Posted onDecember 4, 2024|Comments Off on Is Ozempic So Bad That It’s Illegal in Europe?
In the video below, JP implies that it is. He’s technically correct in that it is banned in some European countries according to a January 2024 article at HealthNews. Ozempic and Wegovy are brand names for the same drug: semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist. Wegovy is FDA-approved for treatment of certain folks with obesity whereas Ozempic is FDA-approved for treatment of type 2 diabetes.
I understand the superficial appeal of drug-induced weight management: no need to fool with exercise and dietary restriction.
Posted onOctober 21, 2024|Comments Off on Ketogenic Diets Reduce Risk of Death
A modern low-carb paleo meal
Many physicians and dietitians have been hesitant to suggest ketogenic diets due to 1) possible increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and 2) unknown effects on overall mortality.
The paleo diet can be ketogenic after a few modifications that get total daily digestible carbs down to 20-30 grams/day. That can be very risky for diabetics taking insulin or other drugs with potential to cause hypoglycemia. But the risk is manageable with medical supervision.
…a higher intake of ultra-processed foods was associated with slightly higher all cause mortality, driven by causes other than cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The associations varied across subgroups of ultra-processed foods, with meat/poultry/seafood based ready-to-eat products showing particularly strong associations with mortality.
You can read the study for yourself free online. Did Big Food (e.g., Archer Daniels Midland, Con-Agra, Monsanto) exert any pressure on the researchers. I dunno.
From the Intro:
Ultra-processed foods are ready-to-eat/heat industrial formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods, including flavors, colors, texturizers, and other additives, with little if any intact whole food.1Ultra-processed foods, which are typically of low nutritional quality and high energy density, have been dominating the food supply of high income countries, and their consumption is markedly increasing in middle income countries.2 Ultra-processed food consumption accounts for 57% of daily energy intake among adults and 67% among youths in the US according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).34
Ultra-processed foods usually disproportionately contribute added sugars, sodium, saturated fats and trans fats, and refined carbohydrates to the diet together with low fiber.56 As well as having low nutritional quality, ultra-processed foods may contain harmful substances, such as additives and contaminants formed during the processing.
Neurologist Steven Novella wrote a brief post about this study over at Science-Based Medicine. You may also find the comment section there enlightening.
Posted onSeptember 2, 2024|Comments Off on Korean Secrets to Staying Slender
…..South Korean, specifically. Korea has one of the lowest overweight/obesity rates among OECD countries: 33.7%. Life expectancy at birth is 83.4 years, compared to 80.9 in the U.S., 82.2 in UK, 82 in Ireland, and 72.3 in Russia. Anna Lee in the video below postulates why the Korean numbers look so good. She makes a lot of sense. Kpop idols are under high pressure to be more slender than average.
Posted onAugust 28, 2024|Comments Off on Deprescription: Hope for Trulicity and Ozempic Users
I learned a new word today: deprescription. It apparently refers to the act of stopping a prescribed drug.
There’s a class of type 2 diabetes drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists. Popular examples are Ozempic and Trulicity. They help users to lose excess weight. But there’s concern about long-term drug side effects regain of lost weight when the drug is stopped. So do successful users need to take the drug lifelong?
A study published earlier this year in Diabetes Therapysuggests that successful users of GLP-1 receptor agonists can stop the drug without weight regain and without loss of diabetes control if they also adhere to a very carbohydrate restricted diet. How much carb restriction? Under 30 grams/day, at least at first. That’s going to be ketogenic in most folks. Although I don’t recall seeing “ketogenic” in the study at hand.
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These man-made and long-lasting chemicals are implicated in causation of cancer, immunity impairment, infertility, impaired kidney function, thyroid disease, and low birth weight.
Thrice in the last six months I’ve heard that compared to the European Union, U.S. regulators allow many more added chemicals in food. That sounds like a deep and circuitous rabbit hole that I’m not ready to explore. Please mention in the comments an authoritative book or website on the subject.
I’ve been trying to grow food here in the Sonoran Desert for the last three years. I’m about ready to give up. My primary pests have been mealy bugs, caterpillars, mice, pack rats, and squirrels.
