Category: Recommended

Researchers have detected abnormalities in the brains of people with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition whose symptoms include muscle pain and fatigue.

Some researchers have suggested that the pain of fibromyalgia is the result of depression, but the new study suggests otherwise. The abnormalities were independent of anxiety and depression levels.

Researchers evaluated 20 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 10 healthy women without the condition who served as a control group. The researchers performed brain imaging called single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT.

The imaging showed that women with the syndrome had “brain perfusion” — blood flow abnormalities in their brains. The abnormalities were directly correlated with the severity of disease symptoms.

An increase in blood flow was found in the brain region known to discriminate pain intensity.

How and what you eat has radically changed over the past few decades with the all-consuming rise of the supermarket. But what price are you paying for this homogenized, cheap and convenient food? This video investigates how supermarkets have affected the food on your plate, and reveals the telltale signs that the food you buy may not have been grown in the way you think.

Berries are often hailed as some of the best fruits you can eat. That’s because they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that have a wide range of health benefits.
One class of compounds in berries that’s responsible for many of their health benefits is anthocyanins — the plant pigment that gives berries and other red, blue or purple plants their color. All berries contain some anthocyanins, but bilberries are considered one of the best natural sources.1
Bilberries are small, dark berries that look a lot like blueberries. In fact, because they look so similar, they’re often confused, but bilberries are smaller, softer and a little more tart than blueberries.
Bilberries, whose botanical name is Vaccinium myrtillus, are native to northern areas of the United States, Canada and parts of Europe and Asia and have been used as a medicinal plant for centuries.
You may not be as familiar with bilberries as some of the other berries such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, but with so many potential health benefits, it’s worth including them in your diet.
The Antioxidant Power of Bilberries
One of the reasons bilberries are so good for you is because of their high antioxidant content or, more specifically, their anthocyanin concentration. Anthocyanins are plant pigments classified as flavonoids.
Studies have shown anthocyanins protect against various long-term health issues and diseases, help improve eyesight and protect your nervous system.2 There are many physiological processes involved in how anthocyanins work, but two of the major mechanisms are by fighting free radicals and turning off chronic inflammation. Anthocyanins also have potent antimicrobial activity, so they can help fight infections from pathogenic viruses and bacteria.
While blueberries are often hailed for their rich antioxidant concentration, bilberries the only have 30% to 60% of the anthocyanin content of blueberries.3 True European bilberries contain 3.7 milligrams of anthocyanins per gram of total fruit weight. If you do the math, that means a half-cup of bilberries, which weighs roughly 74 grams depending on the size of each berry, contains about 274 mg of anthocyanins, most of which is concentrated in their skin.4
However, the exact amount of antioxidant compounds in bilberries depends on where they are grown. For example, one study showed that bilberries grown in the Velingrad region of Bulgaria had 34% higher concentrations of anthocyanins than bilberries that came from the Troyan region.5
There’s no current dietary recommendation for how many anthocyanins you should get, but studies suggest intakes of about 50 mg per day (about one-third cup) are enough to reap most of the health benefits.6 The average intake, meanwhile, is only 10.5 to 12.6 mg daily.7
In addition to anthocyanins, bilberries also contain catechins, epicatechins, quercetin, myrcetin and kempferol (other types of flavonoids), ascorbic acid, phenolic acids and chlorogenic acid — all compounds that also have antioxidant capabilities. While most of the benefits of bilberries can be attributed to their high anthocyanin content, all of the compounds work together to keep you healthy.
Bilberry Helps Maintain Eye Health
Legend has it that bilberries have been used to help improve vision since World War II, when British Air Force pilots discovered that when they ate bilberry jam before a night mission, they had better night vision.8 While there aren’t any official studies to confirm if bilberry actually has a positive effect on night vision, there are other studies that show bilberries can help improve other areas of eye health.
One animal study9 looked at whether or not bilberry could improve dry eye. The researchers found that daily administration of bilberry extract could increase tear production and help relieve symptoms of dry eye. In another animal study,10 bilberry was found to help fight against endotoxin-induced uveitis, or inflammation of the middle layer of the eye (called the uvea).
There are also some studies that look at how anthocyanins, in general, can help improve eye health. According to one review, anthocyanins can help increase blood flow to the eye, improve dark adaptation and relax eye muscles, helping improve symptoms of glaucoma and myopia, or nearsightedness.11
Bilberry Improves Blood Lipids and Heart Health

Although bilberries are small, they have big benefits for your heart. In one study,12 participants with risk factors for heart disease consumed bilberries, lingonberries, black currants and chokeberries on alternating days for eight weeks.
After the trial period, blood pressure decreased and HDL cholesterol increased significantly and there were measurable positive changes in platelet function. Another animal study13 found that bilberry extract could reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in diabetic rats.
Bilberry Protects Against Cancer

It’s estimated that 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer.14 But there are a lot of lifestyle changes you can make to protect yourself, and eating anthocyanin-rich foods like bilberries is one of them.
In a 2017 study,15 researchers discovered that consuming anthocyanin-rich foods can help inhibit cancer cell growth and prevent metastasis. Anthocyanins have also been shown to trigger apoptosis, or the death of cancer cells.
Bilberry Reduces Chronic Inflammation

Inflammation is your body’s defense mechanism against diseases and potentially harmful pathogens. However, when it becomes chronic, it can affect your quality of life and lead to devastating conditions like heart disease, cancer and liver disease.
More than 50% of deaths worldwide are caused by inflammatory diseases.16 The anthocyanins of bilberry can help turn off chronic inflammation and return your body to optimal function.
In a 2007 study published in The Journal of Nutrition,17 researchers noted that anthocyanin-rich bilberry extracts helped inhibit nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB), a proinflammatory compound that can lead to chronic inflammation. In the study, which lasted three weeks, participants were divided into two groups. One group was given 300 mg of anthocyanins from bilberries each day, while the other group was given a placebo.
After the trial period, participants in the bilberry group had a 38% to 60% decrease in inflammatory markers, while the placebo group’s inflammatory markers went down by just 4% to 6%.
In another study,18 researchers found that some of the other compounds in bilberries — quercetin, epicatechin and reservatrol — could also inhibit NF-kappaB, reducing inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, and fighting off oxidative stress.
Bilberry Helps Maintain Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

Some of the compounds in bilberries also act on digestive enzymes, slowing down carbohydrate digestion and helping to maintain healthier blood sugar levels.19
In one study,20 researchers divided participants into three groups: a bilberry-enriched diet group, a group whose diet was enriched with other berries (strawberries, raspberries and cloudberries) and a group on a control diet.
After eight weeks, only the bilberry-enriched diet group had positive changes in fasting blood glucose levels, insulin secretion and beta cell function. The researchers connected these benefits to better overall glycemic control.
Similarly, in an animal study,21 researchers found bilberry extract could reduce high blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity in mice with Type 2 diabetes, a combination that could both help prevent and treat the condition.
Bilberry May Help You Lose Weight

Studies show that having a high daily intake of anthocyanins may also help you lose weight, specifically fat mass, independent of other factors like genetics. Researchers from a study22 that was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the diets of healthy female twins and calculated their total flavonoid intake.
They found that participants aged 50 and younger with a high intake of anthocyanins had 3% to 9% lower total fat mass and less fat around their midsection than their twin.
The study didn’t use bilberries specifically, but since bilberries are one of the most anthocyanin-rich foods, it makes sense that including them in your diet would have similar, if not more significant, effects.
How to Eat Bilberries

The easiest way to eat bilberries is by the handful, just like you would with blueberries. However, since they’re not as popular as blueberries, they’re not always easy to find in your local grocery store.
If you can’t find them fresh, you can order organic dried bilberries online. If you choose to eat them dried, make sure you’re not overdoing it. Since dried fruit has most of the water removed, it’s a lot easier to eat too much of them and if you do, you’ll be taking in a lot of sugar too. You can also find bilberry leaf tea, although it’s better to consume the whole fruit to get the full benefit.

