What do you think chronic inflammation is doing to your body right now?

Yes, I think you have some level of chronic inflammation going on right now.  I hope I am wrong, that you do not, but statistically, you probably do.  It is an ubiquitous player in modern life, a result of many foods you’ve been told are good, but are not; aggressive marketing by corporate edible producers, and lifestyle factors only some of which are under your control.

 Want to prove me wrong?  Ask your physician for a CRP (C-reactive protein) blood test.  It’s not obscure, and though they do not normally order it, they will without too much confrontation.  The test measures a protein that is part of the immune response.  A high level (above 1.0) indicate your immune system is simmering (or boiling) and not able to shut down so your body can heal.

 Do you have an medical condition?  Do you experience pain on a regular basis?  Those are manifestations of an immune system cranked up.  Healthy aging is not painful, forgetful, frail, disabled or fraught with medical diagnosis. 

 All those things ocurr in the presence of decades long chronic inflammation.  The damage continues to accrue until you have something (or somethings) wrong with you and a curtailed quality of life.

 So if you get the blood test, and it’s high, or you believe me that your chronic pain or disease is the result of chronic inflammation, what are you willing to do about it?  What exactly do you think it means for you—not the facts of it, but the consequence of it?

As I have researched inflammation, and what it means for myself, my friends and family, I can tell you what frightens me the most.  It is the effect of chronic inflammation on the health and function of my mind.  Having watched my own mother and others lose cognitive ability, I am most certain that isn’t what I want for myself.  An inflammed brain cannot stay sharp.  It cannot remember well.  It cannot serve us well.  But that’s not normal aging, it is pathology.

How do you reduce inflammation?  There are lots of things that help, but the biggest inflammatory factor in your body is the level of blood sugar and insulin.  They are an overwhelming cause of it.  Protein and fat do not increase blood sugar or spike insulin.  Only carbohydrates do.  Fewer are better for you, especially the high density things like sugars and grains.  The longer you have abused that system, the harder it is to get it working right again.

Next thing that reduces inflammation is to eliminate vegetable oils.  The healthy balance of Omega 3 oils (mostly animal fats) and Omega 6 oils (mostly vegetable sources) should be 50/50.  They do opposite things so an even balance keeps you right where mother nature intended.  For 40 years or more we were told saturated fat was deadly so they squeezed grass seeds to process out some oil and marketed rigorously.  Read labels.  Soy oil is in way too many packaged goods.  Too much Omega 6 is inflammatory.

Next is to eliminate the deficiencies.  Chances are very high that you are deficient in many minerals because almost everybody is.  Almost everyone is low in Vitamin D.  I blogged about these earlier this year.

Next, there are a variety of things that can tweak the process of eliminating inflammation, if the above steps do not do it for you--that depends on your individuality and lifestyle.  But the above are the ones to try first.  They are inexpensive, very effective, and have no bad side effects—only good ones. Yes, turmeric is anti-inflammatory, but if your blood sugar and insulin are high, turmeric’s benefit will be swamped and a waste of money.

Get the test.  While you’re getting that one (CRP) ask for fasting insulin.  Not fasting glucose.  Insulin should be 5 or below, lower is better.   Holler if you’d like help on any of this sort of nutritional approach to aging without brain fog, pain and disease!

So back to the question in the title…what do you think inflammation is doing in your body?  I think it is damaging you somewhere, shortening your life and increasing potential misery.  It’s keeping your body from being able to heal itself like it was intended. 

Findings on Dementia

Results from 7 studies about what things boost risk of your brain failing you as you age.  Two thing to remember.  a) Your body has only one thing it can do when something is wrong (toxins, deficiencies, injuries, micro invaders)--anything wrong, it cranks up inflammation.  If it gets cranked up and never allowed to shut down it causes damage.  Where that damage shows up for you is individual, but the biggies in the category of diseases of civilization are the heart, metabolism, brain and malignant growths. Ultimately they all are part of a network (you).  All the info below ties to the inflammation thermostat.

b) correlation does not equal cause but it's certainly suggestive.  My own feeling is that is eliminating something correlated with dementia is likely to help and non toxic, I don't need to wait for the final proof.

1.  People who were underweight in middle age were a third (34%) more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those of a healthy weight, and this increased risk of dementia persisted even 15 years after the underweight was recorded.

