The Carb-Sane Asylum

Previously ... Part I: The Journal Article & The Headlines T here is so much about the recent study from principal low carbohydrate advocate Jeff Volek, that this may well be the subject or impetus for several posts here as we close out 2014 -- it is so much more than just the study, but more what it embodies vis a vis the whole low carb/keto schtick.  Along with Stephen Phinney and ten -- count them, TEN! -- others who claim to meet the PLOS One standards to be designated as authors, we were brought the following study: Effects of Step-Wise Increases in Dietary Carbohydrate on Circulating Saturated Fatty Acids and Palmitoleic Acid in Adults with Metabolic Syndrome In a way this tops off a year of disgraceful behavior on the parts of just about everyone in the IHC who seem hell-bent on deceiving people into adopting their extreme lifestyles. If the science were really so clear, then why can they not address it honestly? There is nothing, N.O.T.H.I.N.G. in this

This is a minor side thought prompted by the recent Volek saturated fat - turns out to be monounsaturated fat - paper and comments Volek has made to the press.  The same general comments have been repeated in various outlets.  In  the study , subjects were first put on a VLC (< 50 g/day) diet (six weeks including half that of "run in") and then carbs were exchanged for fat incrementally every three weeks until the final carb levels were roughly equivalent to starting levels at around 350 g/day.  I'll definitely have something to say about the study itself, but the "major" groundbreaking result of the study was that the levels of the 16 C monounsaturated fatty acid -- that is produced by desaturating the palmitic acid product of de novo lipogenesis -- dropped with carb restriction and gradually came back up as carbs were re-introduced.   An increase in this fatty acid indicates that a growing proportion of carbohydrates is being converted into fat instea

Yes folks! Yet another study has hit the presses to tell you everything you thought you knew about nutrition is wrong, wrong and more wrong!!  The Journal Article Effects of Step-Wise Increases in Dietary Carbohydrate on Circulating Saturated Fatty Acids and Palmitoleic Acid in Adults with Metabolic Syndrome Brittanie M. Volk, Laura J. Kunces, Daniel J. Freidenreich, Brian R. Kupchak, Catherine Saenz, Juan C. Artistizabal, Maria Luz Fernandez, Richard S. Bruno, Carl M. Maresh, William J. Kraemer, Stephen D. Phinney, Jeff S. Volek . Count 'em ... a dozen authors.

I was looking at something, accidentally applied another template, and lost a bunch of stuff.  I was planning on switching things up a bit at some point but not now!  Ahh well ... this will have to do unless there are major readability issues.  Thanks for your patience!

Laugh if you get it! In comments on my last Thermodenyics post , I made the following statement: The β-oxidation + Krebs part is the "metabolism" of fatty acids resulting in production of some heat, some ATP, and a large number of so-called "reducing equivalents" that will produce much more ATP (cellular energy currency) in the Electron Transport Chain. You don't see mass escaping your body, but the carbons that were originally contained in the larger fatty acid molecules are exhaled as carbon dioxide. Atkins' original claim was that enough molecules escaped the Krebs cycle and were excreted before being fully metabolized for their caloric content. The vast majority of β-oxidation to burn fat for energy occurs in organs like the heart and skeletal muscle. Once a fatty acid is committed to the β-oxidation pathway they are oxidized completely down to carbon dioxide. In comments , Kindke quoted that last bolded line and inquired: I'm interes

A little detour into the Protein Power  book by Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades, 1996.  Was looking at a few things sparked by the thermodynamics posts he's made, and was surprised by a few things in the PP book that I had never even skimmed until now.  This post didn't fit the thermo topic, so I thought I'd mention this separately (and there may be another post or two coming as time permits). I had never heard of the Eades or their books until I found the low carb community in 2009.  While Atkins remains the primary low carb diet, the PP book/plan is high up on the list for second place, and Eades' blog was still uber popular at that time. Circa 2009 the low carb mantras of the day were largely focused on: Up the fat intake Fat can't make you fat You can't get fat or gain fat weight without eating carbs, so even if you don't lose more weight, at least you won't gain.