In this video, I explain how you can recognize the symptoms of fibromyalgia, and the steps you can take for natural, side effect-free pain relief.
 

We have a problem with plastic. Not only is it difficult to get rid of without damaging the environment, but we appear to have an addiction to all things disposable. In the U.S., plastic is considered an integral and necessary part of daily life. Just a stroll down the grocery store aisle reveals an unhealthy dependence on plastic, from packaging to bags for our groceries.
Fresh produce is often wrapped in plastic or sliced and shrink-wrapped in a plastic covering. Nuts, cheese, milk and lettuce are all encased in plastic. Across the world, 299 million tons were produced in 2013, much of which ended up in the oceans, threatening wildlife and environment.1 In 2015, the U.S. generated 34.4 million tons, which accounted for 13.2% of municipal solid waste.2
In the case of plastic packaging, 95% of the material value, an estimated $80 billion to $120 billion annually, is lost after its first usage, adding economic problems to other drawbacks, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.3 Now scientists are thinking about how to make plastic into food.
Exchanging Plastic for Food

With a focus on improving military logistics, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Iowa State University and partners a $2.7 million grant to make food from plastic and paper waste, which they intend to feed to military men and women.4 The ability to turn paper and plastic into a food product may help with short-term nourishment for soldiers and improve military logistics for extended missions.
They estimate the total grant award may reach $7.8 million before the project ends. Partners in this endeavor include the American Institute of Chemical Engineers RAPID Institute, the University of Delaware and Sandia National Laboratories. Initially, the system is being called the Novel Oxo-degradation to Macronutrients for Austere Deployments (NOMAD).
The aim is to convert paper waste into sugars and plastic into fatty acids and fatty alcohols. These byproducts would then be processed into a single cell biomass in the field. Other examples of single cell proteins include Vegemite and nutritional yeast. The NOMAD system must fit specific requirements to enable military troops to carry it with them during deployment and extraction.
While DARPA is initiating the project for use by the military in the field, it may not be long before such a system would be proposed as a means of providing inexpensive food stuffs for others. As explained in the press release from Iowa State University, the process could “go a long way toward solving looming problems of plastic disposal and ensuring a viable global food chain.”5
Robert Brown from Iowa State University is the principal investigator on the project. He explained how plastics and paper could biodegrade in the field and be used to grow edible yeast or bacteria:6

“When exposed to heat or ultraviolet light in the presence of oxygen, plastics convert to oxygenated compounds that can be consumed by microorganisms — plastics are, in fact, bio-degradable, but the process is very slow, as evidenced by the accumulation of plastic wastes in the environment.

We can dramatically increase oxo-degradation of plastics to fatty compounds by raising the temperature a few hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The cooled product is used to grow yeast or bacteria into single cell proteins suitable as food.”

‘An Army Marches on Its Stomach’

This familiar saying has been attributed to Napoleon and Fredrick the Great in reference to the ability of an army to perform better when their nutritional needs are met.7 While an argument could be made the food supplied to the military would be “natural” single cell protein, it’s important to remember the lessons that we have learned from grain-fed beef.
There are multiple problems with raising livestock in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), including issues with the environment, water supply, humane treatment of the animals and the addition of chlorine and other toxins to clear away contaminants. Despite the outcry over CAFOs, many fall back to the claim that factory farms can feed the world. The question is — at what cost?
As nutritional analyses have revealed, issues inside the CAFOs and surrounding communities are not the only problems. The nutritional differences in beef raised or finished on grain versus beef from pasture raised animals is striking. Grass fed beef has better fatty acid composition and antioxidant content.8
The meat is higher in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and precursors to CLA,9 which play a role in fat metabolism and positively modify cardiometabolic risk factors which impact body composition by lowering body fat levels.10 Grass fed beef is also higher in omega 3 fats and lower in cholesterol elevating fats.11
The aim of producing more meat in less time with less effort has led to a glut on the market of beef that contributes to the ill health of those who eat it. Ronnie Cummins from the Organic Consumers Association says it best in this article:

“Before these hapless creatures are dragged away to hell, to be fattened up on GMO grains and drugged up in America’s CAFOs, their meat is high in beneficial omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), and low in ‘bad’ fats.

Unfortunately by the time their abused and contaminated carcasses arrive, all neatly packaged, at your local supermarket, restaurant, or school cafeteria, the meat is low in omega-3 and good “fats,” and routinely tainted by harmful bacteria, not to mention pesticide, steroid, and antibiotic residues.”

The lesson learned is that just because it looks like healthy beef, doesn’t mean it carries the same nutritional value as that raised in a healthy environment. Of course, the same can be said about Impossible Burgers or any other food product manufactured in the lab. In the short term it may be a solution to a military problem, but do you think it will stop there?
Is Recycling Just a Big Fraud?

Recycling is another way of attempting to reduce the problem with plastic pollution. However, the question remains as to whether this is a viable answer since there is growing evidence suggesting it may have only a minor impact under the best of circumstances.
The Guardian12 reports that Earth Island Institute filed a lawsuit against 10 major companies. The group hopes to force the organizations to take responsibility and pay for the environmental and ecological destruction their products are causing. Ramping up recycling may sound like an answer, but as the executive director of the Basel Action Network, Jim Puckett, told Rolling Stone magazine:13

“They really sold people on the idea that plastics can be recycled because there’s a fraction of them that are. It’s fraudulent. When you drill down into plastics recycling, you realize it’s a myth.”

Pucket goes on to describe how 91% of the plastic created since 1950 has never been recycled, quoting a study published in 2017.14 In addition, the reporter from Rolling Stone, Tim Dickinson, wrote:15

“Unlike aluminum, which can be recycled again and again, plastic degrades in reprocessing, and is almost never recycled more than once. A plastic soda bottle, for example, might get downcycled into a carpet.”

At the rate at which plastic is being added to the ocean, it’s expected there will be more plastics than fish by 2050.16 You’ll find more about plastic recycling, struggles with landfill pileup and Coca-Cola undermining the recycling efforts in “Is Plastic Recycling Just a Big Fraud?”
Lifetime Average Consumption of Plastic Is Shocking

Tiny bits of plastic can be found nearly everywhere in the environment, including the food on your plate. Microplastics, as they are called, are smaller than 5 mm and have been found in foods and beverages. Drinking water is one of the largest sources from which researchers estimate the average person consumes 1,769 particles each week.17
Yet, bottled water is not the solution since it may contain even more plastic than tap water. Research published in Environmental Science and Technology suggested people who drink bottled water exclusively may consume more microplastics than those who drink tap water:18

“Additionally, individuals who meet their recommended water intake through only bottled sources may be ingesting an additional 90,000 microplastics annually, compared to 4,000 microplastics for those who consume only tap water.”

Plastic pollution likely originates from the manufacturing process of bottles and caps. When researchers tested 259 bottles of 11 bottled water brands, they found there were 325 pieces of microplastic per liter, on average.19 The brands tested included Aquafina, Evian, Dasani, San Pellegrino and Nestle Pure Life, among others.
Based on the findings from the WWF International study, Reuters created an illustration showing how much plastic a person would consume over time. According to these estimations, you may be consuming:20

Every week — 5 grams or enough plastic to pack a soup spoon.
Every six months — 125 grams or enough shredded flakes to fill a cereal bowl.
Every year — 250 grams or a heaping dinner plate of shredded plastic.
Every 10 years — 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) or about the size of a standard life buoy.
Over 79 years — 20 kg (44 pounds) of shredded plastic over an average lifetime.

