Wheat, Constipation, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Schizophrenia and Autism.

Did you see this coming?

Gliadorphin 7, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliadorphin

The above 7-peptide chain contains 3 molecules of proline (the pentagon with a "N" at one corner), just like:-

Bovine β-casomorphin 7, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casomorphin

From Further research for consideration in 'the A2 milk case'.
"Prior to discussion it must be clarified that the hypothetical link between A1 consumption with autistic spectral disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia relates not to the cause of the condition but to the aggravation of symptoms associated with these neurological conditions. More specifically, the hypothesis states that the absorption of food-derived exomorphins such as beta casomorphin 7 (BCM 7) may aggravate symptoms associated with ASD or schizophrenia.

This hypothesis is the basis of 'dietary intervention' that excludes gluten and casein (Knivsberg et al., 2002) from the diet of ASD patients. The former, gluten, has been shown to release gliadamorphin, an exomorphin comparable in opioid activity to BCM-7. A number of laboratories in the United States and Europe offer urine tests, which determine the level of peptides including BCM 7 and other beta casomorphins to serve as an indication of the potential usefulness of dietary intervention in the treatment of ASD patients. One published study reports that a casein- and gluten-free diet was accompanied by improvement in 81% of autistic children within 3 months (Cade et al., 2000)."


According to What is gliadorphin?
"What is gliadorphin? Gliadorphin (also called alpha-gliadin or gluteomorphin) is a substance that resembles morphine. Ordinarily, this is a short-lived by-product from the digestion of gluten molecules (found in wheat, barley, rye, oats, and several other grains). Gliadorphin is very similar to casomorphin. Gliadorphin has been verified by mass spectrometry techniques to be present in unusual quantities in urine samples of children with autism, and are believed by many to be a central part of the system of causes and effects that cause autistic development. The most probable reasons for the presence of these molecules are:
* One or more errors in the breakdown (digestion) process caused by enzyme deficiency and/or
* Abnormal permeability of the gut wall (that would allow these relatively large molecules to enter the bloodstream from the intestine in abnormal quantities)."

You're free, and a testimonial.

First, the music video.


I have to admit that I'm not exactly what you'd call "exciting". Apart from driving my yellow MX-5 very fast in the middle of the night when there's nobody around, I'm not an adrenaline junkie. My mother used to throw herself out of light aircraft with a parachute on her back. There were occasions where her main 'chute either failed to open or it became tangled and had to be "cut away" before deploying the reserve.

I'll fly through the air when I've grown a pair of wings. I'll swim when I've grown a set of gills. I'll climb up the side of a mountain when I've grown two extra legs and have the strength & balance of a goat.

In some ways, I'm lucky to have slightly defective hearing & vision. I'm happy with the sound quality of inexpensive stereos and I don't need HDTV. I get my kicks from singing and from helping people to improve their health. I believe that health is number one priority as, without it, you can't properly do or enjoy things in life.

So, you're free to do what you want to do. Also, you're free to take or leave my advice! Anyway...

Somebody who I've known for about 14 years had been suffering from fairly obvious signs of magnesium deficiency (anxiety, poor sleep, cramps, spasms etc) for quite a while, so I virtually frog-marched him to the pharmacy at Tesco on bank holiday Monday and got him to buy a pot of Epsom Salts and add some to a smoothie.

He wishes to remain anonymous, but last night he informed me that he's feeling much better and is now pooing normally for the first time in 20 years. That's probably how long he's been deficient in magnesium. I've also given him 14 Vitamin D3 5,000iu mini gelcaps to try, as he suffers from low moods and rarely gets any sun on his skin.

Our bodies work so much better when they have all the nutrients that they need.

The Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF)

What's a PSMF?

A standard PSMF is ~1g of protein for every kg bodyweight per day plus lots of green leafy vegetables plus six to ten fish oil capsules per day plus vitamin & mineral supplements plus unlimited water AND NOTHING ELSE. It's a low-carbohydrate and low-fat diet. You may find this quite literally hard to swallow! PSMF may also stand for Protein Strictly , Mother-F***er!

A 100kg person (e.g. me) may get to eat ~400kcals per day from protein + ~100kcals per day from incidental carbohydrates & fats = ~500kcals per day. Hear that rumbling noise? It's my tummy! A well-known PSMF is Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.

For more information, see http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7 and Is Rapid Fat Loss Right For You?

To make a PSMF easier to manage (but have a slower rate of weight loss), here are some modifications:-

1) Instead of six to ten fish oil capsules a day, stir ~25g of powdered linseeds into a large glass of drink and swallow the lot. Do this at breakfast-time. ~25g of linseeds contains ~10g of fat (of which ~6g is Alpha-Linolenic Acid, an omega-3 fatty acid) which does the following:-

a) It stimulates the gall-bladder to empty, thus reducing the risk of gallstones.
b) a) usually results in a bowel movement some time later. The ~10g of soluble fibre/fiber in the linseeds + accompanying fluid guarantees regularity.
c) It provides women (but not men) with all of the omega-3 fat they need each day.

