I have an obese, diabetic friend who refuses to eat low carb because the two times she tried it (well before I knew her) she got pancreatitis, once having to be hospitalized. She’s in her fifties and also has non-alcoholic fatty liver syndrome, if that makes any difference. I’m not sure what exactly she ate during those two LC attempts, except that she “ate healthy”, which seemed to entail lots of fruits and veggies, and less bread and starches.

Is LC not a good idea for people who get pancreatitis, or is there something she could take to reduce her chance of getting it? Is it related to her fatty liver? I have scoured all my diet books (including PPLP) for references to pancreatitis and couldn’t find anything… in fact, I’m finding little on the net that doesn’t refer to cutting back on fat/protein and increasing fiber/carbs, the antithesis of low carb.

She is not on the internet and relies solely on what her doctors told her previously about staying away from low-carb diets in general and fat in particular.

I don’t know why your friend got pancreatitis after following a low-carb diet – it doesn’t make sense. So, I really can’t comment without knowing a whole lot more about the situation. I can tell you that the low-carb diet is the best diet around for non-alcoholic liver disease, a disorder we discuss in detail in our new book coming out next March. The only studies showing a reversal of non-alcoholic liver disease is the low-carb diet.

“In contrast to normal cells, tumor cells have absolute requirement for methionine (Met), an essential amino acid”

…

“In animal models, Met restriction permit to limit tumor growth and to reduce tumor volume. However, interruption of Met restriction induce the regrowth of tumor.”.

1: Bull Cancer. 2008 Jan 1;95(1):69-76. Links
[Methionine dependency of cancer cells: a new therapeutic approach?][Article in French]

Durando X, Thivat E, Gimbergues P, Cellarier E, Abrial C, Dib M, Tacca O, Chollet P.
Département d’oncologie médicale, Centre Jean Perrin, 58, rue Montalembert, 63011 Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Marco

I am all over the place with my comments because I only recently found your fascinating website and am working thro the articles. So I guess there is a good chance that no one will see this question, but anyway….

I find what you have to say very interesting. I always followed a low-protein, mostly vegetarian diet and suffered obesity most of my life. So I would like to Believe. [In fact the thought there might be a cure for my condition means I cant breathe with excitement. I so want, when people talk about the % obese, that they are not including me in that category.]

I read your book (and Atkins book and Clarke’s book – one strives to be fair) and was reconsidering my position on meat eating.

However, a question –
is it not true that several studies, such as these for example:
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/8/15/1302
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/8/1064
have shown methionine consumption as not such a good thing?

Perhaps even if pancreatic cancer is reduced other cancers could be increased (altho not shown in this study I think, altho they did discard people with cancer)?
What is the theory of why reducing methionine may increase life expectancy?

Many thanks for your interesting articles,

H

Hi Hootch–

MRE

Geez, I had to leave something for the reader to do. And people don’t eat calories, they eat ounces. People don’t eat 1400 calories of meat, they eat 4 ounces. That’s why I put the figures per 100 grams, which is 3 1/2 ounces.

MRE

I’ve never thought about it until now, but I expect vegetarians as a group might experience more allergy problems, if a methionine deficiency caused by lack of meat upsets the balance of their methylation cycle and causes too much histamine.

The comment from “Vince” about his vegetarian girlfriend using SAMe for depression makes perfect sense to me. Another symptom of my son’s undermethylation disorder was depression due to low serotonin, which requires methyl groups for its formation.

A few days ago my son got some test results back from Pfeiffer, and under their care his histamine level has gone down by half since last July. His depression has gone away, too.

Hi Amanda–

I’m really happy to hear of your son’s success. Congrats to him and you.

Best–

MRE 

Don’t estimate the power of cosmetic issues and the ability to breed for getting a group of women interested in health. I’m just sayin’.

Anne

Hi Anne–

That’s my point.  One has to exploit the cosmetic issues because people don’t seem to be interested in the health aspects of a diet much at all, unless, of course, health aspects are used to avoid dieting.  As in, Oooh, I couldn’t go on a low-carb diet, it would give me heart disease.

