READERS SUMMARY:
1. How does the fossil record prove that epigenetics is the most dominant factor in biology today?
2. How does this lack of insight create a huge mismatch for patients trying to get to Optimal?
3. Does epigenetics change they way we think?
4. Does the way we think alter our biology and can it alter the medicine we practice?
5. How do we make this actionable for patients?
In the famous equation E=mc2 we all know that the speed of light is the most important variable in the power of the equation. This has become the logical syntax of science the last 100 years. This is why a nuclear weapon has the energy it does from two small blocks of metals that get exploded into us. The equation is now being challenged by new wave scientists. In fact, one of them spoke at the TEDx Nashville event I participated in and I found his talk fascination on many levels. I love people who challenge scientific dogma.
Might there be a similar ‘weighted or squared factor’ in biology that does the same thing to a biologic system?
Might that one factor have the same magnitude on modern man? In a phrase, I believe the answer is, unquestionably yes. There are too many anomalies between modern humans and our recent ancestors, the chimps of Africa that just make no sense based upon today’s CW dogma of todays evolutionary biologists. They need to be explored in my view.
The speed of epigenetics is the driving force to mammalian survival and dominance but it is also the very thing that is killing us today. Well you might ask now why does epigenetics trump genetics these days, Dr. Kruse? The best way to answer this is with an example. Let us take two humans with identical DNA, like identical twins. They have identical DNA and a genome at birth. Why do they not have an identical life as they live it out? Their DNA does not change but the way it is expressed however does because of the envirnoment they are in throughout their lives. What environmental pressures their genome faces determines the genomic expression they have and ultimately life they get. The life they get is not 100% determined by the genes their mother and father gave them.
This is a revolutionary concept just realized in the last 15 years in genetic research. Since we know this is true just imagine what would happen if that process that determines expression is sped up 4 times, then ten times, then hundred times. This is precisely what has happened every generation from the KT event until now. It also helps explain the massive difference in humans and chimps even though we share very similar DNA. Since KT it has sped even faster than we have imagined. As time evolves, epigenetics picks up more speed. 67 million years ago this rapid adaptation to environmental change was a huge survival advantage to eutherian mammals. As we saw in the last blog, often the way evolution works in one eon can be turned upon its head when the environment changes once again. This is precisely what has happened in primate and hominid evolution. I believe the rapid adaptation is the source of many of modern man’s maladies. In fact, in my opinion it is a recipe for disaster from neolithic diseases. The more circadian mismatches we face the faster epigenetics goes via methylation and acetylation of our DNA. This is why children now are dying from diseases of aging before they reach adulthood.
When life began 4.5 billion years ago it was a single cell organism. Life went from a single cell all the way up to a T. Rex in that time frame. This is an oversimplification of the timeline, of course, but it directionally accurate as a scientific truism based upon timing of fossil data we have today. In the last short 67 million years from the K-T Event, we went from coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs and small mammals to modern birds and modern hominids. That explosion of evolutionary advancement in that short of time really has never been well explained by any branch of science. It is considered an anomaly even today. The reason for the explosive growth and expansion of life can be traced to how we survived the last extinction event where the dinosaurs died and where eutherian mammals began to dominate a planet. We come from those animals.
Science has a way of avoiding anomalies that don’t fit into its current paradigm. This anomaly is well explained by my theory of eutherian mammalian development due to the explosive sped up epigenetics in all survivors of K-T extinction. It may even lift some other theories in evolution that are considered fringe, like the aquatic ape theory. The fossil record shows that the recovery of life from K-T was nothing short of amazing compared to other extinctions life has faced. Today, since understand how epigenetics works to speed advancement without a single change in the DNA code helps explain that rapid development. As the Human Genome Project was just being completed, our understanding of genetics was rapidly changed in a series of experiments done at Duke University that showed epigenetics was far more powerful than genomics. This belief has been rapidly expanded in the last decade by genomic science. Many scientists and physicians do not even know this basic fact today. I learned about this power of epigenetics in 2003 from a small study in Duke University (see Cites) and it changed how I thought about disease and medicine ever since. The speed of epigenetics is the most dominant factor in all of mammalian biology evolutionary development. This one study is a small tsunami wave that came all the way from the Tidal Wave that was K-T event 67 million years ago.
This one small fact is at the source of why our modern healthcare system is severely broken and chronic diseases and illness are poorly treated or under treated today. My thoughts changed back then but I never realized that medicine has not……until recently. Modern medicine relies, almost to a fault, on science these days. Scientific knowledge is cumulative, and it is based upon previous benchmarks that allow us to scale new peaks as time elapses. But a revolutionary thought can disrupt that continuity. Medicine needs that type of disruption.
We need to move far away from our previous conceptions of the world that have run us aground. Today, medicine is hamstrung by a lot of ‘bad science’ it calls evidenced based. In my opinion, It needs a new beacon to follow. Today’s evidence is tomorrows fallacy based upon some political or social paradigm set up by groups that are using it for its own ends. That beacon must be founded in what really drives our biology. I think evolutionary principles need to be the currency we use to “scale the peaks” healthcare has in its shadows now. This is why there is discontent in healthcare’s customers and some of its doctors.
THE PROSPECTIVE OF PATIENTS:
One thing I have realized in doing all the educational consults I have to date is that the frustration of patients comes from the impoverished thinking that is born in our literature and regurgitated by the healthcare complex. I think most of the “actors” playing leading roles actually know and feel that discontent of the patients but the system penalizes you if you ‘step out of line‘. The rules are constructed for conformity of the system and not the effectiveness of the message. If the goal is to change the system and solve the problems of the customers, we first must define the problem. The first tenet of change is having the responsibility to define the current reality we are in. Sadly, that state is quite poor today.
Realistically, thinking about medicine today we have been tripping over the truth for hundred years while dusting ourselves off and acting as nothing has really happened by our actions. Modern medicine bases its decision processes and calls to action on “evidence-based medicine” found in the literature. I think when we approach a systemic wide problem we need to step up to the plate and strip ourselves of all preconceived notions of right and wrong and all the dogma we hold near and dear to our heart. We need then to reassemble the facts and learn the facts as they exist today and make an honest assessment of the situation and make a decision to change the course we are on. Modern medicine continues to use the research literature as its gold standard and not the wisdom found in evolutionary medicine and biology. The literature is really only 150 years steeped in experience and is biased and flawed in how it is constructed, completed and disseminated. I honestly believe that physicians today do think soundly, but it really does not matter how sound your thinking is if it is based upon faulty data or assumptions? That is where I think we find ourselves today.
To solve our problems I think we need an honest assessment of what the current status is on the pros and cons of patient care. We also need to be mindful that not all pro’s carry the same weight as all the cons. But this manner of introspection will reveal the value of the mental exercise so we can dig at the core facts of why we are where we are. Moreover, it will allow us to view the problems from different perspectives and really illuminate the proper course of action to repair the problem. I have done that for me and my own practice I realized that relying on the research data alone and not considering the epistemological basis of where our species comes from was a dramatic oversight that allows us to continue to make the same errors over and over again. Modern medicine looks at the published research like a fundamentalist looks at the Bible. That must end. When I uncovered Factor X as the root cause of most of the diseases I treat today I realized that many of them were not diseases at all. Somewhere results of impoverished thinking and socialization of a faulty idea imprinted by the status quo of medical education.
Most physicians I speak with today ask me what my goal really is now. I tell them I want to change the way we practice medicine and deliver it to the masses. Most of the facial gestures I get from them confirm for me what I already suspected. They have an ‘it can’t be done mindset‘. People who think this way usually expect the worst and continually experience it. (modern healthcare breeds this thinking) Or, they decide to change the way they think. I have said many times on this blog and in the comments that we can change our DNA with a thought.
I now fully believe this and this is why I am no longer the person I was just 5 years ago. I can not honestly say that 5-7 years ago I was a very positive person. I apologize that I am made entirely of flaws. The best part is I am sutured and stapled together with good intentions as I work to find out what makes us tick. I am human and I have my flaws. I was very cynical because of the world I came into. The real problem for me is that I allowed that world to alter me. I realized that I had the control to change my environment to get to the change I wanted. This one thought made me think deeply about how the environment, and then epigenetics could affect a biologic system rapidly and dramatically. That one thought made me realize how a small change could impact any mammal. See environmental changes do not alter our DNA, but it radically alters the way our DNA is expressed. I immediately thought about my own thinking in this light and wondered instead of focusing in on what I believed to be true about medicine, I could instead focus in on how to express how epigenetics actually dictates all wellness and disease decisions.
Factor X used the sped of epigenetics to change the entire living animal kingdom on our planet in a few short seconds without radically changing our DNA at all. It is the C, in E=MC2. That is truly awesome power that we just realized in the last ten years. That one small chemical ability had a magnificent power when you look at what it did to eutherian mammals after KT. I was blind to its power until I really thought about where humans really came from. I was always taught to believe that we needed to look at our nearest cousins on the tree of life. When I looked at our genesis as a family, I got a completely new perspective on how to think about wellness and disease. When I realized the impact of a sped up epigenetic program on mammalian DNA, most of the oddities we see today in science and biology began to make a lot more sense to me. Moreover, when I applied the lesson of this new foundational perspective, my patients got better by the truckload.
IF WE HAVE ALL THE RIGHT ANSWERS, HOW COME WE’RE IN SUCH A MESS TODAY IN HEALTHCARE?
Medicine and science are very cynical, so as a result of realizing this truth I decided to change my mindset and I forced myself to think very positively. It was a conscious choice to change the manner in which I thought and how I behaved. I stopped thinking it was impossible to change medicine and decided to focus in on what was right about changing the paradigm. I also began to move away from the so-called experts. Dean Dwyer’s new book also mentions this concept and when I read it there I smiled in my head. See, critics like to call themselves experts, and they are expert in one respect. They routinely enjoy shooting people’s dreams down before they ever get started. I began to realize that being an expert in the system I wanted to change was no benefit at all. Moreover, I knew that the power of evolutionary design using the lever of epigenetics was the single most important change agent for any eutherian mammal on this planet left standing after 67 million years ago. I found when I began to question the status quo, and used evolutionary biology to guide me things radically got better all around.
