Category: Recommended

Although they sound the same, and some people use the terms interchangeably, flavonoids and flavanols are different. Flavonoids are a family of plant compounds, of which flavanols are one subclass. You can find flavonoids in fruits, vegetables, tea, chocolate and wine. Evidence shows it’s flavanol-rich dark chocolate that improves cognitive performance and mood.
The chemical properties of flavanols impact the bioavailability of the compounds and help determine their biological activity. As a family, flavonoids have antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and neuroprotective properties.
Oregon State University reports there is evidence that some flavonoids can improve cognitive function, but it is not known if they can help lower risk for those who are at risk for cognitive decline and dementia.1
For at least 4,000 years, chocolate has been a symbol of luxury, wealth and power.2 Of all the treats available, chocolate remains one of the most popular in the world. However, while dark chocolate has known health benefits, the same cannot be said for milk chocolate.
Flavanols Raise Brain Oxygenation and Cognitive Performance

In 2017, a meta-analysis was published in Frontiers in Nutrition evaluating the association between cocoa flavonoids and cognitive performance.3 Cocoa and cocoa products are a substantial source of flavanols. Scientists suggest cocoa can help counteract cognitive decline, especially in people at risk.
They speculated that the administration of cocoa flavanols may improve cognitive function and protect performance that occurs during sleep loss in healthy people. A study published in Scientific Reports delved further into this hypothesis.4
Using a randomized double-blind study design with young healthy adults, the researchers showed that cocoa flavanols increased the speed and capacity of brain oxygenation in response to the administration of carbon dioxide.
The participants also exhibited 11% faster performance than baseline when the demand was high.5 ZME Science spoke with Catarina Rendeiro from the University of Birmingham, who led the study. She described what the researchers were looking for, saying:6

“I have been for the last 10-12 years interested in the health benefits of plant-derived flavonoids, particularly their effects on brain and cognitive function. We have known for many years that flavanols from cocoa (in particular) can improve vascular function in humans by improving vessel/arterial function.

These benefits are apparent even after one single dose. However, the extent to which some of these benefits could translate into the brain vasculature was less clear.”

The researchers engaged 18 healthy people whom they tested in two trials. During the first, the participants consumed cocoa rich in flavanols and in the second processed cocoa with low levels of flavanols. Neither the participants nor the researchers were aware of which type had been consumed during the trials.
Two hours later the participants breathed 5% carbon dioxide (CO2) to increase blood flow to the brain. Normally, the air you breathe is composed of 0.04% CO2.7 CO2 causes vasodilation and vascular changes in the brain, including raising blood flow.8 The air delivered to the participants was just over 100 times greater than the normal concentration of CO2 in the air.
The researchers then measured the increased blood flow and oxygenation to the brain using customized helmets. They found the participants who ate high flavanol cocoa showed three times more oxygenated hemoglobin than those who ate the low flavanol cocoa.
Interestingly, the researchers also found a few participants did not show any benefits from flavanols and had the healthiest oxygenation responses. While speaking to ZME Science, Rendeiro said:9

“It is currently unclear why these subjects had higher responses but it might be related to higher levels of fitness, but we did not measure this in the study.

Consuming foods rich in flavanols, such as grapes, green tea, apples, berries can provide levels of flavanols that are beneficial for brain function. The fact that we can see benefits even in a perfectly healthy brain it is good news for all of us. There shouldn’t be any downsides from consuming flavanols from fresh fruits and vegetables …”

Chocolate Improves Taste of Natural Triterpenes

In a second study of cocoa, researchers used 70% cocoa chocolate as a delivery mechanism for ursolic acid and oleanolic acid.10 These are triterpenoid compounds with known pharmacological effects, including liver protection after chemically-induced injury in laboratory animals11 and antimicrobial activity in the fight against human pathogens.12
Oleanolic acid is sold in China for liver disorders and both are recognized as having anti-inflammatory and antihyperlipidemic properties when tested in lab animals.13 Researchers have found the health benefits of ursolic acid may include “anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiapoptotic, and anticarcinogenic effects.”14
An animal study found ursolic acid increased calorie burn, skeletal muscle and brown fat development associated with weight loss, and increased strength. It also improved glucose tolerance.15
The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of consuming 70% chocolate infused with ursolic and oleanolic acids that had been isolated from the Mansoa hirsuta DC plant.16 Initially, the researchers sought a combination with microbiological and sensory properties that were well accepted. There were 100 volunteers who participated in the “acceptance analysis.”
To evaluate the health effect, the researchers engaged 45 volunteers who were divided into a test group, a control group and a placebo group. The test group received a chocolate formulation containing the triterpenes; the placebo group received chocolate without the triterpenes; and the control group was instructed not to eat any chocolate of any kind during the course of the study.
The test group received 25 grams (g) of 70% cocoa chocolate with the added triterpenes over a four-week period. All were asked to maintain their regular activities and diet. Before and after the intervention the participants had their weight, height and waist circumference measured. Lipid profile and fasting blood sugar tests were also done.
In the control group in which no one consumed chocolate, there were no significant changes in the anthropometric measurements or lab tests. In the test group, after eating the chocolate with the ursolic and oleanolic acids, 50% lost approximately 2 kilograms (kg) (4.4 pounds) and 73.3% had reduced waist circumference. In the placebo group, which ate the regular chocolate, 86.6% gained weight.
In Moderation, Dark Chocolate Has Health Benefits

As demonstrated by the research discussed above, dark chocolate in moderation may have health benefits, but too much can raise your risk of weight gain and subsequent insulin resistance. Cocoa beans are rich in fat (54%), fiber (16%), protein (11%) and carbohydrates (31%).17
The largest source of bioactive compounds comes from flavonoids, which can improve central and peripheral vascular function. When consumed in moderation, flavanol-rich dark chocolate may improve insulin sensitivity by reducing your body’s oxidative stress and improving endothelial function. This indicates that dark chocolate rich in flavanols may be a beneficial addition to your diet.
However, while dark chocolate has health benefits, milk chocolate does not. Unfortunately, the vast majority of chocolate sold and eaten is in the form of milk chocolate candy, which is loaded with sugar and has minute amounts of healthy cocoa. Additionally, one study found that the added milk proteins can reduce the bioavailability of epicatechin, a flavonoid important to antioxidant activity, in chocolate candies.18
In addition to the flavonoids, researchers have also found theobromine and other methylxanthines in dark chocolate that may affect health.19 For instance, theobromine improved memory in an animal study. But, as with most foods found in nature, the likelihood is the health effects come from the combination of polyphenols found in the food and not from a single ingredient.
There is some evidence that hearing loss may be inversely associated with chocolate consumption, yet it has no effect on tinnitus.20 Another review of the literature analyzed 13 clinical trials and found athletes experienced a reduction in oxidative stress linked to cocoa ingestion, but no clear conclusion could be drawn on the impact it had on exercise performance or recovery.21
A 2013 paper in The Netherlands Journal of Medicine also reviewed the health benefits of cacao, noting that some consider it a “complete food,” as it contains:22

