Pollan Advises: Eat Food

Constance mentioned an article by Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma) which appeared in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine:

Unhappy Meals

More after I eat some food...

Back. Food was good. If nothing I am about good food, which was why I was eager to sink my teeth into Pollan's foody essay, and why I was surprised to hear him ultimately disparage scientists, educators, journalists, politicians, food manufacturers ... just about everyone associated with what you eat, everyone except for your mother, he venerated your mother.

I had a few things I was going to say but Melinda and Sans Fromage said them so eloquently and succinctly in the comments that I'll keep my views to a minimum.

Science is Good

I have an infinitely more optimistic view of science than Mr. Pollan. Where he sees science, particularly nutritional science, as "bad" and complicit in all manner of present day ailments, "cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity", I see it as good.

If not for nutritional science:

• We wouldn't know that vitamin C could prevent scurvy.
  
• We wouldn't know that iodine could prevent goiter.
  
• We wouldn't know that vitamin D could prevent rickets.
  
• We wouldn't know that thiamin could prevent beriberi.
  
• And if not for nutritional science, I suspect Mr. Pollan's essay would be considerably shorter than 10,000 words, owing to its abundance of scientific references.

Education is Good

I have a decidedly more optimistic view of education than Mr. Pollan. Where he sees cultivating knowledge of "new terms like 'fiber' and 'cholesterol' and 'saturated fat' " as deleterious because they "push food aside in the popular imagination of what it means to eat", I see understanding of these terms as a colossal aid in making informed and healthful meal choices.

It is soooo much easier to counsel a person with diabetes about foods that raise blood sugar when they know what a carbohydrate is, and when they can read a food label. If an understanding of the meaning of "terms like polyunsaturated, cholesterol, monounsaturated, carbohydrate, fiber, etc." form the basis for what Pollan refers to as "The Age of Nutritionism", then I endorse it.

He, on the other hand opposes it. He states that encouraging the public to limit nutrients in food, "things like fat, sugar, and salt" has "actually made the problem [of chronic diseases] worse." And that we are "better off with ... traditional authorities ["parents and grandparents and great grandparents"] ... than new authorities."

I believe in science; I believe in education. And I believe wholeheartedly in eating real, good, delicious food. I don't believe those concepts have to be mutually exclusive. And I certainly don't believe that science and education are to blame for Americans' health problems.

________Illustration provided by simplifiedsigns.org, developers of signing images for hearing, but non-speaking, persons and their caregivers.

Evo Diet

BBC news posted an article on an upcoming UK reality show where participants set up home in a zoo and were fed "the sort of diet our ape-like ancestors once ate":

Going Ape

After 12 days eating what producers dubbed the "Evo Diet", the group's cholesterol dropped 23%, their blood pressure dropped from 140/83 to 122/76, and though it wasn't intended to be a weight loss diet (~2300 calories/day) their weight dropped an average of 9.7 lbs.

There are some fair criticisms of this diet in the comments section on BBC's article. I agree with Matthew London's take... It wasn't a scientific study so they didn't account for confounding factors that may have contributed to the outcome, namely what effect living in a relaxed, non-work, non-hustle-bustle environment where all your needs are provided by outsiders would have on your BP, stress hormones, lipids, etc.

Still, I cut it some slack since it was designed primarily to titillate TV-watchers. All-in-all, I think eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods is a great goal. I only wish our ancestors had evolved to drink coffee.

One thing that's odd. The fruit- and vegetable-based "Evo Diet" stands in contrast to the meat-based "Paleo Diet". Just what did humans evolve to eat?________

Popovers

Popovers are, or at least my goal is to make them be, virtually hollow inside, a little custardy, with a delicious crusty/chewy brown exterior. Steam escapes as we break them open and dip into a puddle of maple syrup. A dab of raspberry preserves is another taste treat. Butter is a traditional condiment.

This recipe has less than half the fat, more protein, and triple the fiber of a traditional recipe. And they still pop!

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup fat-free milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon melted butter
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
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1   Preheat oven - and popover pan - to 450°F.

2   Allow milk, eggs, and flour to come to room temperature. This step is not negotiable.

Note: You can substitute low-fat or whole milk for the fat-free milk. Milk can be microwaved for a few seconds to speed warming. Microwaving eggs is not recommended.

