What I’m Working On: biomedical/genetic engineering using CRISPR-Cas9 and similar systems; content on senescence and expiring senescent cells (via autophagy/apoptosis) using hormetic stress; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), TYPE 3 DIABETES MELLITUS (T3DM), and hyperinsulinemia; and cancer developing from related insulin resistance and inflammation.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick recently returned to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (#1178) to talk about some of her more recent research, especially as it relates to her concerns about the “Carnivore Diet” fad. I highly recommend listening to the podcast.
Here is a great excerpt on Autoimmune Diseases, Therapeutic Fasting, Ketogenic Dieting, the Gut Microbiome, Antibiotics, Cancer Prevention/Treatment, and the Placebo & Nocebo Effect:
Here is a link to the full, 3-hour podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M8X_bs_fzI
Just a quick thought I had: if we are now able–with an increasing degree of success–to genetically modify and instruct a person’s immune system to identify and attack specific cancers, and if Type 1 Diabetes is basically an autoimmune disorder where a person’s immune system attacks the beta cells in their pancreas–thereby preventing insulin production–why can’t we use a similar immunotherapy approach for T1DM?
“Firstly, insulin has long been available, so there has not been a big push from clinicians for a new therapy. Patients must regularly check their blood sugar level and calculate the amount of insulin to inject but if they can manage this indefinitely, it is possible to lead a relatively normal life” [. . .]
“a 5-year-old child diagnosed with T1DM faces up to 19,000 injections and 50,000 finger pricks by the time they are 18 years old. About 80% of people with T1DM do not control their blood sugar levels well enough to avoid the increased risk of long-term complications such as heart disease and stroke. An immunotherapy would not be a ‘cure’ for T1DM, but it could be given by injection, perhaps every two months, making it dramatically easier for patients to manage their disease, and so improving their health in the long term.
Another major reason for the absence of licensed immunotherapies is that clinicians have not been keen to refer patients with T1DM on to trials of this class of drug, says Dayan, who also heads the clinical engagement and training core of the T1DM UK Immunotherapy Consortium, an organisation set up in 2015 with funding from Diabetes UK and the JDRF to promote, develop and support immunotherapy research in T1DM. Partly, he says, this has been down to a lack of understanding among diabetes specialists that new-generation immunotherapies have fewer unpleasant — and potentially dangerous — side effects than older immune-suppressing drugs. “So now you move from a position where people have to come in for an [intravenous] infusion of a drug that makes you shiver and shake and feel unpleasant, to an injection given every two months — and it’s way easier than insulin,” he says.
The third factor has been a relative lack of engagement from pharmaceutical companies, Dayan adds.”
My subsequent thought: there is good/reliable money to be made in TREATING diabetes using the current business model.
However, there IS hope. Let’s drill in a bit further on this concept and explore promising approaches like the PCG Vaccine, as an example.
Added 9/30/2018 10:00 AM
Human study re-ignites debate over controversial diabetes “cure”
* TB vaccine seen attacking disease-caused autoimmunity
* Long-term type 1 diabetes patients produce insulin again
* Effect lasts for a week, further trials to boost dosing
[…] A controversial experimental cure for type 1 diabetes, using a tuberculosis vaccine invented a century ago, appears to temporarily vanquish the disease
[…] If the findings do hold up, however, they would mean that the generic bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, in use since 1921, can regenerate insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas
[…] “We think we’re seeing early evidence of effectiveness,” said immunology researcher Denise Faustman of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the trial. “This simple, inexpensive vaccine attacks the autoimmunity underlying type 1 diabetes.”
Source: https://www.jdrf.ca/news-and-media/press-room/human-study-re-ignites-debate-over-controversial-diabetes-cure/
Immunotherapy: BCG Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) – Denise Faustman MD, PhD
Also, there are dietary/lifestyle approaches being used to successfully treat Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Here is a brief recent example highlighting various resources (Andrew Kautnik:
Keto for Type 1 Diabetes (T1DM) – Dr. Dominic D’Agostino
Additionally,
Dr. Jake Kushner – Medical nutrition therapy for people with type 1 diabetes – fact vs. fiction:
Added 9/19/2018 11:00 AM
Keto for Cancer with Miriam Kalamian, EdM, MS, CNS:
Miriam Kalamian is a nutrition consultant, educator, and author specializing in the implementation of ketogenic therapies. She earned her master of education (EdM) from Smith College and her master of human nutrition (MS) from Eastern Michigan University. She is board certified in nutrition (CNS) by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists.
