insulin

OVERVIEW
Allulose is just like the new kid on the block.
Ever looked for healthy alternatives to sugar? Maybe you should give this a try.
Allulose is purported to have similar taste with refined white sugar, but contains minimal amount of calories and carbs when compared to sugar. It also claims to possess some health benefits.
Lets see with this write up the claims of allulose and how safe it is for consumption.

WHAT IS ALLULOSE
Allulose is a monosaccharide as glucose and fructose called D-psicose. It is in contrast to table sugar which has a combination of glucose and fructose.
In fact, fructose has the same chemical structure as allulose but they are arranged differently. This arrangement makes it possible for the body to metabolize allulose in a different manner from fructose.
It’s very rare and can only be found in some foods like figs, raisins, and wheat.
Nutritionally, allulose contains approximately 0.2 kcal/g, which should be about 5% of the calories of sugar. Allulose is absorbed in the small intestine without going through any type of metabolism. So, it goes out through the urine unchanged.
This phenomenon makes it possible for allulose to resist fermentation by the gut bacteria thereby avoiding bloating, and other gas related digestive problems.
There are some health benefits tied to using allulose and they include:

1. IT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR DIABETICS: due ti its chemical structure, the body tends to metabolise allulose differently thereby leading to an insignificant raise in blood sugar.
According to a recent study, about 7.5g of allulose didn’t impact glucose levels in individuals used for the test.

2. CONTAINS LITTLE AMOUNT OF CALORIES: allulose is a very low calorie containing substance and can be used as sweetener by weight watchers. Allulose contains about 1/10th of sugars calories.

3. IT MAY PROTECT AGAINST FATTY LIVER DISEASE: since allulose is not stored in the body and converted to fat in the liver as fructose, its ability makes it possible for the liver to stay healthy.
Diabetes and insulin insensitivity has been linked to fatty liver diseases recently, with the use of allulose as substitute, the incidence of these might be reduced.
Research also suggests that allulose enhances fat oxidation.
Also, allulose could be used in baking and making of ice-cream as it has similar properties and feels like refined white sugar.

IS ALLULOSE SAFE?
The Food and Drug Administration has added allulose to the list of foods generally recognised as safe (GRAS). It is very rare in markets and not accepted in Europe yet.,
You can get it online but at a very expensive price.

SOURCES:

What is Allulose?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/allulose#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0119p32.shtml#:~:text=Allulose%2C%20a%20monosaccharide%2C%20is%20present,%2C%20beets%2C%20or%20other%20sources.

Does Body Weight Affect Cancer Risk?

Being overweight, obese or having a BMI over 30kgmsq (since the society wants to scrap out the word obese) seems to be  linked to an overall increased risk of cancer. According to research from the American Cancer Society, excess body weight is thought to be responsible for about 11% of cancers in women and about 5% of cancers in men in the United States, as well as about 7% of all cancer deaths.  

Being overweight or obese is clearly linked with an increased risk of 13 types of cancer, which includes:

• Breast cancer (in women past menopause)
• Colon and rectal cancer (diet related)
• Endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus)
• Esophagus cancer (diet related)
• Gallbladder cancer (diet related)
• Kidney cancer (diet related)
• Liver cancer (diet related)
• Ovarian cancer
• Pancreas cancer (diet related)
• Stomach cancer (diet related)
• Thyroid cancer (diet related)
• Multiple myeloma
• Meningioma (a tumor of the lining of the brain and spinal cord). Notice that there is a correlation with diet and almost 80% of all stated cancers. Most part of your body more vulnerable to cancers are the ones exposed to whatever dietary choices you make.

Being overweight or obese might also raise the risk of other cancers, such as:

• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Male breast cancer
• Cancers of the mouth, throat, and voice box
• Aggressive forms of prostate cancer

The bond between cancer and  body weight is stronger for some cancers than for others. For example, excess body weight is thought to be a factor in more than half of all endometrial cancers, whereas it is linked to a smaller portion of other cancers.

Understanding the link between body weight and cancers is quite complex and might tip you off balance a bit. For example, while studies have found that excess weight is linked with an increased risk of breast cancer in women after menopause, it does not seem to increase the risk of breast cancer before menopause. Reasons best known to science (giggles).

The time of an individual’s life in which they gain weight might also affect cancer risk. Being overweight during childhood and young adulthood might be more of a risk factor than gaining weight later in life for some cancers. For example, some research suggests that women who are overweight as teenagers (but not those who gain weight as adults) may be at higher risk for developing ovarian cancer before menopause.

More research still needs to be carried out to back up some of these claims 

 

How might body weight affect cancer risk?