I began to look for possibilities of how the speed of epigenetics showed its power to alter the mammals. When I came upon them, I wrote them down for myself to think about into a larger framework that could change a paradigm. I began to look for these possibilities in all places and because I was looking for something new, I found a lot of examples of what modern scientists call anomalies. Scientist hate outliers to any paradigm in power. Well, the modern day neolithic diseases that are killing our civilization are that perfect storm. No one seems to explain obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Autism, and Cancer explosions over the last 100 years. Yet, it is present and here now. I decided to think about those outliers and the anomalies in a new way. When I did, I put that knowledge to the test and actually cured myself and my family of some of those “outlier diseases”.
The very nature of getting a medical education (any allied health field) makes us very cynical, and as a result, the best defense we have is to become optimistic. I had to practice that for several years before I was able to master it. Once I began to become more optimistic, I was able to realize how to creatively use what Factor X taught me, and creatively use it to make actionable plans and decisions for my patients with a disease I routinely treated in my clinic. I began to realize that the most valuable resource I brought to the table as a surgeon and my work was to make Factor X actionable for my patients. When you add creative thinking to your arsenal as a surgeon you begin to add value to everything you dispense to a patient and their satisfaction rises and their outcomes improve tremendously. I think the people who have sat down with me for an educational consult can attest to this.
I knew that the speed of epigenetics was the single most important evolutionary clue in how to get people well pretty quickly in 2007. But I had no plan for how to make it actionable when I began my quest to help them. So I sat down and thought about how to accomplish it. I realized immediately with epigenetics, the present condition of modern humans was not the key to our past, but rather, it was the major exception to the rule. When I embraced that paradox I began to ask the following questions about every malady and remedy I was taught. How did I make Factor X actionable for my patients?
1. Why did things have to be done this way in medicine and surgery?
2. What is the real etiology of the patient’s problem?
3. What are the foundational issues in this case?
4. Does this case or situation remind me of anything else I have ever seen in any other disease?
5. If this is the correct way to do it, what is the polar opposite way to do it and does it work too?
6. Is there any cipher or symbol out there that may help explain the paradox too?
7. Why is this case or problem particularly important?
8. Did my training give me the easiest and cheapest way to repair this problem or not?
9. Is there anyone else out there treating this issue differently than me and getting different results?
10. What would happen if I did not surgery at all and just change the speed of their epigenetics using diet, sleep, and cold?
In 2007, I think Factor X allowed me to ask better questions of myself than my training allowed me to ask myself. It was because I allowed the thought I was socialized to believe in training to be ultimate truths when they really were not. They were based on a lot of faulty data and assumptions in the literature. I began to use evolutionary biology, specifically a new perspective, where epigenetic speed was driving the expression of our genome and the lifestyle decisions that modern life allowed. By asking better questions and not focusing on just answers, and challenging the process, I got to more creative answers that also worked for my patients and customers. I began to trust my instincts here and I focused in on the innovation of my thoughts. There was really nothing groundbreaking in what I found or what I realized post-Factor X. What I did realize as a surgeon is that by combining the things I did learn in residency training to the epistemological basis of Factor X a new reality was created for patients. Innovation is really combining a few existing elements that we already know to be completely true and the synergy they create together forms a “new concept” that we can all benefit from. Small thinkers do not think like this. They expect massive change to come from massive findings. That is pretty rare in science if you have followed it historically at any time in our history.
The realization of the power of epigenetics turned me into a new person and physician. I began to realize what I knew was limited and that there was much more for me to challenge and question to get to the answer I sought and my patients needed. I stopped believing I had the answers and realized I had the vision to get to some new ones that might do someone some good. I began to share these things with my local physicians and they also began to report very positive results in treating diseases and maladies using a sped up epigenetics program as a backdrop.
WHAT IS OUR GOAL?
The goal is really to slow epigenetics down to our benefit now. At the K-T event, a sped up epigenetics guaranteed our survival as a species of eutherian mammals. Today, modern hominids are on a fast track to extinguish themselves because as time has marched on, reproductive fitness is no longer the battle of the day for us. Today, surviving to reproductive fitness is easy but remaining well as we age is now the biologic novelty that is the issue of the day. We now have children born into disease because of the power of transgenerational epigenetics. Just looked at the rates of Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, ADHD, and Autism over the last few decades. They are exploding just as we should expect, but we do not expect it, because we don’t understand the power of epigenetics. It’s not the genomes, dummy; it is how it is expressed that really matters.
Science often ignores anomalies that the current paradigm can not explain. But when anomalies accumulate the job of a medicine man is to embrace the paradox of what they are and seem and try to solve the riddle. When enough of the anomalies accumulate they may trigger a paradigm shift. This belief falls in line with Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of the Scientific Revolutions.” Anyone who questions an old paradigm stands on the shoulders of the past as they try to take them out simultaneously. This paradox of scientific reality sometimes leads to major problems in the present day before things change. The old guard is threatened by the new world order because they do not understand the new paradigm. They have no way to objectively judge it. So the ridicule it. You can argue forever with them over it, but you will never resolve the basic differences. Science is both subjective to your perception and your reality whether you realize it or not. It is a subjective and political ideal. Scientists hate that moniker but it is deadly accurate in my view.
Most people today are frustrated with healthcare because we are focusing on answers to issues instead of asking better questions about why this is all happening. All Neolithic disease we see today generally increase in prevalence and incidence as time elapses so disease of aging is now showing up in young humans. Moreover, we are ravaged and succumbing to these diseases at an alarming rate and we have few answers why this is the case. This rate is further intensified when eating the wrong modern foods in deep supply, do things to disrupt our sleep, and use modern conveniences designed to make our life easier. We are finding the use of these products, while convenient, may shorten our lives biologically.
When you realize our problems from this perspective……….you begin to understand how to repair things and maybe even change a paradigm.
We are all anecdotes, but science is not based upon anecdotes, medicine, however, was founded upon anecdotes amassed together. The RCT of the last 150 years is nothing but flawed subjective, politicized, and paid for advertisements of the status quo. Science never fixed my obesity or many of my patient’s ailments either. This is why medicine remains an art within a science. Neither can be held above one another no matter how much we want it to be true. This was a tough pill to swallow for a long time because I was socialized to believe the answers I was taught in med school and residency were always firmly based in science. Scientists rarely understand the real world or solve the puzzle of the health of disease. That puzzle can only be solved by your inner guru, your primal sense.
Kuhn had it right when he asserted science, like life on earth, really does not evolve toward anything…but away from something instead. We like to think science evolves with the “truth” but it really only changes as our culture allows that change to happen. This is why conventional wisdom rules today and living your life against the grain might just save your life. Medicine, like evolution, is firmly based in ambiguity by modern socialization……..until we realize what we don’t know we will never know where we need to go. Epigenetics studies highlight the importance of environmental factors in the inheritance of complex traits. Our interaction with the world now has been shown to have effects well beyond our lifetime. I believe it sheds life on not only where we came from but also where we need to go. It has changed me, even with all my flaws.
Science believes in the convention of “ultimate scientific truths“, but medicine is based in the arts where the ultimate truth is in a constant flux of evolutionary change. There are no ultimate scientific truths, contrary to popular belief anywhere in the literature or in the blogosphere. This is just another logical fallacy. Human history shows that every ultimate truth heretofore has been toppled by a ‘new giant’ or paradigm. Just as the many extinction events on this planet have shown us, life persists and exists in its current form because of this flux. It adapts no matter the hand that is dealt. It is time we begin to practice medicine using this Primal Rx.
We need to become comfortable with this uncomfortable reality.
Please take a look at a new MD blog. Please read it and support it. We need all the doctors we can get to change the world. Brad is at
http://lowcarbpediatrician.com/
CITES:
1. R. A. Waterland and R. L. Jirtle. 2003 Transposable elements: targets for early nutritional effects on epigenetic gene regulation. Mol. Cell. Biol 23(15):5293-5300.
2. Leslie Pray, “Epigenetics:Genome, Meet Your Environment: As evidence Accumulates for Epigenetics, Researchers Reacquire a Taste for Lamarkism,” The Scientist, July 5th, 2004;
3. I. C., Weaver et al. 2004. Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nat. Neuroscience7(8): 847-854
4. E. W. Fish et al. 2004. Epigenetic Programming of stress responses through variations in maternal care. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1036:167-180
5. A. D. Riggs et al. 2004. Methylation and epigenetic fidelity. Proc. Natl Acad Sci USA 101(1) 4-5.
6. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Nongenetic_inheritance_of_longevity.php
7. http://rcordaux.voila.net/pdfs/42.pdf
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-gulonolactone_oxidase
Doc: what is KT? Thanks
@Ron The K-T extinction event.
@Ron http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back3.html
@Jack do you know if Elaine Morgan is reading your stuff? If not, I think your marketing monkeys should send her this blog. I think she’d love it. I know I did.
@Coriander Im glad someone is beginning to see how Factor X ties into anthropoid origins of the species. I have some major points of contention with Ms. Morgan hypothesis…….but there is one immutable fact she has right. The human brain requires the aquatic diet to evolve and to work properly.
Read this comment by Mark Verhaegen I pulled off the net:
AAT is an unfortunate term: it’s not about apes or australopiths (only about Homo), and it’s not about having been aquatic (a better term IMO is “littoral”). But whatever its name, the Hardy-Morgan theory is correct: Pleistocene Homo populations dispersed along coasts and rivers, they even reached Flores before ~800 ka, and AFAIK all archaic Homo fossils have been found next to edible shellfish (work of J.Joordens, of S.Munro & others), from Dmanisi & Mojokerto to the Cape, Boxgrove & Eritrea, from at least 1.8 Ma until 125 ka. Anti-AAT people only attack their own idea of what they believe AAT is (eg, some sort of dolphin-like ancestry). Their “critiques” are nearly invariably irrelevant, misunderstanding, misrepresenting, obsolete, not essential (attacking possible sub-hypotheses), irrealistic &/or illogical (“crocodiles would have killed aquatic apes”). Nowadays we discern 2 theories: – the littoral theory of Homo (AAT s.s.): Pleistocene diaspora of human ancestors along coasts & rivers, beach-combing, wading & diving for waterside & aquatic foods, – the aquarboreal theory of apes: Mio-Pliocene hominoid adaptations (eg, vertical branch-hanging, floating & wading) in flooded forests (mangrove, gallery, swamp forests). For up-to-date insights, please – google “econiche Homo” on our Pleistocene evolution, – google “aquarboreal” on ape evolution, – read “Was Man More Aquatic in the Past? Fifty Years after Alister Hardy: Waterside Hypotheses of Human Evolution” M.Vaneechoutte, A.Kuliukas & M.Verhaegen eds 2011 forthcoming ebook Bentham Sci.Publ. + contributions of Elaine Morgan, Phillip Tobias, Michel Odent, Anna Gislén etc., – or see our recent paper “Pachyosteosclerosis suggests archaic Homo frequently collected sessile littoral foods” HOMO J.compar.hum.Biol.62:237-247, 2011. Marc Verhaegen http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT
This article ties right into Factor X. Hopefully your efforts will greatly reduce the 15-30 year time frame mentioned.
http://news.yahoo.com/scientist-evolution-debate-soon-history-155252505.html
@ATL if I put this in a journal it may take me 50 yrs or I may suffer the same fate as Dr. Raymond Dart. Google his name and the Taung Baby skull. He had the patience I do not have. I am glad to see Leaky now thinks the environment controls the show because I have know it for about ten years now. How to make it actionable and cure medicine is the biggest achievment I can think of. Right now we are in the process of hurting far many more people than we should. Once clinicians make these links…….and begin to think differently and use a new perspective we can get on with what physicians should do consistently……..really help people.
