Digital Scryer

I was looking at this article from the Alternative Medicine Blog about Metabolic Syndrome X today when researching reasons that my friend couldn’t lose weight. My comments are in bold italics.

Syndrome X also known as metabolic syndrome is a condition that has at its center insulin resistance and at least 3 of the other 5 diagnostic criteria. These other criteria according to Steinbaum (2004) are:

Insulin resistance is a big part of obesity and diabetes, the potential for it scares the heck out of me.

-Abdominal obesity, waist circumference of 40 inches or more for men, 35 inches or more for women.
-Elevated triglycerides, >150mg/dL
-Lowered HDL cholesterol, <40mg/dL men, <50mg/gL women)
-Hypertension, >130/85mmHg
-And elevated fasting glucose levels. >110mg/dl (but this number was lowered to
100mg/dL since Steinbaum wrote her paper)

These are all symptoms that I personally have had at one time or another, except hypertension.

Insulin resistance happens when target tissue are unable to respond adequately to proper insulin level. Because these cells are unresponsive, B-cells of Langerhans secrete more insulin, starting a viscous cycle because as resistance worsens, secretion increases.

I’ve read many times in the works of Dr. Joseph Mercola, that one of the main causes of insulin resistance is too many grains or grain based foods in our diets.

Steinbaum (2004) calls the overproduction of glucose by the liver, the impaired peripheral glucose utilization, and the increased production of fatty acids the “hallmarks of metabolic syndrome”.

Once the beta cells can no longer maintain the high rate of insulin production, we find an increase in hepatic glucose production in both, the fasting state and after a meal, with decreased glucose absorption, eventually leading to type II diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the less scary of the diabetes, being preventable and even “curable” with proper diet and exercise.

The abnormal fatty acid metabolism and increased abdominal obesity also lead to an increase in glucose production. The intra-abdominal adipose tissue does not react to insulin. Because of that, it undergoes lipolysis creating free fatty acids. Once in the liver, these free fatty acids churn up glucose production and for triglycerides. Everything I just described, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and visceral body fat are found in syndrome X. Moreover, this mechanism is ultimately responsible for coronary disease.

A vicious cycle; insulin resistance makes you fatter, getting fatter increases insulin resistance.

One theory connects hyperinsulinemia with cardiovascular disease because of an increase in the hypercoagulable state and because insulin affects thrombosis. Impaired glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia contribute to impaired fibrinilysis. This can be observed by increased levels of plasminogen activation inhibitor-1 antigen (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA). PAI-1 prevents clot dissolution by inhibiting t-PA and research shows that these factors contribute to coronary artery disease.

More reasons that heart disease is our number one killer.

According to Garvey and Hermayer, (1998) the clinical implications are the following:

There is not one single standardized test for the metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome should lead to careful screening and monitoring of other co-conditions.
Patients with metabolic syndrome require more aggressive treatment for the cardiovascular risk profile.

This makes sense. Monitoring other co-conditions is of great importance, especially when you’re on your way to being healthy.

Drug therapy to avoid worsening of metabolic syndrome

Primary goal of treatment is to normalize all abnormalities that are associated with metabolic syndrome.

From my POV, embracing natural treatments/diet and exercise to gain control of these symptoms is the best way to go, at least in the long run.

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

For a couple of great books on how to beat Metabolic Syndrome X check out Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease or The Metabolic Syndrome Program: How to Lose Weight, Beat Heart Disease, Stop Insulin Resistance and More

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Technorati Tags: B Cells, Beta Cells, Diabetes Type 2, Dr Joseph Mercola, Fatty Acid Metabolism, Fatty Acids, Glucose Levels, Glucose Production, Glucose Utilization, Insulin Level, Insulin Production, Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, Metabolic Syndrome X, Proper Diet, Syndrome X, Type Ii Diabetes, Waist Circumference

If this doesn’t make you think of a morally gray area, I don’t know what will.

This story was published recently about a man who attempted to rob a convenience store for 40 dollars to pay for his insulin. The clerk instead gave him 40 dollars out of his own pocket, the man thanked him and shook his hand before fleeing.

The fact that the man asked for such a specific dollar amount instead of the typical “Gimme all the money!” with accompanying curse words, leads me to believe that he was telling the truth. Along with the fact that he briefly stayed to thank the clerk before escaping.

