Sugar Disease: Atherosclerosis

Scientific literature describes with great detail an involvement of B12, B9 and Vitamin D deficiencies, as well as, an impact of sugar consumption on our body's healing mechanism.

All these deficiencies are prevalent on a diet deprived of animal protein & fat, also known as a vegan diet. B12, B9 and vitamin D are found in adequate amounts in a human being's evolutionary diet of an omnivore origin. Due to probiotic bacteria's abilities to synthesis B12 and B9, as well as, synthesis of vitamin D on the skin following exposure to UVB light, a meatless diet is debatable. Yet, there are other factors in meat, that make it necessary for DNA repair and other healing processes.

The goal of this article is to describe what is known, via presentation of references to clinical studies as well as references to sources of literature, that can expand the investigators confidence in the knowledge presented.

Links in the body of the article will send you to Wikipedia articles, or other sources.
Study references can be found throughout the article, and the list is found at the end of the article.

Sugar Disease: Atherosclerosis

Hardening of the arteries is accomplished by a few contributing factors.
These factors include;

• B12 Deficiency, 
• B9 Deficiency, 
• Vitamin D Deficiency, 
• High Sugar/Carb diet

The Homocysteine Connection

B12** and B9*** are essential in converting Homocysteine into a stable compound[1]*.
Homocysteine irritates the blood vessels walls, causing injury to the cell membrane[2].
Cell membrane injury accompanies an inflammatory response.
This response sends signals to brain.
The brain, in turn, tells Liver to create cholesterol and ship it to injured site.
The molecular machine that ships cholesterol from Liver to injured site is LDL.

On a high sugar diet, glucose is toxic.
It has been observed to accelerate oxidation of LDL particles[3].

Insulin innate role

Insulin defends the whole system by accomplishing a few tasks;

• Shutdown of Liver's mechanism of converting amino acids into glucose[4][5][6][7],
• Shuttling all glucose present in the bloodstream into cells[7],
• Shuttling remaining glucose into fat cells (glucose converted into fatty acids for storage)[7].

The Liver is capable of creating glucose (for energy) by converting amino acids into glucose[8].
Clearly, the mechanism of shutting down glucose production in the liver by insulin is an innate mechanism in place for taking care of existing high glucose levels from the diet.

Glucose toxicity has been linked to pancreas beta-cell degradation[9][10].
Clearly, sugar is harming insulin creating cells, leading to development of Diabetes type 1.
Type 1 Diabetics MUST inject insulin when they eat sugar, otherwise heavy damage occurs.

When cells can't accept anymore glucose, insulin shuttles them into fat cells, where they are converted into fatty acids. Also, Insulin reduces the breakdown of fats into fatty acids, thus preventing the usage of stored energy for energy usage.
Consequently, fat cells become fatter, because of sugar.

LDL particles and their cholesterol are oxidized due to the unstable nature of the bloodstream; promoted by Homocysteine levels and sugar levels.

Note: LDL particles have an armor; antioxidants like CoQ10 and Vitamin E[11][12]. Both are fat soluble, so they require fat to embed themselves in the LDL outer layer.

Macrophage Connection

As a defense mechanism accompanying the inflammatory response, white blood cells are sent to the area of inflammation in order to deal with any potential microbial/viral/fungal threat, neutralize it and clean the area up.

Monocytes, that come to the area, turn into Macrophages[13][14].
Macrophages are like garbage trucks, they can grab the oxidized cholesterol and collect it.

The mechanism of transporting cholesterol back to the liver, for recycling, is accomplished by HDL.
This particle has developed a mechanism with Macrophages called "Reverse Cholesterol Transport".
This mechanism describes a transfer from macrophages to HDL particles[15].
Essentially, this is how the Macrophages get rid of the accumulating cholesterol they grab and store.

Impairment of this mechanism causes Macrophages to self-destruct (Apoptosis),
and the accumulated cholesterol hardens and forms Foam cells.

Vitamin D Connection

Macrophages require Vitamin D to function properly.
This includes cholesterol metabolism[16] by preventing cholesterol uptake by macrophages[17].

Vitamin D's role has to do with relieving stress on the Macrophage. When stress increases the macrophage changes expression and overeats oxidized cholesterol LDL's, which leads to foam cell formation[18]. Supplementation with vitamin D2 (1,25(OH)(2)D) has clinically been observed to improve suppression of foam cell formation by increasing cholesterol efflux from stressed Macrophages.

Vitamin D has an important role in managing the cholesterol uptake and egress in Macrophages.
This vitamin suppresses foam cell formation, thus suppressing plaque formation in the arteries.