Inspired by the work of Thomas N. Seyfried, PhD, Miriam draws on a decade of experience to provide comprehensive guidelines that specifically address the many diet and lifestyle challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis.
Miriam is a leading voice in the keto movement. Her passion for helping others implement this diet comes directly from her personal experience. Her son Raffi was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 2004. Standard of care therapies failed to stop the relentless progression of his disease, and it became painfully clear that she needed to switch gears quickly. That is what originally led her to Dr. Thomas Seyfried’s research supporting the use of the ketogenic diet for cancer.
Source: https://www.dietarytherapies.com/miriam-kalamian/
Video Source: High Intensity Health/Mike Mutzel, MS – https://www.youtube.com/user/highintensityhealth/
Added 1/22/2018 11:30 AM
Quick primer on CRISPR-Cas9: People tend to think of technological advancement as occurring linearly (advancing at the same rate over time), rather than exponentially (e.g., Moore’s law). There is a major technological revolution underway in the area of genetic and biomedical engineering, and the advancement is occurring exponentially. Not only has this already been going on for a few years, but we are about to realize significant advancement in the application of this technology in shorter and shorter amounts of time (exponential), and it’s largely because of CRISPR-Cas9. This affects you, your loved ones, your pets, your food, and much more of your world in general, so you better pay attention and get comfortable with the inevitable reality of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). In fact, it is likely you will become a GMO (sooner than you think) if you remain alive for another decade or so. If you don’t think this is about you, know that it is certainly about your kids and the generations that follow. I urge you to watch this YouTube playlist of videos I created. Be sure to watch the other playlist on Tissue Nano-Transfection (TNT), as well. This is next-level now. . . .
Biohacking / CRISPR-Cas9:
Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT):
In 2012 and 2013, CRISPR was a runner-up in Science Magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year award. In 2015, it was the winner of that award. CRISPR was named as one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 breakthrough technologies in 2014 and 2016. In 2016, Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuel Charpentier, along with Rudolph Barrangou, Philippe Horvath, and Feng Zhang won the Gairdner International award. In 2017, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuel Charpentier were awarded the Japan Prize for their revolutionary invention of CRISPR-Cas9 in Tokyo, Japan. (source: Wikipedia)
Emmanuelle Charpentier: 2017 Breakthrough Prize Symposium
Quick primer on Type 3 Diabetes Mellitus (T3DM): T3DM is built-up insulin resistance and related inflammation in the brain. Evidence is mounting and revealing this “diabetes of the brain” is what leads to [is] degenerative dementias, Alzheimer’s disease being one of the most common forms. More on this soon. – Bobby
Added 12/18/2017 12:30 PM
Dr. Eric Verdin & Dr. Rhonda Patrick – Interview Excerpts:
“The most remarkable thing we saw is that these older mice on the ketogenic diet showed actually better memory than younger mice, and we did not see the loss of memory function that one would normally see associated with the aging process.” – EricVerdin
Eric M. Verdin, M.D. is the fifth president and chief executive officer of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and is a professor of Medicine at UCSF. Dr. Verdin’s laboratory focuses on the role of epigenetic regulators in the aging process, the role of metabolism and diet in aging and on the chronic diseases of aging, including Alzheimer’s, proteins that play a central role in linking caloric restriction to increased healthspan, and more recently a topic near and dear to many of you, ketogenesis. He’s held faculty positions at the University of Brussels, the NIH and the Picower Institute for Medical Research.
See the full interview embedded on The Deep End page.
Added: 12/14/2017 8:45 AM
Traditional Dietary Guidelines Questioned – Example Bias
Added the above testimony excerpt from the HPCSA vs. Professor Tim Noakes trial to the LCHF on Trial page.
