Posts Tagged ‘Paleolithic Diet’

Schizophrenia

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

The short list of things I would do to try to prevent schizophrenia will sound very familiar to anyone who reads this blog:  Both the future mother and offspring should get lots of vitamin D, should be on a Paleolithic Diet, have hookworms and whipworms, get plenty of sleep, have a good family, and live in a close community.  They should not be exposed to lead, should have low stress, no X-rays, and be of high status.  Neither of them should be exposed to the flu, toxoplasmosis, the Borna virus, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex 2, and syphilis.  They also should avoid tobacco, cannabis, and other illegal drugs.  Also, the father should not be old. 

For a more detailed discussion you can read the rest of this blog entry:    

A diagnosis of schizophrenia is made on the basis of a patient’s symptoms, since there is no laboratory test for it.  Because of this, there is every likelihood that it is actually a cluster of conditions, each with a different etiology.  One school of thought even argues that we should diagnose people in terms of a series of dimensional continuums, instead of having a cut off for a diagnostic category.  Perhaps partly because of the uncertainties involved there many theories about schizophrenia’s ultimate cause.

Before I get to the more mainstream perspectives, I want to touch on the viewpoint of Thomas Szasz.  He’s skeptical of the whole medical model, and argues that schizophrenics have a legitimate way of looking at the world, are simply making people uncomfortable, and that society doesn’t have the right to control people for this reason alone.  (His position is closely related to the reasonable insight that cultural differences influence the rates of diagnosis, and that different cultures have different ways of dealing with the various forms of what we would call mental illnesses.)

My response to Szasz is to say that it isn’t true that schizophrenics are only making people uncomfortable, but that there are potentially lethal consequences in allowing someone who is delusional behind the wheel of a car.  Even if it were the case that schizophrenics universally had no complaints regarding their condition (which, in fact, isn’t true), I think that society should have the right to protect itself from the likely consequences of these people’s, so called, “different equally legitimate patterns of thought,” and in many circumstances it should be able to do so whether or not the schizophrenic agrees.  And, while we’re at it,  if others have to pay the bill for their maintenance, then those who have to work to support them should also have a say in their getting treatment.  If Szasz can show me the hard data that proves that schizophrenics are able to function perfectly well by living up the responsibilities of supporting themselves, of being responsible capable citizens, and they are happy with their condition then I might agree that we should drop the whole concept from the DSM.  But until then, I’m going to see it as a problem. (Schizophrenia – Schizophrenia as a social construct – Wikipedia) 

Szasz also argues that schizophrenia is simply a social construct, and as such doesn’t actually exist.  It’s true that we pick out those aspects of the world we find important, and package them into the concepts of our languages.  But the world imposes itself upon us, and so it is, at best, misleading to say that by doing so we are engaged in “constructing reality,” as opposed to responding to and taxonomizing it.  Using similar reasoning people have argued that gender doesn’t actually exist either.  (See: Deconstructionism is Horsesh*t – Lost Wanderer)       

Traveling further into la la land, in 1976, Julian Jaynes speculated that schizophrenia was the normal operation of the human mind until fairly recently.  Supposedly, up until about 3,000 years ago, people went around with minimal self awareness much of the time, and every now and then they would hallucinate, and “the Gods” would speak to them, which was actually their verbal left hemisphere sending them a message.  Civilization’s beginning marked the beginning of what we currently call normal self consciousness.  Jaynes’ ideas, like Szasz’s, don’t pass the giggle test, and strike me simply as an example of what has been called “fashionable nonsense,” since no one has ever reported any such observations with hunter gatherer peoples.  (The Legacy of Julian Jaynes by Dan Hartwig) (See also: Schizophrenia – Other proposed causes - Wikipedia)

Moving away from la la land, one theory is that schizophrenia is the price we pay for our large brains’ energy demands.  (Are big brains to blame for schizophrenia?)  Or perhaps it’s the result of our left brain specializing in language.  (Schizophrenia as failure of hemispheric dominance for language by TJ Crow) 

There are many genes which contribute to schizophrenia, (Schizophrenia Risk Gets More Complex) overlapping those that code for manic depression, (Unlocked: the secrets of schizophrenia by Steve Connor) and the fact that schizophrenics have low fecundity raises the question of why the genes that increase its incidence haven’t been selected out.  It could be that there are major advantages to having them, however currently there is no good theory as to what these might be.  It could also be that it’s a recent phenomenon arising out of some change in the relevant triggering environmental factors.  If this idea proves to be correct, it would mean that schizophrenia can be added to the long list of “Diseases of Civilization.”

A very credible candidate as a major cause of the disease is vitamin D deficiency.  John Cannell, of the vitamin D council, makes the case for this by pointing out such facts as the incidence of schizophrenia is much higher in people with dark skin who live at northern latitudes, and there is a 10 fold variance in the rate of schizophrenia that also follows the lines of latitude.  (Vitamin D and Schizophrenia)  Also, in a Finnish cohort study, vitamin D supplementation of at least 2,000 IU/day during a child’s first year was associated with a lower rate of the disease.  (Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life and risk of schizophrenia: a Finnish birth cohort study)  Vitamin D might explain the fact that schizophrenia varies by the season of a child’s birth. (Relative Risk for Schizophrenia depending upon Month of Birth)  And one route through which Vitamin D could be acting is through its neuroprotective role in cleansing the body of heavy metals, such as lead. (See below) (Vitamin D protective against toxins – Vitamin D and Schizophrenia)

Another candidate cause is milk protein.  In one study 95% of autistic and schizophrenic children had 100 times the normal levels of milk protein in their blood and urine, and 80% of them had their symptoms resolve when they were put on a milk free diet.  (University of Florida Researchers Cite Possible Link Between Autism, Schizophrenia and Diet)

There is some evidence that gluten is the problem for a subset of patients.  (Schizophrenia – Alternative Medical Treatments – Wikipedia and Schizophrenia, gluten, and low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diets: a case report and review of the literature)  Consistent with this, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), which restricts complex carbohydrates and eliminates sugar, has been promoted for a wide variety of diseases, including schizophrenia.  (Specific Carbohydrate Diet – Wikipedia and Everything about The Specific Carbohydrate Diet totally explained)  (The SCD has much in common with the Paleolithic Diet (PD).  However, the PD allows tubers, and doesn’t allow cheese, yogurt, and legumes. (Everything about Paleolithic Diet totally explained and The Paleo Diet))

In the Dutch Famine Study, prenatal nutritional deprivation during the second trimester was found to double the rate of schizophrenia. (Dutch famine of 1944 - Wikipedia and Prenatal Risk Factors in Schizophrenia) 

Catching the flu in the first half of pregnancy leads to a 3-fold increase in the incidence of the disease, and if a women contracts this disease in the first 13 weeks the risk goes up 7-fold.  Although the nature of why this relationship exists isn’t clear, researchers estimate that 14% of cases might be linked to the flu in this way.  (Womb flu link to schizophrenia)  (See also: Coughs and sneezes spread mind diseases) 

Another infections organism that might lead to the disease is toxoplasmosis. (Toxoplasmosis Parasite May Trigger Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorders)  The Borna virus might play a role (Borna Virus by Sean Henahan), as well as catching rubella or cytomegalovirus (a 17-fold risk increase) before age 12. (Prenatal Infection as a Risk Factor for Schizophrenia by Alan S. Brown and Childhood brain infections risk of schizophrenia )  Also, herpes simplex virus 2 (HVS-2) might be a risk factor. (Mother’s Herpes Virus Infection Associated With Schizophrenia In Her Offspring, Hopkins Researcher Finds).  When syphilis became treatable thousands of schizophrenics were cured. (Diseases of the Mind by Janet Ginsburg)  Some researchers believe that schizophrenia is caused by ancient viral DNA that became incorporated into our genome, which then becomes reactivated. (Is schizophrenia caused by an enemy within? by Joanna Marchant)  (See also: Plague Time by Paul Ewald)

A mother’s stress can be a contributing factor.  Looking at a cohort of Israeli children, who were in their second month of gestation during the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, for girls there was a 4-fold increase in schizophrenia later in life.  And when researchers looked at the mothers who had been subject to the worst stress of direct shelling they found a 30-fold increase.  (Early pregnancy trauma boosts schizophrenia risk)     

