Omega-3 Fat and Brain Function
January 17, 2008
This video just got sent to me by a fellow scientist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIgNpsbvcVM
Hey Men…listen up!
December 11, 2007
Typical day here in the office at Penn State. I’m sitting at my desk hunting through Pubmed abstracts for information on obesity, heart disease, and dyslipidemia for a scientific paper I’m writing and I got distracted (surprising huh). I started searching for some information on green tea consumption in China. I wanted to see what their maximum daily consumption is, see if I could match it, and observe any weight loss effects.
So I came across a paper that found that men in China who go less than 5 hours of sleep a night or men that are overweight has lower testosterone levels. Now there is a good chance that you (as a man in American) are overweight (66% chance) and not getting more than 5 hours sleep. That’s a double downer for your T-levels.
So….get some sleep and lose that gut ! 
Back to work…
Protein and Your Kidneys
November 1, 2007
Okay.
I get this one all the time. It comes from two places. First is a reader. Their question normally goes
“Will eating more protein damage my kidneys?”
I also get this question, in the form of a statement, from other nutritionists/dietitians
“You shouldn’t eat that much protein as it will damage your kidneys.”
Really?
Unfortunately (or fortunately) the “increased protein damages your kidneys” is more myth derived from theory than anything else. Despite this fact it is still a controversial topic - even amoung scientists.
In a recent response to a research article entitle “Are High protein, vegetable-based diets safe for kidney function?” Anssi Manninen made several pointed worth noting.
1. There is no biological evidence to support the theory that long term high protein diets cause renal injury
2. The changes seen in renal function due to increased protein intake are normal adaptations.
3. Increased protein intake reduces blood pressure and aids in weight loss - high blood pressure and obesity are two risk factors for chronic kidney disease.
The “Best” Diet
October 17, 2007
There are so many diet plans and diet books available today that it is almost impossible to determine which one is the “best” (Author’s Note: Your Naked Nutrition Guide is the best ). Recently a manuscript was published in the Jounal of the American Dietetics Association that compared the “diet quality” of the country’s most popular weight loss programs/plans.
These are the diets that were compared:
- New Glucose Revolution
- Atkins Diet
- Weight Watchers
- South Beach Diet
- Zone Diet
- Ornish Diet
The quality of each of the diets was determined by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). This is a rating system that was developed from another diet quality system called the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). The HEI was developed to measure the adherence to the 1995 USDA Food Guide Pyramid. There was a paper published from a group of Nutrition Superstars from Harvard concluding that the AHEI was a 2x better predictor of heart disease than the original HEI.
So which diet won? The Ornish Diet.
Who lost? Atkins.
Does this mean that we all should go on the Ornish diet? No. While the Ornish diet may have recieved the highest AHEI score. In a 12 month weight loss study published a couple years ago the Ornish diet had the highest drop-out rate. It should also be noted that in the same study the Atkins diet was tied with the Ornish diet for the highest drop-out rate.
So Ornish has the highest diet quality score but it is the hardest to follow AND the Atkins diet has the lowest diet quality score and it is also the hardest to follow. Isn’t this confusing??
Here is the important information that you need to know.
1. The HEI was BASED on adherence to the 1995 USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The Atkins diet is essentially the complete opposite to the food pyramid so it isn’t a huge surprise that is received a poor “grade”. Always know your frame of reference.
2. If you follow the Ornish diet or Atkins diet you will get good results. IF you follow the plan. If you hate eating meat then the Atkins diet isn’t for you. If you love meat then the Ornish diet isn’t for you. You need to find a nutritional plan that fits your tastes, preferences, and lifestyle. That is the largest factor that will contribute to your success - Pick a plan that you can follow.
Now ask yourself - “What plan will I follow the best?”
My money is on Your Naked Nutrition Guide
Beta-Alanine: Anti-Aging Supplement??
October 16, 2007
Yesterday we looked a some of the basics regarding beta-alanine, carnosine, and how these compounds can help increase performance. Yesterday, I also hinted at the fact that carnosine may actually be able to help slow (notice I didn’t say prevent as you can’t prevent aging - this is a distinction many unscrupulous supplement companies neglect).
One cellular process that is thought to play an integral role in the aging process is a non-enzymatic reaction known as glycation. Glycation is a reaction that occurs between sugars and proteins in which sugar molecules bind to proteins altering their structure and function. These modified proteins are known as advanced glycation end products. (AGEs). In addition to aiding in the aging process AGEs have also been implicated in the progression of heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s).
So how does carnosine and beta-alanine come into play? Carnosine prevents the negative effects of AGEs by two different mechanissm. One of the detrimental effects of AGEs is that they can cause oxidative damage. Carnosine is a potent anti-oxidant and can help prevent the oxidative damage caused by AGEs. Carnosine has also been shown to act as a “suicide peptide” preventing bodily proteins from being glycated.
As you can see there is a lot of really interesting (and valuable) research regarding beta-alanine and carnosine going on around the world. It is too early to start making claims about carnosine’s ability to “prevent Alzheimer’s disease” but the research to date shows very promising health and performance effects related to beta-alanine supplementation.
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