Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Heath and Our Food (56 page)

Ways to Beat Back Diabetes

1. Consume a low-glycemic diet. This is by far the most important action you can take. The Savanna Model is not only right for diabetics in this regard, it is right for every human on the planet.

2. Exercise has a restorative effect on glucose tolerance. Read chapter 8 and make sure that you exercise at least to the minimum shown there.

3. Lose weight! Diabetics find that their blood sugar is much better controlled when their body fat percentage is down to hunter-gatherer levels.

4. Studies on Eskimos demonstrate that a high consumption of omega-3 fatty acids (in their case, mainly from fish oils) improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance.
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These confirm other studies suggesting that insulin sensitivity is improved when omega-3 intake is increased.
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Follow the Savanna Model and make sure you have the omega-6 to omega-3 intakes in balance.

5. Reduce total consumption of fat and saturated fat. Studies show high levels of fat and of saturated fat are risk factors.
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6. Have a good consumption of soluble plant fiber and antioxidants from plant food.
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7. Avoid smoking. Studies on smokers show that they have double the risk of developing diabetes compared to non-smokers and former smokers.
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8. Get enough sunshine. Studies show that diabetes is aggravated by a deficiency of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D.
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We have seen that obesity and diabetes are closely linked by one major dietary error: a high-glycemic diet. Other common factors are a lack of exercise and consumption of unsuitable fats. Diabetics are often obese and obesity often drives one into diabetes, so it can be a vicious cycle. The Savanna Model can help you control both these conditions.

OSTEOPOROSIS

Bone has many functions, but the chief one is to serve as a structural frame to support the body. Bones are not solid—they are constructed in a dense “lattice” structure something like the Eiffel Tower. This arrangement is light, yet very strong and resistant to forces from all directions. Bones are made of two main materials: the rigid stuff making up the girders of the lattice and the connecting material that glues the girders together. The “rigid stuff” is made from the minerals calcium and phosphorus, while the “glue” is a protein called collagen.

In persons afflicted with osteoporosis, the tiny, rigid girders gradually become thinner and rodlike, and the spaces between them grow larger. The bone thus becomes more porous, less dense, and less strong. These lighter and more fragile bones tend to fracture from even minor knocks and falls. In the spine, tiny fractures accumulate resulting in a stooped posture (“dowager’s hump”). The bones of the hip and forearm are especially vulnerable to fractures. To understand why this girder-thinning happens, let’s look at how the bone latticework is supposed to be maintained.

Bone is not lifeless matter—it is active living tissue. Special cells are constantly at work crawling all over the lattice, removing and replacing bone in a process called bone remodeling. It is rather like workmen repainting the Eiffel Tower. As fast as one team strips the old paint off, they are followed by a second team that puts on a fresh coat. Bone-building cells are called osteoblasts and bone-dissolving cells are called osteoclasts. In a lifetime, the osteoblasts and osteoclasts will have completely rebuilt the whole skeleton some three times over.

Osteoblasts and osteoclasts are operating according to instructions and signals from all over the body. The cells speed up or slow down in response to instructions delivered by hormones. The kidneys, thyroid gland, and parathyroid gland communicate with each other and to the bone-remodeling cells. The bone-remodeling cells talk to each other and to other parts of the body. In a process called cross-talk, the osteoblasts might call up osteoclasts to where a demolition job needs doing. Both kinds of cell, just like any other, live and die: they multiply themselves at the right times and die off at the right times.

One of the other functions of bones is to act as a “bank” for calcium. Calcium is a vital ingredient in a whole range of biochemical operations and the body has to keep the level of calcium in the blood within tight limits. When there is too much calcium in the blood, it asks the osteoblasts to work harder and deposit calcium in the bone bank; when there is too little, the osteoclasts go to the bone bank and draw some calcium out.

We now know a lot more about these processes, but they are so intricate that the details are still being worked out. However, it is quite clear that the effects of any one action are so mind-bogglingly complex that the outcomes are impossible to predict. In this sense, it is a “chaotic” system.

So, you might reasonably assume that conventional health doctrine would be cautious about how it suggests interfering with these exquisitely delicate and processes. On the contrary, the advice focuses, to the point of fixation, on one tiny part of the big picture—the supply of just one building material: calcium. Eat more calcium, so the thinking goes, and more of it must end up in your bones, which should be a good thing. At least it should be in the West, where the disease of osteoporosis has reached epidemic proportions. But scientists have known for some time that this doctrine (calcium in your mouth equals calcium in your bones) is simplistic. Worse, by putting itself forward as the solution, it diverts attention from the true causes of osteoporosis.

Contrary to received wisdom, women who drink two or more glasses of milk a day are 40% more likely to suffer hip fractures than those who drink no milk.
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Researchers found no signs of osteoporosis in the San Bushmen, even though they do not drink milk or swallow calcium pills.
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The populations of Asia and Africa who, although consuming low levels of calcium, nevertheless do not suffer from bone fractures.
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Eskimos have poor bone health in spite of a high calcium intake. Finally, just because calcium gets into the bloodstream, it does not mean that the body uses it to build bones. On the contrary, the body is quite capable of laying down calcium just where you do not want it. For example, in the arteries and heart valves (as plaque),
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in the kidneys (as stones),
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in the breasts (as nodules triggering cancers), and in the joints (as painful spurs). All this can happen while the bones themselves are losing calcium. Clearly something is very wrong with the conventional doctrine.

