Nutrition

A Palaeolithic diet improves glucose tolerance more than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischaemic heart disease. Lindeberg S, Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Borgstrand E, Soffman J, Sjöström K, Ahrén B. Diabetologia. 2007 Sep;50(9):1795-807. Epub 2007 Jun 22. PMID: 17583796 DOI: 10.1007/s00125-007-0716-y Conclusions/interpretation A Palaeolithic diet may improve glucose tolerance independently of decreased waist circumference.

"One of the surprises over the past year has been all the research regarding Vitamin D and brain health. Give that many people are spending less time outdoors and more time in front of their computers, we all should be concerned, as Vitamin D comes in part from our exposure to the sun. Low Vitamin D levels have been associated with pain, depression, MS, cancer and now perhaps even dementia. Here are the results of a new study that should cause all of us to pay attention. I frequently check the Vitamin D levels in my patients and frrequently see that they are below the optimal level. Get your levels checked if you have any of these concerns. A new large-scale senior population study has found that a lack of vitamin D in the elderly could be linked to cognitive impairment. The study, conducted on almost 2,000 adults over the age of 65, is the first of its scale to identify this relationship, and prompted researchers to suggest vitamin D supplementation as a possible means of reducing the risk of dementia. "

Prevalence of low serum vitamin D concentration in an urban population of elderly women in Poland. Napiórkowska L, Budlewski T, Jakubas-Kwiatkowska W, Hamzy V, Gozdowski D, Franek E. Pol Arch Med Wewn. 2009 Nov;119(11):699-703. PMID: 19920793 CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of low vitamin D concentrations in an urban population of elderly women in Poland is very high. Lower vitamin D levels are associated with a higher PTH concentration

Effects of a short-term intervention with a paleolithic diet in healthy volunteers. Osterdahl M, Kocturk T, Koochek A, Wändell PE. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2008 May;62(5):682-5. Epub 2007 May 16. PMID: 17522610 Conclusion: This short-term intervention showed some favourable effects by the diet, but further studies, including control group, are needed.

Inverse association between serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels and non-melanoma skin cancer in elderly men. Tang JY, Parimi N, Wu A, John Boscardin W, Shikany JM, Chren MM, Cummings SR, Epstein EH Jr, Bauer DC; for the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Group. Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Nov 18. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19921445 Our results suggest that a diagnosis of NMSC is not a surrogate for adequate 25(OH)D levels or increased UV exposure, and high 25(OH)D levels may be associated with a reduced risk of NMSC.

"In general, evolution depends on a special combination of circumstances: part genetics, part time, and part environment. In the case of human brain evolution, the main environmental influence was adaptation to a 'shore-based' diet, which provided the world's richest source of nutrition, as well as a sedentary lifestyle that promoted fat deposition. Such a diet included shellfish, fish, marsh plants, frogs, bird's eggs, etc. Humans and, and more importantly, hominid babies started to get fat, a crucial distinction that led to the development of larger brains and to the evolution of modern humans. A larger brain is expensive to maintain and this increasing demand for energy results in, succinctly, survival of the fattest."

The joint effects of apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A1, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol on risk: 3510 cases of acute myocardial infarction and 9805 controls. Parish S, Peto R, Palmer A, Clarke R, Lewington S, Offer A, Whitlock G, Clark S, Youngman L, Sleight P, Collins R; International Studies of Infarct Survival Collaborators. Eur Heart J. 2009 Sep;30(17):2137-46. Epub 2009 Jun 11. PMID: 19520708 doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp221 Conclusion: Apolipoprotein ratios are more informative about risk than lipid fractions are. This suggests that, among lipoprotein particles of a particular type (LDL or HDL), some smaller and larger subtypes differ in their effects on risk. Direct measurements of even more specific subtypes of lipoprotein particles may be even more informative about risk.

"The idea that too much animal fat and high cholesterol are dangerous to your heart and vessels is nothing but a myth. Here are some astonishing and frightening facts (see below) If you think this is written by another internet crackpot, take a look at Dr. Ravnskov's credentials and the reviews of his book.

Incremental effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on cardiovascular events in statin-treated patients with coronary artery disease. Matsuzaki M, Yokoyama M, Saito Y, Origasa H, Ishikawa Y, Oikawa S, Sasaki J, Hishida H, Itakura H, Kita T, Kitabatake A, Nakaya N, Sakata T, Shimada K, Shirato K, Matsuzawa Y; JELIS Investigators. Circ J. 2009 Jul;73(7):1283-90. Epub 2009 May 8. PMID: 19423946 Conclusions: EPA is effective for secondary prevention of CAD, especially in individuals with prior MI, and should be added to conventional treatment.

Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on major coronary events in hypercholesterolaemic patients (JELIS): a randomised open-label, blinded endpoint analysis. Yokoyama M, Origasa H, Matsuzaki M, Matsuzawa Y, Saito Y, Ishikawa Y, Oikawa S, Sasaki J, Hishida H, Itakura H, Kita T, Kitabatake A, Nakaya N, Sakata T, Shimada K, Shirato K; Japan EPA lipid intervention study (JELIS) Investigators. Lancet. 2007 Mar 31;369(9567):1090-8. Erratum in: Lancet. 2007 Jul 21;370(9583):220. PMID: 17398308 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60527-3 Interpretation EPA is a promising treatment for prevention of major coronary events, and especially non-fatal coronary events, in Japanese hypercholesterolaemic patients

Omega 3 fatty acids and the brain: review of studies in depression. Sinclair AJ, Begg D, Mathai M, Weisinger RS. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 Suppl 1:391-7. Review. PMID: 17392137 This paper discusses the clinical studies conducted in the area of depression and omega 3 PUFA and the possible mechanisms of action of these PUFA. It is clear from the literature that DHA is involved in a variety of processes in neural cells and that its role is far more complex than simply influencing cell membrane properties.

"Posted Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:01pm AEDT Updated Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:27pm AEDT Researchers are advising people with MS to take safe levels of vitamin D supplements. Researchers are advising people with MS to take safe levels of vitamin D supplements. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin, file photo) * Audio: New research shows Vitamin D may slow the progress of MS (The World Today) Australian scientists have found that Vitamin D may slow the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). Figures showing that people living in Tasmania are seven times more likely to develop MS than Queenslanders had suggested a link between sunlight exposure and the disease. "

Vitamin D association with estradiol and progesterone in young women. Knight JA, Wong J, Blackmore KM, Raboud JM, Vieth R. Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Nov 15. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19916051 CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of vitamin D may reduce progesterone and estradiol, providing a potential mechanism for reduction in breast cancer risk from increased vitamin D exposure in young women.

"This is an announcement to alert readers to a crucial email I received from a physician who has evidence vitamin D is protective against H1N1. I ask you, the reader, to contact your representatives in Washington to help protect Americans, especially children, from H1N1 before winter comes."

"Not only was meat a principal source of nutrition for developing man, it actually was the driving force allowing us to develop our large brains. For years anthropologists argued that we humans got our large brains because we had to develop them to learn hunting strategies to capture and kill game much larger, faster, and meaner than ourselves. Anthropologists Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler turned that idea on its head in a brilliant paper postulating that we were able to develop our large brains not to learn to hunt but because the fruits of our hunting-nutrient-dense meat-allowed us to decrease the size of our digestive tracts. The more nutrient dense the food, the less digestion it needs to extract the nutrients, and consequently the smaller the digestive tract required. (The human digestive tract, while longer than true carnivores, is the shortest of any of the primates.) "

"I recently received an email from the Vitamin D Council regarding recent evidence that having adequate serum Vitamin D levels could be very important to avoiding illness from the H1N1 (swine) flu that is making the rounds. That will seem intuitive to those of you who read my earlier post about D, but it's good to see some real evidence. Some of you may have seen this information already on other blogs, including Richard's, but I have some new information and some comments to add."

What is PāNu? PāNu is an approach to living centered on the thesis that the diseases of civilization are largely related to abandonment of the metabolic conditions we evolved under - what I have termed the "evolutionary metabolic milieu" - EM2. Returning to EM2 is not based on paleolithic food re-enactment. You don't have to eat bugs or wooly mammoths. Unlike many popular "diets", it doesn't require a calculator, or even a recipe book once you learn some basic science about food.

"Study finds inadequate levels of Vitamin D may significantly increase risk of stroke, heart disease and death MURRAY, UT - While mothers have known that feeding their kids milk builds strong bones, a new study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City suggests that Vitamin D contributes to a strong and healthy heart as well - and that inadequate levels of the vitamin may significantly increase a person's risk of stroke, heart disease, and death, even among people who've never had heart disease. For more than a year, the Intermountain Medical Center research team followed 27,686 patients who were 50 years of age or older with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. The participants had their blood Vitamin D levels tested during routine clinical care. The patients were divided into three groups based on their Vitamin D levels - normal (over 30 nanograms per milliliter), low (15-30 ng/ml), or very low (less than 15 ng/ml). The patients were then followed to see if they developed some form of heart disease."

"Orlando, FL - Adding extended-release niacin (Niaspan, Abbott) to statin therapy results in a significant regression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), whereas the addition of ezetimibe (Zetia, Merck/Schering-Plough) to statin therapy did not, according to an eagerly anticipated study "

Omega-3 augmentation of sertraline in treatment of depression in patients with coronary heart disease: a randomized controlled trial. Carney RM, Freedland KE, Rubin EH, Rich MW, Steinmeyer BC, Harris WS. JAMA. 2009 Oct 21;302(15):1651-7. PMID: 19843899 Conclusions Treatment of patients with CHD and major depression with sertraline and omega-3 fatty acids did not result in superior depression outcomes at 10 weeks, compared with sertraline and placebo. Whether higher doses of omega-3 or sertraline, a different ratio of EPA to DHA, longer treatment, or omega-3 monotherapy can improve depression in patients with CHD remains to be determined