Healthy fats
Antioxidants
Nitrogenous compounds, including proteins, methylxanthines theobromine and caffeine
Minerals, including potassium, phosphorus, copper, iron, zinc and magnesium
Valeric acid, which acts as a stress reducer despite the presence of stimulants

Bitter Chocolate May Help Improve Your Mood
Human trial data from Loma Linda University, presented at the Experimental Biology 2018 annual meeting in San Diego, revealed chocolate helps improve stress levels, inflammation, mood, memory and immune function. The caveat? It must contain at least 70% cacao and be sweetened with organic cane sugar. According to the scientists:23

“While it is well-known that cacao is a major source of flavonoids, this is the first time the effect has been studied in human subjects to determine how it can support cognitive, endocrine and cardiovascular health … These studies show us that the higher the concentration of cacao, the more positive the impact on cognition, memory, mood, immunity and other beneficial effects.”

A number of other studies have confirmed cacao can benefit your heart, blood vessels, brain and nervous system, and helps combat diabetes and other conditions rooted in inflammation.
As noted in a paper published in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity,24 “Cocoa contains about 380 known chemicals, 10 of which are psychoactive compounds” and it “has more phenolics and higher antioxidant capacity than green tea, black tea, or red wine …”

“The antioxidant properties of cocoa or cocoa-derived products enriched in flavonoids may help protect against diseases in which oxidative stress is implicated as a causal or contributing factor.

The phenolics from cocoa may thus protect against diseases in which oxidative stress is implicated as a causal or contributing factor, such as cancer. They also have antiproliferative, antimutagenic, and chemoprotective effects, in addition to their anticariogenic effects.”

Another compound found in cacao is phenylethylamine, which has been shown to boost mood in a way similar to that of tryptophan, which your body converts to serotonin. Cocoa also contains chemical compounds shown to boost mood. One study found the polyphenols in a dark chocolate drink mix helped reduce anxiety and induce a sense of calm when consumed daily for one month.25
There were 72 participants who completed the trial, in which they drank a chocolate drink standardized to 500 milligrams (mg), 250 mg or zero mg of polyphenols. The researchers found those taking the high-dose polyphenol chocolate drink increased their self-assessed calmness and contentedness in relation to those drinking the placebo chocolate drink.
When colorectal cell lines were incubated with cocoa extract for 24 hours in the lab, the researchers found the chocolate had an impact on genetic up and down regulation.26 They believe the results suggest “valuable clues for future clinical studies of cocoa health benefits are highlighted as [an] anticancer agent in this study once validation studies are carried out.”
Cacao to Chocolate — Raw Dark Chocolate Is What You Want

The results of these studies demonstrate the importance of consuming dark chocolate rich in flavanols to experience the health benefits. As I show in this short video above, you can create your own delectable and healthy chocolate treat at home that satisfies your sweet tooth.
Although some people use the terms interchangeably, there is a difference between cocoa and cacao. Many of the studies discussed used a cocoa-based product, but it’s helpful to understand the differences. Cacao is the term used for the evergreen plant and the dried seeds, which ultimately become chocolate. Raw cacao nibs have the highest levels of polyphenols.
Ideally, you’ll want to buy them whole and grind them at home. You can use a coffee grinder for this. You can also nibble on them like you would chocolate chips. A healthy amount would be around one-half to 1 ounce per day. I personally grind 1 tablespoon of raw cacao nibs twice a day and put them into my smoothies.
Cacao becomes cocoa when the beans are roasted and ground into a powder from which most of the fat is removed. Cocoa butter, which you can purchase from health food stores and some grocers, is the yellow fat that’s extracted from the beans.
The cacao beans go through 14 steps in processing before resulting in the chocolate that is ready for distribution to your local store. If the chocolate is processed from cacao seeds that are not roasted, then you’re buying “raw chocolate.”
When you are selecting your chocolate, the evidence shows health benefits are greatest in products with a higher percentage of cacao and lower percentage of sugar. Since cacao has a bitter taste, you’ll also find the higher percentage chocolates are more bitter.
It’s the polyphenols that make the chocolate bitter, so some manufacturers remove them, but it’s also the polyphenols that are responsible for many of the health benefits. That’s why, for health benefits, it’s best to choose 70% or higher cacao chocolate.
On the other hand, “white chocolate” contains only the butter extracted from the beans and none of the cocoa, which is the ingredient chocolate gets its name from. Instead, white chocolate is a health-zapping mix of pasteurized milk, vanilla flavoring and processed sugar.

Chinese herbs may relieve menstrual cramps better than drugs, acupuncture, or heat compression, Australia-based researchers found after studying nearly 3,500 women in several countries.Along with relieving pain, Chinese herbs also reduced the recurrence of cramps over a three-month period.In the study, women were given herbal concoctions to regulate their “qi” (energy) and blood, warm their bodies, and boost their kidney and liver functions. Herbs in the study included, but were not limited to:1. Chinese angelica root 2. Szechuan lovage root3. Red peony root, white peony root 4. Chinese motherwort 5. Cinnamon barkIn one trial, 53 percent of the women who took herbs had less pain, compared with 26 percent in the placebo group.The Chinese herbs were more effective than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), oral contraceptive pills, acupuncture, heat compressions, placebos, or no treatment at all. Chinese herbal medicine has been used to treat menstrual pain for hundreds of years. Up to 50 percent of women of reproductive age experience period pain that leads to absences from school and work.Since relatively small numbers of participants were included in each trial in the study, the researchers recommended further research to confirm their findings.Sources:Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4 Reuters October 17, 2007

The contraceptive pill may disrupt women’s natural ability to choose a partner genetically dissimilar to themselves. This could result in difficulties when trying to conceive, an increased risk of miscarriage and long intervals between pregnancies. Passing on a lack of diverse genes to children could also weaken their immune systems.Humans tend to be attracted to those with a dissimilar genetic make-up to themselves, maintaining genetic diversity, which is signaled by subtle odors. A research team analyzed how the contraceptive pill affects odor preferences, and found that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odors.Not only could genetic similarity in couples lead to fertility problems, but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners, researchers said.

