Are food companies responsible for the epidemic in diabetes, cancer, dementia and chronic disease and do their products need to be regulated like tobacco? Is it time for a class action suit?
Posted: July 15, 2023 Filed under: behavior, cancer, Evolutionary perspective, health, Nutrition/diet, self-healing | Tags: dementia, diabetes, diet, high fructose corn syrup, mortality, obsity, smoking, sugar, ultra-processed foods, UPF 2 CommentsAdapted from: Peper, E. & Harvey, R. (2024). Are Food Companies Responsible for the Epidemic in Diabetes, Cancer, Dementia and Chronic Disease and Do Their Products Need to Be Regulated Like Tobacco? Is It Time for a Class Action Suit? Thownsend Letter-the examiner of alternative medicine. https://www.townsendletter.com/e-letter-26-ultra-processed-foods-and-health-issues/
Erik Peper, PhD and Richard Harvey, PhD
Why are one third of young Americans becoming obese and at risk for diabetes?
Why are heart disease, cancer, and dementias occurring earlier and earlier? Is it genetics, environment, foods, or lifestyle?
Is it individual responsibility or the result of the quest for profits by agribusiness and the food industry?
Like the tobacco industry that sells products regulated because of their public health dangers, is it time for a class action suit against the processed food industry? The argument relates not only to the regulation of toxic or hazardous food ingredients (e.g., carcinogenic or obesogenic chemicals) but also to the regulation of consumer vulnerabilities. Addressing vulnerabilities to tobacco products include regulations such as how cigarette companies may not advertise their products for sale within a certain distance from school grounds.
Is it time to regulate nationally the installation of vending machines on school grounds selling sugar-sweetened beverages? Students have sensitivity to the enticing nature of advertised, and/or conveniently available consumable products such as ‘fast foods’ that are highly processed (e.g., packaged, preserved and practically imperishable). Whereas ‘processed foods’ have some nutritive value, and may technically pass as ‘nutritious’ food, the quality of processed ‘nutrients’ can be called into question. For the purpose of this blog other important questions to raise relate to ingredients which, alone or in combination, may contribute to the onset of or, the acceleration of a variety of chronic health outcomes related to various kinds of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.
It may be an over statement to suggest that processed food companies are directly responsible for the epidemic in diabetes, cancer, dementia and chronic disease and need to be regulated like tobacco. On the other hand, processed food companies should become much more regulated than they are now.
More than 80 years ago, smoking was identified as a significant factor contributing to lung cancer, heart disease and many other disorders. In 1964 the Surgeon Generals’ report officially linked smoking to deaths of cancer and heart disease (United States Public Health Service, 1964). Another 34 years pased before California prohibited smoking in restaurants in 1998 and, eventually inside all public buildings. The harms of smoking tobacco products were well known, yet many years passed with countless deaths and suffering which could have been prevented before regulation of tobacco products took place. Reviewing historical data there is about a 20 year delay (e.g., a whole generation) before death rates decrease in relation to when regulations became effective and smoking rates decreased, as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1. The relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Reproduced by permission from Roser, M. (2021). Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? And how can we make progress against it? Our world in data.
During those interim years before government actions limited smoking more effectively, tobacco companies hid data regarding the harmful effects of smoking. Arguably, the ‘Big Tobacco’ industry paid researchers to publish data which could confuse readers about tobacco product harm. There is evidence of some published articles suggesting that the harm of cigarette smoking was a hoax– all for the sake of boosting corporate profits (Bero, 2005).
Now we are experiencing a similar problem with the processed food industry. It has been suggested that alongside smoking and vaping, opioid use, a sedentary ‘couch potato’ lifestyle, and lack of exercise, ultra-processed food (UPF) that we eat severely affects our health.
Ultra-processed foods, which for many constitutes a majority of calories ranging from 55% to over 80% of the food they eat, contain chemical additives that trick the tastebuds, mouth and eventually our brain to desire those processed foods and eat more of them (Srour et al., 2022).
What are ultra-processed foods? Any foods that your great grandmother would not recognize as food. This includes all soft drinks, highly processed chips, additives, food coloring, stabilizers, processed proteins, etc. Even oils such as palm oil, canola oil, or soybean are ultra processed since they heated, highly processed with phosphoric acid to remove gums and waxes, neutralized with chemicals, bleached, and deodorized with high pressure steam (van Tulleken, 2023).
The data is clear! Since the 1970s obesity and inflammatory disease have exploded after ultra-processed foods became the constituents of the modern diet as shown in figure 2.
Figure 2. A timeline from 1850 to 2000 reflects the increase in use of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to the U.S. diet, together with the increase in U.S. obesity rate. The data for sugar, dairy and HFCS consumption per capita are from USDA Economic Research Service (Johnson et al., 2009) and reflects historical estimates before 1967 (Guyenet et al., 2017). The obesity data (% of U.S. adult population) are from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Trust for America’s Health. (stateofobesity.org). Total U.S. television advertising data are from the World Advertising Research Center (www.warc.com). The vertical measure (y–axis) for kilograms per year (kg/yr) on the left covers all data except advertising expenditures, which uses the vertical measure for advertising on the right. Reproduced by permission from Bentley et al, 2018.
This graph clearly shows a close association between the years that high fructose corn syrups (HFCS) were introduced into the American diet and an increase in TV advertising with corresponding increase in obesity. HFCS is an ultra-processed food and is a surrogate marker for all other ultra-processed foods. The best interpretation is that ultra-processed foods, which often contain HFCS, are a causal factor of the increase in obesity, and diabetes and in turn are risk factors for heart disease, cancers and dementias.
Ultra-processed foods are novel from an evolutionary perspective.
The human digestive system has only recently encountered sources of calories which are filled with so many unnatural chemicals, textures and flavors. Ultra-processed foods have been engineered, developed and product tested to increase the likelihood they are wanted by consumers and thereby increase sales and profits for the producers. These foods contain the ‘right amount’ processed materials to evoke the taste, flavor and feel of desired foods that ‘trick’ the consumer it eat them because they activate evolutionary preference for survival. Thus, these ultra-processed foods have become an ‘evolutionary trap’ where it is almost impossible not to eat them. We eat the food because it capitalized on our evolutionary preferences even though doing so is ultimately harmful for our health (for a detailed discussion on evolutionary traps, see Peper, Harvey & Faass, 2020).
