Dioxins in Food and Water Could Cause Diabetes
By Paul Rogers
Agent Orange - from imjoshdotcom
I’ve been aware of an increasing number of recent studies that seem to show that the chemical pollutants called POPs – dioxins and similar compounds – could be at least partly responsible for the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes. Now it’s not conclusive, but some aspects of these investigations are certainly interesting. Like the fact that when controlled for dioxin content of tissue, even obese people were at no higher risk of type 2 diabetes if their dioxin levels were low. This could be a chance occurrence, or other factors could cause this to occur, but overall there are some compelling aspects to this research.
Here is what one author had to say:
“The strong associations seen in quite different studies suggest the possibility that exposure to POPs could cause diabetes. One striking observation is that obese persons that do not have elevated POPs are not at elevated risk of diabetes, suggesting that the POPs rather than the obesity per se is responsible for the association. ” [Rev Environ Health. 2008 Jan-Mar;23(1):59-74. Review.]
POPs are “persistent organic pollutants.” This class of pollutants includes dioxins, PCBs, DDT, DDE and many chlorinated organic pesticides. They accumulate in your body and in the fat of the animals we eat.
History of Dioxins and Diabetes
Some years ago I worked in occupational and environmental health and safety, advising on toxic chemicals and health. As well as working to establish the first chemical list for Australia’s National Pollutant Inventory, I also helped out the local Vietnam vets with their Agent Orange herbicide case. Much of the finer detail of the toxic risk assessments involved dioxins — exotic chemical contaminants that result from chemical manufacture and combustion. Levels of dioxin were very high in Agent Orange. There are over 200 varieties of dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) – chemicals with somewhat similar structure and varying toxicities to humans. Sometimes the toxicity of these dioxin-like chemicals are referred to collectively with ‘toxic equivalents’ or TEQ.
Studies of manufacturing workers exposed to dioxins and similar compounds had already revealed a higher incidence of diabetes, and animal tests had confirmed this possibility to some degree.
The early emphasis of dioxin toxicity research was on birth defects and cancer. However, it took some time for the US Veterans Affairs Department to acknowledge limited evidence in support of a connection of Agent Orange exposure with type 2 diabetes, to the extent that disability pensions are now paid on this basis.
Other pieces of research seem to fit the puzzle. It seems that endocrine disrupting chemicals in general, especially ones that persist in the environment, are associated with diabetes. And a most recent research study suggests that the much-publicized plastics residue bisphenol-A is also possibly involved.
POPs and Diabetes: What You Can Do
While these contaminants are everywhere – from the Antarctic to the purest looking lake water – they also contaminate food by accumulating in animal fats – and which we consume in meat, chicken, dairy and fish products and fats.
If you want to reduce your intake, you really need to either find wild or organic and lean products from pristine places, or reduce your intake of animal foods, especially fat, or perhaps do a combination of both. This issue is also another reason why high-meat and fat diets like Atkins low-carb can be a recipe for disaster. And as for those so-called diet gurus who say we should eat more saturated fat . . . here’s a very good reason not to.
- Rignell-Hydbom A, Rylander L, Hagmar L. Exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2007 May;26(5):447-52.
- Rylander L, Rignell-Hydbom A, Hagmar L. A cross-sectional study of the association between persistent organochlorine pollutants and diabetes. Environ Health. 2005 Nov 29;4:28.
- Ropero AB, Alonso-Magdalena P, García-García E, Ripoll C, Fuentes E, Nadal A. Bisphenol-A disruption of the endocrine pancreas and blood glucose homeostasis. Int J Androl. 2008 Apr;31(2):194-200. Epub 2007 Oct 31. Review.
- Wang SL, Tsai PC, Yang CY, Leon Guo Y. Increased risk of diabetes and polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins: a 24-year follow-up study of the Yucheng cohort. Diabetes Care. 2008 Aug;31(8):1574-9. 2008 May 16.
- Michalek JE, Pavuk M. Diabetes and cancer in veterans of Operation Ranch Hand after adjustment for calendar period, days of spraying, and time spent in Southeast Asia. J Occup Environ Med. 2008 Mar;50(3):330-40.