12/07/2017 8:30 AM
“Carbohydrates restriction was particularly successful before the discovery of insulin, where Elliot P. Joslin successfully treated his patients diagnosed with fatty diabetes (later known as type 2 diabetes) with a diet that contained only 2 % carbohydrates and 75 % fat. His eccentric diet was reincarnated later as the Atkins diet. Such extreme reduction of carbohydrates, despite being successful in treating type 2 diabetes, was shown to be associated with side effects like constipation, headache, bad breath, and muscle cramps. Although the amount of carbohydrates intake was significantly relaxed after the insulin discovery, it never exceeded 40 % of daily caloric intake—an amount that was shown to reduce the glucose and triglycerides area under the curve by around 40 %. Since 2003, many clinical trials confirmed that reducing carbohydrates was superior to reducing fat in decreasing body weight and in improving glycemic control. It was later shown that reducing carbohydrates for patients with diabetes improves insulin sensitivity, reduces visceral fat and triglycerides, and increases HDL-cholesterol. More recently, a metaanalysis showed that reducing carbohydrates load and glycemic index was associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.“ – Osama Hamdy, MD, PhD, FACE, Medical Director, Obesity Clinical Program, Director of Inpatient Diabetes Management, Joslin Diabetes Center, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
(Joslin Diabetes Center is an independent, non-profit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and one of only 11 NIH-designated Diabetes Research Centers in the U.S.)
Read the full publication and more on the Diabetes page.
Added: 12/05/2017 11:30 AM – Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Low Carbohydrate Diets Can Prevent and Treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Hyperinsulinemia
“It is nonsensical that we’re expected to prescribe these techniques to our patients while the medical guidelines don’t include another better, safer and far cheaper method: a diet low in carbohydrates.
Once a fad diet, the safety and efficacy of the low-carb diet have now been verified in more than 40 clinical trials on thousands of subjects. Given that the government projects that one in three Americans (and one in two of those of Hispanic origin) will be given a diagnosis of diabetes by 2050, it’s time to give this diet a closer look.”
[…]
“Encouraging patients with diabetes to eat a high-carb diet is effectively a prescription for ensuring a lifelong dependence on medication.
At the annual diabetes association convention in New Orleans this summer, there wasn’t a single prominent reference to low-carb treatment among the hundreds of lectures and posters publicizing cutting-edge research. Instead, we saw scores of presentations on expensive medications for blood sugar, obesity and liver problems, as well as new medical procedures, including that stomach-draining system, temptingly named AspireAssist, and another involving “mucosal resurfacing” of the digestive tract by burning the inside of the duodenum with a hot balloon.
We owe our patients with diabetes more than a lifetime of insulin injections and risky surgical procedures. To combat diabetes and spare a great deal of suffering, as well as the $322 billion in diabetes-related costs incurred by the nation each year, doctors should follow a version of that timeworn advice against doing unnecessary harm …”
(more)
Added: 11/18/2017 10:30 AM – Insulin Resistance!
Aside from the well-established therapeutic benefits of fasting (see Why I Fast), there is probably not a more important consideration for your overall “healthspan” than insulin resistance and the problems it can create as you age.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Sir Winston Churchill
Noakes: It’s time to change, to take charge of our health
The Most Important Test Your Doctor Isn’t Doing: A Hyperinsulinemia Test (aka Hyperinsulinemia Workup)
Hyperinsulinemia is a condition in which there are excess levels of insulin circulating in the blood relative to the level of glucose. While it is often mistaken for diabetes or hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinemia can result from a variety of metabolic diseases and conditions.
Persistent hyperinsulinaemia in insulin resistance, whether or not associated with Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), produces a collection of grave secondary consequences, listed below:
- Weight gain
- Increased fat in the abdominal organs (visceral adiposity)
- High blood pressure
- Abnormal blood fat, glucose and insulin concentrations (atherogenic dyslipidaemia)
- Elevated blood uric acid concentrations (gout)
- Impaired ability of arteries to dilate (endothelial dysfunction)
- Whole body inflammation
- Dysfunction of the mitochondria (cellular organs that produce energy)
- Progressive increases in insulin resistance (insulin-induced insulin resistance)
- Impaired exercise performance
Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia are the necessary biological precursors definitely for four–and perhaps for all six–of the most prevalent chronic medical conditions of our time.
These conditions are:
- Obesity
- Arterial disease – local: Heart attack or stroke, disseminated: Type-2 diabetes mellitus
- High blood pressure
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
- Cancer
- Dementia (Alzheimers’ disease, also known at Type 3 diabetes)
I will be back to write/quote/link much more on this later, but for now here are some videos I edited to go along with the content. I urge you to watch or listen to these!
