The Harms of a High (Animal) Protein Diet: Part 1

Continuing from the last blog discussion on the metabolic syndrome . . .

Recall from the last blog that the Center for Disease Control reports that 1 in every 3 Americans suffers with the metabolic syndrome—a silent killer that leads to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  The metabolic risk factors that result from the “hyperinsulinemia” (high amount of insulin pumped out of the pancreas to overcome the “insulin resistance” of the cells) include abdominal obesity (waist circumference > 40” in men, > 35” in women), triglycerides > 150 mg/dL, low HDL cholesterol (< 40 mg/dL in men, < 50 mg/dL in women), high blood pressure > 130/85 mm Hg, and fasting glucose > 110 mg/dL.  If you have just 3 of the symptoms you are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and are at significantly higher risk for developing a heart attack or diabetes if you do not resolve the syndrome.  Also associated with the syndrome is the presence of small (dense) LDL cholesterol and inflammation.  Certainly we need to know what we can do to prevent the onslaught of this disease in America—it is preventable.  

The two recommended treatments which have the ability to reduce the risk factors and resolve the metabolic syndrome are weight-loss and exercise, both with anti-inflammatory results.  Recently there has also been a lot of discussion about the anti-inflammatory properties of certain components of many healthy foods such as the omega-3 fatty acids (in fish, walnuts and flaxseed), antioxidants (in fruits and vegetables), and a component in olive oil, as well as soluble fiber and selenium.  Therefore, a three-pronged attack to prevent the metabolic syndrome seems prudent—weight-loss, exercise, and incorporating anti-inflammatory foods in a plant and fish based diet.  Today I focus on a big concern I have regarding the weight-loss recommendation.

When you hear “weight-loss” what do you think of?  Many Americans automatically think of a diet and, if that wasn’t bad enough, they almost as automatically think that a high-protein diet is a good “healthy” solution.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  I hope you have heard by now that high-protein diets are not safe, but if you are still of the opinion that they are, read on. . .

Metabolic Syndrome Diet Recommendations

Recall from the last blog that the metabolic syndrome is a condition that has exploded in the American population in the last few years (the CDC estimates that 1 out of 3 American adults meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome) and that the syndrome is diagnosed when an individual has 3 of the following risk factors: high waist circumference (abdominal obesity), high triglycerides, high blood pressure, low HDL (good) cholesterol, high-normal blood sugar.   Recall also that individuals that have the constellation of risk factors that comprises the metabolic syndrome are at significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes.  The metabolic syndrome, which also goes by other names (Syndrome X, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, hyperinsulinemia) is resolvable with weight-loss and exercise. 

The effectiveness of the traditionally-recommended high-carbohydrate diet (55-65% carbs) for cardiovascular disease came into debate because of the evidence that at least 10-30% of the population may be "hyperinsulinemic” (they have an overproduction of insulin in response to carbohydrates) resulting in the now widely recognized Syndrome X.  Here’s how it works--             

After we eat, blood sugar level rises triggering the pancreas to secrete the hormone insulin which stimulates the body’s cells to take in and store glucose, or use it for energy.  In insulin “resistant” people, the cells become less and less sensitive to insulin, so the body pumps out more insulin (hyperinsulinemia) to do the job of getting sugar into the cells.  The excess insulin manages to keep blood glucose levels within the normal range, though usually at the upper end (called “high-normal” glucose or “impaired glucose tolerance”) so diabetes does not occur (yet).  In years past this was often overlooked by doctors, but in reality the steadily rising blood glucose measures year after year (if it was even measured at all) was often an indication that more and more insulin was being produced in an effort to keep “pushing down” the steadily rising blood sugar level.  The gradual but steadily rising blood glucose was a sign that insulin was losing the battle and having to call on more and more insulin to do the job (hyperinsulinemia).  But the patient could go home with a pat on the back that he was not, at least yet, diabetic as often other family members were (the reason for testing blood sugar in the first place, also the reason for the "good news" that blood sugar was still in the "healthy" range for this patient).  Silently, however, the consistently increasing insulin had its own metabolic cascade of effects as the blood sugar slowly climbed its way up to diabetes diagnosis anyway.  That metabolic cascade is now widely recognized as Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome, the common cluster of disordered symptoms described above (in red) which contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The CDC confirmed in a 2011 Diabetes Fact Sheet that in 2005−2008, based on fasting glucose or hemoglobin A1c levels, 35% of U.S. adults aged 20 years or older had    pre-diabetes (50% of those aged 65 years or older).

