Sweet Memories

New Discoveries in Diabetes Suggest Novel Ways to Treat, Delay the Disease

A recent study has underlined the utter genius of HPC-UK programs, let’s look at the findings first before basking in self-ladled praise.

The study has identified that acetylcholine; a very important neurotransmitter that I’ve written many times about, is used by the body to inform the beta cells of your pancreas (the cells that release Insulin), to perform their function. Acetylcholine is usually studied in regard to memory, but has a vast range of functions throughout the body.

The Study found that if Acetylcholine metabolism is dysfunctional then the pancreas can no longer respond to changes in blood glucose (Sugar), which generally manifests as Diabetes, but can cause lots of problems before this point, such as increased fat deposition, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, increased risk of Cancer, increased risk of Cardiovascular Disease, and many, many more.

The acetylcholine is released by the alpha cells of the pancreas in response to low blood glucose levels. Low blood glucose is a threat to the body, which indicates a period of famine or starvation, therefore the body makes preparations to store whatever energy containing nutrients come into the body as a buffer for lean times.

When either the acetylcholine or insulin metabolism becomes dysfunctional the body can no longer regulate, principally glucose levels, but, in reality it has a knock-on effect on every single function in the body.

So, studies are being planned to test the hypothesis that supporting acetylcholine metabolism may theoretically be able to re-awaken the beta cells of the pancreas and therefore go part way in reversing Diabetes.

For those interested in fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, manipulation of this system will drastically amplify the results of your training and nutritional efforts.

Every single nutritional program HPC-UK creates, acknowledges and supports the Acetylcholine system as a foundational component.



If you want a program that optimises this process, get in touch.

Fat in Flames

Genetic Factor Controls Health-Harming Inflammation in Obese: Trigger Holds Promise for Treating Diabetes, Other Chronic Illnesses

As I keep stating, the knowledge gap between real science and public knowledge is so far removed, it's sometimes an uncomfortable position when trying to relay the information, as you are either met with 'Deer stuck in the headlights' looks, or instant 'zombification'

This is definitely the case with obesity. The adipose system (your fat) is not simply little bags of pudge, sitting around doing not much at all. The adipose system is actually a very big player in the body, that works very intimately with your brain, to control an ever increasing list of processes, which science is discovering more by the day.

The above article is reviewing a study that shows how bodyfat influences and is influenced by the immune system. The two interplay in a process that develops dysfunctional adiposity, that is, fat cells gone wrong. I have been showing you that control of bodyfat is not the simplistic 'Energy balance' that is still constantly spewed out by both the supposedly educated and the ignorant alike.

I go into more detail in my seminars, but the bottom line is the human body doesn't use/ burn Calories, we don't burn fat, we don't burn carbohydrates and we don't burn protein. In fact, if the person you are working with uses Calories as a base for their system, walk away as fast as your little legs can manage. And if you subscribe to this belief and are currently trying to manage your weight, get used to it, as you will constantly struggle in the battle of the bulge.

Even though the understanding of obesity is growing, you do not have to wait for a remedy to be discovered. It’s already been given to us, we just distorted the message. If you are interested in how to reclaim your body, get in touch.

Controlling Cancer

Low-Carbohydrate, High-Protein Diets May Reduce Both Tumor Growth Rates and Cancer Risk

A recent study has provided yet more evidence that modifying carbohydrate nutrition has widespread effects on health. In this study, the data showed a link between low carbohydrate consumption and reduced incidences of Cancer and growth of Cancer, if already present in the body.

The authors suggested one possible route whereby this may happen, that being reduced levels of glucose. High glucose levels are a well known route of both carcinogenesis and proliferation. In fact this is one of the mechanisms by which Cancer gradually takes hold on the body.

Cancer cells have the ability to turn off the mitochondria within cells (the only structure in the body that can use fat as a fuel), so that the body is forced into using primarily glucose as a fuel source. This shift towards glucose reliance is exactly what the Cancer cells 'want', as it allows them the energy to grow and replicate.

Another route, not explored by the authors is the contribution of fatty acids. The majority of carbohydrate consumption is in the form of grains, whether whole or processed. Aside from the glycemic load provided by grains, they also provide a disproportionate amount of Omega 6 fats. Omega 6 is essential to the human body, however, we get far too much in our current diet, and disproportionately so in reference to Omega 3.

Why is this such a problem? One of the properties of Omega 6 fatty acids, is that they can stimulate the growth of Cancer cells.

So for many reasons, if you are interested in preserving your health, you may want to consider limiting your intake of grain based foods.

Resistant Brains

Once again, Insulin metabolism is showing itself to have its fingers in many, many pies. The linked article is showing evidence that insulin resistance in the brain creates a dysfunctional cascade which vastly contributes to obesity. As I've shown previously to have any permenent effect on the body, you need to work from the top (the brain) down. Reversing insulin resistance can be achieved, there's plenty of information across the hpc-uk's sites. For an individualised program get in touch.

Insulin Action on Brain's Reward Circuitry Linked to Obesity

Salmon Thai-style

HPC-UK Optimum Nutrition - Main Meals

Give the recipe a try, then let me know what you think.