Cause and Effect Chart

Deficiency in B9 and B12 >>> Increase in Homocysteine

Homocysteine >>> Inflammatory response

Inflammation >>> Cholesterol transport to site

High sugar in diet >>> Cholesterol oxidation

Deficiency in Vitmain D >>> Impaired Immune cell clean up of cholesterol

Macrophages accumulate cholesterol >>> Formation of Foam cells

Notes:

*Some studies imply that B6 is necessary to reduce homocysteine. However, one study[19] has found not such effect. B6 contribution can be associated with the cells requirements of that vitamin in order to synthesis Coenzyme Q10[20]. CoQ10 can protect against homocysteine-induced toxicity.
**B12 deficiency can be a result of imbalance in the microbial population in the gastrointestinal tract. Pathogenic bacteria destroy specialized cells, that produce Intrinsic Factor - an enzyme that carries B12 across the gut lining into the bloodstream[21][22]. Probiotic supplementation resolves this issue[23].
***Infection by Helicobactor Pylori not only inhibits B12 absorption but also B9[24]. This also found an increase in Homocysteine.

Restore your Confidence in Fat

You can get twice the calories per gram from fat than you can from proteins and carbohydrates[1]. Each cell in our body has a membrane that is composed 50% of fatty acids and cholesterol[2], which give it all its wonderful attributes. A grand design that is certainly built upon natural selection, and heck, it worked for millions of years. Now, interestingly, humans are consuming food that numbs their brain and so they neglect to appreciate and look back at how their ancestors maintained perfect health for hundreds of thousands of years, even in the face of ice ages.

Prior to World War 2 it has been established in the medical community that Grains, Legumes, Milk and Sugar causes obesity, and to lose weight your doctor would advise you to refrain from all of these foods[3]. Prior to the advent of agriculture, approximately 12,000 years ago, human beings were eating lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, roots, nuts and seeds, seasonally and fresh (plus everything was organic). What happened post WW2 that changed this established guidelines completely?

The major cooking and baking oil used in the United States, prior to WW2, was coconut oil. However, the Japanese conquered the Philippines and halted the export to the US, considerably reducing the supply of this desired commodity[4]. The US government wanted to solve this problem for the American consumers nationwide and turned to their scientists to come up with a solution. The industry at the time developed a method of extracting and converting grains, like corn, into oil, in a processed called Hydrogenation. Since Saturated Fat was a desired structure, because of the constituent fatty acids composing the oil are stable, this method would aspire to transform a liquid like corn extract into a more saturated state by adding hydrogen atoms to its fatty acid structure.

In order to sell these inventions, the food industry spent millions of dollars to advertise their products. When WW2 ended, and in fear of losing millions of spent money on the research, manufacturing and advertisement of these unsaturated oils, they stepped up their campaign and demonized coconut oil while lionizing corn, canola, sunflower and safflower oils. Their strategy included lobbying scientists to tell the media a story and stick to it for as long as they can. Ancel Keys had become a prominent scientist after he presented an epidemiological study[5], where he carefully cherry picked his data in order to support a hypothesis that earned his face on the cover of time magazine. His hypothesis has received plenty of criticism[6].

The Lipid Hypothesis stated that Heart Disease was caused by cholesterol forming a plague in your arteries, and that this cholesterol comes from saturated fat. Therefore, saturated fat is the culprit. However, this hypothesis has never been proven correct, as every single study was actually pointing in the direction of plague formation by oxidation of LDL particles. The fatty proteins (LDL), which carry cholesterol from the liver, through the blood stream, to an area of inflammation, is now considered essential, because cholesterol acts as a bandage. Then the rise of cholesterol in the blood stream is an indication for something else driving this disease, rather then the direct cause.

Anyway, the food industry has been backed by the health industry, as many people going to medical school are taught to believe in the Lipid Hypothesis and the rest of the nation is fed it through the mainstream media industry. 

The real story being uncovered as the culprit in heart disease and arteriosclerosis has to do with malnutrition and consumption of unstable food.

Homocysteine has been found to irritate the lining of the blood vessels, inducing inflammation, which in turn cascades a mechanism that involves shipment of cholesterol to the inflamed area to bandage the fatty membranes of cells harmed by this irritant. Dr. Kilmer S. McCully was the first to propose the homocysteine theory of cardiovascular disease[7], and is the author of the book, The Homocysteine Revolution. His theory was received with great excitement, but in the 70's he lost his job and spent 2 years looking for one, later discovering he was placed on a blacklist.

Homocysteine is a transition compound between synthesis of amino acid Methionine into Cysteine and vise verse. This process requires vitamin B9 and B12, but deficiency in either slows the conversion rate and increases homocysteine levels in the blood stream[8].