Men need to eat either half a 213g tin of wild red salmon per day, or take six to ten fish oil capsules a day, as their bodies don't produce enough DHA from Alpha-Linolenic Acid. See Eicosapentaenoic and docosapentaenoic acids are the principal products of α-linolenic acid metabolism in young men and  Extremely Limited Synthesis of Long Chain Polyunsaturates in Adults: Implications for their Dietary Essentiality and use as Supplements

2) Eat about 100g of protein per day. As meat, poultry & fish contains 20-25% protein, this means that you can eat ~1lb of meat, poultry & fish a day. 100g of protein per day is well within the capabilities of your liver and kidneys.

3) Eat about 44g of fat per day. This allows you to choose less lean cuts of meat & poultry and you can even eat the skin on chicken as long as you factor it into your total fat allowance. It also allows you to use vinaigrette salad dressings or a small knob of butter or a small dollop of real mayonnaise to make your vegetables taste nicer.

4) Eat about 50g of carbohydrate per day. This allows you to eat shed-loads of leafy green vegetables and also an onion. It also allows you to eat a portion of fruit e.g. an apple or a bowl of berries/cherries with Splenda & a small dollop of whipped cream each day.

5) If you do any intense exercise (e.g. HIIT or resistance training with weights), eat an extra 50g of slow-release carbohydrates a couple of hours beforehand, to fuel it.

6) Supplement with 5,000iu/day of Vitamin D3. Nowadays, many of us spend our lives mostly indoors, and this causes many of us to become deficient in Vitamin D. See Vitamin D.

7) Don't get too far away from a toilet. Rapid depletion of muscle & liver glycogen results in rapid shedding of associated water. In addition, the oxidation of fatty acids results in the production of water. A PSMF will make you pee more.

n*CH2 + 3/2*n*O2 = n*CO2 + n*H2O + heat

Saturated fatty acids are CH3-n*CH2-COOH. For Stearic acid, n=16. ∴ Stearic acid is mostly n*CH2. 



In conclusion:

100g of protein provides 400kcals, 44g of fat provides 400kcals and 50g of carbohydrate provides 200kcals, making a grand total of 1,000kcals per day. Hopefully, this will be enough to stop your tummy from rumbling. If you weigh over 100lbs but aren't losing weight on 1,000kcals per day, see your GP as you may have a thyroid problem.

I believe that the above diet tackles the problems of gallstones, constipation, dry skin, dry hair, depression and dietary deficiencies. You get to eat real food and quite a lot of it too, for a fairly rapid fat loss diet.

Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCDs)

A well-known VLCD is The Cambridge Diet. Lighter Life is another VLCD.

The VLCD is, as its name suggests, very low in Calories and is aimed at morbidly obese people i.e. people who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40. Such people are at a very high risk of dropping dead of a heart attack and they are also at a high risk of complications caused by high blood pressure, high blood glucose, high blood triglycerides, high blood cholesterol, high blood LDL-c, low blood HDL-c and high blood uric acid. In addition, morbidly obese people have breathing problems e.g. sleep apnoea and they are also at a high risk of dying while under anaesthetic if they need to be operated on. Such people need to lose weight rapidly. However, people who are overweight (BMI 25-29.9) or obese (BMI 30-39.9) or who are just unhappy with their bodies should not embark on a VLCD as the risks outweigh the benefits.

1) VLCDs result in rapid weight loss. You may think that this is a good thing, but rapid weight loss brings with it problems.

a) Excessive loss of muscle. This is more of a problem for women who, because they have naturally-low testosterone levels, have great difficulty regaining any lost muscle.

b) High risk of developing Gallstones. Rapid weight loss results in an increase in the concentration of cholesterol in bile. This increases the risk factor for gallstones, something that women have a higher risk factor for than men. There's an acronym FFFF for people who are at a high risk of developing gallstones. It stands for Female, Forty, Fat, Fair. What makes the situation even worse is that VLCDs are very low in fat. The gallbladder is a muscular bag which stores bile. When dietary fat is eaten, this stimulates the secretion of cholecystokinin, which then stimulates contraction of the gallbladder muscle, which expels bile from inside the gallbladder into the duodenum. The lower the fat content of a meal, the less the gallbladder contracts and gallbladder stasis can result with only 2g of fat per meal. See The role of gallbladder emptying in gallstone formation during diet-induced rapid weight loss. The problem with this study is that the two groups of subjects were not eating the same number of calories. See Gallbladder motility and gallstone formation in obese patients following very low calorie diets. Use it (fat) to lose it (well) and Similarity in gallstone formation from 900 kcal/day diets containing 16 g vs 30 g of daily fat: evidence that fat restriction is not the main culprit of cholelithiasis during rapid weight reduction.
In these studies, both groups were on the same calorie intake. In the second study, 17% of the low-fat group developed gallstones whereas only 11.2% of the higher-fat group developed gallstones.

