"Meat And Potatoes" Dietary Pattern And Risk For Colon Cancer

My previous post on Seventh-day Adventists revealed a link between a "meat-and-potatoes" diet and risk for colon cancer.¹

How that may work: The combination of dietary fat and high-glycemic-index carbs throws a one-two punch. Fat ratchets up insulin resistance making it more difficult to clear blood glucose resulting from easily digested starch. The pancreas releases more insulin to compensate, leaving some with undesirably high levels of insulin and other growth (including cancer growth) promoters.

Fast forward to 2008:
Dietary Patterns As Identified By Factor Analysis And Colorectal Cancer Among Middle-Aged Americans, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2008

Finding:

"We observed that both for men and (especially) women, a dietary pattern characterized by frequent meat and potato consumption was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer."

A decade later and this association hasn't gone away. (Although the gender risk has flipped. Sex hormones meddle in strange and wonderful ways. Well, at least when they're endogenous. Synthetic sex hormones like bisphenol-A that leach from bottles and plastic linings of canned foods and which disrupt endocrine functioning are not wonderful. I wonder if this is contributing to gender risk differences. How can it not?)

This is one of a new type of studies that analyzes dietary patterns instead of single nutrients. Since we don't eat foods in isolation, drawing meaningful associations from consumption of a single nutrient can be difficult. (Pattern analysis isn't exactly straight-forward either, from what I read, but it's developing.)

In this study, patterns weren't created and overlaid over people's diets, as in, "Who ate the most meat and who ate the most potatoes?" Patterns were instead detected, as in, "People who ate the most meat also ate the most potatoes."

Their analysis identified three major patterns in this group of over 492,000 AARP members (a very unique group):

• Meat and potatoes
• Fruit and vegetables
• Diet foods

Generally, the first group (meat and potatoes) experienced an increased risk for colon cancer, the other 2 groups experienced either a lower risk or there was no association (for women, the fruit and vegetable pattern neither increased nor decreased risk).

I didn't see a rice and beans pattern. Class, culture, and how they impact dietary choices must affect this type of analysis. It would have been nice to see what a rice&beans pattern did to colon cancer risk.
________
Two more studies. These are meta-analyses, i.e. studies of studies.²

1. Meat Consumption And Colorectal Cancer Risk: Dose-Response Meta-Analysis Of Epidemiological Studies, International Journal of Cancer, 2002

"High intake of red meat, and particularly of processed meat, was associated with a moderate but significant increase in colorectal cancer risk."

2. Systematic Review of the Prospective Cohort Studies On Meat Consumption And Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analytical Approach, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 2001

"A daily increase of 100 g of all meat or red meat is associated with a significant 12–17% increased risk of colorectal cancer."

"A significant 49% increased risk was found for a daily increase of 25 g of processed meat."

The increased risks were nowhere near what the Seventh-day study found, but...

1. Their comparisons were made primarily among meat eaters, low-consumers vs. high consumers, where some Seventh-day ate no meat at all. The difference between nothing and something may be bigger than the difference between a little and a little more.

2. Also, returning to my original premise, older studies were probably not investigating the pattern of eating. If it's true that fiber (soluble, insoluble, resistant starch each with their own effect) protects the colon lining, if it's true that decreased transit time protects the colon lining (via fiber, fluid, fitness), if it's true that antioxidants and other chemicals in foods (chlorophyll in spinach, resveratrol in red wine) protect the colon lining, if it's true that the combination of fat, especially saturated fat, and high-glycemic carbs is harmful to the colon, then it's going to be difficult to point a finger at any single dietary input.

It doesn't mean dietary risks don't exist, or that we can never discern them. It's as shaun said, "It's like a spider web, when one variable changes, everything else shifts to varying degrees. It's complicated."
________ ¹ "Meat-and-potatoes" is a name I'm using for a pattern of eating (high fat along with high-glycemic-index carbs) that is common in developed Western countries.
² Meta-analyses are good in that they combine (and so have a large data base of participants) and reassess similar research questions (Does X impact Y?) They're risky in that they only analyze published studies, which creates bias (based on publication bias). Bias can also be introduced in the selection of studies, and in subjective differential weighting of variables. It's always a good idea to check the affiliation of the authors.

41 Days And The Oil Is Still Leaking

Here are a couple videos from Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society. Jean-Michael is the son of renowned ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.