To put this in perspective, one car tire weighs about 20 pounds.21 So a lifetime supply of plastic consumption would be like slowly eating 2.2 car tires. Thava Palanisami of the University of Newcastle, who was involved in a study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told Reuters:22

“We have been using plastic for decades but we still don’t really understand the impact of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles on our health … All we know is that we are ingesting it and that it has the potential to cause toxicity. That is definitely a cause for concern.”

A Call to End Plastic Pollution

The fight against plastic pollution is being carried out on several fronts. In addition to the lawsuit filed by Earth Island Institute, the WWF is calling on governments to support further research into the consequences on living organisms when microplastics are ingested. In their analysis, they note:23

“The current global approach to addressing the plastic crisis is failing. Governments play a key role to ensure all actors in the plastic system are held accountable for the true cost of plastic pollution to nature and people.”

You can help by supporting legislation that is aimed at holding companies accountable for the pollution they create. For example, New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall introduced the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, which requires companies selling plastic products to pay for “end-of-life” initiatives that ensure plastic does not end up polluting the environment.24
Bills like this need your support since the industry has deep pockets and its players are notorious for their extensive lobbying and public relations expertise. It’s also important to remember the significant impact you can have by making simple changes in your daily life. Below is a sampling of strategies that can help:

Don’t use plastic bags. Opt for reusable bags, especially for groceries

Bring your own mug for a coffee drink; skip the lid and straw

Instead of buying bottled water, bring water from home in a glass water bottle

Make sure the items you recycle are actually recyclable

Store foods in glass containers or Mason jars, not plastic containers or freezer bags

Bring your own leftovers container when eating out

Avoid processed foods, which are typically sold with plastic wrapping or plastic-lined paper boxes. Buy fresh produce and use vegetable bags brought from home

Request no plastic wrap on your newspaper and dry cleaning

Use nondisposable razors, cloth diapers and rags. (Old shirts and socks make great cleaning rags)

Avoid disposable utensils and straws and buy foods in bulk when you can

Buy clothes and other items at secondhand stores. Microfibers found in newer clothing can be as destructive as plastic grocery bags

Buy infant toys and even pet toys made of wood or untreated fabric, not plastic

Chronic pain is a pervasive issue and fibromyalgia is a very common form. It is a chronic condition whose symptoms include muscle and tissue pain, fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances.
Recent data suggests that central sensitization, in which neurons in your spinal cord become sensitized by inflammation or cell damage, may be involved in the way fibromyalgia sufferers process pain.
Certain chemicals in the foods you eat may trigger the release of neurotransmitters that heighten this sensitivity.
Although there have been only a handful of studies on diet and fibromyalgia, the following eating rules can’t hurt, and may help, when dealing with chronic pain.
Limit Sugar as Much as Possible. Increased insulin levels will typically dramatically worsen pain. So you will want to limit all sugars and this would typically include fresh fruit juices. Whole fresh fruit is the preferred method for consuming fruit products.
If you are overweight, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes, you will also want to limit grains as much as possible as they are metabolized very similarly to sugars. This would also include organic unprocessed grains. Wheat and gluten grains are the top ones to avoid.
Eat fresh foods. Eating a diet of fresh foods, devoid of preservatives and additives, may ease symptoms triggered by coexisting conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
It’s also a good idea to buy organic food when possible, as it’s best to avoid pesticides and chemicals. However, fresh is best. So if you have to choose between local, fresh, non-organic and organic but wilting – go with fresh, and clean properly.
Avoid caffeine. Fibromyalgia is believed to be linked to an imbalance of brain chemicals that control mood, and it is often linked with inadequate sleep and fatigue. The temptation is to artificially and temporarily eliminate feelings of fatigue with stimulants like caffeine, but this approach does more harm than good in the long run. Though caffeine provides an initial boost of energy, it is no substitute for sleep, and is likely to keep you awake.
Try avoiding nightshade vegetables. Nightshade vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant may trigger arthritis and pain conditions in some people.
Be Careful with Your Fats. Animal based omega-3 fats like DHA and EPA have been touted as a heart-healthy food, and they may help with pain, as well. They can help reduce inflammation and improve brain function. At the same time, you want to eliminate all trans fat and fried foods, as these will promote inflammation.
Use yeast sparingly. Consuming yeast may also contribute to the growth of yeast fungus, which can contribute to pain.
Avoid pasteurized dairy. Many fibromyalgia sufferers have trouble digesting milk and dairy products. However, many find that raw dairy products, especially from grass fed organic sources, are well tolerated.
Cut down on carbs. About 90 percent of fibromyalgia patients have low adrenal functioning, which affects metabolism of carbohydrates and may lead to hypoglycemia.
Avoid aspartame. The artificial sweetener found in some diet sodas and many sugar-free sweets is part of a chemical group called excitotoxins, which activate neurons that can increase your sensitivity to pain.
Avoid additives. Food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) often cause trouble for pain patients. MSG is an excitatory neurotransmitter that may stimulate pain receptors; glutamate levels in spinal fluid have been shown to correlate with pain levels in fibromyalgia patients.
Stay away from junk food. Limit or eliminate fast food, candy, and vending-machine products. In addition to contributing to weight gain and the development of unhealthy eating habits, these diet-wreckers may also irritate your muscles, disrupt your sleep, and compromise your immune system.

Eating fruits such as avocados, apples and berries may support your metabolic health, lowering your risk of Type 2 diabetes and supporting healthy blood pressure.
At the core of the condition, Type 2 diabetes is a function of insulin resistance, which in turn is a diet-induced condition. Obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar are also signs of metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that raise your risk of diabetes.1
Processed foods loaded with added sugars, processed grains and industrial processed omega-6 vegetable oils are the primary culprits that trigger insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and while cutting out toxic foods such as these is essential, adding in healthy foods, like certain fruits, can be beneficial.
Optimizing your nutrition can help lower your insulin level, stabilize your glucose level and improve your overall energy. Fortunately, making small positive dietary changes, including eating more of certain healthy fruits, may help reduce your risk of diabetes and lower your blood pressure.
The Mighty Avocado Helps Lower Blood Sugar

Legend has it the early name for avocados — “alligator pear” — came from an early English mispronunciation and misunderstanding.2 The name may have continued since the skin has a vaguely reptilian appearance and the fruit is shaped like a pear. But no matter the name or appearance, avocados are superfoods that may also help lower your blood sugar.
Paul Spagnuolo, Ph.D., and a team at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, revealed that a compound called avocation B, found only in avocados, can beneficially alter cellular processes that increase the risk of diabetes.3,4 In Canada, 25% of citizens are obese. This is a condition that increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes. By comparison, the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. was 42.4% in 2018.5
The team began the study by feeding mice a high-fat diet for eight weeks, which triggered obesity and insulin resistance. Over the next five weeks, the mice were separated into two groups. One group continued the high-fat diet and the other group’s food was supplemented with avocatin B.6
At the end of the five weeks, the researchers found the mice that were treated with avocatin B had gained significantly less weight than the control group and, more importantly, had a higher insulin sensitivity.7
The team then went on to test supplements in a human clinical trial in which they gave avocatin B as a dietary supplement to participants who were eating a typical Western diet. They found weight reductions in the individuals and no effect on the kidney, liver or skeletal muscles from the supplement. While speaking to Nutrition Insight, Spagnolo warned:8

“We want to stress that the benefit of this molecule is in its ability to help regulate blood glucose. Reductions in weight are likely a secondary effect. We realize that this is a desirable feature for most, however, urge caution for weight loss as the sole indication.”