The children of older fathers suffer a slight reduction in IQ (2 points), and are at higher risk for such disorders as schizophrenia (50% more likely), autism and bipolar disorder.  (Children of older dads pay IQ price and Father’s age linked to schizophrenia risk)

Another factor that might increase the rate of schizophrenia is prenatal X-rays.  (X-Ray Radiation during Pregnancy & Early Childhood may increase risk of schizophrenia for child)

Perinatal traumatic events such as obstetric complications have been associated with schizophrenia in retrospective studies, however in the only prospective study done to date no such association was found.  (Prenatal Risk Factors in Schizophrenia by Alan S. Brown)

The use of cannabis and cigarette tobacco is associated with the disease.  Especially in this case I have to wonder about whether this is a causal relationship, or merely the case that those with the condition are more likely to use these products.  (Cannabis Increases Risk Of Psychosis and Brain Disorders, Smoking and Nicotine Addiction – Report Summary (March, 2006))  (See also: Psychiatric epidemiology: searching for the causes of mental disorders  by Ezra S. Susser) 

The same question can be raised about schizophrenia’s association with parental absence during early childhood (Causes of schizophrenia by Stephe Ellis and Children at risk for schizophrenia: a longitudinal perspective By Norman F. Watt), child abuse (Child Abuse can Cause Schizophrenia by Rick Nauert), living in an urban environment (Does the urban environment cause psychosis? and The schizophrenia envirome), poverty, migration, poor housing, racial discrimination, family dysfunction, double bind messages (Double bind – Wikipedia), bad sleep habits (Are bad sleeping habits driving us mad? by Emma Young), prenatal exposure to lead (which might double the risk) (Prenatal lead exposure linked to schizophrenia by Joanna Marchant), and unemployment. (Schizophrenia – Wikipedia, citations 60-65)

Looking more closely at what proximate mechanisms might be involved with the disease, studies indicate that inflammation as part of an overactive immune response is likely involved.  (Anti-Inflammatory Medications May Become A Treatment For Schizophrenia and Immune System Linked To Schizophrenia)  And glial cells, which play a key role in brain development, supporting the neurons, and fighting infection, have been suggested as a cause of the disease. (New schizophrenia theory by Alison Motluk)  (Of course, any mention of an overactive immune response leads me to bring up the topic of helminths as one potential therapeutic and preventive option.) (Autoimmune Therapies)

In looking for ways to develop a test for this disease researchers have noted that people who go on to develop schizophrenia lose their ability to identify smells before any clinical symptoms occur. (Could You Suffer From Psychosis? The Nose Knows) A blood test for schizophrenia might soon be available that is based on RNA molecules expressed from genes linked to the disease.  (Blood test for schizophrenia draws nearer by Marina Murphy)  Using brain imaging, researchers have shown that schizophrenic’s brains are much less reactive to images of bizarre facial images than controls. (Decoding Funny Faces To Detect Mental Illness) And another team of researchers has shown that children at high risk for later developing schizophrenia perform very poorly on tasks related to memory and executive functioning (planning, classifying, and interpreting information).  (Toward A Test For Childhood Detection Of Risk Of Bipolar Disorder And Schizophrenia) 

As for current treatments, factors which influence the likelihood of recovery include: “1) family relationships, 2) substance abuse, 3) duration of untreated psychosis, 4) initial response to medication, 5) adherence to treatment, 6) supportive therapeutic relationships, 7) cognitive abilities, (8) social skills, 9) personal history, and 10) access to care.”  (UCLA Study Names 10 Keys To Recovery From Schizophrenia) 

I do not have a citation for the source, but I remember once reading that in the United States years ago patients were treated by going to religious revival meetings.  They were in a supportive environment that made sense of their condition as a result of sin in the world.  This form of treatment was reported to have had a great deal of success until it broke down by being overwhelmed by the increasing number of patients.  Apparently a Hindu Temple can accomplish the same thing.  Researchers report that patients who spent six weeks in a temple had as much improvement as a month long course of standard drugs.  The secret is apparently a community that gives people a supportive environment, in tune with their own cultural beliefs, along with the hope of recovery.  (Temple treatment for psychiatric illness by Anil Ananthaswamy, Bangalore)

Looking at the more invasive types of treatments, researchers have found that electroshock can be productively combined with conventional drug therapies, making them more effective. (Electroshock Therapy Speeds Improvement In Schizophrenia Patients)   

An interesting fact about schizophrenics is that they see through the “hollow mask illusion.”  In controls communication between the parietal cortex, which is involved in the top-down control processing of visual information, and the lateral occipital cortex, which is involved in bottom-up processing, increased when the hollow faces were presented.  This did not happen with schizophrenics, which indicated that these different areas of the brain were unable to communicate normally. (Hollow Mask Illusion Fails To Fool Schizophrenia Patients) 

For those who might want to know what it’s like to be a schizophrenic, one doctor has recreated the experience of schizophrenia in a virtual second-life type of world.  (A Lever to Move the Mind)

Finally, to end on a somewhat positive note, some genes that increase the odds of schizophrenia also appear to increase creativity.  (Artistic tendencies linked to ’schizophrenia gene’ by Ewen Callaway)

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Migraine Headaches

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

I’ve had migraines all my life. (Migraine – Wikipedia, Migraine)  Because of this, I’m interested in new treatments and theories as they come along, and the most interesting idea I’ve run across regarding migraines is that they are an allergic phenomenon.

In one study, Jean Monro, MD, of Hereforshire, England, reports that 100% of a group of 282 patients were found to have food allergies related to migraine headaches.  Over 200 of her subjects turned out to be allergic to wheat or dairy products, or both.  The other most common triggers were tea, oranges, apples, onions, pork, and beef.  Monro, et al., found that the usual suspects, cheeses, alcohol, and chocolate weren’t that important; while perfume, gasoline, cigarette smoke, and other such fume sources could be significant triggers.  Reducing the patient’s total allergic load was usually sufficient to control the migraines, although vaccinations were sometime also used.  (To head off an attack Monro also recommends taking oxygen, alkaline salts (1), and buffered vitamin C.) (Migraine Headaches and Food)

In another study supporting this idea, 2/3 of severe migrainers were found to be allergic to some foods.  (Food allergy in migraine.  Study of dietary exclusion and RAST by Monro, et al.)  And in yet another, 36 of 45 children had some response to dietary modifications. (Oligoantigenic diet treatment of children with epilepsy and migraine by Egger J. et al.) (2)  (Studies Bolster Link of Food and Migraines by Sandra Blakeslee)

(Given the food-migraine connection, I have to put in another plug for the Paleolithic Diet.  Even though some of the foods in it are listed above, wheat and dairy products aren’t, and I suspect it might do a lot of migrainers quite a bit of good to try it.)

If I take a quick look at what might explain at least part of the connection between migraines and allergies, a major candidate that stands out is histamine.  Histamine is a biogenic amine, which is involved in allergic reactions, and increased levels of histamine correlate with migraine headaches in vulnerable patients.  (Histamine – Wikipedia, Migraine Headaches – The role of antihistamine therapy in vascular headaches by Mansfield, A correlation between migraine , histamine and immunoglobulin e. by Gazereni P, et al.)  Further evidence for this connection comes from the fact that migraine headache sufferers are especially prone to motion sickness, and Antivert, an antihistamine, is often prescribed for motion sickness.  And in another study daily doses of three antioxidants reduced migraines. (And antioxidants are useful in both treating the allergic phenomenon of asthma, and in reducing histamine levels.)  (Important Antioxidants for Asthma Relief by Rudy Silva)  Dr. Sirichai Chayasirisobhon gave patients pine bark extract, and vitamin C and E for three months, with a resulting 50.6% improvement in their MIDAS scores.  (Use of a Pine Bark Extract and Antioxidant Vitamin Combination Product as Therapy for Migraine in Patients Refractory to Pharmacologic Medication, Enzogenol)  Also, Butterbur is a natural antihistamine, which is used to treat both migraines and asthma.  (ButterburResearch.org)

Migraines also overlap with a host of immune related disorders, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, restless leg syndrome, irritable bowl syndrome.  (Overlaps with Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowl Increases Risk of Other Conditions, High Risk of Migraine, Depression and Chronic Pain for IBS Sufferers, Large Study Shows.