Attempting to rob a place is wrong, hence the law getting involved, but does the fact that he literally did it because he didn’t want to die make it okay? I’m not entirely solid in my knowledge of welfare and health care assistance in the state of Arkansas, but I’m thinking that the fact that you can get health care assistance for things like this needs to be WAY more publicized than it is. If nothing more than that people in rough patches will know that there is a place to go for help.

If there isn’t a system to help people out like this down there, then there damn well should be.

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Technorati Tags: Care Assistance, Convenience Store, Diabetes, Health Assistance, Health Care, Insulin, Money, State Of Arkansas, Welfare

For almost FIFTY YEARS we’ve been fighting this war, and it’s one of the biggest piles of crap humans have ever wasted time and money on. Cancer is now killing 1 in every 2 men and 1 in every 3 women, numbers that are constantly and ridiculously on the rise.

Every year now you hear of a promising new treatment in the field of cancer, and then you NEVER hear about it again. They either get suppressed, or just blacked out of the media. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?! Oh right, I forgot, cancer is a trillion dollar industry and everyone’s in on it.

The food companies play their part by forcing all kinds of chemically laden garbage down our gluttonous gullets. “It doesn’t matter if it’s safe or not, we’ll just BRIBE those corruptible buggers at the FDA! CHA-CHING!!” They have their lobbyists and other politicos head off legislatures that are bad for their profit margins at the cost of YOUR health.

Then they pay off all kinds of scientists and other scholars to say their garbage is safe. “Oh science says NutraSweet is safe and good for you! Our studies prove it and the FDA signed off on it.” Well then why does everyone I know get horrible headaches from eating ANYTHING with that crap in it? “Oh cancer, obesity, and myriad other diseases are on the rise, but it can’t be OUR fault, the scientists we bribed/threatened to destroy said so.”

Then there are the medicos, I’m all for emergency medicine. If I have a pipe impaling me through the chest, I’d rather no one be there more than an ER surgeon or doctor of internal medicine, but for everything else? I’ll stick with alternative therapies thanks.

Consider the metric ass-load of evidence that alternative therapies DO work in scientific settings, not just the anecdotal evidence of literally billions of people that have been helped over time without “much needed” drugs and surgery.

“Doctor I have a headache.” “Oh you must have an aspirin deficiency.”

Sorry folks but that ain’t quite how it works, yet this is the type of conversation and thought process you can expect from most doctors. Now don’t get me wrong, I have friends who are docs and I respect anyone with the self discipline to go through med-school, but they are as corruptible and as human as anyone else.

New drug comes on the market, Doctors get sent info about the drug, what it’s supposed to do, and a fat bonus cheque for everyone they get to use it. So OF COURSE they’re going to suggest it to everyone who comes in with the problem said drug is supposed to fix, they’re people in business trying to make a buck just like you and me. Welcome to capitalism.

What needs to happen is change, REAL change. A charity or organization set up to actually look at and expand upon all these successful alternative therapies and treatments, not to mention the better treatments created by mainstream science and then suppressed.

Either that or the government that we elect as a democratic society, who are SUPPOSED to have our best interests at heart, need to actually grow a pair and stand up for their people. Maybe saying something to the American and Canadian Cancer Associations like “If significant results are not shown in the next 2 years to cure cancer, we are pulling ALL of your funding and giving it to people who can actually use it to help the world instead of just trying to bleed it dry.”

This isn’t just cancer either, AIDs is another big one, not to mention diabetes, I just focused on cancer because my big sister died of it in 96 and it’s had a large impact on my life. Things need to change people, WE need to change. I don’t want to raise my daughter in a world like this, but I can’t do it alone.

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Technorati Tags: AIDs, Alternative Medicine, Alternative Therapies, American Cancer Association, Bribes, Cancer, Capitalism, Democracy, Diabetes, FDA, Food Companies, Industry, NutraSweet, Obesity, War On Cancer

The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism released this info on how excessive drinking can lead to metabolic syndrome.

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Those who drink in excess of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines (i.e., men who usually drink more than two drinks per day or women who usually drink more than one drink per day) or those who binge drink are at increased risk for the metabolic syndrome, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

The metabolic syndrome consists of a series of risk factors and conditions that are strongly related to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. These conditions include obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

“These findings are significant because the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey shows 58 percent of all current drinkers in the United States reported usual alcohol consumption that exceeded the Dietary Guidelines, and 52 percent of all current drinkers reported at least one episode of binge drinking in the past year,” said Amy Fan, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, Ga., and lead author of the study. “Most people who consume alcohol in the United States drink in ways that may increase their risk of the metabolic syndrome and related conditions.”

