Comments on: Karl Popper, metabolic advantage and the C57BL/6 mouse

By: George D. Henderson

George D. Henderson — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:02:53 +0000

Not all digestive enzymes are denatured by stomach acid, because parts of the intestine also digest at acid pH, so enzymes intended for these processes will survive the stomach better. And observation, available to anyone, shows that protease digestive enzymes such as papain or bromelain work even in chewable tablets.
I believe the difference is that insulin and cell-specific lipase were evolved to work at blood pH so have none of the resistance to stomach acid that digestive enzymes do.
Also, digestive enzymes may be denatured by extremes of pH, but they can often revert to the active form again once the pH is right for them; this is one mechanism for controlling digestion so that enzymes work in the right order, and nutrients appear in the right sites for absorption.

By: AC Fat Loss Bible critique part II | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.

AC Fat Loss Bible critique part II | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:03:24 +0000

[...] wrote a long post a couple of years ago on Sir Karl Popper and the metabolic advantage.� Popper set the standards by which hypotheses should be structured.� A [...]

By: NU's Quest for Carnivory! - Page 114 - Myprotein Forum

NU's Quest for Carnivory! - Page 114 - Myprotein Forum — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:22:56 +0000

[...] example of Eades' lack of critical thinking skills: Karl Popper, metabolic advantage and the C57BL/6 mouse | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. Finding an instance where there might appear to be a metabolic advantage in rodents cannot be [...]

By: Tuba

Tuba — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:05:59 +0000

Hello,
I’m a research assistant of neurology department of 19 Mayıs University Medical Faculty in Samsun-TURKEY.
I need a number of C57BL6 mouse/mice for my dissertation. Because, I will use this animals to create a Multipl Sclerosis model and I will investigate the protective and improvement effect of a certain substance on this models. But I can’t find this kind of animal (C57BL6 mice/mouse) in Turkey. İf I can find, I will apply for financial support to my Universty Project Support Committee and I hope will pay for them.
Can you help me about how can I find this mouse/mice or you can instruct for me?
I appreciate you for it. Thank you

I have no idea how to obtain these mice. Perhaps through a laboratory supply house. Good luck.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:04:49 +0000

Hello,

I stumbled upon Taubes’ book recently and it was quite the eye opener, even though I was already convinced that low carb is the best way to go in life. I love this post about calories, and the law of thermodynamics or counting calories has never particularly concerned me, however I have recently started eating restrictively low carb to ketogenic levels after a few years of sadly succumbing again to the carb addiction, and I’m wondering if there is a cause for concern in not eating enough calories while low carbing, as opposed to concerns of eating too much. In other words, if eating low carb and eating a lot of calories will not cause harm/weight gain, simply drive us to expend more energy, I assume that eating too few calories will have the opposite effect and slow weight loss over the long term… but in your experience have you found that that is indeed the case when very low carb is involved?

It’s been my experience that people both reduce calories and increase activity spontaneously on low-carb diets. It doesn’t take as many good-quality calories (the kind one gets on a whole-food low-carb diet) as it does low-quality calories to provide all the energy needs plus allow the body to access the fat stores for more. As energy becomes freely available to the body, it responds by increasing activity to burn off any extra. It’s a double whammy for the good, which is why people generally lose more on low-carb diets as compared to low-fat diets of an equivalent number of calories.

By: James

James — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:57:37 +0000

Hello Dr. Mike,

It seems to me that one factor contributing to the metabolic advantage of your low carb diet recommendation is increased testosterone levels brought about by increased saturated/monosaturated fat, cholesterol, and protein consumption. There have been studies correlating this to increased testosterone and resulting in significant muscle and strength gains. Increased lean body mass raises the base metabolism which helps to burn off fat.

