Within the ever-evolving subject of bioenergetic medication, the connection between our weight-reduction plan, microbiome, and general well being continues to unveil advanced and intriguing connections. On the coronary heart of this exploration is the legacy of Ray Peat, Ph.D., whose theories on sugar consumption and metabolic perform have sparked widespread debate and curiosity amongst researchers and well being fanatics alike.
On this interview, repeat visitor Georgi Dinkov, a bioenergetic medication researcher and I delve into the nuanced understanding of how our microbiome influences dietary decisions, significantly the contentious determination between starch and fruit as preferable sources of carbohydrates. Dinkov additionally evaluations groundbreaking analysis and modern remedies that goal to control mobile vitality pathways to fight most cancers.
My Tackle the Fruit Versus Starch Controversy
Lots of Peat’s followers consider that he advocated massive quantities of sugar, however that’s not the case. Sugar, or glucose extra particularly, is important for mobile well being. Refined sugar could be a drawback, particularly in massive quantities.
The difficulty actually boils all the way down to your microbiome, which Peat didn’t actually perceive as many technical advances have been made since he was actively studying. He definitely warned concerning the hazards of endotoxin, however I think he might not have absolutely appreciated the ability of the microbiome.
The competition inside the bioenergetic medication group is that it’s clever to keep away from starch and change it with ripe fruit. They largely consider fruit is the last word carbohydrate, however I now suspect starch stands out as the splendid kind of carb, however provided that your intestine microbiome is perfect.
Since most individuals have poor intestine well being they don’t do nicely when consuming a major quantity of starch. Most even have dysfunctional mitochondria, and if you do not have sufficient mitochondria, you’ll be able to’t create mobile vitality effectively sufficient to make sure a wholesome gastrointestinal tract.
Your intestine comprises primarily two forms of gram-negative micro organism: useful and pathogenic. The useful ones embrace obligate anaerobes, which can not survive within the presence of oxygen and are important for well being. They don’t produce dangerous endotoxins and contribute positively by producing short-chain fatty acids, like butyrate, propionate, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Correct intestine perform requires vitality to keep up an oxygen-free surroundings within the massive gut, the place 99% of intestine microbes reside. Inadequate vitality results in oxygen leakage, which harms obligate anaerobes whereas not impacting the facultative anaerobes, thereby disrupting the steadiness of the microbiome.
Pathogenic micro organism, or facultative anaerobes, can survive in oxygen and are dangerous, as they possess endotoxins of their cell partitions. Feeding these micro organism with starch can exacerbate their progress, resulting in well being points.
The one carbohydrate that doesn’t promote these micro organism is fruit juice, which some individuals might tolerate higher than entire fruit. Polyphenols, present in excessive quantities in fruits however not starches, additionally has useful results on the intestine microbiome.
In brief, enhancing mitochondrial vitality manufacturing is essential for sustaining a wholesome intestine surroundings. If you do this, it helps suppress the expansion of pathogenic micro organism and help useful microbial populations.
The bacterium Akkermansia is especially useful and will ideally represent about 10% of your intestine microbiome. Nevertheless, DNA analyses counsel about one-third of individuals have few to no Akkermansia in any respect, and I think this is because of inadequate vitality manufacturing (low metabolism) and ensuing oxygen leakage within the intestine.
Antibiotics Can Worsen an Already Dangerous Scenario
As famous by Dinkov, the excessive prevalence of antibiotics in our meals provide additionally has a detrimental impact on the microbiome by indiscriminately killing off each good and dangerous micro organism. Pathogenic micro organism are inclined to rebound quicker, leading to a predominance of endotoxin-producing micro organism that destroy the intestinal barrier.
A sturdy intestinal barrier can stop bacterial fragments from getting into the bloodstream, whereas a compromised barrier permits these dangerous fragments by whereas blocking useful compounds like short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
The general well being affect of the microbiome, subsequently, considerably is determined by the integrity of the intestinal barrier, and the energy and performance of the intestinal barrier, in flip, is decided by the presence or absence of endotoxins.
