Paleo Diet Improves Lipid Profile Better Than AHA’s Grain-Based Hearth-Healthy Diet in Adults With High Cholesterol

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 1 comment

He’s not worried about his lipids

Abstract from the journal Nutrition Research:

Recent research suggests that traditional grain-based heart-healthy diet recommendations, which replace dietary saturated fat with carbohydrate and reduce total fat intake, may result in unfavorable plasma lipid ratios, with reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and an elevation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triacylglycerols (TG). The current study tested the hypothesis that a grain-free Paleolithic diet would induce weight loss and improve plasma total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and TG concentrations in nondiabetic adults with hyperlipidemia to a greater extent than a grain-based heart-healthy diet, based on the recommendations of the American Heart Association. Twenty volunteers (10 male and 10 female) aged 40 to 62 years were selected based on diagnosis of hypercholesterolemia. Volunteers were not taking any cholesterol-lowering medications and adhered to a traditional heart-healthy diet for 4 months, followed by a Paleolithic diet for 4 months. Regression analysis was used to determine whether change in body weight contributed to observed changes in plasma lipid concentrations. Differences in dietary intakes and plasma lipid measures were assessed using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Four months of Paleolithic nutrition significantly lowered (P < .001) mean total cholesterol, LDL, and TG and increased (P < .001) HDL, independent of changes in body weight, relative to both baseline and the traditional heart-healthy diet. Paleolithic nutrition offers promising potential for nutritional management of hyperlipidemia in adults whose lipid profiles have not improved after following more traditional heart-healthy dietary recommendations.

PMID: 26003334 DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2015.05.002

Source: Paleolithic nutrition improves plasma lipid concentrations of hypercholesterolemic adults to a greater extent than traditional heart-healthy dietar… – PubMed – NCBI

Authors are Pastore RL, Brooks JT, and Carbone JW

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Posted in Heart Disease, Lipids

Certain Blood Pressure Meds Interfere With Exercise

Posted on February 23, 2018 | 2 comments

If you have to choose between aerobic and resistance training, I favor the latter. The combination is better.

Seriously athletic folks, particularly those in sports with high aerobic demand, should avoid these BP drug classes:

  • Diuretics (they predispose to dehydration)
  • Beta blockers (they may decrease exercise tolerance via slowing of heart rate)

Better choices for athletes are:

  • Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs)
  • Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs)
  • long-acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers

These latter drugs are not likely to affect athletic performance or cause other complications. If you can’t figure out which class of drug you take, ask your physician or pharmacist.

Steve Parker, M.D.

2 Comments

Posted in Exercise

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Is There a Cure for Type 2 Diabetes?

Posted on February 21, 2018 | 3 comments

Seems to be, at least for some folks who are overweight. Nine of 10 T2 diabetes are overweight or obese

Science Alert has the story.

The “cure” at hand involves reduction of daily calories to 800 for four weeks. Average weight loss of those in the experimental group was 10 kg (22 lb). The full text of the scientific report may have been published already. I bet the drop-out rate was high.

 Steve Parker, M.D.

 

3 Comments

Posted in Causes of Diabetes, Weight Loss

NASEM: Don’t Trust U.S. Dietary Guidelines

Posted on February 13, 2018 | 3 comments

Back to the drawing board

NASEM is the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Andy Harris writes that:

The nation’s senior scientific body recently released a new report raising serious questions about the “scientific rigor” of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This report confirms what many in government have suspected for years and is the reason why Congress mandated this report in the first place: our nation’s top nutrition policy is not based on sound science.

Dr. Harris notes that since 1980, when the guidelines were first published, rates of obesity have doubled and diabetes has quadrupled.

Current recommendations to reduce saturated fat consumption and to eat health whole grains do not, after all, reduce rates of cardiovascular disease. That was my conclusion about saturated fat in 2009.

For a mere $68 you can read the NASEM report yourself. Better yet, read Tom Naughton’s thoughts for free.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: The diets I’ve designed are contrary to U.S. Dietary Guidelines.

3 Comments

Posted in Causes of Diabetes, Grains, Heart Disease, Overweight

Paleo and Mediterranean Diets Linked to Lower Risk of Death

Posted on February 6, 2018 | 1 comment

The Journal of Nutrition in 2017 published a study that looked at baseline diet characteristics of over 21,000 folks, then over the next six years noted who died, and why. Guess how many died?