3   Sift salt with flours. Whisk eggs and egg white in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in milk. Whisk in melted butter. Whisk in flour, stirring thoroughly to break up lumps and create a smooth batter. Let the batter sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, preferably one hour. This waiting period is also not negotiable.

Notes: Using all all-purpose flour works best in this recipe. I've substituted white whole wheat flour for 1/2 of that, with good results. When I use more whole wheat flour the results are not as puffy and a little heavier but certainly not inedible.

I have pop-over success without using baking powder. You can use a pinch (1/4 teaspoon) if you find your popovers fail to popover.

Many recipes will instruct to whisk the batter just until small lumps appear. This advice is more suitable when a leavening agent such as baking soda is used; a lumpy batter slows the leavening reaction during mixing, keeping acid and base away from each other until baking is underway. Since popovers rise with steam, this keep-batter-lumpy instruction is moot. In fact, the waiting period I describe as not negotiable encourages formation of gluten which creates a strong framework as the popovers puff. Gluten is formed when water contacts wheat protein, and breaking up lumps puts more moisture in contact with protein.

4   Carefully remove the popover pan from the oven, spray cups with oil (one instance PAM is useful), ladle batter evenly into cups (they'll be about 1/2 full), get pan back into hot oven pronto.

5   Bake for about 20 minutes at 450°F until puffed and golden. Reduce oven temp to 350°F and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove popovers from pan immediately, sliding a knife around edges if they stick. Serve immediately.

Note: If you'll be holding popovers before serving, they can be kept warm in a very low oven. Slit them gently to let steam escape - this will keep them from collapsing, although you'll forfeit the steamy tableside opening. What's life without steamy tableside openings.

Enjoy!
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Niacin Lacks Cool Factor

People have been sending me this article from today's New York Times. Thank you. I post it hoping it continues to make the rounds. It's good stuff.

An Old Cholesterol Remedy Is New Again

The old remedy is niacin, a B vitamin. Dr. Davis over on the Heart Scan Blog extols niacin's virtues. For its ability to increase HDL (High Density Lipoprotein, the good cholesterol), it's worth a try. Flushing is the side effect mostly likely to result in noncompliance.

Note: The form of niacin found in supplements (nicotinamide) is not the form of the vitamin found to benefit lipid levels (nicotinic acid). Also, the amount of niacin provided by either a healthful diet (about 20 mg/day) or a B vitamin supplement (about 50 mg/pill) fall well short of the amount needed to boost HDL (usually 1000 to 3000 mg/day = 1 to 3 grams/day). Even though nicotinic acid is not foreign to the body, at these gram doses I think of it more as a drug than a supplement.

High dose supplementation with nicotinic acid really shouldn't be pursued without a doctor's oversight. You'll want to have your liver enzymes monitored (high dose niacin can be harmful to the liver). And you'll want to have your blood glucose checked (high dose niacin can impair glucose tolerance). If you have diabetes, you may need an adjustment in your meds.

Still, it's an inexpensive, natural, and effective therapy.

This quote from the article stood out for me:

"Here you have a drug that was about as effective as the early statins, and it just never caught on," said Dr. B. Greg Brown, professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. "It’s a mystery to me. But if you’re a drug company, I guess you can’t make money on a vitamin."

________

C12 Peptide for Blood Pressure Control

Just because I have it handy, here's a little more info on the active ingredient in Twinlab's Blood Pressure Control supplement.

• C12 Peptide is a bioactive peptide (one of many) which has been shown to lower blood pressure. (See my post, Food-derived Peptides Lower Blood Pressurefor a mechanism.)
  
  
• C12 Peptide is derived from cow's milk protein (bovine casein).
  
  
• C12 Peptide is manufactured by DVM International in the Netherlands.
  
  
• C12 Peptide is being advertised as having GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status. (Although I don't see it on the GRAS list.)
  
  
• C12 Peptide is also available as an ingredient in Life Extension's Natural BP Management, Springfield's Regisense™ (available in the Netherlands and Belgium), HealthyDirect's RegulACE™ (available in the UK), and probably a few more I haven't run across.

