9 Steps To Perfect Health
Imagine a world where:
- diabetes, heart diseases, autoimmunity and other modern diseases are rare or don’t exist at all
- we are naturally lean and fit
- we are fertile throughout our childbearing years
- we sleep peacefully and deeply
- we age gracefully without degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis
While this might sound like pure fantasy today, anthropological
evidence suggests that this is exactly how human beings lived for the
vast majority of our evolutionary history.
Today, most people accept diseases like obesity, diabetes,
infertility and Alzheimer’s as “normal”. But while these diseases may
now be common, they’re anything but normal. Humans
evolved roughly 2.5 million years ago, and for roughly 84,000
generations we were naturally free of the modern diseases which kill
millions of people each year and make countless others miserable. In
fact, the world I asked you to imagine above – which may seem
preposterous and unattainable today – was the natural human state for
our entire history on this planet up until a couple hundred years ago.
What was responsible for the change? What transformed us from
naturally healthy and vital people free of degenerative disease into a
world of sick, fat, infertile and unhappy people?
In a word? The modern lifestyle. And though there are several aspects of our current lifestyle that contribute to disease, the widespread consumption of food toxins is by far the greatest offender. Specifically, the following four dietary toxins are to blame:
- Cereal grains (especially refined flour)
- Omega-6 industrial seed oils (corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, etc.)
- Sugar (especially high-fructose corn syrup)
- Processed soy (soy milk, soy protein, soy flour, etc.)
What is a toxin?
At the simplest level, a toxin is something capable of causing
disease or damaging tissue when it enters the body. When most people
hear the word “toxin”, they think of chemicals like pesticides, heavy
metals or other industrial pollutants. But even beneficial nutrients
like water, which are necessary to sustain life, are toxic at high
doses.
In their book The Perfect Health Diet, Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet apply the economic principle of declining marginal benefits to toxins:
It implies that the first bit eaten of any toxin has low
toxicity. Each additional bit is slightly more toxic than the bit
before. At higher doses, the toxicity of each bit continues to increase,
so that the toxin is increasingly poisonous.
This is important to understand as we discuss the role of dietary
toxins in contributing to modern disease. Most of us won’t get sick from
eating a small amount of sugar, cereal grain, soy and industrial seed
oil. But if we eat those nutrients (or rather anti-nutrients) in
excessive quantities, our risk of developing modern diseases rises
significantly.
That’s exactly what’s happening today. These four food toxins –
refined cereal grains, industrial seed oils, sugar and processed soy –
comprise the bulk of the modern diet. Bread, pastries, muffins,
crackers, cookies, soda, fruit juice, fast food and other convenience
foods are all loaded with these toxins. And when the majority of what
most people eat on a daily basis is toxic, it’s not hard to understand
why our health is failing.
Let’s look at each of these food toxins in more detail.
Cereal grains: the unhealthiest “health food” on the planet?
The major cereal grains – wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oats,
rye and millet – have become the staple crops of the modern human diet.
They’ve also become the “poster children” of the low-fat,
high-carbohydrate diet promoted by organizations like the American Heart
Association (AHA) and American Diabetes Association (ADA). If you say
the phrase “whole grains” to most people, the first word that probably
comes to their mind is “healthy”.
But the fact is that most animals, including our closest relative
(the chimpanzee) aren’t adapted to eating cereal grains and don’t eat
them in large quantities. And humans have only been eating them for the
past 10,000 years (a tiny blip of time on the scale of evolution).
Why?
Because plants like cereal grains are always competing against
predators (like us) for survival. Unlike animals, plants can’t run away
from us when we decide to eat them. They had to evolve other
mechanisms for protecting themselves. These include:
- producing toxins that damage the lining of the gut;
- producing toxins that bind essential minerals, making them unavailable to the body; and,
- producing toxins that inhibit digestion and absorption of other essential nutrients, including protein.
One of these toxic compounds is the protein gluten, which is present
in wheat and many of the other most commonly eaten cereal grains. In
short, gluten damages the intestine and makes it leaky. And researchers
now believe that a leaky gut is one of the major predisposing factors
for conditions like obesity, diabetes and autoimmune disease.