Spagnuolo also spoke with a reporter from Yahoo! Life about the bioactive ingredient, avocatin B. He believes avocados are a healthy addition to the diet for people with diabetes and prediabetes, explaining:9

“When we talk about bioactives, think of it like the nutrients we get from other foods: we get Omega-3 fatty acids from eating fish and Vitamin C from oranges. AvoB is a bioactive ingredient in avocados, which can be an important dietary choice for diabetics and prediabetics.
When your metabolism is working, everything is in balance. You have ideal levels of blood sugar, good cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. … Science tells us that blood sugar imbalances can have a profound and negative impact on our health.
They can impact our energy levels, concentration, mood, and much more. And for diabetics, unbalanced blood sugars could lead to even more serious health complications like heart attack and stroke.”

While the avocado is one of the healthiest foods, rich in monounsaturated fat, fiber, magnesium, potassium, vitamin K and carotenoids, there is also a dark side. Each avocado requires 70 liters (18.49 gallons) of water to produce, which means the fruit can be environmentally destructive. Read more about the challenge and what you can do to support sustainable methods for growing avocados at “Avocado — Superfood and Environmental Killer.”

High Flavanol Diet May Help Lower Blood Pressure
People with metabolic syndrome also have difficulty regulating their blood pressure. In what researchers called the first-of-its-kind study in the U.K., scientists used objective measures for dietary intake across thousands of residents, using data for 25,618 people in Norfolk, U.K., and compared the data against their blood pressure measurements.10
Most other studies look at links between nutrition and health but rely on the study participants’ self-reported data. In this analysis, the researchers measured the participants’ flavanol intake using nutritional biomarkers present in the blood. They then compared those against their blood pressure measurements.11
The data revealed blood pressure measurement differences between people with the highest 10% of flavanols as compared to the lowest 10% between 2 and 4 mmHg. The researchers wrote this was comparable to the difference measured when a person switched to a Mediterranean diet or the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
Nutritionist Gunter Kuhnle at the University of Reading led the study. He talked about the importance of how the data were collected and the implications for consistent dietary intake of foods with flavanols, saying:12

“Previous studies of large populations have always relied on self-reported data to draw conclusions, but this is the first epidemiological study of this scale to objectively investigate the association between a specific bioactive compound and health. We are delighted to see that in our study, there was also a meaningful and significant association between flavanol consumption and lower blood pressure.
What this study gives us is an objective finding about the association between flavanols — found in tea and some fruits — and blood pressure. This research confirms the results from previous dietary intervention studies and shows that the same results can be achieved with a habitual diet rich in flavanols. In the British diet, the main sources are tea, cocoa, apples and berries.”

The subclass of flavanols measured in the study were flavan-3-ols,13 commonly found in tea, berries, apples and cocoa-based products.14 These same flavonoids have demonstrated benefits in other studies.15
Researchers have found those who drank tea consistently had a lower risk of all-cause mortality and were free of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease for 1.41 years longer than those who did not drink tea.16 Of the tea tested, green tea was the most healthful. Green tea has also been linked with other health benefits that I discuss in “Tea Drinkers Shown To Be More Healthy.”
The High Cost of Diabetes

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that diabetes affected 25.8 million people in the U.S.17 This was 18.8 million who were diagnosed and 7 million who were undiagnosed, representing 8.3% of the population. A short nine years later those numbers had jumped drastically higher.
The CDC currently reports 34.2 million people with diabetes, 26.9 million of which are diagnosed and 7.3 million are undiagnosed.18 The total represents 10.5% of the U.S. population. They also estimate the number of people with prediabetes who are over 18 years as 88 million people or 34.5% of the adult population.
In total, 45% of the U.S. population is affected by diabetes or prediabetes, which can lead to long-term complications including cardiovascular disease, nerve damage and Alzheimer’s disease.19
The combination of many individuals with diabetes and the number of complications associated with the condition contribute to the staggering financial costs of the disease. According to the American Diabetes Association, people with diabetes have 2.3 times more health care costs than those without diabetes.20
Annually, this totals $327 billion, which means 1 in every 7 health care dollars is spent on treating people for diabetes and its complications. The largest expenditures are on inpatient care, prescription medications, diabetes supplies and physician office visits. There are also indirect costs to the individuals and employers, including $26.9 billion lost in reduced productivity and $3.3 billion lost in absenteeism.
Address Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Insulin Sensitivity

At the center of the pathology behind diabetes is mitochondrial dysfunction. Eating a high-carbohydrate diet that bathes your mitochondria in glucose can suppress mitochondrial metabolism.21
As I’ve written before, your mitochondria are energy producers inside most of your cells and are the primary sources of energy to keep your body functioning. Mitochondrial dysfunction is at the heart of several disease pathologies, including cardiovascular diseases22 and neurological dysfunction.23
While there is no easy answer, I believe the foundational first step to addressing metabolic defects responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction, Type 2 diabetes and obesity is to make food choices that boost mitochondrial health. I discussed this in detail in my book Fat for Fuel.
In my book I discussed the importance of metabolic flexibility and insulin sensitivity. Achieving this through nutritional ketosis helps to support your mitochondrial health. To reverse Type 2 diabetes, you need to recover insulin and leptin sensitivities.
The best way to address those metabolic conditions is through proper diet and exercise as I detail in my free nutritional plan. You’ll find further suggestions to optimize your health and improve your insulin sensitivity, including optimizing gut flora, monitoring fasting insulin levels and sleep requirements in “Diabetes Has Become One of the Most Expensive and Lethal Diseases in the World.”
As for fruit consumption, eating small amounts can be an excellent way to increase your intake of beneficial antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. But moderation is key, especially if you have metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and/or Type 2 diabetes.
Because fruit contains fructose, it can increase your risk of insulin resistance if you eat large amounts. Examples of lower fructose fruits that are beneficial for most people include avocados, berries, kiwi and citrus fruits.

Fibromyalgia, characterized by chronic, widespread pain is an often-debilitating condition that primarily affects women. While as many as 10 million Americans have fibromyalgia, its cause remains a mystery.

Brain scans of fibromyalgia patients have offered hard evidence that the pain they experience is indeed real — mainly because their threshold for tolerating pain impulses is substantially lower than that of most individuals. But the mechanism causing this lowered pain threshold is still unknown.

Some experts, such as Dr. Frederick Wolfe, the director of the National Databank for Rheumatic Diseases and the lead author of the 1990 paper that first defined fibromyalgia’s diagnostic guidelines, believe fibromyalgia is mainly a physical response to mental and emotional stress.

But while stress and emotions may indeed play an important role, more recent research shows fibromyalgia patients tend to have severe inflammation in their body, including their nervous system and brain.
Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Diagnosis can be a challenge, but the updated case definitions of fibromyalgia, issued in 2010 and later simplified in 2012, claim to correctly diagnose about 83 percent of cases.1 Originally, the condition was thought to be a peripheral musculoskeletal disease. Today, fibromyalgia has become increasingly recognized as a neurobiological problem causing central pain sensitization.
Unfortunately, there are currently no laboratory tests available for diagnosing fibromyalgia, so physicians primarily depend on patient histories, reported symptoms and physical exam findings. Classic symptoms of this condition include:

• Pain — The key marker of fibromyalgia is pain, which is profound, widespread and chronic. Pain inside of your elbows and knees, collarbones and hips is indicative of fibromyalgia when it’s present on both sides.