Contemplating the hostile results of antibiotics on intestine well being, I don’t help Peat’s advice to make use of antibiotics to kill off pathogenic micro organism. It’s not a perfect resolution. What it is advisable do is restructure your microbiome, and the simplest approach to do this, I consider, is thru consuming meals that help Akkermansia and different useful micro organism, and keep away from meals like linoleic acid that destroy these micro organism.
One of many causes Akkermansia is so essential is as a result of it produces mucin, a thick, protecting gel-like substance that strains varied elements of the physique, together with the gastrointestinal tract. Mucin types a protecting barrier on the intestine lining, shielding the epithelial cells of the intestinal wall from mechanical harm, chemical irritation from abdomen acids and digestive enzymes, and pathogenic organisms like micro organism and viruses.
Mucin additionally helps the immune system by trapping potential pathogens and different overseas particles, that are then expelled from the physique by the digestive course of. It additionally comprises antibodies and antimicrobial peptides that assist battle off infections.
Lastly, mucin serves as a meals supply for different useful intestine micro organism. This relationship is important for digestive well being, because the micro organism fed by Akkermansia assist in digestion, produce important vitamins, and assist keep an general steadiness of intestine flora.
Intestinal Motility Is Depending on Your Metabolic Price
As famous by Dinkov, there’s additionally a decent relationship between intestinal motility — the frequency and high quality of bowel actions — and metabolic charge, significantly in relation to thyroid perform. Traditionally, frequent bowel actions (almost after each meal) have been thought-about regular and have been used as a diagnostic indicator of thyroid well being.
At the moment, nevertheless, the accepted norm for bowel actions has shifted to as soon as a day and even as soon as each two days with out concern, except constipation extends past every week. Ideally, it’s best to have at the least one or two bowel actions per day.
The composition of your stool may present insights into your hydration standing and intestine fermentation processes, that are indicative of the general well being of the colon and mirror your metabolic charge. Patterns in urination and bowel actions may function indicators of metabolic well being, with rare bowel actions and extreme urination suggesting a low metabolic charge.
The Significance of Collagen
One other one in all Peat’s suggestions that I do not suppose he harassed sufficient is the worth of collagen (or gelatin). Collagen and gelatin are associated substances, however they differ in construction and makes use of on account of how they’re processed and ready. Gelatin, I believe, is an inferior type of collagen.
They include the identical amino acids, and are recognized to help pores and skin well being, strengthen joints and bones, and enhance digestive well being. Nevertheless, as a result of collagen peptides are smaller and extra bioavailable, they might be extra effectively absorbed by the physique than gelatin.
About 30% of your bone is collagen, making it an important dietary element to forestall osteoporosis (age-related bone loss). Your muscle fibers additionally include a great deal of collagen, to not point out your tendons and ligaments, so you’ll be able to’t construct muscle in case you don’t have sufficient collagen. Collagen consumption may assist decrease your danger of insulin resistance. As famous by Dinkov:
“A number of research have demonstrated that in case you ingest collagen with a really great amount of glucose, it does not set off almost the identical insulin response as a result of the collagen can fill in for lots of the insulin. A number of the peptides are very comparable in construction. So, it is such as you’re ingesting insulin and you do not have to set off your pancreas to provide as a lot. So, you instantly enhance your insulin sensitivity with each meal.”
Sadly, many who’re following a carnivore weight-reduction plan fail to appreciate that many of the protein must be within the type of collagen, NOT purple meat. An all-meat weight-reduction plan will solely speed up your demise, as many of the amino acids in muscle meat — methionine, histidine, tryptophan and cysteine — promote irritation and suppress thyroid perform and metabolism.1
In accordance with Dinkov, tryptophan can be instantly carcinogenic. Collagen, in the meantime, comprises radically larger ranges of glycine, proline, hydroxyproline and alanine, that are important for well being. Dinkov feedback:
“Glycine is an precise neurotransmitter. It’s the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter within the spinal wire and one of many main neurotransmitters that regulates gastrointestinal motility. So, with out adequate quantities of glycine within the physique, you may have issues with digestion even when you do not have an infected gastrointestinal tract.”
