Diet Of Early Man: Grain

Julio Mercader says that early hominims living in Africa relied on starchy plants, especially cereals, to feed themselves.

Mozambican Grass Seed Consumption During The Middle Stone Age, Science Magazine, 2009.

It can be read for free here:
Mozambican Grass Seed Consumption During The Middle Stone Age

"A large assemblage of starch granules has been retrieved from the surfaces of Middle Stone Age stone tools from Mozambique, showing that early Homo sapiens relied on grass seeds starting at least 105,000 years ago, including those of sorghum grasses."

About 90% of the starch on food processing tools found deep in a cave came from sorghum, a grass still raised for its grain today. Corn, rice, wheat, barley, and sorghum are the top 5 most important cereal grains in the world. They're all grass seeds.
________Photo of sorghum from Mississippi State University.

American Medical Association On GMOs: More Testing, No Labels

On June 19, at their annual meeting, the American Medical Association came out with two seemingly contradictory statements.

• It thinks GMOs should undergo mandatory premarket safety testing.
  
• It doesn't see the need, "no scientific justification," for labels.

I know quite a few people who think the FDA already premarket tests GMOs. It doesn't. So this statement by the AMA is, well, special.

The AMA's no-label stance aligns with its previous pronouncements, but the testing stance seems to diverge. Seems to.

Right now, the biotech industry and the FDA say that GMOs are not different from non-GMOs, are safe, and so do not require a label. (FDA: "We are not aware of any information that foods developed through genetic engineering differ as a class in quality, safety, or any other attribute from foods developed through conventional means. That's why there has been no requirement to add a special label saying that they are bioengineered.") The AMA now also appears to be saying that. But by supporting additional safety assessments, I suppose they are hedging their bets (the report included a review of potential adverse health effects of GMOs) and appearing to side with consumers. Appearances. For if indeed something about GE food is found to be unsafe, how do you distinguish those products without labels?

It occurred to me that the AMA may not be going out on a limb here. The USDA has been encouraging biotech firms to conduct their own environmental testing. Perhaps the FDA would take the same route with safety testing. I'm not convinced Monsanto and other biotech firms would be objective in their investigations.

The AMA has had trouble in the past with its ties to industry. In the late 1990s it agreed to endorse Sunbeam's health products in return for royalties, reneged on the deal, and was promptly sued, paying Sunbeam $9.9 million for breach of contract. At the meeting last week, a delegate from Illinois recalled this Sunbeam endorsement and said, "we must be very sure that what we do here is not seen as an endorsement of a product." Appearances.

In 2001, AMA held a seminar in New York on genetically engineered food where its then director of science policy promoted the benefits of GE food and defended GE food safety.¹

However:

"The seminar was funded by an unrestricted grant from the Council for Biotechnology Information, a group of six biotechnology firms and two trade associations. They included Aventis Crop Sciences, BASF, Dow Agrosciences, EI du Pont de Nemours, Monsanto, Syngenta, the American Crop Protection Association, and the Biotechnology Industry Association."

No speakers at the seminar spoke against genetically modified crops.

And this, from:
Non-Profit Organizations With Ties To Industry, CSPI

"AMA planned a campaign to remind doctors of ethical guidelines limiting their acceptance of gifts from pharmaceutical companies. The campaign was to be sponsored by Eli Lilly Corporation. (USA Today, 4/27/01, "Drugmakers bankroll ethics guidelines on 'freebies'")"

It's hard for me to accept that the AMA is acting with clean hands here.
________¹ AMA Promotes Benefits Of "Genetically Improved" Foods, BMJ, October 2001.
Photo of the AMA's 2012 annual meeting.

GMO Myths And Truths

Here's a respectable collection of arguments against the use of genetic engineering for the food supply, all in one report:
GMO Myths And Truths, An Evidence-Based Examination Of The Claims Made For The Safety And Efficacy Of Genetically Modified Crops, Earth Open Source, June 2012

And a summary:
GMO Myths and Truths, Earth Open Source, June 2012

The authors began by saying "a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims [e.g. GMOs increase crop yields, reduce pesticide use, are strictly regulated for safety] are not true." They proceeded to cite that evidence. Boy did they. There are literally hundreds of citations in this report.