Burn That Belly Fat With High-Intensity Training?
By Paul Rogers
Photo: Soldiersmediacenter. Jarad Bargas
A recent study by researchers at the University of Virginia found that high-intensity exercise training disposed of more belly fat in obese middle-aged women than lower-intensity training of the same energy expenditure.
The idea that doing high-intensity interval training burns off stubborn fat and visceral belly fat has been around for quite a few years. The premise has always lacked strong evidence in my opinion — or at least reasonable qualification. Any number of internet training and fat-loss gurus are promoting this idea.
What is High-Intensity Training?
First up, we need to get the concept straight. What exactly is the ’interval training’ or ‘high-intensity training’ or ’high-intensity interval training (HIIT)’ that we hear so much about?
Interval training is intermittent training, often near your maximum, in which you do a lap of an oval, or a spin on a bike, or 60 seconds on a treadmill very fast, then you recover, and do it again several times. That’s simple enough.
For example, I’m a masters sprinter and in training I might do 10 x 100 metres at 95% capacity, or 10 x 40 metres at 100% capacity. This is high-intensity interval training in real life. But I’ve been a marathoner and triathlete as well (don’t ask), and high-intensity training for those disciplines is mostly entirely different; say, 2km fast, 2km slow, 2km fast; or 6 x 400 metres at 90% capacity, or even, I might add, 5km at race pace, which is still high-intensity training, even if not interval training. And further, I know that if you run 40 to 60 miles a week in marathon or triathlon training you’ll burn fat . . . lots of it. So what’s this HIT stuff all about?
Early Investigations Were Not Adequate
One problem with some of the earlier studies was that they did not set a rule for what constitutes ‘high intensity’. The study I quoted above used lactate threshold to determine this, an excellent idea. And few earlier studies actually compared the different intensities for the same energy expenditure, which is what needs to be done to get a reasonable comparison.
You can’t just do 6 spins on a stationary bike for 30 seconds flat out and expect to burn the same amount of calories and fat as someone who does 30 minutes on the treadmill at 85% capacity, or even a 90-minute run at slow pace for that matter. Energy expenditure, which just about always includes some fat and glucose burning, is going to be a product of intensity X time for any physical activity.
In that event, the best approach for fat loss and fitness goals is likely to be a combination of interval training, weight training and cardio at different intensities. Big surprise eh? No, that’s right, it’s not. It almost reflects the recent exercise guidelines issued by the US government for general health and fitness.
Persistent Abdominal Fat and How to Shed It
What the study above suggests is that high-intensity training just might be superior to to lower-intensity training, for equal energy expended, in removing belly fat, especially the visceral fat wrapped around the internal organs that has been shown to increase your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Naturally, you have to include a nutrition program with some calorie restriction as well.
Even though the study involved a small number of women, 27, it seemed to be well designed. And yet men might respond differently, as might the young or post-menopausal women. It’s an idea that has promise for designing exercise programs for the overweight and people with metabolic syndrome and diabetes and is well worth watching in the future. The main problem is one that is not going to be easily solved: that unfit, obese people are unlikely to take on high-intensity training by themselves and stick to it, despite what you see on The Biggest Loser.
Having said that, there is plenty of evidence that aerobic, cardio type programs help people lose fat in general — even some visceral fat — and aerobic exercise has additional benefits for cardiovascular protection. A combination of weights, cardio and HIT is likely to be the superior program if it can be tolerated.
The Best Type of High-Intensity Training for Obesity?
Heavy people exert quite a shock to the knees when they run long or hard. It’s a real injury concern. Running is often out of the question for obese people, let alone high-intensity running. For this reason, I favour cycle spin classes on a stationary bike. Doing this exercise in a group has advantages. The instructor will encourage hard work, but it’s possible to set your own pace by adjusting resistance and peddle cadence if you get overwhelmed. You’ll get some high-intensity work threaded with lower-intensity cardio — an excellent workout combo. A medical checkup is highly recommended for anyone moving from a sedentary lifestyle to high-intensity training.