Here’s a clue. These U.S. study participants were at least 45 years old at the start of the study.

2,513 died. Seems high to me, so I bet the average age was close to 65.

Hank’s not worried about death

I can’t tell for sure from the report’s abstract, but it looks like the researchers were interested in the Mediterranean and caveman diets from the get-go. Study subjects who ate Paleo- or Mediterranean-style were significantly less likely to die over six years. They were less likely to die from any cause or from cancer or from cardiovascular disease.

Composition of the paleo diet is debatable (click for my 2012 definition).

Consider adopting some Mediterranean diet features, too.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:

Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores Are Inversely Associated with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Adults. First published February 8, 2017, doi: 10.3945/​jn.116.241919.

Abstract

Background: Poor diet quality is associated with a higher risk of many chronic diseases that are among the leading causes of death in the United States. It has been hypothesized that evolutionary discordance may account for some of the higher incidence and mortality from these diseases.

Objective: We investigated associations of 2 diet pattern scores, the Paleolithic and the Mediterranean, with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the REGARDS (REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study, a longitudinal cohort of black and white men and women ≥45 y of age.

Methods: Participants completed questionnaires, including a Block food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ), at baseline and were contacted every 6 mo to determine their health status. Of the analytic cohort (n = 21,423), a total of 2513 participants died during a median follow-up of 6.25 y. We created diet scores from FFQ responses and assessed their associations with mortality using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for major risk factors.

Results: For those in the highest relative to the lowest quintiles of the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diet scores, the multivariable adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality were, respectively, 0.77 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.89; P-trend < 0.01) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.73; P-trend < 0.01). The corresponding HRs for all-cancer mortality were 0.72 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.95; P-trend = 0.03) and 0.64 (95% CI: 0.48, 0.84; P-trend = 0.01), and for all-cardiovascular disease mortality they were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.61, 1.00; P-trend = 0.06) and HR: 0.68 (95% CI: 0.53, 0.88; P-trend = 0.01).

Conclusions: Findings from this biracial prospective study suggest that diets closer to Paleolithic or Mediterranean diet patterns may be inversely associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

 

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Posted in Longevity, Paleo Theory

Paleo Diet Reduces Gingivitis and Periodontitis

Posted on February 4, 2018 | 3 comments

..at least in a tiny short-term study done in Germany. Only 10 experimental subjects. And the researchers didn’t call it a paleo, Paleolithic, Stone Age, or caveman diet.

Here’s their description of the food: “..low in carbohydrates, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and rich in vitamins C and D, antioxidants and fiber for four weeks.” How low in carbs? To a level “as far as possible to a level < 130 grams/day.” Click the link above for full diet details. By my reading, it qualifies as a paleo diet.

Certified paleo-compliant, plus high omega-3 fatty acids and low-carb

The researchers note in the body of their report that they can’t tell for sure which components of the experimental diet were most helpful, but they suspect it’s 1) the carbohydrate restriction, 2) increased omega-3 fatty acids, and 3) reduced omega-6 consumption.

Those three factors are at play in the both the Paleobetic Diet and Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet.

Here’s the study’s abstract for you science nerds:

Background

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of four weeks of an oral health optimized diet on periodontal clinical parameters in a randomized controlled trial.

Methods

The experimental group (n = 10) had to change to a diet low in carbohydrates, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and rich in vitamins C and D, antioxidants and fiber for four weeks. Participants of the control group (n = 5) did not change their dietary behavior. Plaque index, gingival bleeding, probing depths, and bleeding upon probing were assessed by a dentist with a pressure-sensitive periodontal probe. Measurements were performed after one and two weeks without a dietary change (baseline), followed by a two week transitional period, and finally performed weekly for four weeks.

Results

Despite constant plaque values in both groups, all inflammatory parameters decreased in the experimental group to approximately half that of the baseline values (GI: 1.10 ± 0.51 to 0.54 ± 0.30; BOP: 53.57 to 24.17 %; PISA: 638 mm2 to 284 mm2). This reduction was significantly different compared to that of the control group.