 2. This is the first study to show a dose response: linking more risk for developing dementia to higher use of anticholinergic medications. And it is also the first to suggest that dementia risk linked to anticholinergic medications may persist -- and may not be reversible even years after people stop taking these drugs.(doxepin (Sinequan), first-generation antihistamines like chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton), and antimuscarinics for bladder control like oxybutynin (Ditropan). and Benadryl.)   

3.  Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in older people, according to the most robust study of its kind ever conducted.  "We expected to find an association between low Vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but the results were surprising -- we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated.  and their new findings confirm that vitamin D levels above 50 nmol/L are most strongly associated with good brain health.

4.  35-year period has confirmed exercise significantly reduces the risk of dementia. The study identifies five healthy behaviors as  having the best chance of leading a disease-free lifestyle: taking regular exercise, non-smoking, a low body weight, a healthy diet and a low alcohol intake.   "What the research shows is that following a healthy lifestyle confers surprisingly large benefits to health -- healthy behaviors have a far more beneficial effect than any medical treatment or preventative procedure.

5.   "The study demonstrates why it is so crucial for people with diabetes to work closely with health care providers on controlling their blood sugar," Chiu said. "Managing the disease can help prevent the onset of dementia later in life."

6.  Depression and type 2 diabetes mellitus were each associated with an increased risk for dementia and that risk was even greater among individuals diagnosed with both depression and diabetes.

7.  Diabetes is a risk factor for dementia. But now a study has found that higher blood sugar levels are associated with higher dementia risk, even among people who do not have diabetes. "While that is interesting and important, we have no data to suggest that people who make changes to lower their glucose improve their dementia risk. Those data would have to come from future studies with different study designs."

 

Science as an Adjunct of Big Pharma

Mice are used for many studies because they have many, many similarities to humans.   In fact, wild mice are omnivores, they eat a variety of foods including meat--insects or in hard times, each other.  If you have been reading with me for very long, you know I think carbohydrates are far too prevalent in modern human diets.  In research mice, the normal mouse chow is 13% fat, 62% carbohydrate and 25% protein.   Why they decided this is "normal" for mice is anyone's guess.  Here is the headline for a recent mouse study and one line from the study. 

Age-related cognitive decline tied to immune-system molecule "Since B2M goes up with age in blood, Cerebral Spinal Fluid, and also in the brain itself, this allows us multiple avenues in which to target this protein therapeutically."

This protein with a negative effect on brain function goes up with age.  I want to know why.  Is it correlated with other markers of chronic inflammation like CRP?  I suspect the answer is yes.  And if that's the case,  the therapeutic intervention I'd be most interested in is one that reduces chronic inflammation (including B2M protein) without drugs, by changing the diet. 

So back to the mouse diet.  If chronic inflammation is going up with age, the first place to look would be the diet.  Yikes--62% carbohydrate and low fat of only 13% would sure be inflammatory in a human.  Little mouse subject might just need a better diet that promotes a healthier--lower--level of chronic inflammation. 

My point is that there is a bias in much of the science (follow the money) to make money for big pharma.  I think this is a good example of that.  They're simply not asking the right question in the first place. They're asking what drug can ameliorate the effects of this immune protein that goes up with age?  I would ask what's making this protein go up with age and I'd bet on a diet that's totally out of whack for an omnivore.

Two Research Papers I've come across Lately

The first is interesting in that it further demonstrates that researchers are looking beyond symptoms into actual causes...and our old friend inflammation is rightly getting the blame it deserves.  What's more, there is a trend of identifying inflammation as causative of mental dysfunction.

As I am many others have said, the evidence is there that chronic inflammation causes all the pathologies of modern humans.  I just like to celebrate when it gets the attention it needs. Here's the substance of their conclusion: 

"Our findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that immune system dysfunction, including inflammation, may be involved in the pathophysiology of major psychiatric disorders...

"A new analysis of existing studies strongly supports the idea that there are increased levels of chemicals, called cytokines, in the body and brain that promote inflammation in individuals who are contemplating or have attempted suicide, even when compared to patients being treated for the same psychiatric disorders who are not suicidal.

"These cytokines are known to be involved in problems in other body organs, such as the joints (arthritis), the coronary arteries (atherosclerosis) and the lungs (asthma). Studies have long suggested that cytokines are released under conditions of psychological stress and that inflammation in the brain contributes to depression. Thus, the current study suggests that suicide emerges in the context of a relatively greater activation of the immune system than typical stress or depression."