"The Ocean Futures Expedition Team discovered this massive oil slick just 24 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The oil stretched as far as the eye could see and down to about 15 to 25 feet deep:"

"Jean-Michel Cousteau interviews Billy Nungesser, President of the Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, where oil is now entering nearby marshes. Matt Ferraro of the Ocean Futures Expedition Team explores the now oily marsh and finds plants and animals coated in oil:"

According to this article from Newsweek: BP's Photo Blockade Of The Gulf Oil Spill: Photographers Say BP And Government Officials Are Preventing Them From Documenting The Impact Of The Deepwater Horizon Disaster, Cousteau was turned away from a wildlife sanctuary by the Coast Guard after they discovered that an AP photographer was on board. So, this is what they let him film?
________

Bill Nye Explains How BP Is Plugging Gulf Oil Leak

Here's Bill Nye, The Science Guy, explaining what BP is doing to plug the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, what is now known to be the largest oil spill in American history.

The "mud" is not what we think of as mud. It's a dilatant drilling fluid. Dilatant meaning it dilates by thickening. It thickens, increases in viscosity, when shear forces are so great they slow the ability of liquid particles to squeeze between solid particles. The mass seizes. He gives an example of cornstarch, a dilatant material. (His part starts at 1:42 minutes.)



Below he explains why he thinks BP stopped pumping yesterday: "I think they ran out of mud," that is, drilling fluid. (I believe he said the diameter of the pipe from which the oil and gas are spewing is 21 inches in diameter. That's a lot of mud.)

He also describes what a "junk shot" is. He gives an example of stuffing a tube with inexpensive junk, rubber and fiber. When you try to push fluid, especially dilatant fluid, through the labyrinth of junk, it gets stuck. You clog the tube.

He notes how difficult it is to push junk through a flexible hose a mile under water. You risk getting your own input lines clogged.

The reason we're drilling down there in the first place? Says Nye: "We want this stuff," and with hundreds of thousands of oil wells around the world, "it's time to regulate."


________

Study Finds Heavy Metals And Pesticides In Most Supplements Tested

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released a report on herbal supplements:
Herbal Dietary Supplements: Examples of Deceptive or Questionable Marketing Practices and Potentially Dangerous Advice

They went undercover posing as elderly consumers. Here are some clips of their conversations with sales staff:



They tested 40 herbal supplements from 40 different manufacturers and found:

"GAO found trace amounts of at least one potentially hazardous contaminant in 37 of the 40 herbal dietary supplement products tested."

"All 37 supplements tested positive for trace amounts of lead; of those, 32 also contained mercury, 28 cadmium, 21 arsenic, and 18 residues from at least one pesticide."

More in GAO Report (pdf)

From the New York Times:¹

"Steve Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association representing the dietary supplement industry, said it was not surprising that herbal supplements contained trace amounts of heavy metals, because these are routinely found in soil and plants. “I don’t think this should be of concern to consumers,” Mr. Mister said."

It sounded like he said heavy metals should not be a concern in herbs because they are routinely found in herbs, which is wanting for logic. But he knew that.

He also said, "supplement sellers tested ingredients before using them." How can you give your blessing to the sale of products with known contaminants?

Some say government should not engage in public health activities. That government should not monitor foods and supplements for pesticides, heavy metals, petroleum derivatives, pathogenic organisms, and other harmful substances. That businesses should be able to sell anything they please with no inspections, no accountability, and freedom from being sued. That man's innate sense of good will ultimately prevail.

I'm willing to pay taxes, especially when the dollars are spent on reports such as this.
________¹Study Finds Supplements Contain Contaminants, NYTs, Tuesday May 25

Thanks to BL.

Transit Time

I found this diagram when I Googled "Standard American Diet." I like it, not so much for its message (many things affect colon transit time besides fiber) but that it shows how the human body requires several days to have its way with the food we eat.
________

Colon Cancer, Its Link To Diabetes, And Dietary Pattern

Study the etiology of cancer and one thing becomes evident -- it's not the result of one or even a few conditions.

That's true about many chronic diseases. Hallmarks of diabetes for example -- insulin resistance, high fasting and post-meal blood glucose, high or low blood insulin, fatty acid pathology -- emerge from a confluence of factors, both genetic and environmental. ("Environmental" includes how someone eats.)