Using evolutionary biology should guide us how best to do it.
Dr. Kruse, I need your help. I had a consult scheduled with you today and no one showed up. The support team has not responded to my emails. It there another way to contact them and get this resolved? Thank you much!
@Colorado The MM are all away for the weekend. We will get it corrected. I apologize for it. I received no data on anyone from your email either history or any labs so clearly something is up.
EDIT: I am glad we solve this for you later in the day. It was a pleasure speaking with your and your wife. Dr. K
Thank you, Dr. Kruse. I did email lab and history info to consult email address they provided. I’ll wait to hear from the support team. Thank you for your help. Enjoy the weekend.
Well, I feel somewhat vindicated now. See your cite #2. When I was taking my course work for the anthro degree the profs were interested in my experiences as a NA. I related how I experienced effects from things that my grandmother and mother went through even though I had never physically gone through it. I can still see the expression on the professors face as he commented that “it sounded like Lamarkism” to him. I was at a loss then to explain it any other way. Good to know there’s being some changes made.
@Terry F the bone hunters have had to swallow a tough pill the last 40 yrs because while they founded a field that much of evolutionary history was based upon……..much of what they believe has been proven dead wrong. We now know that the environment is the true change agent for DNA expression. This fact leads us to the improbably truth……..speciation calls for a stricter isolation and more abrupt change in the environment than the savannah theory can provide. The old school dogmatist will hold onto that theory until the die out. (Plank’s Principle) Those of you who are reading me and understanding what I am saying is that K-T was the same type of event that used the currency of environmental change to select out mammals to dominate. The subspecialization of the hominid tree also came heretofore in the same way in my opinion………something radically changed in the environment of a groups of apes……..and this lead to massive rapid adaptations. The currency for that ability comes from K-T and is how our deep ancestors survived a global event that happened in seconds. I think humans came from a more local event that affect a group of founder apes……and we used the power of epigenetics to sculpt a hominid……..the difference between us and apes have to be explained.
I love anomalies. I dont walk from them, I run to them…….I try to explain them by thinking. There is a special area in Africa that allowed for this type of geographic separation as time elapsed and hominids came to be. Geographic separation is the exclusive mode of speciation among all eutherian mammals. I learned this in the Halls of the Museum of Natural History long ago. I think it is time to question Darwin too. He had a lot right abou tlife but not all of it was correct. the Duke experiments show it now appears Lamarck did too because epigenetics is what Lamarck was describing when he got shot down by the scientists of his day.
We all must be vigiliant about what we really do not know…….and we must explore those areas carefully when we trip over a new anomaly and ask better questions………..and forget the old answers. Our thinking is being constrained constantly by our perspectives and by preconceived notions that are learned “facts” and notions. When you question it all…….you stop making big errors in assumptions in my view. This is why CW rules the day.
@Ben What is my vision for the future of MD’s and healthcare? Patients will create a new relationship with doctors and doctors will respond to these patients to change…….who are these patients? they are like people who read my blog and like this man in this story.
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/39636/
@Jeff you want a guru? Use this guy. http://www.dietdoctor.com/paleo-interview-with-professor-cordain
And so the battle goes on to put the right information in front of those who will actually put it into place. I dread the peds endocrinology consult I have set up this Friday as I know I’m going to have to fight the CW every step of the way, just to get testing. Good news, the consult is with physician who teaches, so if I can get this domino to fall…. 🙂 The academic world with its pressures to publish kills us – no one wants to take the time to publish outside what is already accepted – takes too much time and energy to get things vetted…and oh, need my tenure now.
@Christine The battle is bigger. You need to acquire this info…….and become your inner guru. You only uncover your innate amazingness when you embrace your fearfulness. You must fail your way to your successes in life. It’s seems counterintuitive, but biology uses paradox and ambiguity as its language…….and this makes life follow the golden rule…….form follows function. Adjust your mindset and to think this way and you will never get upset at your doc. You will become their change agent. Mindsets are contagious like a virus. So choose the people you populate your life with extremely well. We all need one another though most of us don’t realize it until its too late. There is no person who cant learn something from anyone of they are open to it. Collective we all think better than one of us does…….It just appears that one might think better than the collective group. People who are good leaders think well and instead of being a guru or caring about control they create new thinkers and leaders. My goal is to create lots of starfishes………..That is the method to my madness.
Jack, isn’t this the punctuated speciation/equilibrium that Stephen Jay Gould wrote about? Why wouldn’t the aquatic ape subspeciation fit into this theory? So fascinating, must learn more…
@Maggie the original theory came from Dr. Hardy in 1960, but I understand parts of it came even earlier. He was warned to not talk about it or it would ruin his career. He did that for most of his life sadly. Elaine Morgan picked up his battle and she is the champion of it now. Now Steven Jay Gould is on partially on board……Many of the old school paleoanthropologist are dying off so Plank’s Principle is working its magic. The Savannah theory has many problems that modern evolutionary experts continue to ignore. I think the K-T extinction and and increased epigenetics speed is the currency or the fuel for rapid changes from the environment. People who believe the Savannah theory focus on the facts that we are genomically closely related to apes and chimps…….but what they dont tell you is how very different we are and why we are. The one that I am going to focus on next is why there is a massive difference between a chimp/ape gut and a human one. It is also the reason humans get autoimmune disease and primate do not. Most modern humans do not even know that primates can not get AI disease. The reason is found in their gut anatomy and in their immunology of the enterocytes because of how humans radically shot off the anthropoid chain because of geographic speciation.
Me, I dont buy all of Ms. Morgan’s hypothesis but the major tenet is not only plausible but factual…….the human brain evolved because of a partial water based life.
Hi Dr Kruse,
I was wondering what book you would recommend about epigenetics for a layperson. I know of the work of Bruce Lipton and have read some of his books. Do you have any other sources you would recommend or do you think carefully studying Bruce Lipton’s work would be best?
@Caroline there is not a suitable one as yet. Most are designed for the scientists.
Jack, thanks for the reminder to keep it on the right level with the CW’s. Need to try and balance the mom who will take down a sabre tooth tiger for her kid if need be with the mgt consultant who is supposed to be a positive agent for change. Don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, I’m just about 5 years behind you on the positive attitude – and Mg intake as well…
@Christine You made me laugh with wine in my mouth.
Dr. K,
I read a study from Albert Einstein Sch of Medicine that says high TXNIP levels in the hypothalamus cause WAT to retain fat, BAT to reduce thermogenesis, and cause LR/IR in the body. Do you have any thoughts on this TXNIP protein?
Also, how long should we be cold exposing our faces? If cold upon face induces hypothalamic changes, do you think using like a snorkel during CT would be beneficial?
@Dan Han TXNIP is pure hypothalamic protein that is heavily influenced by leptin and overall energy status. When hypothalamic expressing neurons secrete TXNIP is completely alters the calorie in and calorie out dogma that exists today and completely fits in alignment with what I have believed for many years now. The brain has a way to calculate overall energy status and it can regulate consumption and metabolic efficiency. Humans wrongly believe the best way to lose weight is stop eating. This is wrong. The best way to modulate the system is affect the metabolic pathways efficiencies. This is the best use of TXNIP to do this.
The major plays are BG, insulin and leptin status. Interestingly enough the latest research is beginning to show it is not a shared thermostat with all three players getting equal footing. It appears leptin is the major player and this make tremendous sense because insulin is a small player in colder temperatures. The lower energy expenditure in hTXNIP-expressing neurons means we get fatter because metabolism is slowed down centrally. The interesting part of TXNIP is that is also shows why body builders were ahead of the game and why IFing really works. Insulin spikes will also alter TXNIP to induce lipolysis. This is why in CT 12 I was going to the low carbers on Jimmy Moore’s cruise that all you believe has to be challenged.
Not all carbs are bad…….when they are eaten at the correct times. Summer time carbs when it is warm can actually lean us out and the science of TXNIP is the proof of that concept. What CT does to TXNIP is lowers it tremendously via the effect on leptin and BG. This is why CT is massive help to obesity and to FBG. Most people in the blogosphere do not even realize this science exists and I am pleased to see you do.
Jack, you obviously enjoyed the read–SSR/Kuhn! Thought you would! Best wishes to all on the Blog and Forums–have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
@Randy I read it one night…….I had to put in to this blog.
Dr. Kruse,
Thanks for posting that article! Big Plus! I can 100% identify with your dilemma as a researcher and a person who tries to accomplish something creative and innovative. I used to be a scientist (space research physics) and, unlike you I abandoned it years ago for engineering, after realizing that most of the scientific establishment were not really interested in discoveries of any kind and covertly punished those who did.
I have been following a high animal fat low carb diet (Kwasniewski’s “Optimal Diet” ever since 1999. Completely by accident, I also begun experimenting around the same time with cold water swimming (September to October, I live near Peterborough, Canada) and I begun taking cold showers regularly every day. I have absolutely no clue why I did it! It worked for me! I never had a flu or any other infectious disease ever since. I never realized how well it works and never thought that the cold exposure is such an important metabolic trigger until I read about it here on your blog (and your TED lecture), describing your patients’ stories. Fascinating. This is very big!
Best regards,
Stan (Heretic)
@Stan I am glad you shared your information. We need a lot more of that from patients and people. N-1 are anecdotes and it wont make scientific journals but it could just save a species in decline. Thanks for the comments and i hope we see more of you.
Glad you did. I have read it several times especially when I have to brace myself to challenge conventional wisdom. Rock on!
