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Monday, November 26, 2007

Low-Carb Diet Prevents Sagging Skin, Prostate Tumor Growth, And Hypercholesterolemia

The science behind livin' la vida low-carb continues to pour in like gangbusters and it's sometimes hard to keep up with it all. In fact, much of the research has already been out there a few years--especially before I started blogging in 2005.

But don't worry, I'm committed to finding it all and compiling it together for you right here when I come across research of interest. That's what I have for you today with not one, not two, but THREE discoveries from the scientific community on the health benefits of the low-carb lifestyle. Check these out!

SUGAR CONSUMPTION LEADS TO SAGGING SKIN

Although this study was published in the July 2001 issue of The British Journal of Dermatology, it certainly bears repeating early and often. French researchers discovered that consuming sugar can actually make you develop premature sagging, wrinkling skin. Yikes!

It's all because of a process known as glycation--where the glucose (sugar) in your blood finds proteins to stick to to form what is know as advanced glycation end products, aka AGEs. As the acronym implies, these ages will age you. The more sugar you eat, the more ages that get produced.

Why is this so harmful? Because the AGEs start attacking good skin proteins like collagen and elastin which help to keep your skin firm and elastic. But AGEs minimize the impact of these good proteins and the result is droopy skin. EWWW!

Aren't you glad you've greatly reduced or eliminated sugar from your diet? :D

HIGH-FAT, ZERO-CARB DIET PREVENTS PROSTATE TUMOR GROWTH

A more recent research study on low-carb diets was published in the November 13, 2007 issue of the journal The Prostate. It's exciting news for men who are concerned about prostate cancer.

Lead researcher Dr. Stephen Freedland, a urologist from the Durham, NC-based Duke University School of Medicine, observed 75 male mice who were fed an isocaloric diet of either a ZERO-carb, very high-fat diet (84 percent fat), a high-carb, LOW-fat diet (72 percent carbs, 12 percent fat), or the traditional Western diet (40 percent fat, 44 percent carbs). Each of the mice were injected with cancerous cells after 24 hours on their new diet.

The mice who ate the ZERO-carb diet actually lost up to 15 percent of their body weight compared with increases by the low-fat and Western diet groups. In fact, they needed MORE calories to try to even out the body weight of the mice. Interesting!

But even more interesting is what happened after 51 days...the size of the tumors in the ZERO-carb diet group were 33 percent smaller than the Western diet group and survival was longest among the ZERO-carb diet group. Dr. Freedland credits a decrease in insulin production that happens when you consume fewer carbs for the stunted tumor growth in the mice.

The researchers were very hopeful about the results this study could have on humans.

"If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control, our diets," Dr. Freedland exclaimed.

Yep, it sure will be! How about getting that going, eh?

"We are planning to start clinical trials sometime next year," he said. "The results of this study are very promising, but of course much more work needs to be done."

Well, alrighty then! We'll be watching!

HIGH-FAT, LOW-CARB DIET DOES NOT RAISE CHOLESTEROL

Finally, we head back to the Mayo Clinic Proceedings medical journal in 2003 for some good news about a high-fat, low-carb diet on cholesterol levels in patients with atherosclerosis.

Lead researcher Dr. James Hays, a cardiologist from the Newark, DE-based Christiana Care Health Services, observed 23 obese heart disease patients over a 6-week period on a high-fat, ZERO-starch diet after they had previously been put on a risky cholesterol-lowering statin drug treatment like Lipitor or Crestor. They remained on their drug treatment during the study, but something amazing happened in the study.

Each of the participants were told to EAT MORE FAT and that HALF OF THEIR CALORIES MUST COME FROM SATURATED FAT! WOW! They were instructed to eat this way for six weeks in a row (can you imagine how these people reacted to this? I bet there were a lot of jaws on the floor when they were instructed to eat MORE saturated fat!).

At the end of the six weeks, the median weight loss was 5.2 percent of their body weight and similar amounts of body fat. Even more important was what happened to cholesterol--it remained steady while total triglycerides dropped significantly.

Dr. Hays said he would expect this trend to continue for up to one full year. Here we are four years later and the results of this research are being proved anecdotally over and over again by people who are deciding to start livin' la vida low-carb for themselves heading into 2008. WOO HOO!

Have you seen some interesting high-fat, low-carb research that I may have missed? Feel free to share it with me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

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7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't heard any comment on the recently research that showed that while blood lipid levels improve on the Atkins diet at first, while people are losing weight, but they get worse once the people have lost weight and are trying to maintain the weight loss they achieved. The study compared lipid levels for the maintenance phase of the Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish diets.

Peter Silverman

11/26/2007 4:22 PM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

Feel free to share when and which journal that information is in and I'll take a look Peter.

11/26/2007 5:40 PM  
Blogger JD said...

There are many interesting studies on Science Daily.

1. Very Low carb diet work for Men and Upper body fat: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041115003038.htm

2. Low Carb Doet Did Not Increase Bone Loss: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060524222717.htm

and some not so great news on low carb: Very low-carb diets may disrupt Long-term Gut Health: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070619173537.htm

11/26/2007 5:43 PM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

THANKS JD! I hit the one on bone loss as well as the gut health already. Hadn't seen the one on upper body fat.

11/26/2007 6:11 PM  
Blogger JD said...

More from Science Daily: Low-Carb Diet Finding: Study Identifies New Regulator Of Fat Metabolism. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605121134.htm

But here's a study I find REALLY hard to swallow only because I lost over 40 pounds on a diet where I excluded ALL refined grains and their products, white flour and white sugar. 'Bad Carbs' Not the Enemy, Profess finds. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928160756.htm

11/26/2007 6:41 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Peter is probably referring to that "study" presented at the AHA meetings that Dr. Eades dissected a few weeks ago.

John

11/27/2007 10:54 AM  
Blogger Jimmy Moore said...

Ah, thanks John! :)

11/27/2007 11:06 AM  

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