(As a side note, it seems that there is some evidence that food allergies are not only connected to migraines, but could also be partly responsible for the obesity epidemic.  Study Confirms: Your Hidden Food Allergies are Making you Fat)

The connection between migraines and allergies also provides evidence that disorders that are comorbid with migraines might be partly allergic in origin.  Examples of these would include a number of mood related disorders, including depression, anxiety, panic attack, substance abuse disorders, and phobias.  (Mood Disorders, Migraines Might be Connected)  Migraines are associated with skin sensitivity and pain. (Migraine Increase Risk of Severe Skin Sensitivity and Pain)   Women with endometriosis are twice as likely to get migraines. (Common fertility condition linked to migraines)  Migraines are linked to blood clots in veins.  (Migraines Linked to Blood Clots in Veins)  Migraines might cause brain damage, and pose a stroke risk for women on the pill. (Do Migraines Cause Brain Damage? and Migraines and stroke risk, especially for women on the pill)  They are associated with retinopathy, and heart disease. (History of Migraines Associated with Increased Risk of Retinopathy and Migraines Associated with Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease)  Migraines are linked to sleep disorders in children. (Link Between Migraines and Sleep Disorders in Children)  In addition, migraines might explain the phenomenon of children who experience cyclic vomiting.  The theory is that instead of having the headache pain the children express the underlying disorder by vomiting repeatedly. (Cyclic Vomiting – Gabe Mirkin)

For anyone who has been following this blog, the connection of migraines with allergies obviously and strongly argues for using helminths (hookworms and whipworms) as a treatment.  (autoimmunetherapies.com)  With this in mind, I was treated with 50 hookworms some 18 months ago.  As a result my migraines have been reduced by about 50% in frequency, and 25% in intensity.  I also can now read in a moving car, which before the treatment would have made me nauseous.

Any explanation for migraine headaches is overwhelmingly likely to involve a network of interlinked causal pathways consisting of nonexclusive mitigating and aggravating factors, which will vary somewhat between individuals.  So it isn’t surprising that there are a number of other theories out there about migraine’s origin: 

One theory is that some migraines are triggered when opposite surfaces of nasal cavities rub against one another.  In a study based on this idea, after sinus surgery both the rate and intensity of migraines were significantly reduced.  (Nasal surgery hope for migraine) 

Another theory is that some cases of migraines are the result of a comparatively minor heart defect.  When a child is born the heart has to change its flow of blood circulation to include the lungs.  This change of blood flow requires closing off of a hole, the patent forum ova, between the two upper chambers of the heart.  In some people this doesn’t fully close, and surgery that closes it ends migraines in 80% of patients who have had the operation. (Plugging hole in heart slashes migraines)

For what it’s worth, migraine attacks are also associated with the weather. (Higher Temperatures, Lower Barometric Pressures Associated with…)

Here are three lists of the current standard treatments for migraines from WebMD, CureResearch.com, and Wrong Diagnosis. (Migraine Headache Treatment, Treatments for Migraine, Treatments for Migraine)

In addition to the above, other treatments which might give relief include:  

Researchers are experimenting with a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator (TMS) used to fire magnetic pulses into a person’s head.  (Magnetic gun has cure for headaches in its sites by Michael Fox and Jonathan Leake)  From Gut Buddies, gumEase is a cryoanesthesia mouthpiece originally developed for dental anesthesia.  It fits over the teeth and cools them to -7 degrees C, which numbs the nerves, allowing dental procedures to be performed.  It turns out that it also stops migraine and tension headaches.  (CryoDevices, Olympic Dental and Medical Devices, Study to Determine Efficiency of gumEase…migraine)  Also from Gut Buddies, meditation has been found to be helpful for a wide variety of conditions, including migraines.  (foodsmatter.com – Meditation by John Scott, Lost_Wanderer – Meditation)  Exercise has been shown to reduce migraines. (Exercise Reduces Migraine Suffering, Study Finds)  A new drug, Levadex seems like a promising treatment. (Novel, Orally Inhaled Migraine Therapy is Effective, Study Shows)  The herbal medication Migrowin has been successfully used for migraines.  (Herbal Medication Relieves Painful Migraine Headaches)  Paradoxically folic acid (folate) has been recommended as a treatment for migraines, even though it can raise histamine levels. (Folic acid may offer relief for migraine sufferers, Rhyme of the Ancient Wanderer – Minerals and Vitamins…a breakdown)  Magnesium supplementation has been shown to reduce migraines. (Magnesium & Migraine by Christina Peterson)  Botox has been used with some success in treating migraines. (Chronic Migraine Patients may find Relief in Botox Therapy)  Having a forehead lift has been shown to be effective with some migraine patients. (New Hope for Migraine Sufferers: Forehead Lifts can Ease Years and Headaches)  

(Although it is not directly related to migraines, out of a concern for being thorough in my discussion of headaches, I feel the need to mention the idea that some people have been advocating of the use of magic mushrooms as a treatment for cluster headaches. (Lost_Wanderer – Magic Mushrooms))

Finally, to end on a few positive notes, one study indicated that an actual benefit of migraines might be increased libido.  In it migrainers averaged 20% higher libido, which, in turn, was related to their reduced serotonin levels.  (Of course, this might help explain the migraine-depression connection noted earlier.)  (Yes, tonight darling, I have a headache by Karla Gale)  Migraine might protect your memory. (Does Migraine Protect Your Memory?)  And women who have migraines appear to have a lower risk of breast cancer. (Link Between Migraines and Reduced Breast Cancer Confirmed in Follow-up Study)

(1)  Alka-Seltzer Gold without aspirin, or two tablespoons of milk of magnesia, or 2 tablespoons of baking soda with one tablespoon of potassium bicarbonate in a pint of water.

(2)  An Oligoantigenic diet is a diet with the least possible risk of allergic reactions.

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The Ketogenic Diet

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I first learned about the Ketogenic diet on the TV show, Dateline, in 1994.  It is a high fat, low carbohydrate diet, which is successful in reducing or eliminating epilepsy in the majority of children put on it. 

No one understands the specific biochemistry of why this diet works, but researchers can describe the mechanisms involved in a general way.  When the body is forced to burn fat instead of carbohydrates it produces ketones.  This is also what happens when people are fasting, and it constitutes a backup system for the glucose system for your brain.  When glucose isn’t available the rest of the body can substitute by burning fatty acids, but, because of the blood brain barrier, the brain cannot.  So it has to have this system.  (1)

People have benefited from this diet in small case studies for autism, depression, migraines, type 2 diabetes, and polycystic ovary syndrome.  There also is some evidence that it might be helpful for various neurodegenerative disorders, such as ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, and stroke.  And since cancer cells don’t use ketone bodies efficiently, this diet might help for that condition also. (Ketogenic diet – Wikipedia, Neuroprotective and disease modifying effects of the ketogenic diet, Application of a ketogenic diet in children with autistic behavior, pilot study,  The Ketogenic diet may have mood-stabilizing properties, Ketogenic Diet for Migraine?, Extremely Low-Carb…Dramatic Reductions in Type 2 BG Levels, Medications; Effects of a… Ketogenic Diet…Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, A Ketogenic Diet… ALS)

Having written the above, my belief is that a Paleolithic diet, combined with intermittent fasting, would very likely have many more health benefits than a Ketogenic diet.  So, unless a person has a specific disease that the Ketogenic diet is especially helpful for, this is what I would advocate for good general health. (The Paleolithic Diet, The Paleolithic Diet, and The Paleo Diet)

(1)  The advocates of intermittent fasting argue that periodic fasting strengthens the ketone system analogously to what happens when you work out your muscles with weights.  So eating three square meals a day for years on end isn’t actually healthy, just as not exercising and always resting isn’t healthy.  (Ketones to the Rescue)

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Diabetes

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Summing this blog entry up, I would say that the likely major ways of greatly reducing your risk of diabetes boils down to: getting enough vitamin D, having helminths (hookworms and whipworms), eating a Paleolithic Diet, engaging in intermittent fasting, exercising, getting enough sleep in complete darkness, consuming curry, cinnamon, and cloves; and avoiding toxins.    

