Liz & Glyn Wainwright

Novelist & Scriptwriter shares with a Scientist & Researcher

Liz & Glyn Wainwright

Blog Archives

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Zoe raises some very important conflict of interest issues that are seeping into our medical charities

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) describes itself as “a charity that aims to prevent people dying from heart diseases”. Until now, the BHF has remained relatively conflict free – a paragon of virtue in fact when compared with some other ‘heart charities’. Heart UK, for example, calls itself the cholesterol charity (cholesterol should have a charity for having become endangered, but that’s not what they mean!) Heart UK partners with drug companies, the very companies that profit beyond wild dreams from the lucrative war on this life vital substance, as their partner list confirms.

I receive a copy of the BHF magazine, which comes out six times a year. It is called “Heart Matters” and should be commended for having no adverts. It should also be completely ignored because the high carb/low fat/fear cholesterol advice is doing serious harm. However, at least the BHF has appeared free from conflict – until now…

Zoe

The British Heart Foundation & Flora pro.activ – Conflict of Interest?

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Fructose Has Different Effect Than Glucose On Brain Regions That Regulate Appetite

Jan. 1, 2013 — In a study examining possible factors regarding the associations between fructose consumption and weight gain, brain magnetic resonance imaging of study participants indicated that ingestion of glucose but not fructose reduced cerebral blood flow and activity in brain regions that regulate appetite, and ingestion of glucose but not fructose produced increased ratings of satiety and fullness, according to a preliminary study published in the January 2 issue of JAMA.

JAMA and Archives Journals (2013, January 1). Fructose has different effect than glucose on brain regions that regulate appetite.

Fructose Has Different Effect Than Glucose On Brain Regions That Regulate Appetite

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The Journal of the American Medical Association has published evidence supports what many of us (inspired by Robert Lustig et al) have been commenting on – The connection between Fructose and Obesity. This parallels our own review of Fructose published in 2010.

Effects of Fructose vs Glucose on Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Brain Regions Involved With Appetite and Reward Pathways

Kathleen A. Page, MD; Owen Chan, PhD; Jagriti Arora, MS; Renata Belfort-DeAguiar, MD, PhD; James Dzuira, PhD; Brian Roehmholdt, MD, PhD; Gary W. Cline, PhD; Sarita Naik, MD; Rajita Sinha, PhD; R. Todd Constable, PhD; Robert S. Sherwin, MD
JAMA. 2013;309(1):63-70. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.116975

Importance  Increases in fructose consumption have paralleled the increasing prevalence of obesity, and high-fructose diets are thought to promote weight gain and insulin resistance. Fructose ingestion produces smaller increases in circulating satiety hormones compared with glucose ingestion, and central administration of fructose provokes feeding in rodents, whereas centrally administered glucose promotes satiety.

Objective  To study neurophysiological factors that might underlie associations between fructose consumption and weight gain.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Twenty healthy adult volunteers underwent 2 magnetic resonance imaging sessions at Yale University in conjunction with fructose or glucose drink ingestion in a blinded, random-order, crossover design.

Main Outcome Measures  Relative changes in hypothalamic regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) after glucose or fructose ingestion. Secondary outcomes included whole-brain analyses to explore regional CBF changes, functional connectivity analysis to investigate correlations between the hypothalamus and other brain region responses, and hormone responses to fructose and glucose ingestion.

Results  There was a significantly greater reduction in hypothalamic CBF after glucose vs fructose ingestion (−5.45 vs 2.84 mL/g per minute, respectively; mean difference, 8.3 mL/g per minute [95% CI of mean difference, 1.87-14.70]; P = .01). Glucose ingestion (compared with baseline) increased functional connectivity between the hypothalamus and the thalamus and striatum. Fructose increased connectivity between the hypothalamus and thalamus but not the striatum. Regional CBF within the hypothalamus, thalamus, insula, anterior cingulate, and striatum (appetite and reward regions) was reduced after glucose ingestion compared with baseline (P < .05 significance threshold, family-wise error [FWE] whole-brain corrected). In contrast, fructose reduced regional CBF in the thalamus, hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, fusiform, and visual cortex (P < .05 significance threshold, FWE whole-brain corrected). In whole-brain voxel-level analyses, there were no significant differences between direct comparisons of fructose vs glucose sessions following correction for multiple comparisons. Fructose vs glucose ingestion resulted in lower peak levels of serum glucose (mean difference, 41.0 mg/dL [95% CI, 27.7-54.5]; P < .001), insulin (mean difference, 49.6 μU/mL [95% CI, 38.2-61.1]; P < .001), and glucagon-like polypeptide 1 (mean difference, 2.1 pmol/L [95% CI, 0.9-3.2]; P = .01).

Conclusion and Relevance  In a series of exploratory analyses, consumption of fructose compared with glucose resulted in a distinct pattern of regional CBF and a smaller increase in systemic glucose, insulin, and glucagon-like polypeptide 1 levels.

Fructose & Obesity – JAMA Report

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Yet more revelations about the importance of cell membrane cholesterol.

The medical profession will have to admit the anti-cholesterol stance was a massive mistake (it’s another scandal in the making).  All cellular excretions use cholesterol rich rafts and cholesterol lipids to wrap and release products and message molecules.

When we block cholesterol production we shut down or cells – oops!