In January of this year, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to talk about health tips. The 62-year-old actress uses bio-identical estrogen cream and progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month.

According to Somers, the bio-identical hormones are identical to the ones created by the human body, unlike conventional hormones, which are made from mare’s urine.
The result has been a media firestorm condemning both Somers and Oprah, including the hit piece in Newsweek linked below. The authors of the piece, Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert, argue that bio-identical hormones are just as synthetic as conventional hormones — although they don’t much discuss the fact that conventional hormones are actually different from the 17-beta-estradiol made by your body, while the bio-identical hormones are 17-beta-estradiol itself.
The real reason for the attacks on bio-identical hormones?

As Somers points out, many doctors, scientists and media figures make a good deal of money off of the pharmaceutical industry.

And one thing you won’t see mentioned in the Newsweek article is the fact that Pat Wingert is the co-author of a pharmaceutically biased book on hormones and menopause, and that  Newsweek is heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies.
This resembles an incident a few years ago when the cattle industry actually sued Oprah Winfrey just for talking about Mad Cow Disease.

Breast cancer rates dropped by half in tandem with the discontinuation of hormone replacement therapy, according to a study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study was reported in the Telegraph in the United Kingdom.
The Telegraph said:

“Dr Prithwish De, of the Canadian Cancer Society, and colleagues, found that use of HRT dropped from 12.7 per cent in 2002 to 4.9 per cent in 2004.
During the same period breast cancer rates dropped by 9.6 per cent even though the same number of women were having mammography tests.
Between 2004 and 2006 use of HRT remained stable at around five per cent of women aged 50 to 59 but breast cancer rates began to increase again.
Dr De wrote: ‘The results support the hypothesised link between the use of hormone replacement therapy and invasive breast cancer incidence and indicate that the sharp decline in breast cancer incidence in 2002 is likely explained by the concurrent decline in the use of hormone replacement therapy among Canadian women.'”

The study’s authors said these numbers support existing evidence of the link between HRT and breast cancer.

By Dr. Mercola

You may be aware, and possibly have experienced firsthand, that antibiotics can cause diarrhea.
This is because antibiotics, by design, disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, often killing off both beneficial and harmful microorganisms without distinction.
It is through this same mechanism that antibiotics may also be causing you to pack on extra pounds.
In fact, Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center, suggests that antibiotics may permanently alter your gut bacteria and interfere with important hunger hormones secreted by your stomach, leading to increased appetite and body mass index (BMI).

Antibiotics Lead to Increases in Body Fat and Hunger Hormones

Research by Dr. Blaser has shown that 18 months after antibiotics are used to eradicate H. pylori bacteria, there is a:

6-fold increase in the release of ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) after a meal
20 percent increase in leptin levels (leptin is a hormone produced by fat tissue)
5 percent increase in BMI

Levels of ghrelin should ordinarily fall after a meal to signal your brain that you’re full and ready to stop eating; an increase would therefore essentially tell your brain to continue eating, leading to weight gain. Further, the increase in leptin levels is concerning because overexposure to high levels of the hormone can lead to leptin resistance, which means your body is unable to properly hear leptin’s signals.
The way your body stores fat is a highly regulated process that is controlled, primarily, by leptin. If you gain excess weight, the additional fat produces extra leptin that should alert your brain that your body is storing too much fat and needs to burn off the excess.
To do this, signals are sent to your brain to stop being hungry and to stop eating. When you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer hear these messages — so it remains hungry and stores more fat.
Interestingly, you can easily become leptin resistant by eating the typical American diet full of sugar (particularly fructose), refined grains and processed foods … which, like antibiotics, will upset the balance of bacteria in your gut.

Farmers Use Antibiotics to Fatten Up Livestock Quickly

About 70 percent of all the antibiotics produced are used in agriculture — not necessarily to fight disease, but rather to promote weight gain.
As stated by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs:

“Continuous, low-dose administration of an antibiotic can increase the rate and efficiency of weight gain in healthy livestock. The presence of antibiotics likely changes the composition of the gut flora to favor growth. Debate is ongoing as to how gut flora are changed; change may simply be a reduction in numbers, a change in species composition or a combination of the two.
… Some antibiotics may also enhance feed consumption and growth by stimulating metabolic processes within the animal.”

Unfortunately, this practice is also contributing to the alarming spread of antibiotic-resistant disease. As it pertains to your weight, there’s ample reason to believe that this same phenomenon occurs in humans as well, figuratively turning Americans into fatted calves.

Your Gut Bacteria and Your Waistline Go Hand-in-Hand

Research by Dr. Blaser, for instance, found that mice fed antibiotics (in dosages similar to those given to children for throat or ear infections) had significant increases in body fat despite their diets remaining unchanged.
Multiple studies have actually shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and that altering the microbial balance in your gut can influence your weight. Here are six such studies:

When rats were given lactic acid bacteria while in utero through adulthood, they put on significantly less weight than other rats eating the same high-calorie diet. They also had lower levels of minor inflammation, which has been associated with obesity.
Babies with high numbers of Bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus — which may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, contributing to obesity — appeared to be protected from excess weight gain. This may be one reason why breast-fed babies have a lower risk of obesity, as Bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
Two studies found that obese individuals had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as Firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called Bacteroidetes than lean people. Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat. When these microbes were transplanted into normal-weight mice, those mice started to gain twice as much fat.
Obese people were able to reduce their abdominal fat by nearly 5 percent, and their subcutaneous fat by over 3 percent, just be drinking a probiotic-rich fermented milk beverage for 12 weeks.
Probiotics (good bacteria) have been found to benefit metabolic syndrome, which often goes hand-in-hand with obesity.
Probiotics may also be beneficial in helping women lose weight after childbirth when taken from the first trimester through breastfeeding.

