hypertension in overweight patients, the researcher Grant (Lancet, 1979) in a seminal study looked 60 migraineurs with food antigen immunoreactivity. After only 5-days of an elimination diet (pseudo paleo) she reported 'When an average of ten common foods were avoided there was a dramatic fall in the number of headaches per month, 85% of patients becoming headache-free. The 25% of patients with hypertension became normotensive.'

Dealing with circulating antigen-antibody and immune complexes that are formed in the body when food antigens and microbial peptides (cell walls, DNA, cellular contents, junk) interact with immune system may help permanently to achieve and to maintain disease resolution, I believe. Two recently published human RCTs (Aplay et al and Mitchell et al) showed that by eliminating foods linked to high food-antigen related immune globulin IgG titers, an association for statistically significant reductions in migraine headaches occurred at 6 weeks and 4 weeks, respectively. Heal...Seal...Deal...

References

Deciphering migraine

Takahiro Takano, Maiken Nedergaard

J Clin Invest. 2009 January 5; 119(1): 16–19.

What is the evolutionary advantage of migraine? [Free PDF CLICK]

Loder E.

Cephalalgia. 2002 Oct;22(8):624-32. Review.

http://www.hcop.com/PDF/Migraineur%20in%20the%20Interictus%20-%20Loder.pdf [Elizabeth Loder MD]

Resilience in migraine brains: decrease of coherence after photic stimulation

Marcelo C. A. Rodrigues et al.

Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6: 207.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/weekinreview/12wade.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print [Nicholas Wade]

http://www.lancasterlawoffice.com/Media/Wade,%20Before%20the%20Dawn.pdf [Nicholas Wade, cliff notes]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/conversation-eo-wilson.html

http://www.authornancycasey.com/oxytocin-gaze/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120730094909.htm [Siri Leknes interview]

Oxytocin enhances pupil dilation and sensitivity to 'hidden' emotional expressions.

Leknes S, Wessberg J, Ellingsen DM, Chelnokova O, Olausson H, Laeng B.

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Jun 29.

Oxytocin improves "mind-reading" in humans. [Free PDF CLICK]

Domes G, Heinrichs M, Michel A, Berger C, Herpertz SC.

Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Mar 15;61(6):731-3.

Associations between the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and "mind-reading" in humans-An exploratory study.

Lucht MJ, Barnow S, Sonnenfeld C, Ulrich I, Grabe HJ, Schroeder W, Völzke H, Freyberger HJ, John U, Herrmann FH, Kroemer H, Rosskopf D.

Nord J Psychiatry. 2012 Jul 19.

Migraine prevalence, disease burden, and the need for preventive therapy.

Lipton RB, Bigal ME, Diamond M, Freitag F, Reed ML, Stewart WF; AMPP Advisory Group.

Neurology. 2007 Jan 30;68(5):343-9.

Relief of acute migraine headache with intravenous oxytocin: report of two cases.

Phillips WJ, Ostrovsky O, Galli RL, Dickey S.

J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2006;20(3):25-8.

Yeomans DC, Manering N, Pascual C, Angst MS, Jacobs D, Mechanic J, Jacobs A,

Qiao Y, Winkle C, Frey W. Nasal Oxytocin for Head Pain. 13th World Congress on

Pain, 2010.

Yeomans DC, Pascual CR, Jacobs A, Angst MS, Jacobs D, Winkle CC, Frey WH.

Intranasal Oxytocin for Craniofacial Pain. Annual Meeting of the Society for

Neuroscience, 2009.

An Integrative Model of Migraine Based on Intestinal Etiology
David McMillin, MA
http://www.meridianinstitute.com/reports/headache/Appendix%20D.pdf

http://www.drcordas.com/education/Headaches/1doc.pdf [Oligo-Antigenic Diet abstracts]

http://www.nutramed.com/kidney/nephritis_foodallergy.htm [Benefits of binding immune complexes or OAD abstracts]

Food allergies and migraine.
Grant EC.

Lancet. 1979 May 5;1(8123):966-9.

IgG-mediated allergy: a new mechanism for migraine attacks? [Free PDF CLICK]

Pascual J, Oterino A.

Cephalalgia. 2010 Jul;30(7):777-9.

Role of circulating immune complexes in renal diseases.

Levinsky RJ.

J Clin Pathol. 1981 Nov;34(11):1214-22.