This video accompanied the summary. It describes the conditions farmers face dealing with GMOs ... having to spray more (at more cost) to defeat weeds (or be told you have to weed mechanically!), having to pay for new seed every season instead of keeping some from a previous crop, being sued if some GMO seed accidentally contaminates your field. How do small farms keep up under the GM/Monsanto pressure?


________

Do Paleo Diets Result In Higher Cholesterol?

I came across the blood work of someone (27 year old male, 6'1, 195, no previous medical issues) who had been following what he called a "Paleo" diet. (The photo is not of him.) It was on a public forum:

I geeked. 18 monts Post Paleo, first Blood-test Results, PaleoHacks, February 2011

These were his numbers after 18 months of his diet:

Fasted Blood Glucose - 93mg/dL
Cholesterol, Total - 377
Triglycerides - 86 mg/dL
HDL Cholesterol - 72 mg/dL
vLDL Calc - 17 mg/dL
LDL Calc - 288 mg/dL
25-Hydroxy - 62.8 ng/mL
A1C - 5.5
CRP - 0.75 mg/L
TSH - 2.150 uIU/mL
T4,Free(direct) - 1.2 ng/Dl
T3 - 69 ng/DL

He said he was eating:

"... a cyclical ketogenic paleo diet. I eat probably 70% store bought meat/30% grass-fed meat. I take a tablespoon fish oil when I eat the standard meat (works out to be 3-4grams of EPA/DHA). Other fat sources come from pastured butter, coconut, avocado, some olive oil (only as dressing)."

A ketogenic diet, a diet that generates ketones, is a low-carbohydrate diet. If you are not eating much carbohydrate, you are eating mostly fat and protein, which jives with his meaty diet description.

I thought his total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and possibly his HDL (since high HDL is not always good) were high. I was surprised since he had recently lost weight (quite a bit, 22% of his former body weight, from 250 to 195), worked out regularly, and is in the youthful prime of his life, all factors that favor lower cholesterol numbers. Perhaps they are lower than his baseline numbers though, which aren't given.

There is one thing .. higher blood glucose tends to raise LDL because the LDL receptor, and the LDL particle itself, become coated in glucose.¹ You can't clear these fats from your blood as easily. I saw that his fasting glucose and HbA1c are just a touch high. A high-fat diet is known to alter gut flora and increase insulin resistance, which can, by different mechanisms, result in higher blood glucose. Well, neither here nor there, is it ... I'm only speculating.

What I'm wondering ... Do Paleo diets typically result in higher cholesterol?
________¹ Hyperglycemia, Lipoprotein Glycation, and Vascular Disease, Angiology, 2005.
Photo from NPR: "Vlad Averbukh, 29, a follower of the paleo diet, eats raw meat along the Hudson River in New York in 2010."

Protein On A Vegan Diet

This story was on the New York Times Well blog yesterday:
Can Athletes Perform Well on a Vegan Diet?

It brought up the question of protein:

Q. Is it hard for someone who’s training vigorously to get enough protein on a vegan diet?

One answer was given by Nancy Clark, "a sports nutrition expert:"

"You do have to be diligent about protein intake if you’re vegan. I have clients, especially women, who say, ‘Oh, I put a few chickpeas in my salad.’ But that’s not going to do it. Women need about 60 to 90 grams of protein a day, and athletes are on the high end of that. That means you have to eat cupfuls of chickpeas. And you can’t eat a quarter of that cake of tofu. You need to eat the whole thing. It’s not that there aren’t good sources of vegan protein. But it’s not as bioavailable as meat. So you need to have more."

I don't know what has happened in my life to make me so agreeable, but I agree with her. If you're vegan, 3 chickpeas on a salad won't cut it.

But you don't need a lot, even if you're an athlete. Rich Roll, the ultramarathoner vegan, says he doesn't get much more than about 10% protein (10% of a 2000 calorie diet is 200 calories from protein or about 50 grams of protein. Although Roll probably eats more calories and so more protein). Still, 3 chickpeas probably only provide about 0.25 grams of protein.
________

Statins Make It Harder To Burn Fat

This is interesting. A small study in older people found that those taking statins burned less body fat:

Statin Therapy Depresses Fat Metabolism in Older Individuals, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, February 2012

"Fat oxidation was significantly reduced in older subjects taking statin drugs that were not associated with diet, exercise, and fitness."

________

What Is A Serving Of Nuts?