Celiac disease (CD) – a condition of severe gluten intolerance – has
been well known for decades. Celiacs have a dramatic and, in some
cases, potentially fatal immune response to even the smallest amounts of
gluten.
But celiac disease is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
intolerance to wheat and other gluten containing grains. Celiac disease
is characterized by antibodies to two components of the gluten
compound: alpha-gliadin, and transglutaminase. But we now know that
people can and do react to several other components of wheat and gluten.
The diagram below shows how wheat and gluten are broken down in the
body:
Current laboratory testing for gluten intolerance only tests for
alpha-gliadin and transglutaminase, the two components of gluten
implicated in celiac disease (highlighted in red in the diagram). But
as you can see, wheat contains several other components including
lectins like wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), other epitopes of the gliadin
protein like beta-gliadin, gamma-gliadin and omega-gliadin, another
protein called glutenin, an opioid peptide called gluteomorphin, and a
compound called daminated gliadin produced by the industrial processing
or digestion of gluten.
So here’s the thing. Studies now clearly show that people can react
negatively to all of these components of wheat – not just the
alpha-gliadin and transglutaminase that celiacs react to. And the worst
part of this is that up until about 2 weeks ago, no commercial labs
were testing for sensitivity to these other subfractions of wheat.
This means, of course, that it’s extremely likely that far more
people are intolerant to wheat and gluten than conventional wisdom would
tell us. In fact, that’s exactly what the latest research shows. Dr.
Kenneth Fine, a pioneer in gluten intolerance research, has demonstrated
that 1 in 3 Americans are gluten intolerant, and that 8 in 10 have the genes that predispose them to developing gluten intolerance.
This is nothing short of a public health catastrophe in a nation
where the #1 source of calories is refined flour. But while most are at
least aware of the dangers of sugar, trans-fat and other unhealthy
foods, fewer than 1 in 8 people with celiac disease are aware of their condition. A 1999 paper in the British Medical Journal illustrated this well:
Patients with clinically obvious celiac disease (observable
inflammation and destruction of the gut tissue) comprise only 12.5% of
the total population of people with CD. 87.5% of those with celiac have
no obvious gut symptoms. For every symptomatic patient with CD, there
are 8 patients with CD and no gastrointestinal symptoms.
But does that mean patients with CD without gut symptoms are healthy?
Not at all. It was long believed that the pathological manifestations
of CD were limited to the gastrointestinal tract. But research over
the past few decades has revealed that gluten intolerance can affect
almost every other tissue and system in the body, including:
- brain;
- endocrine system;
- stomach and liver;
- nucleus of cells;
- blood vessels; and,
- smooth muscle,
just to name a few!
This explains why CD and gluten intolerance are associated with
several different diseases, including type 1 diabetes, thyroid
disorders, osteoporosis, neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s and dementia, psychiatric illness, ADHD, rheumatoid
arthritis, migraine, obesity and more. The table below from the same 1999 BMJ paper depicts the increased incidence of other diseases in patients with CD:
As you can see, up to 17% of people with CD have an “undefined
neurological disorder”. But even that alarmingly high statistic only
accounts for people with diagnosed CD. We know that
only 1 in 8 people with CD are diagnosed. We also know that those with
CD represent only a small fraction of the population of people with
gluten intolerance. With this in mind, it’s not hard to imagine that
the number of people with gluten intolerance that have “undefined
neurological disorders” (and other associated conditions on the list
above) could be significantly higher than current research suggests.
Finally, we also now know that when you are gluten intolerant – which
33% (if not more) of you are – you will also “cross-react” with other
foods that have a similar “molecular signature” to gluten and its
components. Unfortunately, the list of these foods (shown below)
contains all grains, which is why some medical practitioners (myself
included) recommend not just a gluten-free diet, but an entirely
grain-free diet. As you can see, it also contains other foods like
dairy (alpha & beta casein, casomorphin, milk butyrophilin) and
coffee (which is a very common cross-reactant).