Healthy Gut Bacteria Cannot Coexist With Antibiotics

Antibiotics can save your life if you develop a serious bacterial infection, but it’s important that you resist the urge to ask your physician for a prescription for every ear, nose, or throat infection you come down with. Likewise for a cold or the flu. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections like these, and when used for this purpose will only harm your health by wiping out the good bacteria in your gut.
Antibiotic use has become so routine in the United States that one round of the drugs may seem like no big deal, but remember that using them drastically alters the makeup of bacteria in your gut, which will need to be rebuilt in order for you to stay in good health. Whenever you use an antibiotic, you’re also increasing your susceptibility to developing infections with resistance to that antibiotic — and you can become the carrier of this resistant bug and even spread it to others.
Ultimately the problem of antibiotic-overuse needs to be stemmed through public policy on a nationwide level, especially in the agricultural community, but I urge you to also take personal responsibility and evaluate your own use of antibiotics, and avoid taking them — or giving them to your children — unless absolutely necessary.
Remember that the foods you eat are also a major source of exposure to antibiotics, so to protect your gut bacteria you should buy primarily antibiotic-free, organically raised meat and produce. Keep in mind that conventionally farmed food is often grown in fertilizer derived from factory-farmed animal waste and human sewage, which may be a source of contamination with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The Recipe for Healthy Gut Bacteria

Your gut bacteria are vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.
In addition to antibiotics, your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Chlorinated water
Antibacterial soap
Agricultural chemicals
Pollution

Because virtually all of us are exposed to these at least occasionally, ensuring your gut bacteria remain balanced should be considered an ongoing process, and consuming fermented foods is one of the best ways to do this.
One of the reasons why fermented foods are so beneficial is because they contain lactic acid bacteria — a type of beneficial gut bacteria that research shows can help you stay slim.
I have long stated that it’s generally a wise choice to “reseed” your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating non-pasteurized, traditionally fermented foods such as:

Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
Fermented  organic grass-fed raw milk, such as kefir
Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
Natto (fermented soy)

If you do not eat fermented foods on a regular basis, a high-quality probiotic supplement can be incredibly useful to help maintain healthy gut bacteria when you stray from your healthy diet and consume excess grains or sugar, or if you have to take antibiotics.
Also please remember that it is vital to eliminate ALL sugars. They will sabotage any beneficial effects of the fermented foods, as they will act as nutrients for the pathogenic yeast, fungi and bacteria that are in your gut.

Despite widespread publicity, the 2002 landmark study on the potential dangers of hormone therapy for postmenopausal women is completely unknown to most women. 
New research from the Stanford University School of Medicine discovered that only 29 percent of the women surveyed knew anything about the study two years later. Additionally, only 40 percent of the women were able to identify possible risks and benefits linked to hormone therapy. 
Hormone therapy is used to ease your symptoms of menopause, but has also been widely prescribed for preventive purposes, based in part on earlier observational studies that had suggested it could help protect women against heart disease, weak bones, and dementia. 
In July 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) abruptly ended its combination of estrogen and progestin therapy study, as their data discovered higher rates of breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in the population taking the hormones, compared to those taking placebos. 
Later, in April 2004, WHI also halted the portion of the study for estrogen-only therapy, after finding the hormone did not offer any protective heart disease prevention, but rather increased your risk of stroke and blood clots. 
The WHI findings triggered enormous changes in the use of hormone therapy, and prescriptions had dropped 38 percent by 2003. 
Senior author Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, said their latest survey indicates there’s a huge problem in communicating crucial health information to patients effectively, which in turn is indicative of an even larger problem – ensuring that people can make informed decisions about their medical care. 
Menopause April 10, 2007
Women’s Health Initiative June 21, 2007
WHI March 2, 2007 (The Estrogen-Alone Study Links)
Women’s Health Initiative (The Estrogen-Plus-Progestin Study Links)
Eurekalert September 18, 2007

By Dr. Mercola

Up to 50 million Americans struggle with acne, making it the most common skin disorder in the United States.1
When it strikes during the teen years, it can lead to feelings of self-consciousness, embarrassment and depression. Many severe acne sufferers struggle with low self-confidence, feelings of alienation and social withdrawal as a result.
And it’s not only teens who are affected; one in five U.S. adults also suffers from acne, and for them the psychological toll is often no less severe.
Many are desperate for help to clear their skin, and if the typical face washes and topical treatments don’t work, they may gratefully accept a prescription for the acne drug Roaccutane (generic name, isotretinoin, and formerly sold as Accutane in the United States).

Isotretinoin (Formerly Sold as Accutane) Greatly Overused

This is an extreme step, given that isotretinoin is easily one of the most dangerous drugs ever made. Yet, incredibly it remains the industry standard for treating severe acne. One leading UK dermatologist even recently spoke out to say it is being greatly overused.
More than half a million people worldwide have been prescribed Roaccutane, despite the fact that it’s intended to be used only as a last resort (and even then its use is highly questionable). But UK dermatologist Tony Chu said that often Roaccutane is being offered far more than that:2

“Roaccutane is grossly overused …I’ve seen patients who have been to see a local dermatologist to treat four of five spots and still been offered it … If you read the guidelines it should only be used for people who have severe acne.”

In the United States, it remains one of the most controversial drugs, and Swiss drugmaker Roche, manufacturer of Accutane, has spent most of this century in court defending itself against lawsuits from people whose health has been irreparably damaged by this menacing drug.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Suicide, Depression and More …

Roche has lost nine out of 13 lawsuits since 2007, and was ordered to pay more than $25 million in damages in 2010, plus another $18 million in 2012, to Accutane users who developed inflammatory bowel disease as a result of the drug. Due to generic competition and the exorbitant cost of defending personal injury lawsuits, Roche stopped selling the drug in June 2009.
However, the generic form of Accutane (isotretinoin) is no less deadly and remains available on the marketplace under the names Claravis, Sotret and Amnesteem. Aside from its links to inflammatory bowel disease, Accutane has been implicated as a cause of depression and suicide.
In 2004, brain scans showed that people taking Accutane suffer a 21 percent decrease in activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a brain area known to mediate symptoms of depression.3 These brain changes may explain the depression, suicidal and aggressive behavior, and psychotic reactions reported by some Accutane users.
Is reducing your acne worth that? In light of this evidence and reports of suicide or suicide attempts associated with the use of isotretinoin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated:4

“All patients treated with isotretinoin should be observed closely for symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts, such as sad mood, irritability, acting on dangerous impulses, anger, loss of pleasure or interest in social or sports activities, sleeping too much or too little, changes in weight or appetite, school or work performance going down, or trouble concentrating, or for mood disturbance, psychosis, or aggression.

