Pregnancy dieting and #moderation: just don’t be extreme

Posted on October 10, 2017 | Leave a comment

“If you can’t absorb B12, no amount of steak will help you” (more on this below)

Just like practically everyone in the field, I’m uncomfortable with the word moderation, in part because one person’s moderation can be wildly different from another’s.

Remember the Motherwell studies? In brief, they asked a group of expecting women to ditch carbs and eat a ton of meat instead (about a pound per day), and compared them with a group not given diet advice. It was designed to compare an extreme diet to an average diet (note: they didn’t assess the opposite extreme, ie, high carb vegan).

Tl;dr: babies were healthy at birth but developed a variety of health problems later in life. Perfect study design? No. Better than ALSPAC? Kinda, yeah.

 

 

In the context of today’s topic, I’ll define moderation as “not extreme” (bear with me here) (unless ALSPAC is retracted or something… which is possible given the study design.)

 

Meat consumption during pregnancy and substance misuse among adolescent offspring (Hibbeln et al., 2017) (aka ALSPAC)

 

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The *other* spicy things

Posted on October 7, 2017 | 3 comments

Wasabi, horseradish, mustard, radish, etc., etc.

 

The Isothiocyanates (ITCs) (for example, allyl isothiocyanate [AITC])

 

It’s basically cancer’s second worst enemy (just after ‘shrooms). Also an enemy of anything that tries to eat AITC-containing plants (it’s even harmful to the plant itself!). Actually, AITC is stored in a harmless form, as a glucosinolate. The enzyme myrosinase is stored separately. When the cell walls are broken (something bites into it), and myrosinase comes in contact with glucosinolate, AITC is formed. In the animal kingdom, it’s kinda like tear gas. It’s even harmful to the plant, but better a little chemical burn than eaten alive.

 

 

Side note: store-bought wasabi is usually horseradish and maybe some mustard, but for the #context of this article, it doesn’t really matter because they all contain isothiocyanates. If you want to get the right thing, try and find the actual plants; they’re not easy to confuse:

Wasabi:

 

 

 

Remember NRF2?

Wasabi does that, too!

 

Horseradish:

 

 

 

 

Isothiocyanates

For us, it’s what drives the mouth-burning, sinus-clearing, and eye-watering sensations.

Unlike capsaicin (the *other* spicy things; eg, from hot peppers), the burn is much shorter in duration because AITC is water soluble. Try eating a habanero and putting out the fire with ice water.

YOU’RE MAKING IT WORSE

Capsaicin is fat-soluble; it doesn’t dissolve in water (especially cold water) – so you’re basically just spreading it all around your mouth. Try something with a little fat instead.

 

Mechanisms of action of isothiocyanates in cancer chemoprevention (Navarro et al., 2011)

chemoprevention > chemotherapeutic

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

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Circadian Rhythms. Nobel Prize.

Posted on October 4, 2017 | 12 comments

18th Century: French astronomer Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan observed the mimosa plant opened it’s leaves during the day and closed them at night. It would continue to do this even in complete darkness. Thus, a bona fide circadian phenomenon. He didn’t know about circadian rhythms and thought the plants could “sense” when the sun came up, but he was still a genius. He also speculated temperature may have been a factor. Not bad!

 

 

Some of the seminal Nobel Prize-related papers are listed below, but the discovery in brief:

The protein PERIOD (Per) increases over night and decreases during the day. That’s because when another protein, TIMELESS (Tim), reaches a critical threshold, it binds to Per, they enter the nucleus and halt further production of Per. This is the foundation of circadian rhythms. Since these discoveries, made DECADEs ago, we’ve learned it’s WAY more complicated.

 

 

. . .   .     .        .              .

 

 

 

Most of their research was done in fruit flies. You might be thinking, “Yeah, but fruit fly? That’s worse than mouse!”

Polymorphisms in PERIOD cause circadian-related sleeping disorders.

In humans. (eg, Viola et al., 2007, Drake et al., 2015, and Lee et al., 2015.)

 

 

Polymorphisms in many circadian genes mimic certain aspects of self-induced circadian arrhythmia (ie,  skipping breakfast & eating late at night, not getting enough light in the morning & too much in the evening, etc.)… it kills me when I hear about kids playing on their iPads & smart phones late at night. At least get some blue-blockers! (coupon code LAGAKOS is still good for 15% off Carbonshade and Spectra479.)

 

For the rest of this article, head over to Patreon!

