Macronutrient Confusion is Everywhere Apparently

Thank you to everyone for contributing to my little survey!  I wasn't trying to trick anyone or anything, just get an idea of whether or not there is any so-called macronutrient confusion across the pond (and/or in other countries that have adopted similar nutritional recommendations).

Where'd that come from?  I had a random page hit from a blog discussing a paper by Zoe Harcombe where a commenter had linked to my discussions of Harcombe's credentials.    Yes, Zoe Harcombe -- obesity researcher extraordinaire -- did indeed publish a paper in a "peer reviewed" journal back in March of this year:  Food for Thought: Have We Been Giving the Wrong Dietary Advice?.    In it she, and coauthors, lamented some so-called macronutrient confusion in the UK.

I was wondering if it did, indeed, exist.

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The New Paleo Diet Study: Paleo-type-style-ish Diets vs. "Paleo"

There's a new Swedish paleo diet study out: A Palaeolithic-type diet causes strong tissue-specific effects on ectopic fat deposition in obese postmenopausal women.  The title sounds promising, but my first reaction to it, sadly, not so much about the potential findings, but, what exactly is this paleo-TYPE diet??  It would appear to be based loosely on Cordain's original Paleo Diet (I hear that's trademarked).  

This was a small study, 10 women, no control group, lasting only 5 weeks.  There were some benefits including around 10 lbs average weight loss and almost 50% reduction in liver fat.  This shall be for another blog post.  But what diet was tested?  Here's the diet description from the full text:

Participants were given prepared meal portions that were intended to provide an average intake of about 30 energy percentage (E%) protein, 40 E% fat (mostly unsaturated) and 30 E% carbohydrates for breakfast, lunch and dinner, together with 40 g nuts (walnuts and sweet almonds) on a daily basis for 5 weeks.

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Fish & Food Purity Wars

I really like fish -- all kinds.  And fish is one way to get a lot "supplements" -- in whole form, complete with other components that act in synergism with what has been refined out in supplements.  I've been getting more into fish lately as the new Korean-American owned market opened nearby.  They have an amazing seafood department including crystal clean tanks of live fish. (The other Asian market with large tanks is not quite so pristine).  One day they were having a hard time constraining jumpers!  In addition to seafoods you don't usually see elsewhere --  abalone, barrels & tanks of live crabs, octopus -- they have a really nice selection of fish varieties, both common and eccentric.   Even if I'm not in the market for fish I'll still swing by for the Chilean sea bass samples, to die for!

But as protein sources go, fish is pretty danged expensive nowadays.  Even your run-of-the-mill cod While this market is rather more affordable than where we usually go, we recently purchased a trimmed filet mignon for less per pound than most of the filleted fish, especially my beloved salmon and swordfish.   Then you see the sign:  Sale!  $6.99/lb Farmed in Vietnam (or other Asian country).   To buy, or not to buy?  The wild caught (if even available for may varieties) will be in the $12-16/lb range.

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Gestational Diabetes and Pre-Pregnancy Fat Intake

Gestational diabetes -- hyperglycemia during pregnancy -- effects a considerable number of women.  It is also a known risk factor for developing diabetes (T2) later in life.    Some degree of peripheral insulin resistance normally develops during pregnancy.  Why?  Because the fetus' growth and development takes priority in nutrient partitioning so glucose is conserved for the fetus much like it is conserved for the brain in the fasted/starved/glucose-deprived state.  The link of GD to T2 most likely reveals the genetic predisposition towards IR -- in other words, while diet can cause insulin resistance, there is a genetic component in most who eventually develop hyperglycemia as a result.  Most women will compensate for the mild IR state and maintain normal glycemia during pregnancy, while those who are perhaps even mildly IR to begin with will exceed their capacity to compensate during the pregnancy.  In most cases, deliver the baby and the diabetes goes away.  

A prospective study of prepregnancy dietary fat intake and risk of gestational diabetes

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