Oh, BTW I need to mention something else. As you said, epigenetics dominates mammalian and human bodies evolution and hereditary adaptation to new environment. Not only by our bodies but we also adapted to a new subarctic environment by learning to use tools, build boats, make clothes and shelter.
However, I think there is another effect. There seems to be a trend going on within the modern society that can best be described [1][2] as an evolutionary regression back towards our primate herd, work-free lifestyle and collectivistic societal behavior focused on social interplay and preserving the environmental status quo rather than modification of the environment by use of tools and work.
I wonder if that regressive trend can also have some biochemical and metabolic triggers, such as for example the high carb, high sugar or plant-dominated diet?
I am curious what is your take on that?
Regards,
Stan (Heretic)
Refs:
1. http://stan-heretic.blogspot.ca/search/label/anthropology
2. http://stan-heretic.blogspot.ca/2011/03/value-fulfillment-and-specism.html
@Stan I think often we see regression to the mean in biology. I think food had a major role in our genesis development but it was protein and fat of seafood that played the major role and not carbs. Today I don’t see us moving back to that ideal. In fact I would argue we are doing everything possible to screw ourselves.
Evolutionary regression back towards our primate herd is called neotony. Some in the EB realm think our brains are actually came to be using a form of neotony. I don’t buy it at all. I have a few new beliefs about precisely why humans have the brains they do and it is tied to Lucy’s skeleton, her carbon dating, and our gut embryology. I also think your observations about lack of social structure in our nearest ancestors actually also played a major role in define what we became. Stress hormones are at the seat of my theory of brain development.
Neotony has some major factors at play in whale and dolphin biology but they are full fledged water based mammals when our nearest ancestors were not full fledged……..that is why we fall between the cracks……we have many similarities to the ontogeny of those water mammals but we have some major difference that I believe occurred because of chance, time, and a fast epigenetic program that responded to these changes abruptly. Evolution is all about Time and Chance…….and it rarely follows the same path twice. We became what we did because of a unique place and time in history.
In terms of Factor X and rapid environmental change, are there elements other than temperature that would play a role in aging and longevity, such as lower energy transfer from cosmic radiation or lower oxygen pressure decreasing mitochondrial oxidation?
Looking at Sherpas, etc. across the board people who live at very high altitudes live significantly longer, have a lower incidence of cancer, heart disease and other degenerative conditions. I’d be interested to see if those adaptations are possible independent of temperature, and more dependent on O2 pressure and radiation levels.
Just thinking about this when I read the blog post and thought I’d throw it out there…
@Ben G There are tremendous implications for biology. It means our systems are constantly challenged by many variables. Barometric pressure being one, environmental toxins being another, changes to the food chain another. Today we have to deal with artificial light ,EMF, cosmic radiation, the effect of neutrinos, and coronal mass ejections. The list of things that can effect us is just massive from an environmental perspective. And when you marry that to Factor X power of the environment controlling our genome with genetic expression that has been sped up…….it explains many unusual findings in recent evolutionary history like the ascent of whale and dolphins back to the water and the lack of a straight line evolution of hominids from apes…….This is why we are now firmly in the ape tree and why the evolutionary line is now considered a large brush of branches. If you want to understand how to get Optimal from modern humans you must have a frame of reference stripped of dogma of where we came from and what we respond best too………That is where my focus lies. The answer has always been in evolution and modern medicine and athletics still is in the dark about it on both accounts. This is why I am very optimisitic about the future……..some of us get it. the ones who dont will extinct them selves just as evolution prescribes.
Awesome explanation, I was just thinking that maybe the 3 factors regulating TXNIP expression wasn’t equally weighted. I’m very glad that you’re so on top of all the research.
But the q I had (and the rest of my family doing CT), is do we have to have prolonged cold exposure to the facial nerves to alter the hypothalamus? I notice that doing a cold tub for an hr, I only spend a few min with my face underwater on avg. Should we be trying to face dunk longer?
@Dan I think the face has a bigger role in humans but this is my own speculation based on neural wiring…….I still cover the parts of my body where brown fat is located to cover my bets. The answer is we just do not know.
I just ordered a snorkel to test that theory!
@Randy Keep us informed…….snorkel man.
Thanks again Dr. Kruse….for being strong in a gigantic battle. We need the change you propose, desperately. The institutions are just so huge and so litigious, it does seem overwhelming. But, we should all sense the problems ocurring younger and younger and realize….we are running out of time.
@Coldbren If enough people realize that 10 percent of what I am saying has some merit……..the entire system can topple because patients control a lot more than they think and then the current system thinks. They just have yet to realize it.
Jack, I have long been an admirer of Elaine Morgan. Have you seen her TED talk?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPoM7lGYHw
What a lady (and what a theory)! How strange it is still basically ignored.
I would also highly recommend reading ‘Survival of the Fattest’, by Dr Stephen Cunnane.
http://www.worldscibooks.com/lifesci/5769.html
I wonder if your learned and infallible detractors would dare to call his work pseudoscience…
Cheers from Wim Hof Country ;-).
@Melchior Elaine’s talk is linked in this blog. She is a superstar, because she fights the uphill battle. She may not have it all right but one this is for certain, she is directionally accurate that humans came from apes around water. Our brain is all the proof on needs for her hypothesis. I have read Cunnane work and much of it has had an effect on me. But what modern thinkers are failing to realize that the K-T gunshot wound (Rapid Climate change occurring in seconds) to life has a far reach to modern evolution. What has happened to cetaceans, the elephant lines, and the great apes has vestiges tied to this epigenetic effect. The fossil record for each one show a long quiescence and then a very rapid explosion of new speciation. The diversity explosion after K-T was rapid and explosive in its short time. Many people look at the Cambrian explosion or the Permian extinction event and fail to realize it took 30 million years just to get vertebrates back after the extinction. After KT we went from small mammals to large ones in less then 5-7 million years. The evolution of whales and elephants is most amazing.
Most of this is tied to an environmental pressure…….hence epigenetics is playing her role. The CW belief is formation of the hominid came from a form of neotony that few realize……but many other land mammals also have done…….they reached backward to go forward because the environment dictated it. Im not so sure this is correct. They used the machinery that was selected for in the K-T survival……..quick adaptation to a changing climate.
Moreover, in my view, that reach goes into Elaine Morgan pocket of ideas. There is much to be laid out yet in this blog but linking the story together is how the Quilt was intended to be built. Thank you for visiting.
I am glad you enjoyed Thomas Kuhn. I took part in a discussion group about that book in my student years. I always remembered it and observed many examples of these processes when I later worked in the science administration.
@Marjike I am glad I read it too…….it gave me some hope that toiling is worth it some how. I also have a better feel for Elaine Morgan and Professor Dart’s plights to now.
One question: if epigenetics has sped up, would that give us the possibility to adapt to our neolithic environment in a positive way?
@Maijke I think a sped up epigenetics gave us our brain and our gut…….so these are good things……..today it could gives us good things too but based upon how we are currently built by evolution I see only bad…….and that bad is being inflicted by our amazing brain because we remain unaware of just how powerful the effects of epigenetic modification is on the expression of our genome. At the present rates I think we could extinct ourselves in several hundred years if nothing changes.
O my, that was really stupid, sorry. Sloppy reading, it’s too hot here at the moment (25 C) ;-).
@Jack – Finally got ahold of my Free Testosterone. It came in at 93.610 pmol/L. On the report, the reference range for my age is 25-80. That doesn’t sound right, and I’ve seen other reference ranges around the web. Does that lab value itself sound right to you though? And is it low? What’s the reference range you like to use?
FYI, I’ve done my own conversions, which I believe are correct:
27pg/mL
27ng/mL
2.7 ng/dL
.0936 nmol/L
@thekid Id call the lab and get their input here.
@Jack. wanted to comment on the evidenced based medicine and NA who read your blog. Anyone who is trying to do any changes like this through any of the organized tribes is going to have a hard time. They get money from the govt for their Healthy Heart initiatives or whatever the name of the program is this time. They are mandated to follow evidence based medicine. Woe be to anyone who works with them and doesn’t fall in line. They do have all kinds of pretty colored brochures and programs though. I just got through visiting 5 of the reservations in my area. (They’re even trying to feed them tofu!) They’ve been doing this since 1997 and since that was when I started with the program I’ve been keeping up with the statistics and everyone I talked to agrees the problem is getting worse no matter how many state of the art sports facilities they build and how many cooking classes on pasta they have. They won’t give the time of day to someone with a different idea. So I suggest that any native person who wants to make a difference should do Dr. Kruse’s program on their own and teach by example. There is one native person who is doing something similar. He’s decided to eat like the ancestors as he could learn. He’s light years away from what Dr. Kruse discovered but by making all his own food, no processed food and only what he discovered was available back then he has lost weight and recovered a lot of his health. Even when he eats with his relatives he eats his own food. He’s trying to make film about this and has been invited to some native group in another part of the world to talk about this. As far as I can tell he’s not a carded Native (that is not affiliated with a specific tribe.) Therefore, they can’t tell him what he can and can’t say. You can google Bossy Ducharme to learn more. Hopefully someone can reach him with Dr. K’s info. How great would that be! Chi Migwech to all.
@Terry F the evolution of thoughts will come via a revolution of the people’s wants and needs call for it…….Given the current state of affairs I am quite confident when thos people’s afflicted with disease get no satisfactory answers from “modern evidenced based medicine” they will examine a life style that work well for species in our past. How long it takes I am not sure…….but will it happen? I think it will if we are to survive this modern world.