Cancer and diabetes aren't caused by eating one particular food either. While eating carbohydrates can result in high blood glucose in people with diabetes, eating carbohydrates by no means causes diabetes. (Some types of carbohydrates are more prone to raising blood glucose (BG) than others, some have no effect on BG at all, some actually lower BG.)

Similarly, a diet high in meat does not cause colon cancer, although it appears to contribute to the disease in predisposed individuals. But then, carbohydrates, at least certain ones, appear to contribute to cancer too. Likewise diets high in meat and fat have been shown to contribute to diabetes.¹

When it comes to food, it's likely the pattern of eating, rather than the contribution of a single nutrient, that plays the larger role in cancer and diabetes risk.
________
I thought the Discussion section in this study laid out the link between cancer and diabetes nicely (and drew attention to a risk-laden style of eating along the way):

Dietary Risk Factors for Colon Cancer in a Low-risk Population, American Journal of Epidemiology, 1998

First I'll summarize its results.

It was a 6-year prospective study of over 32,000 Seventh-day Adventists living in California, a unique group that enjoy very little alcohol, tobacco, and meat. They also enjoy a low incidence of colon cancer. Were their vegetarian diets protective? Possibly. After adjustment for alcohol, smoking, and a few other things, here's how their diets affected their risk:

"The authors found a positive association with total meat intake (risk ratio (RR) for ≥ 1 time/week vs. no meat intake = 1.85)."

So, there was a 1.85 greater probability of colon cancer for those who consumed meat once a week or more compared to not at all. That's an 85% increased risk. Pretty high.

"Among meat eaters ... positive associations with red meat intake (RR for ≥ 1 time/week vs. no red meat intake = 1.90)."

A 90% increased risk for red meat alone. Even higher.

"... and white meat intake (RR for ≥ 1 time/week vs. no red meat intake = 3.29)."

And here, an incredible 229% increased risk for eating white meat at least once a week. You just don't see RRs that high. I was surprised that white meat was associated with a higher risk than red meat. The iron in red meat, its ability to oxidize, is thought to contribute to colon abnormalities. Something stronger must be working here. In this case, white meat included poultry and fish.

"An inverse association with legume intake (RR for >2 times/week vs. 1 time/week = 0.53)."

Here we have a very strong protective effect for legumes - beans, lentils, and peas. It just about cut cancer risk in half for those who ate legumes a mere twice a week.

"Among men, a positive association with body mass index was observed (relative to the RR for tertile III (>25.6 kg/m2) vs. tertile I (22.5 kg/m2) = 2.63)."

Another strong association, 163% increased risk for men with a BMI greater than 25.6 (You can calculate your BMI here.)

Here I saw the first clue (in this study at least, the hypothesis is several years old) of colon cancer's link to diabetes. Men typically carry fat in an android fashion, that is, centrally. Women carry fat in a gynoid fashion, that is, peripherally - hips and butt. Central fat is more metabolically active, we add to it and take away from it more easily than fat on our butt.

Having lots of metabolically active fat (abdominal fat) is linked to insulin resistance, and so, to diabetes. (Some say obesity causes insulin resistance, but we're finding it may be the other way around.) Insulin resistance in turn is linked to higher levels of circulating insulin. Insulin is a growth hormone, high levels of which are associated with cancer growth. (People with diabetes have a higher risk for many cancers, including colon cancer.)

The final finding:

"A complex relation was identified whereby subjects exhibiting a high red meat intake, a low legume intake, and a high body mass experienced a more than threefold elevation in risk relative to all other patterns based on these variables."

Could we get much higher risks than those above? Apparently so, more than threefold in some cases, when several factors are combined.

So, the interplay of all these variables led to an even higher risk for cancer than any one of them separately. If you were...

• A man,
  
• who ate red meat more than once a week and
  
• ate legumes less than once a week and
  
• had a BMI greater than 25,

...your RR was 5.10. You had an astounding 410% increased risk for cancer. (Women had a 100% increased risk.)

The study's graphs provide good visual impact. (RR is Relative Risk, anything over 1.0 is an increased risk.)

Notice in the first one below, if your diet included meat your increased risk for colon cancer was considerably lessened if you also ate legumes more than twice a week.

