GLP 1 Receptors and Hyperinsulinemia / cancer risk
Hi, In a few episodes, you've explained how damaging Hyperinsulinemia is for chronic inflammation and likely cancer risk. With GLP 1 Receptors, I've read in your articles that some of the underlying mechanisms are unknown but I keep reading that GLP1Rs either directly increase insulin production or mimic it. In either case, aren't there likely to be all the usual adverse impacts linked with Hyperinsulinemia? As an parallel but likely related question, I've ready about increased risk of thyroid cancer in mice. Do we know about cancer risk with GLP1Rs especially in the context of ongoing increased production of a growth hormone such as Insulin?
Carnivore Diet and OGTT Testing
Good Morning. I’ve been eating a Lion’s Diet (wild meat carnivore diet) for 3 months in a desperate attempt to gain control of my health after medicine 2.0 failed to help me and continually told me I was normal and healthy despite my ongoing symptoms and irregular labs. I’d like to do an OGTT but was concerned that it may be hypersensitive, or some other metric, due to not having carbs or sugar for so long. I’m curious about your thoughts or ideas on how to prepare for the test if anything should be done prior to have the most accurate results. Background if needed- I am a 52 year old female that was diagnosed with Lyme disease 10 years ago. My health declined drastically while in a toxic 20 year marriage. I was homeschooling my kids and running my family farm. So tons of stress. Severe symptoms of chronic fatigue, joint pain, migraines, musculoskeletal pain, anxiety and panic attacks, heart palpitations and chest pain, GI issues, brain fog and more. First TKR at 50. Will need the other done and my hip and neck going. After 2 years of going specialist to specialist, I went back to my PCP and cried in his office and told him I thought I was dying. Then finally a diagnosis…Lyme disease. It felt good to have something to work with so I hit it hard. Nine months of 4 different antibiotics and other meds to combat the antibiotics left me a shell of a person and worse than before. In the years that followed, I tried herbal protocols, adaptogens, and off-label medications to no avail. It felt like I lived in a video game. Nothing was real and pain and fatigue reigned. At 45, I used cannabis for the first time to combat the pain even though I could have gotten any amount of opioids from my doctors. 10 years later, divorced and finding happiness (which has certainly helped), I still struggle greatly. Although I ate pretty healthy, my average glucose would be 117 and AIC 5.9 (other labs high or low too) which is not acceptable or optimal but considered just fine and normal by my doctor. You probably won’t be surprised by how many medical professionals want to prescribe antidepressants. Now, even on the carnivore diet, I will regularly be between 100-110 on my CGM with no sugar or carbs in my diet for months. I was a competitive body builder 25 years ago and still carry above average muscle mass. I played on a hockey and roller derby league, loved cross-fit in my 40’s before Lyme disease hit. I’m also an avid ocean swimmer, love to freedive and spearfish, hunt and hike, organic garden and cook. I just watched my 73 year old mother fall twice breaking both hips and then die of metastatic breast cancer all in the same year. I want my life back and to start preparing for my bonus decade of life. I’m starting to wonder if many of the symptoms I have been experiencing may be related to peri menopause and now menopause but I can’t get HRT because I am considered high risk because of my mother and I had a lumpectomy last year with atypical ductal/lobular hyperplasia. I recently did genetic testing for BRCA and others and am negative. Can you help a girl out and get me straight??? Lol I know the Lyme community would love to hear a success story and be curious if your insights could help them too.
Ways to mitigate the negative effects of high intensity training
I am a Masters Swim Coach. As such, many of my swimmers, currently in their 60s-90s, put competing at a National and World level on their Centenarian Decathlon list. You have mentioned that high level training decreases life span. This opens a series of questions for me. 1) Other than injury risk, does high level training decrease quality of life or does it maintain health span while decreasing life span? 2) Is there a link between training and A-Fib? 3) Are there training systems, especially for the shorter swim races, that can train for high performance while decreasing the negative effects of high intensity endurance training. I am specifically wondering about very short sprint based programs like those proposed by Dave Salo and Todd DeSorbo in swimming and Tony Holler for track in which a lot of the work is done in 4-6 sec bursts with full recovery.
Protein/Creatine Consumption and Kidney Function
In episode 202, you mentioned that "three to four grams of protein per kilogram" is where you begin to challenge the kidneys. Can you discuss this in more detail and also provide studies/evidence for this statement? There seems to be some trade-off between high protein consumption and kidney function. When measuring kidney function, eGFR is typically used, which appears to be impacted by both protein and creatine consumption. For those following a protocol of both high protein consumption 2g per kg and creatine (5 g per day), potentially how misleading is an eGFR? Is there a rule of thumb on how to adjust it? And should we simply ask our doctors for a mGFR instead?
Ox-LDL as a useful test
Peter, found you personal ongoing story on atherosclerosis in Outlive very interesting - I wish I had been able to read it 10yrs earlier. Have a total cholesterol and LDL at the higher end of ‘normal’, high HDL, good triglycerides, calcium score of zero and CRP<1 - yet aged 54 had an 80% blockage in the LAD. That has been fixed by surgery, and am now on statins. In managing health going forwards, I see you encourage an ApoB test as ‘more accurate’ than LDL-C. Question, what about measuring Ox-LDL and does this give any more information that can be useful in monitoring any future potential development of atherosclerosis? Thank you