Dr. K – Thank you for everything you share with us, you are amazing. Epigenetics is where science & mysticism finally meet! Your Leptin Reset is helping me reach one of my most important goals: to cure my type 2 diabetes. I am a 63 year old female, dx with t2d in 2008 – pior to that pre-diabetic for many years. Even though on meds and eating VLC I could never get my a.m. fasting glucose below 150 or so. Over the past year On VLC I lost 12 lbs v-e-r-y slowly (starting weight 162). I had to get my hypothyroid fixed – major RT3 problem (now taking T3 only) plus cortisol too low a.m. and too high p.m., now also corrected. Then I Lost 7.5 lbs. pretty quickly doing the Alternate Day Diet (similar to IF). However, no changes to blood fasting sugar. GRR. I stalled on IF at 143 lbs because I was always HUNGRY. Then I found your Leptin Reset, which I started 12 days ago. I lost 1 lb the first day and 2 more today. 3 pounds doesn’t sound like a big deal – but I am now 140 and the lowest adult weight of my life – and only 5 more lbs. to go to reach my goal weight. PLUS … though I was reluctant to eat the huge breakfast, I find that eating 50 gm protein means I have no hunger for 5-6 hours – this is amazing and and I can get through most of my work day without feeling hunger or thinking about food. Some days I have been completely satisfied with only 2 meals a day, other days 3. I have always felt hungry every 2-3 hours even on VLC. Yet now I have nothing between meals except water. (One day I ate only 30 gm protein for breakfast, and hunger returned. Never again!) And… my fasting blood glucose is now in the 115-125 range, instead of the former ~150. Also, my BG used to spike 3-4 hours after eating – now it stays around 110-120 till the next meal. I had been taking Metformin ER + Starlix with meals but stopped the Starlix about a week ago because I’m not interested in “controlling” my BG, I want to CURE my T2D. Still on the Metformin, it’s supposed to help restore insulin sensitivity – curious if you have thoughts about that. I have more to go on the weight loss and blood glucose improvement, but nothing else I tried – and I tried everything – has given me the results that LR has. Apologies for writing way too long a comment but I just had to let you know that I took your LR advice and it has worked amazingly well for me, and I can’t thank you enough. (And 5x week for the past 3 months I do an epigenetic meditation as taught by Dr. Joe Dispenza, and I’m sure that’s what led me to you.)
@Andrea you need this to finish the job…….CT. https://jackkruse.com/easy-start-guide/ If you want the mor ein detailed view of CT look at my 2/11/2012 blog post…….its all there. You might way to also talk to Dali Dula on this blog or on my forum. HE post in the last blog right before this called CPC4. Read his comments about what happened to his FBG with CT.
@Tom RE your email about TXNIP: The two main thioredoxins are thioredoxin-1, a cytosolic and nuclear form, and thioredoxin-2, a mitochondrial form. Thioredoxin-1 has been studied well in cancer studies. Thioredoxin-1 stimulates cell growth and is an inhibitor of apoptosis. Thioredoxin-2 is the one that modulates metabolic efficiencies of tissues……This is the one that I am most interested in because it appears to be the one that regulates the human SQ fat layer to cold and is critical to the effects of Cold on mitochondria and fat burning.
Mammalian TXNIP reductase can reduce thioredoxin, protein disulfide isomerase and NK-lysin (NF kappa beta). However, several low-molecular-mass substrates such as 5,5′-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid), vitamin K and its iso-forms, selenodiglutathione, selenite and R- lipoic acid can also be reduced by TXNIP Reductase. In addition, TXNIP reductase can reduce lipid hydroperoxides and, together with thioredoxin, serves as electron donor for plasma glutathione peroxidase for detoxification. This has huge implications for DNA translation and transcription. The interest in the thioredoxin system has increased rapidly as thioredoxin was first identified as the electron donor for the essential enzyme ribonucleotide reductase. It also activates key parts of DNA by allowing for binding activity of transcription factors; It regulates of other genes implicated in the protection against oxidative stress, free radical scavenger and antioxidants; and more recently a growth factor function able to stimulate proliferation of both normal fibroblasts as well as lymphoid cell lines and human solid tumors. The more recent findings are this system also ties directly to leptin status and this maybe why LR states are tied to many other neolithic disease like Cancer, Heart Disease, and infertility.
Dr. Kruse,
Having read this blog in it’s entirety, I can honestly admit that I have never been so excited by a collection of ideas. As an athlete, the specific implications your theories present for athletic performance are absolutely monumental.
My father, a physician, has met my enthusiastic presentation of these ideas with an interested but highly skeptical eye. For example, when I outlined the “blood glucose as anti-freeze” in Nordic populations as it relates to Type I diabetes, he explained that Type I diabetics will experience dangerous surges in blood glucose in response to any food (not only foods that are high in carbohydrate)and that because Type I diabetes is a purely autoimmune disease regulated by genetics, this theory is entirely implausible. He said that this theory would provide a more realistic explanatory foundation for Type II diabetes, but not Type I diabetes, as medical science has insofar been unable to find out what ultimately causes Type I diabetes.
Is it that the people predisposed to develop Type I diabetes inevitably do develop it in warmer, modern environments with ready access to carbohydrates due to the obvious circadian mismatch? Or, as my father emphasized, that Type I diabetes is a purely autoimmune disease that develops spontaneously with no known predictive factors underlying its development?
Alex
@Alex your Dad needs to read a lot more about the geography and distribution of Type 1 diabetes……it is an epigenetic adaptation that has been spread throughout the modern world by global travel. I can teach him…….He needs to remain a skeptic and read more. I bet he becomes less and less a skeptic when he realizes just how much he learned in med school is CW advice not based upon evolutionary biology. Type one diabetes is protective to a clan eating a ketogenic cold adapted diet…….anyone moving from that environment (scandinavia) and adapting to a new diet is at huge risk……..of getting pathologic T1D……….T1D has several etiologies and we know there is an AI version called LADA or type 1.5 Diabetes. Most docs do not even know about it.
And I like that your Dad is skeptic…….but if he fails to check things out and rests on his beliefs is he more of the problem or the solution? that is for you to ponder.
Dr. Kruse: I want to thank you for taking the time to appear on Patrick’s podcast this morning. The vast amount of your time that you give to your readers is very much appreciated. BTW: I did take your advice and had my numbers checked.
hs-CRP: 0.4
RT3: 37.5 (13.5-34.2)
cortisol: evening cortisol was 2.3 (0.4-1.0). All other cortisol readings were high normal.
I have since started the reset protocol and made lifestyle changes to bring my cortisol levels down. Are there any other markers I and other ultra thin should monitor during this transformation? Thanks again.
@Ron Cant say since I dont know what reference ranges were……they vary lab to lab. High normal means your diurnal rhythms are off with light and diet…..You need a full work up and make sure you get DHEA and free and total Testosterone with Estradiol and DHT and Vitamin D levels
How long would someone need to eat keto-paleo while cold-adapting before concerning themselves with the risk of adding carbs(i.e. ‘anyone moving from that environment (scandinavia) and adapting to a new diet is a huge risk’)?
@Hari It depends upon your inflammation status and how bad off your leptin and hormone status is. Some folks can begin to eat with the normal cycles right away
You are one smart cookie. I read one of your posts and start reading the other links and cites and wind up staying up late. The way you think and write is amazing to me. At 71 years of age and a retired engineer, I am hitting the books again. Thanks to you my IBS of 55 years is much better (one of the changes from Cold T), and I believe I my conquer it completely. My blood pressure is around 115/68 after 2 months of Cold T. I did have a bout of Cold Urticaria, but it is better. I have done 2 months of face dunks, cold showers, and ice packs on chest, back, and stomach. I hope to start cold immersion next week. The amber glasses work great. I put them on around 8:00 PM and usually am in bed by 9:15, other than when I am bitten by one of your posts. All I can say about the controversies around your writing is you are ringing true for me. You have my deepest respect for the challenge you are taking on. In one of my “History of Mathematics” courses we covered how dangerous it was to see new ways of thinking. You are a brave man. Goodspeed!
http://www.englishbaby.com/forum/AskEnglish/thread/6901
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_urticaria
@BobWayne I am quite glad you enjoy the blog and I am real happy you are getting a benefit from it too. New ways of doing things are tough but this is where we are meant to live…….outside our comfort zone.
When you go into a nursing home you see what the speed up of epigenetics has done to our elderly. Unfortunately they are all being medicated and fed the worst food for them. They all lay around in bed and can’t move. My father is one of them. It is a very sad situation but now that the nursing homes are such a huge business model in the USA I doubt any of these ideas will ever see those eyes. The only way to stop it is for people of the younger generation to know this and never wind up in those places. You definitely will not want to go there.
@Pamela I am sorry to hear about your Dad. I agree that the sooner we all adapt the better off our golden years may be.
I find you way of thinking very challenging and impressive. Sort of a cross between science and mysticism/philosophy having the best of both. This might seem an ‘off the wall’ question do you have any notions about the origins or significance of “goosebumps”. As a teenager listening to music that really moved me I used to get that so strong and still to this day I do sometimes. And of course this is a very common or almost universal phenomenon…………it also seems connected to being “cold”. I am really groping here and not even sure what the question is but have you ever thought about that, or if you think about it now what’s your take if any?
@Patrick goosebumps are present in us because they are remnants of our old furry coat…..we repurposed their use for thermogenesis in our species.
Dr. Jack, you have given me HOPE! You mentioned on a blog post about the dive reflex lowering heart rates, I am very excited to see what your Leptin RX combined with facial CT will do for my high heart rates. I have Hyperadrenergic POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) with intermittent mast cell activation. I’m on H1 (Atarax because crosses BBB)/H2, cromolyn sodium, ketotifen, and a low histamine diet. (I cook meat fresh and freeze leftovers immediately.)
Thanks so much! Please let me know if you have any other suggestions for those of us with dysautonomia. My best, Feather
The following article has some interesting information including possible ramifications of snorkel usage for facial CT versus breath holding/dunking upon heart rate. I’ll be snorkel-free for now!
http://advan.physiology.org/content/27/3/130.full
@Feather tough disease to have…..have you ever considered Quercetin? It is a natural Histamine blocker.
Ok thanks Dr Jack, but I was really more wondering about the connection with ‘deep emotion’ or even ‘deep thought’. When I get the feeling I really understand something big and important (I admit that does not happen very often) I also kind of get goosebumps. In general I find myself for some reason trying to fit your ‘theories’ into something about ‘deep thought’ or ‘deep emotion’. Could this be partly what you yourself are heading or tending towards. Isn’t a big part of ‘health’ also lifting the repression(s) inherent in our modern ways of life and getting back to a more ‘primitive’ reality. Where our ‘epi-genome’ more reflects what truly healthy for us and also the reality on the ancient bells within us
@Patrick Goosebumps are tied to the adrenergic system so when there is a flight or flight reaction we do get goosebumps with emotion……or in the cold because goosebumps are controled by the beta receptors in the body and are part of the adrenergic system. Thinking is huge for brain health…….and body health and I use it a lot.
Patrick; ‘goosebump muscle’ could also have made a furry man look a lot bigger, temporarily. Handy when the ‘deep emotion’ of a possible fight was in the equation!
@Bill Also important to make hair stand up on end to improve insulation…….from cold.
BobWayne, just curious, what was your blood pressure before you started regular cold exposure? Many people report BP droppings. I am ‘collecting’ anecdotes ;-).