I previously blogged about the theory that in Type I diabetes the beta cells aren’t dead, but instead malfunctioning pain cells in the pancreas are preventing them from producing insulin.  (A Cure for Diabetes?)  Of course, there are a quite a few more ideas out there about the condition:

In Finland, a cohort of infants born in 1966 were given vitamin D supplements of up to 8,000 IU/day, and had about 1/3 the rate of type I diabetes as other cohort groups.  (Intake of vitamin D and risk of type I diabetes: a birth-cohort study)   Finland later adopted a level of vitamin D supplementation closer to that of the United States, and their population naturally has lower levels of sun exposure, so today the blood levels of vitamin D there are likely very low.  Today Finland is the diabetes capital of the world.  (Finnish epidemic offers clues to diabetes)  (See also: Vitamin D Council) 

Helminths might play a role in preventing diabetes through down regulating the immune system.  (Review series on helminths, immune regulation and the hygiene hypothesis) (See also: Hookworms are our Little Friends)

The nitrates in our foods might be risk factors for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes.  These nitrates are found especially in bacon, cured meats, and ground beef; but they are also in such products as beer, cheese, water, rubber and latex products, cosmetics, fertilizers, and pesticides.  (Processed foods linked to Alzheimer’s and diabetes)  Avoiding such foods supports the argument for the Paleolithic Diet, which according to one man’s experience cured his type II diabetes. (Paleo Diet – So Easy a Caveman Can Do It!)  The Paleolithic Diet people argue that the high glycemic foods we eat cause chronic hyperinsulinemia, which leads to a host of diseases, including diabetes. (Hyperinsulinemic diseases of civilization: more than just Syndrome X)  Advocates of the sweetener Xylitol argue that it is ideal for diabetic patients.  (The Sweet Miracle of Xylitol, and Xylitol)  Celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease caused by an immune reaction to the gluten found in grains,  is associated with a number of conditions, including diabetes, short stature, infertility, and anemia.  (Largest Study Ever Finds That One Out of Every 133 Americans May Have Celiac Disease) 

Intermittent fasting can help prevent diabetes and brain deterioration.  (Meal Skipping Helps Resist Diabetes, Brain Damage, and Posts Tagged ‘Intermittent Fasting’)

Exercise reduces the risk of diabetes through weight control, growth factor changes, and the reduction of inflammation. (Exercise builds brain health: key roles of growth factor cascades and inflammation, and Changes in Vigorous Physical Activity and Incident Diabetes in Male Runners)  In one study, multiple short duration exercise sessions of 3 x 10 min/day are superior to 1 x 30 min/day in glycemic control.  Cardiovascular fitness improvements were similar for the two groups.  (Comparison of the effect of multiple short-duration with single long-duration exercise sessions on glucose homeostasis in type 2 diabetes mellitus)  Apparently 4 x 30 second sprints 3 times a week can greatly reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.  (Short fast sprints ‘cut’ diabetes, and Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males)

Heavy snoring, sleep apnea, and insomnia have been implicated in cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and diabetes.  Researchers have found that losing even a single night’s sleep causes the immune system to turn against healthy tissues in an autoimmune reaction.  (Getting a Handle on Why We Sleep)  The book, Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival argues that our lack and sleep, and especially darkness, fouls up our hormonal systems; this greatly contributes to such diseases as diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.  The author advises getting enough sleep, and sleeping in total darkness. (See also: Posts Tagged ‘Sleep’) 

Nursing an infant reduces his/her later risk of diabetes, cancer, allergies, infections, and arthritis. (Nursing Mothers…But Still Best for Babies)

Men with short legs, possibly caused by malnutrition during their first three months of gestation in utero, are at increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  (Men with Short Legs More Likely to Suffer Heart Attacks) 

Large amounts of curry (turmeric) stops diabetes in diabetic mice.  (Curry for Diabetes)  Cinnamon and cloves improve risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.  (Cinnamon, Cloves Improve Insulin Function)  Dr. Richard A. Anderson found that doses of 1 to 6 grams of cinnamon daily improved blood profiles of diabetic patients.  (A Spoonful of Cinnamon Helps Treat Diabetes)

Exposure to pesticides and air pollution have both been linked to diabetes.  A major chemical accident happened in Seveso Italy, and years later those townspeople with higher levels of persistent organic pollutants in the fat in their bodies suffered much higher levels of type II diabetes.  (Could the diabetes epidemic be down to pollution?)  The use of the pesticide trichlorfon has been found to increase the risk of diabetes by 85%.  (Pesticides linked to diabetes risk)  Arsenic might be a risk factor for diabetes, since people with traces of it in their urine are more likely to suffer from it.  (Are Traces of Arsenic in Tap Water Linked to Diabetes?)

Gastric bypass can cause remission in Type II diabetes independently of weight loss or obesity.  What might be happening in that the upper intestines, the duodenum and jejunum, produce a regulatory hormone, anti-incretin, which is activated by the passage of food through this part of the intestine.  Anti-incretins lower the insulin level, and incretins raise it; and together they regulate its levels.  Researchers speculate that diabetics produce excess anti-incretin, which drives down their insulin, and block its action.  (Rethink On Cause of Type 2 Diabetes) 

The malarial drug hydroxychloroquine HCQ might prevent the development of diabetes in arthritic patients.  (Antimalarial Drug Prevents Diabetes in Arthritis Patients, Study Suggests)

The risk of getting Alzheimer’s doubles if a person has diabetes before age 65.  (Getting Diabetes Before 65 More Than Doubles Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease)  And Alzheimer’s might be a third form of diabetes.  (Discovery supports theory of Alzheimer’s disease as a form of diabetes)  (See also Alzheimer’s)  Children of mothers with autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes, arthritis, and celiac disease, have up to three times the risk of getting autism.  (From Gut Buddies, Autism May be Linked to Mom’s Autoimmune Disease)

It’s little surprise that misinformation regarding diabetes comes from our government, and it’s likely that the diabetic dietary guidelines recommend such a high level of grain consumption they actually increase your chances of becoming diabetic.  (The Best Way to Get Diabetes: Follow the Diabetes Dietary Guidelines)  Also, the GI index is very over simplified.  (GI Blues: What’s wrong with the GI Diet? Interindividual Variability and Intra-Individual Reproducibility of Glycemic Index Values for Commercial White Bread, Glycemic Index Values Vary from One Test to the Next)  More misleading information comes from the book, The China Study, which concludes that there is a strong relationship between consuming animal products and numerous diseases, such as diabetes, cancers, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, etc.  Of course, the Paleolithic Diet people would argue that this is because of the types of meats we consume, which come from domesticated grain fed animals.  This relationship wouldn’t exist if the animal products people ate were from healthy grass consuming wild animals.

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Pregnancy & Child Related Information

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I’ve previously blogged about how geophagy (eating clay) has been practiced for thousands of years to prevent morning sickness.  Pregnant women become hyper-sensitive to environmental toxins, and morning sickness helps protect the developing fetus from deformities.  It now turns out that all that misery could pay off for yet another reason, because women who have a greater degree of morning sickness might have more intelligent babies.  (Morning Sickness may be Sign of a Bright Baby)  The researchers involved theorize that the hormones which cause it might also protect a baby’s brain.  

