Reasons I tweak*

[Russ]

Slightly off topic, but this was an interesting recent article on the beneficial function of stearic acid (a SFA) within cells: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v5 ... tochondria are involved in a variety of cellular functions, including ATP production, amino acid and lipid biogenesis and breakdown, signalling and apoptosis. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and ageing. Although transcriptional mechanisms that regulate mitochondrial abundance are known, comparatively little is known about how mitochondrial function is regulated. Here we identify the metabolite stearic acid (C18:0) and human transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1; also known as TFRC) as mitochondrial regulators. We elucidate a signalling pathway whereby C18:0 stearoylates TFR1, thereby inhibiting its activation of JNK signalling. This leads to reduced ubiquitination of mitofusin via HUWE1, thereby promoting mitochondrial fusion and function. We find that animal cells are poised to respond to both increases and decreases in C18:0 levels, with increased C18:0 dietary intake boosting mitochondrial fusion in vivo. Intriguingly, dietary C18:0 supplementation can counteract the mitochondrial dysfunction caused by genetic defects such as loss of the Parkinson’s disease genes Pink or Parkin in Drosophila. This work identifies the metabolite C18:0 as a signalling molecule regulating mitochondrial function in response to diet.

[/quote]

Just a quick moment to say that I don't think this is off topic at all (potential beneficial effect of SFA) and that this new paper is very interesting. Perhaps related to the long-observed difference I seem to recall of C18:0 as not having any net effect on LDL levels? Bookmarking to read the full paper when I get a chance (if available).

Russ

[Gilgamesh]

Apod, not off-topic. But it's just one study. Most of the reviews I've looked at suggest any SFA with a chain length above, or equal to or above 12 (that sticky lauric acid/coconut oil matter!!), aren't good for health, but stearic might be neutral, as measured by traditional cholesterol numbers. But most researchers would say we don't know enough.

And context matters. This might be why nuts are more closely associated with health in observational studies than dairy/beef: non-animal PUFAs (even omega-6s, if from plants) seem to reduce the hypercholesterolemic effect of SFAs. (And the other context: funding source.... Various dairy groups around the world have supported a lot of the pro-18:0 resea4rch.)

Here's a nice little study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491165/

Of course, as Julie recently reminded us, existing research is weak on the question of APOE-ε4-modification of dietary risks. Most researchers and (as far as I'm aware) physicians believe, of course, that saturated fat is more likely to be harmful to us than to non-ε4s.

I'm eating a lot of nuts these days, and trying not to worry about the non-trivial levels of 16:0 in my favorites: macadamias.

GB

Edit (in blue) to state what I meant to state!

[marthaNH]

apod and Russ -- AGREED. Not off topic at all, and something I want to dig into.

Continuing the note-taking here regarding blood glucose.

Last night about 8:30 I had the smoothie -- (which is 210 cal, 13g net carb, 12g fiber, 5g fat, 16g protein, plus about 125% of the DR of magnesium from magnesium citrate powder bought in bulk. Fruit, kefir, chia, WF nutritional yeast, cinnamon, vanilla. I throw my B6, very small amount of zinc gluconate, and magnesium in there with it. Add some water and ice if the fruit's not frozen or to get the desired level of juiciness. This thing has a killer profile, if I do say so myself, and the Bs are all naturally occurring, no cheap supplements thrown in. Lots of protein with little methionine. Good O3 and minerals. Is there a way to share a Custom food on Cronometer? Or can other people just see it? If so, it's Smoothie 2015. It'll cure what ails you.)

Had a late-day meal (10 pm I know we're not s'posed to ) of sourdough rye and anchovies, with the oil drained off. 37g net carbs, not a lot of fiber. This is not crunchy bread.

BG was 105, 108, and 112 at 40, 60, and 80 minutes post-prandial. I meant to check again at 2 hours to see if it was coming down (that would be the pattern), but I fell asleep. So my conclusion is that this is a tool that will help me get the numbers I want. Right now those numbers -- what I'm trying to design a "template" to produce -- are <50% fat, <20% protein, no BG readings over 120, SF <10%. I am managing to hit the 8-9% neighborhood now without undue deprivation. It does require some attention. (That's a little OCD joke.)

Back later.

[Julie G]

Martha, your smoothie sounds yummy. I don't know how to add custom food to cron-o-meter. I resort to inputting ingredients.

G, so sorry your not feeling better. I didn't realize that you suspected you were dealing with PIR. Stavia dealt with the same and realized she was eating too much protein- unlikely to be the case for you . Can you check your ketones? Merouleau hooked me up with a good inexpensive meter/strips from Canada. Let me know if you're interested. Real time data can be very reassuring- XO.

[circular]

Juliegee, yes, can you repost the link for the strips from Canada? I'm not testing ketones ATM but will get around to it when I can. Thanks in advance.

[marthaNH]

Gilgamesh, I also hope you feel better soon and want to say yes to the notion of a Boston gathering later in the fall. September is quite busy for me (family coming to help with a big project) but October or November -- quite possible. I love Boston and have friends there. (I teach on Saturdays, which makes it hard to schedule free time with other people, but worth a try.)