People also frequently report pain all over their bodies — including in their muscles, ligaments and tendons — and the pain tends to vary in intensity. It has been described as deep muscular aching, stabbing, shooting, throbbing and twitching.

Neurological complaints add to the discomfort, such as numbness, tingling and burning. The severity of the pain and stiffness is often worse in the morning. Aggravating factors include cold/humid weather, nonrestorative sleep, fatigue, excessive physical activity, physical inactivity, anxiety and stress.
• Cognitive impairment — So-called “fibro-fog” or foggy-headedness is a common complaint.
• Fatigue — The fatigue of fibromyalgia is different from the fatigue that many people complain of in today’s busy world. It is more than being tired; it’s an all-encompassing exhaustion that interferes with even the simplest daily activities, often leaving the patient with a limited ability to function both mentally and physically for an extended period of time.
• Sleep disruption — Another major part of the diagnostic criteria for this condition is some type of significant sleep disturbance. In fact, part of an effective treatment program is to make sure you’re sleeping better.

Medical researchers have documented specific and distinctive abnormalities in the Stage 4 deep sleep of fibromyalgia patients. During sleep, they are constantly interrupted by bursts of awake-like brain activity, limiting the amount of time they spend in deep sleep.
• Other symptoms — Other common symptoms include irritable bowel and bladder, headaches and migraines, restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movements, impaired memory and concentration, skin sensitivities and rashes, dry eyes and mouth, anxiety, depression, ringing in the ears, dizziness, Raynaud’s Syndrome and impaired coordination.

Conventional treatment typically involves some form of pain medication, and perhaps psychotropic drugs like antidepressants. I don’t recommend either as they fail to address the cause of your problem. Many fibromyalgia sufferers also do not respond to conventional painkillers, which can set in motion a vicious circle of overmedicating on these dangerous drugs.
Brain Inflammation — Another Hallmark of Fibromyalgia

Using PET imaging, a recent investigation2 by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden revealed the presence of widespread brain inflammation in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia.3,4
Earlier research5 conducted at Karolinska Institutet also discovered high concentrations of cytokines (inflammatory proteins) in the cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting fibromyalgia patients have inflammation in their nervous system as well.6
The team at Massachusetts General Hospital, meanwhile, has previously shown that neural inflammation, and glial cell (immune cells) activation specifically, plays a role in chronic back pain. Animal studies have also offered evidence for the hypothesis that glial cell activation can be a cause of chronic pain in general.7
Here, they found that when glial cells in the cerebral cortex were activated, the more aggressive the activation, the greater the fatigue experienced by the patient. As reported by Medical Life Sciences:8

“The current study first assessed fibromyalgia symptoms in patients using a questionnaire. A PET tracer was then used, that is, a radioactive marker which binds a specific protein called translocator protein (TSPO) that is expressed at levels much above the normal in activated glial cells, namely, astrocytes and microglia …
[G]lial activation was found to be present at significantly higher levels in multiple brain areas in patients who had fibromyalgia than in controls. Glial cell activation causes inflammatory chemicals to be released, which cause the pain pathways to be more sensitive to pain, and promote fatigue …
One area showing higher TSPO binding in direct proportion to the self-reported level of fatigue was the cingulate gyrus, an area of the brain linked to emotional processing. Previous research has reported that this area is inflamed in chronic fatigue syndrome.”

Brain Inflammation Linked to Loss of Brain Cells

In related news, German researchers investigating inflammation mechanisms in the brain have found that as mice get older and regulation of inflammatory responses become increasingly impaired, they start losing brain cells.9

Interestingly, the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), which produces the “high” in response to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana, also helps regulate inflammatory reactions in your brain. In short, chronic brain inflammation is in part driven by the CB1 receptors’ failure to respond. To understand how this works, you need to know a little bit about how microglial cells work.

Microglial cells are specialized immune cells found in your central nervous system, including your spinal cord and brain. These immune cells respond to bacteria and are responsible for clearing out malfunctioning nerve cells. They also signal and recruit other immune cells when needed and trigger the inflammatory response when necessary.

Problems arise when the inflammatory response becomes dysregulated and overactive. In the brain, the inflammation can easily damage healthy brain tissue. The “brake signal” that instructs glial cells to stop their inflammatory activity is endocannabinoids, and the endocannabinoids work by binding to certain receptors, including CB1 and cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2).
Immune Cells Communicate and Influence Inflammatory Response Using Endocannabinoids
Curiously, microglial cells have virtually no CB1 and very few CB2 receptors, yet they still react to endocannabinoids. The present study was designed to investigate this puzzling riddle. As it turns out, there’s a type of neuron that does contain a large number of CB1 receptors, and it appears that it is the CB1 receptors on these specific neurons that control microglial cell activity.
In other words, it appears microglial cells do not communicate with nerve cells directly; rather, they release endocannabinoids, which then bind to CB1 receptors found in nearby neurons. These neurons in turn communicate directly with other nerve cells. So, the brain’s immune response is regulated in an indirect manner rather than a direct one.
Now, what happens with age is that your natural production of endocannabinoids decreases, which then leads to impaired immune response regulation and chronic inflammation. As noted by coauthor Dr. Andras Bilkei-Gorzo:10

“Since the neuronal CB1 receptors are no longer sufficiently activated, the glial cells are almost constantly in inflammatory mode. More regulatory neurons die as a result, so the immune response is less regulated and may become free-running.”

Earlier research11 by this same team found that THC can help restore cognitive function in older brains, and the current study also hints at THC-containing cannabis may have valuable neuroprotective benefits in older people by quelling brain inflammation and preventing loss of brain cells. As the study was done on mice, further research is needed to confirm that the same mechanisms apply to humans, but it’s compelling nonetheless.
Are You Living an Inflammatory Lifestyle?
Your diet can either promote or decrease inflammation. For example, foods that increase the inflammatory response in your body include:

Sugar, especially processed corn syrup
Synthetically produced trans fats
Processed vegetable and seed oils, high in oxidized omega-6 fat
Processed meats
Refined carbohydrates

Meanwhile, marine-based omega-3 fats have powerful anti-inflammatory effects, and are crucial for healthy brain function in general. Antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables are also important for controlling inflammation, as is optimizing your vitamin D to a level of 60 to 80 ng/mL, ideally through sensible sun exposure.
In addition to anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties, vitamin D receptors appear in a wide variety of brain tissue, and researchers believe optimal vitamin D levels may enhance important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of glial cells that help nurse damaged neurons back to health.
A number of ubiquitous chemicals have also been implicated in inflammation, so if you struggle with fibromyalgia you’d be wise to take a close look at your choice of foods, household and personal care products. As mentioned earlier, getting enough high-quality sleep is another key treatment component for fibromyalgia.
Ketogenic Diet Massively Decreases Brain Inflammation

Research12 published last year suggests ketogenic diets — which are high in healthy fats and low in net carbs — are a particularly powerful ally for suppressing brain inflammation, as ketones are powerful HDAC (histone deacetylase inhibitors) that suppress the primary NF-?B inflammatory pathway.
As explained by Medical Xpress,13 the defining moment of the study14 came when the team “identified a pivotal protein that links the diet to inflammatory genes, which, if blocked, could mirror the anti-inflammatory effects of ketogenic diets.”

A ketogenic diet changes the way your body uses energy, converting your body from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat as your primary source of fuel. When your body is able to burn fat, your liver creates ketones, which burn more efficiently than carbs, thus creating far less reactive oxygen species and secondary free radicals that can damage your cellular and mitochondrial cell membranes, proteins and DNA.

