Low-carb diet and fatty liver.

 The data then will read is purely informative. I'm no doctor or nurse. If you are sick you should follow the advice of your health care professional. If you think you are ill you should consult your health care professional. Do not change or stop your treatment, if you have no precise indications of the healthcare professional who is treating your illness.

 

 

 

 What is fatty liver? The liver is an organ with multiple functions, one of which is to create fatty acids (fat) from certain substances. In this case, the hepatocytes (functional cells of the liver) "trap" those substances and converts them into fat, fat that is shed into bloodstream and then stored in adipocytes (fat cells of the body). The reason of this function is to rid the body of compounds which at certain concentrations are detrimental to the organism.

 

 What are the active compounds of creating fatty acids by the liver? they are basically three: highly glycemic foods (sugar, flour ...), alcohol and fructose. 

 

 Normally the liver has the capacity to convert these compounds to fat efficiently and enough and, above all, to expel the fat that manufactures into the blood, but there are times that hepatocytes are overwhelmed and can not expel the fat they made ​​quickly enough, and then comes the problem: fatty liver.

 

Why hepatocytes are overwhelmed? There are two major reasons for this:

• Excess intake of these compounds.
• Deficit of choline.

Let's see what happens.

• Glycemic food overeating. Do you like the foie gras? Dou know what is it? The foie gras is but the duck or goose liver, but this liver is a very special one, in fact the literal translation of the French is "fatty liver." Yes it is a fatty liver, a diseased liver as the fatty liver of humans that breeders of ducks and geese induce to these animals by overfeeding them with ... Can not you guess? corn and other high glycemic cereals . Well, something similar can occur in humans, although for fatty liver appears from these foods normally must also be a deficit of choline, which we shall discuss later.
• Excessive alcohol intake. Alcohol directly metabolized in fat in the liver. If alcohol intake is very high, hepatocytes can´t shed in bloodstream the excess of fat that produce and they store it.
• Excessive intake of fructose. Fructose is a carbohydrate that has a very good reputation because does not elevated blood glucose and therefore can be taken by diabetics. It also helps to have a good name which is the main component of most fresh fruits (except grapes). Also sucrose (table sugar) is composed of equal parts of glucose and fructose.  The danger is that fructose metabolism in the liver is identical to the metabolism of alcohol. Indeed only differs from this in that fructose doesn´t harm the brain, but all other aspects are identical, so that fructose has been identified as the main cause of Non Fatty Liver Disease.
• Finally, we have the Choline. Choline is a B vitamin that has, as one of its main functions, allowing hepatocytes to eject to the bloodstream the fat they generate. It is so important that it has induced fatty liver in mice only by the deprivation of this vitamin.

Well, you think, and what all this has to do with the Low-Carb Diet? . Well, from my point of view,  much:

• The low-carb diet avoids highly glycemic foods, so those who follow this diet are shielded by this.
• In a strict low-carb diet alcohol is banned or, at best, can be taken from time to time, in a socially way and never systematicly except a glass of red wine (and that is by antioxidants, especially), so we are shielded against alcoholic fatty liver too.
• Those who follow the low-carb  diet eat no fruit or at least very glycemic fruit, taking only fruits "berries" style like Granada (by antioxidants, if not, either) and little else. We don´t take sugar or honey (honey is almost entirely fructose, so it should be avoided completely). 
• What about choline?. What are the main sources of choline?  the better sources of choline are the egg yolk, liver, meat ... that is, those little things so familiar to low-carbers.

In summary, the paleo diet not only avoids sources leading to fatty liver, but provides the main body of nutrient (choline) it needs to be able to prevent the disease.

Curiously, most of the time, when someone is diagnosed with fatty acid, the first thing that is removed from the diet are the eggs  and fat, and the first suggestion for this "healthy liver diet" are complex carbohydrates  (yes, the type of corn that is given to the ducks) and fruit (full of fructose, as we have seen).

Now that I reread the post, I think that remains a post about fructose. It will be very interesting, I assure you.