Food and Fitness Science Roundup
By Paul RogersFor this regular roundup, I try to find work that tells us something significant or new in the context of the field of study.
New Recommendations for Vitamin D Intake for Children from the American Academy of Pediatrics
A recommendation for a doubling of recommended dietary intake of an essential nutrient for any population sector is substantial news in nutrition science. The AAP list the reasons and the strategy here.
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/nce/nce08vitamind.htm
Coffee Drinking Does not Raise Mortality
Up to 6 cups a day and risks were still normal and even slightly lower than the consumers of much more moderate quantities. Adjustment of cardiovascular risk seems to be the difference — perhaps by lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes?
Ann Intern Med. 2008 Jun 17;148(12):904-14. The relationship of coffee consumption with mortality. Lopez-Garcia E, van Dam RM, Li TY, Rodriguez-Artalejo F, Hu FB.
Also see: Does Coffee Kill or Cure?
Red Wine Seems to Cut Risk of Lung Cancer
What? Not another reason to drink red wine! The authors do counsel against excessive consumption.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Oct;17(10):2692-9. Alcoholic Beverage Intake and Risk of Lung Cancer: The California Men’s Health Study. Chao C, Slezak JM, Caan BJ, Quinn VP.
Vitamin C Interferes with Training Adaptation and Performance
I noticed the possibility of this a few years ago while researching the utility of antioxidants like vitamin C to benefit athletic performance. Vitamin C seemed to inhibit phosphofructokinase, which is an important enzyme in glycolysis (breakdown and use of glucose for energy). Considering that many athletes and fitness buffs seem to take vitamin C supplements, it may be worth noting. Moderate dietary intake is likely not a problem. We need more information on this one before the panic sets in.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):142-9. Oral administration of vitamin C decreases muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and hampers training-induced adaptations in endurance performance. Gomez-Cabrera MC, Domenech E, Romagnoli M, Arduini A, Borras C, Pallardo FV, Sastre J, Viña J.
Caffeine Plus Carbohydrate Increases Glycogen Storage
As far as I am aware, this is the first time this has been shown. About 500 mg caffeine is a lot of coffee though.
J Appl Physiol. 2008 Jul;105(1):7-13. High rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis after exhaustive exercise when carbohydrate is coingested with caffeine. Pedersen DJ, Lessard SJ, Coffey VG, Churchley EG, Wootton AM, Ng T, Watt MJ, Hawley JA.
New Glycemic Index and Load Tables
If you’re into the GI, you’ll need this. More on the GI in another article. I’m not a big fan.
Click through to here from the abstract and you can download the free tables.
Diabetes Care. 2008 Oct 3. International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2008. Atkinson FS, Foster-Powell K, Brand-Miller JC.
Check out the Food for Life, Fit for Life Training Program. Free download available.
Food for Life, Fit for Life - Lifestyle Training Course Released
Food for Life, Fit for Life - Prevent Diabetes, Heart Disease and Cancer is a set of training modules in lifestyle preventive health. It took me 12 months to write and it’s now available for licensing. You can download a free ebook version that describes the content. Here’s what’s included:
- Training and evaluation manual for course presenters
- 120 PowerPoint slides with notes and contemporary references
- Sample learner assessment questions for each module
- Fact sheets that can be used as handouts to clients/students
- Risk evaluation self-assessment handouts for nutrition, physical activity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer
- Case studies for workgroups and workshops
- Glossary of terms
- Regular newsletter
- US and UK/Australia versions (spelling and units)
- Evidence based information, fully referenced
- Flexible licence conditions and regular, free updates for one year
- Access to a membership web site for support, updates and extra resources.
Background
I started writing this over 12 months ago as a tool to use for talks to clients and groups in fitness and personal training. Rather than the limited training course I had in mind at that time, it has now morphed into something more like a training ‘environment’ with support tools like handout risk assessments and case study tasks. I have plans to add more of these tools and content within the context of the course. For example, a basic ’sports nutrition’ module is near completion.