________

Food-derived Peptides Lower Blood Pressure

Fresh from the heels of my cliffhanger post on blood pressure (BP) is this ...
Naturally occurring molecules in a number of foods are being found to lower BP. I've been reading like a fiend and I'm convinced that bioactive peptides really can do what researchers have been theorizing, and demonstrating, they can do.

What Are Bioactive Peptides?

A peptide is a small strand of amino acids. A protein is a large strand of amino acids. Biologically active (bioactive) peptides are essentially small proteins that produce an effect in the body. In this case, they lower blood pressure. That isn't all they do, but that's what I'll focus on here.

The peptides are derived from dietary protein. There are a number of sources for that protein, including milk, fish (sardines, mackerel), brewers yeast, and wheat germ.

The original protein, the milk casein or sardine muscle from whence the peptide came, is inactive. It needs to be cleaved before it can wield its charms. Some of that cleaving takes place naturally in our gut by cleaving or lysing enzymes. Some of it can be performed by enzymatic action of bacteria before we even eat the protein (fermented milk). And some peptides are produced synthetically in a lab by the lysing activities of man and his patented processes.

Thus, some amount of these peptides are made available when we eat certain foods. Foods can also be peptide-spiked. Or you can take a peptide supplement.

Mechanism

One method by which these peptides are thought to lower BP is by inhibiting the enzyme ACE in our body.¹ ACE inhibitors, the synthetic kind, are prescribed to lower blood pressure, and are big business for the pharmaceutical industry (Accupril, Altace, Capoten, Vasotec, etc.).

Food-derived ACE inhibiting peptides may also lower BP by mechanisms not fully understood. Some were found to relax vessels through opiate activity (no kidding). Others prompted release of vasorelaxing chemicals (e.g. nitric oxide).

The sum of these peptides' effects is good news for people looking for a non-pharmacological means of lowering BP:

• Not only do food-derived peptides lower BP, they do so without (so far) the side effects seen with synthetic drugs, such as a dry cough and edema.
  
  
• They can be had at a lower cost, benefiting not only consumers but the healthcare industry as a whole.
  
  
• They can be used for prevention since they don't lower pressure beyond a normal range, even in the presence of multiple doses. Yet, increasing dosage can increase BP-lowering effect.

Below are a few products:
(Click product for a description. For Pro-Activ fermented milk, scroll down to bottom. Just because I show these products doesn't mean I endorse them :)




Here are a spattering of studies:

A fermented milk high in bioactive peptides has a blood pressure–lowering effect in hypertensive subjects (2003, Finland)

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of casein protein hydrolysate (C12 peptide) in human essential hypertension (2004, US)²

Effect of casein hydrolysate, prepared with protease derived from Aspergillus oryzae, on subjects with high-normal blood pressure or mild hypertension (2005, Japan)

Effect of powdered fermented milk with Lactobacillus helveticus on subjects with high-normal blood pressure or mild hypertension (2005, Japan)

Antihypertensive effect of valyl-tyrosine, a short chain peptide derived from sardine muscle hydrolyzate, on mild hypertensive subjects (2000, Japan)

Antihypertensive effect and safety evaluation of vegetable drink with peptides derived from sardine protein hydrolysates on mild hypertensive, high-normal and normal blood pressure subjects (2002, Japan)

And a few overviews:

Bioavailability of angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory peptides (2004, Belgium)
Food-derived bioactive peptides--opportunities for designing future foods (2003, Finland)
Effects of milk-derived bioactives: an overview (2000, Australia)


If you peruse the links above, you'll notice a trend. Can you spot it? I have a suspicion why this trend might exist, I wonder if anyone else has a take on it.

________¹ ACE is the acronym for Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme. An ACE inhibitor slows the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II - the latter being a potent vasoconstrictor. ACE inhibitors also slow the breakdown of bradykinin, a potent vasodilator. Together, these actions make ACE inhibitors pretty darn effective at keeping blood vessels the smooth throughways they were meant to be, at least for some people.

² See my post, C12 Peptide for Blood Pressure Control, for some stats on C12 Protein.

Thanks to Melinda for setting me down this path.

Get Pumped

The top three causes of death in the US are heart disease, cancer and stroke - in that order.