An example is a young child wanting the candy while waiting with her parents at the supermarket checkout line. The advertised images of sweet foods trigger the cue to eat. Remember, breast milk is sweet and most foods in nature that are sweet in taste, provide calories for growth and survival and are not harmful. Calories are essential of growth. Thus, we have no intrinsic limit on eating sweets unlike foods that taste bitter.
As parents, we wish that our children (and even adults) have self-control and no desire to eat the candy or snacks that is displayed at eye level (eye candy) especially while waiting at the cashier. When reflecting about food advertising and the promotion of foods that are formulated to take advantage of ‘evolutionary traps’, who is responsible? Is it the child, who does not yet have the wisdom and self-control or, is it the food industry that ultra-processes the foods and adds ingredients into foods which can be harmful and then displays them to trigger an evolutionary preference for food that have been highly processed?
Every country that has adapted the USA diet of ultra-processed foods has experienced similar trends in increasing obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. The USA diet is replacing traditional diets as illustrated by the availability of Coca-Cola. It is sold in over 200 countries and territories (Coca-Cola, 2023).
An increase in ultra-processed foods by 10 percent was associated with a 25 percent increase in the risk of dementia and a 14 per cent increase in the risk of Alzheimers’s (Li et al., 2022). More importantly, people who eat the highest proportion of their diet in ultra-processed foods had a 22%-62% increased risk of death compared to the people who ate the lowest proportion of processed foods (van Tulleken, 2023). In the USA, counties with the highest food swamp scores (the availability of fast food outlets in a county) had a 77% increased odds of high obesity-related cancer mortality (Bevel et al., 2023). The increase risk has also been observed for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and all cause mortality as is shown in figure 3 (Srour et al., 2019; Rico-Campà et al., 2019).
Figure 3. Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality. Reproduced from Rico-Campà et al, 2019.
The harmful effects of UPF holds up even when correcting for the amount of sugars, carbohydrates or fats in the diet and controlling for socio economic variables.
The logic that underlies this perspective is based upon the writing by Nassim Taleb (2012) in his book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto). He provides an evolutionary perspective and offers broad and simple rules of health as well as recommendations for reducing UPF risk factors:
- Assume that anything that was not part of our evolutionary past is probably harmful.
- Remove the unnatural/unfamiliar (e.g. smoking/ e-cigarettes, added sugars, textured proteins, gums, stabilizers (guar gum, sodium alginate), emulsifiers (mono-and di-glycerides), modified starches, dextrose, palm stearin, and fats, colors and artificial flavoring or other ultra-processed food additives).
What can we do?
The solutions are simple and stated by Michael Pollan in his 2007 New York Times article, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” Eat foods that your great grandmother would recognize as foods (Pollan, 2009). Do not eat any of the processed foods that fill a majority of a supermarket’s space.
- Buy only whole organic natural foods and prepare them yourself.
- Request that food companies only buy and sell non-processed foods.
- Demand government action to tax ultra-processed food and limit access to these foods. In reality, it is almost impossible to expect people to choose healthy, organic foods when they are more expensive and not easily available in the American ‘food swamps and deserts’ (the presence of many fast food outlets or the absence of stores that have fresh produce and non-processed foods). We do have a choice. We can spend more money now for organic, health promoting foods or, pay much more later to treat illness related to UPF.
- It is time to take our cues from the tobacco wars that led to regulating tobacco products. We may even need to start class action suits against producers and merchants of UPF for causing increased illness and premature morbidity.
For more background information and the science behind this blog, read, the book, Ultra-processed people, by Chris van Tulleken.
Look at the following blogs for more background information.
References
Bentley, R.A., Ormerod, P. & Ruck, D.J. (2018). Recent origin and evolution of obesity-income correlation across the United States. Palgrave Commun 4, 146. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0201-x
Bero, L. A. (2005). Tobacco Industry Manipulation of Research. Public Health Reports (1974-), 120(2), 200–208. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20056773
Bevel, M.S., Tsai, M., Parham, A., Andrzejak, S.E., Jones, S., & Moore, J.X. (2023). Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US. JAMA Oncol. 9(7), 909–916. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634
Coca-Cola. (2023). More on Coca-Cola. Accessed July 14, 2023. https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/our-business/faqs/how-many-countries-sell-coca-cola-is-there-anywhere-in-the-world-that-doesnt
Johnson, R.K., Appel, L.J., Brands, M., Howard, B.V., Lefevre, M., Lustig, R.H., Sacks, F., Steffen, L.M., & Wylie–Rosett, J. (2009). Dietary sugars intake and cardiovascular health: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 120(10), 1011–1020. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192627
Li, H., Li, S., Yang, H., et al, 2022. Association of ultraprocessed food consumption with the risk of dementia: a prospective cohort study. Neurology, 99, e1056-1066. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000200871
Peper, E., Harvey, R. & Faass, N. (2020). TechStress: How Technology is Hijacking Our Lives, Strategies for Coping, and Pragmatic Ergonomics. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, pp 18-22, 151. https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Ergonomics-Prevent-Fatigue-Burnout/dp/158394768X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1U9Y82YO4DKKP&keywords=erik+peper&qid=1689372466&sprefix=erik+peper%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1
Pollan, M. (2007). Unhappy meals. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html
Pollan, M. (2009). Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. New York: Penguin Books. https://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-Eaters-Michael-Pollan/dp/014311638X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1689373484&sr=8-2
Rico-Campà, A., Martínez-González, M. A., Alvarez-Alvarez, I., de Deus Mendonça, R., Carmen de la Fuente-Arrillaga, C., Gómez-Donoso, C., & Bes-Rastrollo, M. (2019). Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality: SUN prospective cohort study. BMJ; 365: l1949 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1949
Roser, M. (2021).Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? And how can we make progress against it? Our world in data. Assessed July 13, 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/smoking-big-problem-in-brief
Srour, B., Fezeu, L.K., Kesse-Guyot, E.,Alles, B., Mejean, C…(2019). Ultra-processed food intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: prospective cohort study (NutriNet-Santé) BMJ,365:l1451. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1451