…Patients taking isotretinoin may experience side effects including bad headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, seizures, stroke, diarrhea, and muscle weakness. Additionally, serious mental health problems, such as depression and suicide, have been reported with isotretinoin use.”

Isotretinoin is a Category X Drug for Pregnancy – Guaranteed to Cause Birth Defects

Isotretinoin now has the strongest warning available for any drug category — and was given an FDA Pregnancy Category X rating, which means if you are taking isotretinoin and become pregnant, you are virtually guaranteed to be damaging your baby. Accutane is extremely teratogenic (causing damage to a fetus). According to the FDA:5

“If you are pregnant or may get pregnant, isotretinoin can cause birth defects, miscarriage, premature births, and death in babies.”

The risk is so well-established that anyone taking the drug must go through the FDA’s iPledge system, which was designed specifically to eliminate fetal exposure to this toxic drug. The system requires both the patient and the prescriber to enter in specific information on a monthly basis prior to the drug being dispensed. In the United States, a woman must:

Use two forms of effective contraception simultaneously for one month before, during, and for one month after isotretinoin therapy.
Have two negative urine or blood (serum) pregnancy tests with a sensitivity of at least 25 mIU/ml before receiving the initial isotretinoin prescription (an additional pregnancy test must be taken with each month of additional therapy).

According to the FDA’s iPledge system:6

“There is an extremely high risk that severe birth defects will result if pregnancy occurs while taking isotretinoin in any amount, even for short periods of time. Birth defects which have been documented following isotretinoin exposure include abnormalities of the face, eyes, ears, skull, central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and thymus and parathyroid glands. Cases of IQ scores less than 85 with or without other abnormalities have been reported. There is an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, and premature births have been reported.

Documented external abnormalities include: skull abnormality; ear abnormalities (including anotia, micropinna, small or absent external auditory canals); eye abnormalities (including microphthalmia); facial dysmorphia; cleft palate. Documented internal abnormalities include: CNS abnormalities (including cerebral abnormalities, cerebellar malformation, hydrocephalus, microcephaly, cranial nerve deficit); cardiovascular abnormalities; thymus gland abnormality; parathyroid hormone deficiency. In some cases death has occurred with certain of the abnormalities previously noted.”

If a drug is this toxic to a developing fetus, it certainly does make you wonder how it could possibly be safe for any living creature. Indeed, in addition to teratogenic and psychological adverse effects, Accutane (isotretinoin) users have also reported the following negative effects:

Increased levels of triglycerides and cholesterol in your blood
Increased liver enzyme levels and liver damage
Erectile dysfunction

Headaches and brain swelling
Disturbances of your central nervous system
Seizures

Damage to skin and mucous membranes Premature epiphyseal closure
Hyperostosis (excessive bone growth) and bone demineralization
Neutropenia, agranulocytosis, and rhabdomyolysis (blood disorders)

Development of inflammatory bowel disease
Damage to your eyes including cataracts
Hearing impairment

Pancreatitis
Heart attack and stroke
Allergic vasculitis

Did You Know Acne Can be Treated Naturally?

The root cause of acne is most likely not bacteria or genetics, but environmental factors — particularly your diet. Acne is much less of a problem in non-Westernized societies, where refined carbohydrates, sugar and fructose are consumed in much lower amounts. Solid evidence exists that diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates are the primary CAUSE of acne.
When you eat grain carbohydrates and sugar/fructose, it causes a surge of insulin and an insulin-like growth factor called IGF-1 in your body.7 This can lead to an excess of male hormones, which cause your pores to secrete sebum, a greasy substance that attracts acne-promoting bacteria. Additionally, IGF-1 causes skin cells known as keratinocytes to multiply, a process that is also associated with acne.
Additionally, these very same foods — refined carbs, such as fructose, sugar and grains — will also increase inflammation in your body, which may trigger acne, and at the same time they will also wreak havoc on the makeup of your intestinal bacteria, which may also play a role.
This is why simply eliminating grains, sugars (particularly fructose), cereals, potatoes, corn, rice, pasta, processed foods, etc., radically improves acne for most people. Fruit contains a fair amount of fructose, so it should be consumed in very limited quantities if you are predisposed to acne. And fruit juices should be strictly avoided since the sugar is very concentrated in them. (Vegetable juices are great, though, especially green juices.)
Additionally, psychological stress may also alter the microflora in your intestines, which could therefore contribute to systemic inflammation that could exacerbate acne and other skin conditions. In one study, researchers noted:8

“Experimental studies show that psychological stress stagnates normal small intestinal transit time, encourages overgrowth of bacteria, and compromises the intestinal barrier. SIBO [small intestinal bacterial over growth] is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, while eradication of SIBO improves emotional symptoms.

Although the frequency of SIBO in acne vulgaris has not yet been investigated, a recent report indicates that SIBO is 10 times more prevalent in those with acne rosacea vs. healthy controls. Correction of SIBO leads to marked clinical improvement in patients with rosacea.”

It’s actually well proven that stress can aggravate acne. One study involving college students found a connection between acne flare-ups and stress from final exams.9 Researchers found that subjects who had the most stress during examination periods also had the worst acne outbreaks, suggesting emotional stress from external sources is a significant factor. While it has been argued that the stress associated with acne is an effect of acne rather than a cause, the above researchers believe this evidence proved otherwise — that it’s the stress that is exacerbating the acne, not vice versa.

Ditch the Drugs and Try This Instead

No one wants to live with acne, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to toxic drugs to clear your skin. Remember, your complexion is a reflection of your overall health. Don’t forget to incorporate these essential factors into your acne-busting plan:

Sugars/Fructose and Grains: This is probably the single most important step you can take to improve your skin health. If you can eliminate all sugars, fructose and grains for a few weeks there is a major likelihood you will notice rapid improvement in your complexion. Be sure to check out my nutrition plan for a simple guide on how to eat right for healthy skin and overall health.
Water: Drink plenty of fresh, pure water every day. Hydrating your body facilitates cell growth and regeneration, elimination of wastes, and sloughing away dead skin cells. Hydration will also improve your skin tone.
Every day, drink enough water so that your urine is a pale yellow color. If your urine is bright yellow, you probably need to drink more water (unless you take B vitamins, which themselves turn urine bright yellow).