Glucose has been observed to oxidize LDL particles[9]. Simple sugars are toxic in the blood stream, and to combat this effect the pancreas secretes Insulin, whom is in charge of signalling cells to intake glucose, and once the cells are satiated, Insulin converts the sugar into fat for storage in fat cells. Insulin has also been observed to switch off the livers mechanism of converting proteins into glucose for energy[10]. Since animal proteins and fats were a great source of stable energy for about 2 million years, the switch to direct intake of glucose disrupts our energy conversion of meat and instead we experience a sharp glycemic load that harms our arteries and drives our weight up.

Now, remember, grains are complex carbohydrates, which means that they are long chains of simple sugars attached together to form a complex structure. This takes longer for the body to break down, therefore their effect compared to refined sugar isn't as immediate. Our digestive tract is designed to break down fats and proteins[11], and so grains are digested and fermented by bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. You can get a high glycemic load from consuming white bread and whole bread, though whole bread has extra fiber that slows the absorption of the sugar molecules into the blood stream.

Malnutrition and exposure to sugars, whether refined or complex, are the underlining cause of heart disease. Intake of saturated fat has been observed to increase the quality of LDL particles[12] and increase HDL in the blood stream[13]. 

Coconut Oil as a Cure

Coconut Oil is 90% saturated fat. 50%[14] of that saturated fat is a fatty acid called Lauric Acid, which has been observed to convert easily in the liver to quick and available energy[15], due to its medium length chain structure, as well as have anti-bacterial[16], -viral[17] and -fungal[18] properties. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil also has phenolic compounds that have been observed to have antioxidant capacity[19].

Imagine supplying your body with this saturated building block. If your cells are coated mainly by fat, and coconut oil has been found to heal acne[20], then would you deduce that cells use saturated fat as a quality building block for their cell's wall? Note, that they also observed how a low-carbohydrate diet is correlated with improvement of acne[21]. 

Essentially, your cells can have a better armor if they have the right fatty acids incorporated in their membranes, i.e. saturated fats. Though, a health cell membrane has also monounsaturated fats, like from olive oil, and polyunsaturated fats, like omega 3 and 6. However, because of the unstable nature of polyunsaturated fatty acids, you want to consume less of them but still maintain a ratio of approximately 1:1. Our brains developed because we ate animal meat and fish high in omega 3, where plant matter was a bit more difficult to do.

In conclusion

Our ancestors developed their intellectual capacity from consumption of fat, that evidently attributed the development of higher communications essential for constructing an intricate civilization. Fat is a great source of energy and meat has always been a condense source of this nutrient. For our cell wall health, fat and cholesterol are the main constituents, while protein makes up 70% of the dry matter of the cell.

The agenda to sell a certain oil has driven the industry to confuse the public for mere money. People are suffering from neurological disorders because of their lack of stable-saturated fatty acids in their diets. Coconut oil is making a big return, and fascinatingly enough, in the Philippines they use it as well as a source of fuel for their cars[22].

We run better on fat, that's a fact. 

Fat doesn't make you fat, that's a fact.

You have a fathead, as Tom Naughton explains in his documentary Fathead.

It is your responsibility to take care of your cells, by supplying them their building blocks. Your nutrition is essentially their nutrition. You can only protect your cells and their organelles by eating an evolutionary, organic, seasonal and fresh diet.

The Responsibility is in your hands.

To your health!

Inflammation promoting food

Abstract:
Grains, Legumes, Milk, Refined Sugar, Vegetable Oils and processed food are relatively new on our human diets. 99% of our evolution consists of a hunter/gatherer type of diet, we call today the Paleolithic Diet. Grains and legumes have toxins in them that inhibit digestive enzymes, so we have problems digesting them. Grains cause a leaky gut, which is a gap or "hole" between cells. This opens up the filtration system of the body and allows toxins, pathogens, heavy metals and undigested food into our blood stream. Milk also opens our guts and has been found to stimulate 45 area in the brain associated with opium receptors. Sugar is toxic in the blood, causes LDL oxidation and promotes the plaque formation associated with heart disease. It also helps feed pathogenic bacteria. Vegetable oils are high in an unstable fatty acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid Omega 6, which competes for room in the cell membrane and high amounts in diet causes high amounts of it to uptake into the cell, which in turn weakens the membrane structure. Omega fatty acids are sensitive to oxidation, and will drive your inflammatory response. Overall, these foods are incorporated into processed foods and create malnutrition. Real nourishment comes from Grassfed meat, fish, egg yolks, vegetables, fruits and nuts. We run better on fat and protein, which helped our brains evolve, rather on carbohydrates that are prevalent in the agricultural diet.

