EPTOn May 23 2011 06:03 MoonfireSpam wrote:
*disclaimer, this is recall from quite old knowledge back in biochemistry and preclinical days, haven't revised this stuff recently at all.
As far as I know the deal with cholesterol is that it is really damn complex and nobody really knows how it works. High levels of cholesterol are associated with atherosclerosis (coronary heart disease when it happens in the arteries supplying the heart). Atherosclerosis refers to the process by which fatty deposits are formed in the arterial walls, macrophages within the artery walls play a significant role by "eating" the oxidised versions of LDL/VLDLs (one of the reasons why antioxidants are good). I can't remember why LDL get oxidised more, I think it has something to do with them being saturated fatty acids. This keeps happening in a positive feedback system over time developing into the plaques. Diabetes increases the chances of LDL oxidation happening, and the insulin resistance that goes with it may increase LDL production by the liver, basically your body loses the ability to control cholesterol levels.
Here's the kicker which is what you are getting at. Your liver is capable of producing cholesterol and it really good at it since cholesterol also forms the base for every steroid hormone in the body. Due to this, your gut is also really good at absorbing cholesterol. And as such your gut and liver generally work as a tag team to maintain decent levels of cholesterol, if you stopped eating it, your liver would take over and if you eat lots, your liver till stop producing, so dietary intake has relatively little effect on blood cholesterol unless you are consuming silly amounts. And for that reason I would say that dietary cholestrol is neither good or bad as long as it isn't in excess.
TLDR: cholesterol ok. Diet shouldn't matter too much, just don't get diabetes, and stay fit.
If by PUFA you mean "poly-unsaturated fatty acid" then I think these are still considered to be good for you. I can't remember why they are good, but these are the things that are in fish oil /' omega-fatty acid supplements etc.
The processed oils you are talkng about are "trans-fats" or "hydrogenated fats" which are indeed bad for you and are associated with arterial disease.
A few bits on cholesterol:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2889993/?tool=pubmed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21385506
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14571303
Edit: About the whole grain thing, I honestly would not take it too seriously. Gluten is only bad if you have coeliac disease. A quick pubmed search suggests whole grain products are more likely to be good than bad.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15162131 - Strong evidence suggests that whole grains among other carbs, fruits etc. are all good and managing and preventing diabetes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16670693 - "The intake of wholegrain foods clearly protects against heart disease and stroke but the exact mechanism is not clear. Fibre, magnesium, folate and vitamins B6 and vitamin E may be important. "
*disclaimer, this is recall from quite old knowledge back in biochemistry and preclinical days, haven't revised this stuff recently at all.
As far as I know the deal with cholesterol is that it is really damn complex and nobody really knows how it works. High levels of cholesterol are associated with atherosclerosis (coronary heart disease when it happens in the arteries supplying the heart). Atherosclerosis refers to the process by which fatty deposits are formed in the arterial walls, macrophages within the artery walls play a significant role by "eating" the oxidised versions of LDL/VLDLs (one of the reasons why antioxidants are good). I can't remember why LDL get oxidised more, I think it has something to do with them being saturated fatty acids. This keeps happening in a positive feedback system over time developing into the plaques. Diabetes increases the chances of LDL oxidation happening, and the insulin resistance that goes with it may increase LDL production by the liver, basically your body loses the ability to control cholesterol levels.
Here's the kicker which is what you are getting at. Your liver is capable of producing cholesterol and it really good at it since cholesterol also forms the base for every steroid hormone in the body. Due to this, your gut is also really good at absorbing cholesterol. And as such your gut and liver generally work as a tag team to maintain decent levels of cholesterol, if you stopped eating it, your liver would take over and if you eat lots, your liver till stop producing, so dietary intake has relatively little effect on blood cholesterol unless you are consuming silly amounts. And for that reason I would say that dietary cholestrol is neither good or bad as long as it isn't in excess.
TLDR: cholesterol ok. Diet shouldn't matter too much, just don't get diabetes, and stay fit.
If by PUFA you mean "poly-unsaturated fatty acid" then I think these are still considered to be good for you. I can't remember why they are good, but these are the things that are in fish oil /' omega-fatty acid supplements etc.
