Mark’s Daily Apple

Calorie Restriction and Bone Loss4

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Bones Need Care Too

It can seem like a cruel contradiction: lose weight, lose bone mass. Lose a lot of weight and lose even more. (Rest assured there’s more to the story, but we continue….) A collaborative study involving researchers from the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri highlights the downside of weight loss by calorie restriction both during and in the months following weight loss.

Researchers examined protein markers of bone breakdown and formation in 37 obese, middle-aged adults who lost 20 percent of their body weight through a severe calorie-restricted diet. Protein markers, which are released during bone breakdown and formation, are used as indirect indicators of bone remodeling. During the 3-month weight-loss phase, bone remodeling was elevated, and bone formation and breakdown were imbalanced as a result of a low energy intake. After weight loss phase, bone remodeling remained elevated during the 9-month weight maintenance phase, but bone formation and breakdown appeared to be balanced.

via Science Daily

Though the bone breakdown and formation rate had hit a homeostasis, the researchers caution that “Rapid rates of bone remodeling, regardless of the balance of breakdown and formation, can increase bone fragility.” They add that those seeking to lose weight should consider adding weight-bearing exercise and make sure they’re getting adequate calcium.

Our reaction? Well, yeah. Weight-bearing exercise is absolutely essential for maintaining not just muscle mass but bone density. Bone density is not only influenced by how much weight the body senses it carried around but how much “work” the body senses is happening in the bone and muscle connections. Countless studies have confirmed this, and research out of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis highlights its “osteoprotective effect” in weight loss. Their study compared bone density (as measured by blood markers and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) in two groups of older adults, one of which lost weight through restricting calories and the other by exercise. Their results? Though the CR group lost some 2.2 % of bone density in fracture-prone areas like the lower spine, pelvis and femur, the exercise group showed no substantial change in bone density. Though both groups showed higher rates of bone turnover than the control group, the researchers indicated that the work of exercise, the “muscles pulling on bones” can “produce strains in the skeleton that stimulate new bone production.” The “exercise-induced mechanical strain,” they say is actually healthy and protective.

The Primal Blueprint isn’t about caloric restriction. Interestingly though, when people cut out the carbs, they’re surprised how much their calorie intake drops. (The same is true for lab animals: caloric restriction diets generally reduce carb calories more than any other macronutrient.) But it’s ultimately about how your diet complements your body’s natural functioning. As Mark has said in the past, the “success” of CR in weight loss probably has more to do with insulin mitigation than with sheer calorie reduction. Add to this picture an exercise routine that challenges the body’s physical structure and fitness in a natural, optimal way, and you’re going to see optimal health. And wouldn’t you know it? That includes bone health.

Thoughts? We’d love to hear your questions or additions to what these studies highlight.

Wei Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

Fat-Oxidation Damage Control

The Importance of Blood Sugar

Plants Preserve Muscle Mass

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Posted: Health, Prevention, Weight loss, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites

Weekend Backsliding?8

Slippery Saturdays

Researchers say Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the most productive days of the week. Monday tends to be “recoveryâ€� day from the weekend, and the rest of the week, well, we’re often coasting along waiting for the weekend to arrive, aren’t we? (Ah, the lure of the weekend: the free time, the social activities, special occasions, the chance to kick back…) But is our cherished refuge also our health’s downfall?

A study from the Washington University School of Medicine suggests that the tendency toward weekend backslide on health goals is a common problem. The researchers assembled daily weight, caloric intake, and physical activity data from participants both before and during assigned intervention programs. The participants included a total of 48 men and women, aged 50-60, whose BMI scores ranged from normal to obese.

Initial, “pre-intervention� data showed that participants ate an average of 236 more calories on Saturday than during the week. To top it off, activity levels on Sunday hit a slump. Researchers found the same pattern after assigning year-long weight loss intervention programs, which included a “caloric restriction� group (20% reduction in daily caloric intake) and an “exercise� group (20% increase in daily physical activity). Participants kept food diaries or wore activity monitors throughout the intervention programs. During this period, the caloric restriction group lost weight during the week but only managed to hold steady over the weekends. The exercise group also lost weight during the week but actually gained weight over the average weekend given the higher caloric intake.

Susan Racette, the study’s author, offered this perspective on the findings: “There is less structure on the weekend for a lot of people, and that can wreak havoc. …A little indulgence turns into a big indulgence. Being vigilant on the weekends is really important for people either trying to lose weight or maintain a weight loss.”

The study seems timely, given the responses of a few Primal Health Challenge participants (and other readers), who have noted that staying Primal on the weekend is tough. We would agree. As the study author suggests, weekends don’t go by the book. Weekends are, after all, about three hour brunches getting caught up with friends, long days at the beach with the kids, an afternoon of errands and home projects, long naps on the couch, movie theaters, dinners out, hosting guests. They’re packed, spontaneous, free form. And that’s the point of weekends really, don’t you think? A break from the day to day grind.