Srour, B., Kordahi, M. C., Bonazzi, E., Deschasaux-Tanguy, M., Touvier, M., & Chassaing, B. (2022). Ultra-processed foods and human health: from epidemiological evidence to mechanistic insights. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(22)00169-8
Taleb, N. N. (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto). New York: Random House Publishing Group. (Kindle Locations 5906-5908). https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-Disorder-ANTIFRAGILE-Hardcover/dp/B00QOJ6MLC/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3BISYYG0RPGW5&keywords=Antifragile%3A+Things+That+Gain+from+Disorder+%28Incerto%29&qid=1689288744&s=books&sprefix=antifragile+things+that+gain+from+disorder+incerto+%2Cstripbooks%2C158&sr=1-4
Van Tulleken, C. (2023). Ultra-processed people. The science behind food that isn’t food. New Yoerk: W.W. Norton & Company. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1324036729/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
United States Public Health Service. (1964). The 1964 Report on Smoking and Health. United States. Public Health Service. Office of the Surgeon General. https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/nn/catalog?f%5Bexhibit_tags%5D%5B%5D=smoking
Useful resources about breathing, phytonutrients and exercise
Posted: June 30, 2021 Filed under: behavior, Breathing/respiration, cancer, Evolutionary perspective, health, Nutrition/diet, self-healing, Uncategorized | Tags: diet, exercise, immune system, nasal breathing, phytonutrients, respiration 1 Comment
Dysfunctional breathing, eating highly processed foods, and lack of movement contribute to development of illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many chronic diseases. They also contributes to immune dysregulation that increases vulnerability to infectious diseases, allergies and autoimmune diseases. If you wonder what breathing patterns optimize health, what foods have the appropriate phytonutrients to support your immune system, or what the evidence is that exercise reduces illness and promotes longevity, look at the following resources.
Breath: the mind-body connector that underlies health and illness
Read the outstanding article by Martin Petrus (2021). How to breathe.
https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-breathe-your-way-to-better-health-and-transcendence
You are the food you eat
Watch the superb webinar presentation by Deanna Minich, MS., PHD., FACN, CNS, (2021) Phytonutrient Support for a Healthy Immune System.
Movement is life
Explore the summaries of recent research that has demonstrated the importance of exercise to increase healthcare saving and reduce hospitalization and death.
Improve your health: Lower your carbs
Posted: January 25, 2018 Filed under: Evolutionary perspective, Exercise/movement, Nutrition/diet, self-healing, Uncategorized | Tags: diet, metabolic syndrome, obesity, Type 2 diabetes 6 Comments
How come there is no disease caused by the absence of carbohydrates? This simple observation suggests that carbohydrates are not necessary for health and are not an essential food in our evolutionary history. This is different from vitamin C or other essential nutrients whose absence will cause scurvy and eventually death.
From an evolutionary perspective, simple carbohydrates, especially sugars and high-fructose corn syrup, are significant contributing factors to the increasing epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, coronary heart disease and many autoimmune disorders. The recommended nutritional guideline of the last forty years to reduce fats and increase carbohydrates were not based upon good science but on ideology influenced by agribusiness and the sugar industry (La Berge, 2008). The recommendations were WRONG AND HARMFUL (Taubes, 2016; see also: https://peperperspective.com/2017/02/18/read-the-case-against-sugar/). It may explains why the obesity epidemic is not caused by eating or drinking too many calories but the eating the wrong type of calories; namely, those found in simple carbohydrates and overly processed foods. The increase in obesity appears highly correlated with the US low-fat diet recommendations published in 1977 as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1. Increase in U.S. obesity begins after the publication of the U.S. recommendations to eat a low-fat diet. Reproduced from National Center for Health Statistics (US). Health, United States, 2008: With Special Feature on the Health of Young Adults. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics (US); 2009 Mar. Chartbook
The harmful effects of the simple high carbohydrate diet amplified with a decrease in physical activity interacts with your genetics. People, with a family risk factors of metabolic syndrome (type 2 diabetes) can improve their health by eating a low carbohydrate diet with lots of vegetables, fruit and fats.
Watch the superb video lectures by Professor Timothy Noakes, an emeritus professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town and by Gary Taubes, science writer and author of The case against sugar. It may shift your perspective and improve your health.
Reference:
La Berge, A. F. (2008). How the ideology of low fat conquered America. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 63, Issue 2, 1 April 2008, Pages 139–177, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jrn001
National Center for Health Statistics (US). Health, United States, 2008: With Special Feature on the Health of Young Adults. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics (US); 2009 Mar. Chartbook
Taubes, G. (2016). The Case Against Sugar. Portobello Books. ISBN 978-0-307-70164-0
Are you out of control and reacting in anger? The role of food and exercise
Posted: October 6, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anger, diet, emotional control, exercise, food, heart rate, Holistic health 2 Comments
Fuming in anger, exploding in rage, shaking in fear, or trembling with anxiety, what can you do? How can you control your emotions and what can you do if you are reacting to a friend or colleague who is out of control? There are many useful self-directed approaches and traditional advice such as, “Count to 10 before you speak,” ”Sleep on it before acting on the decision you have made,” “Practice stress reduction techniques such as mindfulness meditation,” “Leave the situation,” or “Wait 24 hours before clicking “send” on an angry email response.”
These suggestions aim to reduce the strong negative emotions which could cause people to lash out at or totally withdraw from the perceived threat. Under perceived threat, we may react defensively and impulsively to protect ourselves. During those times we may say the meanest things to hurt the person as a substitute for inflicting actual physical harm.
In almost most cases when angry or frightened we may react automatically. Thus having skills to recognize and interrupt the escalating cycle of negative emotions can facilitate resolving conflicts. These skills allow us to react more cool headed, rationally, and recognize how our responses would impact other people and prevent future blow back from our excessive emotional response. It could also interrupt an escalating argument. Despite our best efforts, it is often difficult to change our emotional reaction especially when we feel threatened, hungry and tired.