Although, as you can see from the next 2 graphs, if the meat you were eating was white, eating legumes didn't help at all. (Go ahead and speculate ... maybe it's that white meat, chicken and fish, are more often served breaded and fried? In easily oxidized omega-6 fat? The authors didn't say.)




As to the link between colon cancer and diabetes, the authors said, "many of the dietary risk factors associated with colon cancer may reflect the effect of hyperinsulinemia." And high insulin may, in turn, reflect a certain pattern of eating:

"... the characteristically low polyunsaturated/saturated fat ratio from a higher red meat intake contributed to insulin resistance², while the low intake of legumes, a food of characteristically low glycemic response, contributed to a heavier glycemic load."

In this case, the combination of meat and refined carbs (biscuits & gravy? burger on a bun?) was ominous.

More in this vein to follow...
________
¹ Dietary Patterns and Risk for Diabetes, The Multiethnic Cohort, Diabetes Care, March, 2010
² The degree of saturation in the fat we eat affects insulin resistance, one example: Substituting Dietary Saturated For Monounsaturated Fat Impairs Insulin Sensitivity In Healthy Men And Women: The KANWU Study, Diabetologia, 2001

I think the relative risks in this study were higher than usual because there was a large group who ate no meat that could be used for comparison. Other studies compare groups where everyone eats meat, low-consumers vs. high-consumers, so the distinctions are less. Also, 6 years is a fairly long time, it allows simmering cancers to emerge.

Gulf Coast Seafood Harvests 2000-2008

600,000,000 pounds = 272,155 metric tons
What do you see?
I see a lot of farmed fish in America's future.

"Scientists and researchers -- invited to brief members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee [on Friday, May 21, 2010] -- warned that the thousands of barrels of oil still gushing into the Gulf are contributing to a potential ecological disaster of unknown proportions."
- CNN: Experts Testify On Grim Ecological Fallout From Gulf Oil Spill

________

"Flawed" Studies

This morning I woke to emails from people I don't know saying that pesticides in food aren't a problem because studies don't prove it.

This happens to me when I post about the risks of GMOs. I get anonymous comments and emails from people I don't know defending GMOs, saying the studies are flawed, and sometimes ridiculing me for posting about them.

(It makes me wonder if the authors of these emails aren't employed by companies that benefit from the sale and use of GMOs and pesticides.)

Studies are not "flawed." This is science. You test a hypothesis, you tweak the design, you test again. If it is true that studies are flawed or imperfect, then all studies are indeed flawed, since all studies are imperfect. The claim that studies are flawed is used by businesses to plant the seed of doubt while they continue making money.

• Monsanto calls studies that show fertility problems in rats fed GMOs "flawed."
  
• GlaxoSmithKline calls studies that show heart problems in people taking their drug Avandia "flawed."
  
• Philip Morris calls studies that show lung cancer deaths linked to cigarette smoking "flawed."

This is just my personal blog. I don't make money from it. I don't sell products or advertisements. I'm not promoting my book, my designs, my speaking engagements . It's just a place where I write about things I find of interest for my friends and family. I don't use my words to ridicule, at least I try not to.
________

Pesticides Linked To ADHD In Children

New study:
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides, Pediatrics, May 2010

Researchers compared urinary concentrations of pesticides (1139 children) with diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

For the most commonly detected pesticide metabolite (dimethyl thiophosphate), "children with levels higher than the median of detectable concentrations had twice the odds of ADHD." Lead author Maryse Bouchard: "I think it's fairly significant. A doubling is a strong effect."

They tested for 6 pesticide metabolites. Most children (93.8%) had at least one detectable metabolite.

Conclusion:

"These findings support the hypothesis that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence."

MSNBC has a good summary:
Pesticides In Kids Linked To ADHD

The National Academy of Sciences says that diet is a major source of pesticide exposure in children. In a 2008 government report, detectable concentrations of malathion were found in:

• 28% of frozen blueberry samples
  
• 25% of fresh strawberry samples
  
• 19% of celery samples

A study in this post found the highest levels of malathion in a dairy sample of milk and yogurt, and high concentrations in:

• Peanut butter
  
• Great northern beans
  
• Green beans
  
• Baked goods: bread, bagel, crackers, Kashi cereal, Oreos, granola bars, brownie, scone, tortilla
  
• Soy milk
  
• Ketchup
  
• Raw almonds
  
• Lettuce
  
• Tomatoes

Many pesticides work by interfering with the nervous systems of insects. They have a similar effect in mammals, including humans.________

Photos: Early 1900s

Here are just two photos from Albert Kahn's collection of early 20th century photographs, "considered to be the most important collection of early colour photographs in the world."