Jack, like the commenter above (or rather his father), I have some difficulty to see diabetes type 1 as a survival benefit in colder conditions.
1 AFAIK no human being can survive very long in conditions that will bring down the temperature of his blood too much. We succumb tot hypothermia long before we need anti freeze to keep the blood flowing. I think that humans have always done everyting to protect themselves from extreme cold, by building shelter and wearing cloths. Or do you mean the high blood sugar would protect us from losing limbs, fingers and toes?
2 Prior to the development of exegenous insulin, DM type 1 was a death sentence. An absolute lack of insulin (no insulin signalling whatsoever) is lethal. A zero carb diet will postpone death, but not prevent it. Hence youngsters with DM type 1 would not survive tot reproduce.
3 There are quite satisfying evolution based explanations for the geographical distribution of DM type 1: level of sun exposure (vitamin D), exposure to cows milk and exposure to gluten/WGA.
What am I missing?
Cheers,
Melchior.
@Melchior I don’t think youre missing much. I think my point about Type 1 Diabetes is simple. In weather that is colder than normal…..lets us say during the Younger Dryas period when the temperature fell fast and dramatically this was an evolutionary exaptation that allowed hominids to survive the cold better. We know from the core ice samples of the last 110K years that this was a lot more cyclic and common than we previously thought. If you read my CPC 4 blog using hemochromatosis as an example in Europe the initial genetic and epigenetic action occured 300 years before modern hominids used hemachromotosis to survive the Black Plague. This infection killed 25 million humans in 3 short years beginning in 1347. Because the original genetic aberation occured in Vikings it does not appear to be problematic for them based upon what we know today…..but this change allowed a huge advantage to Europeans with a Northern European Ancestry…..and they were better able to handle the disease over the subsequent 800 yrs. I think the Diabetes story is akin to the that. Many people think the Younger Dryas are why humans went from a HG lifestyle to an agricultural one. The higher than normal BG would have help those humans survive the cold well. This glaciation reached the Mediterranean Sea in some places so it would have had a huge impact on man. I think it maybe the reason why Neanderthals may have died out as well. They may not have been able to become diabetic to survive the decades of cold while we could. So for that time frame being diabetic in constant cold would have been selected for by a founders effect. They may not have been complete Type diabetics when the defect first appeared as an adaptation…….but it could have become that way right after they introduced agriculture 13000 yrs ago and this became a full fledged disease because the environment once again went warm but now we were eating more carbohydrates and this led to the disease we see today. But when it began it was an adaptation that helped us survive the cold. I think it became a deadly disease when it went to a full fledged T1D scenario…….but I think the environment created that mismatch as time went on. I hope this explains it. I do not believe T1D showed up……I think Insulin resistance was the original exaptation and it progressed to T1D when we lost the chronic cold and added carbs.
@Jack – I would like to ask you about seasonal epigentic changes.
I know that in other posts you have mentioned the mini-hybernation that occurs nightly during our sleep. In that period, we should ideally be fat burners, the way our small children are who predictably throw their blankets off each night.
But what if this window isn’t enough? What if we really, truly NEED a more substantial period of hibernation and cold exposure? And I am not talking about just “facing a true winter” without modern heating. I am talking about actually going into some form of quasi-hibernation in the way a bear would.
And I am going to ask you Jack, have you actually been successful in inducing hiberation in yourself? I missed the Deep CT webinar, so I don’t know if you addressed this or not.
The reason I ask, is because it seems to me that some things just can’t be fixed, and possibly weren’t meant to be naturally fixed, without a prolonged rest and abstinence from consuming food. What I am getting from all you’ve written thus far is the following:
1) Reproduction and continuation of the species is the all important and all-encompassing goal of life. It even trumps eating.
2) Sex hormones are seasonally sensitive. This is why you draw labs on yourself monthly and this is why you start carb consumption when you see your hormones change (I will assume the change you see is a peak androgen spike).
3) Spring & summer ensue with the primary goal of being able to mate in late summer and the secondary goal of putting on fat stores to make it through winter.
4) The carbs one begins to eat in increasing amounts change the nature of the gut flora, and actually provide some sort of what I might call “functional intestinal permeability.” This leaky gut state has a purpose that I can’t really explain, and I am hoping you have some insight into.
4) I have read that when men and women “fall in love” a man’s testosterone level actually declines slightly while women’s testosterone levels increase slightly, thus making man and woman temporarily more hormonally compatible, thus increasing mating likelihood. I would assume that the epigentic changes driven by light and carb intake help drive this process.
5) With the carb intake, and longer days (which means less sleep), and the stress of the mating season (which for us is beach going and summer parties) and stress from greater activity levels, insulin resistance is induced.
6) Both men and women then increase in adiposity, making women more fertile. For men, I don’t know about the fertility, but the carbing up would make the bursts of activity related to mating survivable (e.g. getting in fights on the beach after some dude kicks sand in your face).
7) Ideally mating takes place in the late summer, after which more carb intake is pursued full throttle in anticipation of fall and winter.
8) Fall and winter set in, hibernation begins, which is important because it allows the body to UNDO all the damage done during summer, and allows us to live another year to repeat the cycle.
Now I am imagining that without prolonged abstinence from food, coupled with the healing properties of cold exposure and sleep, we might NOT be able to optimally heal.
So my fear is that our mini-hibernation at night and our mini-exposure to cold and our small amounts of intermittent fasting and calorie restriction may not do the trick.
This all came to me when reading the show notes of Robb Wolf’s podcast, episode 73. He talks about people with really fully damaged guts, and how pretty much ANYTHING they eat will cause an immune reaction. He talks, in passing, about maybe going into the hospital to do an IV drip for a few days (no food) to let the gut heal enough so that you stop being reactive to everything you eat. I am assuming that beyond the gut, there are other mechanisms that also need to be fully healed in order to be able to function optimally.
So, I am back to my intial query: In terms of reversing disease, is there an optimal period of “hibernation” we need to experience? Is the night enough? Or does that need to extend over days, weeks or months to be successful, coupled with cold and low light.
You thoughts, please.
Thanks.
@The Kid 1. I like they way you’re thinking but you need to add one major fact to the mix of thoughts in your head. As time march on we got a brain that extinguished hibernation……we are still capable of inducing some parts of hibernation in humans but its not done clinically at all that I know of. I think it is a research study now. But the hibernation we need are those few hours were autophagy is maximized during sleep. I think your point is a good one about illness. We know the more ill we are the less sleep we get, and when the the disease is in the brain like depression it can actually pathologically lengthen sleep. This is why if your sleep is below 7 hrs a night or above 9 hours a night it correlates with poor health markers and a decreased longevity. We can catch up for shifts if they are infrequent due to a job or illness but when they are chronic they can not be recaptured. This speeds up the chemical clocks in cells and leads to early cell death and early organ failure and neolithic disease…….think shift work as an example.
@Patrick, your comment regarding goosebumps, coupled with the fact that they are a remnant of a fur coat, remind me of dogs who will “put up their hackles” when they meet another dog, or wild game. The reaction is not a response to cold, but usually triggered either by adrenaline or another similar biochemical response. Interestingly, I’ve read that the piloerection function may help dogs to appear larger when the response is triggered by adrenaline, but that there are many other reasons such as fear, aggression, excitement, and dominance. It makes sense that we can react with goosebumps to a variety of different situations like good music, a “chilling” tale, or in the midst of something profound.
Dr. Jack, yes! Quercetin is one of the supplements I recently ordered along with the PQQ you recommend for mitochondria. 🙂
Moving from the SAD to a Paleo diet might dramatically increase the amount of histamine in someone’s diet. This could help unmask a histamine intolerance or mast cell activation disorder. So if any of your readers feel worse, have dermatographia, or have “episodes” including any or all of the following: anxiety, flushing, brain fog, migraines, abdominal pain, etc… they may want to read the links below and discuss them with their physicians. Also, readers should know cold can be a mast cell degranulation trigger for some people. So far, I am doing great with the facial CT and it DOES lower my heart rate momentarily. I’ll report back if I see any longer term changes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3069946/
(Table 3 has list of symptoms… they are many and varied)
Info on Histamine and DAO:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/85/5/1185.full
Educational video with Mast Cell experts which was produced to educate doctors…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaPo0r37wEc
Have you read Dr. Theoharides research on mast cells in inflammatory disorders? Lots of connections with squares in your QUILT…
http://mastcellmaster.com/index.html
One of the hardest things about a mast cell disorder is getting a diagnosis other than “somatization” or “GAD.” Many people are suffering and go undiagnosed. Jack, I know you are terribly busy but I hope you will have time, sometime, to do a blog post on this. I’m curious to see where mast cells weave into your “Quilt.” Thank you for all you do!
My best, Feather
@Feather I have a patient that we had to create a epi paleo diet for this problem…….So yes I do know the regular straight forward diet in Wolf and Sisson’s books are just boilerplate. I tend to create custom templates for my patients based upon their labs and conditions. Your condition is one of those Zebra conditions we have to do with as clinicians and the answers are never clear cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtneEcL5sg&feature=relmfu
Mermaids and aquatic ape theory on Discovery Channel. It aired over the weekend, but possibly being replayed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/mermaid-the-body-found-animal-planet_n_1544087.html
@Kristi I dont buy this at all…….
Thanks for your answer, Jack. I found your take on hemochromatosis as an adaptation to escape the plague very fascinating. I had no idea that hemochromatosis makes our iron less available to bacteria, in fact I always thought it was exactly the other way around. I think I understand your take on DM type 1 a bit better now, but not completely.
You say:
“The higher than normal BG would have help those humans survive the cold well.”
It’s this I don’t get. Are you pointing at the higher (I guess slightly elevated) blood glucose per se or at physiological insulin resistance? And how would this physiological adaptation to cold progress into full blown (deadly) DM type 1 when the cold disappears? Dou you mean the betacell destruction is not an auto immune process? And why do people see their FBG’s drop while doing CT? Wouldn’t your explanation predict the opposite?
I’m sure I’m missing a lot ;-). Thanks for your time!
A bit off topic, but I think it’s remarkable that swimmers have the best health and highest longevity in prospective studies, compared to people who do other sports, such as running. I don’t think this consistent finding can be explained by some unique feature of the exercise, or by selection bias. It could well be the regular (albeit mild) thermogenic load (or maybe just by the regular stimulation of the cold receptors in the skin).