Diet restriction in migraine, based on IgG against foods: a clinical double-blind, randomised, cross-over trial.

Alpay K, Ertas M, Orhan EK, Ustay DK, Lieners C, Baykan B.

Cephalalgia. 2010 Jul;30(7):829-37.

Randomised controlled trial of food elimination diet based on IgG antibodies for the prevention ofmigraine like headaches.

Mitchell N, Hewitt CE, Jayakody S, Islam M, Adamson J, Watt I, Torgerson DJ.

Nutr J. 2011 Aug 11;10:85.

View from a walking
path in Century Park

Shanghai, China

Hunter's Trance Link to Oxytocin?

'He [Edward O. Wilson, Harvard evolutionary biologist] called this state the “hunter’s trance”, connecting it to the anecdotal reports of many hunters and argued that the ability to enter such a trance is connected to humans’ enormous evolutionary success. When they left the forest for a life on the savannah, hominids who entered the “hunter’s trance” were able to learn the habits of carnivorous predators as well as the animals they hunted. Those who didn’t have the ability were most likely to get eaten...

Enter oxytocin, a hormone best known for starting childbirth and inducing lactation. It turns out that it does a lot more than that. It is secreted at the base of the brain, in the hypothalamus, and the entire nervous system is sensitive to its effects. Oxytocin production is stimulated by estrogen, but it is not a female-only hormone, because men produce it as well.

Oxytocin lowers the heart rate and blood pressure, quiets the brain’s fear centers, and suppresses the production of stress hormones. Childbirth begins with a flood of oxytocin that contracts the uterus and stimulates milk production. Nursing stimulates the production of more oxytocin, as does the sight or sound of the baby. New mothers will even produce oxytocin at the mention of their baby’s name or upon seeing a photograph. It’s oxytocin that puts new mothers in the brain-addled state that allows them to spend hours gazing at their babies, finding new and fascinating details in their faces and tiny bodies. The equivalent of a “hunter’s trance” in the mother ensures survival for the otherwise helpless infant.'

Author /Blogger Nancy Casey

Chillout Music Love Chapter 2
Credit: Youtube.com

Scenes of beautiful natural scenery, goddesses
and other gorgeous creatures of Mexico

Biophilia, 'Lover of Life'

E.O. Wilson the Harvard evolutionary biologist has written and spoken about many topics in regards to our evolutionary past and misalignments with the modern age (de-forestation, insufficient exploration of our natural world, excessive wheat and grain fields replacing natural habitats, etc). One topic I like a lot is based on a term that he coined biophilia, 'lover of life' because this type philosophy sums up a lot of my current thoughts on modern pharmaceuticals and the problems with the entrenched disease-model which tries to match a (drug, synthetic toxin) to every symptom on a growing list of symptoms modern men and women inevitably accrue with the reliance on perhaps what is an unnatural human diet and lifestyle (consistent stressors, refined grains, GMO crop products, neurotoxins, EDCs, environmental pollution). For every little sniffle, cough or stomach ailment, a conventionally-trained practitioner will happily prescribe antibiotics without reserve. With each new study on the gut, immunology and their connections to health, it verifies to me that antibiotics are indeed fulfilling their definition... anti-life or against-life. Antibiotics eradicate both the good and bad bacterial species, leaving the few, hardier pathogenic yeast and bacteria species to thrive in cleared out niches -- to putrify and overgrow in the small (SIBO) and large intestines.. Naturally they can fester in the other orifices and compartments (e.g. sinus cavities, v*gina cavities, oral cavities, etc) and/or translocate to internal organs. Worse, the 'good' microbiota may never ever be restored or replaced according to some new data, despite even use either of probiotics and fecal transplants. Pandemic food allergies, skin conditions, chronic illnesses, autism and autoimmune diseases continue to expand despite so-called advances in pharmaceutical medical care. Probiotics, PRO-LIFE, are great and pro-biotic foods are even better (dirt-containing, traditionally prepared fermented vegetables, meat, seafood, fowl (kiviak), kopi luwak, beans, buckwheat, dairy, etc).