Animals (rats) used in this study were found to have reduced inflammation when the researchers used a molecule called 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) to block glucose metabolism and induce a ketogenic state, similar to what would occur if you followed a ketogenic diet. By doing this, inflammation was brought down to levels near those found in controls.
Suppressing Inflammation Improves Pain
Senior study author Dr. Raymond Swanson, a professor of neurology at UCSF and chief of the neurology service at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, commented on the results, saying:

“I was most surprised by the magnitude of this effect, because I thought ketogenic diets might help just a little bit. But when we got these big effects with 2DG, I thought wow, there’s really something here.

The team further found that reduced glucose metabolism lowered a key barometer of energy metabolism — the NADH/NAD+ ratio — which in turn activated a protein called CtBP that acts to suppress activity of inflammatory genes.”

The study also pointed out that a ketogenic diet may relieve pain via several mechanisms, similar to the ways it’s known to help epilepsy.

“Like seizures, chronic pain is thought to involve increased excitability of neurons; for pain, this can involve peripheral and/or central neurons. Thus, there is some similarity of the underlying biology,” the authors stated, adding:
“A major research focus should be on how metabolic interventions such as a ketogenic diet can ameliorate common, comorbid and difficult-to-treat conditions such as pain and inflammation.”15

Cyclical Ketosis for Optimal Health

Eating a ketogenic diet doesn’t have to be complicated or painful. My book “Fat for Fuel” presents a complete Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy (MMT) program, complemented by an online course created in collaboration with nutritionist Miriam Kalamian, who specializes in nutritional ketosis.

The course, which consists of seven comprehensive lessons, teaches you the keys to fighting chronic disease and optimizing your health and longevity. In summary, the MMT diet is a cyclical ketogenic diet, high in healthy fats and fiber, low in net carbs with a moderate amount of protein.

The cyclical component is important, as long-term continuous ketosis has drawbacks that may actually undermine your health and longevity. One of the primary reasons to cycle in and out of ketosis is because the “metabolic magic” in the mitochondria actually occurs during the refeeding phase, not during the starvation phase.

Ideally, once you have established ketosis you cycle healthy carbs back in to about 100 to 150 grams on days when you do strength training. MMT has a number of really important health benefits, and may just be the U-turn you’ve been searching for if you’re struggling with a chronic health condition. You can learn more by following the hyperlinks provided in the text above.
Address Emotional Contributors

Since fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, it becomes emotionally challenging in addition to the physical challenges it imposes on your life. Having a game plan to deal with your emotional well-being is especially important if you suffer from any chronic disease.

If you have fibromyalgia, you might be able to trace it back to a triggering event, or you might not. Any traumatic experience has the potential to linger in your mind for a lifetime. You can have the perfect diet, the perfect exercise routine, and an ideal life; but if you have lingering unresolved emotional issues, you can still become very sick.

A tool that can help release this emotional sludge is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). If you are a regular reader of my newsletter, this won’t be an unfamiliar term to you. EFT is a form of bioenergetic normalization. If you have fibromyalgia, this is something that is going to be extremely helpful. You can do this yourself, at home, and it takes just a few minutes to learn. For a demonstration, see the video above.

From the time you were a small child, you may have been conditioned to expect new and exciting things as autumn arrives. Every fall, children go back to school, see their friends and begin to anticipate the holiday season. One of the fruits closely associated with fall is pumpkin.
From pumpkin pie to pumpkin spice lattes or jack-o-lanterns it’s likely you associate fall with some type of pumpkin. Kathryn Lively, professor of sociology at Dartmouth College, spoke with a reporter from The Huffington Post about the expectations children have and how this conditions a response pattern that often travels into adulthood.1
Fall is a structural landmark, in the way significant dates help create structure in the perception of the passage of time.2 For example, just as January 1 is a landmark associated with developing personal growth and development goals, fall may be a time when your anticipation begins to grow, and you’re motivated to learn new skills or change behaviors.
Licensed psychologist and professor at Chapman University Amy Jane Griffiths, Ph.D., says, “We all crave the comfort and security that comes with traditions and predictability.”3 Many of us have traditions and events associated with fall weather, while others may dread the leaves changing or signs that winter is coming.
What Color Are Your Pumpkins?

Many have an interest in the science behind your anticipation of fall weather, fall foods and the hope of curling up with a blanket and a good movie. But it may still be difficult to explain the vast number of people who buy pumpkins each fall. In the U.S., Illinois is the No. 1 producer of this round orange squash, growing twice as many each year than in the other five top producing states.4
While you might think of it as a vegetable, the pumpkin is a fruit that’s known as much for its place in the kitchen as on your front porch. Mary Liz Wright, a University of Illinois Extension specialist, does not advise using your typical jack-o-lantern pumpkin in your fall recipes.5
This is because there are two distinct species of pumpkin. The first has been bred for size, structure and color to enhance your fall decor. The second is bred for consistency, flavor and texture of the meat. Pumpkins that are bred for flavor are tan or buckskin color on the outside with bright orange flesh on the inside.
They’re also more reminiscent of butternut squash in shape, rather than the more rounded outline of decorative pumpkins. Nathan Johanning, also a University of Illinois Extension specialist, spoke about the 2020 fall crop and the agritourism trade pumpkins support, sharing that one farm in Illinois had 5,000 tourists pass through in one weekend.
If you’re planning on saving the flesh from your pumpkins, Wright advises you cook and freeze it, since it is not advisable to can pumpkin or even pressure can it. The center of the dense flesh may not get hot enough to prevent botulism growth, which you can avoid by cooking it first and then freezing it.
Nutritious and Delicious Pumpkins

There are many health benefits to eating pumpkin and pumpkin seeds, as you’ll see in this short video. Although you can buy them year-round at the store, consider adding pumpkins to your garden since nearly every part of the plant can be eaten. You’ll be assured of a toxin-free fruit from which you can harvest the seeds as well as carve and cook your pumpkins in the fall.
Dried pumpkin seeds, also called pepitas, are high in healthy fats and rich in omega-3 fats, zinc, calcium, iron and an array of phytochemicals.6 After being dried and shelled, the seeds have just 180 calories in one-fourth cup and are also packed with manganese, phosphorus, copper and magnesium.7
People have used pumpkin seed extract and oil in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. This is a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate gland that may respond to the nutrients found in pumpkin seeds. Because most of the studies have involved extracts or oils from pumpkin seeds, it’s not possible to extrapolate the information to eating the pumpkin seeds themselves.8
The meat of the pumpkin contains only 49 calories in 1 cup of cooked mashed flesh. It is rich in riboflavin and vitamins A, C and E.9 The rich orange color indicates the high level of beta-carotenes and antioxidants that your body uses to neutralize free radicals.
The high levels of vitamin A and C have a positive impact on your immune system, and it is a major source of lutein and zeaxanthin linked to healthy eyesight.10 The high levels of potassium, vitamin C and fiber are all associated with cardiovascular benefits.
For instance, one literature analysis found an inverse association between potassium and the risk of stroke.11 Another study demonstrated people with higher levels of potassium intake had lower risk of high blood pressure.12 The levels of beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin C all contribute to healthy skin, collagen production13 and protection against the damage of ultraviolet rays.14
Pumpkin Seeds May Reduce Your Risk of Kidney Stones