S. Boyde Eaton, et al., have written (Dietary Intake of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids during the Paleolithic, p. 20) that our brains are somewhat smaller than our Paleolithic ancestor’s brains, and that one reason might be our modern dietary deficiency in DHA omega-3 fats.  Along with DHA, it seems that, for rats, enriching the environment of the mother long before she becomes pregnant can affect the learning of her offspring.  Researchers theorize that the mother’s learning affects the nature of the hormones she will release during her later pregnancies.  This will affect epigenetic chemical markers on her offspring’s genes, which will in turn affect these genes’ expression during brain development, finally causing changes in the brains of the pups.  (Can Experiences be Passed on to Offspring? and A Mother’s Experience can Alter her Offspring’s Memory Performance)  Meanwhile, stress during pregnancy very likely harms a baby’s brain, and might increase the risk of schizophrenia.  Researchers think the mechanism is likely related to the stress hormone cortisol crossing the placenta.  (Stress Harms Baby’s Brain While in Womb)  Another possible factor that could increase the risk of schizophrenia is having the flue during pregnancy. (Flue During Pregnancy may Increase Risk of Schizophrenia in Certain Offspring) 

There are some indications that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for preeclampsia.  (Vitamin D for the Prevention of Preeclampsia?  A Hypothesis.)  This is a condition that occurs in pregnancy, which causes the patient to develop hypertension, along with protein in their urine.  It’s widespread, affecting about 10% of pregnancies, and is currently only treatable through termination.  It is most common in first pregnancies, and some researchers think that it’s the result of the mother’s immune system inappropriately attacking fetal cells.  The theory is that they are being triggered by the foreign antigens that were introduced by the father.  So, besides vitamin D supplementation, another recommendation is to delay pregnancy for a while after beginning sexual relations, on the theory that this allows the mother’s immune system to become acquainted with the father’s sperm’s antigens.  (Introduction and Overview of Evolutionary Medicine (p.24) by Wenda R. Trevathan, et al.) 

Low levels of vitamin D are also associated with chronic pain and muscle weakness, which suggests this might be a possible factor in a painful difficult birth. (Lack of Vitamin D Linked to Pain, and Recent Developments in Vitamin D Deficiency and Muscle Weakness Among Elderly People)  Stephan Guyenet, of Whole Health Source, reports that pelvic inlet depth index was larger in our hunter-gatherer ancestors (97.7% versus 92.1% today), and that this might be still another reason why childbirth is difficult for modern people.  (Longevity & Health in Ancient Paleolithic vs. Neolithic peoples)  Because vitamin K2 deficiency narrows the bone structure of the face, it seems natural to speculate that this could also be part of the reason for our lower pelvic inlet depth index today. 

Difficult births lead to caesareans, and, using MRIs, researchers have been able to show that women who have had c-sections had lower response levels to their baby’s cries.  This might indicate weaker bonding with their infants.  Researchers suggested that this possibly occurred because these women missed out on the hormonal priming from oxytosin that takes place during a vaginal delivery.  (C-sections may Weaken Bonding with Baby)  

Home birthing is as safe as in the hospital.  Two studies, one from the Netherlands and the other from Canada, found no evidence of greater death rates among home births, for low risk pregnancies, in either the mothers or their babies.  In the Netherlands study nearly 1/3 of those who started at home did end up being transferred to the hospital, but the risk was no greater than those mothers who had started out in the hospital.  Researchers said that a good midwife was the key. (Home Births “as Safe as Hospital,” and Home Birth with Midwife as Safe as Hospital Birth, Study) (See also: The Natural Family Site, and Why Have Natural Childbirth?) 

Also, as I previously blogged, some people claim that placenta eating can prevent postpartum depression.  (Placenta Benefits.info)

The natural childrearing people argue against circumcision on a number of grounds, including that they believe there doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for it.  (Put Down that Knife!  11 Reasons not to Circumcise, Circumcision – Wikipedia, and Circumcision Rates)

Pacifiers reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by about 90%.  (Pacifier Greatly Reduces Risk of Sudden Infant Death)  They reduce the risk regardless whether or not the infant sleeps on his/her stomach, in soft bedding, or his/her mother smoked.  Problems such as thumb sucking, tooth development, and difficulties breast feeding can be avoided by waiting a few weeks before using one, and stopping when they become toddlers.  (However, there apparently is a trade-off, because, according to Gabe Mirkin, studies from Finland found that children who use pacifiers are more likely to have recurrent ear infections.)  Other people also recommend co-sleeping as protective.  (See below)  One more way of lowering the risk of SIDS is by using a fan to circulate the air in the room.  This reduces the risk by 72%. (Fan Use Linked to Lower Rate of Sudden Infant Death)  (See also: Sudden infant death syndrome – Wikipedia)

Coming to very similar conclusions as The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff, here is an article on Evolutionary Psychology: Natural Parenting - Back to Basics in Infant Care by Regine A. Schon.     Matt Metzgar wrote up this outline.  (I inserted some additional materials and links):  

Evolutionary Function of Crying (For a second opinion see: Should Infants be Allowed to Cry Themselves to Sleep?)

  • Crying signals genuine needs of the infant
  • Crying should be immediately attended to by the mother or caregiver
  • Crying takes significant physical effort on the part of the infant
  • The immediate response to crying should be to restore physical contact between the caregiver and the infant

Infants as Carried Young

  • Hunter-gatherer women carried their infants in slings close to the body
  • This increased beneficial skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the infant
  • The common leg positions of babies suggest they are adapted for carrying

Cosleeping  (Regarding co-sleeping: Mr. Metzgar cites this article (which argues in favor of it), Why Babies Should Never Sleep Alone: A Review of the Co-sleeping Controversy in Relation to SIDS, Bedsharing, and Breastfeeding, and this site, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory.  See also: The Benefits of Co-Sleeping)       

  • Cosleeping for the infant and mother has been the universal norm throughout most of human history
  • Bedsharing is the environment to which the vulnerable newborn is best adapted
  • Cosleeping may reduce some forms of SIDS

Breastfeeding (See also: Breastfeeding Linked to Smarter Babies (Again)  This article points out that, as well as being correlated with 5.9 points of higher IQ, breastfeeding also apparently reduces the chances of a mother later developing rheumatoid arthritis, and lessons the child’s odds of later developing cardiovascular disease.  This article, Big Bad Cavities: Breastfeeding is not the Cause, states that more than three dozen studies have shown no link between breastfeeding and the disease of Early Childhood Carries (ECC).  Medical News Today reports that the concentration of volatile organic compound toxins in breast milk are much lower than indoor air, and also much lower than the safe levels for drinking water. (Concentrations of Certain Toxins in Breast Milk are Low, Study Finds))

  • No alternative to breast milk existed before the transition to a farming economy
  • Therefore, infants have been breastfed for 99% of all human existence
  • Artificial substitutes have been unable to replicate the complex structure of breast milk
  • There is mounting evidence about the many benefits of breastfeeding on child development

Extrogestation

  • Human infants are born in an exceptionally immature state
  • The conditions for the early part of infant life should attempt to mimic that of the womb
  • This includes close contact with the mother’s body in a tight, warm embrace
  • Heartbeat sounds are comforting to an infant; women tend to hold infants on the left side of their body, close to their hearts
  • Rocking an infant provides a calming effect since it mimics the movement stimulation the infant received from the mother’s normal daily movements
  • Swaddling replicates the feeling of the womb and has been proven effective in calming infants

Toilet Training  (What is Infant Potty Training, Benefits of Infant Potty Training, Infant Potty Training, The Controversy over Infant Potty Training, Shaping self-initiated toileting in infants)  (There are also major health benefits of squatting instead of sitting for defecation.  (The Squat Toilet)  The repeated refrain is to do things the way nature intended.)

  • Infants were historically toilet trained much earlier than in modern times
  • Natural toilet training depends on reading an infant’s signals and responding appropriately
  • Children trained in this way complete toilet training anywhere from 6 months to 2 years

Matt also reviewed this book, The 90-Minute Sleep Baby Program.  As he says, the basic idea behind the book is that humans have a 90 minute cycle of activity and rest.  This means that when a baby wakes up their next nap should be 90 minutes later.  (Older children might string several of these together.)  22 out of 27 reviews on Amazon gave the book 5 stars.  Matt speculates that many children today are sleep deprived, which is obviously troublesome.  It turns out that sleep deprived children have twice the risk of becoming obese.  (Sleep Deprivation Doubles the Risk of Obesity in Both Children and Adults) 

Matt also very favorably reviewed, The Happiest Baby on the Block.  The author argues that babies need a uterus like environment, and he suggests a number of tactics for mimicking it.  These include swaddling, shh sounds, side/stomach position, swinging, and sucking.  He claims that his program will calm almost all babies.  