Edited to add: And yes, I'm very lucky when it comes to food tolerances, especially grains. Nothing seems to disagree with me in that way. And even with all the bad diabetes and hypertension genes, the side of the family that bestowed all that on me seem to live a long time anyway, as long as they don't smoke, drink a lot, or get too fat. Or suffer from horrible medical advice or awful luck.

And also Julie -- I was never able to get that Canada connection to work for me, and would like to have some, so would appreciate knowing if you had success ordering from them in the past few months. I can't remember when I decided to give up on them...

[circular]

Found the link to the Canada ketone strips

"The best way to measure ketones is with a serum ketone meter - ketone precision xtra. The strips are not cheap in the US, but can be had for less in Canada http://www.universaldrugstore.com/medic ... st+Strips/ The meter will also measure glucose with different strips. Urine measurement of ketones is problematic."

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1153&p=12275&hilit=canada#p12275

[marthaNH]

OK. My version of the OGTT. I'm not going anywhere near 75 grams of pure glucose on an empty stomach without a real good reason. And I've been wondering -- do they really test a small person with the same glucose dose as a big person? I would think that a lot of people taking the test are twice my size (~105). Whatever.

Couple of boiled redskin potatoes (7.3 ounces weighed before cooking), sweet white miso, parsley, garlic, pepper, and 3 fl. oz. of lifeway nonfat kefir. (Naked potatoes are just -- vulgar.) Mush it up a little with the fork.

It's 41g net carbs, 8 fiber, no fat to speak of, 11 g protein.

Eat it at 11 am, ending a 13 hour fast (not counting black coffee)

Another cup of coffee waiting for the bad news. A little nervous because breaking a fast with carbs has given me some scary numbers in the past.

FBG 88 (about 8:30, 10.5 hours fasting)

Meal at 11:00.

173 at 11:30 (+30)
169 at 11:50 (+50)
132 at 12:10 (+70)
113 at 12:30 (+90)
94 at 1:00 (+120)

No activity to speak of during the testing period.

I'm going to call that good news. Maybe I'm re-setting my thermostat with these higher carb days, maybe it's something else, but I think it's time to give my fingertips a rest. I have enough results for template-making, I think.

I'd sure like to see lower fasting BG (low 80s is as low as I ever get unless I'm coming off an 18 to 20 hour fast, and high 80s is common) but I also want to give my gift horse a pat and be grateful. I'm 60 and pretty healthy and I have a job and health insurance. Going for a walk, it's pretty out.

[Julie G]

Thanks, Circ I was just about to post the same. It's been awhile since I ordered them, but it worked great. I still have an abundant supply. Very cheap- still made by Abbott.

Agreed, Martha! Re. the OGTT...what happened to the Hippocratic Oath? I've done one when I was very sick and considered chewing my arm off before I almost lost consciousness No thank you.

[marthaNH]

Something that confuses me. Total carb ingestion vs BG response. The response can be lower but the total glucose higher. So it's getting into the cells efficiently, but what happens inside the cell, and which cells? Are muscles go king most before it gets into the brain? If it's going efficiently into the brain is it still poorly metabolized and causing problems? Clearly we don't want high blood sugar, but is low blood sugar reflective of avoiding the toxicity associated with hypometabolism of glucose in the brain? This is where lower carb regardless of PPBG may still be important?

Looping back around to deal with this question -- still can't respond intelligently to most of it, but I just read a bit more about the expression "area under the curve" or AUC that the researchers use, and that you can get excel to do the calculus for it, and that's how you get blood sugar comparison data. This was used to compute the figures in the glycemic index databases. Seems obvious now that somebody explained it to me. Will get back to this at some point.

Also -- Gilgamesh, if you see this, you asked a while back about diet composition and BP improvement -- I think that the best explanation for my BP improvement is probably the weight loss, which helped solve my ankle problem, which allowed my increased exercise. But back in 2007-08, I was eating very veganish, lots of beans and homemade long-rising bread, and climbing a LOT of stairs (up and down side of a small mountain on campus) and hiking. Just as active as I knew how to be, but weight stabilized a good 15 pounds higher (120 then, 105 now) and I do not recall any reduction in BP -- I think I would remember. These days my diet includes daily animal protein of some sort, higher fat, and much, much less in the way of bread and beans. Very little of either (except for when I'm testing my limits.) As long as I continue to load up on a combination of vegetables I can occasionally flirt with completely normal blood pressure for a day or so, without drugs. Then it starts to head back up. However, I'm not doing that. I'm taking such a small dose of such a widely-prescribed and considered safe drug (enalapril) that I'm actually thinking of increasing my dose a tad (to 3.75 mg a day from 2.5) to see if I can keep systolic under 100 all the time. Why not? I went through some chaos when I probably did myself some damage. I can't undo it, but maybe lower will be better.

That's a serious "why not?" by the way. If anybody thinks "not!" feel free to share!