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The advent of agriculture heralded the beginning of monoculture practices, when the earth had a polyculture life. Big civilizations were erected at the time, 12,000 years ago, but were long abandoned as civilization could not be sustained under such practices for too long. The soil would erode, dry up and loose it's bacterial ecosystem, that helped it thrive. Bacteria are essential for the soil, as they break down the contents into minerals, which increases the bioavailability for plants to grow big and strong. What the advent of agriculture brought with it is a complete overhaul of the human diet, the addition of cereal grains and legumes.

Research has shown that all cereal grains contain storage proteins called Prolamins, which stimulate in the gut the release of a regulatory protein called Zonulin. This regulatory protein has been observed as to weaken the tight junctions between cells, thus forming a gap or "hole" between them. The gut has specialized cells called Enterocytes, that absorb and filter constituents of matter. They will absorb minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars, but will filter or prevent uptake of heavy metals, viruses, pathogenic bacteria, toxins and partially digested food. 

A known storage protein in wheat, i.e. gliadin from gluten, has been found to do just that. Not only, it has been observed clinically to partially break down into a 7 amino acid protein called Gliadorphin, that has opioid properties. In a study it has been found to stimulate 3 opium receptors in the brain. Zonulin is secreted also in the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB), where it makes this barrier permeable to toxins and foreign substances. The lose of substance trafficking control increases the effect a drug or food has on all the organs and systems of the body.

A storage protein in Milk, called Casein, has been found to do the same. It appears that about 5,000 years ago, this milk storage protein underwent a mutation. Now you can find in scientific literature two types of beta-casein, A1 and A2, which differ by one amino acid. What happened to the structure of the protein was that A1 breaks down to a 7 amino acid protein called beta-caso-morphin-7 (BCM7) in digestion by the gut. This mutational derivative has been found to promote schizophrenia and autism in children. Here is an abstract of a study that can be found here.

"In a previous study we showed that β-casomorphin-7 (β-CM7) is taken up by brain regions relevant to schizophrenia and autism. The present experiment was designed to find whether β-CM7 has any behavioral or analgesic effects in rats. About 65 seconds after treatment with different doses of β-CM7, rats became restless and ran violently, with teeth chattering and with rapid respiration. Seven minutes later, the rats became inactive with less walking, distancing themselves from the other rat in the same cage, and sitting in, or putting their head against, the corner of the cage. The sound response was reduced and social interaction was absent. One hour later, the rats showed hyperdefensiveness. The above behavioral effects of β-CM7 did not occur when rats were pretreated with naloxone (2 mg/kg, IP). The rats receiving saline did not show any behavioral changes throughout the 2 hour period of observation. β-CM7 also demonstrated analgesic effects, which could be blocked by naloxone. The results suggest that β-CM7 may play a role in behavioral disorders such as autism and schizophrenia."

 A Peptide Found in Schizophrenia and Autism Causes Behavioral Changes in Rats | Zhongjie Sun | University of Florida, USA

Autism March 1999 vol. 3 no. 1 85-95

Milk is a super-food. Babies require a source of food in their early stages due to their digestive tract being unequipped and not fully developed to digest solid food. They also depend heavily on their mother to strengthen their probiotic composition in their gut, which affects the child's abilities to derive nutrients from the solid food. Compared to Gliadorphin from wheat, BCM7 is 15 times more potent. It stimulates 45 opioid receptors in the brain. There aren't any conclusive studies demonstrating casein's abilities to secrete Zonulin, but if it makes sense that it will. Because babies digestive tract is ill-equipped, milk might just come with a mechanism that opens the gut for a easier access into the blood stream. 

Here is the study about milk stimulating 45 opium receptors in the brain:

"This paper discusses the effects of gliadorphin-7 (GD-7) infusion in rats and contrasts them with those of β-casomorphin-7 (βC-7). Both induce FLI in a dose related fashion. Very strong expression in both geniculate nuclei (GN) and the alveus hippocampus follow GD-7 400 μg and βC-7 30 μg/kg BW. GD-7 affects only these three regions while βC-7affects 45. FLI is prevented by Naloxone 2 mg/kg BW in all regions except the GN where it is diminished 60%. βC-7 causes bizarre behavior beginning 60 s after infusion is started. GD-7 causes no behavioral change. These findings suggest GD-7 gains access to brain cells by diffusion through circumventricular organs while βC-7 passes the BBB by carrier facilitation."