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Project FermenTRP

Posted on September 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

People have been fermenting food for a long time, all over the world. Different cultures have different traditional fermenting techniques for various foods and beverages (eg, Bell et al., 2017). Many things, ranging from grapes, milk, and cabbages, even meat and fish. For all intents and purposes, it’s practically universally viewed as a beneficial and healthful practice …

for the ‘biome and beyond

#psychobiotics

 

Maybe it’s just because a robust ‘biome lowers the sugar content of your diet! LOL jk I’m sure it’s far more complex than that.

 

Also, the shelf-life of most ferments is forever, so when the zombie apocalypse happens, it’s a good skill to have.

 

Part 2. Project FermenTRP

I started down this rabbit hole because the TRP theory of muscle cramps is interesting. And, well, I got carried away LOL .

 

The idea of a “superfood” is kinda silly, but virtually all TRP agonists are found in so-called superfoods. Fermenting is cool, too, so I decided to combine the two because why not

 

[I know, I know, photography isn’t my specialty]

 

#torched

 

 

Torching habanero peppers does not lessen the burn. To be honest, I’d go with a WAY less hot pepper. And combine with other TRP activators. For synergy. Or something.

 

 

The TRP-theory, in brief:

An interesting theory on the treatment of muscle cramps

Herbs, spices, TRP receptors, and pain

TRP channels in the treatment of muscle pain & cramps

 

Here are some of the more common sources of TRP agonists in the literature:

Hot Peppers (capsaicin) (doesn’t have to be habanero) (DO NOT USE HABANERO)

Involvement of thermosensitive TRP channels in energy metabolism (Uchida et al., 2017)

Targeting nociceptive TRP channels to treat chronic pain: current state of the field (Moran and Szallasi, 2017)

 

Peppercorns (piperine)

Activation of TRPV1 and TRPA1 by black pepper components (Okumura et al., 2010)

 

Ginger (gingerols)

Effects of ginger and its pungent constituents on transient receptor potential channels (Kim et al., 2016)

 

Garlic (allicins & sulfides)

The pungency of garlic: activation of TRPA1 and TRPV1 in response to allicin (Macpherson et al., 2005)

Diallyl sulfides in garlic activate both TRPA1 and TRPV1 (Koizumi et al., 2009)

Intragastric administration of allyl isothiocyanaate increases carbohydrate oxidation via TRPV1 but not TRPA1 in mice (Mori et al., 2011)

 

Cinnamon (cinnamonaldehyde)

Effects of TRP channel agonist ingestion on metabolism and autonomic nervous system in a randomized clinical trial of healthy subjects (Michlig et al., 2016)

 

Mustard & Wasabi (isothiocyanates, I think)

The capsaicin receptor TRPV1 is a crucial mediator of the noxious effects of mustard oil (Everaerts et al., 2011)

Thermosensitive TRP channels and brain function (Tominaga, 2016)

 

Cloves (eugenol)

Oregano, thyme, and clove-derived flavors and skin sensitizers activate specific TRP channels (Xu et al., 2006)

 

There are many more, but those are just some of the ones that made it to part 3.

 

In brassica, speramus.

 

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Circadian rhythms & the blues. AND THE GREENS

Posted on September 24, 2017 | 7 comments

Open access for all at Patreon! <- linkage

Approximate wavelengths, in nanometers (nm):

680         red
595         amber
525        green
497         blue/green
470         blue

 

 

[Strongly] suggested pre-reading: Artificial light and circadian rhythms: blocking the blues and The Hot Blue-Blocker Experiment

Patrons can just click here…

Study 1 tested the effects of different wavelengths of light exposure (compared to total darkness) from midnight til 2 AM on melatonin suppression on night 1 and melatonin onset on night 2 (Wright and Lack, 2001). Note: there was no light on night 2.

On night 1, they found that 470 (blue), 497 (blue/green), and even 525 (green) suppressed melatonin, ranging from 65 to 81%.

 

 

However, remarkably, on night 2 those same wavelengths had a carry-over effect, delaying melatonin onset by 27 to 36 minutes!

 

 

This is why lens color of your blue blockers matters. Orange lenses block blue, although blue/green and even green can still have a detrimental impact. Redder lenses more effectively block in the green range.

If you get up to pee or whatever in the middle of the night, it might be prudent to rock your blue-blockers and/or have a lamp with a red bulb.

The following graphs show you how much light is blocked by different lenses – remember, we want as little transmission up to around 525 nm (according to study 1 [above] and study 2 [below]).