Matt also pointed out Baby Sign Language, which allows the infant to communicate his/her needs at a much younger age.  I think it’s very surprising that this wasn’t stumbled upon thousands of years ago, yet it is a remarkably simple and wonderful advancement.  It apparently isn’t some sort of silly fad, but brings real benefits, which I think all parents would appreciate, including greatly reduced frustration on everyone’s part, and increased language skills. 

Matt has blogged about Baby Led Weaning, which takes the position that children shouldn’t be fed pureed foods (Pureed Food “isn’t Natural for Babies’), but instead weaned directly onto solid foods.  The argument behind the idea is that this is much closer to the way our ancestors would have done it.  (It should be said that hunter-gatherers often did pre-chew the child’s food to help him/her along.)   

I have blogged before about going barefoot, and children who go barefoot as long as possible have about half the rate of flat footedness later on.  Having said that, being flat footed doesn’t appear to be as big a problem as people once thought.  There appears to be no relationship between the height of children’s arches and their ability to perform athletically, and it very well also might not affect their injury rates. (Flat Feet don’t Impair Kid’s Motor Skills)  

A study from Sweden concluded that risk factors for snoring as an adult include respiratory and ear infections as a child, being raised in a large family, and being exposed to a dog at home as a newborn. (Have A Dog? Your Child is More Likely to Snore as an Adult) 

Children who suffer from cyclic vomiting might actually be suffering from migraines. (Gabe Mirkin: Cyclic Vomiting) 

Low levels of carbon monoxide, 25 parts per million, might cause oxidative stress on the cochlear nerve, and permanently damage the hearing of children.  Such carbon monoxide can come from tobacco, cooking, and heating appliances.  (How Chronic Exposure to Tiny Levels of Carbon Monoxide Damages Hearing in Young Ears)  However, the main cause of hearing loss in modern world is loud noise.  The blast from a single gunshot, or the loud prolonged noise of a rock concert, can result in permanent hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

Many cases of bed-wetting might be caused by breathing problems.  63% of bed-wetting children stopped when they had surgery to remove their adenoids or tonsils, and the use of a plate to widen the palate of bed-wetters with narrow palates ended the condition in 70% of cases. (Breathing Troubles the Cause of Bed-wetting?)   Gabe Mirkin discusses another theory, that it’s the lack of antidiuretic hormone that causes the problem.  This hormone causes the kidneys to shut down at night.  (Bedwetting) 

The BBC reports that a 10 minute test for dyslexia has been developed that can be used starting at age 3 & 1/2.  (Early Warning Test for Dyslexia)  The test has children repeat sentences and re-tell a story while looking at how the child builds sounds up into words.  For parents of children who seem a little different there is the book, Quirky Kids: Understanding and Your Child Who Doesn’t Fit In- When To Worry And When Not To Worry.  One reviewer thought the book would be most helpful to parents who are just beginning to suspect something is unusual, but don’t know what might be the problem.  It also debunks a number of folk myths out there, and reportedly has a good section on the pros and cons of various medications.  Science Daily has this article, Specific Behaviors Seen in Infants Can Predict Autism, New Research Shows, which reports that Canadian researchers have discovered that there are behavioral signs that can accurately predict autism in children as young as one year old.  (See also: The Vitamin D Theory of Autism)

According to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center, there is no detectable risk to children from the mercury in the seafood their mother’s ate, up to 12 servings a week.  The study period was before birth to age 9, and the children were tested for 21 different cognitive, neurological and behavioral functions.  These abilities included concentration, attention, problem-solving, and motor skills. (No Detectable Risk From Mercury in Seafood, Study Shows) 

Tonsils serve to trap germs and train the white blood cells when children are young, but as they grow older their importance lessons.  Doctors generally seem to say that their removal can be justified if they obstruct the throat, or the child suffers from frequent throat infections.  (Dr. Alan Green on Tonsil Removal)    

Not surprisingly, mother’s who talk about people’s mental states, such as beliefs, wants, and intentions, have children with a greater understanding of social interactions.  (This obviously does not establish causation, because mothers with greater social skills might pass on genes that also dispose their children to have those same skills.)  Researchers note that these greater social skills do not necessarily imply that these children will be better behaved. (The Secret to Building Children’s Social Skills)   The Incredible Years is an organization which hosts a variety of programs for teaching parents, teachers, and children social skills.  It turns out the ability of a mother to read her child’s emotions is more important than her social status for the child’s development. (Why Mind-Reading Mums are Best) 

Not surprisingly, children are happier who have a sense of spirituality, that is meaning in life, and they think that their lives have value.  Good interpersonal relationships also helped, and accounted for 27% of the happiness variation between children.  Being more sociable was also a happiness predictor.  (Spirituality is key to kids’ happiness) 

Researchers want to know why some children are resilient in spite of bad upbringings.  They have found that resilient children tend to share a number of characteristics:  They have at least one supportive person in their life, have a positive outlook, a pleasant altruistic personality, they are eager to learn, and have problem-solving skills.  They take responsibility for their mistakes, and move on.  They also have an interest or friend they can turn to when they need to.  (This description to me sounds somewhat like the characteristics of lucky people.)  (Raising Resilient Children Foundation, their book, Psychosocial Characteristics of Resilient Children, and The Resilient Child)

Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, in The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting our Children and What We Can Do About It, argue that there’s almost no evidence that homework helps kid’s academic success.  They point out that the amount of homework has skyrocketed in recent years, which is contributing to an epidemic of obesity, and robs kids of the time they need to be kids.  They also give advice on how to separate useful assignments from the time wasters.  Richard Louv, author of, Last Child in the Woods, argues that children suffer from a nature-deficit disorder. 

For preventing myopia, besides a low glycemic diet/ Paleolithic Diet, it seems that playing outside is also protective.  Researchers in Australia have found that kids who spend a lot of time outside have lower myopia rates. (Kid’s eyes need the great outdoors)   

I have previously blogged about The Freedom to Learn site.  Peter Gray has a series of articles which argue that play is essential for healthy human life, and maintaining a band’s existence.  John Holt takes a similar approach in his books, How Children Learn and How Children Fail, that children are natural learners, and the process of forcing them to learn in school changes their personalities for the worse.  David Elkind’s book, The Power of Play: How Spontaneous Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier Healthier Children, argues that play is changing from teaching children social roles, vocations, and academic skills to teaching them brand loyalty, fashion consciousness, and group think.  Matt Metzgar reviewed Susan Linn’s book, The Case for Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World, which argues that many of today’s toys are scripted, and that they don’t foster the development of social and critical skills.  Matt also discussed this article, Sucker-Me Elmo, which questions the merits of electronic toys.  Meanwhile, New York City is developing the next generation playground, which is designed to foster the imagination of kids. (New York developing a next-generation playground)  Here is a site that features educational products for children We Make Stories, which allows the child to write and print their own stories.

It turns out that pedophiles don’t randomly search through MySpace sites searching for kids.  Instead they go for those kids in chat rooms who are presenting themselves in sexually suggestive ways. (Welcome to Crimes Against Children Research Center, and Salon – Stop Worrying about your Children)  This information is from the same woman who runs Free Range Kids, which I have written about before.  Boing Boing favorably reviewed this book, If Your Kid Eats this Book Everything will Still be Okay: How to Know if Your Child’s Injury or Illness is Really an Emergency by Lara Zibners.  Zibners is an emergency room pediatrician who says that 75% of late night emergency room visits are unnecessary, and this book is a guide to all the things you don’t have to worry about.