Exercise: Getting plenty of high-intensity exercise helps your body flush out toxins, including those in your skin’s pores. Plus, exercise is vitally important to all other aspects of your heath. If you happen to have access to an infrared sauna, this can be helpful too, because the more you sweat, the more you flush unwanted debris and contaminants out of your pores.
Sleep: Did you know that a good night’s sleep can decrease your stress and lead to clearer skin? Your body’s main time for healing and rebuilding is at night while you sleep, and this applies to your skin. Sleep is also required for good energy and mood.

Proper balance of bacteria: This is especially important if you have been on antibiotics, because those drugs indiscriminately kill off the beneficial bacteria in your gut, without which you cannot have a strong immune system. You can reestablish your bacterial balance by incorporating naturally fermented/cultured foods into your diet and/or taking a high-quality probiotic supplement.
Vitamin D: This important nutrient is crucial for maintaining a healthy immune response, and most people are deficient in it. Without adequate vitamin D, your body cannot control infection, in your skin or elsewhere. Exposing large areas of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels, or alternatively use a safe tanning bed. You should expose your skin until you just barely begin turning pink, which indicates you’ve generated the optimal amount of vitamin D for the day.
If you don’t have access to regular UV exposure, the last option is an oral vitamin D3 supplement, accompanied by regular monitoring of your vitamin D levels with a blood test.
Address your stress: My favorite tool is the Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. EFT involves tapping your body’s energy meridians with the tips of your fingers to clear emotional blocks, thus restoring balance to your mind and body. EFT is a powerful de-stressing technique that is easy for adults and children to learn. It can even relieve physical complaints such as chronic pain, allergy symptoms, and more. You can also add in other proven stress-busters, such as yoga and meditation.

The fact that most olive oils on the market are fraudulently diluted with less expensive (and more harmful) oils has been known for years. Now, a report1,2,3 in the journal Food Control warns that the purity and quality of avocado oil sold in the U.S. is questionable at best, and that standards to protect consumers and genuine producers are urgently needed.
Adulterated Avocado Oil Is Commonplace
According to the Food Control report,4 a vast majority of commercially available avocado oils labeled as “extra virgin” and “refined” are in fact adulterated and of poor quality; 82% were found to have gone rancid before their expiration date.5

Three of 22 oils were not even avocado oil but something else entirely (likely soybean oil). Co-author Selina Wang told Olive Oil Times6 that while she expected “some percentage of adulterants,” she was shocked to find several cases of 100% adulteration.
As noted in the report:7

“This study analyzed avocado oils currently on the market in the US to evaluate their quality (e.g., free fatty acidity, peroxide value, UV absorbances, vitamin E) and purity (e.g., fatty acids, sterols, triacylglycerols).
Our results showed that the majority of commercial samples were oxidized before reaching the expiration date listed on the bottle. In addition, adulteration with soybean oil at levels near 100% was confirmed in two ‘extra virgin’ and one ‘refined’ sample.”

How Purity and Quality Are Assessed

As explained in the Food Control report,8 an oil is considered authentic and pure when no additives or other oils have been added, and when the content matches that listed on the label.
Quality includes consideration of the raw material (the quality of the avocado used), the extraction process used and storage, but is “mostly related to the level of hydrolysis of the fruit and oxidation of the oil.” With this report, the authors have begun compiling a database “to support standards development for this industry.”
In all, 22 avocado oil samples were obtained from six grocery stores and two online sources, covering the major brands and types of oils, which include extra virgin/unrefined and refined. Countries of origin included California, Mexico, Brazil and Spain.
The majority of the samples were of low quality … This likely resulted from improper or prolonged storage, using damaged or rotten fruits, or extreme and harsh processing conditions.

While previous researchers have proposed a healthy level of free fatty acidity (FFA) should be between 0.1% and 0.55% for refined avocado oils, three of the 22 samples had FFA values close to 2.5%. Extra virgin avocado oils had an FFA range between 0.03% and 2.69%, with an overall average of 1.31%. 
According to the authors, these elevated FFA levels may be due to poor-quality fruit and/or poor handling during processing.9

“Unhealthy fruits that are damaged, bruised, overripe, insect infested; prolonged time between harvest and processing; overheating during processing are all factors that can contribute to a rise in FFA,” the authors note.

To put this into an easier to understand perspective for you, I am sure you have opened an overripe avocado in the past to see the ripe green avocado color turn to very dark, nearly black. Can you imagine the entire avocado being black when you open it up and processing it and turning it into oil? Well, that is precisely what you do when you purchase rancid avocado oil.
High Oxidation Is Common
When an oil is exposed to oxygen, peroxides and other oxidation products form, thereby giving the oil undesirable odors and flavors. While not as conspicuous as the FFA values, the trend toward high oxidation was also evident. In other words, many of the oils were rancid well before their “best by” date.

Extra virgin avocado oil had the highest oxidation values, which is expected, as the refining process removes peroxides. Still, many of the refined oils also had higher than expected peroxide levels. In fact, all but three samples were above Mexico’s CODEX cap.

Not surprisingly, the three samples with the highest peroxide levels were stored in clear, rather than tinted, packaging. This makes sense, as tinted bottles protect against photooxidation.

Storage time also contributes to higher oxidation. The longer the oil sits, the more likely it is to be oxidized, so always be sure to check the best by date. Sadly, higher price does not guarantee quality, as the most expensive oil assessed in this review also had the highest peroxidation value.
Exaggerated Vitamin E Content Suggests Adulteration
The vitamin E content was also measured, and exaggerated levels in some of the samples suggest adulteration with cheap soybean oil. As explained in the Food Control report:10

“There are eight compounds that make up vitamin E content, four tocopherols (?-tocopherol, ?-tocopherol, ?-tocopherol, ?-tocopherol) and four tocotrienols …
This study shows multiple samples (EV3, EV6, R1, U4, U5, U6) had total tocopherol contents over 400 mg/kg, which is interesting as the highest documented total tocopherol content in literature, to our knowledge, is 282 mg/kg.
In particular, there are three samples with a notably high total tocopherol content, EV3, EV6 and U6 at 645.4 mg/kg, 906.2 mg/kg, and 692.9 mg/kg, respectively. These samples had significantly higher levels of gamma and delta tocopherols compared to the other samples in this study and to values seen in literature for avocado oils.
A study that reported on the tocopherol content in fruits and vegetables, showed soybean oil has similar tocopherol levels and distributions to those seen in EV3, EV6 and U6, therefore, it is possible these samples contain soybean or had soybean tocopherols added after processing for preservation.”

