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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:17 pm
by gwa
lc,

I agree that this book is a must read for all of us. It will be difficult/impossible to get the Dean Ornish people of this world to go with the paradigm shift because the low fat mantra is so pervasive throughout our culture.

It is a shame that fat was made a culprit in our diet because fat is necessary and too many people now avoid all fats, which is harmful to their bodies. Also, sugar has been substituted in globs in our food supply because the government until recently did not hold sugar consumption as harmful.

I am with you on this kiddo, but good luck overturning the demotics of fat consumption in the general population.

gwa

Re: Book's relevance to many conditions--even this thread

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:50 am
by CureOrBust
lyndacarol wrote:Also please recall that MS has been nonexistent among the Eskimos and this has contradicted the generally accepted conventional wisdom of the "north-south gradient."
If we are talking of the same "people" here, they are also known because of their high seal (or whale) blubber diet. I saw a program on it how a DR researched their low incidence of heart problems. It was one of the first studies on very high Omega-3 intake. Also generally thought well for MS.

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:49 am
by Rudi
As CureOrBust states, it's the type of fat.

Trans and saturated fats are terrible for human health and MS. Whereas omega-3 fats are anti inflammatory.

Reply to "brain and glucose" post of May 16, 2007

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:59 pm
by lyndacarol
In answer to this May 16, 2007 post: "There is no way for brain cell to use ketones or modify fat for energetic purpose. Ketones are highly toxic and cause the brain tissue damage, irreversible by the way." I have found the following contradiction from my new favorite book, Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

On page 456.
Without carbohydrates in the diet....the brain and central nervous system will run on ketone bodies, converted from dietary fat and from the fatty acids released by the adipose tissue; on glycerol, also released from the fat tissue with the breakdown of triglycerides into free fatty acids; and on glucose, converted from the protein in the diet.
Further on page 456.
A good discussion of the rationale for a minimal amount of carbohydrates in the diet can be found in the 2002 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Dietary Reference Intakes. The IOM sets an "estimated average requirement" of a hundred grams of carbohydrates a day for adults, so that the brain can run exclusively on glucose, "without having to rely on a partial replacement of glucose by ketone bodies." It then sets the "recommended dietary allowance" at 130 grams to allow margin for error. But the IOM report also acknowledges that the brain will be fine without these carbohydrates, because it runs perfectly well on ketone bodies, glycerol, and the protein-derived glucose.
Although I have not consulted the original source cited, the 2002 Institute of Medicine report, I trust that the author has. I have found this idea that the brain runs "perfectly" on ketones in a couple reliable sources and tend to believe it.

So I have redoubled my effort to remove carbs from my diet more completely in an attempt to reduce my insulin level.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:40 am
by gwa
Don't forget about the children that are put on a high fat, no carb diet to control seizures at John Hopkins.

If the brain didn't run on ketones, these kids would be brain dead after a few months.

gwa

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:20 pm
by jimmylegs
LC, how much magnesium do you supplement?

Magnesium dosage

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:06 pm
by lyndacarol
JL, magnesium is 250 mg. tablet, twice per day.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:31 pm
by jimmylegs
oooo lots! same time as d3, or separate?

Schedule for supplements

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:53 pm
by lyndacarol
JL, I have a trayful of bottles--I dole them out in the morning for the day. I take a small mountain in the morning, including a magnesium tablet and a D gelcap (2000IU). Second magnesium taken at night (a D gelcap with each meal for a daily amount of 6000IU--I have backed off of 8000IU per day which I did for a year; no reason, just thought 3 gelcaps would do as well as 4.)

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:46 am
by jimmylegs
oh dear LC, i hear u about the tray. i have this carry-case of jars, and a giant-size weekly pill box. what a chore!

so that sounds like you are getting that bedtime magnesium separately from a D3 by a few hours? if so good, that's what i was hoping you do. :)

had any levels tested lately? i went for a barrage of tests on friday, still waiting for them to get through it all.

On supplements

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:55 pm
by lyndacarol
JL, to your question
bedtime magnesium separately from a D3 by a few hours?
, the answer is yes.

I have had no testing recently; I have had other things going on. Friday I'll have a renal CT scan looking for kidney stones or remnants. About 10 days ago I had what I'm sure was a kidney stone attack. I've NEVER had such pain!!! May you never suffer such a time!

When life settles back to normal, maybe after the holidays, I'll think about other testing.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:07 pm
by jimmylegs
oh my, kidney stones are NO fun, i hope you recover really quickly!!!

Fetuin A and "Insulin Activity"

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:39 pm
by Shayk
Lynda Carol

I sure hope you're fully recovered by now. Happy New Year to you and everyone.

I’ve come across more info about “Fetuin A”. It's a potential disease marker for MS and guess what, among other things it regulates “insulin activity”—or so they say.

Here’s a power point presentation on the topic: Disease Activity Markers by N.R. Donelan of the MS Research Center of New York.

Here’s more info on it from the October 2007 ANA meeting (pdf file) Fetuin A is a Possible Marker of Disease Activity in MS Rammal, et al, MS Research Center of New York. (Fairly technical)

And lastly, while I haven’t learned how to link directly to the abstract itself from the Society for Neuroscience 2007 Meeting there’s more info. If you type Fetuin A and Multiple Sclerosis in the search function a link to the abstract they presented there should be accessible. As “Purkinje cells” might be important to people with MS I found this quote from that abstract interesting:
In non-plaque areas, the most notable immunostaining for Fetuin-A was seen in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum in MS brains, a finding not seen in normal brains.
I think finding a difference between people with so called "normal" brains and people with MS and in areas outside of lesions may be noteworthy. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to how "fetuin A" might actually regulate the activity of insulin, but onward and upward in 2008.

Sharon

Seasonal variation

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:38 pm
by lyndacarol
I have been reading my favorite book, Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, again. New ideas stick with me with each reading. This time: What if the following quote somehow explains the gradient observation (MS is more prevalent the farther from the equator--with some blatant exceptions!)?

I have doubted the vitamin D angle ever since I took 8000IU daily for a year with no observable changes (except continued deterioration) in MS. By the way, I continue to take 6000IU every day.
When researchers have measured seasonal variations in insulin levels in humans, they have invariably reported that insulin is highest in late fall and early winter -- twice as high, according to one 1984 study -- and lowest in late spring and early summer.
Perhaps this is tied to amount of sunlight. More insulin with less sunlight (i.e., fall and winter); less insulin with more sunlight--nearer the equator. Hmmm....

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:00 pm
by jimmylegs
will reiterate that vitamin d is not supposed to repair damage. i don't imagine it's doing any damage and i would think you are getting the appropriate things monitored over time, but if you continue to deteriorate there's also something else going on, obviously. like me, i can take d all i want but it never did anything for my b-vitamin deficiencies, it doesn't help my current zinc deficiency symptoms, and it wasn't helping my throat problems (but magnesium did) and it won't help the numbness in my hands (which turns out to be carpal tunnel syndrome). so my problems appear to be general malnutrition, i don't know what yours are but vitamin d is likely only one of many factors for many people with many different illnesses, not a cure-all for everyone.