And in another study, the headlines is this:

"Fat, sugar cause bacterial changes that may relate to loss of cognitive function"

Fat gets first billing even though the gist of the study indicates that the high sugar diet cause the most gut biome disruption.  Too many are still stuck on FAT being a culprit.  But the actual study is more interesting.  I sent for that actual paper that is going to be published.  Here are the breakdowns that don't appear in the headline.

The percentage of macronutrients are:

high fat (42% fat, 43% carbohydrate (CHO),

high sucrose (12% fat, 70% CHO (primarily sucrose)

normal chow (13% kcal fat, 62% CHO) diets 

I'm not sure what one can conclude from a high fat diet that is still 43% carbohydrate.  Isn't that still a high CHO diet?  And normal mouse chow is even higher...who says mice do best on this diet?  OK, I have lots of unanswered questions.  I'm inclined to think more than are answered...but their conclusions are actually more about the high sugar diet with just minor changes in cognitive function from what they are calling high fat.  Their Highlights are: (sucrose being table sugar and Bacterioides being the gut bacteria that are implicated in staying thin)

*High sucrose diet altered more gut bacterial orders and genera than high fat.
*High sucrose diet impaired spatial memory and cognitive flexibility.
*Increased gut Clostridiales was associated with decreased cognitive flexibility.
*Decreased gut Bacteroidales was associated with decreased cognitive flexibility.

I think the take away from this is low sugar, for sure, for healthier gut and brain but I think the info about high fat is suspect..

Answering Two Questions

I recently had a couple questions from a friend of mine who is looking a health ideas and wondering about such things.  It's been a while since I addressed these ideas, so I'm including my responses in today's post.  The questions are:

1.  "Why can't we just get all the nutrition we need from food?

2.  "Why do I need to give up all carbs?"

1.  I think ideally, it's possible to get everything we need from food--but I also think there are some big caveats.  If the sources of our foods are impeccable.  If the soil has not been depleted of minerals.  If the animals we eat (and things like eggs and cheese and milk) have been produced in healthy ways (not stuffed with grains and antibiotics and junk).  If we have maintained levels of nutrients throughout life so the organs where these things (often minerals) are stored in our bodies are not depleted.  If we never binge on things that do damage or cause cellular dysfunction. 

 

But I am a pragmatist, too, and once the deficits or damage has occurred, I don't think food has a chance in hell to overcome it.  And what actually happens is that the damage of the standard American diet is accumulating over decades and people go along not recognizing the insidious development of dysfunction because the body is marvelously adaptive about self healing and making do. 

 

What happens is I see people in their 50's and some times earlier or later, who wake up with debilitating diagnoses and then they decide it's time to figure it out.  Like me and my arthritis.  Or my clients like the gal with COPD, or the one with asthma, or the relative youngster with multiple diagnoses of fatty liver disease and bleeding ulcers and kidney stones,  or many others I've seen....by then the nutrition possible from the best food (if even available) is just too little too late.  There is no way you can get enough selenium from food if it simply is not IN the food and your organs have no selenium stored like they need.  So I am a believer in supplements and have seen near miracles from including them.

 

2.  The other thing I want to emphasize is that I don't recommend no carbs.  I think vegetables and fruits have an important place in nutrition.  They contain micronutrients that can only help.  But grains--especially grains that have been ground so the cellular nature is destroyed, offer no nutrients we need (really, they lied to you) and lots we do not (especially sugar but also phytic acid, gluten, lectins).  And while generally  both veggies and rice are carbs, a half cup of cooked rice is 50 grams of sugar but it takes 4 and a half cups of broccoli to get 50 grams.  And who eats a half cup of rice????  In fact if you get 50 grams of carbs a day on a low carb diet like I'm doing right now, that's still a lot of veggies and berries.  More animal fat and protein do almost nothing to bounce up blood sugar and insulin, but carbs are 100% to blame for it.  And your brain function as you age is more dependent on blood sugar and insulin that the "experts" are saying.  Want a sharp mind?  Keep fasting insulin low and that takes less sugar in your food and blood!