@Melchior Higher BG acts like an antifreeze in the blood making it more resistant to freezing in the cold weather. So this would be a favorable trait to have in the arctic tundra……it appears humans have it and it may be why Neanderthals could not make it……..that is speculation but their skeletons do not go as far north as modern humans. The reason we see high rates of T1D in Scandinavia is not the climate has switched as well as the diet and this previous benefit underwent the ‘founders effect’ and concentrated in this population over a few thousand years and now is thought of as a pue disease……as it has gotten fully expressed………..the reason it fully progressed to a no insulin state was because the extreme chronic cold is now only seasonal and people are eating the wrong foods…..PUFA plus carbs 24/7. this eventually destroys the pancreas and this becomes an epigenetic effect that is transmitted to future generations……..
I agree that swimming is the best long term endurance exercise……and I think it is combo of the cold receptors and also those who swim tend to eat more seafood. Seafood is the most nutrient dense food stuff on the planet to support the most human features we have……our gut and our brain……….This is why I have a levee in my Quilt called the brain gut axis. It is critical to modern humans and is directly under assault by modern life.
Hemochromtosis take Iron away from activated Monocytes and this is why they become lethal killers to bacteria like Yersinia.
@Jack – Dr. Ron Rosedale had an interesting perspective on telomeres over at Marksdailyapple.com. I know you had provided some important context earlier regarding why you differ with him on the subject of mTor. Was wondering if you have some context on his take on telomeres. What I take from his article is that he believes that telomere length is more a symptom of aging versus a cause, and that simply making them longer won’t impact longevity, for the most part. Additionally, he has concerns that playing with telomere extension could induce the unintended side effect of causing cancerous growth.
Your thoughts.
@The Kid On the forum I left my thoughts about this. I tend to fall more in line with the Nobel Prize winner for telomere biology thoughts than Dr. Rosedale’s
Dr. Jack, great video series, thanks for the link. I better check the expiration dates on our epi-pens… 🙂
Hey, if your Hyper-Pots patient also has Ehlers-Danlos or “benign hypermobility” then check out Dr. Diana Driscoll’s theory on the cause of POTS in EDS patients. My teenage son has POTS too and my kids and I all have EDS. It’s one thing to be a Zebra… but three “rare” conditions? EDS, POTS, and MCAD… hmmm. After seeing the Wahls video, I’m wondering… mitochondria?
http://prettyill.com/videos/watch/external_communicating_hydrocephalus
http://prettyill.com/resources/articles
Very readable article on “Telomeres and Telomerase As Natural Therapeutic Targets”. Seems that reducing inflammation, optimizing vitamin D and Omega 3 levels and possibly a few nutraceuticals (astralagus) will increase lymphocyte telomere length. Hmm, where have we heard this before (nothing on CT though…)?
http://www.townsendletter.com/Jan2011/theranut0111.html
@Melchior Meijer, I have taken and recorded my BP every morning for 25 plus years, after losing a lot of weight (70+ lbs). I was on BP medicine for several years and had side effects. After the weight loss I went off of the meds and starting taking daily measurements to see what affected my BP. Some days my BP was high, some days average or normal. Also It fluctuated throughout the day. So with this bit of history I will share early morning reading from March 2012 (before Cold T); 134/70, 135/73, 158/83, 145/81, 125/77, 117/68, 124/65, 141/78, 120/66; April 2012: 125/73, 130/72, 129/73, 126/64, 126/64, 126/65, 120/68, 130/74, 123/72, 121/67; May 2012:123/70, 114/67, 112/66, 113/71, 116/71, 114/69, 119/69, 107/65,112/63, 118/64, 108/60, 115/62, 114/65, 111/66, 110.63, 101/57, 102/68, 114/66,:
Paleo diet, no alcohol, no change in activity, stable weight, etc. The only change other that the movement in the season, was Cold T. I noticed that I felt calmer, and my BP was mostly the same throughout the day. I also think I feel sharper and have developed some degree of Cold tolerance. I have an injury at the base of my neck since youth that would go into spasm if a cool breeze blew on my bare skin, so I always wore a tee shirt under my shirt. I also slept in a tee shirt and with my shoulder and neck covered. At this time I do not wear a tee shirt when sleeping or as an under shirt and am sleeping under a ceiling fan at night without my neck and shoulder covered. All in all I see these changes as nothing short of amazing. My outlook is decidedly improved about my ability to Cold adapt and become Optimal for me. This has been a 55 year journey for me. My life change forever when I was 15 years old and I had a ruptured appendix that was untended for 2 days. A near death experience for me. From that day on I had all kinds of auto immune problems, that limited my life in many ways. I went grain free several decades ago and tried every diet I could find to help with my IBS. I am happy to say, right now today, 05-31-2012, I feel better that I have in 55 years.
@The Kid; I did an Elemental diet for 3 weeks, 10 years ago. It helped my IBS. I lost weight which I did not want to do, but it change my gut to the point that I could eat fruit without having severe cramps. I told my Dr I was going to do this and he said “Good Luck, let me know how it goes.” So I took 3 weeks off from work and ate only Vivonex Plus Elemental Powder mixed with pharmaceutical MCT oil. It was a very interesting experience. My Dr later said that not many people could stick to Vivonex for 3 weeks. I do believe it reset the type of gut bugs that I had.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Vivonex+Plus+Elemental+Powder+&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GZAZ_enUS393
Dr. Kruse, after reading the conversation between yourself and Melchior Meijer I can say that my earlier confusions regarding the onset of Type I Diabetes have been adequately resolved.
Thinking intuitively, the pancreas would need to be operating at peak operational efficiency in order to accommodate the adaptive high blood glucose levels that would have accompanied even a strictly ketogenic diet in the ancient Scandanavian people. When modern people who possess the same genetic profile are exposed to a significantly warmer environment coupled with carbohydrate/PUFA consumption, disaster inevitably ensues as a formerly adaptive trait becomes destructive. The immune system in these individuals responds to the ensuing circadian mismatch by destroying the beta cells in a pancreas that was designed to function within the strict parameters of a minimally insulinogenic diet that a cold environment would provide.
I have been biding my time so as to collect my thoughts and present an updated version of the original argument to my Dad and hopefully this more comprehensive line of argumentation can generate some insight. Having read this blog, I feel an overwhelming sense of urgent obligation to present this information to him. If I am successful in facilitating his understanding of the new “evolutionary paradigm” as outlined in this blog, it will hopefully facilitate subsequent changes in practice, and potentially engender significant changes in the health of his patients.
Like I mentioned previously, what fascinates me the most about this blog is the potential implications for sport and performance. I came across an article on ScienceDaily that I believe offers a worthy inclusion in your list of “superhuman” performance (Wim Hof, the Sherpas, Michael Phelps). It claims that the average ancient Athenian rower (500 BC) would have to have been a highly elite athlete. Each warship required 170 rowers of this caliber to have traveled the distances they did. It would be next to impossible to find 170 athletes, let alone rowers, capable of such a feat in today’s modern world. Also, I’m sure these rowers got by without Gatorade and certainly didn’t think twice about “overtraining” or carb loading!
So, we have an inkling as to what is physiologically possible in demonstrations of uncommon human athletic performance and historical anecdotes. I want to see NHL hockey on Olympic sized ice surfaces with players who never get injured and can operate at warp speed for ten minute intervals or soccer players who can sprint for twenty kilometers over the course of ninety minutes and shoot from the half way line. When will this physiological ceiling even begin to be explored, or is it even possible?
@Alex Please keep in the loop regarding your Dad. I’d love to hear what he thinks after you discuss this with him. Loved your comments by the way.
“Fitness Has Fallen Since The Days Of Ancient Greece” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070208100643.htm
Thanks Jack, it makes more sense now. Especially Alex’s comment helped. The conclusion I draw from his explanation is that our immune system would never decide to attack the betacells in a (sufficiently) cold environment with little carbohydrates. Regular cold exposure combines with (mild?) carb restriction would thus prevent DM type 1. I’m not 100 procent convinced (probably due to lack of overview), but this is an extremely fascinating line of thought. To be honest, I probably have to re read your thoughts and proposed pathways several times.
BobWayne, thanks for your story and congratulations with your improved health! The downward BP-trend is quite impressive.
@Melchior This is correct……when it is cold we effective prevent diabetes because we are increasing BAT from WAT too…..and carbs are rarely naturally in cold places……when we have mammals who can control their environment and change the balance of nature an exaptation of evolution can become thought of as a modern neolithic disease.
BobWayne, considering your history you might find this article about apendicitis by Victoria from Principle into practice interesting:
http://principleintopractice.com/2012/03/06/appendicitis-a-mismatch-between-ancestral-anatomy-and-modern-life/
Jack,
This is fascinating stuff – as always – about cold, diabetes, etc, but there’s one part here that I’m not so sure of – the elevated blood glucose response to cold.
I certainly don;t disagree that when we are cold we lose water, but I’m not sold that the “anti-freeze effect” is the reason why.
As has been pointed out before, the blood will not normally be getting near freezing temperatures, so would there be some other reason?
I though it might be that higher BG decreases blood viscosity – to counteract the increase in viscosity as blood (or any liquid) gets colder – but this is not so.
Look at figure 2 here, which shows viscosity gets higher, marginally, with increasing BG.
Could there be some other advantage to maintaining a higher (fasting?) BG in cold conditions?
Or is the advantage from having a higher threshold for insulin response, and thus avoiding frequent episodes of insulin turning off lipolysis in the BAT?
@Paul BG increase Blood viscosity…..and it is pretty well known that increased BG also lowers the freeze point for blood too. You also always want to keep lipolysis high in cold to burn calories as free heat. I think the point many maybe missing is that this rise in BG is not like we see in todays diabetics……it likely happened to protect us from the chronic recycling of the cold from the recurrent ice ages man has faced since they left the Eastern rift and coastlines of Africa. The last real cold spell that our species faced was in the Younger Dryas. I think when we used this adaptation to cope with the cold when the climate changed and our diet changed simultaneously (many believe the Younger Dryas are why man went to agriculture) it made this transient elevation in BG truly pathologic and it then began to be epigenetical transfered across future generations until we wound up with T1 and T2D of today.
I’d like to make you aware of this too Paul…….when we operate on many fragile or seriously ill T1 or T2 diabetics and we put them under anesthesia they normally drop their core temperature from the loss of control of their body temperature from the effects of anesthesia…….What do many anesthesia MDs and CRNA do by training? They treat with insulin and glucose…….and then try to warm the patient. In my opinion this is not a good move all the time……..this is an adaptive response to the cold in humans they we docs see all the time but we fail to perceive why it is happening……..I think higher BG protects us transiently from cold temps……..The issue with chronic BG is another story totally…….this is where problems come from for diabetics.