Conclusion

A diet low in carbohydrates, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, rich in vitamins C and D, and rich in fibers can significantly reduce gingival and periodontal inflammation.

Thanks to BioMed Central for making the entire report available for free.

Reference:

An oral health optimized diet can reduce gingival and periodontal inflammation in humans – a randomized controlled pilot study. BMC Oral Health 2016, 17:28. Published: 26 July, 2016.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-016-0257-1

3 Comments

Posted in Teeth

Short-Term Benefits of Low-Carb Compared to High-Carb Diet in Type 1 Diabetes

Posted on January 25, 2018 | 3 comments

Shrimp Salad

A scientific study published 2017 compared a high-carb (at least 250 grams/day) to low-carb diet (50 grams or less) in 10 patients with type 1 diabetics. The low-carb diet yielded more time in the normal blood sugar range, less hypoglycemia, and less variability of glucose levels.

I assume the low-carb diet required less insulin, but I don’t know since I haven’t seen the full article. Let me know if you can confirm.

In case you’re wondering, the Paleobetic diet provides about 60 grams of carb daily.

Here’s the abstract:

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of a high carbohydrate diet (HCD) vs a low carbohydrate diet (LCD) on glycaemic variables and cardiovascular risk markers in patients with type 1 diabetes. Ten patients (4 women, insulin pump-treated, median ± standard deviation [s.d.] age 48 ± 10 years, glycated haemoglobin [HbA1c] 53 ± 6 mmol/mol [7.0% ± 0.6%]) followed an isocaloric HCD (≥250 g/d) for 1 week and an isocaloric LCD (≤50 g/d) for 1 week in random order. After each week, we downloaded pump and sensor data and collected fasting blood and urine samples. Diet adherence was high (225 ± 30 vs 47 ± 10 g carbohydrates/d; P < .0001). Mean sensor glucose levels were similar in the two diets (7.3 ± 1.1 vs 7.4 ± 0.6 mmol/L; P = .99). The LCD resulted in more time with glucose values in the range of 3.9 to 10.0 mmol/L (83% ± 9% vs 72% ± 11%; P = .02), less time with values ≤3.9 mmol/L (3.3% ± 2.8% vs 8.0% ± 6.3%; P = .03), and less glucose variability (s.d. 1.9 ± 0.4 vs 2.6 ± 0.4 mmol/L; P = .02) than the HCD. Cardiovascular markers were unaffected, while fasting glucagon, ketone and free fatty acid levels were higher at end of the LCD week than the HCD week. In conclusion, the LCD resulted in more time in euglycaemia, less time in hypoglycaemia and less glucose variability than the HCD, without altering mean glucose levels.

Steve Parker, M.D.

3 Comments

Posted in Diabetic Diet

If You Resolved to Lose Weight in 2018…

Posted on December 28, 2017 | Comments Off on If You Resolved to Lose Weight in 2018…

…you need to read my series on preparing for weight loss. It will improve your odds of success.

The answer’s not in this TV infomercial

Comments Off on If You Resolved to Lose Weight in 2018…

Posted in Weight Loss

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2017 | Comments Off on Merry Christmas!

Credit: Zvonimir Atletic / Shutterstock.com

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Posted in Uncategorized

Even If You’re Old, You Can Preserve Muscle Mass During Weight Loss. Here’s How.

Posted on December 10, 2017 | 1 comment
dementia, memory loss, Mediterranean diet, low-carb diet, glycemic index, dementia memory loss

“Honey, please come to the gym with me.”

We’ve known for a while that resistance training helps preserve muscle mass in younger folks during weight-loss programs. I’ve always figured the principle applied to older folks, too. Now we have proof. Average age of these study participants was 67.

From UPI.com:

Seniors who want to lose weight should hit the weight room while they cut calories, a new study suggests.

Older folks who performed resistance training while dieting were able to lose fat but still preserve most of their lean muscle mass, compared with those who walked for exercise, researchers report.

“The thought is if you lose too much lean mass, that this will exacerbate risk of disability in older adults,” said lead researcher Kristen Beavers, an assistant professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. “Our findings show if your treatment goal is to maximize fat loss and minimize lean mass loss, then the resistance training is probably the way to go.”

 

 

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Posted in Exercise