As a trainer-presenter, your options are varied. You could select various slides or modules for presentations ranging from 2 hours to 2 days to groups or even individual clients. The target audience could include lay people or professionals in various support roles in preventive health. Presenters could include dietitians, nutritionists, fitness trainers, practice nurses, physios, diabetes educators and any support professionals working in preventive and lifestyle health. Some skill in delivering an appropriate language and idiom to audiences with variable knowledge bases would be required by the presenter.
I’ve summarised the essential elements of lifestyle disease, meaning the risks with which we burden ourselves because of our behaviour in relation to food, nutrition and physical activity. Although I mention the roles of environment and genetics, this is not the focus of the program at this time, but I do have plans to add modules that address basic issues in environmental safety in relation to food quality. Any additional modules added are included in the updates available in the licence for one year.
The core elements are:
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Cancer
- Obesity
- Motivational and behavioural change
- Nutrition
- Physical activity and exercise
For example, I’ve summarised the complete content of the WCRF/AICR Expert Report: Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective so that the essential points are clear.
Licences
At present, only one licence option is available. This locks the headers and footers and PowerPoint attributions to me and no changes are permissible. I will probably also offer a ‘professional licence’ under which the licensee has the right to modify the content and replace attribution and headers etc with their identity. This would allow the licensee, with some restrictions, to modify the content and to adjust any particular aspect that did not suit their purpose or premise.
Availability
I’ve created a free ebook (pdf) version of the course, featuring the PowerPoint slide headings with content from the notes of each slide. This delivers a summary version and illustrates the content quite successfully. Not everything is fleshed out of course.
The best way to get this is to fill out the email form on the front page of the web site — or on this blog at the top right. This will redirect to a download page after confirmation. You will then get an email advising when content is updated or added, including new web and blog articles. This would be no more frequent than once each week.
I hope you take a look at the free ebook and let me know what you think. Suggestions, comments and admonitions are, of course, welcome.
10 Ways Exercise Prevents or Manages Diabetes
By Paul Rogers
Trials in the US, Finland and China have shown that moderate weight loss combined with an exercise program can ward off impending type 2 diabetes by getting blood glucose (sugar) under control and generally improving markers for this disease of glucose, fat and insulin metabolism. Diagnosed diabetics also benefit from regular exercise in a similar way.
Here’s how exercise helps:
- Physical activity helps you manage weight. You need to include a sensible eating program, but weight loss improves your ability to process glucose and ward off diabetes.
- Exercise uses glucose stored in muscle and, over time and with increased fitness, enhances the amount of glucose you can store, lowering blood glucose in the process.
- Weight training uses muscle glucose more than fat, as does other high-intensity exercise. Regular sessions of weight lifting lower your blood glucose and open up the “gates” for glucose transport.
- Weight training also builds more muscle. More muscle provides additional storage capacity for glucose.
- Glucose transport to muscle during exercise does not require insulin. In fact, insulin goes quiet during exercise in people with normal metabolism and not injecting insulin.
- Physical activity enhances insulin sensitivity even when you’re not exercising. Insulin sensitivity is the ability of insulin to store glucose.
- Day to day, exercise gives you improved glucose storage when you’re exercising, and improved glucose storage when you’re not. You get a synergy of effect when you exercise.
- Cardiovascular fitness is a result of aerobic conditioning. Cardio type exercise is best for this. Heart and lung fitness is associated with protection against diabetes and heart disease. The fitter you are, the better your chances — even allowing for some excess weight.
- Faulty fat metabolism and high levels of fat (triglycerides) in the blood raise your chances of getting diabetes. Exercise of any sort can help normalize blood fat levels. Look to be under 150 mg/dL or 1.69 mmol/L. When you’re really fit and healthy and have low overall body fat, this number will be closer to 100 mg/dL (1.1 mmol/L). You should aim for this.
- Regular exercise, especially higher-intensity exercise, increases your metabolism when you’re not exercising. This not only helps lower blood fats and glucose, it helps you reach and maintain normal weight.
Does Coffee Kill or Cure?