One more important note (to be continued in the next blog)—while the the Mediterranean and Syndrome X diets are lower carb (45%) than the traditionally recommended higher carbohydrate diets of the past (55-65%), they are not low carbohydrate diets.  The popular high-protein (carbo-phobic) diets recommended in many recent popular diet books are based on 30% carbs which is way too low, the physiological reasons (i.e., inducing a state of ketosis) to be discussed in a future blog.  These diets are to be avoided, at all cost (or it will cost you).  There is a kernel of truth in the high-protein diet proponents’ claims that carbohydrates in the diet are problematic.  However, they neglect to distinguish between the real culprits, simple carbohydrates, and healthy complex carbohydrates. 

It is the simple carbohydrates which Americans consume in excess that are known to affect insulin and inflammation, and there is no evidence that complex carbohydrates are to blame.

You'd never know that from the carbo-phobia which persists in the culture.  In insulin resistant individuals refined carbohydrates should be replaced with monounsaturated fats (as in the 40% fat Syndrome X diet and Mediterranean diet of the traditional Greeks based predominantly on olive oil).  Refined carbohydrates should not be replaced with protein (as in popular high-protein diets) because protein stimulates insulin secretion (recall that hyperinsulinemia is the problem!).  Monounsaturated fats do not stimulate insulin secretion and do lower triglycerides.  Furthermore, the Standard American Diet is already based on a preponderance of animal protein accompanied by saturated fat and cholesterol which raises the risk for cardiovascular disease further.

The high-protein diet self-professed “experts” (book authors) got a kernel of the truth right (replacing excess refined carbs) but in the not-too-long run are critically wrong!

All the best-selling anti-carbohydrate diet books cite the work of Gerald Reaven, and they all misinterpret that work, says Reaven, so he wrote his own book to combat the misinformation.  If you want to know the truth about Syndrome X, read Reaven’s book:

 Syndrome X: Overcoming the Silent Killer That Can Give You a Heart Attack

“I wrote the book because I got so upset about the misinformation in the other books,” he explains.

Let’s get this right!

Diane Preves, M.S., R.D.

Thank you for sharing this post with others who might benefit from the information shared herein. 

Metabolic Syndrome: Part 2

Continuing from the previous blog on the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors which significantly increases your chance of developing cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes recently estimated by the CDC to affect roughly 1 out of 3 American adults: 

For now, the first-line therapies for all factors associated with the metabolic syndrome are weight reduction and increased physical activity.  Recall in the previous blog LDL Cholesterol is Not a Good Indicator of Heart Attack Risk that increasing evidence indicates that cardiovascular disease is at its root an inflammatory condition.  In recent years there is a growing recognition that obesity represents a state of chronic low-level inflammation.  It may very well be that reducing the inflammatory factors associated with obesity and introducing the anti-inflammatory factors that our bodies naturally produce with exercise, are the reasons behind the beneficial effects of weight-loss and increased activity.

It seems prudent, however, to expand that recommendation to include known anti-inflammatory foods in the diet.  In fact anti-inflammation may be the reason for the preventive effects (the mechanism thus far not fully understood) seen with the Mediterranean and Syndrome X diets with their high preponderance of fish (the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are anti-inflammatory), olive oil with its anti-inflammatory properties, and plant foods with their many antioxidants (vitamin C in particular has been shown to reduce the symptoms of arthritis).  Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish like salmon and sardines, but also in fortified eggs, walnuts and flax seeds.  Antioxidants are found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, the more colorful the better (and yes, white is a color).  Selenium (Brazil nuts and sunflower seeds), and soluble fiber (in oatmeal, beans, fruits and nuts) have also been observed to have anti-inflammatory properties.  Thus it would be prudent to include these foods as part of a diet to prevent the rapidly increasing metabolic syndrome among us (U.S.).  On the other hand, refined grains (which have been found to exacerbate inflammation in the body), saturated (animal) and trans (processed) fats, and excessive omega-6 fats (vegetable oils) are pro-inflammatory.  Even the nightshade vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, paprika and cayenne pepper) may be pro-inflammatory, though researchers debate whether there is enough scientific evidence to draw conclusions regarding nightshade foods and chronic inflammation.