Cheers–

MRE 

I once read a book in which the author was advocating a vegitarian diet and she said that no one really craves meat in general and most particularly steak. I believe that she called it “tasteless”. I don’t know what she was smoking because I very often crave a lovely rare steak right off the grill and it’s very tasty indeed. I have yet to eat a veggie that doesn’t need some sort of help (usually butter) to make it more palatable. I still shudder at the thought of the plain steamed broccoli that I ate in the old days. I had to force that stuff down. Anyway, good to know that my steak is doing something good for me.

Just a quick note of thanks and one question. I happened upon your blog/website a short time ago (while researching an evolutionary approach to eating and exercise), and have been reading diligently since. How can one thank you and your wife for providing all this helpful information for free, for taking the time out of your busy schedules to personally answer your readers’ questions? Many sincere thanks.

My question: I’m in a bit of a quandary as to how much protein is absorbed and used at a given feeding. Everything I’ve read prior has indicated that only a certain amount of protein (anywhere from 20-40 grams, depending on who you talk to), is absorbed, and anything above that amount is stored as fat. Based on your writings (and also from an evolutionary “feast or famine” perspective), I’m inclined to think this may be a falsehood, much like every other piece of nutritional advice found in mainstream sources. I’ve recently transitioned to Protein Power, and now (with limited carbs and no starchy grains), in order eat a fulfilling meal, I consume quite a bit of protein at a sitting, sometimes approaching 90 grams. Am I setting myself up for failure? I’m currently at about 8% bodyfat, and purely for vanity’s sake, I’d like to keep it that way.

Once again, many thanks for your public service. I’d like to see the two of you nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Thomas

Hi Thomas–

Thanks for the kind words about the blog.

I don’t think you will get into any trouble with your protein intake.  I don’t know where the idea arose that the body can only use X amount of protein at any given time, but, unless I find contrary evidence, I don’t believe is true.

Keep eating your steak.  Congrats on the 8% body fat–that’s tough to do.

Don’t hold your breath on the Nobel Prize.  They give those for original research–we don’t do original research, we root through other’s original research and try to make sense of it when combined with other original research.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Mark–

I’m not sure that oversecretion of insulin is a cause of cancer.  I simply don’t know.  I’ve never read an article claiming that it is.  That doesn’t mean such articles don’t exist, just that if they do, I haven’t read them.  There is a body of research showing, however, that elevated glucose is a risk factor for cancer.

Cheers–

MRE 

If i understood you correctly yr point ref faith was..its different from rationality ?
As a person of faith is using the self same brain that affords it(him/her) to be smart, learned and perhaps wise in other areas i take it that if that self same then believes in a life after life they are far far from rational and thus smart… by my definition, of course !
It’s to me a less fun version of Father Christmas and the tooth fairy for adults.
Point of fact those don’t say someone dies but then, really they don’t die.

That was my point too i.e more faith is a sure sign thats something is rotten in Denmark with the reasoning and rationality powers again and of course by my def.
It never ceases to amaze me that a person can be learned in one or differing areas and yet believe something that basically equates to well we don’t really die.
Well read smart folks use more rationalizations and intellectualizations than uneducated folk but its amounts to the same thing..we don’t actually die..fully.
I find it kinda sad though of course its a source a great comfort to gesquillions of folks.

That whomever would believe that we are somehow special, that a part of us is immune to the forces of biology is as far as i can see fantastical and basically ridiculous.

Agree that it was wrong to compare Western folk of faith to folks of extreme faith as assume most Westerners wouldnt off a another simply cos they had a different faith.
Islam en masse still seems to ‘see’ the world in a mythic way a la 500 or more years ago;however less violentin the West belivers are, all people of faith have the shared absurd notion of life after life.
And i think it blights potentiality for compassion and humanity and can be used as a truly gross rationalization (not that we humans need one ult!) for the most heinous acts.
Are you a believer in life after life if i might ask,please ?
As always thanks yr polemic

Sinc

Hi Simon–

Do I believe in life after life…?

The way you’ve set up the question, if I say Yes I categorize myself as an irrational idiot.  If I say no, then I get a thousand emails from people trying to save my soul.

Let me put it this way: I believe in quantum mechanics.  If you believe in quantum mechanics, you can believe anything.

Cheers–

MRE