For this study, Dr. Fan and other researchers evaluated data from 1,529 participants of the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They restricted their analysis to current drinkers (participants who consumed at least 12 alcoholic drinks in 12 months) aged 20 to 84 years. The survey included both an interview and a physical examination that included a blood test. Measures of alcohol consumption included usual quantity consumed, drinking frequency, and frequency of binge drinking.

“Since more than half of current drinkers in our study drank in excess of the Dietary Guidelines limits and reported binge drinking, prevention efforts should focus on reducing alcohol consumption to safer levels,” said Dr. Fan. “Unfortunately, few physicians screen their patients about alcohol use or are knowledgeable about guidelines that define low-risk or moderate drinking.”

Dr. Fan went on to say that public health messages should emphasize the potential cardiometabolic risk associated with drinking in excess of national guidelines and binge drinking.

Other researchers working on the study include Timothy Naimi, Yan Li, Youlian Liao, Ruth Jiles, and Ali Mokdad of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, in Atlanta, Ga., and Marcia Russell of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, Calif.

The article “Patterns of Alcohol Consumption and the Metabolic Syndrome,” will appear in the October issue of JCEM, a publication of The Endocrine Society.
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Essentially this proves the old adage that drinking gives you a beer belly. Not to mention the myriad of other bad things that come with drinking AT ALL let alone too much, so knock it off.

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Technorati Tags: Alcoholism, Diabetes, Drinking, High Blood Pressure, hypertension, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity

OBJECTIVES: This study determined whether the incidence of diabetes is reduced among physically active older women. METHODS: We assessed physical activity by mailed questionnaire and 12-year incidence of diabetes (ostensibly type 2 diabetes) in a cohort of 34257 women aged 55 to 69 years. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, education, smoking, alcohol intake, estrogen use, dietary variables, and family history of diabetes, women who reported any physical activity had a relative risk of diabetes of 0.69 (95% confidence interval = 0.63, 0.77) compared with sedentary women. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that physical activity is important for type 2 diabetes prevention among older women.

http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1/134

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Time for some older news, the above abstract comes from The American Journal of Public Health in January of ‘00. I found it and decided to post it because Diabetes (especially the type 2 variety) runs rampant in both sides of my family, who admittedly is full of members (mostly women) who run the gamut from overweight to obese.

My kid sister, who really isn’t a kid anymore, recently started a light weight loss program to ease herself into it. She was starting to get severely worried about her weight, appearance, propensity for diabetes and heart disease, and her cholesterol after a recent trip to the doctor.

Back on track, this study basically scientifically confirms common sense advice. Exercise is good for you and great for helping to prevent and even reverse diabetes. Remember the huge dude from the movie Super Size Me? His gastric bypass cured his diabetes and hypertension as shown in the ending credits, with photos in which he looked quite strapping. While I wouldn’t recommend gastric bypass for everyone, or anyone really, it goes to show what dropping significant weight can do for you.

Many studies over the years say to do a half hour of exercise 3 times a week. That’s an hour and a half of not being a couch potato. The problem most people have is that they stop pushing themselves. You ALWAYS have to feel the burn or be out of breath, otherwise it’s not exercise. When a physical routine stops making you feel the burn (or at least feeling the burn intensely) then it’s time to make it harder or longer or both.

A Japanese scientist by the name of Dr. Izumi Tabata recently discovered that going all out for a couple minutes and then slowing down for a third the time for a breath, then hitting it hard again rapidly puts your body into top physical shape. This is accomplished by reaching, and maintaining, a balance in your aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms. Speed skaters train this way, and while it’s not as effective as power lifting training for putting on strength and muscle mass, it’s best for general physical shape.

An example of doing this would be to hit the bike or sprint all out for twenty seconds, then slow down to a crawl for cool down, then hit it again for another twenty seconds. Tabata’s studies showed this to be super effective at even four minutes a day with a four minute cool down at the end. This pretty much completely defeats the “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse favored by so many.

While there are many factors contributing to diabetes, especially dietary components, keeping fit is one of the best ways to help tackle this epidemic, especially if you just can’t keep from having another bite.

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Technorati Tags: American Journal of Public Health, cholesterol, Diabetes, Exercise, Gastric Bypass, heart disease, hypertension, Izumi Tabata, Super Size Me, Weightloss, Women