The other problem with a very low fat intake is EFA deficiency. Essential Fatty Acids are called that for a reason....they are essential for us to live. Dry skin & hair are common on VLCDs. The small amount of fat that there is in a VLCD almost certainly contains mostly omega-6 polyunsaturates. A lack of omega-3 EFAs can adversely affect mental function. Depression is common on VLCDs. See Omega-3 fatty acids and major depression: A primer for the mental health professional. Another problem with very low fat intakes is a lack of fat-soluble vitamins, particularly Vitamins D3 and K. See Vitamin D and Vitamin K.

2) VLCDs contain excessive amounts of sugars. This has two problems.

a) Unstable blood glucose levels. See Blood Glucose, Insulin & Diabetes. You don't notice peaks in blood glucose. However, dips cause severe hunger pangs and, in some people, neurosis. See Hypoglycemia & Neurosis.

b) Carbohydrates fill glycogen stores. As glycogen stores become filled, fat-burning decreases. When glycogen stores become full, fat-burning falls to zero. Fat-burning increases again as glycogen stores deplete between meals - but you feel hungry.

Sedentary people's bodies don't burn much carbohydrate. See Everyone is Different. At rest, on average a fasted person derives ~65% of energy from fats and ~35% from carbohydrate, although there are extremes of 93% fat-burning to 20% fat-burning. Even if someone who has full glycogen stores derives 100% of their energy at rest from carbohydrate, as they are only burning ~1kcal/minute at rest, their body is only burning 0.25g of carbohydrate/minute. So why feed someone carbohydrate when their body doesn't need it?

c) People with excess belly fat almost certainly have The Metabolic Syndrome. This causes various problems including high serum triglycerides (TGs). Eating carbohydrate that isn't burned and can't be stored raises TGs. I know about this as I have blood test results which showed TGs increasing with increasing carbohydrate intake. High TGs are bad news for your arteries. See Cholesterol And Coronary Heart Disease.

3) VLCDs don't contain enough protein. Protein supplies Amino Acids (AAs) to the body. These are used to preserve muscle mass. AAs can also be used to generate blood glucose in the liver by a process called Gluconeogenesis (GNG), which makes the consumption of carbohydrates redundant for most sedentary people.

4) VLCDs don't contain enough fibre/fiber. Constipation is common on VLCDs.

In my next Blog post, I will discuss a Rapid Fat Loss alternative to the VLCD that overcomes all of the above problems and is therefore much safer and more pleasant to be on. See The Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF)

For a discussion of VLCDs, see What do you think of Very Low Energy Diets?

Magnesium: Just as important as Calcium.

Suffering from depression/anger/aggression/anxiety? Can't get to sleep? Suffering from night cramps, restless legs, menstrual cramps, muscle spasms? You're probably deficient in magnesium. See A case of oesophageal spasm, and the ‘unproven’ treatment that helped it and Around the Web; and Menstrual Cramp Remedy.

After Vitamin D and Omega-3 fats, magnesium is the third thing that people are most likely to be deficient in. Processed foods are low in magnesium. Diets low in green vegetables are low in magnesium, as chlorophyll has magnesium at the centre of the molecule. For a list of the 999 richest sources of magnesium per 100g serving, see http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000120000000000000000-w.html. Too much calcium can result in a relative magnesium deficiency.

An optimum intake of magnesium is approximately 50% of your calcium intake. Other sources of magnesium are Milk of Magnesia (magnesium hydroxide) and Epsom Salts (magnesium sulphate heptahydrate). Excessive intake of magnesium salts acts as an osmotic laxative and gives you soft stools, but it takes quite a lot to do this. Half a level teaspoonful (~4g) of Epsom Salts gives you ~400mg of magnesium. Epsom Salts is as cheap as chips.

Magnesium is also available as a dietary supplement. Magnesium oxide (Magnesia) isn't as well-absorbed as magnesium citrate/amino acid chelate, so take extra if using oxide. See Magnesium bioavailability from magnesium citrate and magnesium oxide. Magnesium can be absorbed through the skin, so adding Epsom Salts or Magnesium Chloride to your bathwater is another option.

6.1.15. New article: Magnesium in Man: Implications for Health and Disease.

See also The usual suspects.