- alpha-caesin
- beta-caesin
- casomorphin
- milk butyrophilin
- cow’s milk
- american cheese
- chocolate
- coffee
- all cereal grains
- quinoa
- amaranth
- buckwheat
- tapioca
- rice
- potato
- corn
- sesame
Industrial seed oils: unnatural and unfit for human consumption
Industrial seed oils (corn, cottonseed, soybean, safflower,
sunflower, etc.) have not been a part of the human diet up until
relatively recently, when misguided groups like the AHA and the ADA
started promoting them as “heart-healthy” alternatives to saturated fat.
The graph below shows how dramatically seed oil consumption has risen over the past several decades:
Throughout 4-5 million years of hominid evolution, diets were
abundant in seafood and other sources of omega-3 long chain fatty acids
(EPA & DHA), but relatively low in omega-6 seed oils.
Anthropological research suggests that our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a ratio of roughly 1:1. It also indicates
that both ancient and modern hunter-gatherers were free of the modern
inflammatory diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, that
are the primary causes of death and morbidity today.
At the onset of the industrial revolution (about 140 years ago),
there was a marked shift in the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids in the
diet. Consumption of n-6 fats increased
at the expense of n-3 fats. This change was due to both the advent of
the modern vegetable oil industry and the increased use of cereal grains
as feed for domestic livestock (which in turn altered the fatty acid
profile of meat that humans consumed).
The following chart lists the omega-6 and omega-3 content of various vegetable oils and foods:
Vegetable oil consumption rose dramatically between the beginning and
end of the 20th century, and this had an entirely predictable effect on
the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the American diet. Between
1935 and 1939, the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids was reported
to be 8.4:1. From 1935 to 1985, this ratio increased to 10.3:1 (a 23%
increase). Other calculations put the ratio as high as 12.4:1 in 1985.
Today, estimates of the ratio range from an average of 10:1 to 20:1,
with a ratio as high as 25:1 in some individuals.
In fact, Americans now get almost 20% of their calories from a single
food source – soybean oil – with almost 9% of all calories from the
omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA) alone!
This reveals that our average intake of n-6 fatty acids is between 10
and 25 times higher than evolutionary norms. The consequences of this
dramatic shift cannot be underestimated.
So what are the consequences to human health of an n-6:n-3 ratio that is up to 25 times higher than it should be?
The short answer is that elevated n-6 intakes are associated with an increase in all inflammatory diseases – which is to say virtually all diseases. The list includes (but isn’t limited to):
- cardiovascular disease
- type 2 diabetes
- obesity
- metabolic syndrome
- irritable bowel syndrome & inflammatory bowel disease
- macular degeneration
- rheumatoid arthritis
- asthma
- cancer
- psychiatric disorders
- autoimmune diseases
The relationship between intake n-6 fats and cardiovascular mortality
is particularly striking. The following chart, from an article
entitled Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease
by Stephan Guyenet, clearly illustrates the correlation between a
rising intake of n-6 and increased mortality from heart disease:
As you can see, the USA is right up there at the top with the highest
intake of n-6 fat and the greatest risk of death from heart disease.
On the other hand, several clinical studies have shown
that decreasing the n-6:n-3 ratio protects against chronic,
degenerative diseases. One study showed that replacing corn oil with
olive oil and canola oil to reach an n-6:n-3 ratio of 4:1 led to a 70% decrease in total mortality. That is no small difference.
Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher at the National Institute of Health
(NIH) who has published several papers on n-3 and n-6 intakes, didn’t
mince words when he commented on the rising intake of n-6 in a recent paper:
The increases in world LA consumption over the past
century may be considered a very large uncontrolled experiment that may
have contributed to increased societal burdens of aggression, depression
and cardiovascular mortality.
And those are just the conditions we have the strongest evidence for.
It’s likely that the increase in n-6 consumption has played an equally
significant role in the rise of nearly every inflammatory disease.
Since it is now known that inflammation is involved in nearly all
diseases, including obesity and metabolic syndrome, it’s hard to
overstate the negative effects of too much omega-6 fat.