I recently (this week) read a very good article which cited such a study in a men’s fitness magazine at my local grocery store. Next time I’m there I’ll try to find it and let you know what magazine it is and what study they cited. It was a very good article for supporting that the current recommendations for low fat and avoided saturated fat especially are utter “bullshit” and “lies”.
~James

By: VicT

VicT — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:14:57 +0000

As a teenager I weighed less about 8stone 10 lbs (122 lbs). I stayed at that weight for many years. Even during my military service when there was planty of food I stayed at this constant weight. Perhaps this low weight for height, I’m 5ft 9In, might have been occasioned by the very low carbohydrate diets (& very low everything else) that we in the UK existed on during the 1939-45 war.
However when I was 28 in the 1960s my living & working situation changed & I gained weight very quickly going to 13 stones (182lbs) in about six months. During this period my diet included much more carbs especially potatos. (My landlady thought I needed ‘feeding up’).
Since those days my weight has stabilised to a comfortable 11stone 10lbs(164lbs).
My point is that reducing carbs may not reduce weight by very much as you state but increasing carbs very definitely will increase weight.

By: Insomniac

Insomniac — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:23:49 +0000

Sorry, I forgot to add that I already practice good sleep hygiene, have the room as dark as possible etc. Every night I take valerian and ZMA but they help only a little. I used to take benzodiazepines because that’s what the doctors gave me for the insomnia, but they had terrible effects and I went off them myself.

I took note of all this before answering the other comment.

MRE

By: Insomniac

Insomniac — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:18:33 +0000

Hi Dr Eades,

Thanks for explaining metabolic advantage and the mouse study in easy to understand English. I liked this post a lot!

Can I get your advice on a matter? I’ve been trying to eat Paleo with low carbs to remain in a ketogenic state. The problem is that I suffer from insomnia and have very poor sleep when I am carb-depleted. I have tried fruit before bed – apples, oranges, melons, bananas. They help only if I eat an enormous quantity before bed, but the deepest sleep still comes only when I eat starchy carbs like bread, pasta and biscuits. I had some pasta and biscuits last night and haven’t had such restful sleep in a week. The sun here rises at 6am and on Paleo the brightness wakes me up at 6am. With the starchy carbs I am in perhaps deeper sleep and don’t get woken up till it’s really bright.

I am torn between Paleo-keto and deep sleep. What would you suggest?

-Insomniac

Hi Insomniac–

You might want to try some melatonin. Maybe a mg or so of the sublingual variety, taken just as you’ve turned off the lights. And you might consider a little 5-hydroxy tryptophan. Maybe 100 mg or so taken around dinner time. The 5-hydroxytryptophan is the immediate precursor to serotonin. When you eat carbs before bedtime, you are bringing on an increase in serotonin, which makes you sleepy. You can do the same thing with the 5-hydroxytryptophan. The other thing you could consider is keeping on a low-carb diet, but not going into such deep ketosis. Try increasing your carbs a little at the evening meal – just enough to prevent ketosis – but not a huge amount. One or all of these three things have worked for most of my patients who have problems sleeping on a ketogenic diet.

Good luck.

MRE

By: gretchen

gretchen — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:57:53 +0000

“That�s how come there are countless weight-loss diet books but no books – as far as I know – on how to diet to keep from becoming fat in the first place.”

This attitude is unfortunately true. When I wrote a book about how to prevent diabetes, it didn’t sell. When we simply changed the title to Prediabetes, it sold much better.

I have a relative who says constantly, “Why should I worry about a disease I might never get?” even though the disease in question has a strong genetic component. I think people who aren’t yet fat feel the same way.

And I confess I wouldn’t rush out and buy “How not to get cancer,” “How not to get Alzheimer’s,” “How not to get Parkinson’s,” etc. There would just be too many disease I didn’t want to get.

Hi Gretchen–

It’s sad but true. People are eternally optimistic in the sense that they don’t believe any disease will befall them, including obesity. It’s the same reason no one goes to the doctor to keep healthy – they all go when they’re sick. No one is going to go out and buy a book on how to prevent a specific disease if they think they’re never going to get it. But once they do, they buy everything they can find on the subject.

This rationale is why the cholesterol lowering drugs make so much money. Elevated cholesterol isn’t a disease – it’s a lab finding. And the evidence indicates that it isn’t even really a risk. But the drug companies have managed to get it stuck in the minds of most everyone as a disease, so everyone who has a little bit of an elevated cholesterol is interested in finding out how to treat it.

Cheers–

MRE

P.S. Your test comment came through. I deleted it.