However, for a quick and dirty test you can do at home, the people at Spectra479 put this together:

 

 

 

 

Carbonshade and Spectra479 are offering 15% off if you enter the coupon code LAGAKOS at checkout.

 

Normal gray-lensed Ray-Bans block about 85% of all light. Cool for blocking UV, but you’re still getting about ~15% of blue and green light. That’s too much.

 

 

 

 

 

Spectra479s block 99.8% of 450-510nm, which fully encompasses blue to blue-green.

 

 

 

 

 

Carbonshades block 99.8% of 400-570 nm, which fully encompasses blue to green, so the largest range of protection according to study 1 (above) and study 2 (below).

 

 

 

 

I haven’t seen the spectral transmission data on Carbonshades, although they performed the best on Spectra479’s at-home test.

 

The popular orange-lensed Skypers block 98% of blue light and probably not too much green (as per the transmission data below and Spectra479’s at-home test).

 

 

 

 

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS.

For more steps on how to strengthen your circadian rhythms, the potential importance (and relevance) of blocking BLUE/GREEN, and a discussion of the science… head over to Patreon!

Also many more interesting tidbits and some advice, like who might need to upgrade their blue-blockers.

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The importance of entraining skeletal muscle’s circadian clock (and how)

Posted on September 19, 2017 | 9 comments

“Literally, every single model of skeletal muscle circadian arrhythmia mimics aging sedentary people who skip breakfast, stay up late, and get sick.”

But first, the human studies that confirm these newer findings aren’t restricted to preclinical models: 1) a randomized CROSSOVER study; two weeks of modest caloric restriction. Same diet; either 5.5 or 8.5 hours of sleep.

In other words, circadian rhythms broke or woke (Nedeltcheva et al., 2010):

 

 

Same diet & energy expenditure + circadian arrhythmia = lose less fat and more muscle. This is basically the opposite of optimal. Large error bars because it was a CROSSOVER study, although it still managed to reach statistical significance.

And this happened despite lower 24-hour insulin AUC (Nedeltcheva et al., 2012). GRAVITAS.

 

 

And in an ad lib setting, “Laboratory studies in healthy young volunteers have shown that experimental sleep restriction is associated with a dysregulation of the neuroendocrine control of appetite consistent with increased hunger and with alterations in parameters of glucose tolerance suggestive of an increased risk of diabetes” (Van Cauter et al., 2007).

 

 

Part 2. THE BETTER PART: The muscle clock, how it works, and how to fix it.

 

 

 

Similar to other peripheral circadian clocks (eg, liver, adipose, lung, etc.), the muscle clock is entrained by LIGHT via the central pacemaker located in the SCN and feeding (via an as of yet unclear mechanism), but also scheduled exercise.

Interestingly, mice who had been subjected to a 6-hour phase advance adapted faster if they exercised early in the active phase (would be morning for humans).

 

 

Much of these data are summarized in a review in Frontiers in Neuroscience (Aoyama and Shibata, 2017).

The muscle clock is entrained by timed exercise but also feeding. This was demonstrated by showing the circadian rhythms in a subset of muscle-specific genes in fed mice were absent in fasted mice.

It is thought that the muscle clock’s function is to prepare us for the transition from the resting/fasting phase (night) to the active/fed phase (day)… and although I like that phrasing, this seems somewhat subjective (and really hard  to test/prove even on a hypothetical level).

 

 

Part 3. The BEST part: impact of various muscle clock disruptions.

Hint: THEY’RE ALL BAD.

 

For the rest of this article (including my interpretation and advice), head over to Patreon!

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Artificial light and circadian rhythms: blocking the blues

Posted on September 14, 2017 | 15 comments

Check out the above image of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Different biohacking eyewear have different purposes, and it largely depends where on the EM spectrum they act.

If you stare at a computer screen (or iPad, smart phone, etc., etc.) all day, the specialized glasses you may want to look into block out light just south of the visible light wavelengths. These will help with eye strain, headaches, etc. You could use bona fide blue blockers for this, as they block blue and everything south, although it’d be overkill and probably annoying due to visual disturbance. Pixels  and Gunnars are good for this, but they’re not especially great at blocking blue light (with the possible exception of the amber-tinted Gunnars).

Warning: there’s an article floating around on the internet saying it’s useless to block blue light because those computer glasses don’t preserve melatonin secretion. This is a STRAWMAN. Computer glasses aren’t designed to block blue light.
The truth: it’s still important to block blue light at night. If you get eye strain or headaches staring at a computer screen, than computer glasses may be appropriate.

