The Carb-Sane Asylum

Continuing on in this series dealing with  the neuropathy study  from which the following statement has been repeated regarding blood glucose levels:   Nerve Damage Occurs when Blood Sugars Rise Over 140 mg/dl After Meals   (as stated by  Ruhl  , Jaminet  (Kindle Locations 712-716), and   Kresser .) At the risk of repetition, this does seem to have originated with Jenny Ruhl's interpretations of this study wherein 50% of 72 individuals with neuropathy were diagnosed as IGT having a BG level over 140 mg/dL at the 2-hour mark of an OGTT.   The IGT group was also more likely to have painful sensory symptoms than the roughly one-third who were normoglycemic (the remaining group were frank diabetic).

I've got at least one more post in this series directly relating to the neuropathy study  to which concerns over BG levels over 140 mg/dL and nerve damage can be traced. This post is actually going to be rather short.  In the study, they found that half of those with neuropathy were diagnosed with IGT having a BG level over 140 mg/dL at the 2 hr mark on an OGTT.  An additional 18% were diabetic and 32% normoglycemic.  So the incidence of IGT was roughly three times as prevalent in this neuropathic population as in the general population.  Further, the IGT group had more painful sensory symptoms than the normoglycemic group.  But here's the thing:

Glyceroneogenesis and the Triglyceride/Fatty Acid Cycle     (TAG/FA) JBC Papers in Press, June 4, 2003, DOI 10.1074/jbc.R300017200 Lea Reshef, Yael Olswang, Hanoch Cassuto, Barak Blum, Colleen M. Croniger, Satish C. Kalhan, Shirley M. Tilghman , and Richard W. Hanson The above paper is referenced in Good Calories, Bad Calories , and is a paper I believe one cannot read thoroughly and still believe that dietary carbohydrate is required in order to "fix" fat and become obese.  It has been quite a while since I read it in its entirety.  Doing so in recent days I've noticed even more information in this paper that counters the whole notion that more dietary carb leads to more glycerol-3-phosphate leads to more esterification of fatty acids to the storage triglyceride form.   More specifically, these four paragraphs/excerpts were somewhat drowned out for me in my first reading:

Higher HbA1c levels predict better outcomes in advanced heart failure with diabetes   (free registration required) "We're finding that in heart failure [plus diabetes], higher HbA 1C  levels are associated not with worse outcomes, but with better outcomes," lead investigator Dr Tamara Horwich (University of California, Los Angeles) told  heartwire . This suggests that for patients with both diseases, "the focus should not be on lowering the HbA 1C  levels to as low as possible," she said, adding that "aiming for a midrange of 7.2% to 8.2% may be very reasonable." OK, this is in people with established heart disease and diabetes, but lower is, apparently, not always better.  And what is it we keep hearing about all these damaged metabolisms and all ...

There's a popular diet plan out there that is supposed to melt the pounds off of you.  Inject yourself with HCG  a hormone produced by the placenta of pregnant women.  This has been around since the 1950's when Dr. Simeon devised the original program.  Perhaps spurred by Kevin Trudeau's 2007 book on the diet, it seems to have experienced a resurgence in recent years.  The diet itself lasts for several weeks where someone eats 500 calories/day in two meals.  Here's Simeon's original plan : 125 I.U. of HCG daily (except during menstruation) until 40 injections have been given. Until 3rd injection forced feeding. After 3rd injection, 500 Calorie diet to be continued until 72 hours after the last injection. For the following 3 weeks, all foods allowed except starch and sugar in any form (careful with very sweet fruit). After 3 weeks, very gradually add starch in small quantities, always controlled by morning weighing. This amounts to 3 days of overfeeding,...

Elevated plasma nonesterified fatty acids are associated with deterioration of acute insulin response in IGT but not NGT High concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) are a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians. In vitro and in vivo, chronic elevation of NEFA decreases glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. We hypothesized that high fasting plasma NEFA would increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by inducing a worsening of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in Pima Indians. The subjects were 151 Pima - 107 with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and 44 with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) at the outset of the study.  At the outset none of the subjects had been diagnosed with frank diabetes.  These subjects were part of a study on pathogenesis of diabetes in the Pima and returned for annual visits to have various tests performed.  Of note, offspring of diabetic mothers were excluded from the analysis, thus the NGT group did not include this "at r...

I thought I would share some thoughts on some of the responses of LC "experts" to James Krieger's excellent series on insulin.  For any who missed them, here are the links    “Insulin…an Undeserved Bad Reputation” ,   Part 2 , Part 3 ,   Part 4 ,  Part 5 . Jimmy Moore asked an array of people in LC circles for their thoughts  HERE The subject of this installment is Dr. William Davis of Heart Scan Blog. The focus cannot be only on insulin. Glucose itself is harmful via the process of endogenous glycation, i.e., glucose-driven modification of proteins. The higher the blood glucose, the greater the glycation, with the process beginning at blood glucose levels of 100 mg/dl or more.  Blood glucose after a 3-egg omelet is typically 95 mg/dl. Blood glucose after a bowl of slow-cooked, stone-ground oatmeal is typically 150-200 mg/dl in non-diabetics. Firstly, kudos to Dr. Davis for saying the focus cannot be on...