Emotion regulation as described by Professor James Gross, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, consists of 1) awareness that there is a need for an unhelpful emotion to be regulated such as noticing an increase in heart rate or worry, 2) selecting a strategy to regulate the emotion such as thinking about positive memories such as a loving grandparent or practicing breathing, 3) implementing and acting on this strategy which means doing the strategy at that moment when we don’t want to and all our impulses are saying “I am right, don’t change,” and 4) constant follow-up to check if what we are doing is effective and if not, what needs to be improved (Gross, 213).
This approach can be very effective and may work even better by combining multiple strategies instead of only one technique. The more skills you have and practiced the easier it becomes to master motional regulation. Sometimes, psychological behavioral approaches may underestimate the role of biological factors such as diet, exhaustion and exercise that underlie emotional regulation.
Think of a four-year child throwing a temper tantrum. As a parent, it not useful to discuss with the child what is going on. Each suggestion may increase the tantrum. Instead the parent thinks, “My child is exhausted or hungry” (how many tantrums don’t occur when the child stays up after bed time or just before dinner?). The millennium’s phrase, “hangry,” is the combination of hunger and anger.
The knowledge that food may prevent or reduce conflict is reflected in the cultural wisdom of most countries except the USA. In the Middle East you are offered tea and sweets before buying a small rug at the bazaar; in Japan or China, you are invited to a meal before beginning a business transaction. The food and may slightly raise your blood glucose levels and encourage digestion which triggers a physiological state that is the opposite of that triggered by anger or fear. It may also evoke positives feelings associated with eating such as family gatherings and parties. As the food and drink are a gift, it may allow you to perceive the other person more positively. Thus, it is easier to be collegial and react more positively in challenging situations. The influence of rest and food has also been observed in Judicial rulings. Judges are much more likely to accept prisoners’ requests for parole at the beginning of the session–right after breakfast or lunch–than later in the session (Danzier, Levav & Avnaim-Pesso, 2011).
What can you do?
One useful mental strategy when you are out of control is to remind yourself that you are acting like a four-year-old child who is having a tantrum. Begin in the same way as you would with a four-year-old: take time out, eat some food, and get rest. Then in the clear light of the next day, after having eating a nutritious breakfast– not just a cup of coffee with a muffin–discuss and resolve what happened the day before that triggered the outburst. Similarly, when another person is out of control, do not to take it personally, he/she may be a momentary acting like four-year-old.
Keep in mind, whatever other people said or did during an outburst, they may have responded automatically because they experienced their survival being threatened. Remember, how in a past moment of anger, you have said something very hurtful? At the moment the words left your mouth, you wished you could have reeled them back in as you realized that it would be almost impossible to repair the damage.
From a biological perspective you were hijacked by the amygdala which is part of our emotional brain (Goleman, 2006). The amygdala processes information 22 milliseconds earlier than the rational brain and acts protectively before our rational brain, the neocortex, can assess the situation and respond. This reaction occurs because the information signals “we are in danger” and evokes the automatic defense reaction as shown Figure 1.
Figure 1. Triggering of a defense reaction is 22 milliseconds quicker from the amygdala than from the cortex. Thus we sometimes react without recognizing the consequences (adapted from Ropeik, 2011)
Implement the cultural wisdom of eating together first and then discussing business or challenging issues. Do not send negative messages by email or mail since that allows people to react asynchronously without having the social feedback to modulate their emotions.
Self-regulation of unhelpful emotions is challenging because negative emotions trigger the body’s defense reactions to prepare it for flight and fight. At that point, it is more and more difficult to perceive the long term consequences of our action– our only goal is to survive. Even our cognitions change and we tend to interpret any information more negatively and may assume harmful intent. The more we are captured by our emotions, the more challenging is it to implement emotional self-regulation strategies.
Once the defense reaction has been activated, it is not the time to resolve conflict. Dr. Gottman and colleagues at the Seattle Love lab, discovered that when couples argued and their heartrate went over a hundred (a possible biological marker of sympathetic activation) arguments could escalate. If the person whose heart rate went up spontaneously took a time out and did self-soothing, the couple had a lower divorce rate and higher marital happiness than those couples who continue the arguments (Gottman & Gottman, 2008).
One of the effective ways to begin emotion regulation is to leave the situation and first complete the fight/flight defense reaction. If possible, this means interrupting whatever you are doing and exercise vigorously. After you have done a vigorous workout, emotional regulation is much easier as the ruminating thoughts have decreased or stopped.
Complete the alarm reaction with exercise
When you are upset take a break. If possible, take a time out and exercise to complete the fight/flight response that was activated by the negative emotions. This is not always possible in a business or social gathering; instead, excuse yourself and go to the bathroom. In the bathroom do the following five-minute exercise that was taught by Rinpoche Tarthang Tulku of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism as an approach to stop ruminating thoughts as shown in Figure 2.
Stand on your toes with the heels touching each other and lifted off the floor with your knees bent. Place your
hands on your sides, breathe slowly and deeply. Do this next to wall to reach with your hand to steady you if you lose your balance. Stay in this position for as long as 5 minutes. Do not straighten up, keep squatting.
In a very short time your attention will be drawn and captured by the burning sensation in your thighs. Continue. After five minutes stop, shake your legs and relax.
After this exercise your thoughts have stopped and continue with the more cognitive approach of emotional self-regulation or return to the meeting. Warming: Do not do this if you have hip, knee or ankle difficulty.
Use heart rate biofeedback to signal you that you may be losing control.
Wear a heart rate monitor to signal you when your heart rate increases twenty to thirty beats above your personal baseline rate during a discussion or conflict. Use that feedback to stop and take time out and implement self-regulation practices such as exercise, breathing or meditation to allow your arousal to decrease. When feeling more calm, return to the meeting.