Oh, well. I guess it won’t matter when nuclear WWW3 kicks off.
Posted onAugust 23, 2024|Comments Off on COVID-19: Diabetes Drug Metformin Shows Promise as Treatment
If memory serves, when I started my medical career we only had three classes of drugs for treating diabetes: insulin, sulfonylureas, and metformin. We have so many options now, that I have lost track. From Everyday Health earlier this year:
Metformin, a decades-old generic drug for type 2 diabetes, may also help treat COVID-19, a new study suggests.
Scientists at the University of Minnesota randomly assigned more than 1,300 adults with COVID-19 to take metformin or a placebo pill. All of the participants took nasal swab tests for viral levels after 1, 5, and 10 days.
Lab tests showed that metformin significantly reduced the amount of COVID-19 virus circulating in the body and also decreased the odds that virus levels would rebound after an initial reduction during treatment, according to study results published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Among the key research results:
On average, metformin reduced the amount of virus in the body almost 4 times more than the placebo pill.
People taking metformin were 28 percent more likely to have undetectable levels of the virus in their body at either day 5 or day 10 of the study.
Participants on metformin were 32 percent less likely to experience what’s known as rebound — when levels of the virus initially decrease but then become higher again.
Posted onJune 17, 2024|Comments Off on Does the Ketogenic Diet Cause or Prevent Cardiovascular Disease?
Caveman Grock confusing rectal pressure with blood pressure
In July, 2023, the journal Nutrients published a review of literature on the effect of ketogenic diets on cardiovascular disease. The abstract mentions potentially beneficial changes blood lipids, inflammation, blood pressure, etc., without going where the rubber meets the road: the effect on mortality and incidence of cardiovascular events in live humans. Click the link to see the entire article.
The Abstract:
“The most common and increasing causes of death worldwide are cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Taking into account the fact that diet is a key factor, it is worth exploring this aspect of CVD prevention and therapy. The aim of this article is to assess the potential of the ketogenic diet in the prevention and treatment of CVD. The article is a comprehensive, meticulous analysis of the literature in this area, taking into account the most recent studies currently available. The ketogenic diet has been shown to have a multifaceted effect on the prevention and treatment of CVD. Among other aspects, it has a beneficial effect on the blood lipid profile, even compared to other diets. It shows strong anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective potential, which is due, among other factors, to the anti-inflammatory properties of the state of ketosis, the elimination of simple sugars, the restriction of total carbohydrates and the supply of omega-3 fatty acids. In addition, ketone bodies provide “rescue fuel” for the diseased heart by affecting its metabolism. They also have a beneficial effect on the function of the vascular endothelium, including improving its function and inhibiting premature ageing. The ketogenic diet has a beneficial effect on blood pressure and other CVD risk factors through, among other aspects, weight loss. The evidence cited is often superior to that for standard diets, making it likely that the ketogenic diet shows advantages over other dietary models in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. There is a legitimate need for further research in this area.”
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Dr. Paul E. Marik and Dr. Robert L. Apter sued the FDA in June of 2022, asking the court to: “Hold unlawful and set aside any FDA actions directing or opining on whether ivermectin should be used for certain off-label purposes, including treatment of COVID-19.”
“After nearly two years and a resounding rebuke by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the FDA has agreed to remove its misleading social media posts and consumer directives regarding ivermectin and Covid-19,” said Bowden.
The Appeals Court had written in its decision: “The FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise—but not to endorse, denounce, or advise.”
I’ve long been aware of NASH: non-alcoholic steatohepatitis). THIS is the liver disease target according to the FDA announcement, which states “Rezdiffra is a partial activator of a thyroid hormone receptor; activation of this receptor by Rezdiffra in the liver reduces liver fat accumulation.” Furthermore:
The most common side effects of Rezdiffra included diarrhea and nausea. Rezdiffra comes with certain warnings and precautions, such as drug-induced liver toxicity and gallbladder-related side effects.
There may be potential significant interaction of this new drug with others, particularly statin cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Color me skeptical. If only because the drug was on the “accelerated approval pathway.” But I’ll keep an open mind.
I’m not sure, but it appears that candidates for the drug will need a liver biopsy showing fibrosis (scarring).
Paleo Diabetic 