Bone Broth Is an Superb Supply of Collagen
The perfect supply of collagen is do-it-yourself bone broth, which you’ll whip up in 4 hours utilizing a stress cooker, such because the Instantaneous Pot. Merely place the bones within the stress cooker, fill the pot with pure, filtered water — simply sufficient to cowl the bones — add salt and different spices to style, then set it to prepare dinner on excessive for 2 hours if the bones are CAFO (from animals raised in a concentrated animal feeding operation), and 4 hours if natural and grass fed.
Natural grass fed beef bones are the most effective. Utilizing bones from CAFO beef may be problematic on account of potential heavy metallic contamination. When cooking these bones in a stress cooker, it is best to restrict the time to 2 hours to keep away from introducing heavy metals into your broth.
In the event you’re utilizing beef bones from grass fed natural sources, you’ll be able to safely prepare dinner them for 4 hours. I like to recommend chilling the bone broth earlier than you eat it. This may permit the fats to rise to the highest so you’ll be able to skim it off. Whereas some beef fats is sweet, extra may be problematic.
On a facet word, in case you have a canine, you’ll be able to carve off the unfastened cartilage across the joints after two hours and feed the cartilage to your pet. In the event you prepare dinner the bones for 4 hours or longer, many of the collagen will likely be dissolved within the broth, so there gained’t be something left to choose off. Extra importantly, you by no means wish to give your canine cooked bones as they will splinter throughout chewing and trigger nice harm to the esophagus.
One other scrumptious solution to get extra collagen into your weight-reduction plan is to make do-it-yourself ice cream. My do-it-yourself wholesome ice cream recipe executed in a Ninja Creami consists of one scoop of my collagen protein powder, three tablespoons of maple syrup, two egg yolks, and a cup of goat milk. It tastes virtually similar to store-bought ice cream however is way more healthy.
How A lot Protein and Collagen Do You Want?
So, simply how a lot collagen do you want? As famous by Dinkov, in research carried out on rodents, researchers have found that including 1% to 2% collagen to the weight-reduction plan can successfully mimic the life-extending results noticed from the depletion of sure amino acids reminiscent of cysteine, tryptophan and methionine.
This discovering is especially intriguing because it suggests a potential direct translation of those advantages to people as a result of metabolic nature of the intervention. When contemplating general dietary protein, the consensus amongst nutritionists is that it ought to ideally comprise about 15% of your complete day by day energy.
Roughly one-third of this protein, or about 5%, ought to ideally be collagen. This advice relies on attaining the optimum steadiness for well being advantages with out hostile results. It’s most likely secure to extend the proportion of collagen as much as 10% of complete calorie consumption.
An identical ratio — 5% to 30% — applies to dietary fats as nicely. That vary might be splendid. The rest of your day by day energy would then come from wholesome carbs, largely recent fruits (in case you can tolerate them) and fruit juice in case you’re mitochondrially impaired, or starches like white rice and cooked potatoes in case your metabolism is excessive (which is indicative of wholesome mitochondrial vitality manufacturing).
Amino Acids and Their Position in Fatigue
Apparently, cheese can be excessive in tryptophan, considerably greater than egg white. Nevertheless, in line with Dinkov, the casein within the cheese principally acts as a tryptophan blocker. Calcium additionally has tryptophan-buffering results. He additionally goes on to clarify how several types of amino acids work together within the physique, significantly in relation to mind perform and fatigue.
A key level to recollect although is that the majority cheeses right now are made with genetically modified rennet, so ensure you’re shopping for cheese produced from uncooked, natural, grass fed milk and pure animal-based rennet solely.