Excess body weight may affect cancer risk in a number of ways, some of which might be specific to certain cancer types. Excess body fat might increase cancer risk by affecting:

• Inflammation in the body
• Cell and blood vessel growth
• Cells’ ability to live longer than they normally would
• Levels of certain hormones, such as insulin and estrogen, which can fuel cell growth
• Other factors that regulate cell growth, such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)
• The ability of cancer cells to spread (metastasize)

Does losing weight reduce cancer risk?

Research on how losing weight might lower the risk of developing cancer is limited. Still, there’s growing evidence that weight loss might reduce the risk of some types of cancer, such as breast cancer (after menopause) and endometrial cancer.

Some body changes that occur as a result of weight loss suggest it may, indeed, reduce cancer risk. For example, overweight or obese people who intentionally lose weight have reduced levels of certain hormones that are related to cancer risk, such as insulin, estrogens, and androgens.

While we still have much to learn about the link between weight loss and cancer risk, people who are overweight or obese should be encouraged and supported if they try to lose weight. Aside from possibly reducing cancer risk, losing weight can have many other health benefits, such as lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Losing even a small amount of weight has health benefits and is a good place to start.

It’s important to lose body weight, but much more important to lose body fat rather than just water fat (glycogen stores). So rather than cutting out carbs with chain saws and axes, reduce the amount of trans fat and ensure you take in quality nutrients. 

 

The science around it all

Overall, the majority of hypotheses proposed over the past 20–30 years have been based around the physiological functions and pathological correlations of compounds intimately involved in general metabolism of adipose tissue or its regulation by systemic factors and the relevance of those compounds to cell proliferation or development that could contribute to abnormal proliferation and migration leading to oncogenesis (development of tumors). The more recently developed concepts to be described below adopt a wider perspective in which the interface between adipose metabolism, inflammation and carcinogenesis is mediated by newly uncovered links involving biochemical pathways which open new perspectives on the obesity/cancer relationship in a more holistic, biologically integrated manner.

 These ideas include the inflammation-induced activation of the kynurenine pathway and its role in feeding and metabolism by activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and by modulating synaptic transmission in the brain. Evidence for a role of the kynurenine pathway in carcinogenesis then provides a potentially major link between obesity and cancer. A second new hypothesis is based on evidence that serine proteases can deplete cells of the tumour suppressors Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC) and neogenin. These enzymes include mammalian chymotryptic proteases released by pro-inflammatory neutrophils and macrophages.

The kynurenine pathway represents the dominant pathway of tryptophan catabolism, accounting for the disposal of around 95% of the tryptophan not used for protein synthesis.

According to a research carried out by Jin in 2015, he stated and i quote that “the relevance of the kynurenine pathway is that not only do its components affect the regulation of metabolism, feeding and body mass, largely via the modulation of NMDA receptor activity, but they are also implicated in aspects of carcinogenesis’. Expression of the central enzyme of the pathway – kynurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO) is greater in human hepatic carcinoma cells than controls and is known to influence cell proliferation and migration.

Other factors like insulin resistance, high glucagon and leptin levels (in obese and diabetic patients), adipokines (adiponectin) which is reduced in obese patients, highly concentrated levels of ceruloplasmin in adipose tissues of obese patients, might also increase an obese patients risk to several types of cancer. 

 

Dietary consideration 

Bowman-Birk inhibitors are relatively small proteins found in plant based foods, highly stable within the intestine and generally resistant to heating and cooking, which are known to be absorbed from the intestine into the blood. 

Several studies suggest that the presence of bowman’s birk inhibitors (BBI) are capable of inducing apoptosis in human breast carcinoma. The BBI is also capable of suppressing carcinogenic processes that include colon, oral leukoplakia, esophageal tumors, leukemia, prostatic hyperplasia and breast cancer (quite elusive though).

An overall healthy diet and lifestyle cannot be over emphasized, whether you choose a ‘only plant based diet’ or you choose to do a variety, make sure you do the right thing for your body MODERATION! 

 

Sources: https://www.nature.com/articles/cddiscovery201567

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/diet-physical-activity/body-weight-and-cancer-risk/effects.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5952217/

 

OVERVIEW

It’s really saddening to hear what extreme measures people take just to lose weight. You would be shocked to hear that some people would stop taking their insulin shots so they could shed some weight. Let’s talk about diabulimia today shall we?

Diabulimia (a portmanteau of diabetes and bulimia) is an eating disorder in which people with type 1 diabetes deliberately give themselves less insulin than they need or stop taking it altogether for the purpose of weight loss (occurs especially among teenage girls). Although no official diagnosis by the medical or psychiatric communities but the phrases “disturbed eating behavior” or “disordered eating behavior” (DEB in both cases) and disordered eating (DE) are quite common in medical and psychiatric literature addressing patients who have type 1 diabetes and manipulate insulin doses to control weight along with exhibiting bulimic behavior. 

Starting insulin could mean weight gain for some people,  but omitting insulin shots to help reduce this weight would just put you in more dangers of glucose spiking and symptoms of diabetes (frequent urination, increased thirst and hunger etc). 