On the other hand, there are real risks out there, and Dreambaby makes safety products to help reduce these.  Science Daily has a story, Homes Need More Protection Against Falls, which points out that falls are the second leading cause of death among children, and that this is because many homes have inadequate protection against them.  Such homes are lacking such commonsense things as banisters, grab bars, anti-slip bathtub strips, and child safety gates.  Eco Child’s Play has a similar outlook, and advocates ”Green Parenting for Non-Toxic Healthy Homes.”  This site focuses on alternative medicine, and sources of toxins from such things as plastics, medicines, and cleaners.  (See, for example: 12 Warnings for Parents and Kids in 2008, 10 Ways to Avoid Toxic Plastic - BPA (Bisphenol A), Synthetic Estrogens and Your Child, Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child, 9 Best Articles for Natural and Home Remedies on Echo Child’s Play in 2008, Another Reason We Can’t Trust the FDA, Melamine…, New Study Suggests Link Between Hairspray Exposure and Genital Birth Defect, How Safe is Your Child’s Playground?, Balloons Cause More Deaths than Marbles, and Finding Safer Products for our Children)  They also discuss products to make parent’s lives easier. (Postpartum Bamboo Belly Wrap Helps Shrink Your Belly and Prevent Stretch Marks, and Why Tilty is a Better Sippy) 

In recent years people have been taking bullying far more seriously, and researchers have found that, at least with rats, bullying might scar the brain for life.  When rats were bullied new brain nerve cells would form, but then die, and they acted depressed.  (Bullying May Scar Brain for Life) 

Psychologist Randall Flanery has this advice for being a great dad:  Run a benevolent dictatorship.  Be friendly, but not a friend.  Admit when you’re wrong.  Remain firmly flexible.  Stick around even when they don’t want you to.  Ask questions.  Don’t take it personally if they express unhappiness.  Know that parenting is 24/7, and then some.  Keep in mind that who you are is more important than what you buy them.  Laugh.  Of course, there is also the book, Supernanny: How to Get the Best from your Children by Jo Frost.  For the sport parent, there is Who’s Game is it Anyway: A Guide to Helping Your Child Get the Most From Sports, Organized by Age and Stage by Amy Baltzell.

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Posted in Children, Health, Psychology, Security | 4 Comments »

Alzheimer’s

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

In a previous blog I discussed the Cycad Hypothesis of Alzheimer’s, which postulates that excitotoxicity caused by BMAA toxin from cyanobacteria might be the root cause of the disease.  However, there are many other possibilities.

If I had an identical twin who had developed Alzheimer’s, I would consider everything I could think of to prevent it.   The short list would probably include:  I would eat a Paleolithic Diet, intermittently fast, practice good dental hygiene, exercise, take vitamin D supplements, folic acid, omega-3 fats, curcumin, Longevinex, green tea, and resveratrol.  I also would avoid STDs, concussion-risky sports, toxins, radon, electromagnetic fields, heavy cell phone use, and heavy metals. 

Come to think of it, this just sounds a lot like extremely healthy living.  Below are the details:

The disease has an obvious genetic component, since having a family history of Alzheimer’s increases your risk, as does having an identical twin with it (concordance is 59%).

A relatively new theory is that it is a third form of diabetes.  (Alzheimer’s could be diabetes-like illness, study suggests)  It turns out that the brain produces its own insulin.  In Alzheimer’s the brain’s insulin production, as well as its ability to respond to insulin, drops off as the disease becomes more severe.  Brain cells also lose the ability to respond to insulin growth factors, and when rats were treated with related insulin-like growth factors to correct for this lack of response the typical loss of learning and memory was prevented.  Regular diabetes itself is also a risk factor for the disease.

A moderate or severe concussion will roughly double your later risk of Alzheimer’s.  (Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link)  This is also true of mild repetitive head injuries.  (Fortunately isolated mild concussions don’t seem to increase your risk.) 

Besides avoiding head trauma, having a generally healthy cardiovascular system and avoiding atherosclerosis helps avoid the disease.  Having moderately high cholesterol and a diet higher in saturated fats are risk factors.  Atrial fibrillation makes it 44% more likely you will get it.  Cardiovascular disease increases your risk by 30%.  And if you’ve had a stroke your chances go up by nearly 50%.  Being obese, metabolic syndrome, and smoking during midlife all put you at greater risk.

Researchers suspect that early nutrition, as indicated by various body measurements, might play a role.  Women with short arms have a 50% greater risk, while a longer shin length is protective. 

Various viruses and microbes can worsen your chances.  Viruses in the herpes family (simplex I, Cytomegalovirus V, and simplex VI) are strongly suspected of being causal factors.  One theory holds that the microbe Chlamydia pneumonia might be the main agent responsible.  Lyme disease and Helicobacter pylori bacteria also are both associated with Alzheimer’s.  

A vasectomy might put men at risk for one rare form of dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia.  

Vitamin D keeps proving its worth, since low levels of vitamin D have been linked to cognitive decline.  (See also Prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency in patients with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease)  

The inhaled anesthetics halothane and isoflurane are linked with amyloid beta buildup.  Childhood lead exposure could increase the risk.  Processed food that contains nitrates might be linked to Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and Parkinson’s.  Other possibilities include mercury, aluminum, and zinc exposure, non-wine alcohol consumption, and work related organic solvent exposure.

Although the lines of causation are far from clear, Alzheimer’s correlates with other mental problems.  Being lonely (an active social life is protective), having a history of depression, and having a major psychiatric illness all increase your chances of getting it. 

Additional correlating factors include:  having poor dental health, being exposed to air pollution,  a history of manual work, a family history of Parkinson’s, maternal age at birth, number of pregnancies, (possibly) exposure to low magnetic fields (Qiu et al, 2004) (Occupations with Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields: A Possible Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease, Do Cell Phones Cause Alzheimer’s? By Maggie Spilner), and age.  There have also been concerns about radon’s radioactive daughter products being found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients at ten times the normal rate. (Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s – Could the Cause be Radon?)  

In addition to the above list, here are some more controllable factors that people have suggested:  

Exercise has been shown to slow memory loss.

Dietary restriction and intermittent fasting seem to protect against a large variety of diseases, including Alzheimer’s.  (See also Extreme Diet Nixes Alzheimer’s)  A low carbohydrate and high fat diet has been shown to improve Alzheimer’s disease in mice.  In one study drinking fruit and vegetable juices cut risk by 76%.  The Mediterranean diet also seems to be protective.  Although I haven’t seen any studies on it, given all the lines of evidence I’m pointing out in this blog entry, I feel very confident in predicting that The Paleolithic Diet would be protective.

Having proper levels of folic acid reduces your risk by 55%, probably at least in part because of its effect on homocysteine levels.  Curcumin, which is found in the spice turmeric, appears to block amyloid plaques.  Many results suggest that the omega-3 fatty acid DHA is beneficial.  Silica in drinking water might help prevent the disease.  (See also Nature’s Way Silica Gel)  Huge doses of vitamin B3 have been found to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice.  Marijuana has anti-inflammatory effects, and it might limit the memory loss part of it.  There is some speculation that Vitamin K2 could be beneficial.  Vitamin C and E consumption, coffee drinking, resveratrol, huperzine A, and wine consumption all might be somewhat protective.  (Since I am a teetotaler I’d consider using a product like Longevinex, which they claim has red wine’s benefits in a pill, without the alcohol or calories.)

Although it seems a bit extreme to suggest this as a preventive measure, Alzheimer’s does have an inverse association with cancer.  If this is true with those few cancers which are fully curable, and it were possible to somehow induce such a cancer, this suggests an unorthodox treatment option.

Looking in the doctor’s medicine cabinet, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, statins, antihypertensives (calcium antagonists), and vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, and the flue all might be protective.

Academic ability is a protective factor which probably indicates that you aren’t as susceptible to the disease.  A Canadian study showed that bilingualism delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s by up to four years.  A lack of schooling and farm upbringing seems to boost your risk.  (Of course, the farm environment suggests the possibility of chemical exposure as an additional risk factor.) 

Researchers are making progress on possible ways to diagnose the disease at earlier stages:

It turns out that the disease manifests tell-tell signs years before it becomes apparent, and that lower levels of abstract reasoning and recall for verbal materials at a young age are good predictors for Alzheimer’s many years later.  One study, the “Nun Study,” has shown that certain aspects of language usage in young adults are 85%-90% accurate in predicting the disease 50 years later.  The rational for focusing on this population of women was that they lived very similar lives; so many possible confounding variables were eliminated.  Researchers found that linguistic features of the essays these women wrote when they were entering the convent, when analyzed properly, were strongly predictive.  They found that grammatical complexity tells how well a person’s memory is functioning, and “Idea density,” which is the number of discrete ideas per 10 written words, predicts educational level, vocabulary, and general knowledge.  It turns out that idea density at a young age is very predictive of Alzheimer’s in old age.   

