Bump: The Diabetes "Crash" Cure & Pancreatic Fat

Today's 8/15/13 bump was inspired by a comment by Tsimblist (thanks!) alerting me to this paper:  Type 2 Diabetes Etiology and reversibility

Reversal of type 2 diabetes to normal metabolic control by either bariatric surgery or hypocaloric diet allows for the time sequence of underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms to be observed. In reverse order, the same mechanisms are likely to determine the events leading to the onset of hyperglycemia and permit insight into the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Within 7 days of instituting a substantial negative calorie balance by either dietary intervention or bariatric surgery, fasting plasma glucose levels can normalize. This rapid change relates to a substantial fall in liver fat content and return of normal hepatic insulin sensitivity. Over 8 weeks, first phase and maximal rates of insulin secretion steadily return to normal, and this change is in step with steadily decreasing pancreatic fat content.

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Toxic!

There hasn't been much buzz about this year's LC Cruise, but a couple of days ago, a tweet from the presentation of one Dr. Dwight Lundell made a little splash on Twitter and FB.  

The most toxic chemical in the human diet is GLUCOSE. -Dr. @dwightlundell #sugarkills #LCCruise13
— Dietitian Cassie, RD (@dietitiancassie) May 7, 2013

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An American Justice System for Food ~ Part I Intro and Carbs in General

The cornerstone of the American justice system:  Innocent until proven guilty.  According to Wikipedia: sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat (the burden of proof lies with who declares, not who denies).  I like the first part of that Latin expression and suggest that what is truly needed in nutritional circles is to put the burden of proof on those making claims.  My point here is not a political one, it is not to argue the merits of my country's justice system or its implementation, or anything of the sort.  It is to put forth a suggestion -- that ALL who demonize foods be tasked with proving their charges.   I suggest this because it is darned near impossible to do the opposite especially in the face of baseless charges.  

It is a bit of a stretch, but keep in mind that many of the compounds, such as water, can be toxic at some level of ingestion.  Furthermore, some of the chemical and/or physical properties of many innocuous compounds found in foods can seem quite daunting when taken out of context.   This is an obvious spoof, but hopefully it makes a point.

Now, the vegans and vegetarians and raw and fruitarian crowds are all just as guilty of this, but since I've never been even remotely a part of any of those communities, I'll leave it to someone else to call out their hyperbole, scaremongering and outright disinformation.   I'm also not talking about new non-foods such as artificial sweeteners, chemically modified foods (e.g. hydrogenated fats), non-food chemicals such as preservatives and I'll even throw in GM in with substances that should be considered unsafe until proven otherwise.  

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Ketosis and Burning Body Fat

Alternate Title:  Picture Worth More Than 1000 Words.  In speeches and interviews lately, Jimmy Moore has become fond of mentioning a few things (well, in addition to name dropping Robb Wolf)

• Nutritional Ketosis as being somehow unique from run-of-the-mill, what, biochemical ketosis.  NK requires blood ketone testing as this is more accurate.  And,
• Ketosis is evidence of burning body fat which he wasn't doing prior to this experiment.
• Ketones and blood glucose being reciprocal

Tis true that measuring blood ketone levels is more accurate than urine ketones.  For one thing, urine levels vary widely with fluid intake, frequency of urination, etc.  Urine ketones are also "spill-over".  This is why nobody is ever busted for DUI on the basis of a urine test.  But just because urine levels are not necessarily representative of one's ketogenic production doesn't mean a person is, or is not, in NuttyK.  But let's presume that to be truly NuttyK one must also be a prick-er.  

On the right sidebar are Jimmy's NuttyK experiment results from Days 180-209.  Top to bottom we have AM glucose, AM ketones, PM ketones,  and body weight.  Do YOU notice any correlation?   Here's what I see:

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Ketone and Fat "Burning" are Not the Same Thing to Your Mitochondria

This notion of being a "sugar burner" vs. a "fat burner" -- with the latter being touted as preferable based on nothing I've seen in the scientific literature -- is getting really out of hand.  This is not a new idea, but it certainly seems to be being pushed more lately, particularly in the area of athletic performance.  There were a smattering of posts about the diets of Olympians about the net and I just have to shake my head at the one that goes something like "just imagine how much better fill in the blank would do if (s)he didn't eat grains" or "ate LCHF" or "went paleo".  C'mon already ... Michael Phelps is a prime offender of all laws and gods nutritional, but will someone please remind me how many medals he's earned and records he's held/broken in his career?  Gawd forbid any of these elite athletes set a bad example by having their face put on a box of Wheaties!  I dunno ... it all seems so silly when Phelps sports one of the leanest torsos on the planet burning sugar.  But I digress ...

But with ketomania in full-blown fad form, there's a new twist on the fat burning meme which is to confuse fat burning with ketone burning.  It is not.  Yes, ketones are produced mostly from the breakdown of fatty acids (they are also produced from some amino acids), so you "burn fat" in your liver to produce them.  If you are in caloric deficit, the source of the fatty acids will be body fat.  However, if you're fueling the other cells of your body with ketones, this is not the same as the mitochondria in those cells "burning fat".  

Below is a schematic of a brain cell mitochondria and the metabolic pathways showing where ketones feed into Krebs (aka the TCA), from:  D-β-Hydroxybutyrate protects neurons in models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease (thus it shows the points of issue for these two diseases) 

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