Summary
Food and exercise are powerful tools to augment emotional self-regulation and health. In our research, Lena Stampfli and I have observed that many students who miss meals, have an unhealthy diet, do not the exercise, are sometimes irritable and experience difficulty in concentration. When San Francisco State University students implemented a four-week self-healing project as part of a class experience, the students who changed their eating behavior (eating breakfast, not skipping meals, reducing caffeine and simple carbohydrates and increase proteins, fats and fresh vegetables) and implemented daily physical exercise (e.g., yoga, jogging, and dancing), reported significant improvements in their energy level, fewer emotion outbursts and improved quality of life. They report some of the following:
“I thought I did not particularly like exercising and eating healthy, but when it is over I feel like I am on cloud nine!… I started to look forward to doing my exercises.” –A.M.
“I started to eat breakfast, I started biking to work and did a few [meditation] exercises before bed… I felt happier and more have energy to get through the day.” –C.B.
“I have learned that letting go of what no longer serves me allow room for healing and opportunities for growth… I can only imagine what years of healthy living could do for my well-being.” –K.S.
*I thank Pardis Miri, PhD, for her constructive comments.
The blog was adapted from Peper, E. (2017). Emotional control through mindfulness as path to mental health? Western Edition HP Journal. October. http://thewesternedition.com/admin/files/magazines/WE-October-2017.pdf
References
Goleman, D. (2006). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
Gross, James J., ed. (2013). Handbook of emotion regulation. New York, Guilford publications.
Our food is not the same as 50 years ago
Posted: December 1, 2016 Filed under: Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: diet, food, glyphosate, health, herbicides, immune system, nutrients 4 CommentsOur food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food.– Hippocrates
Agribusiness appears to have overlooked Hippocrates’ advice in the quest for profits and quantity over quality. Over the last 50 years key nutrients of fruits and vegetables have declined. In a survey of 43 crops of fruits and vegetables, Davis, Epp, & Riordan, (2004) found a significant decrease of vitamins and minerals in foods grown in the 1950s as compared to now as shown in Figure 1 (Lambert, 2015).
Figure 1. Change in vitamins and minerals from 1950 to 1999. From: Davis, D. R., Epp, M. D., & Riordan, H. D. (2004). Changes in USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to 1999. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 23(6), 669-682.
Not only are there fewer nutrients present in our fruits and vegetables, it is also laced/contaminated with pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate. Glyphosate is the weedkiller, Roundup, produced by Monsanto and is now found in almost all non-organic foods as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Example of foods tested for the presence of glyphosate. Reproduced with permission from https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf
We are ingesting very low levels of glyphosate in most of our foods which may contribute to the development of illness. On March 20, 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)–the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization–classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A). Glyphosate also affects our immune system and the healthy bacteria in our gut. Thus, I strongly recommend avoiding glyphosate and other types of herbicide and pesticide contaminated foods. By eating an organic food diet you can reduce pesticide and herbicide exposure by 90%. Unless you eat only organic foods, you will ingest more pesticides and herbicides at levels unacceptable by the European Union standards as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Different allowable daily intake levels of glyphosate in the European Union as compared to the United States. Reproduced with permission from https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf
Read the article Glyphosate: Unsafe on any plate: Alarming levels of Monstao’s gyphosate found in popular American foods. It describes the scientific evidence that at even at ultra-low levels of glyphosate e.g. 0.1 parts per billions (ppb) harm to human health could begin and how much of the foods contain glyphosate. The Executive Summary is reproduced with permission below:
Executive Summary
A leading FDA-registered food safety testing laboratory has found extremely high levels of the pesticide glyphosate in some of America’s most popular food products. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, is the most heavily used chemical weedkiller in food and agricultural production in human history, as a result of the widespread adoption of genetically engineered crops now grown on more than 175 million acres in the United States (U.S.) and more than 440 million acres around the globe.
New scientific evidence shows that probable harm to human health could begin at ultra-low levels of glyphosate e.g. 0.1 parts per billions (ppb). Popular foods tested for glyphosate measured between 289.47 ppb and at levels as high as 1,125.3 ppb. The testing and analysis was performed by Anresco Laboratories, San Francisco, an FDA registered laboratory that has performed expert food safety testing since 1943.
The laboratory found that well-known products tested for glyphosate, Original Cheerios, for example, measured levels as high as 1,125.3 ppb. Other high levels of glyphosate were found in familiar products such as Oreos, Doritos, and Ritz Crackers, among 29 foods tested. Currently, U.S. regulators allow a very high level of daily glyphosate residue in America’s food. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) limit is set at 1.75 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (written 1.75 mg/kg bw/day) in the U.S., versus a more cautious 0.3 mg/kg bw/day in the European Union. Tolerances have been set through the submission of corporate-sponsored studies and industry influence on the regulatory process.
New research shows that Roundup causes liver and kidney damage in rats as reflected in changes in the functions of 4,000 genes at only 0.05 parts per billion (ppb) glyphosate equivalent indicating damage.2 Additional studies have found that levels as low as 10 ppb can have toxic effects on the livers of fish and cause significant damage to the livers and kidneys of rats at 700 ppb, which is the allowable level of glyphosate found in U.S. drinking water.
Credible independent, peer-reviewed scientific evidence now shows that the levels of harm to human health could begin at the ultra-low levels of 0.1 parts per billion (ppb) of glyphosate. These groundbreaking new findings that one of the most iconic cereals in U.S. contains levels as high as 1,125.3 ppb should be a wake-up call for all Americans regarding unacceptable levels of pesticide residues in our nation’s food. These findings are especially troubling, considering that the latest independent scientific evidence, during which a team of international scientists re-evaluated the same data previously used by regulators, calls for a much lower ADI to be set at 0.025 mg/ kg of bodyweight per day or “12 times lower than the ADI”6 currently set in Europe and 70 times lower than the level currently allowed by the EPA in the United States. It’s important for individuals and parents to understand that glyphosate contamination cannot be removed by washing and is not broken down by cooking or baking. Glyphosate residues can remain stable in food for a year or more, even if the foods are frozen or processed.