ACTH? Stress, Acquiesce or Fluoresce

As a physiologist when I see the letters ACTH, what comes to mind is Adreno-Cortico-Tropic Hormone. ACTH is a hormone thats principal function is to stimulate the production and release of Cortisol. You may have heard of Cortisol, it is sometimes referred to as the ‘Stress Hormone’. While having very important functions, too much or chronic stimulation of Cortisol has huge implications on your health. So let’s turn this puppy on its head and use the acronym for good affect and reducing our Cortisol levels to boot.

A: Acknowledge what is right. Notice positive events during the day. Too often we only focus on what goes wrong, and often allow this to become disproportionately important. Days or weeks later we usually laugh about these events, so why let them seem so serious at the time, it’s your choice. Celebrate little successes or everyday events all the time.

C: Create positive events or happiness in others. If there aren’t any positive events, make it happen. Random acts of kindness, they don’t cost anything. If you’re able help and give to others, do it, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it may not be to that person.

T: Turn it around. One of my closest friends lives by this credo. Negative events happen, that’s undeniable, but, even in the worst of situations, can you re-frame it? Take the negative event, and see if you can learn anything from it? Use it as a teaching experience or a springboard for action. Look for the silver lining to even the darkest cloud.

H: Honour your own strengths. We all have strengths, but we often aren’t very good at recognising our own worth. You are your strengths, be proud of them. We live in an extremely competitive world where negativity is used as leverage, so that’s what we tend to focus on. But once again it’s disproportionate, we are all generally doing the best we can, so give yourself a break and forget the minor mishaps or mistakes and appreciate your achievements, no matter how small.

Who Wants To Live Forever

Highlander (Queen); Who Wants To Live Forever 

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.  ~John Barrymore

In the previous article I showed that despite all the fanfare of increased lifespan, we actually haven’t made a lot of progress, if any at all. The perceived extended lifespan is pretty much due to a few factors, lack of a world war for recent generations (therefore not killing off horrific numbers of young people), huge investment in palliative  care, and earlier diagnosis of disease, leading to earlier use of the previous item in this trio.

Again with all the talk of ageing, I haven’t seen, correct me if I’m wrong, an accurate description of what ageing actually is in the popular media. Even in general discussion, I still hear from pretty much 99.99 % of all people that they think people can die of old age…

Let me state this very clearly, nobody has ever died of old age. The chronological passing of the illusion that we call time, has never caused anyone to die. We don’t even really have a concrete theory on what time is yet, let alone its influence on human life.

So what is ageing? Ageing is simply two things, disease and damage. When anybody dies it is simply that either disease and/ or damage have got to a point where it can’t be repaired or be endured by the organism.

So to stop ageing, we need to focus on two things, preventing the damage occurring in the first place, and if the damage has occurred repairing the damage. Simples.

To the extent that you achieve the above two points, you can, hypothetically, live indefinitely.

Don’t believe me? Nearly 15 years ago, scientists achieved this in a lab with a nematode (roundworm) called Caenorhabditis elegans.  I’ll get back to this in a moment.

You, yes you, are essentially an immortal anyway.  The germ cells that are in you, are the essentially the DNA from the very first primate, and is still going strong. These germ cells are what are used in sexual replication, and are the only cells that can undergo meiosis (essentially the combination of the DNA from Ovum and Sperm, it’s a little more complicated than that, but that will suffice here), as well as mitosis (normal cell division). Most of the other cells in your body that you are made of are called somatic cells, these can only undergo mitosis.

For these germ cells to essentially achieve immortality they need to pass on accurately their information encoded in the genes. To keep this information accurate, they need to guard its very precise sequence from any disruption. The germ cells have learned to do this very well, if they had not, you would not be here. So what does this have to do with worms?

Well, scientists looked at a few tricks that germ cells performed on maintaining their genetic meticulousness and applied it to the somatic cells in the aforementioned c. elegans. Guess what happened? Even with the limited knowledge we have of the techniques of the germ cells, the ones applied allowed a tripling of the roundworms lifespan. That would see a human living 200 years.

You can read a story about the research here http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/06/researchers-learn-how-mutations-extend-life-span/

So genetic engineering can allow vastly extended lifespan, although I wouldn’t advise undergoing the procedure, even when it becomes commercially available.  You can’t just manipulate a gene and expect it to have one outcome, your body is an interconnected system, it’d be like falling dominoes.

In the absence of genetic engineering, what can we do? Plenty.

Nature has dealt us a loaded hand; we’ve just forgotten to respect the game.  The game has a number of rules, of which I’ll focus on in upcoming articles, and as I promised I’ll point you in the right direction on how to tactically push the boundary but stay within the laws of the game.

I did say I would write about telomeres, but, as I was writing this, I thought that it deserved more than a cursory glance.  The science of telomeres is fascinating and as I’ll show in the next article(s), by following a few simple measures, we can, not only prevent them from shortening, but if already shortened, lengthen them again. As my man Russell Brand would say ‘’ ‘citing ‘’.