 Findings in normal rats following administration of gliadorphin-7 (GD-7)      Zhongjie Sun,     Robert CadeCorresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author      Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Florida, P.O. Box 100204, HSC, Gainesville, FL 32610-0204, USA

So, both grains and milk are problematic, milk being problematic from an A1 source cow (dominantly the Holstein, but also found in other species). It might be a consequence of human engineering interventions, as they have been known to cross breed plants and animals to create a species that would produce the most (Holsteins are known as the cows that produce the most milk, but the least in quality).

Vegetable Oils are derived from grains, legumes and seeds. Oils like Corn, Soy, Sunflower and Safflower are high in Omega 6 fatty acids. This fatty acid, like Omega 3, is highly sensitive to oxidation. Heating it or placing it in direct sunlight will cause the formation of free radicals and the fatty acids will cause inflammation in contact with the digestive tract. This can deplete the antioxidant storage's in the cells lining the gut and make them vulnerable to mutation, aging and death.

Due to the fatty acids being so very unstable, having a diet dominant in them will cause the cells to be unstable. Fatty acids compete for space in the cells membrane, which is composed of fatty acids, and then if you consume lots of Vegetable Oils from cooking or processed foods you end up shaping your cells in that same substance. If the fatty acids are unstable by themselves, imagine how would a cell's membrane quality be if all it gets from your diet is these unstable fatty acids. It would set off inflammations all the time. Saturated fat is just that, saturated, meaning stable. We need relatively less Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids in our diets, more Saturated Fat and Monounsaturated fats.

Cholesterol is essential for membranes. It is also essential for the creation of a specialized protein called Coenzyme Q10, that helps the mitochondria (the power house of the cell) in creating huge amounts of cellular energy (called ATP). This means that Cholesterol is essential for the health of this organelle in every cell in the body, without it the breathing of the cells will slow down and thus also the multicellular organism (you). Cholesterol is also essential in creating Vitamin D, which is important for calcium metabolism. 

When it comes to diseases of the blood vessels, like Atherosclerosis, Cholesterol has been found to clog up the arteries causing a heart attack. However, Cholesterol is not the culprit, but oxidation of Cholesterol is. Specialized Fat Proteins, called Lipoprotein, carry Cholestrol from the Liver to the blood stream and back to the Liver. LDL (Low density Lipoprotein) is responsible to transport Cholesterol through the blood stream to patch up cell membranes. Cholesterol is transported as a bandage in the healing process of the cells across the body. 

However, sugar and Homocysteine oxidize LDL, causing it to form plaques in the arteries. Sugar is toxic in the blood stream, and Homocysteine irritates the blood vessels surface. Sugars toxicity is taken care of by Insulin, which drives it into cells or converts it into fat for storage. In the blood, sugars can form AGEs - Advanced Glycation End-products, that have been observed to cause LDL oxidation. You can read more about sugar here. Also, Sugar feeds pathogenic bacteria. This gives them a substrate to thrive on, which they reach a momentum and launch an attack on the host.

Homocysteine is a transition substance between two amino acid synthesis. It's levels can rise due to deficiencies in vitamin B9 and B12. It has been a known marker for heart disease of any kind, and can only be reduced through nutrition. The interesting thing is that nutritional yeast, the most studied yeast out there, has been found to produce many B vitamins, inculding B9, but also Coenzyme Q6 and others that are precursors to CoQ10 production, or at least help in it's synthesis in the mitochondria.

Finally, many drugs can harm the gut and disrupt natural processes in the body. I'm not talking about Canabis, but mainstream's medicines that are created to mimic hormones or proteins in the body. NSAIDs are one example of drugs that promote inflammation in the gut. Contraceptive pills disrupt the composition of bacteria in and out of the body, which means that pathogenic bacteria populations develop and cause inflammation. Statin drugs inhibit release of Cholesterol, which harms the mitochondria's health.

To conclude, our bodies developed over millions of years on a diet that kept inflammation at bay. The advent of agriculture has caused the shift of humans to eat foods and create foods that harm the body and it's cells health. To reduce inflammation and let the cells rest and rebuild their structures, you are advised to eat a diet that predates agriculture - a Paleolithic Diet. Not being able to eat grains, legumes, milk, vegetable oils and sugars might seem to leave you with no other choice but to eat more fruits and vegetables if you are vegetarian or vegan, but meat products and animal products have always been a staple food of the human being on planet Earth.

Now, because we feed our meat grains, that is our livestock, the meat's quality is bad and if we consume it we end up with low quality bodies. Cows eat grass. They should be grass-fed, because they evolutionarily developed on a diet reach in grass. The only animal on the plant that can fully digest grains are birds. Fix your diet by buying grass-fed meat, which will strengthen the farmers who figured out the best way to raise cattle.

The responsibility is in your hands.

To your health,

Joel Jacobson