The testing and analysis was performed at the request of FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW!, in coordination with THE DETOX PROJECT, which gathered additional scientific evidence from around the world and included a compendium of independent research on glyphosate that contains Anresco Laboratory’s findings. Based on this new information, FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW! is calling for a federal investigation into the likely harmful effects of glyphosate on human health and the environment and is also seeking an investigation into the relationships between the regulators and the regulated industries, which has resulted in the public being exposed to levels of glyphosate which scientific studies show can be damaging to human health.
The complete article with references can be downloaded from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf
References:
Davis, D. R., Epp, M. D., & Riordan, H. D. (2004). Changes in USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to 1999. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 23(6), 669-682. http://www.chelationmedicalcenter.com/!_articles/Changes%20in%20USDA%20Food%20Composition%20Data%20for%2043%20Garden%20Crops%201950%20to%201999.pdf
Lambert, C. (2015). If Food really better from the farm gate than super market shelf? New Scientist.228(3043), 33-37.
Doctor Mike Evans: What’s the Best Diet? Healthy Eating 101
Posted: September 24, 2015 Filed under: Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: diet, exercise, food, health Leave a commentA healthy diet is much more than just focusing on a single food. People focus so often on adding one type of food or eliminating another such as, “Don’t eat ice cream!”, “Eat chia seeds.” “No red meat.” In almost all cases, it is not just one thing, instead a healthy diet is embedded in awareness and healthy life style choices. Watch the superb common sense white board video presentation by Doctor Mike Evans, What’s the Best Diet? Healthy Eating 101. In this short presentation, he summarizes the best practices known. Implement his approach and your health will significantly improve.
Understanding marketing to doctors, food waste and sugar consumption through humor
Posted: August 7, 2015 Filed under: Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: diet, drugs, food, marketing, pharmaceutical industry, sugar Leave a commentThe Last Week Tonight Show with John Oliver is a superb presentation of the problems and solutions about our health and food systems. Using humor, John William Oliver hosts the weekly HBO program on Sundays at 11pm and provides superb documentation of the corruption and marketing strategies that often negatively affect our health, diet and budget.
For evidence based–yet humorous–reporting watch the following episodes;
Marketing to Doctors (HBO). Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars marketing drugs to doctors (published on Feb 8, 2015).
Food Waste (HBO). Producers, sellers, and consumers waste tons of food. John Oliver discusses the shocking amount of food we don’t eat (published on Jul 19, 2015).
Sugar (HBO). Sugar. It’s in everything!
Is it good for us? Well, the sugar industry thinks so (published on Oct 26, 2014).
For additional information, see the following blogs:
Be aware of evolutionary/environmental traps
Over diagnosed: Should I have more tests?
What the food companies forgot to tell you: For the sake of profits we promote metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes
Posted: May 23, 2015 Filed under: Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: diabetes, diet, metabolic syndrome, obesity 4 CommentsShould a five year old be responsible for being obese?
Drinking diet sodas increases the urge to eat more!
Sugar is more addicting than cocaine!
Calories from sugar are NOT the same as calories from other types of foods.
As you are reaching for another diet soda, low fat yogurt, or low calorie dessert, you are compromising your health by increasing the risk for metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity. The artificial sugar substitutes increase feeling of hunger and encourage you to eat more while the low fat foods are made more appetizing by adding sugar (Lustig, 2012; Lustig et al, 2012). As sugar is more addicting than cocaine (Ahmed et al, 2013; Lenoir et al, 2013), how can you assign personal responsibility to young child who is obese with the statement, “You are responsible for being fat and for eating too much sugar laced foods!” Watch the superb documentary, Fed Up, based upon impeccable science. It explores America’s obesity epidemic and the food industry’s role in aggravating it. It systematically shows that everything we’ve been told about food and exercise especially by the food industry and federal government for the past 30 years is dead wrong. The documentary can easily be viewed from streaming video services such as Google Play, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Instant Video.
For the impact of sugar on health and the myth of self-responsibility, watch the 2013 TEDxBermuda talk, Sugar–the elephant in the kitchen, by Robert Lustig, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco.
The movie, Fed UP, and Professor Lustig’s 2013Ted talk serve as a call to action to take control of the foods we serve and eat. Support policies to promote food health:
- Increase local taxes on every soft drink sold and use the income to support public health.
- Demand that schools and public institutions serve children real food and not sugar laced fast foods.
- Support policies that prohibit sales of soft drinks to minors just as alcohol is prohibited to minors.
- Eliminate all soft drinks from public institutions and work sites just as smoking is prohibited.
References
Ahmed, S. H., Guillem, K., & Vandaele, Y. (2013). Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 16(4), 434-439.http://journals.lww.com/co-clinicalnutrition/Abstract/2013/07000/Sugar_addiction___pushing_the_drug_sugar_analogy.11.aspx
Fed Up.(2014). American documentary film directed, written and produced by Stephanie Soechtig.http://fedupmovie.com/#/page/home
Fowler, S. P., Williams, K., Resendez, R. G., Hunt, K. J., Hazuda, H. P., & Stern, M. P. (2008). Fueling the Obesity Epidemic?Artificially Sweetened Beverage Use and Long‐term Weight Gain. Obesity, 16(8), 1894-1900.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2008.284/full
Lenoir, M., Serre, F., Cantin, L., & Ahmed, S. H. (2007). Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward. PloS one, 2(8), e698.http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0000698
Lustig, R. H. (2012). Fat chance: beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and disease. Penguin.
Lustig, R. H., Schmidt, L. A., & Brindis, C. D. (2012). Public health: The toxic truth about sugar. Nature, 482(7383), 27-29.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7383/full/482027a.html
Be aware of evolutionary/ecological traps
Posted: May 16, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ADHD, diabetes, diet, evolution, exercise, health 4 Comments
Dead bird on Midway Island in the North Pacific, 2000 miles from any other islands. The bird mistook attractive coloring of plastics that float in the ocean as food. From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJFiIXp5Bo
Being captured by a digital device. From: http://images.gameskinny.com/gameskinny/c9689c75994e58a03dbc5e489d346e55.jpg
How come birds on Midway Island are dying?