India:

Ireland:

Citynoise.org has about 70 more photos. Just a fantastic window to a different time.

What do you see? I see:

• Not many heavy people
  
• Few wore eyeglasses
  
• Being barefoot was not uncommon, even in places as north as Ireland

________

What Is A Serving Of Nuts?

Click to enlarge.
________Source: International Tree Nut Council. Some great information on nutrients and research there too.

The Transition To Organic And Sustainable Agriculture

How can we lower our exposure to pesticides, antibiotics, endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, and other harmful chemicals in food? Should we resign ourselves to their presence? Hoping their impact on health and the environment is minimal, or at least worth the cost? Alternatives may be few right now, but as resource management (Where will the water come from? What will we do with wastes?) becomes increasingly important in the food production equation, the transition to organic and sustainable agriculture has never been more attainable.

Choices

Industrial agriculture has yet to embrace organic and sustainable farming. (Is industrial organic an oxymoron?) Less than 1% of crops and livestock in the US are produced organically, and the cost of organic food is prohibitive for most. If we are among the few who can access organic food, there's no guarantee that our children will eat organic food at school, our parents will eat organic food in care facilities, or that organic food can be had while traveling.

Food we grow ourselves can supplement commercial production but cannot replace it - not today, not tomorrow, not next year. Not until we turn these trends around will the majority of us be able to acquire the bulk of our diets from local farms and pastures:





When smaller, more numerous organic farms replace larger, centralized ones, the benefits of economies of scale are lost. Maintaining, let alone increasing output is another challenge. (Agricultural exports have more than quadrupled in the last half century.)¹ Is the answer a parallel farming structure, one organic and one conventional? Do we have the resources for that?

Choosing homegrown discriminates against those without the time, labor, and resources to invest in food production. In the future, given the social and political will, and the logistics, networks of community and regional organic farms may sustain more people. For now, window-box tomatoes do not a diet make.

The Promise Of Slow Food

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, was in attendance at the Slow Food movement's first national event, Slow Food Nation, in 2008. It was one of the largest food events in US history, attracting more than 50,000 people to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend. It celebrated all things sustainable, local, and organic.

Of the event, Schlosser wrote:

"The first Slow Food Nation partly fulfilled [Alice] Waters' broad agenda. It earned high marks for the good and the clean but next time could do a hell of a lot better with the fair.* At the moment, the majority of Americans--ordinary working people, the poor, people of color--do not have a seat at this table. The movement for sustainable agriculture has to reckon with the simple fact that it will never be sustainable without these people. Indeed, without them it runs the risk of degenerating into a hedonistic narcissism for the few."
- Slow Food For Thought, The Nation, 2008

I think he has the answer. Slow Food must enlist the power of the many. It needs their numbers, their voice, their vote. Social and political will requires a majority. When most Americans are eating organic, locally grown, affordable meals, when ordinary grocery store shelves are stocked with organic, locally grown, affordable products, the goal of "good, clean, and fair" food will be realized.

* "Good, clean, and fair" is the Slow Food movement's credo. Says Schlosser: "The "good" refers to taste; the "clean," to local, organic, sustainable means of production; and "fair," to a system committed to social justice."
________¹ USDA, Charts and Maps: The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy

Pesticides In Food

What happens in children's' bodies when you replace their conventional food with organic food?





MDA and TCPY are pesticide derivatives.

In this study, levels of pesticides in their bodies went down:

"We found that the median urinary concentrations of the specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced.

We conclude that organic diets provide a protective mechanism against OP pesticide exposure. ... Such protection is dramatic and immediate."

What may be the impact of lower pesticides in the body?

"It is intuitive to assume that children whose diets consist of organic food items would have a lower probability of neurologic health risks, a common toxicologic mechanism of the OP pesticide class."