But we think that “grind� shouldn’t necessarily include a good diet and fitness program. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water! (Can you hear the siren song coming from the kitchen, the concession stand, or the weekend specials menu?) It’s hard to hold onto the regimen when life becomes, well, so unregimented over the weekend. Nonetheless, if you’re committed to sticking to your goals 100% (like the Primal Health Challenge), it’s clear you need to up your resolve on the weekends. Get up in time to make a decent breakfast. Pack your “lunch� the night before if you’ll be on the run all day. Call ahead or check online for restaurant menus to plan any dinners out. Have a hearty salad before heading out to Batman.

And then there’s the other side of the coin. Though the Primal Health Challenge dares us to go for the gold every time, settling into that personal, sustainable level of Primal can mean simply allowing for Sensible Vices on weekends as part of an overall health and wellness scheme. No, it’s not about letting everything go to pot, but it is about letting loose (guilt-free) to enjoy the best weekends life has to offer.

What are the tricks and treats behind your Primal weekends? Best strategies to share? Most frequent temptations?

Oh, and by the way, Happy Thursday, everyone. Back to the regularly scheduled grind…

Johnny Thirkill Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

How Our Eyes Deceive Our Appetites

The Original Sensible Vices

Sensible Vices: Round 2

The Art of Compromise

How to Eat More Chocolate and Drink More Wine Every Day

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Posted: Diet, Health, Nutrition, Personal Improvement, Prevention, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites

Should We Allow Drugs in Sports?31

Dear Mark,

I know you used to be involved in triathlon sports administration. I see so much written about “banned substances” and “cheating” going on in the world of professional sports these days, especially with the Olympics looming. What do you make of all this?

Ray

Ray, my position hasn’t changed on this issue in a long while. Here is a piece I wrote for another website two years ago - before Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone in the Tour de France.

A “Slightly-Less-Than-Modest” Proposal

At the risk of sounding a bit brazen, I would suggest that elite and professional sports would be better off allowing athletes to make their own personal decisions regarding the use of so-called “banned substances� and leaving the federations and the IOC out of it entirely. Even the term “banned substance� has a negative connotation, since most of these substances are actually drugs that were developed to enhance health in the general population. The irony here, of course, is that I have always been vehemently against the use of medications when natural remedies are usually better choices. But with sport we have athletes often doing “inhuman� or “unnatural� tasks that might require unnatural remedies. The bottom line is that drug-testing in sports is an extremely complex issue, about which most sports administrators have very little knowledge or understanding.

First, I should tell you that I was the Anti-doping Commissioner of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) – a relatively new sport within the Olympic Family – for nearly 13 years. I had to act as “prosecutor� on many doping cases (doping = drugs in sport). Prior to that, I helped write the first set of “anti-doping� rules for triathlon in 1988. Before that, I was an elite marathoner (2:18) and triathlete (4th Place Ironman Hawaii) in the ‘70s and ‘80s, so I have accumulated a fair amount of “inside information� regarding drugs in sport at the Olympic level. I also own a supplement company and have done extensive research on performance enhancement in pursuit of natural, legal alternatives.

There are three main points I want to make here: first, that it is impossible to fairly police and adjudicate drugs in sport; second, that the notion of a “level playing field� is a farce and, finally, that the performance requirements set by the federations at the elite level of sport almost demand access to certain “banned substances� in order to assure the health and vitality of the athlete throughout his or her career and – more importantly – into his or her life after competition.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: Big Pharma, Dear Mark, Fitness, Health, Hype, Sisson Said What?, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites

Relaxation Response5

Control Your Mind, Control Your Genes

In the last few months we’ve been highlighting new research that illustrates the power of individuals to influence their genetic expression through basic lifestyle choices, whether through diet, exercise, or avoidance of pollution. The message, as always, is that we aren’t passive victims to aging or any propensities in our genetic heritage. How we live determines when and to what extent certain genes will be activated or turned off, genes that control our immune function and inflammatory response, genes that influence our aging process as well as our chances of developing or avoiding disease.

This groundbreaking area of research now includes evidence that invoking the body’s natural relaxation response can substantially direct the expression of genes related to physiological stress response. It’s a premise that’s been at the heart of many traditional medicine philosophies for thousands of years, now illuminated by collaborative research at the Genomics Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. As Herbert Benson, M.D. and one of the primary co-authors of the study explains, “For hundreds of years Western medicine has looked at mind and body as totally separate entities, to the point where saying something ‘is all in your head’ implied that it was imaginary. Now we’ve found how changing the activity of the mind can alter the way basic genetic instructions are implemented.”

Stress, after all, can have a dramatic bearing on overall health. The stress response, the study’s authors explain, “can manifest as system-wide perturbations of cellular processes” and has been associated with “accelerated aging at the cellular level, shortened telomeres, low telomerase activity, decreased anti-oxidant capacity, increased oxidative stress” and “increased vulnerability to a variety of disease states.”