 

Get your tests done.  (A1C, Fasting Insulin, Vitamin D and CRP)  They tell the story.  Bad numbers mean chronic disease processes are going on--and while that manifests  differently for different people, it does manifest eventually.  Aging does not have to mean diseases and aches and pains and low energy.  Yes, you will die some day.  but the things most people are dying of are not normal aging and not inevitable.

 

     *******

 

Can such stuff be healed?  I think so and I see it often.  I had one client contact me after less than a week of no grains and no sugar and ask if he was just imagining his arthritis was better so quickly.  So I ask people, "What's it worth to you to be free of pain and the chronic or acute disease that plagues you?  Do you even believe it's possible to have robust health?  At any age." 

 

I think healing is possible at almost any stage of disease--at least dramatic improvement...but it takes a lot and not everyone wants to be free of pain or disease--there is much psychology tied up in things like 'do I want to live or die?' or "does my disease get me attention I like or get me out of things I don't want to do????'  The answers are different for everybody and sometimes I just have to watch people makes choices I wouldn't want for myself...But for some of us, the effort to clean up what we're putting into our bodies is worth it!

Insulin Resistand aka Metabolic Syndrome

 If you read National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) it will tell you that obesity causes metabolic syndrome (ie insulin resistance).  There are plenty of folk who challenge that assertion and think it's the other way around--that insulin resistance causes obesity.  I'm in that camp.  Here's the thing.  If you get a fasting glucose test that tells you your blood sugar is normal, it doesn't speak at all to insulin resistance, which is basically this:

      When you eat a lot of carbohydrates (or any sort) it takes a lot of insulin to handle it all and eventually the cells get tired of 'listening' to insulin yelling at them and put in ear plugs.  Now insulin has to scream to be heard (there's lots more of it produced).  You blood sugar might still be normal, but insulin is elevated.  If you are overweight, you are almost surely insulin resistant.

Why does that matter?  Lots of insulin in toxic. It triggers lots of inflammatory response.  The next step on that road is type II diabetes and more health issues.

If you are insulin resistant, it's almost impossible to lose weight--for two reasons.  Number one is that insulin is the hormone of hunger--you'll be starving all the time.  Nuber two is that when the cells are not listening so well, insulin shuffles those glucose molecules into fat cells at body fat.  Double whammy.

Stomach bypass surgeries cure insulin resistance but those surgeries are simply enforced starvation. So so major fasting intervals also cures insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.  Low carbs cures it.  Carbs cause it (probably other things too see below), so of course their lack eventually cures it.

But this is the main thing I want to tell you today.  There are some nutrients that are known to help reverse insulin resistance.  I'm going to list them below, but this is the thing I find bizarre.  If they help cure it, why doesn't anyone look into how their lack (deficiency) contribute to the development of insulin resistance --and by implication, the development of diabetes.

Stephen Guyenet, an obesity researcher,  says:
            So what's the ideal fasting insulin level? My current feeling is that we can consider anything             between 2 and 6 uIU/mL within our evolutionary template.      

So My fasting insulin test of a couple months ago was 8.2--clearly in the metabolic syndrome range and I have been having great difficulty losing weight.  Also, it concerns me for the other potential long term effects--none of them good.  So I just had another fasting insulin test this last week and my new score is 3.0.  And I have started to lose weight.

 

What am I doing different?  Several things.  I am working out vigorously and building muscle.  BTW, it is very functional and it feels wonderful to be getting stronger (even at this late age).  I have lowered carbs some and I am more rigorous about intermittent fasting.  (I'm really motivated right now). 

 

But the biggest thing, I'm pretty sure, is that I have added all the supplements on which there is good evidence of reversing insulin resistance.  They are:

                Vitamin K2

                Magnesium

                Choline

                Chromium

                Vanadium

                Vitamin D (high levels are known to prevent insulin resistance, I think it cures it too.

                NAC

If you want to know what levels or brands I've tried, email me privately.

              

Finally

The government who has wrongly told us to avoid saturated fat and cholesterol, drastically cut salt and eat sugars (cleverly disguised as carbohydrates) is now reversing that advice based on the science.

A short excerpt below:

"In short. Cholesterol is healthy, saturated fat is healthy, salt is healthy and sugar is unhealthy. I have pulled those four points out of a press release by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics"

I recommend you read this blog and I note the information is coming from Scotland not the US where all that crappy advice originated. 

Finally...now if your doctor would just get the word...the blog is found here:

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/05/20/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/