________From the International Tree Nut Council

Music: Bobby Darin, "If I Were A Carpenter"

I stumbled across Bobby Darin's version of Tim Hardin's song, "If I Were A Carpenter" yesterday. Riveting. It was recorded 9 months before he died in 1973. In the years preceding this recording...

"...his health was starting to fail, as he had always expected, following bouts of rheumatic fever in childhood. This knowledge had always spurred him on to exploit his musical talent while still young. He died at 37, following a heart operation in Los Angeles."
- Wikipedia: Bobby Darin

Darin is probably known best for his recording of "Mack the Knife" in 1958. Simon Cowell named "Mack the Knife" the best song ever written. And Frank Sinatra called Darin's the "definitive" version:


________

The Challenge Of Eating A Vegan Diet

James McWilliams had an article in The Atlantic extolling the virtues of veganism (consuming no animal foods):

The Evidence for a Vegan Diet, The Atlantic, January 18, 2012

A fine article, not least of which because he says that if you are going to eat a vegan diet:

"You have to do it right, and doing it right means consuming a broad diversity of nutrient-rich plants."

He gave an example of the "right" way using his own diet:

"Here is a comprehensive list of what I ate, in one form or another, on the day I wrote this:

Kale, mustard greens, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, quinoa, amaranth, pinto beans, beets, parsnips, turnips, yellow peas, brown rice, kimchi, purple cabbage, butternut squash, blueberries, a banana, hemp seeds, flaxseed oil, snap peas, an apple, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pistachio nuts, garlic, broccoli, raisins, granola, avocado, polenta, salsa, a few saltines, a piece of raisin toast with apricot jam, tofu, coffee, olive oil, harisa, chickpeas, tomatoes, a small handful of chocolate chips, a couple of beers ... and a vitamin."

His example of the wrong way:

"Someone can live on potato chips, pot, and cherry soda and call himself a vegan."

I think he's right, technically at least. But in practice ... Who can eat that way? Unless you have someone preparing your meals? Mr. McWilliams admits to eating at a high-end vegan restaurant one or two times a day. How do single parents with full time jobs manage the style of eating described in that "kale..." paragraph? How do people with limited mobility and limited income? People who depend on public transportation? University students living in dorms? People who live where produce is a relatively expensive and rare commodity?

I have not read Lierre Kieth's book, The Vegetarian Myth, which according to McWilliams has spawned a legion of followers:

"Bloggers have clogged foodie networks with angst-ridden accounts of fatigue, sickness, hair loss, anxiety, diminished sex drive, and mental breakdown after quitting animal products."

But I wonder if the disillusionment is due, not to actual inadequacies of a good vegan diet (plus vitamin B12), but to the extra-ordinary effort needed to eat this way.

It may be possible to eat healthfully on a vegan diet, but without help, it may not be probable.
________

How To Cook Brown Rice

Without a rice cooker, rice steamer, or pressure cooker. Just a pot, water, and brown rice. After years of meticulously measuring I discovered that cooking it like pasta worked the best, at least for me.

Basic instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
   
2. Clean rice.
   
3. Boil on high.
   
4. Strain when done.
   
5. Rest 10 minutes.

To clean, I swish uncooked rice in water then strain.



Add it carefully to boiling water. This is a 1.5 quart saucepan that I use for a little over 1/4 cup dry rice. I'll use a 3 quart saucepan for 1/2 cup dry rice. You need that much water.



Boil on high, uncovered, as you would pasta. I don't add anything to the water.



When done,* strain (save rice water). Return rice to pot. Cover. Allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.



I save the rice water to cook leftover rice, or to add to soups and stews. You can also sweeten it, add vanilla and spices, and use as rice milk. It's weak though. (I no longer do this, to lessen the amount of arsenic in my diet.)



After 10 minutes (below), fluff and serve. You can let it rest for a lot longer than 10 minutes. I've left it for hours and it still fluffed up beautifully, even if it's no longer hot.



* The amount of time it takes depends on the type of rice and how you like it - chewy or mushy (for a porridge). This is a medium grain rice (Lundberg Organic Golden Rose Brown Rice) that I boil for 37 minutes. I have a Lundberg Basmati brown rice that cooks in 31 minutes (even though the instructions on the package say 50 minutes). The first time I cook a new rice I taste it until it's a consistency I like then strain it. The next time I know how long to cook it and will set a timer.