Meat and dairy foods were excluded from this study. Foods that were switched to organic for those 5 days included:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
  
• Processed fruits and vegetables (e.g. salsa)
  
• Juices
  
• Wheat, corn, rice, soy-based foods (e.g. pasta, cereal, popcorn, or chips)

________
Which foods have high pesticide loads?

This pilot study of 11 adults ...
Dietary Organophosphorus Pesticide Intake and Urinary Dialkylphosphate Levels in Adult Volunteers, Epidemiology, 2008²

... found:

- Chlorpyrifos was most frequently detected in beans/nuts/legumes samples (29%)
- Highest measured concentration (400 ng/g) was found in a dairy sample consisting of chocolate ice cream.
- Groups of food with the highest concentration of this pesticide, highest ranked first:

• Bagel, bread, chocolate muffin, pineapple cake
  
• Burrito, ensure (nutrition drink)
  
• Kashi go lean cereal, double stuff Oreos, granola bar, peanut butter, soy milk
  
• Hot chocolate (skim milk, chocolate), milk
  
• Ketchup, romaine lettuce, tomatoes
  
• Soy burger, energy bar, balance bar
  
• Brownie, scone, tortilla
  
• Chocolate truffles, Dijon mustard
  
• Carb bars, rice

- Diazinon was most frequently detected in grains samples (35%)
- Highest concentration (6,564 ng/g) found in a composite sample of whole wheat bread, whole grain chips, rice noodles, and a multigrain bar.
- Groups of food with the highest concentrations:

• Mustard
  
• Whole wheat sourdough bread
  
• Grapes, smoothie
  
• Popcorn
  
• 14-grain bread (This was labeled organic, although it had some of the highest levels of the pesticide diazinon.)
  
• Bread, Frosted Mini Wheats
  
• Bread, raisin bagel, cracker
  
• French fries
  
• Bread, Cheerios
  
• Bagel, sandwich, rice pilaf, fruit/grain bar, tortilla chips

- Malathion was most frequently detected in beans/nuts/legumes samples (14%)
- Highest measured concentration (388 ng/g) was found in a dairy sample of milk and yogurt.
- Groups of food with the highest concentrations:

• Great northern beans, sandwich, energy bar, peanut butter
  
• Brownie, scone, tortilla
  
• Celery, green beans, ketchup, vegetable korma
  
• Peanut butter, whole raw almonds
  
• Bread, raisin bagel, cracker
  
• Kashi Go Lean cereal, Double Stuff Oreos, granola bar, peanut butter, soy milk
  
• Burrito, Ensure (nutrition drink)
  
• Lettuce/salad
  
• Ketchup, Romaine lettuce, tomatoes

Mustard? For crying out loud.
________¹ Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children’s Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorus Pesticides, Environmental Health Perspectives, 2006
MDA is malathion dicarboxylic acid, a metabolite of the pesticide malathion.
TCPY is 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol, a metabolite of the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

² PowerPoint Presentation
This was a short, 4-day pilot study of 11 adults from Atlanta. It was investigating the validity of using urine to test for pesticides from food. No correlation between pesticides in food and pesticides in urine was found. It was a small group, however, and correlation is more often seen in children. I like that it listed actual foods.

Notably, many subjects consumed levels of pesticides that exceeded EPA Reference Doses (an amount thought to be without risk) and had urine levels many times that found in the general population. (e.g. Dimethylthiophosphate: this study's 95th percentile: 5.7 ug/L, NHANES 1999-2002 average: 1.06 ug/L) I think having pesticides diffused throughout the environment makes quantifying dietary impact challenging.

Idea from shaun who Buzzed this article in Grist: Industrial Meat Comes With Antibiotics And Endocrine Disruptors
Photo of peanut butter: Bix

Results Of Energy Expenditure Poll

Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss.


The collective wisdom from this poll is that expending more energy than we consume will lead to long-term weight loss.

This is contrary to what Gary Taubes wrote in his book, Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease.

Taubes said:

"Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior."

"Consuming excess calories does not cause [Taubes' emphasis] us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger."

________ Painting, Vincent Van Gogh's Noon Rest From Work from irisms at Panoramio.

Dietary Fat and Colon Cancer

New thinking on the possible link between food, or a particular component of food, and cancer is that the carcinogen (or whatever word fits here better) is a more powerful actor when it is introduced to a vulnerable body. This may be why the trends found in large population studies are weak, if they are evident at all. The "vulnerable" confounder is not being taken into account.