On the flip-side of this damaging physiological state is the relaxation response, the state of “deep rest” that is characterized by “decreased oxygen consumption, increased exhaled nitric oxide, and reduced psychological distress.” RR, as it’s commonly referred to, has been “clinically effective” in treating the symptoms of disorders as varied as cardiovascular disease, autoimmune dysfunction, inflammatory conditions, and chronic pain. According to the study authors, any mind-body activity that elicits the relaxation response has the power to impact genetic expression. Their discussion includes more than the often studied transcendental meditation and Qi Gong practices but recommends methods such as “various forms of meditation, repetitive prayer, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, [and] guided imagery.”

The study compared the gene expression patterns (as shown through blood transcription profiles) of 19 “healthy, long-term practitioners of daily RR practice” with 19 healthy control subjects. In a second phase of the study, the control group received eight weeks of RR training. The results were then validated by a second study following the same protocol in a smaller cohort.

The best news? Although long-time practitioners of RR activities showed the most pronounced physiological and genetic expression benefits, the subjects who received only eight weeks of RR training already exhibited changes in gene expression patterns related to “inflammation, programmed cell death and how the body handles free radicals.”

Our response? As one of the study’s authors noted, this study is important “because of its focus on gene expression in healthy individuals rather than in disease states.” So often in the media we hear about the promise of epigenetic research for the purpose of treating those who suffer from disease. While we applaud that potential, we think the power of this research to help healthy individuals maintain/enhance their health over their lifetimes is no less significant. That just happens to be what this blog is all about, after all.

And we liked hearing that you don’t need to “do” a specific approach such as a particular form of meditation. We know we’re all drawn to different “relaxation” approaches. Some of can sit on a pillow and happily and easily delve into the quiet zone. Others of us prefer a more active, physical form of meditation like tai chi. Some of us find we’re best suited for a guided imagery approach. Still others gravitate toward a more spiritual mode. This study shows you don’t have to fit your square peg into a round hole to get the full mind-body benefit. To lightheartedly mix our metaphors, it’s nice to hear it confirmed that we can have our cake and eat it too. Cake? Well, you know what we mean.

Finally, while many of us follow the “Primal” practice in our diets and exercise programs, this study is a great reminder that it’s not only what we take on and take in but how we “turn off” that matters to our well-being. With that said, we’re thinking a meditation room sounds like a nice addition to the office? Mark?

How does this study make you think about a relaxation practice? Already a RR guru? A meditation newbie or interested sideliner? Send us your thoughts on what role RR plays in your health routine? And thanks for your thoughts!

adhiwus Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

Control Your Lifestyle, Control Your Genes

Dear Mark: Gene Expression

Gotta Love that Genome

Gene Expression: Location, Location, Location

What is The Primal Blueprint?

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Posted: Aging, Health, How To, Personal Improvement, Prevention, Stress, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites

Sleep More to Forget Less6

Don’t Forget to Get Your ZZZs

A study presented this week at the Forum of European Neuroscience conference in Geneva, Switzerland suggests that a good night’s sleep can improve memory.

For the study, researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland enlisted 32 volunteers to each learn a new skill, such as following a moving dot on a computer screen using a joy stick. Participants were then divided into two groups: the first was allowed to sleep for eight hours and the second was deprived of sleep or only permitted to take a short nap.

To assess the impact of these sleep patterns on the brain, researchers then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brain activity of participants as they repeated the tasks that they had learned the previous days.

According to the researchers, those who had slept properly the previous night performed better on the skills, a finding that was also reflected in their brain activity. Specifically, the researchers reported that in those that were not sleep deprived, there was more activity in certain regions of the brain associated with learning and memory.

Noting that it has long been thought that sleep is essential for clarifying thinking, lead researcher Dr. Sophie Schwartz notes that the data proves that “a period of sleep following a new experience can consolidate and improve subsequent effects of learning from the experience. This improvement comes from changes in brain activity in specific regions that code for relevant features of the learned material.” As such, she suggests that getting a good night’s sleep can help the brain “harden up weak memories which otherwise might fade in time.â€�

Schwartz notes, however, that the study did not determine how much sleep was necessary for optimal memory retention, and also suggested that fluctuations in sleep cycle or structure – such as those created by sleep aids – may also impact memorization.

Here at MDA we’ve long touted the benefits of sleep (here, here, and here, for example), but let this serve as (yet more) proof that your Great Aunt Gilda was right when she told you that there wasn’t too much that a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix. To name a few off the top of our (well-rested) heads, sleep is essential for allowing the mind to rest and recuperate and is also, quite frankly, associated with a better mood (you can thank the release of feel-good hormone melatonin for that one). Sleep also gives worn-out muscles the time necessary to rest and repair and allows time for the release of hormones associated with fat loss.

In short, sleep is associated with a better mind, a better mood and a better body, so this weekend, make an appointment to get your snooze on and sign up for a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep or, if that’s simply not possible in your house, carve out some time for a lazy afternoon nap.

We promise you, it will really pay off come Monday morning.

nndosi Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

The Benefits of Short Breaks

Naps are a Sensible Vice

Fasting May Stave Off Jet Lag

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Posted: Health, Personal Improvement, Worker Bees' Weekly Bites