tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post4828175983235730264..comments2021-09-06T23:41:31.894-04:00Comments on Kneeless Megafauna: Do Carbs Lower HDL?Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00966592489321207595noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post-1168724947555202832014-05-23T08:28:34.692-04:002014-05-23T08:28:34.692-04:00I currently have xanthelasmas under my eyes that a...I currently have xanthelasmas under my eyes that appeared after I reintroduced 100g carbs per day, and doing some research xanthelasmas are associated with low HDL levels http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2717981<br />Going to go back to VLC asap!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post-4883555812617632242012-04-18T07:40:16.693-04:002012-04-18T07:40:16.693-04:00Thanks for the link. There clearly are many diffe...Thanks for the link. There clearly are many differences between fruit and sweet potatoes, and I wouldn't expect my results necessarily to translate to fruit. However, I did not find the study you linked (on orange juice vs. blood lipids over a 17 week intervention) especially convincing.<br /><br />First of all, you'll notice that my HDL dropped during my experimental period (when I added the additional sweet potato per day) but was quickly restored to baseline levels within a week of stopping. In the study you referenced, HDL increased during the intervention, and then increased further in the washout period, even though orange juice consumption had dropped substantially. This is consistent with the idea that the dietary intervention alone (a low-fat AHA diet, which was followed throughout the entire study including the washout period) was the cause of the rise in HDL. Since the study was run without a control group, we also can't decide whether the HDL increased as a placebo effect from participating in the study. The authors speculate about a persistent effect of the plant flavonones in citrus, but if they knew about that from their prior in vitro work, they should have designed in a longer washout period.<br /><br />In my test I just about tripled my carbohydrate intake (from a ketogenic baseline) with primarily glucose from sweet potatoes. The participants in this study added on average about 50 grams of carbs (net) mostly in the form of fructose to an already high carbohydrate diet. I substituted protein and fat for my carbs, because my appetite decreased (baked sweet potatoes with coconut butter and cinnamon are delicious and very satiating). The participants in this study did not substitute anything for the added orange juice -- they just ate more total calories. So I guess we can infer that orange juice is not satiating. The participants' calorie intake spontaneously went down during the washout period. In fact, their food intake dropped by more (in calorie units) than their orange juice consumption, meaning that they not only dropped the orange juice but also ate a bit less of everything else!<br /><br />The designers of the orange juice study changed everyone's duet to a low fat diet, and also took nearly a quarter of them off of lipid lowering drugs. Since we are not shown data points for individual participants we can't see if the drug cesassion skewed the statistics overall.<br /><br />One thing that did seem to correlate with the orange juice intervention was fasting triglycerides, which went up as a result of the intervention and returned to baseline in the washout. This is not unexpected given an increase in high glycemic carbohydrates. The only other measured quantities that behaved this way were folate and vitamin C, which the authors were using as markers of orange juice consumption.<br /><br />The authors were expecting to see a decrease in LDL (based on hypercholesterolemic rabbit studies and in vitro cell culture work) and a decrease in homocysteine (from the folate). Neither of these things happened.<br /><br />Overall, we can't really tell from this study whether orange juice raises HDL, though it does appear to raise triglycerides, which would normally be associated with a drop in HDL, so that finding is interesting in that respect. The authors speculate a role for citrus flavonoids and not the orange juice carbohydrates. Some of these are known to bind estrogen receptors, so we are back to plant hormones. I am somewhat skeptical of the idea that specific exegenous hormones from food are necessary for optimal health. It is hard to align that concept with an evolutionary perspective given the high level of variability in ancestral diets. That said, I am preparing a post on a different exogenous hormone (which does not come from food) that does appear to be necessary for optimal health!Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00966592489321207595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post-7040568452300064612012-04-17T13:32:27.514-04:002012-04-17T13:32:27.514-04:00Fruit it seems doesn't have this effect:
http...Fruit it seems doesn't have this effect:<br /><br />http://www.ajcn.org/content/72/5/1095.shortAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post-85047852783821350252012-04-05T04:16:31.478-04:002012-04-05T04:16:31.478-04:00"The present evidence-based guideline regardi..."The present evidence-based guideline regarding carbohydrate intake and primary prevention of the diseases considered here has shown that the quality rather than the quantity of carbohydrate intake is important for the primary prevention of nutrition-related diseases."<br /><br />Great.<br /><br />"The total intake of dietary fibre and especially the intake of whole-grain products, which are foods high in dietary fibre, should be increased, as this reduces the risk of various nutritionrelated diseases."<br /><br />Ahh, almost ...<br /><br />:-(Pieterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15358483955694734161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2658003869927046449.post-43487683118233530832012-04-03T12:12:18.310-04:002012-04-03T12:12:18.310-04:00Nicely done!Nicely done!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com