Showing posts with label ketogenic diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ketogenic diet. Show all posts

2022-03-09

chronic illness increased after oils of soy, grain, and seeds added to diet

 2022.3.9: health/diet/omega-6/

chronic illness increased after oils of soy, grain, and seeds added to diet:

Dr. Chris Knobbe warns us that we are wrong about

omega-6 oil being healthy at higher doses.

AncestryFoundation 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKR1ZdHXXzo

Omega-6 Apocalypse 2 (AHS21)


Catherine Shanahan M.D. 2018: [ad]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G1J7WEU/ref=nosim?tag=americiu-20

Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food. 

2017-05-18

dietary sources of AGEs #health #diet #cook

5.15: web.health/cook/dietary sources of AGEs:
summary:
. a doctor who wrote a healthy lifestyle book
says that sautéing is the best method for retaining nutrients;
but, sautéing involves browning the food,
and exposing fat to high heat.
. browning via heat is a Maillard_reaction:
Acrylamide, a possible human carcinogen
can be generated as a by-product of that.
. browning is related to AGEs
(Advanced_glycation_end-products)
however, I suprised to find
that compared to the diet I had supported,
browning vegetables is a relatively minor source
at least if very little oil is used;
because, foods high in even good fat
tend to contain high levels of AGEs
regardless of cooking method or being raw
-- relevant to a ketogenic (high-fat) diet.

J Am Diet Assoc. 2013:
Advanced Glycation End Products in Foods
and a Practical Guide to Their Reduction in the Diet.
"Modern diets are largely heat-processed
and as a result contain high levels of
advanced glycation end products (AGEs).
". grilling, broiling, roasting, searing, and frying
propagate and accelerate new AGE formation
[Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 1989,
J Am Diet Assoc. 2004]."
"In all food categories, exposure to
higher temperatures and lower moisture levels
coincided with higher dAGE levels
for equal weight of food
as compared to foods prepared at
lower temperatures or with more moisture.
Thus, frying, broiling, grilling, and roasting
yielded more dAGEs compared to
boiling, poaching, stewing, and steaming.
Microwaving 6 minutes or less
did not raise dAGE content to the same extent
as other dry heat cooking methods."
"... in animal studies, a reduction of
dietary AGE by 50% of usual intake
is associated with reduced levels of oxidative stress,
less deterioration of insulin sensitivity
and kidney function with age,
and longer life span [Am J Pathol. 2008:
Oral glycotoxins determine the effects of calorie restriction
on oxidant stress, age-related diseases, and lifespan.
"advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the diet
correlates with serum AGE levels, oxidant stress,
organ dysfunction, and lifespan."]

. oils and nuts are AGE-rich, even in their
uncooked and minimally-processed forms;
for example, measuring just one of many AGEs,
we find in 100g:
grilled veg(broc,carrot,celery): 226 kU AGE;
-- a browning process yet not very toxic;
whereas,
raw cashew (steamed briefly) contains 6730;
-- compare to roasted: 9807;
so, most of the toxin is from the natural fat
not the roasting. compare also,
100 mL (3.38fl oz) extra virgin olive oil: 10,040.

protein is a moderate source too:

100g chicken boiled 1 hour: 1,123
-- or half that if using acidic solutions
such as lemon juice or vinegar marinades.

salmon canned: 917
salmon raw: 528
no mention of raw yolk but
100g yolk cooked 10 min is: 1193


2014-10-12

Dr. Steve Phinney's #ketogenics #diet

10.9: news.health/diet/ketogenics/Dr. Steve Phinney's diet:
10.12: summary:
. low-carb means high fat, not high protein;
the point of a low-carb high-fat diet
is to get your liver to stop producing glucose
and start turning fat into ketones for use as body fuel;
ketogenics is the ability to make ketones as fuel;
a ketogenic low-carb diet spares vitamin C,
and cures Metabolic Syndrome .
. Dr.Phinney has a recipe for bone broth:
he uses chicken heavily mostly for minerals
(the only protein used is the broth's gelatin).

Dr. Steve Phinney 2011:
. carb's stay between 25 and 50 grams
(around 100 calories a day);
protein is between 125 and 150 grams
(500 to 600 calories a day).
so if needing 2800 calories a day,
that entails over 2,000 calories of fat
per day to maintain body weight.
. by staying low-carb, one becomes keto-adapted:
easily drawing on fat stores for energy;
so, low-carb dieters can eat less often
without getting tired .