 

Sources:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

 

http://www.westonaprice.org/health-issues/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/pdf

 

http://www.fasebj.org/content/5/7/2093.full.pdf

 

 

Eggs, cholesterol and insulin resistance.

 

Although more and more of us believe that the egg has little to do with the level of short-particle LDL (the bad guy) in blood,  is always good news to find studies like this, which appeared in the journal "Metabolism" in number from 26 September.

 

Specifically it is a study conducted by C.N. Blesso and other researchers from the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA, which studies how the intake of eggs affects patients with Metabolic Syndrome (Metabolic Syndrome refers a pool of illnesses like fatty liver, high blood pressure or dyslipemia among others).

 

 They took two groups of patients with metabolic syndrome and both were provided with a diet low in carbohydrates containing three eggs a day. Half of the patients ingested whole eggs and half the equivalent of three eggs without yolk.

 

Following theses diets twelve weeks the researchers found that both groups had not only reduced their levels of atherogenic dyslipidemia (which causes cadiovascular problems), but had improved lipid profile about having more HDL (good) and LDL cholesterol was presenting large LDL particles (remember that LDL is bad when its particles are small, as occurs with carbohydrate and fructose intake).

 

 But the intriguing thing is that the improvement in the atherogenic lipid profile was higher in ... Yes, those who had taken the whole eggs. Findings of the study can not be clearer, and I quote: "Incorporate the intake of whole eggs in a moderately restrictive carb diet provides greater improvements in atherogenic lipoprotein profile and resistance insulin in subjects with metabolic syndrome "

 

For anyone who follow the paleo diet this is a great news that confirms our way of eating.

 

Greetings.

Let start hard: a super paleo food.

There are thousands of paleo/low-carb recipes and most of them are good food, but there is one of them which is, for me, the better of all. Let me say why this is probably one of the most important entries of this blog.

Proline is an amino acid (amino acids are the "building blocks" with which proteins are constructed) that is not essential (ie the body can produce on its own).

 

Okay, but ... What use is this amino acid? it for various things, and all of extraordinary importance:

 

• It is a basic component of collagen, which makes it a very important substance for:
  • Rejuvenate and keep skin and human tissues supple, making it a great ally of beauty.
  • Strengthen and build tendons and ligaments.
  • It is necessary for healing and cicatrization of wounds and burns.
  • Involved in the maintenance and repair of bones and muscles.

According Linus Pauling, together with lysine and vitamin C reverses the blockage of the arteries caused by the lipoprotein (a).

Glycine, for its part, is another amino acid that is also not essential. Its main functions are:

The human body detoxification. It is an element without which the liver can not detoxify. If you need to detoxify your liver, do not drink tea, take glycine.

• It is the simplest amino acid, which makes it the basis to fabricate other amino acids used in the synthesis of hemoglobin, bile salts, glutathione and DNA and RNA nucleotides.
• It is involved in gluconeogenesis (production of glucose by the body) and low levels of glycine may produce symptoms of hypoglycemia.
• Has an essential role in wound healing.
• It is essential in the growing child and the fetus, so pregnant women should take sufficient glycine.

Okay, they are very important, but if the body can create them, why are we talking about them? Because the processing capacity of these amino acids in the body is very limited and is extremely common to fall into a significant deficit of these elements, not to mention the inability of some individuals to reach the minimum. All this makes it necessary to take the necessary amount of these amino acids. How to? There are several foods that contain these amino acids, but best of all is a super food that fits perfectly in the paleo diet: gelatin, but not any gelatin or gelatin dessert that is sold in stores (that is made ​​primarily with thickeners), but with a gelatin that we will do with bones.

Furthermore, if you suffer arthritis or arthrosis, both aminoacids will improve your condition and will help you save money, because you will not use shark cartilage (and expensive and anti-ecological remedy against those diseases) anymore.

 

The paleo superfood is none other than the bone broth, food that everyone should eat at least twice a week.

I´ll write the recipe of bone broth in one or two days. If you can´t wait, visit this blog (its in spanish, but there you can translate with Google Translator):  Bone broth recipe

 

See you soon!