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EventsNew study claims paleo diet causes diabetes and obesity, for people who are mice
Get ready for another absurd health warning in the media. Possibly the silliest one in years. A new study allegedly shows that the Paleo diet can cause obesity and diabetes – in just eight weeks!
This turned into a media frenzy:
- Science Daily: Paleo Diet Is Dangerous, Increases Weight Gain, Diabetes Expert Warns
- The World Today: Can Paleo Make You Fat?
- Sydney Morning Herald: Celebrity Chef Pete Evans Mocks Study Showing Paleo Diet Could Make You Fat
- Nutrition and Diabetes: A Low-Carbohydrate High-Fat Diet Increases Weight Gain and Does Not Improve Glucose Tolerance, Insulin Secretion or β-Cell Mass in NZO Mice
The lead author, Associate Prof Sof Andrikopoulos, allegedly says this means people should avoid low-carb and high-fat Paleo diets, especially people who are overweight and sedentary. They might suffer “extreme weight gain”.
He goes on to say that there is “no scientific evidence” that low-carb high-fat diets work, meaning he’s not aware of at least 19 high quality studies (RCTs) in humans showing that low carb diets not only work, but that they work significantly better than other diets.
I mention that these studies on low carb are done in humans, because Andrikopoulos’ study is not. His study is done on mice. A species well known not to be adapted to a high-fat diet.
It is not news that mice can get fat by eating fat. It is also a well-known fact that humans instead tend to lose weight on a low-carb high-fat diet.
It’s been years since I’ve heard any researcher saying such clueless things in the media. The whole affair – especially Andrikopoulos’ statements – is so absurd it left me wondering if it was April 1.
PS
In other news researchers are now claiming that people could die if they eat regular food from the grocery store. People can only eat plankton. They found this out by studying… you guessed it… whales.
More
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Another Paleo Baby: Sick Only Once in Her Life – But Dietitian Freaks Out
Just can't believe the world sometimes...
You also die quickly by eating chocolate. It's scientifically proven - on dogs I admit, but hey, they're man's best friend.
1) mice are herbivores and have been on Earth since dinosaurs demise
2) if you look at the supplementary material (Table 1) the authors list the diets composition. As the source of fat they used: cocoa butter - 400 g/kg; canola oil- 100 g/kg; clarified butter fat - 100 g/kg; casein as the protein source - if I ate this macronutrients composition for 8 weeks, I would not only get fat, pre diabetic, inflamed but also probably suicidal
3) this would be precisely the fat diet composition I would use to get results described in the paper (see different results posted below)
4) this "research" and publication had one thing in mind: to create newspaper headline: 'Low Carbohydrate Diets Make You Fat and Diabetic' - and Sof Andrikopoulos, President of the Australian Diabetic Society achieved just that.
5) anyone who takes this study seriously (Professor or not) in the context of human physiology is a moron without any understanding of such.
6) shame on you Sof Andrikopoulos (I will not call you Professor, because this would imply that you can reason - you proved that you can not) you are wasting tax payers money and contributing to human suffering
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015 Oct;1852(10 Pt A):2056-65. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2015.07.009. Epub 2015 Jul 11.
Adaptive changes in amino acid metabolism permit normal longevity in mice consuming a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet.
Douris N1, Melman T2, Pecherer JM1, Pissios P1, Flier JS1, Cantley LC3, Locasale JW4, Maratos-Flier E5.
Author information
Abstract
Ingestion of very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets (KD) is associated with weight loss, lowering of glucose and insulin levels and improved systemic insulin sensitivity. However, the beneficial effects of long-term feeding have been the subject of debate. We therefore studied the effects of lifelong consumption of this diet in mice. Complete metabolic analyses were performed after 8 and 80weeks on the diet. In addition we performed a serum metabolomic analysis and examined hepatic gene expression. Lifelong consumption of KD had no effect on morbidity or mortality (KD vs. Chow, 676 vs. 630days) despite hepatic steatosis and inflammation in KD mice. The KD fed mice lost weight initially as previously reported (Kennnedy et al., 2007) and remained lighter and had less fat mass; KD consuming mice had higher levels of energy expenditure, improved glucose homeostasis and higher circulating levels of β-hydroxybutyrate and triglycerides than chow-fed controls. Hepatic expression of the critical metabolic regulators including fibroblast growth factor 21 were also higher in KD-fed mice while expression levels of lipogenic enzymes such as stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 was reduced. Metabolomic analysis revealed compensatory changes in amino acid metabolism, primarily involving down-regulation of catabolic processes, demonstrating that mice eating KD can shift amino acid metabolism to conserve amino acid levels. Long-term KD feeding caused profound and persistent metabolic changes, the majority of which are seen as health promoting, and had no adverse effects on survival in mice.
Don't forget your bucket of cherry Coke with your burger! It will help you lose weight LOL!!!
Andreas, the plankton joke is hilarious.
This is not rocket science, when we meddle with nature, there is always a price to pay. We have seen what food made in a factory, more akin to a petro-chem plant has done. Hundreds of millions of people all around the world are paying a very heavy price.
http://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2016/Improved-diabetes-cont...
But, as pointed out above, when you hear see such reports, remember, the devil is in the detail. Check the paper, and check the details, as some have already done.
Someone has already checked the supplementary detail on what the LCHF diet consisted of. In addition to what others have noted, the LCHF diet had all its carbs from sugar (sucrose). 6% of the calories of the diet came from sugar. By weight the diet was about 11% sugar.
The standard chow fed to the control group was roughly 50% carbohydrate (from wheat etc), and only about 2 % were sugars.
Apart from the main protein being casein (I don't know how this simulates real world LCHF/paleo diets), methionine was also added, which might also be problematic.
See here for example: http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/would-you-like-soya... (But note that Andrikopolous et al in Melbourne at least did not use relatively large amounts of PUFAs/soya bean oil as the fat source like Le Couteur at Univ. Sydney)
Note also these were NZ Obese (NZO) mice. Earlier comments have mentioned this. Does this also have a bearing on interpreting the results? I understand that some strains of mice used in research have particular issues in metabolising large amounts of fat. And, as already has been noted, wild mice, unlike rats, tend to be herbivores.
http://www.newsjit.com/how-to-lose-weight-easy-cheapest-way-to-lose-w...
"Dr Andrikopoulos said if you have a fatty meal, it is probably worth having a fructose drink to make you feel full longer afterwards."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/how-sugar-with-a-burger-cou...
http://www.diabetes.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/AISG2012/images/Sof.JPG
http://www.diabetes.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/AISG2012/Speakers.html
https://twitter.com/Sof_Diabetes/status/505892438825644032
eggs, sausage, other good things to refuel a body on the plate.
Asked and answered
I've been saying it a lot lately, where is common sense these days? It seems we are losing it.
When the DietDoctor published its article on the CSPI's "ruling" on Splenda (though titled as being trouble for Diet Pepsi), mouse testing - even though the Lab rats (bred for easily getting leukemia and with many of the test group pre-infected) were given very high amounts of Splenda - mice testing was never questioned.
I take it that if the author doesn't like something like artificial sweeteners (although tested extensively as safe), that mice testing is fine... even if you have to stoop to using the CSPI.
But if it is an attack on something that the author favours, then mice testing is horrible.
At least that's how it seems.
make up your own mind. They are all now
available. Try sci-hub.io as Dr E suggested.