Industry Standards Are Urgently Needed
The Food Control report is the first to demonstrate there are serious problems in the avocado oil industry. Just like olive oil, much of what’s being sold is adulterated and of inferior quality. As concluded by the authors:11

“The majority of the samples were of low quality with five of the seven oils labeled as ‘extra virgin’ having high FFA values and six of the nine ‘refined’ oils had high PV [peroxidation value]. FFA, PV, and specific extinction in UV data demonstrated that these oils have undergone lipolysis and oxidation, respectively.
This likely resulted from improper or prolonged storage, using damaged or rotten fruits, or extreme and harsh processing conditions. Extra virgin oils often are more expensive and distinguished from lower grades such as virgin or crude oils using the above quality parameters.
Adulteration with soybean oil was found in two samples labeled as ‘extra virgin’ avocado oil (EV3 and EV6) and one labeled as ‘pure’ avocado oil (U6).
Tocopherol, fatty acid, sterols, and TAGs data show this adulteration is occurring at or near 100% for all three samples. This not only is a potential health hazard for consumers but creates unfair competition in the market …
In the case of samples EV3, EV6, and U6 the adulteration was confirmed in addition to the adulteration percent and adulterant oil. However, the need for standards is also demonstrated by the samples R1, U4, and U5.
The variance seen in their fatty acid, sterols, TAGs, and tocopherols profiles could be due to natural variance of the avocado fruits, processing conditions, or unnaturally, economic adulteration with high oleic sunflower or safflower oils.”

Benefits of Authentic Avocado Oil

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I personally have never used avocado oil as I typically avoid processed oils, with the exception of our own Solspring biodynamic olive oil. I think it is far better to eat the whole food. That is precisely what I do — I have half an avocado every day in each of my collagen protein powder smoothies.

As detailed in “An Avocado a Day Keeps the Doctor Away,” avocados are loaded with healthy fats your body can easily use for energy. They’re also rich in fiber, protein and essential vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins, potassium, folate and vitamin K, and have been shown to counteract metabolic syndrome.

Considering the excellent nutritional profile of avocados, it’s no wonder avocado oil has risen in popularity in recent years. However, extracting the oil and putting it into a bottle allows plenty of opportunity for fraud, as the Food Control report demonstrates.

Unfortunately, the report does not specify the brands investigated, so it cannot be used as a guide when shopping. Provided you can actually find authentic avocado oil, it can be a very healthy addition to your diet. Health benefits of authentic avocado oil include:12,13,14

Normalizing blood pressure, thanks to its high potassium and vitamin E content that supports healthy blood vessel function and combats free radicals15
Anti-inflammatory effects, which help lower your risk of heart disease, arthritis and other inflammatory conditions16
Detoxification, thanks to its high chlorophyll content (which is also a natural source of magnesium) and glutathione17
Enhancing collagen production, thanks to vitamins A and D. High protein and amino acid levels also aids tissue regeneration and cellular renewal18
Supporting healthy vision, thanks to the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin19

Should You Cook With Avocado Oil?
Avocado oil is typically said to have a high smoke point, although just how high differs depending on the source. Masterclass.com cites it between 375 degrees Fahrenheit and 400 degrees F in one chart, while listing it at 480 degrees F for unrefined and 520 degrees F for refined in another.20
Australian researchers, meanwhile, cite a smoke point of about 386 degrees F (196.67 degrees Celsius plus or minus 0.577 degrees C).21 Either way, the higher smoke point of avocado oil has been relied on by many for the recommendation to use it during high-heat cooking, baking and frying.
However, the Australian researchers present evidence suggesting this might not be such a good idea after all. The study,22 published in 2018, assessed the correlation between various oils’ smoke point and other chemical characteristics associated with stability and safety.
Importantly, they found that “smoke point does not predict oil performance when heated.” Avocado oil was one of 10 cooking oils investigated. Paradoxically, they found that oils with higher smoke points, such as avocado oil, actually tended to produce higher levels of harmful compounds during heating — including trans fats.
For this reason, I don’t recommend avocado oil for cooking. Chances are, you’re better off using it cold. Without a doubt, your best alternatives for high-heat cooking, baking and frying include lard, grass fed butter and organic ghee. Coconut oil may also be a healthier alternative when cooking than avocado oil, as it’s known to be quite stable at high temperatures. The Australian study appears to support this as well.

In the video podcast above, Dr. Paul Saladino and science journalist and author, Nina Teicholz — who is also an adjunct professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the executive director of The Nutrition Coalition — review the evidence against chicken, and why saturated fat really qualifies as a health food.
Teicholz’ book, “The Big Fat Surprise,” challenged the conventional wisdom on dietary fats, especially saturated fat. Saladino, meanwhile, is releasing the second edition of his book, “The Carnivore Code,” August 4, 2020.
Why Conventional Chicken May Contribute to Poor Health

As noted by Saladino, while consumption of red meat is on the decline, thanks to the vilification of red meat and saturated fat, people are eating more and more chicken.
Long thought of as a healthier type of meat, primarily because it’s leaner than red meat, the problem with conventional chicken is that they’re fed corn — typically GMO varieties that are farmed with glyphosate.

Increasingly, we’re finding that trans fats and polyunsaturated fat from vegetable oils are far worse for your health, and a greater contributor to chronic disease, than added sugar even. And what happens when chicken is fed corn? The meat becomes high in omega-6 linoleic acid, as corn is high in this type of fat.1

As Saladino points out, high chicken consumption actually adds to your vegetable oil consumption. While you need some omega-6, the amounts obtained from a standard American diet high in processed foods are far too high for health. High omega-6 intake also skews your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, which ideally would be close to 1-to-1.

As noted by Saladino and Teicholz, 60% of the U.S. population has chronic disease, nearly 70% are overweight or obese, and recent NHANES data2 reveal 87.8% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, based on five parameters. That data is over four years old now, so the figure is clearly greater than 90% of the population today.
That means virtually everyone is at risk for Type 2 diabetes and all the chronic diseases associated with insulin resistance, which run the gamut from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Simply assuming you are one of the 12.2% (from the 4-year-old figures) that are metabolically healthy would be risky business.
Will Saturated Fat Myth Soon Be Upended?