Sugar: the sweetest way to wreck your health
About 20 years ago, Nancy Appleton, PhD, began researching all of the
ways in which sugar destroys our health. Over the years the list has
continuously expanded, and now includes 141 points. Here’s just a small
sampling (the entire list can be found on her blog).
- Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development
of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, lung,
gallbladder and stomach.
- Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.
- Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract,
including an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in
patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn’s
disease and ulcerative colitis.
- Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.
- Sugar can cause food allergies.
- Sugar contributes to obesity.
But not all sugar is created alike. White table sugar (sucrose) is
composed of two sugars: glucose and fructose. Glucose is an important
nutrient in our bodies and is healthy, as long as it’s consumed in
moderation. Fructose is a different story.
Fructose is found primarily in fruits and vegetables, and sweeteners
like sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). A recent USDA report found that the average American eats 152 pounds of sugar each year, including almost 64 pounds of HFCS.
Unlike glucose, which is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and
taken up by the cells, fructose is shunted directly to the liver where
it is converted to fat. Excess fructose consumption causes a condition
called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is directly linked to both diabetes and obesity.
A 2009 study showed that shifting 25% of dietary calories from glucose to fructose caused a 4-fold increase in abdominal fat. Abdominal fat is an independent predictor
of insulin sensitivity, impaired glucose tolerance, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and several other
metabolic diseases.
In a widely popular talk on YouTube, Dr. Robert H. Lustig explains that fructose has all of the qualities of a poison. It causes damage, provides no benefit and is sent directly to the liver to be detoxified so that it doesn’t harm the body.
For more on the toxic effects of fructose, see The Perfect Health Diet and Robert Lustig’s YouTube talk: Sugar, The Bitter Truth.
Soy: another toxin promoted as a health food
Like cereal grains, soy is another toxin often promoted as a health
food. It’s now ubiquitous in the modern diet, present in just about
every packaged and processed food in the form of soy protein isolate,
soy flour, soy lecithin and soybean oil.
For this reason, most people are unaware of how much soy they
consume. You don’t have to be a tofu-loving hippie to eat a lot of soy.
In fact, the average American – who is most definitely not a
tofu-loving hippie – gets up to 9% of total calories from soybean oil
alone.
Whenever I mention the dangers of soy in my public talks, someone
always protests that soy can’t be unhealthy because it’s been consumed
safely in Asia for thousands of years. There are several reasons why
this isn’t a valid argument.
First, the soy products consumed traditionally in Asia were typically
fermented and unprocessed – including tempeh, miso, natto and tamari.
This is important because the fermentation process partially neutralizes
the toxins in soybeans.
Second, Asians consumed soy foods as a condiment, not as a
replacement for animal foods. The average consumption of soy foods in
China is 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per day and is 30 to 60 grams in
Japan. These are not large amounts of soy.
Contrast this with the U.S. and other western countries, where almost
all of the soy consumed is highly processed and unfermented, and eaten
in much larger amounts than in Asia.
How does soy impact our health? The following is just a partial list:
- Soy contains trypsin inhibitors that inhibit protein digestion and affect pancreatic function;
- Soy contains phytic acid, which reduces absorption of minerals like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc;
- Soy increases our requirement for vitamin D, which 50% of American are already deficient in;
- Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential
to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
- Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B12;
- Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines;
- Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy
food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods to
mask soy’s unpleasant taste; and,
- Soy can stimulate the growth of estrogen-dependent tumors and cause thyroid problems, especially in women.
Perhaps most alarmingly, a study at the Harvard Public School Of Health
in 2008 found that men who consumed the equivalent of one cup of soy
milk per day had a 50% lower sperm count than men who didn’t eat soy.
In 1992, the Swiss Health Service estimated that women consuming the
equivalent of two cups of soy milk per day provides the estrogenic
equivalent of one birth control pill. That means women eating cereal
with soy milk and drinking a soy latte each day are effectively getting
the same estrogen effect as if they were taking a birth control pill.
This effect is even more dramatic in infants fed soy formula. Babies
fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen
compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula. Infants
exclusively fed soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent (based on
body weight) of at least five birth control pills per day.