By Paul Rogers
Coffee, Java, Joe, Mud, Beans, Cafe — whatever you call it — coffee is the most popular drink on the planet, in international terms. Even so, in “natural health” circles it was, and perhaps still is, regarded as just about as evil as alcohol. Natural health people don’t like substances that either stimulate or depress the nervous system like coffee and booze do respectively. A naive evaluation for sure.
But what if coffee turned out to be just about as health-giving a herb as you can get? Wouldn’t that be a surprise?
Here’s what recent research has discovered about coffee. Keep in mind that the coffee industry is enormously powerful and no doubt some scientific work is sponsored by the industry. However, enough reputable and independent scientists are involved in this research to suggest there is something to take note of.
Diabetes Prevention
Coffee consumption seems to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes significantly, and this association turns up in research as far afield as Europe, Japan and the USA in at least 12 different studies. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee seem to have similar effects and some component of the coffee bean other than caffeine is suggested as the protective compound. Chlorogenic acid is one such natural chemical compound, perhaps acting as an antioxidant.
Surprisingly, caffeine studied by itself seems to impair insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, so one might expect coffee to have the opposite effect. It doesn’t seem to be so. Most authorities suggest limiting coffee consumption to around 3 cups each day to be on the safe side.
Parkinson’s Disease and Liver Disease
Similarly, there is reasonable evidence that coffee drinking protects against liver disease like cirrhosis, and also the debilitating Parkinson’s disease, a disease that affects the brain’s production of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter required for coordinated movement. There is some consistency to this evidence as well.
What’s Wrong with Coffee?
Heart disease
You may be aware that in the past, coffee and caffeine were assumed to be bad for the heart: raised blood pressure, increased heart rate, cholesterol and so on. People with heart disease and those recovering from heart bypass surgery were urged to avoid coffee and even tea, with the stimulant caffeine being the most problematic agent. But now, cardiologists are not so sure. It seems that the coffee/caffeine and heart disease risk may have been overestimated and that some aspects of coffee drinking could even be beneficial.
Distinctions are made between the effects of boiled and filtered or instant coffee. Boiled coffee is traditionally a Scandinavian method of brewing with coffee grinds subjected to hot water with no filtering. Filtering with paper or metal filters is supposed to take out the potentially harmful chemicals cafestol and kahweol, which are reported to raise cholesterol. Some studies show that boiled coffee could be more hazardous than filtered coffee for heart disease, but I think this needs more follow-up to be certain. While for some people blood pressure seems to adjust to coffee consumption, others seem to have a genetic tendency for increased blood pressure with coffee consumption.
Overall, moderate consumption of filtered or instant coffee — up to 3 cups daily — seems to have little effect on heart disease risk.
Osteoporosis and Miscarriage in Coffee Drinkers
I’ve put both of these long-held beliefs, or at least suspicions, related to coffee together because they mainly affect women directly. The most recent research suggests that caffeine may increase your risk of miscarriage when you drink more than about one cup of coffee or 100 milligrams of caffeine a day. Some research also points to marginally lower birth weights in higher caffeine consumers.
Moderate consumption in the range of up to 3 cups of coffee daily probably has little effect on osteoporosis or bone fractures according to the most recent studies.
Summary
As the epidemiologists like to say, more work is needed to confirm these associations, but overall, moderation is the way to go — around 3 cups a day is unlikely to be harmful and may even be beneficial in some respects — with perhaps a reduction of consumption when pregnant. Coffee is a stimulant and some people do not deal with the caffeine hit as well as others. I can drink coffee before bed and it won’ t keep me awake. But that’s not for everyone. If you get heart palpitations or sleeplessness, drinking less coffee, cola drinks or strong tea is worth a try.
Resistance and Cardio Work to Prevent Diabetes
By Paul RogersDiabetes is a disease of glucose metabolism. Too much glucose in the blood acts as a toxin that damages small and large blood vessels. Disorders of insulin function cause this. Insulin is the hormone that stores glucose in muscle cells.
If you exercise sufficiently well, you can put glucose away in storage or use it up so that your blood glucose levels are not as high. This is useful in preventing and managing diabetes.