Insulin Resistance is from High Carbohydrate Diets
Insulin Resistance Causes Metabolic Syndrome Leading to Many Common Conditions and Diseases
Insulin Resistance and NAFLD
Diabetes and High Carbohydrate Diets
Insulin Resistance and Cancer? (it’s coming…)
Added: 11/13/2017 12:30 PM – High Cholesterol
Many nutritionists with a formal western education believe that conventional nutrition “wisdom” needn’t be questioned. One of the most strongly protected pieces of nutritional wisdom is that saturated fat is bad for you and will clog your arteries. The overwhelming majority of professionals in western medicine believe this to be true (because it’s what they were taught in school), but is it really?
The role of saturated fats in heart disease is a hot-button topic in nutrition today. This hasn’t made its way into the mainstream media flow (think for a moment about all the commercials for weight loss products, food, and drugs; all the money made on medical visits and procedures, and by facilities), but many of the top minds in science and medicine today are being forced to re-examine Ancel Keys’ unproven lipid hypothesis (several decades ago he hypothesized that dietary saturated fat coronary heart disease/cardiovascular disease).
High Cholesterol on Trial: Fear Sure is Lucrative, but…
Added: 11/10/2017 11:45 AM – LCHF on Trial
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
This is just the first part of a pretty long video deposition by Tim Noakes during his recent trial–which he won–and serves as a very informative and evidence-based presentation on the legitimacy of a Low Carb, High Fat (LCHF) dietary approach to helping people prevent and treat or cure Type-2 diabetes, as well as other chronic diseases related to the long term development of greater and greater insulin resistance; it is extremely compelling.
I will be posting more of this content, and more on this subject as I have time. There are several other videos on the linked page as well (must see).
LCHF on Trial Part 1
Added: 10/20/2017 11:15 AM 21-Day Fast – Longer-term fasts are a thing. Millions of people around the world fast periodically, religiously. 21-day fasts seem to be the most common implementation in my culture, largely due to religious influence. I know people who undertake a 21-day fast each year as an organized group effort in their local (to me) Christian “mega church” of about 20,000 members (starting on the 1st Sunday in January each year). One of the people I know who does this happens to be one of the most well-rounded and capable athletic people I’ve known and been around regularly (weekly) for the past 5+ years.
So, let’s hear from a well-respected and well-published former NASA scientist in his 23rd day of a water-only fast: Ray Cronise (a great interview).
Ray Cronise on Cold Thermogenesis, Intermittent Fasting, Weight Loss & Healthspan:
Added: 10/20/2017 10:15 AM Sodium Levels – Higher levels of salt are often necessary (along with supplementing other important electrolytes, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium) while fasting and in ketosis. A low carbohydrate diet is naturally diuretic, as is caffeine, so your body will be excreting more salt. Furthermore, have a look at the subsequent section on the “The myth of the low-salt diet”
Added: 10/19/2017 6:30 PM – Living Education – As has been said: in this age of information, ignorance is a choice. Examples of two FREE courses available from Harvard:
Principles of Biochemistry
https://www.edx.org/course/principles-biochemistry-harvardx-mcb63x-1
This course explores the molecules of life, starting with building blocks and culminating in complex metabolism and associated diseases.
Cell Biology: Mitochondria
https://www.edx.org/course/cell-biology-mitochondria-harvardx-mcb64-1x-0
A human-centered approach to the fundamentals of cell biology with a focus on the power plants of the cell – mitochondria.
Added: 10/15/2017 12:00 PM (to The Deep End) Fat: Storing(insulin) vs. Burning/Wasting(ketones)
Added: 10/13/2017 12:30 PM
It’s breast cancer awareness month. I wanted to provide some additional information related to Intermittent Fasting (or “Time Restricted Feeding”) to help prevent breast cancer.
Breast Cancer and Fasting:
In patients with breast cancer, a short overnight fast of less than 13 hours was associated with a statistically significant, 36 percent higher risk of breast cancer recurrence and a non-significant, 21 percent higher probability of death from the disease compared to patients who fasted 13 or more hours per night, report University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers.
The study, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology on March 31, also found a non-significant, 22 percent higher risk of mortality from any cause among patients with breast cancer who fasted for shorter periods compared to those who fasted for 13 hours or more overnight.