Root Transplant: Ex-Pat Living in Shanghai, China

We've lived now in Shanghai for one year after moving from California and the transition was not smooth (for me; kids were only disgruntled for a few months). Displacement was a humongous stressor and I went straight into adrenal dysfunction for 6 long weeks which I've written about earlier: ADRENALS ONE AND TWO. When you tend to be 'rigid' I think it takes quite a bit longer to adapt and figure out the terrain... Do you how a gardener can improve success of transplanting a plant by dusting powdered GA (gibberillic acid) on the roots prior to transferring? Before coming here, I wish I had me some magic rooting dust...

Anyway after having the f-cking sh-t kicked out of my mojo, life turned around, this January when we came back. I actually tremendously missed our new space, friends and our adventures. Subsequently, I became busy whilst tending to the new root system... resuming and enjoying a transformed life (China stuff... family activities, reading, expat friends, working out, cooking, yoga, tai chi, kickboxing, sprint tri's).

Sorry for the absence on the blog! I did really miss it...

Oxytocin: You don't have any when you are depressed

In my little n=1 self experiment I can probably attribute a couple of super vital things that factored into re-establishing allostasis. Last fall my children brought back a high maintenance kitten Angel. She was about a few weeks old and had to be hand-fed every 2-3 hours. I believe she raised my oxytocin. We had to give her up to a foster home eventually due to anaphylactic like allergy reactions that my daughter ('N') used to have (instant asthma, face and eye swelling). However, this past spring my children surprisingly appeared to have grown out of most of their cat dander allergies, a discovery made after fostering 'Sylvia/Seal', another kitten! Melissa McEwen (Hunt Gather Love) told me a reassuring story once how she had overcome cat dander allergies after her gut was healed. I believe we all enjoyed better gut health, gradually since the Paleo diet, and for 'N' it was possibly related to how 'N' lost the last of her molars which were riddled with mercury amalgam (we are all mercury-free now). One of their classmates found a box of kittens that was left by their international school in March, and guess what? Yes. They brought them (all) home. And raised my OXYTOCIN ;) *haa ahaaha*

They fostered two kittens initially from the remaining litter. After two nights of round the clock feeding, as well-intentioned as they were, they could NOT for their life wake up to syringe- and bottle-feed on schedule). My oldest daughter found a home for one kitten after about one week and continued to provide excellent alloparenting of the second one, 'Sylvia/Seal'... See end for photoalbum...

Oxytocin is low in many chronically ill conditions according to studies (chronic pain, depression, autism, schizophrenia, surgically menopausal rodents with heart disease). Certain factors (sometimes at certain developmental stages) inhibit oxytocin production: touch deprivation, chronic pain, alcoholism, female estrogen deficiency.

Many factors can influence and positively affect oxytocin secretion... exercise (even in surgically menopausal rodents with heart disease; in humans any kind works but perhaps not until exhaustion), yoga, positive social contact, sex/climax, massage, having an attached pet gazing at you (see refs), you gazing at an attached pet, baby-at-your-boob, etc.

What are the effects of oxytocin per recent evidence [cute, source: myhealthnewsdaily.com]?

11. Oxytocin promotes attachment
10. Oxytocin solidifies relationships
9. Oxytocin eases stress
8. Oxytocin crystallizes emotional memories
7. Oxytocin facilitates birth and breastmilk
6. Oxytocin boosts sexual arousal (may even revive dead d*cks and v*ginas)
5. Oxytocin decreases drug abuse and cravings (alcohol, cocaine, narcotics, ecstasy, meth, cannabis, ??FOOD??!)
4. Oxytocin improves social skills
3. Oxytocin triggers protective instincts
2. Oxytocin induces sleep
1. Oxytocin fosters generosity

Animals Release Oxytocin from Everywhere

Oxytocin an ancient neuropeptide conserved across the animal kingdom. It is released and targets every important organ and site for the important processes: living, love, rest, digestion, immunity and reproduction. Emerging data that one of the target organs for oxytocin release and modulation is the gut and integrity of the intestinal lining which I think has great implications for resolving health issues and optimizing health. Any model for intestinal permeability uses a major stressor (physiological, pathological, pharmacological, psychological) on the experimental animal such as LPS (toxin from a microbial outer membrane), acid, large dose n-6 pufa, mercury, exercise stress, heat stress, physical isolation (particularly extended separation of babies from their mother). What occurs? Immediate and irrevocable micro and macroperforation (ulcers) of the gut.