10.11: Dr.Phinney 2004`protein guide:
The studies noted herein
[ low cal Capacity for Moderate Exercise
chronic ketosis without caloric restriction
Preservation of submaximal exercise capability 
low-cal maintining nitrogen balance ]
demonstrate effective preservation of
both lean body mass and physical performance
when protein is in the range of 1.2 – 1.7 g
per kg of reference body weight daily;
so, picking the mid-range value of 1.5 g/kg-d,
for adults with reference weights ranging in
60-80 kg, [132-176 lb]
this translates into total daily protein intakes
of 90-120 g protein/day.
-- about 15% of calories should be protein
when total daily intake is 2000–3000 kcal/day
(ie, if you are doing low-calorie dieting,
you should obviously get more than 15% protein;
because 15% of 1000kcal is far less than 90-120 g ).
. protein exceeding 25% of 2000-3000 kcal
has the potential to suppress ketogenesis
( because protein raises insulin [Ph2012]);
and, suppression of the ketogenic ability
will result in a feelings of low energy on low carb
until becoming keto-adapted again (could take 2-6 weeks).

Dr. Phinney`ketogenic diet conserves vitamin c:
. the usual carbs are inflammatory,
and raise requirements for vitamin C:
eating just pemmican even with no berries
did not cause scurvy unless mixed with
classic euro'navy rations that included
many carbs, typically biscuit and peas .

chicken broth for minerals:
. a good source of minerals is a meat broth:
simmer a whole chicken for 6 hours,
adding one quart of water per pound of chicken
(see my efficient induction pressure cooker).
. skim off the oxidized fat floating on top;
and, feed the meat to pets; [ because,
if you get plenty of minerals from broth
you'll be buying more meat than you can eat
on a moderate-protein, ketogenic diet .].
. if chicken is a $2.00 per pound,
and you get a quart of broth per pound,
that averages to about two cups of broth
for $1.00 per a day .
. to support a ketogenic diet
in which kidneys dump salt a lot,
(and to avoid low-carb constipation)
you should add salt to your broth:
one teaspoon of salt per quart .
. the salt helps you hold water in your blood,
and lets more water get into your stools
to soften them up .

10.12: Dr.Phinney`typical ketogenic day:
(21% protein, 5%carb, 74%fat, 2100kcal)
2cup greens; 6oz celery; 4oz green beans;
4oz mushrooms, 8oz tomato bisque;
2oz nuts, 10olives,
4 sausages; 6oz tuna, broth, 8oz steak,
bluecheese dressing(yogurt, olive oil),
4oz low-carb iced cream .
-- the broth has 2g salt needed by the diet
to avoid low blood pressure;
supplement magnesium to avoid cramps .
. most calories are from mono'oils and sat'fats:
polyunsaturates are taken only as required .
1.5-2g/kg of protein per day .

Dr.Phinney's controversial fat sources:
. says high-oleic safflower is like olive oil?
(new hybrid with no long-term testing);
and he casually eats cheese? [10.12:
cheese is a special treat not healthy for daily use:
it has the carcinogenic part of dairy (casein).

10.12: Dr.Phinney 2012`thyroid function:
. he doesn't know why thyroid would be low
after several months of a ketogenic diet
(at least if following his whole diet);
but, other diets' pitfalls may include:
higher fat in non-ketogenic state,
not enough carbs (get your 50g);
too many polyunsaturates .
. I wondered if there might be dysbiosis;
the GAPS diet people deal with that,
and they suggest use of probiotics
including fermented foods;
digestive aids might be needed too .
. a person eating wheat bran may get leaky gut,
and would still be ketogenic but also have dysbiosis,
that can affect the thyroid .
--
low thyroid is related to other hormones:
. testosterone, IGF-1, and SHBG are low;
Glucagon is higher .

#ketogenic #diet works when #DASH diet doesn't #cure #hypertension

10.9: news.med/hypertension/
ketogenic diet works when DASH diet doesn't:
Dr. Steve Phinney`beyond DASH diet:
. a ketogenic low-carb diet cured his hypertension
that was not responding to a DASH diet*
-- he was overweight too (indicating he was
too carb'intolerant for a DASH diet).

2014-05-04

John E. Whitcomb, M.D anti-aging

4.30: aq.med/John E. Whitcomb, M.D anti-aging:
5.4: summary:
. a friend using integrative medicine for cancer
(using both chemo and functional medicine)
introduced me to an anti-aging doctor
who has a blog I found very helpful
and who has a clinic in Brookfield, Wisconsin
with BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy)
probiotics, and anti-aging diet management .
. I briefly explore his blog's advice,
and give a summary of his LiveLongMD.com site .