How come your son keeps playing computer games even after he said he would stop?
How come you ate all the French fries and the dessert even though you promised yourself to reduce your calorie intake?
How come you procrastinated and did not get up from the couch to exercise?
How come you watched pornography?
The usual answer is absence of will, self-control or self-discipline. The person is automatically blamed for making poor life choices. If you had more self-worth than you would not let yourself get obese, addicted to computer games, or watch pornography. Blaming the victim is easy, however, there are other factors that underlie the person’s covert/unconscious choices. Many of these illness producing behaviors (e.g., overeating, playing the computer games, sitting and sitting) are responses to external cues that in prehistoric times promoted survival, reproduction and health. To respond rapidly and appropriately to those cues offered a reproductive advantages while not reacting would reduce your survival. In many cases there are no upper limits to turn off our responses to these cues because the more the person responded to those cues the more was there a reproductive advantage. Now, however, our adaptive preferences have become maladaptive because the cues that trigger the same behaviors lead to lower fitness and illness (Schlaepfer et al, 2002; Robertson et al, 2013). The cues have become evolutionary/ecological traps!
Some of the recent evolutionary/ecological traps include:
Vigilance for survival. While playing a computer games, the person rapidly responds and continuously experiences immediate rewards (e.g., successful shooting the target, points, next game level). This process activates the same survival mechanisms that hunter used for thousands of generations. A visual or auditory stimuli represents sources of food or danger (a game animal to hunt for food, an attack by a predator or an enemy). The visual/auditory cue captures the person’s attention and if the person reacts to that cue he would probably survive. On the other hand, if he did not react, he may not survive and reproduce. In our modern world, similar stimuli now hijack the neurological pathways that in earlier times supported survival. Over activation of these pathways is a cofactor in the development of ADHD and other disorders (Peper, 2014). For a superb discussion of how cellphones, computers, gaming and social medial are changing our brains, read Dr. Mari Swingle’s new book, i-Minds (Swingle, 2015)
Energy for survival: Eating carbohydrate/sugary and fat foods are necessary for survival as humans constantly searched for energy sources to support life. Breast milk and almost any fruit that is sweet contain calories and supports growth. If the food was bitter it was usually harmful. For most of our evolutionary past, we would eat as much as possible because food was scarce. There was no evolutionary advantage to limit food intake as the stored calories would supply enough calories to survive during periods of famine. In our modern world, our survival mechanisms have been hijacked by advertising and the oversupply of foods which contribute to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
Being a couch potato and not moving again is again survival mechanism. In a prehistoric world with limited food supply, the less movement (the fewer calories you burned), the longer you could survive. You would move when you needed to build shelter or search for food. Again in a world where shelter and food are often abundant, there is no intrinsic mechanism to initiate movement.
Sexual arousal for reproduction: Men are often captured by pornography. They can watch for hours and feel aroused. The whole porn industry is based upon hijacking our sexual drive for reproduction.
Our brain does not discriminate between actual visual and auditory stimuli, imagined or film/video images. Until the late 19th century everything we saw and heard was real. Only in the 20th century could we produce images and sounds that appeared real. These film, TV , and the ever present digital displays activate the same neurophysiological pathways as when the stimuli were actually real. A scene on a digital screen triggers the same biological pathways and responses that for thousands of generations supported survival. If we did not respond we would not have survived. If you have any doubt, watch a scary horror movie and check how you feel afterwards. You may feel more scared, your sleep may be disturbed, your heart rate increased, and you probably interpreted any noise around you as possible danger. Thus, cues in the environment may become evolutionary/ecological traps in the same way that birds on Midway Island in the North Pacific, 2000 miles from any other islands, mistook the attractive coloring of plastics as food. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJFiIXp5Bo. Should the birds be blamed because they have no self-control?
What can you do!
Recognize that modern industries for the sake of profits have hijacked our cues that had evolved to aid survival (Kemp, 2014).
Recognize that not reacting to product cues means inhibiting the intrinsic biological triggered survival responses. Yes, it is possible not react to the stimuli and demonstrate self-control; however, it is not only a problem of will. It is a problem that our cues have been hijacked and tricked for commercial profit.
Society may need to protect its own populations from commercial exploitation of evolutionary/ecological traps. A young child is automatically drawn to the visual stimuli on a smartphone and tablet which parents use to quiet the child during dinner. In this process they are activating the pre-wired biological pathways that captured attention for survival. By over activating these pathways, the brain is changing in response to this activation which increases the risk of developing ADHD, autism, and mood deregulation including anxiety, depression, and anger management, and other forms of addictive behavior (Swingle, 2015). In addition, school performance and memory retention are reduced when students take notes using their keyboard or read text from digital screens (OCallaghan, 2014). It will take the family and society to limit the availability of these cues until self-control has been developed. Similarly, the availability of cheap calories in large food portions, sugars in soft drinks and sugar and fats in snacks, need to be limited if the epidemic of obesity and diabetes is to be reversed.
It may be unreasonable to think that people can easily interrupt their biological responses to cues that have been created to increase profits. We need to take collective responsibility and limit the availability of commercially augmented evolutionary traps and cues in the same way we need to limit the plastic in the ocean so that the birds at Midway Island may be able survive. Without respecting our evolutionary past, our future may not be different from those Midway Island birds.
References
Kemp, C. (2014). Trapped!. New Scientist, 221(2960), 43-45
OCallaghan, T. (2014). Goodbye, paper: What we miss when we read on screen. New Scientist.224 (2993). 41-43.
Peper, E. (2014). Support Healthy Brain Development: Implications for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Psychophysiology Today, 9(1), 4‐15.
Robertson, B. A., Rehage, J. S., & Sih, A. (2013). Ecological novelty and the emergence of evolutionary traps. Trends in ecology & evolution, 28(9), 552-560.
Swingle, M.K. (2015). i-Minds. Portland, OR: Inkwaterpress.com ISBN-13 978-1-62901-213-1
Schlaepfer, M. A., Runge, M. C., & Sherman, P. W. (2002). Ecological and evolutionary traps. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 17(10), 474-480.