In addition to the health benefits listed above, pumpkin seeds have a special superpower: They protect your kidneys by reducing the risk of calcium-oxalate crystal formation, better known as kidney stones. There are four types of kidney stones that can form, including calcium, struvite, uric acid and cystine stones.15 Of these, calcium oxalate is the most common.
Nearly 80% of calcium stones that form are calcium oxalate. By manipulating urine chemistry through dietary intake, you can help prevent calcium stone formation. The highest urine chemistry risk factors for calcium oxalate crystals are hypercalciuria and hyperoxaluria.16
Dietary risk factors that increase your potential for calcium oxalate stones include chronic dehydration and a diet that is rich in protein, oxalates, sodium and sugar.17 People with certain digestive disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, can also have a higher risk of calcium oxalate kidney stones. Oxalate can be found in these foods:18,19

Beans
Beets
Beer

Chocolate
Coffee
Cranberries

Peanuts
Rhubarb
Soda

Sweet potatoes
Tea (black)
Dark green vegetables, such as spinach

One study evaluated the ability of pumpkin seed supplementation to change the chemistry of the participants’ urine and reduce the risk of calcium oxalate crystal formation.20 Researchers engaged 20 boys from the Ubol Province in Thailand where there is a high incidence of kidney stones.21 
During the experiment the boy’s urine was measured before any intervention as a control period. During two periods of the intervention they received an oxalate supplement and a pumpkin seed or orthophosphate supplement. The participants’ urine chemistry was tested before and after each intervention.
The results of the study showed that while the boys were receiving the pumpkin seed supplement, the urine chemistry had the lowest potential risk for calcium oxalate crystal formation. The researchers found the high levels of phosphorus in the pumpkin seed may be a “potential agent in lowering the risk of bladder-stone disease.”22 
Pumpkin Spice Blend Elicits an Emotional Response

The scents associated with pumpkin pie are not strictly from pumpkin but, rather, a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, which are the traditional spices used in the pie. This combination of scents can trigger a strong emotional response in your brain, which causes you to recall experiences associated with the smell.23
The emotional response that odors generate have an impact on your decision to like or dislike something. Your sense of smell and memory are closely linked since scents travel from the limbic system through the amygdala and hippocampus, which are regions of the brain related to emotion and memory.24
The scent of pumpkin spices is popular during the fall months, especially in homemade products and the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Catherine Franssen, Ph.D., director of psychology at Longwood University, is a fan of the flavor and understands why this particular combination of spices elicits an emotional response. She commented to CNN:25

“Since these are popular spice combinations, it’s very likely we would have encountered some or all of them combined in a favorite baked good in a comforting situation, like a family gathering, early in life. It’s not just the pumpkin spice combo but that we’ve already wired a subset of those spices as ‘good’ very early in life.”

Starbucks seemed to stumble onto their popular Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2003 when it was first released.26 Each fall the Pumpkin Spice Latte drink makes a return to stores, along with other “pumpkin-flavored” drinks — which may or may not actually have pumpkin in them — and baked goods. This year it’s the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew.27
In a press release, Peter Dukes, product manager who led the development of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, commented, “Nobody knew back then what it would grow to be. It’s taken on a life of its own.”28
However, as enticing as the scent may be, the product is loaded with sugar and packs a whopping 52 grams of carbohydrates into a 16-ounce mug.29 Instead, consider making the healthy and tasty alternative at home demonstrated in the video below.

Neuroscience, Sugar Addiction and Marketing

The emotional response generated by scent is something marketers take advantage of. Pleasant scents affect your mood, which is a way of engaging your hand-to-wallet response.
In experiments comparing odorless placebo sprays against fragrances, researchers found while you will have a response to the placebo when you anticipate the fragrance, the actual scent has a dramatic effect on improving your mood.30
Although your preference is highly personalized, a general assumption is made that most people will find pumpkin spice in the fall and cinnamon during Christmas associated with good memories. As the scent of pumpkin spice triggers a happy memory, it can also trigger a desire to buy a cup. Franssen comments on the neuroscience involved in scent and advertising:31

“When an odor or flavor — and 80 percent of flavor is actually smell — is combined with sucrose or sugar consumption in a hungry person, the person learns at a subconscious, physiological level to associate that flavor with all the wonderful parts of food digestion.

[For that reason] the pumpkin spice latte is actually, scientifically, kind of addictive. Not quite the same neural mechanisms as drugs of abuse, but certainly the more you consume, the more you reinforce the behavior and want to consume more.”

The popular trend of promoting all things pumpkin in the fall even generated a hoax in 2014 when a Facebook meme reported Charmin toilet tissue would soon be released in a new pumpkin spice scent. Not soon after Charmin Company tweeted: “While we love it, we can promise you this. You will not be seeing #PumpkinSpice Charmin anytime soon. #StopTheMadness”32

The process by which your cereals, salads and meats reach your table has dramatically altered the overall nutrition in most people’s diets. The addition of vegetable oil and the growing popularity of fast-food restaurants have also contributed. When this same diet was fed to pigs as discussed in this short video, researchers stopped the study because it was deemed cruel to the animals.1
Survey data published in 2016 showed the average person got 57.9% of their energy from ultraprocessed foods and 89.7% from added sugars.2 A rigorous study published in the journal Cell Metabolism demonstrated the deleterious effect that ultraprocessed diets have on excess calorie intake, weight gain and the resulting obesity epidemic.3
According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009-2010, more than 35.7% of adults were considered overweight,4 a number that had grown to 42.4% by 2018.5 While the effect a Western diet has on weight gain has been well-documented, when the same diet is fed to growing pigs, researchers found the results were disastrous.
Study Feeding Pigs Processed Foods Stopped When They Got Sick

Eric Berg, Ph.D., is an expert meat scientist at North Dakota State University who believes that pigs can substitute for humans when analyzing nutritive values of dietary intake. “Like humans, pigs are omnivores and their anatomy and physiology are very similar, Berg explains.”6
Since their gastrointestinal system and nutrient requirements are comparable to humans’, pigs are used to test human nutritional needs. In Berg’s experiments, he’s already learned that pigs do poorly on a diet that lacks protein with a good balance of amino acids in it.

“We’ve known for 100 years that it is not just protein that’s important, but the amino acids that make up the protein,” Berg says. “Corn can be high in protein, but it is low in availability of essential amino acids. We would never just feed corn to pigs, but balance their diet with a legume like soybeans to balance essential amino acids and then add vitamins and minerals.”

Berg has also found that when pigs are fed a typical Western diet, their growth is stunted, and they develop intramuscular fat as compared to pigs fed a typical porcine diet. Berg spoke with a reporter from Tristate Livestock News, noting that, while we seem to know a lot about animal nutrition we are way behind when it comes to adhering what’s best for us:7

“We would never just feed corn to pigs,” Berg said, “but balance their diet with a legume like soybeans to balance essential amino acids and then add vitamins and minerals … [Yet] we snack ourselves into non-nutrition. We may have a whole-grain bagel for breakfast and then snack on something else for lunch. As a result, our diet is out of balance.”

As noted by Tri-State Livestock News, Berg is recognized for his work in meat research, and has testified at hearings on the USDA Dietary Guidelines at the National Institutes of Health. During his interview in the video above, he shares his belief that using pigs as models can help reduce the error in the nutritional analysis, which can happen in human studies.
He discusses one study where they formulated the pig diet based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of the common American diet. They were forced to terminate the project when the pigs’ veterinarian told them it:8

“… was inhumane for our test subjects because they did not thrive on it. They got brittle bones and they stopped growing. They got fat, their hair fell out and they got pimples. So, it was a mess and that happened in three months.”

Researcher Calls for People to ‘Eat Like Pigs’

Ultraprocessed foods influence multiple organ systems, leading Berg to suggest humans should “eat like pigs.” While the statement seems inflammatory, Berg goes on to explain:9

“But this is not a mean spirited saying. We’re not comparing a group of people to the eating habits of an animal. We are using available scientific research that we already have on the animal agriculture side and we’re applying it at a biomedical level to save lives. To improve life. To expand life so that people can live it and live it abundantly.