Of the three, it's stroke I fear most. I don't fear dying from it, I fear living with its fallout. I'm not saying that coping with a malignancy or the threat of my heart undergoing infarct at any moment don't also petrify me. But thoughts of the physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic impact of a brain attack shiver my timbers.

The most common cause of stroke, a cause that hikes risk by up to 6 times, a cause that has no signs or symptoms, a cause that 1 in 3 adults is - at this moment - walking around with ... is? Insidious bugger, isn't it. And the data showing just how sneaky and dangerous high blood pressure (BP) is has been pouring in, so much so that in 2003, the government, via the JNC 7¹, lowered the threshold below which a person is considered normotensive². That threshold is no longer 120/80 mmHg.

Go on, get a BP reading ... 1 in 3 adults, no symptoms, not even being overweight can predict having it (although losing weight can lower it). Slip your arm into a drug store pressure cuff, or invest in a home model (you can pick up a manual one for $10). If your reading is (consistently) above 115/75 mmHg, you're at increased risk for stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. I spit you not.

"Beginning at 115/75 mmHg the risk of cardiovascular disease doubles with each increment of 20/10 mmHg."
- JNC 7

Chronically high pressure against the walls of arteries damages them. Damaged walls collect plaque and narrow over time. Even if you avoid the acute conditions named above³, narrow vessels deliver less oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and organs - they'll never be all they can be, even in the Army.

If you're used to reading my blog, you know I like to wrap up with a remedy. At least that's my goal. I could tick off the standard BP-lowering protocols - reduce alcohol, reduce salt, reduce stress, reduce excess weight, reduce noise, and eat the government-recommended DASH Diet (more on that one later). But the particular remedy I have in mind for tempering a slowly rising blood pressure concerns none of that.

More in my next post, here.

________¹ JNC 7: The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Published in 2003 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLB), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

² Normotensive: normal blood pressure. Hypertensive: high blood pressure.

³ Namely, stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. Speaking of acute ... my Taber's Medical Dictionary defines acute as "sharp, severe" with "rapid onset". The first time I heard the phrase "acute myocardial infarction" I regarded the speaker as a tad insensitive. What's cute about a heart attack? While I'm beefing about medical terminology, I vote for an upgrade to "morbidity" which literally means "sickness". As the term stands, assuming a January national average for flu at 3%, we can justifiably conclude at least 16 members of Congress (3% of 535) are morbid. (I might have used any group for this example ... undertakers, physicians, clergy, bloggers ... but I didn't have a ready figure for them ;)

New York Times No-Knead Bread

Heather, below is the bread recipe I've been using to test my new white whole wheat flour. You may have seen it, the recipe, it's been burning up the internet since the holidays. It's insanely simple. And the final product is insanely artisan, given the paucity of work behind it. Its creator, Jim Lahey from NYC's Sullivan Street Bakery, says an 8-year-old could do it. I believe him.

Bread is a weakness for me. If I knew I only had a few days left on this bountiful, if slowly melting planet, I'd succumb to the call of the loaf, I would. Crusty, chewy, a little salty, and ... oh!

Recipe: No-Knead Bread¹
- From NYT's Dining & Wine Section, November 8, 2006

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

________1   In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2   Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3   Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4   At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Note [mine, not NYT]: I've had better success with a higher oven temperature, something between 490ºF and 500ºF. But I turn it down to around 450ºF after I take the lid off, midway through baking.
________
Accompanying article, The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work¹
- From NYTs, November 8, 2006

Accompanying how-to video, a must see:

________¹ Accessing the NYT's Recipe or Article may require (free) registration.

Photos: Homegrown. Top is No-knead Bread using 100% all purpose flour. Below is No knead bread using 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 white whole wheat flour.

Premature Birth

I live in the Northeast, US. It's not supposed to be 60ºF in January. I think my garlic chives are confused; they sprouted. Is there I way I can push them back into the ground until March or April?
________

Double Yolk

On the morning of the first day of the new year, I cracked an egg. For wholegrain pancakes. This is what tumbled from the shell.

I'm not superstitious but would be curious to hear if this has any folkloric significance.
________Photo: Homegrown. Thanks to FRE for lending a hand.