A body is vulnerable if:

1. It has vulnerable genes (gene mutations, gene omissions)
   
2. It has a compromised immune system (HIV/AIDS)
   
3. It is very young (immature immune system)
   
4. It is very old (related to 2.)

In this case-control study, when the population was considered as a whole, dietary fats were not associated with colon cancer:
Dietary Fats And Colon Cancer: Assessment Of Risk Associated With Specific Fatty Acids, International Journal of Cancer, 1997

And that was the news that made headlines.

However, analysis of the study's vulnerable population - those with a family history of colon cancer - revealed a strong positive association between dietary fat and colon cancer. The association was higher for unsaturated fats (both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated). Women who had both a family history and a high intake of unsaturated fat had over 3 times the risk, some over 9 times. Those are very high numbers; 3 times is 300%, 9 times is 900%.

Apart from those with a family history, another group that had a higher risk for colon cancer from fat intake were women whose fats were derived from food preparation (fried foods, bakery foods):

"In this study, we observed among women that fats from preparation appeared to increase risk more than fats from foods or fats eaten as additions."

So, if you're a woman who enjoys fried foods, especially fried in unsaturated fat (that includes olive oil) AND there's a history of colon cancer in your family, you may be stacking your cancer deck.

Another reason to eat the Paleo Vegetarian diet.
________

High-Heat-Treated Meat Linked To Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease

I usually don't double dip with my diabetes work, but since I was on the topic of meat-eating from yesterday... To recap:

The President's Cancer Panel's upcoming report advises against eating meat that was cooked at high temperatures, e.g. grilled, seared, broiled, charred, fried, or well-done.

Compounds formed during high-heat cooking raise the risk for gastrointestinal cancers.* Since these chemicals are always formed in meat - beef, poultry, fish, and other animal tissue - that has been cooked, just eating cooked meat more often, regardless of its form of preparation, raises cancer risk.

*From the National Cancer Institute's Fact Sheet on Heterocyclic Amines:

• "[People] who ate their beef medium-well or well-done had more than three times the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate their beef rare or medium-rare."
  
• "People who ate beef four or more times a week had more than twice the risk of stomach cancer than those consuming beef less frequently."
  
• "An increased risk of developing colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancer is associated with high intakes of well-done, fried, or barbequed meats."

How does this relate to diabetes? High-heat-treated foods are increasingly being linked to insulin resistance. A study in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition...

A Diet Based On High-Heat-Treated Foods Promotes Risk Factors For Diabetes Mellitus And Cardiovascular Diseases

... found that those who consumed more high-heat-treated foods (compared to mild steam cooking) had:

• Decreased insulin sensitivity
  
• Decreased blood levels of omega-3
  
• Decreased blood levels of vitamin C
  
• Decreased blood levels of vitamin E
  
• Increased cholesterol levels
  
• Increased triglyceride levels

Another support for eating the Paleo Vegetarian diet.

Cancer, Chemicals, And Capitalism

A few related stories this morning...

1. Nicholas Kristof directs our attention to an upcoming report by the well-regarded President's Cancer Panel. Kristof says:

"I’ve read an advance copy of the report, and it’s an extraordinary document. It calls on America to rethink the way we confront cancer, including much more rigorous regulation of chemicals."

The members of the panel were appointed by President George W. Bush.

The Panel's recommendations:

• Particularly when pregnant and when children are small, choose foods, toys and garden products with fewer endocrine disruptors or other toxins.
  
• For those whose jobs may expose them to chemicals, remove shoes when entering the house and wash work clothes separately from the rest of the laundry.
  
• Filter tap and other drinking water.
  
• Store water in glass or stainless steel containers, or in plastics that don’t contain BPA or phthalates. Microwave food in ceramic or glass containers.
  
• Give preference to food grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, and growth hormones.
  
• Avoid meats that are cooked well-done. (Dr. Sanjay Gupta adds: Minimize consumption of processed, charred or well-done meats, which contain carcinogenic heterocyclic amines and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.)
  
• Check radon levels in your home. Radon is a natural source of radiation linked to cancer.
  
• Also from Gupta: Reduce radiation from X-rays and other medical sources.

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2. That advice to eat food grown without pesticides leads me to my next story, also from the New York Times:

Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds

Genetically engineered crops that were designed to resist application of herbicides and pesticides were supposed to reduce those chemicals' use - a little would go a long way. This story informs us that weeds have become resistant to certain herbicides, particularly Monsanto's RoundUp, requiring heavier applications, applications of stronger chemicals, and return to the erosion-promoting practice of plowing:

"Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water."

