Old and thin may not mean healthy or happy… What if you could eat whatever you wanted, stay thin, and
live longer? Well, some Harvard researchers are trying to
find a way to do just that. But is it really such good news? Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical
School genetically engineered mice that lacked a gene called
fat-specific insulin receptor. This change limited the action
of insulin on fat cells, which stopped the mice's bodies from
storing fat, and thus prevented obesity. These experimental
mice had 50 to 70 percent less fat, no matter what they ate,
and were less likely to develop diabetes than normal mice.
And they also lived 18 percent longer than normal mice. It sounds like great news, but I have to wonder: do we really
want to "geneticise" people so that they can gorge on
chocolate-covered chocolate cake and Aunt Jemima biscuits? Remember, just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD: The
road to bad health and early demise is paved with good
intentions. ********************* The mainstream goes au natural I first reported on the tremendous importance of three
nutrients for preventing atherosclerosis in 1984. Those
nutrients are vitamin B6, B12 and, most importantly, folic
acid. When you eat overcooked meat, homocysteine is formed from the
breakdown of the meat protein. Homocysteine is highly
atherogenic, i.e., it causes hardening of the arteries. But
it can be neutralized by the above-mentioned vitamins, which
convert it into cystathionine and then methionine - and both of
those substances are safely excreted from your body in the
urine. Even the American Medical Association (AMA) and Swiss
cardiologists have finally realized that what us alternative
medical practitioners have been telling you for 20 years
about homocysteine might actually be true (imagine that!).
The results of the "Swiss Heart Study" came out late last
year and were published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA). The Swiss research team concluded: "Homocysteine-lowering
therapy with folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6
significantly decreases the incidence of major adverse
events." And in the next Daily Dose, I'll tell you about a new
addition to the cast of homocysteine-fighting nutritional
superstars: betaine. Healthy AND happy,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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