2013-12-07

#mct or #ketones may prevent #alzheimers

12.7: summary:
. a mouse model of Alzheimers disease
responds well to addition of various ketones;
these are naturally produced by a low-carb diet,
or the consumption of mct oil .

2012-09-25

found a loophole in Atkins 2002

7.20: health/hormonics/found a loophole in Atkins 2002:
. my familiarity with Atkins is limited to
a book he last revised in 2002;
in that book, he suggested that
in determining our carb' allotment,
we didn't need to count the non-insulinemics,
which includes fructose .
. the Zone diet noted that
one way to keep your blood sugar up,
is to get generous amounts of certain proteins
(chicken, fish, egg whites, veg protein isolate,
but not whey protein isolate).
. Dr.Lustig noted that a leading cause of
the liver becoming insulin resistant
is from eating too much fructose;
he also warned us that it was the
combination of glucose provoking insulin
and fructose causing insulin resistance
that was causing the current epidemic of
metabolic syndrome (obesity, fatty liver, ...).
. some with high blood sugar are finding that
their blood sugar is high on awakening
suggesting that for some reason
their liver is being fooled into making
too much glucose .
. one way it can be fooled is insulin resistance:
as it produces glucose,
it knows when to stop because
it detects that levels of insulin are getting high;
but if it's insulin resistant,
it can't hear the insulin signal
and thus continues to produce glucose
even when the {insulin, glucose} are too high .
. therefore,
high glycemics is not exactly the whole problem:
fructose is making the liver insulin-resistant
which makes the liver put out too much glucose;
so, if instead of sugar you had too much
combined fructose and protein,
that too would cause the same hyperglycemia,
without being on a high -glycemic diet ?
. if that 's true,
that's a loophole in the Atkins 2002 diet,
because he allows non-insulinemic carb's
and any amount of any sort of protein .
. most people don't fall into that pitfall
only because fructose is usually combined with
the insulinemic carb's that Atkins controls,
so most on Atkins diet tend to get less of
all sorts of carb's, including fructose .

2012-02-08

Dr.Phinney's Atkins++ (advances_in_ketogenic_diet)

2011.12.8: news.co.med#Dr.Phinney/atkins++:
Steve Phinney, MD` New Atkins for a New You:
. the amount of science expertise that you
and Dr's Westman, Volek, and Phinney have
is actually deeper than Dr. Atkins?
That’s correct.  Science.  Modern science.
And we think we’ve brought current medical science.
But what Dr. Atkins brought to the diet was, in a way,
similar to what a Lakota or Kiowa grandmother
brought to this.
Dr. Atkins treated thousands of patients on this diet.
And he had an excellent empiric body of observation;
he basically evolved a diet that worked well
for the purposes of his time,
to help people easily and healthfully lose weight.
[12.8: how Dr.Atkins is like a traditional grandmother?:
. at first I thought he meant to belittle atkins
in order to rationalize his new book:
Steve Phinney, MD`New Atkins for a New You.
but then noticed the idea was fitting in 2 ways:
# one link in a chain:
. Atkins had been just one of many jumpstarts
for the low-carb high-fat dieting style;
like the proverbial grandmother,
he was just passing on a tradition,
not creating one .
# grandma spoils the child:
. Atkins was going a little bit overboard on
letting the kids have their fun:
granted, he was publishing real science on dieting,
and proving how deluded we've been about carb's;
he also sold his diet as minimally invasive
even when that implied getting too much protein,
and getting unhealthy fats (ones that came from
corn-fed animals, not the Inuit fare). ]
What we’ve done with The New Atkins for the New You
is move beyond there.
I’ve brought some key learning from indigenous diets.
And the use and selection of fats.
Drs. Volek and Westman have added their
clinical and research expertise,
particularly concerning metabolic syndrome,
type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
[. like the Zone diet, it's a life style not a weight loss phase ]
to allow people to remain healthy and functional .
[12.9:
. he implies that atkins' wasn't sustainable;
he's referring to the unsustainable induction phase
of Atkins' quite sustainable entire program .]

Pemmican and High fat diets:
The Atkins diet has been the bulls-eye for
critics of low-carb, high-fat diets,
saying it’s unbalanced, so it must be dangerous.
. what's really interesting is, looking at human history,
our ancestors before the advent of agriculture
had a low carb diet.
. there are a lot of assumptions that
hunter-gatherers ate a lot of fruit and vegetables,
and that’s how they balanced their diet.
But it appears in many places
(for example here where the buffalo roamed)
that those cultures evolved around
highly successful hunting skills,
with a minimization of gathering
(and in some cases a complete avoidance of ).
The Great Plains natives ate mostly buffalo
and in many cases nothing but the buffalo
( 20% to 25% of energy from protein
and 75% to 80% as fat ).
. however many ate berries too;
it was kept in a separate bag .