Cholesterol is known to modulate the physical properties of cell membranes, but its direct involvement in cellular signaling has not been thoroughly investigated. Here we show that cholesterol specifically binds many PDZ domains found in scaffold proteins, including the N-terminal PDZ domain of NHERF1/EBP50. This modular domain has a cholesterol-binding site topologically distinct from its canonical protein-binding site and serves as a dual-specificity
domain that bridges the membrane and juxta-membrane signaling complexes. Disruption of the cholesterol-binding activity of NHERF1 largely abrogates its dynamic co-localization with and activation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, one of its binding partners in the plasma membrane of mammalian cells. At least seven more PDZ domains from other scaffold proteins also bind cholesterol and have cholesterol-binding sites, suggesting that cholesterol modulates cell signaling through direct interactions with
these scaffold proteins. This mechanism may provide an alternative explanation for the formation of signaling platforms in cholesterol-rich membrane domains.

Cholesterol Molecule

Cholesterol – vitally important in Cell Signaling

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A note to Dr Briffa from a T2 diabetic

I had my 6 monthly diabetes check-up last Wednesday. The diabetes consultant was really happy with all of my figures on cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, weight (I’ve lost another 4 kg since February without really trying), kidney and liver function are excellent – in fact he was really impressed and asked me what I was doing to get these improvements.

Simple, I said, I’ve stopped eating wheat in all its forms and grains in general, I avoid rice and all potato products. I eat animal fat and the only oil that I use is extra virgin olive oil. Breakfast is typically a one-egg omelette and with a small amount of bacon, smoked salmon or Parma ham. I have spinach or other leafy greens and tomatoes. Lunch is often not taken as I do not feel hungry until 6.00 pm when I have my evening meal. Another small portion of meat and plenty of veggies. The only fruit that I have are a few blueberries, wild strawberries (when they are available) and raspberries – and I mean a few.

I sleep better than ever, don’t feel tired and have lost weight. I really ought to exercise though, that is the only flaw in my regime.

“No, you MUST eat some carbohydrates” he said.

“I do, I told you, I eat plenty of vegetables.” I said.

“No, no, starchy carbohydrates, you NEED them”

“Why do I NEED them?”

“For energy, your body needs carbohydrates for energy” came his concerned reply.

“How do you think that I’ve managed to survive since you last saw me then? And, you told me how pleased you were with all of my readings – doesn’t that suggest that I’m doing fine without refined, starchy carbohydrates?”

He had no reply other than to repeat to me that I MUST eat carbohydrates for energy.

I urged him to read Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora T Gedgaudas and made him write it down. I could see that he wasn’t convinced. So, I told him that the bullshit that he’d been taught by the food industry-research funded nonsense that the Government taught him is causing all of the major health problems that he has to deal with every day.

I also said that I throw a fat-fuelled log onto the fire in the morning rather than the carbohydrate kindling throughout the day to keep me provided with energy and avoid the feeling of hunger. Again, nothing seemed to penetrate that simple head of his; it was full of the guff that he’d been taught not to question.

Diabetic transforms his health with a low-carb diet, BUT his doctor urges him to eat more carbs

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In 2004 I wrote a letter about Jupiter’s influence on Sunspots and Solar Radiance.

It also noted the relationship between sunspots and grain prices! T’was ever so!

What leaked IPCC report really says on climate change

It’s not us! It’s the Sun – Climate Change IPCC latest

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Zoe Harcombe sums up our criticism of the BMJ article on ‘Low Fats’ which statistically means very little but caused a lot of press led obfuscation – To quote Zoe H

The tragedy of this study is twofold:

1) it continues to perpetuate the demonisation of fat (and real food), which continues to drive people down the route of eating more carbohydrate (and processed food) and

2) it is a huge missed opportunity. The combined studies involved 73,589 people. Imagine that we had been able to get this number of people to eat nothing but real food and compare them to a control group still following the government eat badly plate advice and thereby eating mostly processed food.

Imagine that we had been able to do this for a period of six months, to meet the minimum follow up criteria. People who have been following The Harcombe Diet® for six months will most likely be at natural weight within this time, unless they have several stones to lose. Someone with six stone or more to lose can lose 50lb in six months – not a couple of pounds – and keep the weight off, as the diet does nothing to adversely impact hunger or metabolism.

“Eat real food, lose weight, gain health and stay that way!” Now that would have been a great headline!

BMJ Article – Perhaps they need to up their fat intake?

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Total Cholesterol levels in psychiatric patients after a suicide attempt are lower than healthy controls and remain low in follow-up, independently from the severity of psychopathology. The results support the role of low plasma levels of total cholesterol as a biological risk factor in suicidal behavior, especially in affective patients.

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reports of low levels of plasma cholesterol – suicide risk factor

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lizwainwright:

When people ask me where it all comes from, this writing, I tell them I have this special software – it’s called ‘my imagination’. There’s reality and experience in the background though; for example, when I was young we lived in a run-down pub not unlike The Black Bull.

I first started writing when I was a young Mum with two small children. I entered a novel writing competition in a magazine – I didn’t win, but it taught me to type!

My characters do most of the writing for me, they become voices in my head and take on a life of their own. They’re no angels, and they get into the sort of relationship situations which fascinate me. They make me care about them; they make me cry, and they make me laugh. I hope they’ll do the same for you.
Book 1 Cover

Amazon Author’s page

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Fat Chance: Beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and disease by Robert H. Lustig

Obesity epidemic caused by too much sugar?