Researchers also reported that fasting fewer hours per night was associated with significantly less sleep and higher levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), which is a measure of average blood sugar levels over a period of months. These findings are relevant to cancer prevention and control efforts because elevated HbA1c and poor sleeping habits have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. These findings corroborate a paper published in April 2015, in which researchers demonstrated that shorter overnight fasts were associated with worse blood sugar control.
“Prolonging the overnight fasting interval may be a simple, non-pharmacological strategy for reducing a person’s risk of breast cancer recurrence and even other cancers,” said Catherine Marinac, lead author and doctoral candidate at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. “Previous research has focused on what to eat for cancer prevention, but when we eat may also matter because it appears to affect metabolic health.”
The study included 2,413 non-diabetic breast cancer survivors between the age of 27 and 70 who participated in a multi-institutional research study conducted between 1995 and 2007, with follow up for breast cancer recurrence and mortality. Participants were 86 percent non-Hispanic white and 55 percent were college educated.
“If future trials confirm that habitual prolonged nightly fasting improves metabolic health, this would be an important discovery in prevention that could reduce the risk of cancers, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease,” said Ruth Patterson, PhD, senior author and leader of the cancer prevention program at Moores Cancer Center.
Study: Prolonged Nightly Fasting and Breast Cancer Prognosis – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2506710?resultClick=1
9/25/2017 11:00 AM – We all know someone who is dealing with or has dealt with brain cancer. I wanted to provide some information related to Fasting, Ketosis, and the Ketogenic Diet to help stunt and thwart various brain cancers. There is actually a good bit of information on this type of adjuvant therapy, especially for the more common Glioblastomas (GBM). Fasting and Brain Cancer
9/21/2017 7:00 PM – I created a new “Notes” resource to share miscellaneous information with people who have specific questions. This resource is password protected because it is just for people with whom I am interacting. It would be like me emailing someone specific information, or handing them my personal notebook to show them something we are discussing.
9/19/2017 11:00 AM – We all know someone who is dealing with or has dealt with breast cancer. I wanted to provide some information related to Intermittent Fasting (or “Time Restricted Feeding”) to help prevent breast cancer. Though it begins with excerpts from two publication, be sure to watch the podcast interview by Dr. Rhonda Patrick with Dr. Ruth Patterson.
9/6/2017 11:00 AM – Opinion concerning Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet: I think Intermittent Fasting and Shorter-term Fasting (2-4 days) are much more important for health and wellness concerns than trying to adhere to a ketogenic diet. I get the sense that Ketogenic Dieting will become a fad in the mainstream soon, but unless you spend the time to research it well, follow it strictly, and test/monitor/confirm a personal state of ketosis, it’s probably not going to yield the body composition changes possible (keep/build muscle!), nor yield the advantages of a higher metabolism via mitochondrial biogenesis. You will realize great benefits just from fasting periodically, and eating a reasonable diet (perhaps a “Modified Atkins diet,” or a “Mediterranean diet” would be a better solution). That being said, if you have serious health concerns, such as seizures, cancer, et al., fasting and/or a ketogenic diet, or even a “fasting mimicking diet,” are super important (see Why I Fast).
9/6/2017 9:30 AM – I am beginning to make some changes to the structure of this site as it evolves. Previously, the home page was a blog post on Fasting from back in early August, but I have migrated that content to a dedicated page and menu item (above).
I want to use this home page for my latest updates, and to set some expectations concerning future content. As time permits, I will be posting more about:
Meditation – From my personal pursuits/practices over the past nine years.
Stoicism – I often describe myself as a stoic, or having a natural stoic disposition. What do I mean by that, and how might someone else find a practical application of stoic philosophy useful in everyday life? In clinical settings, modern-day stoicism is applied as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), but stoicism ultimately has its roots in mindfulness; so from mindfulness -> to stoicism -> to CBT today.
Breathing – You may find it mentioned here that I have daily “go to” breathing practices I use. I will expound on this soon.
Cold Exposure Therapy – You may find it mentioned here that I take advantage of Cold Exposure Therapy (Heat Shock Therapy, as well). I will expound on this soon.
There is more, but the aforementioned gives you an idea of where I am heading with the content here.