Amino acids are constructing blocks of proteins which have varied features within the physique. Amongst them, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and fragrant amino acids like L-tyrosine and phenylalanine are essential. BCAAs embrace leucine, isoleucine, and valine. The blood-brain barrier is a filter that controls what substances can enter the mind from the bloodstream.
BCAAs and fragrant amino acids reminiscent of L-tyrosine and tryptophan compete to cross this barrier, and in case you devour massive quantities of BCAAs alone, they outcompete L-tyrosine and tryptophan on the blood-brain barrier. This ends in decrease ranges of L-tyrosine and tryptophan within the mind, which in flip can lower the degrees of neurotransmitters like serotonin.
Dinkov cites animal analysis displaying that fatigue throughout exhaustive train is not primarily brought on by an absence of vitality however somewhat by a rise in serotonin within the mind. Administering BCAAs and L-tyrosine appeared to mitigate such a fatigue with out considerably including energy, suggesting the significance of amino acid steadiness over sheer vitality consumption.
He additionally evaluations among the pure methods to affect amino acid absorption and serotonin ranges, reminiscent of consuming meals wealthy in BCAAs, aspirin, cheese, and fruits containing salicylic acid, reminiscent of blackberries and apricots. All of those have an inhibitory impact on the absorption of inflammatory amino acids from meals.
Outcomes of a Private Experiment
Biomolecular biologist Brad Marshall, whom I just lately interviewed, argues that starches are a extra splendid carb than fruit, however once more, the caveat is that it’s essential to have a wholesome microbiome. In the event you do not, starches can pose issues.
Since my intestine well being is sweet and my metabolism excessive, I make 6 cups of white rice cooked in bone broth for my canine and I every day, together with an egg yolk or two. I believe these three meals — bone broth, white rice and low-linoleic acid egg yolk — make for a near optimum meal, each for people and canines. I additionally eat about half a pound of natural, grass fed cheese every day.
After consuming this quantity of cheese, rice and bone broth for one month, I did a SECA check to evaluate my bone mass and physique fats share. I’d grown half an inch in peak, gained 4 kilos in complete physique weight but my physique fats decreased from 8.5% to five.3%. Principally, I gained 4 kilos of pure muscle.
The rise in peak is defined by improved structural integrity of my vertebral discs. They get crushed with time, which is why you are inclined to shrink with age. The bone broth provides a great deal of collagen, which strengthens these vertebra. A rise in connective tissue additionally will increase intracellular water, and on the time that I did this check, my intracellular water had elevated by half a liter.
Nutritional vitamins and Most cancers Metabolism
Dinkov additionally discusses the findings of experimental research he’s concerned in, during which they’re utilizing nutritional vitamins and pharmaceutical brokers to focus on the metabolism of most cancers cells. Nutritional vitamins studied embrace B1 (thiamine), B3 (niacinamide), and B7 (biotin). These nutritional vitamins have been chosen based mostly on historic research, some almost a century outdated, that join them to most cancers metabolism.
As defined by Dinkov, thiamine (B1) acts as a cofactor for pyruvate dehydrogenase, a vital enzyme in mobile vitality manufacturing. Thiamine additionally inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), which itself inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). Thus, B1 not directly helps vitality manufacturing by protecting PDH lively.
Niacinamide (B3) converts to NAD+ in your physique, thereby affecting the NAD+ to NADH ratio, which is important for metabolic processes just like the functioning of one other enzyme, alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. NAD+ additionally inhibits lipolysis, lowering fats availability to most cancers cells which might use fats as gas.
Biotin (B7), in the meantime, is famous for important results in human research involving neurological issues like a number of sclerosis and Huntington’s illness.
Excessive doses of biotin (300 mg) have been noticed to halt the development of main progressive a number of sclerosis, with the proposed mechanism being an enchancment in mitochondrial perform. It additionally seems to reinforce the Krebs cycle, a key element of mobile respiration, as proven by elevated carbon dioxide manufacturing in cell cultures.