There is another important phenomenon. People build up bone mass until the age of about 35. This happens without any particular measures made by the individual, although certain lifestyles are better at building up this bone “capital” than others. After the age of 35, many people in Western societies start to lose bone. Even Eskimo children build bone before they succumb to osteoporosis later in life. The point is this: people do not suddenly reduce their calcium intake at the age of 35; some other, powerful factors are at work.

Osteoporosis is a disease whereby the girders of the lattice become progressively thinner to the point where the structure breaks too easily, but why would the girders become thinner? The fundamental answer is that osteoclasts are destroying bone faster than the osteoblasts are building it. Why does this happen?

Factors in the Development of Osteoporosis

Factor 1—Acid/Alkali Imbalance.
A high-protein, acidic diet, commonplace in Western societies, is a factor in osteoporosis. In a diet that is relentlessly acidic, the body compensates by drawing calcium out of the bone bank. Put another way, it instructs the osteoclasts to work harder dissolving bone, thereby putting the released calcium into the bloodstream. This neutralizes the excess acidity and the kidneys then eject the waste products in the urine. Where does this acidity come from? High protein intake is a major reason, a mechanism called “protein-induced calciuria.”
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The consumption of starches causes a smaller, yet significant acidifying effect. They are less acidic than protein, but they contribute nothing to reducing acidity and get in the way of foods that could—fruits, salads, and vegetables. Secondly, protein has a particular effect on the kidneys. Kidneys filter waste matter from the bloodstream and dump it into the urine. The kidneys’ filters should not be so porous that they let through “good” substances, but only eliminate waste products. However, the kidneys lose this fine-tuning under the pressure of abnormally high levels of protein, and they start to leak calcium. Here we have a major explanation for why Eskimos suffer osteoporosis—they consume a very high protein, and acidic, diet.

Factor 2—Lack of Micronutrients.
Low consumption of fruit, salads, and vegetables is a factor in osteoporosis. Studies show that healthy bone building is dependent on a high intake of fruits.
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There are over 20,000 active compounds in fruits and they are far from all being identified and evaluated. Certainly, adequate intakes of potassium, zinc, magnesium, fiber, and vitamin C are important, but not sufficient. Other studies show that vegetarians who consume plenty of green plant food have healthier bones.
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Vitamin K, readily found in leafy vegetables, is a powerful bone-building helper.
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It is not good enough to take vitamin and mineral supplements. You have to consume the fruits and vegetables themselves to get the benefit of all the bone-building compounds.

Factor 3—Essential Fatty Acids Out of Balance.
Domination of omega-6 oils over omega-3 oils is a factor in osteoporosis. The hormones (prostaglandins) made by essential fatty acids have a powerful effect on bone building. Omega-6 oils speed up bone destruction; omega-3 oils speed up bone building.
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One reason why osteoporosis has become so prevalent since World War II is that the omega-6 vegetable oils (corn oil, peanut oil, and sunflower oil) became commonplace at that time. In parallel, sources of omega-3 oils have dwindled.

Factor 4—Excess Salt.
Domination of salt over potassium (instead of the other way around) is a factor in osteoporosis. Excess salt causes the kidneys to raid the calcium bank to show this unwanted mineral, sodium, the back door.
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The ratio between salt and the mineral potassium should be kept at no more than 1 to 5.
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Potassium is chiefly found in fruits, salads, and vegetables. The ratio between potassium and sodium in Western diets is not only unbalanced, it is upside-down: instead of 1 to 5, it is 5 to 1.

Factor 5—Excess Phosphorus.
Excessive cola drinking is a factor in osteoporosis. Not many people know that they consume phosphorus in large quantities. Why might this be a problem? Bone-remodeling cells listen to the signals carried by the powerful hormone PTH, secreted by the parathyroid gland. They prompt osteoclasts to speed up their bone-destroying efforts. Why would the parathyroid gland send those instructions? An excess of phosphorus in the diet stimulates the parathyroid gland to go into overdrive, churning out instructions to destroy bone. So, how do we let phosphorus into our lives? Consumption of phosphorus-containing cola has increased ten-fold just in living memory. The average American now drinks about a gallon a week of cola. Colas contain phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid, and the consumption of colas promotes bone disease.
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Factor 6—Deficiency of Sunshine and the Sunshine Vitamin.
Lack of appropriate sunshine is a factor in osteoporosis. One of the major effects of sunshine is to produce vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D is an essential active ingredient in bone remodeling. In some circumstances, it increases bone building, while in others it increases bone destruction. It is important to get the doses just right at the right times. This is an important example of how it is impossible to micromanage these processes. Yet, if we live the way nature intended, the body sorts it out just right and we grow healthy bones.

Factor 7—Lack of Physical Activity.
Lack of suitable physical activity is a factor in osteoporosis. The human organism has come to depend on a certain level of physical activity. The jolting of rhythmic jogging creates microscopic fractures in the bone lattice. This signals the osteoblasts to speed up and build stronger bone. In one study, elderly women benefited from as little as one hour per week of lower-intensity activity—42% lower risk of hip fracture and 33% lower risk of vertebra fracture.
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In contrast, people who do little activity (astronauts in space are an extreme example) find that their bones start to dissolve.