Brown rice is done when the center of a grain is no longer whiteish and opaque, and when the bran breaks and the starchy middle squeezes out either end. It's still chewy like that and will separate into individual grains. If you cook it longer it will get sticky.
________

Swedish Study Finds Lower-Carb, Higher-Fat Diet Increases Cholesterol

This large, longterm, and recent study out of Sweden:
Associations Among 25-year Trends In Diet, Cholesterol And BMI From 140,000 Observations In Men And Women In Northern Sweden, Nutrition Journal, June 2012

Found:

"The increase in serum cholesterol coincided with the increase in fat intake, especially with intake of saturated fat and fats for spreading on bread and cooking."

So, as carbohydrate intake declined and fat intake increased:



Serum cholesterol increased, even though there was greater use of cholesterol-lowering drugs:



That dip in cholesterol in the early 1990s came after an intervention program that saw the population cut their fat intake and up their carb intake.

But "after 2004, fat intake increased sharply which coincided with introduction of positive media support for a low carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet." Cholesterol rose as fat rose.

These are not just correlations, but statistically adjusted associations. ________

The Power Of Imagination

Try this:¹

"Close your eyes and picture a lemon wedge, freshly cut and glistening with juice. Concentrate on making the image as clear and detailed as you can. Then visualize bringing the lemon to your lips, sucking on it, and biting into it."

Dr. Weil says, "chances are you will experience sensations in your mouth and salivation."

Such is the strength of the mind-body connection.

This type of visualization has been used successfully with conditions such as dermatitis, surgery recovery, and insomnia. Weil suggests using it for emotional well-being. He gave this exercise:

"Select an image that you associate with your most positive moods and focus on it frequently. For example, think of an actual place where you experienced contentment, comfort, and serenity. Re-create that scene in your mind's eye, and each time you do, concentrate on sharpening the detail, making the colors brighter, even imagining sounds, physical sensations, and scents that might have been part of the experience. Keep that image as a place you can go to in your mind whenever you feel stressed, anxious, or sad."

________¹Quotes are from Dr. Weil's new book, Spontaneous Happiness, in a section entitled, "Optimizing Well-Being By Retraining The Mind."

Music: Dvorak's New World Symphony, 2nd Movement

Dublin Philharmonic, Conductor Derek Gleeson.




________

Rich Roll: Ultraman, Vegan

At 40 years old, Rich Roll was, in his words, "woefully overweight, terribly unfit, and facing a certain future of heart disease – a trending topic in my genealogy."* So he went on a 100% plant-based whole food diet, "a discipline that involved removing all animal products (and most processed foods) from my diet. No chicken. No fish. No dairy. Nada."

In 2 years he had lost 30 pounds and was competing successfully in long-distance triathlons. Men's Fitness magazine named him one of the "25 Fittest Guys in the World."

"I am not overstating the case to say that everything I have accomplished as an endurance athlete over the last few years, including two Ultraman World Championships and EPIC5 – an endurance odyssey in which I completed 5 ironman distance triathlons on 5 separate Hawaiian Islands in under a week – begins and ends with my plant-based whole food diet."
...
"Conventional wisdom would say that an athlete cannot perform on plants alone. But I am living proof that this is false, and I have ample research to support this position. Personally, I cannot overemphasize the difference this has made in my own life, a secret weapon for enhanced athletic performance and overall long-term wellness. (In the last two years, I have not gotten sick or even suffered a cold.)"
...
"I don't care how busy you are. [Roll was a full-time lawyer, husband, and father of 4 small children when he started.] I don't care how old you are, how many kids you have or how little time you think you have. The power rests within yourself to enact any change in your life you desire. And I can say this because I have seen it happen in myself and countless others."

A glimpse of his diet, from:
Q & A With Rich Roll: From Down-and-out At 40 To Plant-based Ultraman, MindBodyGreen, 2010

MindBodyGreen: What are the staples of your grocery list?

Rich Roll: "Kale, beets, carrots, spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli, avocados, asparagus, artichokes & plenty of fruits. Almonds, almond butter, gluten free breads. Quinoa, brown rice and brown rice pastas; potatoes & yams. Flax seeds, flax, olive & hemp oil. Coconut milk, water & ice cream. Almond milk, maca, chia seeds, veganaise."