Did you give and get your hugs today (including e-hugs)? Have you stroked your beloved feline or canine or children or neglected significant other? That's good... According to prolific oxytocin researchers Peterssen and Uvnäs-Moberg, oxytocin is not only extensively interconnected to the cortisol, noradrenaline and several neurotransmitter systems to produce long-term effects but may be highly correlated to resilience to stress, growth, healing and well-being.

References

Dog's gaze at its owner increases owner's urinary oxytocin during social interaction.

Nagasawa M, Kikusui T, Onaka T, Ohta M.

Horm Behav. 2009 Mar;55(3):434-41

Postnatal oxytocin alleviates adverse effects in adult rat offspring caused by maternal malnutrition.

Olausson H, Uvnäs-Moberg K, Sohlström A.

Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Mar;284(3):E475-80.

The orgasmic history of oxytocin: Love, lust, and labor.

Magon N, Kalra S.

Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Sep;15 Suppl 3:S156-61.

Male anorgasmia treated with oxytocin.

Ishak WW, Berman DS, Peters A.

J Sex Med. 2008 Apr;5(4):1022-4.

Topical oxytocin reverses vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women: a double-blind randomized pilot study.

Jonasson AF, Edwall L, Uvnäs-Moberg K.

Menopause Int. 2011 Dec;17(4):120-5.

Plasma oxytocin during intense exercise in professional cyclists.

Chicharro JL, Hoyos J, Bandrés F, Gómez Gallego F, Pérez M, Lucía A.

Horm Res. 2001;55(3):155-9.

Acute changes in endocrine and fluid balance markers during high-intensity, steady-state, and prolonged endurance running: unexpected increases in oxytocin and brain natriuretic peptide duringexercise.

Hew-Butler T, Noakes TD, Soldin SJ, Verbalis JG.

Eur J Endocrinol. 2008 Dec;159(6):729-37.

Oxytocin and social motivation.

Gordon I, Martin C, Feldman R, Leckman JF.

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Oct;1(4):471-93.

[Oxytocin, a mediator of anti-stress, well-being, social interaction, growth and healing]. [Free English PDF click]

Uvnas-Moberg K, Petersson M.

Z Psychosom Med Psychother. 2005;51(1):57-80.

Photoalbum: Our Oxytocin-Inducers, the Kittens We Fostered

'Twix' (Day 3-7?)... Alloparented (by 'N') for one week
before finding a permanent home

Twix's sister, 'Sylvia/Seal' (Day 5-7?)
Look at those LETHAL KITTY CLAWS
Alloparented for nearly 7 weeks

Initially, bottlefed for a few weeks. Later we
weaned her onto softened
paleo/ancestral food (Orijens),
raw egg yolks, pork belly,
and occasional chicken liver bits

Bottle fed every 3 hours, pooped-pee'd every 3 hours,
loved, gazed at and stroked EVERY WAKING MINUTE ;)

Seal/Sylvia (4-5 wks old) on right...
Another feline Xiao Bai (Little White, left) rescued by
my neighbor who found him in a box at Century Park
whilst walking her dog. We get to ~~babysit~~ catsit Xiao Bai
when she's out of town on business.

Outs*de of the Main... R-evolutionary docs, Integrative Medicine, Mitochondrial Medicine/Chi

Fermented Asian Food and Gut Dysbiosis 101

Eat My Biscuits. Sausage Biscuits wink

Thor: BIG, Bulging, Strong... Cardio+Xfit

Human DNA Migration and How to Extract DNA From a Banana

Ancestral Allele ApoE4: Super Brain Power, Fertility, Lipophilic Immunity

Apo ε4: Less UV-Triggered Vitamin D Required... Evolutionary Adaptation

Rockstar Edition: THE AHS 2011

Homo Purgare

The 'Middle Finger' Movement...Paleo? Yes.

' Death ' Bands: Subfraction LDL-IVb Strongest Predictor of CAD

Enchanted Places

Adrenal Fatigue and Jimmy Moore's LLVLC Podcast

Shanghai

Major Demything...

Pesticides May Cause U.S.A. Insulin Resistance and Obesity Trends

Pesticides in Shanghai and Globally

Insulin and The Paleo-Ancestral Diet: Frassetto et al 10-Day Study

Random Thoughts on Migraine Headaches, Oxytocin, and Mind-Reading

Anti-Stress, Growth, Healing, Well-being and Oxytocin -- Recent Research and Hypotheses