Both aerobic exercise (cardio) and resistance exercise (weight training) can help lower blood glucose and also improve the way insulin and glucose storage mechanisms work.
Doing a combo of both cardio and strength training might just be ideal to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes. You can do it at a gym or at home.
Heart Disease on the Increase for Women
By Paul Rogers
While breast cancer is often a health focus for women, disease of the heart and arteries is the leading cause of death among men and women in most developed countries, accounting for about half of all deaths and associated illness.
In recent years, cardiovascular disease and deaths from it, in some groups of women, has been rising faster than for men.
An increase in type 2 diabetes, which is especially potent in women, may be the cause according to a new study in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine — and most of it is preventable with diet and exercise — a message that is already widespread.
Apparently, in the Nurses Health Study — a long-running evaluation of the health of nurses — 82% of coronary heart disease cases and 91% of diabetes cases in women could be prevented by avoiding smoking, eating a healthy diet, maintaining normal body weight and exercising regularly. Not much to ask, surely . . . and the story is much the same for men.
In fact, it is a lot to ask of many people. The message is understood, the implementation is much more difficult. Finding a way around this impasse can be a personal challenge and a public one.
How Exercise and Healthy Eating Protect You
By Paul Rogers
I know you’ve probably read a lot about why you should eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, but I thought I’d summarize the essentials so that this blog kicks off on a sound basis. It’s a short, overview list and some points may need further explanation, and I’ll eventually get to that.
Manage weight. Being overweight means you have increased your risk of getting diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eating a diet high in plant foods and fibre and low in animal fats and refined carbohydrates and sugars is a key strategy in managing excessive weight.
Exercise regularly. Physical activity assists with weight management and at the same time reduces internal or systemic inflammation, an important factor in lowering your risk of all of the above diseases.
Antioxidants rule. Plant foods contain antioxidants that regulate many factors in the disease process including the immune system, inflammation and tissue repair and protection. Antioxidants include vitamin C, E, selenium, beta-carotenes and many other plant ‘phytonutrients’ including polyphenols.
Cholesterol. Regular physical activity can raise the good cholesterol, HDL, and lower the bad cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides – probably mostly through weight loss. This reduces your cardiovascular disease risk. Yes, I know there are cholesterol ’skeptics’ out there, but I don’t agree with them, and neither does an overwhelming percentage of the medical and nutrition community.
Aerobic exercise (cardio). Increases your heart and lung fitness (cardiorespiratory), which is known to reduce your risk of heart disease — even if you carry a bit too much weight. This means regular repetitive exercise like walking, jogging, cycling, treadmill, swimming or rowing.
Weight training. Resistance exercise increases strength, balance and bone health and both cardio and weight training improve insulin sensitivity, which is important in controlling diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Animal fats. Too much saturated fat raises cholesterol yet also increases insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes and heart disease. Some is okay, a lot is unhealthy.
Vegetable fats. Poly and monounsaturated fats like canola, olive, peanut and sunflower tend to improve cholesterol and heart disease risk. Trans fats, used in many commercial and fast-food products, are probably worse than animal fats. You don’t have to pour on the cooking or salad oils, just eat plenty of nuts and seeds and you get lots of fibre as well.
Fibre regulates. Fibre not only regulates your bowel habits, it also regulates your metabolism. It helps to keep control of those carbohydrates and fats you eat so that they don’t go rushing onward into the bloodstream or storage at too fast a rate, which has benefits for weight control and health.
Refined carbohydrates. These are the bagels, the biscuits, the donuts the white fluffy bread, the lollies and cakes and similar items that have become basic dietary items for many people. Too much is unhealthy, a little is okay, and athletes and hard exercisers can fit in a bit more. Keep them reigned in.
NEAT. This stands for ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ — a fancy term for the activity you do when you’re not doing planned exercise. Gardening, housework, walking to the shops, chores, repairs, mowing lawn and so on. People who do most of this tend to have fewer problems with being overweight. Get off the couch or the internet and mow that lawn!
Subscribe RSS