This makes me think it's not that difficult to get adequate protein and nutrients on a vegan diet. Although, anyone who can (will?) swim 6.2 miles, bike 260 miles, and run 52.4 miles in 3 consecutive days is made of special stuff to begin with.
________* Quotes are from 2 CNN articles:
Human Factor: Rich Roll's 'Experiment' In Fitness, 2010
From Miserable Man To 'Ultraman': A Fitness Journey, 2009

Low-Protein, Low-Calorie Intake May Lower Cancer Risk

This study:
Long-Term Low-Protein, Low-Calorie Diet And Endurance Exercise Modulate Metabolic Factors Associated With Cancer Risk, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2006

Looked at 3 groups of middle-aged (53 +/- 11 years old), nonsmoking, healthy men and women:

• 21 sedentary subjects, low-protein (about 9% of calories), low-calorie (about 2000) diet*
• 21 endurance runners
• 21 sedentary subjects (non-obese), Western diet

And found:

• Levels of insulin, free sex hormones, leptin (released from body fat), and C-reactive protein (marker for inflammation) were lower and sex hormone–binding globulin (protective against cancer) was higher in the low-protein, low-calorie diet and runner groups than in the sedentary Western diet group.
• Levels of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) was lower in the low-protein, low-calorie diet group.

So, even though the low-protein group was sedentary, they had lower levels of growth factors and anabolic hormones that are linked to an increased risk of cancer, plus they had the lowest levels of of IGF-I, also linked to cancer. (IGF-I "promotes tumor development by stimulating cell proliferation and inhibiting cell death." IGF-I is linked, in humans, to a greater risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancers.):

"Subjects eating a low-protein, low-calorie diet had much lower plasma IGF-I concentrations and IGF-I:IGFBP-3 than did BMI-matched endurance runners, which suggests that dietary factors may provide additional protective effects, independent of body fat mass."

Perhaps this is why Campbell could turn cancer on and off in rats by changing the amount of protein they ate (Liver Cancer: Now You See It, Now You Don't).
________* They ate uncooked, unprocessed, plant-based foods, "vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and cereals, and olive oil and strictly avoided processed and refined foods (eg, partially hydrogenated oils, refined flours, sweets, free sugars, and soft-drinks) and foods of animal origin." Lots of fat, about 42% of calories, although most of it was unsaturated. They ate the least saturated fat. They ate an ungodly amount of fiber, the women about 40 grams, men about 60 grams a day.

Should Statins Be Given To Healthy People?

This study (and accompanying editorial) are recommending that everyone over 50 take statins. (The study is free, you need to register though):

The Effects Of Lowering LDL Cholesterol With Statin Therapy In People At Low Risk Of Vascular Disease: Meta-analysis Of Individual Data From 27 Randomised Trials, The Lancet, 17 May 2012

"In individuals with 5-year risk of major vascular events lower than 10%, each 1 mmol/L reduction in LDL cholesterol produced an absolute reduction in major vascular events of about 11 per 1000 over 5 years. This benefit greatly exceeds any known hazards of statin therapy. Under present guidelines, such individuals would not typically be regarded as suitable for LDL-lowering statin therapy. The present report suggests, therefore, that these guidelines might need to be reconsidered."

This would be a coup for drug makers.

Do statins really provide benefit for someone at low risk of heart disease? One of the study's coauthors, Colin Baigent, admits:¹

"Once you get down to very low levels of risk, the benefits are very small."

If you're thinking of giving statins to healthy people, why study diseased people? (60% of these participants had vascular disease.)

"Why combine people who have heart disease with people who don't? It's really misleading," says Kausik Ray, a cardiologist at Saint George's University of London. In 2010 Ray and his colleagues published a meta-analysis of 11 statin clinical trials involving 65,229 subjects without cardiovascular disease and concluded that statins do not reduce the risk of death in healthy people. (By including people who had vascular disease, the Lancet meta-analysis overestimated statins' benefits.)"

Documented side effects include strokes, muscle damage, diabetes, liver problems, kidney failure, and cognitive impairment. How well did this study account for side effects?

"According to Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and chief editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, prior to the start of one of the trials included in the analysis, potential subjects were given statins for several weeks to see how well they tolerated them. If any individuals experienced side effects, they weren't invited into the trial. This type of prescreening is "not clean science," says Vinay Prasad, an internist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, because it makes drugs look safer than they really are."

Any corruption in the research?