@Bob Wayne – Thanx for that info. I am not familiar with that supplement, but I’m going to look into it. I have a 4-week stretch coming up during which I am going to try to really attack my gut issue full throttle. I am curious as to whether you actually did any testing in order to know if your approach worked. And if you did feel it was successful, what changes were evident after the 3 weeks. I’d appreciate any advice. Thanx.
Ok, so will long-term CT raise my fasting BG?
@Jerry not it will not…….it will cause your BG to fall dramatically when the fat cells are emptied and undergo apoptosis. this is on a continuum…….the previous discussion is about what happens when we first encounter the cold and we have few BAT…….then the system adapts to the chronicity of the cold and reverses the entire cascade.
Jack, the BG drop after prolonged cold exposure seems to be real and consistent. But this doesn’t jive with the notion that a higher BG offered our ancestors protection in a colder environment. Their BG would have dropped too, wouldn’t it?
@Melchior People back 13,000 yrs ago would have access to only seasonal carbs and would not have had massive fat reserves so they would only need the transient BG rise for 6-8 months a yr even in Scandinavia……After 6-8 of cold they would have depleted their fat reserves and their fat cells before summer came…..so the transition from summer to Fall and into winter would have favored a transient spike in their BG to get them acclimated to the colder temps……as this went on longer and longer they adapted by using CT and shivering once they depleted all their glycogen but the epigenetic data for higher BG would have been conserved in their junk DNA as it was for hemochromatosis……..The drop in BG follows a transition of WAT to BAT.
RE: epigenetics referenced in Brave New World with Stephen Hawking, episode “Biology” (check DirectTV on demand, Science channel… episode may show up soon)
Scientists are understanding the way DNA affects the health of future generations – EPIGENETICS (got MY attention!!). Speaker is Dr. Robert Winston
Evidence shows that what we do affects not only our genes, also affects our children and their children. A layer of multiple switches that are turned on and off as a result of our lifestyle (epigenetics). Dr Winston thinks epigenetics will be the major advance in healthcare of the next decade (understatement much?!?!)/ Prof Marcus Pembry – pediatric geneticist- studies this. He looked for evidence that parents pass life experiences on epigenetically to their children, using an unique database in Bristol Universtiy in which 14,000 pregnant women and their partners agreed to take part in a study, which would follow the development of their children – study is called “Children of the 90’s”. Data has been collected over the last 2 decades including biological samples as well as lifestyle data.
They looked at when the father in the study started smoking to see how this affected the sperm of their sons. Over 5000 smoked, with 166 smoking before the age of 11. They found the future sons (but not daughters) had increased obesity at age 9 through puberty. This held true even taking into account other factors. Another study in Sweden showed that fathers who overate as children fathered sons who were obese and also had male grandchildren who were likely to die early.
What about the female line? Scientists studied the effect of stress in females during pregnancy. To achieve this they looked at the results of the 1998 ice storm in eastern Canada which caused a prolonged outage of power (over a month) – enduring sub-zero temps without power. Study subject was 7 months pregnant at the time. Suzanne King (psychologist McGill University) experienced the ice storm for 7 days, found her blood pressure abnormally high thereafter and realized it was stress. So she found 150 women who were pregnant during the ice storm and is studying their children: cognitive development, IQ, language; behavioral development (depression, anxiety, aggressiveness), and physical development. They found women who had the highest stress, the worse the outcome in the child. Conclusion that the exposure to stress hormones caused an epigenetic effect. Now they will look at the grandchildren.
Conclusion – They note that the lifestyle you choose to have, good or bad, not only sets an example to your kids but can also BIOLOGICALLY affect the way their genes work, the way they develop, and their health.
@Melchior: That’s what I was getting at.
@TheKid: Please tell us more specifically what you are doing re gut.
@Jack: I did another N=1 experiment this morning. BAB of catfish and coconut oil, followed by cold (high 50s) shower, then 31 minute CT soak at 66 deg. for 31 minutes. After soak, my BG was 73. Then relaxed in hot, direct sunlight, still in bathing suit, for ~1 hr. BG rose to 102! Went inside (~75 deg.) for 30 minutes to cool down. BG dropped to 93. Went back in CT tub, 72 deg., 25 min. BG dropped to 78. (Environmental data: ambient air temp. 75 deg. in shade, >90 deg. in sun, still, clear, no clouds; ~5000 ft. altitude; used TrueTrack glucometer and averaged at least 2 readings each time.)
Normally my “CT sugar low” lasts at least 4 hrs., sometimes 6 or more, but it appears that exposure to heat raises my BG significantly and quickly. I have always suspected this, especially at work (hot office, but not direct sun exposure; putting on the ice vest at work seems to bring BG down about 10 to 15 points fairly quickly.)
My working hypothesis is that BG levels are supposed to track ambient temperature, and that CT induces weight loss, in part, because it lowers BG. (I know CT kills fat cells too, but I doubt that’s what’s happening when the water is in the 70s.)
I’ll repeat the experiment next weekend, if the weather cooperates.
Any thoughts?
@Jerry my bet is you have induced your sympathetic nervous system to induce WAT to BAT conversion……this is why your BG has responded……people who’s BG rise on cold intially are those who have not cold adapted……and that is why this is an exaptation to cold for humans…….
@Jack: Thank you. Ok, that is certainly possible, but I’ve only been doing CT for about 5 weeks. Even at the start, my BG was dropping after a CT session. I’ll do some more experiments.
@Jack: you know, my BF % went up a little (~20% to 22%) when I started CT. Maybe fat is being converted. (Waring to others out there who are monitoring BF%: BF meters do not give reliable readings immediately after CT. Wait a few hours until you are warm, and the reading will drop.)
@The kid, I did no testing other than how I felt. I am not sure what I would have tested. This meal replacement was developed by NASA for the astronauts. It has very little fiber and the space men went days without a BM. It is used for people that have very limited ability to digest ordinary food. The ideal was to rest my digesting system and remove fiber for the gut bugs to live on. At the time I found several forms where people were sharing their stories. I started putting Louisiana hot sauce it the drink, because of the blandness or lack of taste . Over all, it changed my bowel habits for the better. This is just one of many things that I have tried over the decades, to improve my IBS. I was bleeding with BMs off and on for years. After this experiment the bleeding mostly stopped. A book on this is available on Amazon.com. Let me know if I can answer more questions on this. I have been very sick for years and tried many, many things. I do believe the Elemental diet was very helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Remission-Diet-Jini-Patel-Thompson/dp/0968542123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338676314&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Remission-Diet-Jini-Patel-Thompson/dp/B0085HGE2S/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338676314&sr=1-2
Thanks Jack, that makes sense, although I still don’t see how the anti freeze effect of a transiently elevated BG would be of benefit. It also strikes me that most people report an immediate BG drop upon starting CT, just like Jerry did. Well, even though I can’t connect all the dots (yet), I do have a strong feeling that you are very ‘directionally right’.
@ Jerry Have you found a BF% that actually works? I have tried two types and found them useless. What make and model are you using? Thanks.
@Dali: My doctor has a very expensive, fancy one is his office, made by Bodycomp. Here is the link:
http://www.bodycompscale.com/
I get a reading every time I visit the doctor. It has given me one anomalous reading in the last 3 years. They are far to expensive to have one at home, so I got an Omron:
http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306C-Loss-Monitor-Black/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=sr_1_4?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1338732067&sr=1-4
I brought it to the doc’s office and compared readings, and they are within 2 percentage points (~10%). Not super accurate, but hey, it’s only $25.
@Dali: PS, it’s hard to do an experiment to measure the accuracy of these meters, but I took the Omron to the gym once and let 3 friends try it. In each case it gave a reading very close to what they thought their BF% was. So I tend to trust it, with a +/- 10% error band. For what it’s worth…
@Jerry thanks for that. I tried the Omron just hoping to track trends. I could not get consistent reads that made sense with myself and others. I also bought a scale/BF meter that is even worse and read 5 points different than the Omron. Then I decided it was all silly and I haven’t checked BF for months and now I don’t really care because I’m ripped!
Jack,
Thanks for your reply – to say it is all very interesting is an understatement! I can easily see how some protective adaptations become a problem when we take them out of their evolutionary context.
I wonder if we see any modern versions of the cold adaption when people from warm climate ancestry migrate to cooler regions – though the modern diet likely interferes with that process. I once met a (black) Jamaican guy in Arctic Canada who loved being there, and said he lived healthier in cold than in warm regions! He also loved eating fish which no doubt had something to do with it.
@Paul My version of the paleo diet is significantly different than others…….I believe we need to support our brain health far more than what is in Paleo 1.0 books……I think those books are great starting points for people but for the people I treat in clinic who have significant issues they need a more nutrient dense diet than is generally advocated in those books.
@Jack I came home for the weekend from University and it appears as if my Dad has officially on his way down the rabbit hole with respect to his outlook on evolution within the context of medicine. He remains somewhat skeptical concerning the initial thought exercise I presented to him regarding the epidemiology of Type I Diabetes. That being said, he claims to have went on a maniacal research binge of Vitamin D and it’s relation to cancer and inflammation. He was, however, positively astounded about the established relationship between infection rates during winter, and the skin’s ability of produce Vitamin D.
His healthiest patient, by ten country miles, is a schizophrenic African American man who spends the winter running outdoors with no shirt on claiming that his power is derived from the rays of the sun. Most of the people in our community worry a great deal about his health, but he is by all accounts very happy and impeccably healthy. Moreover, my Dad is completely unaware of the astonishing human health benefits of cold exposure. I can’t wait to drop the bombshell that is the Cold Thermogenesis series on him.
The journey to optimal continues, for both myself, my family, and hopefully a significant portion of the community as well!
Alex
@ Alex you made my night……..I hope your Dad visits many more rabbit holes here.
Your comment about the difference of Okinawans is interesting. I lived in Japan for several years went to Okinawa quite often and saw what people are eating there. They eat lots of carbs: white rice, sweet potatoes, lots of fruits, even white bread.
Amazing that this genetic makeup is apparently not only compensating this high load of carbs well, but also makes them live longer than anybody in the world. How long would they live if they didn’t eat that big load of carbs?
@Werner A lot longer. THe aging folks are intrigued by them because of this defect. If this could be transmitted to others they may get the same benefit.
@JS http://www.livescience.com/7736-epigenetics-revolutionary-humans-work.html
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