Researchers have found that normally people do better on a memory test if the words to be remembered are semantically related.  But people who later develop Alzheimer’s don’t do any better at such tasks, suggesting that they no longer have access to deeper semantic meanings.  The same scientists have also found that implicit memory tests are good for diagnosing Alzheimer’s in its early stages.  In one test, participants were required to read words from a computer screen as quickly as possible.  For healthy people if a word is repeated they will be primed and perform better.  This effect doesn’t tend to happen with people who will later develop Alzheimer’s, indicating they aren’t learning implicitly (learning without the awareness of learning, or being primed) when they perform a task.   

Researchers have developed a technique that allows them to image beta amyloid plaques in living mice.  They did this by using a non-toxic compound that binds to the plaques, which is then visible when scanned by using MRI.  It might turn out not be necessary to go to such lengths, because researchers have discovered that beta amyloid proteins also build up in the eye lenses of patients.  It therefor seems likely that a simple eye test will someday be available for the disease.  Some researchers speculate that it might be possible to develop a saliva test which would be able to detect Alzheimer’s.

As for what medicine might eventually have to offer:

British scientists claim that an experimental drug called Rember, which attacks the tangles that form during the disease, can reduce Alzheimer’s progression by about 80%.   In a small study, the anti-inflammatory arthritis drug Etanercept demonstrated remarkable benefits in patients.  Researchers are now testing a patch which delivers a vaccine that causes the immune system to break down beta Amyloid proteins.  If used early in the disease, the epilepsy drug Valproic Acid (VPA) has been shown to reverse memory loss, by inhibiting the production of these proteins.  A drug tested in the UK and Singapore, Methylthioninium chloride (MTC), blocks the accumulation of tau tangles inside brain cells, and slows the progress of the disease by 81%.  Dimebon, a Russian antihistamine, which seems to improve the functioning of mitochondria, stabilized Alzheimer’s in an 18 month study.  In Australia they have developed a drug PBT2 that attacks plaques.  Exelon, a cholinesterase inhibitor, seems to delay development of the disorder.  Researchers have found that they can increase the expression in the brain of the protein transthyretin, which seems to halt the progression of the disease.

Getting further into what sounds like science fiction, there is an experimental helmet which bathes the brain with infra-red light, which it is claimed stimulates the growth of brain cells and could reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms.  Finally, researchers have been experimenting with trepanation, drilling a hole in your head, on the theory that this increases cranial compliance.  This is the elasticity of the brain’s vascular system, and the theory is that increasing this will in turn increase blood flow to the brain. 

Here is an on-line article by William R. Ware that discusses many of the suspected causes that might be involved, in addition to the ones I have listed, they include: emotional stress, oxidative stress, vitamin deficiency, vitamin b12 deficiency, hypotension, hypertension, alcohol abuse, pesticides, and herbicides, low antioxidant levels, and a tendency for thrombosis.  (See also memory and cholesterol, low levels of cholesterol)  He also reviews the relative risk reduction of a number of drugs currently used to treat Alzheimer’s.  What the more successful drugs seem to have in common is antiangiogenic activity, or the inhibition of new vascularization.  Natural compounds which might have antiangiogenic activity include Omega-6 fatty acids, green tea, licorice, quercetin, squalamine, and shark cartilage.

Here are two positively reviewed books:  The Alzheimer’s Answer: Reduce Your Risk and Keep Your Brain Healthy by Marwan Sabbagh, which, at 330 pages, covers a lot of material; and Beyond Alzheimer’s: How to Avoid the Modern Epidemic of Dementia (Hardcover) by Scott D. Mendelson (See also: Beyond alzheimer’s – summary)

Finally, The Myth of Alzheimer’s: What You Aren’t Being Told About Today’s Most Dreaded Diagnosis by Peter J. Whitehouse provides a contrarian view of the disease.

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The Paleolithic Diet

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Here is a site which summarizes why the Paleolithic Diet is so incredibly healthy.  I have snipped from the article the (no doubt incomplete) list of the cornucopia of diseases it protects against.

“What is the Paleolithic diet? 

…obesity, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia (elevated serum triacylglycerols; small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol)….myopia, acne, gout, polycystic ovary syndrome, epithelial cell cancers (breast, colon, prostrate), male vertex balding, skin tags, and acanthosis nigricans…osteoporosis, age related muscle wasting, calcium kidney stones, hypertension, exercise induced asthma, as well as the progression of age and disease related chronic renal insufficiency….hypertension, stroke, kidney stones, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal tract cancers, asthma, exercise induced asthma, insomnia, airsickness, high altitude sickness and Meniere’s syndrome….constipation, bowel cancer, appendicitis, haemorrhoids, deep vein thrombosis, varicose veins, diverticulitis, hiatial hernia and gastroesophageal reflux.”

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Myopia, Reading, Diet, Brain Size, and IQ

Friday, July 31st, 2009

One commonly accepted theory about what causes myopia is that the near point focus involved in reading in genetically susceptible individuals causes them to become nearsighted.  From what I have read this is almost certainly part of the explanation. 

But there is still more to this story.  Non-literate populations have roughly 1% nearsightedness, compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, with rates of about 30%, and rates as high as 80% in developed Asian countries.  Normally when a country begins to industrialize, and the kids are put in school and therefore reading all day, the levels go up to the developed countries’ rates.  This is what happened to Eskimos.  However, one South Pacific Island, Vanuatu, in the 1980s had children in school all day long, and yet their rate of myopia was still only 1.3%.  What explains the difference is that their traditional diet hadn’t changed.  What appears to be happening is that glycemic spikes, which occur when people eat high index glycemic foods, lead to chronic hyperinsulinaemia.  This condition affects the hormones in the eye as it develops, which causes it to become myopic.   So at the end of the day you need three things to become myopic:  the gene(s) that make you susceptible, near point focus work, and a high glycemic diet. 

You might conclude from all this that it’s a bad thing to have the gene(s) which make you susceptible to myopia, but there’s another side to that part of the story.  It turns out that those children who become very nearsighted at a young age have about 7-8 points higher IQs.  Apparently it isn’t a case of smarter children reading more and becoming nearsighted as a result.  The eyes of these children are slightly larger at birth, and people with higher IQs have slightly larger brains when you control for such things as body size.  The back of the eye is considered part of the brain, and it seems that whatever the gene(s) are doing is affecting both the eyes and the brains of the people who have them.  Myopic children also have different values, language abilities, and sports participation patterns than non-myopics.  So there’s a tradeoff.  The genes that make you susceptible to myopia also make you smarter.  

If there’s a lesson to be learned from all this it’s that people were designed to eat a low glycemic, ideally Paleolithic Diet, and when we don’t we create problems for ourselves.

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Acne may be Because of a High Glycemic Diet

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

One of the merits of the Paleolithic Diet is that it is naturally low glycemic.  Loren Cordain argues in this article from New Scientist, “Plague of Pimples Blamed on Bread“, that the flood of sugars from easily digested foods causes the body to produce excessive insulin and insulin like growth factors.   This results in a host of problems, not the least of which is acne.

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The Paleolithic Diet

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

I’m an ardent spokesman for, The Paleolithic Diet.  The idea behind it is that we should eat the way our ancestors ate, because we were designed by evolution to function best eating a certain typical diet.  We’ve radically changed from that original diet, since we now eat large amounts of such things as grains, corn syrup, and fatty meats. The result is an explosion such problems as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. 

Here is an anecdotal report from a guy, Gary Rea,  who went on the Paleo Diet for a year with amazing results.  He is no longer a type II diabetic, his blood pressure has gone from 180/90 to 115/72, he went from 233 lbs to 160 lbs, and, at 56 years old, his body looks like it did when he was in his 30’s.

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