"Almost all of the trials included in the meta-analysis were funded in part by pharmaceutical companies. ... A 2003 study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that trials funded by drug companies are more likely to report favorable results about their products than are trials funded by independent organizations."

Rita Redberg, chief editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, said:

"There are a lot of people taking statins who are not getting any benefits from them, and they're subject to a lot of adverse events."

They're going to be putting statins in the water soon.
________¹ All quotes are from the Scientic American article, The Stats on Statins: Should Healthy Adults Over 50 Take Them? I was surprised to see a major publication address the untoward aspects of this study.

Putting Words In His Mouth

Speaking of dancing...
Nina Conti performs a ventriloquist act on a member of the audience:


________Thanks, BL!

Soda Tax Vs. Soda Ban, Is One More Fair?

Regarding New York City Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces, former Coca-Cola executive Hank Cardello said:

"Bans are an unfair as they treat everyone the same with a 'one-size-fits-all approach.'"
- Bloomberg Defends Soda Ban Plan: We're Not Taking Away Your Freedoms, MSNBC, June 1, 2012

Soda taxes affect the poor disproportionately.¹ Soda bans affect everyone. I wonder if this is contributing to the apparent stronger push-back against the ban.
________¹ Does social class predict diet quality?, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2008

Nutrition, The Dance

"Nutrition is an extraordinarily comprehensive phenomenon, involving countless food chemicals and nutrients operating through countless but highly integrated mechanisms affecting countless physiologic and pathological outcomes."

- T. Colin Campbell, in a letter to the editors of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007, defending his hypothesis "that dietary protein in excess of ≈10% of calories is a risk factor for cancer."
________

Music: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"

The Adagio, 2nd movement. Played by Daniel Barenboim
Otto Klemperer, New Philarmonia Orchestra.


________

Saturated Fat And Alcohol Raise Triglycerides, Stimulate Overeating

This was Dr. Leibowitz's most recent publication:

Effect Of Dietary Fatty Acid Composition On Food Intake, Triglycerides, And Hypothalamic Peptides, Regulatory Peptides, January 2012

From the abstract:

"This study examined the effects of a high-fat diet containing relatively high levels of saturated compared to unsaturated fatty acids (HiSat) to a high-fat diet with higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids (USat).

A HiSat compared to USat meal caused rats to consume more calories in a subsequent chow test meal.

The HiSat meal also increased circulating levels of triglycerides (TG) and expression of the orexigenic peptides, galanin (GAL) ... and orexin (OX).

The importance of TG in producing these changes was supported by the finding that the TG-lowering medication gemfibrozil as compared to vehicle, when peripherally administered before consumption of a HiSat meal, significantly decreased the expression of OX.

These findings substantiate the importance of the fat composition in a diet, indicating that those rich in saturated compared to unsaturated fatty acids may promote overeating by increasing circulating lipids and specific hypothalamic peptides, GAL and OX, known to preferentially stimulate the consumption of a fat-rich diet."

So,
Saturated Fat --> Higher Triglycerides --> Galanin and Orexin

Galanin and orexin both stimulate food intake, preferentially fat intake. Interestingly, it wasn't the saturated fat directly that caused the release of appetite stimulating chemicals, it was the high blood triglycerides.

What raises triglycerides besides saturated fat?

Alcohol:
The Effect of Alcohol on Postprandial and Fasting Triglycerides, International Journal of Vascular Medicine, 2012

The body adapts to moderate and regular alcohol intake, 1 or 2 glasses a day. However, a dose more than usual spikes triglycerides. And:

"When alcohol consumption is accompanied by a meal containing fat, especially saturated fat, it has a significant additive effect on the postprandial triglyceride peak."

Regarding that additive effect... In an earlier study, Leibowitz found that:
Alcohol --> Higher Triglycerides --> Galanin and Orexin --> Preference For Fat

Positive Relationship Between Dietary Fat, Ethanol Intake, Triglycerides, And Hypothalamic Peptides: Counteraction By Lipid-lowering Drugs, Alcohol, 2009

"These results support the existence of a vicious cycle between ethanol and fat, whereby each nutrient stimulates intake of the other. Within this vicious cycle, ethanol and fat act synergistically to increase TG levels, which in turn stimulate peptides that promote further consumption."

This was interesting:

"Most importantly, ethanol and a high fat diet showed an interaction effect, whereby their combination produced a considerably larger increase in TG levels (+172%) compared to ethanol with a low fat diet (+111%)."

