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The Human Animal
When I grew up I loved watching nature shows on TV (and I still do). My dad is a science teacher and used to tape all the good shows. I especially remember David Attenborough coming closer to animal life than anyone I had ever seen. The Velvet Claw made a big impression as did The…
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What if…
“And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all…
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Like talking to a brick wall
To disagree only as much as the evidence permitsJamie Scott, the Primal Muse hit a brick wall recently. Metaphorically speaking, of course. The wall’s embodiment was a narrow minded and rude purveyor of what to the untrained eye might look like science. Scientific disagreements are fascinating because science as a “reality exploring tool” does not…
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Come on guys, you’re smarter than this
Just because a wording, written or spoken is simplified to better communicate the message at hand, it does not mean we should think simple thoughts. When I tell my pupils that sugar makes us fat (the word fat can be replaced by sick with no consequences for the argument), they look at their bottle of…
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A closer look at adiponectin
Whether insulin or leptin or adiponectin or PPAR gamma or NF KB or a bajillion cytokines are the proximate mediators of obesity or atherosclerosis is hardly the point, is it? Kurt G. Harris MD Although biochemistry can be marvelously exiting we must not lose sight of the bigger picture. It is increasingly unlikely that any…
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Enough is better than too much – the only dietary guidelines you’ll ever need.
Now that I’ve gotten your attention with an overly bold title I will still be so bold as to introduce the draft of my very own dietary guidelines. The American Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has recently produced a draft for the new American dietary guidelines. The Norwegian government has been doing the same here…
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A scientist’s dilemma
I would like to consider myself a scientist – or at the very least a man of science. I do science for a living, although admittedly I don’t actually know what science is. When I talk to people about nutrition, whether in person or in front of a class, I make an attempt at presenting…
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Exercise Zen
“When I’m in this state everything is pure, vividly clear. I’m in a cocoon of concentration. And if I can put myself into that cocoon, I’m invincible. . . . I’m living fully in the present. I’m absolutely engaged, involved in what I’m doing. . . . It comes and it goes, and the pure…
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High fat diets and endurance exercise performance
«When first thrown wholly upon a diet of reindeer meat, it seems inadequate to properly nourish the system, and there is an apparent weakness and inability to perform severe exertive fatiguing journeys. But this soon passes away in the course of two or three weeks.« From Stephen D. Phinney (2004) The above excerpt is from the…
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Energy in, energy out and the fairies in the back of my garden
Science philosopher Karl Popper proposed that science is easily performed. A theory must be falsifiable and the role of science is to prove a theory wrong. On the other hand if a theory resists constant attempts of falsification the probability of it being true increases. This is a very satisfying, concrete and mechanistic view of…
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A tribute to the bloggers
During my student years I read the standard scientific method curriculum book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by Thomas S. Kuhn. In it, Kuhn writes about scientific paradigms and paradigm shifts. Although he was criticized for using the word “paradigm” in a rather inconsistent manner, it was still marvelous reading. What I learned then was…
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The death of a theory
«If I haven’t seen further than others it’s because giants were standing on my shoulders« – Richard Feinman quoting Hal Abelson quoting his roommate. I’ve been reading a fantastic book lately. Lee Smolins “The trouble with physics – The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next.” The book is exactly…
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Intention to treat – what was the question again?
If you haven’t already heard there is a new low carb study out. It shows similar effects on weight compared to a low fat diet over 2 years, but better HDL results in the low carb arm. It’s a really interesting study, but I’ll leave it to others, like Jimmy to elaborate. Once again this…
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Meanwhile, in Japan
Felt like writing something about exercise. After all, my education is in exercise science and not nutrition. This is about an exercise trend from Japan. It might be the next big thing in both muscle building and physical therapy and it may hurt like hell. This is Kaatsu training! Simply speaking Kaatsu training is occlusion…
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The frustrations of a low carber
Science moves in mysteries ways. Despite its goal to be an objective tool describing the world as it is, science, when used by us humans, is not objective. Once a result, mathematical formula or any data acquired is interpreted the objectivity seizes to exist. And this is exactly how it should be. Data are worthless if…
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The strange case of chronic fatigue syndrome
«Undoubtedly, the perverse use of CFS, to impose a psychiatric definition for ME/CFS by associating it with fatigue syndromes, has delayed research, the discovery of effective treatment(s), and care and support for those with this illness.« Hooper 2007 Having a background and an interest in metabolism I am intrigued by reports about chronic fatigue syndrome.…
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Ketogenic diets and the treatment of epilepsy
”But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 “One who is confronted with the task of controlling seizures in a person with epilepsy grasps at any straw. When, some six or eight years ago, an osteopathic practitioner in Michigan stated that fasting would cure epilepsy, this…
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A nutrition paradox
By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox. Galileo Galilei Istockphoto If an overweight person…
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Leptin and local cellular hunger – uniting the theories
Leptin About 15 years ago the 167 amino acid peptide hormone leptin was discovered by Jeffrey M. Friedman and colleagues through work with genetic mouse models. It is primarily expressed in adipose tissue and there is thus a close correlation between the blood level of leptin and the size of the fat tissue. A small fat…
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The causality of insulin resistance
There seem to be two large somewhat competing hypotheses trying to explain the causality of insulin resistance (as measured at a whole body level). The lipotoxicity hypothesis, explains to us how insulin sensitivity is reduced in tissues when too much fat builds up in the specific tissue cells; likely caused by high serum levels of…
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