What to eat? Low fat foods, high fat foods…..?
Posted: July 12, 2014 Filed under: Evolutionary perspective, Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, diet, evolution, health, heart disease, vitamins 2 Comments
Meat for sale (tongue and liver) at a traditional market (photo by Erik Peper).
Should I eat vegetables or meats? Should it be steaks or organ meats such as liver, heart, sweet breads? What foods contributes most to heart disease or cancer? Should I change my diet or take medications to lower my cholesterol?
Despite the many years of research the data is not clear. Many public health dietary guidelines and recommendations were based upon flawed research, researchers’ bias and promoted by agribusiness. Starting in the 1950s there has been a significant change in the dietary habits from eating animal fats to plant based oils and fats. It is so much cheaper to produce plant based polyunsaturated salad or cooking oils (e.g. Wesson and Mazola) and hydrogenated hardened oils (e.g. margarine and Crisco) than animal fats (e.g., butter, beef tallow, and lard). Despite the many claims that lowering animal fat intake would reduce heart disease and possibly cancer, the claims are not supported by research data. It is true that consuming liquid plant based oils lowers the cholesterol, but with the possible exception of olive oil, polyunsaturated oils are associated with an increased cancer and death rates in large population studies (Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group,1982; Shaten, 1997).
We assume that lowering cholesterol is healthy; however, it is usually a surrogate marker representing a hypothesized improvement in health. A short term apparent reduction in cholesterol levels or other illness markers may mask the long term harm. Only long term outcome studies which measure the total death rate– not just from one disease being studied but from all causes of death–provides the objective results. When looking at the results over a longer time period, there appears to be no correlation between fat intake and heart disease. In fact lowering fat intake seems to be associated with poorer long term health as described in the outstanding book, The Big Fat Surprise–Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, by the science writer, Nina Teichol. Her superb investigative reporting describes in detail the flawed and biased research that underpinned the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations to reduce animal fats and use more plant based oils.
What should I eat now?
Diet recommendations used to be simple: Reduce animal fat intake and eat more plants. Now, there are no simple recommendations because they may depend upon your genetics (e.g., digestion of milk depends whether you are lactose tolerant or intolerant), your epigenetics (e.g., maternal malnutrition during your embryological development is a major risk for developing heart disease in later life), your physical and social activities (e.g., exercise reduces the risk for many diseases), and environment. The recent popularity of the hunter and gatherer diet, often known as the paleo diet, is challenging–it may depends on your ancestors. What hunter and gatherers ate depended upon geography and availability of food sources. The Inuit’s diet in the Arctic consisted of 90% meat/fish diet while the !Kung Bushman’ diet from the Kalahari desert in Africa consisted of less than a 15% meat/fish diet as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The food content of hunter gatherers varied highly depending on geography. From: Jabr, F. (2013). How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked. Scientific American, June 3.
Use common sense to make food choices.
- Eat only those foods which in the course of evolution have been identified as foods. This means eating a variety of plants based foods (fruits, tubers, leaves, stems, nuts, etc.) and more organ meats. Ask yourself what foods did your forefathers/mothers ate that supported survival and reproductive success. Carnivores usually ate the internal organs first and often would leave the muscles for scavengers.
- Eat like your great, great grandparents. They were not yet brainwashed by the profit incentives of agribusiness and pharmaceutical industry. For more information, read the outstanding books by Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.
- If possible eat only organically grown/raised foods. Non organic foods usually contain low levels of pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics and hormones which increases the risk of cancer (Reuben, 2010). They may also also contain fewer nutrients such as essential minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants (Barański et al, 2014). The beneficial effects of organic foods have been challenging to demonstrate because it may take many years to show a difference. Preliminary data strongly suggests that organic foods as compared to non organic foods increases longevity, improves fertility and enhances survival during starvation (Chhabra, Kolli, & Bauer, 2013). For more information, see my blog, Live longer, enhance fertility and increase stress resistance: Eat Organic foods.
- Adapt the precautionary principle and assume that any new and artificially produced additives or chemically processed foods–most of the foods in boxes and cans in the central section of the supermarket–contain novel materials which have not been part of our historical dietary experience. These foods may be harmful over the long term and our bodies not yet know how to appropriately digest such foods such as trans fats (Kummerow, 2009).
- Be doubtful of dietary recommendations especially if you know of counter examples and exceptions. For example, the low fat diet recommendations could not explain the French or Swiss paradox (high butter and cheese intake and low heart disease rates). If examples exist, the popular dogma is incomplete or possibly wrong. Be skeptical about any health food claims. Ask who has funded the research, who decides whether a food can have a label that states “it is heart health” and can prevent a disease, and who would benefit if more of this food is sold.
My final comments on nutrition (source unknown).
- The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
- The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
- The French eat lots of butter and drink alcohol and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
- The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
- The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
- The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
Conclusion
Eat and drink what you like especially if you enjoy it with company…speaking English is apparently what kills you!
References:
Jabr, F. (2013). How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked. Scientific American, June 3.http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/
Kummerow, F. A. (2009). The negative effects of hydrogenated trans fats and what to do about them. Atherosclerosis, 205(2), 458-465.http://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150%2809%2900208-1/abstract
Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group. (1982). Multiple risk factor intervention trial. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 248(12), 1465-1477. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=377969
Pollan, M. (2006). The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN: 1594200823
Pollan, M. (2009). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN: 978-0143114963
Reuben, S. H. (2010). Reducing environmental cancer risk: what we can do now. DIANE Publishing. http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf
Shaten, B. J., Kuller, L. H., Kjelsberg, M. O., Stamler, J., Ockene, J. K., Cutler, J. A., & Cohen, J. D. (1997). Lung cancer mortality after 16 years in MRFIT participants in intervention and usual-care groups. Annals of epidemiology, 7(2), 125-136. http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797%2896%2900123-8/abstract
Teicholz, N. (2014). The big fat surprise-Why butter, meat & cheese belong in a healthy diet. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBM 978-1-4516-2442-7 http://www.thebigfatsurprise.com/
the peper perspective 