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3. So, on one hand we have the President's Cancer Panel telling us to eat fewer pesticides, and on the other hand we have our farmers growing crops with more pesticides. Should we have stronger regulations? This leads me to my last story.

Regulation has the potential to limit growth. If our businesses make money, our country makes money, and money affects one's standing in the world. Our government treads lightly with regulation knowing that too tight a reign could limit growth, reduce the tax base, upset international trade ... it's essentially biting the hand that feeds it. (Perhaps this is why Obama backtracked on his campaign promise to label genetically engineered food?)

But can the world, can all the businesses and all the countries that depend on business, continue to grow ad infinitum? Eventually something gives. We use up our resources, our clean water, our fertile arable land. We dump wastes - health-robbing chemicals - into our environment with insufficient forethought except how it might make us "richer." We fight over those resources and dumping rights. (I see the violence in Greece right now as an outcropping of these pressures. A Greek economist yesterday described it: "The have-nots are ending up footing the bill," a bill created by the haves. And the have-nots are not happy about it.)

Professor David Harvey says this kind of unchecked growth cannot be infinitely sustained and that we need to have discussions about alternative ways of living.

Here's a clip of Professor Harvey speaking with BBC's Sarah Montague yesterday about capitalism, how it's straining our people and our planet, and what alternatives might look like.¹


Here's The entire interview:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
________¹ Although Harvey teaches economic theory, including Marxism, he also argues that capitalism is the primary force behind innovation. I'm not promoting this for any reason other than I happened to see it on BBC's HARDTalk yesterday and found it thought provoking.

"Dairy: 6 Reasons You Should Avoid It At All Costs" - Mark Hyman MD

This video (and accompanying article) must have gone viral because it keeps landing in my mailbox. I'm not familiar with Dr. Mark Hyman but I agree with him on at least one point: We're better off without the dairy.



I'm not sure why he says in one breath that "calcium may raise cancer risk" and in another breath "calcium supplements ... may reduce the risk of colon cancer." Why he says that "men may not want to take calcium supplements" but "supplements of calcium may be reasonable for women" although "studies of calcium supplementation have shown no benefit in reducing fracture risk."

I don't think he presents a clear picture. In my mind:

• Dairy foods are not necessary and may be harmful.
  
• Calcium supplements are not necessary and may be harmful.

It's true, neither dairy foods nor calcium supplements have been shown to reduce bone fractures. And as I've posted about here and here, a 2001 Harvard review of the body of evidence at that time on dairy intake and prostate cancer found:

"[Consumption of dairy products] is one of the most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature."

Hyman didn't mention the pus. He should have mentioned the pus. Robert Cohen mentions the pus. Boy, does he. There's pus in milk. Lots of it. That alone would have me ditching the dairy.
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May Is High Blood Pressure Education Month

I feel a duty.


High blood pressure (BP) hits the very small vessels and capillaries first:

• It can damage the small vessels in the eye (retina) leading to blurred vision. If retinal blood vessels leak and bleed it can cause vision loss.
  
• It can damage the small vessels in the kidney leading to kidney disease.
  
• It can damage the small vessels in the brain, causing them to bleed, leading to a bleeding (hemorrhagic) stroke.
  
• It can damage the arteries themselves leading to streaks of buildup in the vessels from scar tissue. That buildup can either clog the artery locally, causing a stroke or heart attack, or a bit may break off (an embolus) and clog an artery further away.

The CDC says 1 in 3 adults have high blood pressure (hypertension). You can't feel chronic high BP.

How To Lower Your Blood Pressure

Things that work:

• Lose weight
  
• Manage stress
  
• Don't smoke
  
• Cut back on alcohol
  
• Move your body more

Things that may work:

• Increase dietary potassium (fruits and vegetables)
  
• Reduce dietary sodium (processed foods)
  
• Decrease caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, energy drinks)
  
• Review meds (steroids, NSAIDS like Advil, decongestants, ginseng, yerba mate and other stimulants like ephedra all increase BP)
  
• Manage diabetes (insulin resistance and high insulin can cause kidneys to retain sodium, likewise high dietary sodium may exacerbate insulin resistance)
  
• Manage kidney disease

Have you found anything else to be helpful?________Chart from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Hypertension