Part of why chronic ill health is so widespread is this persistent idea that saturated animal fats are unhealthy, and should be replaced with industrial vegetable oils.3
On the upside, Teicholz reviews a recent paper4 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, published online June 17, 2020, which actually admits the long-standing nutritional guideline to limit saturated fat has been incorrect. This is a rather stunning admission, and a huge step forward. As noted in the abstract:

“The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke.
Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk.
It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution.
Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of CVD. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.”

How Did We Go so Wrong?
In the podcast, Saladino and Teicholz review the history of the demonization of saturated fat and cholesterol, starting with Ancel Keys’ flawed hypothesis5 that saturated fat causes heart disease in 1960-1961, and how the introduction of the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980 (which recommended limiting saturated fat and cholesterol) coincided with a rapid rise in obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease.

The massive increase in linoleic acid (omega-6 polyunsaturated fat found in industrial vegetable oils) is a key metabolic driver of obesity, heart disease, cancer and other chronic disease.

They also discuss the reasons why this myth has been allowed to persist, despite the scientific evidence against it. In short, the low-fat, low-cholesterol myths promulgated by Keys in the ’60s rapidly led to dramatic changes in the food and drug industries, and these behemoths are incredibly reluctant to relinquish what have become highly profitable businesses.

Acknowledging that saturated animal fats are healthy, and processed industrial vegetable oils and grains are not, would decimate the processed food industry, as it relies on vegetable oils and grains. The healthy alternative is real food, and there’s no big industry profits to be made from that.
Vegetable Oils Undermine Your Health
Saladino and Knobbe are both equally convinced that the massive increase in linoleic acid (omega-6 polyunsaturated fat found in industrial vegetable oils) is a key metabolic driver of obesity, heart disease, cancer and other chronic disease. They review several studies6,7,8,9,10,11,12 demonstrating the truth of this. 

Historically, humans got an estimated 2% polyunsaturated fat from their diet. Today, that percentage is between 10% and 20% — and conventional poultry is a hidden source of harmful polyunsaturated fat as well.

Importantly, they also review the incorrect belief that high LDL is a risk factor for heart disease, and that by lowering your LDL, you lower your risk of a heart attack. The science simply doesn’t bear this out, and the reason for this is because not all LDL particles are the same.

By cutting down on red meat and saturated fat and eating more vegetable oil and chicken for example (which again will count toward your vegetable oil or polyunsaturated fat intake), your LDL may go down, but those LDLs are now going to be oxidized, and no one is testing for oxidation. Oxidized LDL, Saladino explains, will in turn trigger insulin resistance and related problems, including heart disease.

Eating saturated fat, on the other hand, may raise your LDL, but those LDL particles will be large and “fluffy,” and do not cause any arterial damage. Many studies have demonstrated that high LDL has nothing to do with heart disease. High LDL does not raise your risk of heart disease per se, but oxidized LDL do.

Teicholz also makes another important point, in that the saturated fat myth has been one of the most thoroughly and comprehensive hypotheses in the history of nutritional science, and it has failed miserably.

She also details how avoiding saturated animal fats causes you to end up with nutritional deficiencies, as animal foods and fats are also rich in micronutrients. Industrially processed vegetable oils are not. As noted by Teicholz, “foods high in saturated fats are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.” These nutrients are also highly bioavailable.

Meanwhile, the diet recommended by our Dietary Guidelines for Americans do not actually meet nutritional goals. As a result, the most disadvantaged among us — impoverished school children who rely on school meals, hospital patients and the elderly who are in long-term care facilities for example — are being disproportionally harmed, as they have few if any options to make healthier food choices.
The Benefits of Carnosine
In addition to saturated fat and the vitamins and minerals it contains, red meat is also an important source of carnosine, a dipeptide (two amino acids put together) made up of beta-alanine and histidine. Carnosine is only found animal products. It serves as a scavenger or sink for reactive carbonyl groups — intermediaries that go on to form advanced lipoxidation end-products.
If you can grab these carbonyls before they attack proteins and fats, you can essentially stop the vicious cycle resulting in catastrophic peroxidation. Diets that exclude animal products and meat will lower your carnosine level, and carnosine is a really important nutrient to limit the damage from oxidation products. It’s also important for mitochondrial function.
Summary of Why Saturated Fats Are so Crucial
Toward the end of his podcast, around one hour and 44 minutes in, Saladino offers a comprehensive summary of the entire discussion. Here’s a quick review of his key points:

The insulin sensitivity of your adipose fat cells is inverse to the rest of your body. In other words, you want your fat cells to be insulin resistant, because this makes the rest of your body insulin sensitive (i.e., not insulin resistant). If your adipose fat cells are insulin sensitive, the rest of your body will be insulin resistant. The factor that determines the insulin sensitivity of your adipocytes is the fats you eat.
Linoleic acid “breaks the sensitivity for insulin at the level of your fat cells” — it makes them more insulin sensitive — and, since your fat cells control the insulin sensitivity of the rest of your body by releasing free fatty acids, you end up with insulin resistance.
Conversely, when you eat saturated fat, because of the way it’s beta-oxidized in your mitochondria, your fat cells become insulin resistant. As a result, they do not grow and they do not release free fatty acids. Thus, the insulin sensitivity in the rest of your body improves, and insulin resistance goes down.

Vegetable Oils Are Toxic
As discussed in my recent interview with Knobbe (above), the polyunsaturated fats from vegetable oils, seed oils and trans fats are mostly stored in your fat cells (opposed to being used for fuel), and have a half-life of 600 to 680 days.13

They also get incorporated into tissues, including your heart and brain. Who in their right mind would want a highly oxidizable oil saturating their organs for years? One result of this could be memory impairment and increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which is exactly what they found with canola oil.14 As reported in one 2017 study:15

“Our findings do not support a beneficial effect of chronic canola oil consumption on two important aspects of AD pathophysiology which includes memory impairments as well as synaptic integrity. While more studies are needed, our data do not justify the current trend aimed at replacing olive oil with canola oil.”

In the interview above, Knobbe explains the harms of vegetable oils and, like Saladino and Teicholz, reviews why they are a root cause behind virtually all chronic diseases.