But really, every growing child should gain weight, and remember that type 1 DM affects majorly children. 

Without insulin, the body technically has 14 days to live, during this period, one might go into diabetic ketoacidosis, degeneration of nerves and break down of organs also occurs during this period of dangerous eating disorder.

RISKS INVOLVED 

Diabulimia complications are a mix of those that come with diabetes and eating disorders:

• High blood sugar levels
• Sugar in your urine
• Confusion
• Dehydration
• Muscle loss
• Diabetic ketoacidosis
• High cholesterol
• Bacterial skin infections
• Yeast infections
• Skipped or abnormal periods
• Staph infections
• Damage to the blood vessels in your eyes (retinopathy)
• Numbness in your hands and feet from nerve damage
• Peripheral arterial disease
• Thicker arterial walls (atherosclerosis)
• Liver disease
• Low sodium and potassium levels
• Stroke
• Coma
• Death

SIGNS 

The first and most obvious sign of diabulimia is losing weight without trying. Other signs include:

• Feeling tired all the time
• Feeling thirsty a lot
• Thinking or talking a lot about body image
• Blood sugar records that don’t match up with hemoglobin A1c readings
• Depression or mood swings
• Secrecy about blood sugar, insulin, food, or eating habits
• Canceling doctors’ appointments
• Eating more often, especially sugary foods
• Delayed puberty
• Stress within the family
• Hair loss
• Dry skin
• Sweet-smelling breath (a sign of ketoacidosis)
• Exercising a lot

WHAT TO DO?

Every eating disorder is a mental illness and so is diabulimia,   It’s advisable to seek nutritional, medical and psychological help from professionals.

So much dust has been raised recently on intermittent fasting and if its a healthy lifestyle to adopt. So lets take this journey together and see what INTERMITTENT FASTING is really about shall we?😊.

Intermittent fasting is actually not a diet but timed approach to eating. It really doesn’t restrict you from consuming a particular class of food or restricts the source of calories like every other diet regime would. Presumably, it might have some health benefits especially weight loss but it is not for everybody and it is not really ideal for a weight loss regime because concrete research has not confirmed its effectiveness.

According to  medical news today,INTERMITTENT FASTING involves cycling periods between eating and fasting.

There are different methods which you can adopt if you want to go on intermittent fasting and they include:

1. The 16:8 method which involves eating for 8 hours and fasting for the remaining 16 hours in a day. This method is actually termed the easiest type of fasting; well, sounds that way though. This method is also known as the Leangains protocol, and was popularized by fitness expert Martin Berkhan.

Doing this method of fasting can actually be as simple as not eating anything after dinner, and skipping breakfast ( not me😢).

For example, if you finish your last meal at 8 pm and then don’t eat until 12 noon the next day, then you are technically fasting for 16 hours between meals, phew😲😥😥.

2. The 5:2 fasting which involves fasting for 2 days per week and restricting caloric intake to 500-600kcals on those two days while eating as you like for the other 5 days.😊.

3. Eat-stop- eat requires you fast for 24 hours a day eitger once or twice a week.

4. Alternate day fast requires that you fast every other day either by total fasting or restrictive calorie eating.

5. The warrior diet: fast during the day, eat a huge meal at night. You seriously would be discomforted at night if you go through with this.

6. Spontaneous meal skipping; where you tend to skip meals when convenient for you.

It actually requires great discipline to go through with any of these methods. This being said, i should also state that intermittent fasting is not for everyone; pregnant women , people with diabetes, people with eating disorders, people on medications and underweight people shouldn’t involve themselves in this eating method.

What are the benefits of INTERMITTENT FASTING?

well, here are a few:

* reduces insulin levels

* improves growth hormones

* aids rapid weight loss

* may prevent cancer; i said may o🤧😞.

Now, we’ve seen the benefits, lets zoom in on them and pick out the risks involved.

Firstly, if insulin levels are reduced, then its a risk factor for development of diabetes because diabetes happens either when there is inability  of insulin to move nutrients to cell sites or absence of it to do its work.

Secondly, any weight loss that is rapid just involves loss of water and glycogen and could easily be regained back if you stop fasting. Sustainability is all that really matters in any diet regime or eating pattern. The distribution of fat might change thereby leading to an increased level of fat tissue in the  wrong place (abdomen) which might lead to insulin resistance because distended abdomen is related to insulin resistance and diabetes.

Higher levels of free radicals might be incurred during this prolonged period of fasts.

It might also lead to ghrelin insufficiency which would likely leave you in starvation mode for a long time and malnutrition sets in because you are always on a calorie deficit; 500kcals per day?😢😲😲

In all this, make sure you consult a DIETITAN before delving into any type of diet or eating patterns you wish to start. (more…)