My take home message today is this … we have an abundant supply of choices for nutrient-dense foods. There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. So … don’t dilute your nutrient-dense foods with all this unnecessary starch and sugar.”

To implement the recommendation that industry make obesity prevention a priority, the Institute of Medicine’s Health in Balance Report in 2005 recommended: “Food and beverage industries should develop product and packaging innovations that consider energy density, nutrient density, and standard serving sizes to help consumers make healthful choices.”10
However, instead of making changes to their products to reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake, the food industry became notorious for funding anti-obesity programs that moved the focus off what people were eating and on to physical activity, while research clearly shows that processed foods, sugary beverages and high-carbohydrate diets are the primary concern.11,12
Another researcher, Hans H Stein, Ph.D., from the University of Illinois, is a professor of animal science who has been working in the field for 30 years. Like Berg, he’s particularly interested in the role amino acids play to provide a healthy nutritive balance in protein. Nearly 10 years ago, he stepped in to help the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) evaluate nutrient digestibility, including amino acids.13
The new FAO index was known as the digestible indispensable amino acids score (DIAAS), for which Stein published the first paper in 2014. The FAO is using the data to identify high-quality protein to help improve the nutritional intake of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
From his work in the meat industry where the effects of a nutrient-poor diet are evident in months, Berg proposes that human nutrition is lagging behind animal nutrition.14 Although he suggests that the major source of balanced essential amino acids is found in red and processed meat, I would caution against processed meats in favor of grass fed red meat.
Is it Processed or Ultraprocessed?

While the terms processed and ultraprocessed are sometimes used interchangeably, they refer to two different food classifications, and one of them is ultra-serious. According to the NOVA food classification system designed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, ultraprocessed foods belong to Group 4.15
The definition includes substances that are found only in this category, such as additives, dyes, flavor enhancers and processing aids such as bulking and anti-bulking, anti-caking and emulsifiers that are not commonly found in regular cooking processes. According to the Group 4 description:

“The main purpose of industrial ultra-processing is to create products that are ready to eat, to drink or to heat, liable to replace both unprocessed or minimally processed foods that are naturally ready to consume, such as fruits and nuts, milk and water, and freshly prepared drinks, dishes, desserts and meals.

Common attributes of ultra-processed products are hyper-palatability, sophisticated and attractive packaging, multimedia and other aggressive marketing to children and adolescents, health claims, high profitability, and branding and ownership by transnational corporations.”

Foods that fall into this group are often cheap, convenient and designed to titillate your taste buds. Things like chips, carbonated soft drinks, instant sauces and many ready-to-heat products like pizza, chicken nuggets and hot dogs all fall into this category.
These often are heavy in refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats. They’re also usually calorie-dense, which means you’ll eat more to get full. The BBC offers five ways to tell if the food is ultraprocessed:16

The food has a long list of ingredients.
The label may contain lists of unrecognizable ingredients such as additives designed to enhance flavor, color or even smell.
The ingredient list begins with fat, sugar and salt at or near the top, which is where the most prevalent ingredients are listed.
The product may appear to be fresh food, but will have an advertised long shelf life, indicating that may be full of preservatives.
The product is advertised with an aggressive marketing campaign.

As the BBC comments: “Ever seen a high-profile marketing campaign for apples and pears? Thought not.”
Ultraprocessed Food Raises Jeopardy of Infection and Death

Two studies published in the BMJ have linked eating ultraprocessed foods with an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease and death. One study gathered data from 19,899 participants from 1999 to 2014.17 They followed up with them every two years to gather data on food and beverage consumption and classify these foods using the NOVA classification system.
The primary outcome measurement was an association between ultraprocessed foods and all-cause mortality. Using the self-reported data, the participants were categorized into low, low-medium, medium-high or high consumption. Those eating the highest amount of ultraprocessed foods were eating greater than four servings each day and had the greatest risk for all-cause mortality.
The researchers found for every additional serving, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 18%, which led them to conclude that four or more servings were independently associated with a 62% relative increased risk of death from all causes and for every additional serving the risk rose again by 18%.18
In the second study, researchers collected data from 105,159 people over a mean follow-up of 5.2 years, during which they found eating ultraprocessed food was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.19 The results remained statistically significant even after adjusting for known confounding factors and a second analysis.20
The current viral concern is SARS-CoV-2. However, based on historical data, it’s likely society will face other novel viral infections in the future, added to which each year society faces the cold and flu season and multiple types of bacterial infections.
Science has increasingly revealed the effect diet has on your gut microbiome and your subsequent ability to ward off disease. The more diverse your microbiome is with a healthy microbiota, the better it supports your immune system — which helps you fight viral illnesses like flu and SARS-CoV-2. According to Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College in London:21

“As well as mounting a response to infectious pathogens like coronavirus, a healthy gut microbiome also helps to prevent potentially dangerous immune over-reactions that damage the lungs and other vital organs. These excessive immune responses can cause respiratory failure and death.

The fine details of the interactions between the gut microbiome and the immune system are not fully understood. But there seems to be a link between the makeup of the microbiome and inflammation — one of the hallmarks of the immune response. Gut bacteria produce many beneficial chemicals and also activate vitamin A in food, which helps to regulate the immune system.”

Fermented foods and probiotics are the best route to optimal microbiome health, if they are traditionally made and unpasteurized. Healthy fermented choices include lassi (an Indian yogurt drink), fermented, grass fed organic milk (kefir), fermented soy or natto and different types of pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots.
Junk Food Promotes Hunger and Overeating

The average American diet that was used in the porcine study Berg discussed above, also promotes hunger, overeating and obesity. Through a variety of mechanisms, junk food can destroy your metabolism and affect your appetite control. As detailed in “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” your body is designed to naturally regulate how much you eat and energy you burn.
However, manufacturers have figured out how to override your intrinsic control by engineering foods that are hyper rewarding.22 This stimulates such a strong response in your brain that it becomes easy to overeat. Some of the most addictive junk foods on the market are potato chips that hit all three bliss points: sugar from the potato (and sometimes from added sugar), salt and fat.23
Although the food industry does not like the word “addiction” when referencing their products, a study published in 2007 showed 94% of rats who were allowed to choose between sugar water and cocaine, chose sugar.24 Even rats that were previously addicted to cocaine switched their preference to sugar.
Another Australian study found just a single week of binge eating on fast food changed appetite control in 110 volunteers to the point they were more likely to desire junk food even after they just ate.25 The participants also scored lower on memory tests.
The resulting overeating contributes to the rising rate of obesity and the current likelihood that Millennials are more prone to obesity related cancers than were their parents. A study in the Lancet by the American Cancer Society showed the rates of obesity-related cancers are rising at a steeper rate among millennials than baby boomers.26
It is likely not a coincidence that as ultraprocessed food has become a norm for many Americans, so has chronic illness. Some experts estimate that as much as 40% of health care spending in the U.S. are for diseases that are directly related to the overconsumption of sugar.27
The differences in the amount of sugar in ultraprocessed food versus minimally processed is dramatic. Data from a cross-sectional study using information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed 21.1% of calories in ultraprocessed foods comes from sugar and concluded that reducing ultraprocessed foods could reduce “the excessive intake of added sugars in the USA.”28
The food you eat is a key factor that determines health and longevity. I believe that eating a diet of 90% real food and 10% processed foods is achievable for most and it could make a significant difference in your weight and overall health. To help you get started, you’ll find more information and suggestions in “Processed Foods Lead to Cancer and Early Death.”