N.E.W. LIFE recommends a Syndrome X Diet (45% carbohydrate: 15% protein: 40% fat, predominately monounsaturated/plant fat).  That diet composition is essentially the same as that of the highly touted, more widely recognized Mediterranean Diet with its also-proven health benefits.  The “Syndrome X Diet”, recommended by Dr. Gerald Reaven of Stanford University who initially discovered the metabolic syndrome, is a diet which N.E.W. LIFE participants diagnosed with Syndrome X have followed with much success in resolving their symptoms.  I highly recommended Gerald Reaven’s excellent book, Syndrome X: Overcoming the Silent Killer That Can Give You a Heart Attack, available at www.amazon.com used and new, or through your library system.

The Center for Disease Control’s Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys published a National Health Statistics Report in May 2009, the results of a study entitled, “Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Among Adults 20 Years of Age and Over, by Sex, Age, Race and Ethnicity, and Body Mass Index: United States, 2003–2006” which found that approximately 34% of adults in the U.S. meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome.

That’s 1 in 3.

Look around.  Odds are you know someone (or someones), and it may be you.  The symptoms are resolvable, but following the popular diet book advice can make the problem worse, not better. The problem I foresee is this—the more people who are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and given the recommendation to lose weight to resolve the problem, the more people will turn to the popular high-protein diets which have screamed for the attention of the American public (and succeeded in convincing many Americans that it is the most effective “healthy” diet).  The truth is that "solution" will do you more harm than good.  Please, please, please do not go on a popular high-protein diet to lose weight in a well-intentioned effort to resolve the metabolic syndrome--protein stimulates insulin secretion and hyperinsulinemia is the underlying problem of the metabolic syndrome!  More on that in the next blog.

Let’s get this right,

Diane Preves, M.S., R.D.


Note to employers:

Your employees can resolve the symptoms of the metabolic syndrome through participation in the N.E.W. LIFE program.  If you would like to host a seminar or a 10-week N.E.W. LIFE program for your employees contact me at newlife@newlifeforhealth.com

Thank you for sharing this post with others who might benefit from the information shared herein. 



Metabolic Syndrome: Part 1

(a.k.a. insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, hyperinsulinemia, Syndrome X)

I mentioned in the last blog the surprising statistic that 50% of all heart attacks occur in people with low LDL cholesterol, and that accumulating evidence indicates that cardiovascular disease is a multi-factorial disease which at its root is a problem of inflammation.  Among those “multi” factors are low HDL (“good”) cholesterol, high triglycerides, hyperinsulinemia, high blood pressure, the metabolic syndrome, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, lack of exercise, stress, and lack of a varied diet.  A good place to start discussing each risk factor individually is with the metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors which occur in response to “hyperinsulinemia” (a condition in which the pancreas pumps ever-increasing amounts of insulin in an effort to overcome the “insulin resistance” of the cells).  The symptoms that result in response to high insulin are high triglycerides, abdominal obesity, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, and "high normal" blood glucose (fasting plasma glucose above 110 mg/dL, while the cutoff for diabetes is 126 mg/dL).  Having the symptoms of the metabolic syndrome significantly increases your chance of developing cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes, and the numbers of Americans afflicted is quickly rising.  The CDC recently estimated that 1 out of 3 American adults fits the criteria for the metabolic syndrome. . .

LDL Cholesterol is Not a Good Indicator of Heart Attack Risk

Half of all heart attacks occur in people with low, even optimal, LDL cholesterol as established by the National Cholesterol Education Program. 

Got your attention?

A not well-publicized fact that is becoming increasingly evident in cardiovascular disease research—by itself, LDL cholesterol is not a good indicator of heart disease risk.  So then why in the beegeebers is LDL the standard indicator that is consistently used by the medical profession across America, seemingly without question?  It follows that this one risk factor by which individuals and businesses measure their well-intentioned efforts to become healthy may not lead to the desired result, which I assume is to prevent heart attacks.  It’s not that LDL cholesterol should not be considered—it should.  What is debatable is if it should be the primary focus, often the only focus to the exclusion of other perhaps more important factors that lead people right to an unexpected heart attack. . .