So, eating more fat led to higher triglycerides.

Sugar and refined carbohydrates also raise triglycerides. Although, the mechanisms are more complex and beyond the scope of this post. Still, it's irresistible to imagine what might happen to triglycerides, and so to the impulse to overeat, if you added sugar to the fat&alcohol mix.
________

Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act

Here's a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatves 6 months ago (not the first time):

HR 3553, 111th Congress
Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act

"To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to require that food that contains a genetically engineered material, or that is produced with a genetically engineered material, be labeled accordingly."

Congress finds as follows:

(1) The process of genetically engineering foods results in the material change of such foods.
(2) The Congress has previously required that all foods bear labels that reveal material facts to consumers.
(3) Federal agencies have failed to uphold Congressional intent by allowing genetically engineered foods to be marketed, sold and otherwise used without labeling that reveals material facts to the public.
(4) Consumers wish to know whether the food they purchase and consume contains or is produced with a genetically engineered material for a variety of reasons, including the potential transfer of allergens into food and other health risks, concerns about potential environmental risks associated with the genetic engineering of crops, and religiously and ethically based dietary restrictions.
(5) Consumers have a right to know whether the food they purchase contains or was produced with genetically engineered material.
(6) Labels voluntarily placed on foods are insufficient to provide consumers with adequate information on whether or not all the food they are purchasing contains or was produced with genetically engineered material.
(7) Mandatory labeling provides a critical scientific method necessary for the continual postmarket surveillance to study long-term health impacts and enforcement of food safety laws preventing adulterated foods from reaching consumers.
(8) Many of the United States key trading partners, including countries in the European Union, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China, have established, or are in the process of implementing, mandatory labeling requirements for genetically engineered food.
(9) Adoption and implementation of mandatory labeling requirements for genetically engineered food produced in the United States would facilitate international trade by allowing American farmers and companies to export and appropriately market their products--both genetically engineered and non-genetically engineered--to foreign customers.

All of the arguments in defense of labeling are tightly summarized, right here, in a Bill written by Congress and endorsed by several of its members. Health risks, environmental risks, religious and ethical considerations, post-market surveillance (how can we track health issues if we don't know what someone ate?), international trade markets - it's all here. What do you think the hold-up is?
________I believe the label is from a product sold in Europe.

Repost: Eating Processed Food Makes It Easier To Gain Weight

This is a repost from 2009. I think foods that are soft and air-entrained would fall into this category ... breakfast cereals, soft white bread, crackers, cookies, cake. Maybe you can think of more. That they could eat the same number of calories and have different outcomes surprised me.
________ Evidence for the harm caused by eating processed food - food made from overly processed grain (flour) with added fats and sweeteners - is mounting.

Can just changing the texture of food, processing it, contribute to weight gain?

That was the question Kyoko Oka, et al. asked in:
Food Texture Differences Affect Energy Metabolism In Rats, 2003

Two groups of rats were fed either standard pellets or easily-chewed, soft pellets (made softer by increasing air content, as is done in breakfast cereals).

• Calorie intake was measured to be the same in both groups.
• Nutritional composition of diet was the same in both groups.
• Meal duration was the same in both groups.
• Calorie expenditure via locomotion was measured to be the same in both groups.

If energy intake, nutrient intake, and energy expenditure (activity) are similar, you would expect body weight and body fat to be similar. That wasn't the case.

Findings

• After 18 weeks and beyond, "body weight in the soft-fed group was significantly greater."
• After 22 weeks the rats were dissected. Weight of abdominal fat in the soft-fed group was significantly greater, enough to designate the rats as obese.
• The increased body weight in the soft-fed rats was due to increased body fat.

The authors concluded:

"In this study, 22 weeks was long enough to produce obesity in soft-fed rats." (They ate the same number of calories.)

Mechanism

The cost for digestion in the soft-fed rats was lower. This cost was measured in body temperature, which was significantly lower in the soft-fed group after a meal (up to 1 hour). Body temperature (thus, energy expenditure) was also significantly lower in the soft-fed group "during the dark period" or overnight.

If weight loss and reduction of body fat are the goal, merely reducing the number of calories consumed won't be as effective as also reducing the amount of processed food consumed, e.g. bread, crackers, breakfast cereals, and baked goods.

________Idea thanks to Richard Wrangham and his book Catching Fire. Great book.