 

 

 

Blocking blue light at night is key for proper melatonin secretion and preservation of circadian rhythms.

Most smart devices emit LED light which has a particular spike in the blue range:

 

If you need to light at night: moonlight or candles > amber or red-tinted bulbs  > low watt incandescent bulb. They should be positioned below eye level as light entering the eyes from above more effectively suppresses melatonin than light from below (with the exception of moonlight LOL) (Glickman et al., 2003).

 

Amber lenses to block blue light and improve sleep: a randomized trial (Burkhart and Phelps, 2009)

 

Wearing blue light-blocking glasses in the evening advances circadian rhythms in the patients with delayed sleep phase disorder: an open-label trial (Esaki et al., 2016)

 

Uvex Skypers … Gunnars … Carbonshades (probably the most effective blue blockers available) … Solar Shields … BLUblox (less expensive and pretty cool-looking, too) … Spectra479

 

Spectra479 and Carbonshade are offering a 15% discount with the coupon code LAGAKOS!

 

Circadian misalignment augments markers of insulin resistance and inflammation independently of sleep loss (Leproult et al., 2014)

 

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TRP channels in the Tx of muscle pain & cramps

Posted on September 10, 2017 | 8 comments

https://www.patreon.com/posts/14312822

NSAIDs are OK for muscle pain, but may hinder training progress in the long run (eg, Shoenfeld 2012 and Mackey 2013). The electrolyte theory of muscle cramps has been kinda debunked in some contexts (eg, Braulick et al., 2013, Miller 2014, and McKenney et al., 2015)… although I still recommend all the broths & stocks (homemade, store-bought, chicken, beef, seafood, etc.) for just about everything. 20% of Kettle & Fire broths through this link!

But even when pickle juice works (eg, Miller et al., 2010), it kicks in way sooner than if it worked via replenishing electrolytes – more likely works via the acidity activating specific ion channels.

What do we have left?

Google Image Search came through pretty epic for this…

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Herbs, spices, TRP receptors, and pain

Posted on September 5, 2017 | 2 comments

The TRP ion channels TRPA1 and TRPV1 have a complicated & interesting relationship with neural activation and pain.

TRPV1 is partly responsible for the pain we feel from eating hot peppers. Capsaicin (or some capsaicinoids or even ginger) bind to this receptor, and we can FEEL IT. The nerves on which TRP ion channels reside become hyperexcited, which has the theoretical effect of feedback inhibition on other afferent nerves in the spinal cord. As far as the TRP-muscle cramp theory goes, this dampens hyperexcited muscle cramp-inducing nerves. So basically, instant resolution of painful muscle cramps.

 

 

Mustard, cinnamon, and garlic hit TRPA1 for a similar effect. Instant muscle cramp-relief… but depending on your taste preferences, could be unpleasant.

 

 

 

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Effects on body recomposition, more on spices, and my personal experience!

 

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An interesting theory on the treatment of muscle cramps

Posted on August 31, 2017 | 17 comments
Being the nerd I am, after experiencing a few days of painful muscle cramps (which I wrote about here), I went to Google like a madman.
Here’s what I learned from the experience and subsequent Googling.
Most things I wrote in the original post still stand. But there are a ton of completely different types of muscle cramps; those associated with cirrhosis, MS, pregnancy, dialysis, idiopathic nocturnal, etc.
Number 1 mandatory advice: do all the long-term stuff like broths, (20% off Kettle & Fire!) potassium, mag, etc (even though all of these things have mixed findings; they might work for your specific type of cramp and are unlikely to cause harm). But for immediate management of painful cramping, you may need to bite the bullet and take a muscle relaxer or benzo or something.
A lot of this post is inspired by a crazy theory touted by a new anti-cramp product (targeted at yet another type of cramp, “exercise-associated muscle cramp” [EAMC]), but the explanation of it’s mechanism is super-interesting.

I still stand by the previous interventions, except according to a few case studies and a lot of anecdotes, pickle juice can work within 1-2 minutes! That observation was part of the basis of developing this product. Some people think the acidity in pickle juice activates gastrointestinal TRP receptors (see below), and I’m totally cool with all kinds of vinegar…
But I digress.

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like the taste, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS.

For the rest of this article and all prior & future articles, head over to Patreon! Three bucks a month for access to all content. It’s ad-free and you can quit if it sucks.

There are a limited number of spots left at the $3 level, so join soon! You can cancel at any time.

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