The processed oils you are talkng about are "trans-fats" or "hydrogenated fats" which are indeed bad for you and are associated with arterial disease.
A few bits on cholesterol:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2889993/?tool=pubmed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21385506
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14571303
Edit: About the whole grain thing, I honestly would not take it too seriously. Gluten is only bad if you have coeliac disease. A quick pubmed search suggests whole grain products are more likely to be good than bad.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15162131 - Strong evidence suggests that whole grains among other carbs, fruits etc. are all good and managing and preventing diabetes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16670693 - "The intake of wholegrain foods clearly protects against heart disease and stroke but the exact mechanism is not clear. Fibre, magnesium, folate and vitamins B6 and vitamin E may be important. "
Ugh, I don't really want to go through this again but why not one more time.
1. Looking at dietary cholesterol intake impact on specifically oLDL which is a predictor of atherogenesis there's actually a negative correlation. Those who have the highest intake of cholesterol have the lowest production of atherogenic oLDL
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15164336
This is why studies that do not distinguish between different types of blood lipids and the subclasses aren't really very useful. Oh, your LDL is high? That must mean it's bad....... when that's actually not true and if they're all bigger LDL molecules are relatively harmless.
2. The evidence vindicates saturated fats risk on heart disease.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/01/does-dietary-saturated-fat-increase.html
http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
http://www.ajcn.org/content/80/5/1175.full.pdf html <-- decreased risk in post menopausal women with increased sat fat intake
http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/2011/03/high-saturated-fat-diet-gives.html
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/78/11/1331.full.pdf
etc.
In the same line this is why whole milk is healthier than skim milk:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/12/dairy-fat-and-diabetes.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16904009
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20372173
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17925824
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11350992
Another interesting article that was ahead of its time:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934396004561
3. The inflammatory model of atherogenesis (auto-immune, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, etc.) fits the best. Inflammation leads to oxidation of the molecules within the body and increases insulin resistance.
A. Trans fats are a major cause of insulin resistance and inflammation in the body.
B. Excessive intake of refined carbohydrates, especially fructose
C. Excessive intake of Linoleic acid (in huge quatities from industrial seed and vegetable oils). Omega-6 proinflammatory biomolecule when it gets converted into other things in the body.
D. Gluten which we will talk about in a sec.
In addition, there are other various contributers via
E. High stress all the time. Stress increases insulin resistance, and production of cortisol (which decreases inflammation in short term but chronically there's a lot of negatives).
F. Lack of sleep. Increases insulin resistance, and inflammation.
G. Lack of exercise (exercise increases insulin sensitivity among other things).
H. Lack of vitamin D
Re vitamin D studies see:
http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/10/a-closer-look-at-vitamin-d/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21513491
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20216204
I. There are some other factors such as smoking etc. Check out the ACSM or AHA risk stratifcation material on exercise testing which shows the major risk factors for more details -- age, family history, cigarette smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia*, pre-diabetes, obesity (by waist circumference), sedentary are all significant risk factors.
*dislipidemia is outdated as stated above without more specifics. Pre-diabetes/diabetes are obviously an issue as stated before.
4. Gluten.
Again, celiac disease is an official diagnosis which hits somewhere like 1 in 133 of people.
But there is also such thing as gluten sensitivity which causes symptoms such as poor digestion, bloating, farting, etc. (See for more symptoms: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003123.htm).
Here are obviously some studies on emerging stuff on gluten sensitivity:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1954879/
http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2011/04/06/gut.2010.232900.abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21443726
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21392369
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21378766 <-- gluten involved with some pathogenesis of IBS
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21224837
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=when-and-why-did-everyone-stop-eati-2011-05-10
http://robbwolf.com/2011/01/12/hey-robb-this-person-said-gluten-free-diets-are-bogus/
wheat and china
http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/09/02/the-china-study-wheat-and-heart-disease-oh-my/
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/07/wheat-is-invading-china.html
Wheat may cause auto-immune development:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=911
And of course the huge review done on DGAC last year criticizing the health statements of "whole grains" (among other things listed above):
http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/PIIS0899900710002893/fulltext
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