In my last post I recommended a strategy of combining lipoic acid – a natural, mitochondrially produced substance which oxidizes NADH to NAD+ – and succinate, which drives mitochondrial ROS production and oxidation of NADH to NAD+ via the activity of the enzyme NNT. Both of these are designed to shift the redox pool of …
Lactate and the Lipoic Acid Flu, An Hypothesis and n=1 Read More »
I’m using the word global to mean “in all tissues of the body” but I’d forgive you if you thought that I meant “in all countries where they eat vegetable oil”. Either way, really. As I explained in part 1, the production of mitochondrial ROS is a thermogenic loop that wastes calories as heat. If …
On this blog I have argued that: The traditional French diet combining starch and saturated fat results in leanness The richest, least active American men stayed lean on 4500 calories per day in the 1930s Metabolic rate is correlated to saturation level Obese humans have very unsaturated body fat The metabolic rates of Americans dropped …
In the last article we saw that a deficiency in AMPK and SIRT1 activity leads to the inactivation of the mitochondrial SIRT3 deacetylase, acetylated (turned off) mitochondrial enzymes and low metabolic rate. I suggested at the end that to escape this pattern, you have to activate AMPK and SIRT1 at the same time. In this …
I’ve been working on this mega post that was getting too long and complicated. I decided to break it into three or four parts and start at what was going to be the end. I’m feeling really excited about this series of posts because I feel like we’re really getting to the root causes of …
You’re fat because your mitochondrial enzymes are acetylated Read More »
The way that insulin decreases blood glucose is by causing the translocation of a glucose transporter called GLUT4 (GLUcose Transporter 4) from vesicles (little pockets) inside the cell to the cell membrane where it transports glucose into the cell. GLUT4 is said to be “insulin dependent”. When glucose levels inside of cells are high, glycogen …
AMPK Causes Insulin-independent glucose uptake in muscle tissue Read More »
Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. When sunshine hits your skin, your body uses the UV rays to convert cholesterol into vitamin D. A theme of this blog has been that obese humans have a torpid metabolism evolutionarily linked to that of hibernating animals in winter. As autumn approaches, consumption of foods high in linoleic …
Vitamin D is a nuclear receptor superfamily member that activates AMPK Read More »
I am a huge fan of Italian bitter liqueurs. I was first introduced to the idea when I was working at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan. A co-worker brought in a six pack of bitter soda from a local pizza place. I took a sip. It was revolting. My only thought was, “this tastes like bile! …
Campari is a dual bile acid receptor agonist that activates AMPK Read More »
AMPK is a key regulator of metabolic rate and fat burning. The mainline thinking on AMPK often follows the puritanical view of classic obesity research: AMPK senses LOW cellular energy levels by monitoring the ratio of ATP to ADP and AMP.1 This suggests that the best way to stimulate AMPK is by reducing caloric intake. …
AMPK is activated by HIGH cellular energy after a starchy meal Read More »
So like I was saying, biology is weird. AMPK and SCD1 are a literal teeter totter. When SCD1 goes up, AMPK goes down. When AMPK goes up, SCD1 goes down. This matters because, as I pointed out in the last post, AMPK can help to keep us out of torpor. In hibernating animals and obese …
Summary Activating AMPK in the livers of mice prevents diet induced obesity despite higher caloric consumption Mice with activated AMPK have lower levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes that produce 12-HETE and 15-HETE – specific activators of PPAR gamma Mice with activated AMPK have higher rates of both fat and glucose metabolism AMPK blocks the pathway …
AMPK is Kryptonite to the Nuclear Receptor “Superfamily” Read More »
My last posts were viewed by some as pessimistic in a “once you’re obese, you are stuck” kind of way. I don’t believe that and very soon I will start writing about solutions. Having said that, this post will perhaps seem pessimistic if you thought the previous ones were. I’m working through the basic mechanisms …
I believe that obesity is a fuel partitioning disorder. I’ve argued that when you pack on fat, you essentially “lose” that fuel into your fat tissue. If you don’t have access to fuel, you become hungry and you eat more. In my last article, I started to delve into the mechanism of this. One thing …
In a recent post I talked about three groups of pigs with differing levels of insulin sensitivity. Group 1 was fed a low fat diet and remained insulin sensitive. Group 2 was given 40% of calories as a special soybean oil blend with the triply unsaturated alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) largely removed. These pigs became what …
PPAR gamma With Oxidized PUFA is the Gatekeeper to Metabolic Inflexibility Read More »
This is from the EPIC Potsdam study in Germany, which looked at the association between membrane phospholipid composition, diet and type 2 diabetes risk.1 Read it and weep. It looks like linoleic acid prevents diabetes after all. Time to shut down the blog, run out and buy some corn oil. KIDDING! Remember what happened to …