A mix of all three have been discovered to fully cease tumor progress however didn’t set off regression. The analysis used the JEKO-1 cell line, which is a kind of human mantle cell lymphoma.
This cell line is described as being extremely malignant and deadly when transplanted into immunocompromised animals, displaying a 100% mortality charge and 0% likelihood of tumor regression, whether or not by remedy or spontaneously. This means the aggressive nature of the tumor and the problem it presents for therapeutic intervention.
Searching for further remedy choices, the researcher then added aspirin at a dose of roughly 1.5 grams per day, which is excessive however under poisonous ranges usually related to remedies for circumstances like rheumatoid arthritis. This dosage efficiently led to the complete regression of tumors in three experimental mice.
After the tumors regressed, the mice have been monitored for recurrence. One mouse confirmed indicators of potential tumor recurrence, however this subsided, and after 70 days — a considerably prolonged interval in comparison with the standard two-week lifespan as a result of lethality of the tumors — all mice remained tumor-free.
With the success of aspirin, the main focus shifted to a stronger analog, 2,6-dihydroxy benzoic acid, recognized for its stronger acidic properties and higher lipophilicity, which might doubtlessly decrease the intracellular pH of most cancers cells extra successfully. This shift in pH is essential as a result of most cancers cells usually keep away from apoptosis (programmed cell demise) by sustaining an alkaline inside surroundings. Reducing the pH is assumed to set off apoptosis.
This compound, 2,6-dihydroxy benzoic acid, which was used prior to now to deal with rheumatoid arthritis at doses considerably decrease than these required for aspirin, confirmed promising ends in additional decreasing the dose required for remedy in comparison with aspirin. The preliminary outcomes from utilizing this compound along with nutritional vitamins confirmed that tumors not solely regressed however the remedy was efficient at a lot decrease doses.
So, in abstract, a mixture of nutritional vitamins and an aspirin analog could also be a potent most cancers remedy, minimizing uncomfortable side effects associated to excessive doses of standard aspirin. This exhibits how a mixture of dietary dietary supplements and pharmaceutical brokers can goal the metabolic vulnerabilities of most cancers cells, particularly by the manipulation of intracellular pH to induce apoptosis.
Low PUFA Linked to Most cancers Prevention
Dinkov additionally evaluations different experimental approaches aimed toward understanding and manipulating most cancers cell habits by dietary and pharmacological means. In an enchanting dietary experiment, mice have been fed a fat-free weight-reduction plan for 2 weeks previous to tumor implantation makes an attempt.
Remarkably, these mice exhibited resistance to tumor progress, suggesting {that a} deficiency in important fatty acids, significantly polyunsaturated fat (PUFAs), may stop most cancers formation. This discovering radically challenges present theories on the advantages of ketosis and using high-fat diets as a solution to handle most cancers.
Dinkov’s group is now engaged on the transition from animal fashions to human most cancers protocols. He’s assured this can occur as a result of the pharmacokinetics — how the physique absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes a drug — of the concerned chemical substances are well-understood.
This consists of the acidic analog of aspirin (2,6-dihydroxy benzoic acid), which, though much less acquainted, has some historic human knowledge supporting its use. The method entails translating dosage from mice to people based mostly on physique floor space and metabolic variations, that are usually well-documented and permit for comparatively easy changes.
He additionally notes that within the Fifties and Sixties, they used excessive doses of pure desiccated thyroid for terminal most cancers instances, which aligns with Otto Warburg’s theories on most cancers metabolism. Warburg hypothesized that most cancers progress is brought on by the vitality generated from glucose fermentation; therefore, a pro-metabolic (energy-enhancing) method reminiscent of what Dinkov’s group is engaged on, somewhat than an anti-metabolic (energy-reducing) remedy, is perhaps simpler.
Extra Data
For extra particulars on the subjects summarized right here, you’ll want to take heed to the interview in its entirety. Additionally take a look at Georgi’s weblog at haidut.me or comply with him on Twitter. He additionally has lots of of movies on YouTube on a plethora of subjects.