. in order to use a large buffalo kill,
they would produce pemmican:
. dry most of meat, 
sew sacks out of the hide
(rawhide skin on the inside),
stuff pounded dried meat into the sacks,
take hot buffalo fat and pour it in
to fill in all the air spaces around the meat.
. after sewing the sack closed,
the squeezed out all air to kill any bacteria
with the heat of the melted fat .
transported and stored anywhere from six months to five years
. killed in the fall or early winter,
an animal provided a lot of fat.

. Arctic Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson,
lived among the Inuit, and then in 1928
he was monitored while on an Inuit diet,
to show that some meat diets
(his was 15% protein and 85% fat)
had enough Vitamin C to prevent scurvy .
. meat certainly doesn't provide 50mg per day
but maybe your needs are reduced on low carb .
.  Jeff Volek at the University of Connecticut,
demonstrated that when people on a mixed diet
are switched to a low carbohydrate diet,
their level of inflammation goes down
(as does oxidative stress, and presumably
the need for vitamin C).

Why do we need fiber?
People think fiber is needed for the bulk
that will speed transition time;
in fact, we need fiber only if our diet is
not ketogenic (producing short-chain fats).
. bacteria in fecal matter break down fiber
and produce very short chain sat'fats,
-- three and four carbons long --
and this feeds the cells lining the colon.
. when you’re on a 20-gram-carb diet,
you start producing short-chains yourself,
and, unlike glucose and triglycerides
these ketones pass easily to the colon
via a membrane's active transport .

. there are reports that the Inuit had a higher
incidence of stroke?
We didn’t do modern epidemiological studies
until about 50 years ago. But it would appear,
when medical missionaries went among the Inuit,
living on their indigenous diet,
they rarely reported cases of cancer,
even though people lived into their sixth or seventh decade.
Well documented.   Heart disease, heart attack,
was rare or unknown.
And we know that the omega-3 fats
that the peoples got from cold water ocean fish,
protect and reduce the risk of heart attack.
[but fishoils do increase the risk of fatal stroke .]

. Volek has done studies with non-indigenous foods,
that is our current market foods
and putting people on low-carbohydrate foods,
in his case, the Atkins diet,
and demonstrates that
when you take people off of carbohydrates
and put them on a properly balanced,
that is moderate protein, relatively high fat diet.
then inflammation biomarkers go down markedly .
-- reducing risk of heart attack .
and the definitive Jupiter study,
clearly demonstrates that when you reduce
not cholesterol  but inflammation,
then this directly and rapidly results in
a reduction of heart attack risk.
. that’s C-Reactive Protein, among other things.
C-Reactive protein, Interleukin 6.  V-Cam I Cam.
So yes, there may be some side effects of the low carb diet
in terms of vascular health of the brain.
Loren Cordain comments:
CSU scientist and author of The Paleo Diet,
Loren Cordain responds to U-C Davis Scientist
and co-author of the New Atkins,
Steve Phinney’s discussion on Pemmican.

This interview includes Loren’s opinion that saturated fats
DO increase plaque in the arteries.
However, Loren says, this only becomes very hazardous
when saturated fats are eaten in combination with
grains, beans, dairy, high-sugar foods or other foods
that tend to increase inflammation.
Cordain says the combination of saturated fats
and inflammatory foods such as grains
is a deadly formula for a heart attack.
ref#1: Artery Plaque in Pre-Westernized Inuit:
The paleopathology of the cardiovascular system.
. Paleopathology, the study of disease in ancient remains,
adds the dimension of time to our study of health and disease.
The oldest preserved heart is from a mummified rabbit
of the Pleistocene epoch, over 20, 000 years old.
Cardiovascular disease has been identified in
human mummies from Alaska and Egypt,
covering a time span ranging from
approximately 3,000 to 300 years ago.
An experimental study suggests that the potential exists for
identifying in mummified remains a wide range of
cardiovascular pathologic conditions .
The antiquity and ubiquity of arteriosclerotic heart disease
is considered in terms of pathogenesis.
ref#2: saturated fat is atherogenic:
Myocardial infarction in a large colony of nonhuman primates with coronary artery atherosclerosis.
. while butter was atherogenic;
[plaque forming -> myocardial infarction]
what kills you is the rupture of the plaque.
. lard had the same effect as butter when mixed with
carb's (40%calories are fat);
peanut oil (omega-6+?) was thrombogenic . [clot forming]
I’m on record stating that saturated fats are
not uni-dimensionally responsible for cardiovascular disease.
They represent a risk factor.
And the risk factor of saturated fats can be small.
I don’t believe stearic acid (18-O) is atherogenic
in the context of a Paleolithic diet;
nor is high 12-O or 14-O atherogenic;
because, they occur in such small concentrations.
Palmitic acid is atherogenic.
And there’s not an experiment in humans or animals or tissue
to show that it doesn’t down regulate the LDL receptor.
This is a point that is never addressed in Gary Taubes’s book
or Eric Westman’s articles, or Ron Krauss.
You need to address the down regulation of the LDL receptor.

We awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine to Brown and Goldstein
for saying that Palmitic acid down regulates the LDL receptor.
That controls the flux of oxidized LDL in and out of the intima.
. in contrast to the Inuit, we have a pro-inflammatory diet.
If you took these 1600 year old Inuit women
and fed them bread along with their high fat diet,
I would be almost certain that you would see myocardial infarctions.

We believe that wheat upregulates metalloproteinases.
It upregulates metalloproteinase 2 and metalloproteinase 9.
If you look at the final dissolution of that fibrous plaque,
what causes that fibrous plaque to rupture
– it’s made out of collagen and smooth muscle and cholesterol.
What causes it to rupture is metalloproteinases.
They up-regulate and degrade the collagen,
and when the fibrous cap breaks,
that is the event that kills you.

We believe elements in the Western diet,
including Wheat and corn and grain and legumes*
and high glycemic load carbohydrates,
these upregulate the enzymes that
directly cause the rupture of the fibrous cap.
*: [being in the paleo camp,
he's not giving beans a fair study ? ...]
Loren Cordain Replies to Steve Phinney:
Steve’s comments and follow-up are logical
and I have read that paper by Jeff Volek.
So, I guess we are in agreement that 16:0 [Palmitic sat'fat]
downregulates the LDL receptor
and that low carbohydrate diets reduce circulating 16:0,
which in turn would reduce the risk for CHD.
However, the paleo pathology paper by Zimmerman
clearly shows atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries
of adult Inuit eating their tradition diet,
centuries prior to westernization.
My point was that these Inuit likely
never suffered fatal myocardial infarcts,
as the fibrous cap covering the atherosclerotic lesion
likely would have never ruptured via the
necessary upregulation of MMPs (metalloproteinases)
from chronic low level inflammation.
High 16:0 intake combined with the typical western diet
(refined CHO, wheat, vegetable oils, dairy, saponins, etc)
elicits chronic low level inflammation
via a number of mechanisms including
increased intestinal permeability which leads to endotoxemia
(leakage of lipopolysachharide (LPS) from
resident gram negative gut bacteria into circulation).
LPS binds toll like receptor 4 on leukocytes
and antigen presenting cells to upregulate
numerous inflammatory cytokines.
Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor
Department of Health and Exercise Science
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Tel: (970) 491-7436
Fax: (970) 491-0445
mailto:lcordain@cahs.colostate.edu
http://www.thepaleodiet.com
Phinney replies to Loren Cordain:
On the topic of saturated fat,
I might respond to Professor Cordain’s concerns
by pointing out that
keto-adapted individuals fed a high fat diet
actually experience a reduction in the proportion of
palmitate (16:0) in their serum triglycerides.
Jeff Volek has done two human studies
(one published, one submitted)
that demonstrate this,
and Craig Warden (PhD, UC Davis) has done
two mouse studies that confirm this observation
in tissue triglycerides as well.
These studies indicate that the body’s adaptation
to a low carb diet
(let’s say less than 10% of energy)
includes a shift in metabolism
that  preferentially oxidizes 16:0.
So then the question is,
if it’s been made into CO2 and water,
how can it harm you?
And as for pemmican, my point* is that
it was a reserve food,
and only used in intervals when
fresh meat was unavailable.
*(see Steve Phinney’s discussion of Pemmican)
But the fact that it could sustain people
for months at a time
is often ignored or denigrated.
Clearly the many hunting cultures of North America
had complex and varying dietary practices,
involving which parts of which animals
were consumed, and by whom.
Among the hunters of caribou, moose, elk and bison,
it was common to break open the long bones
to eat the marrow – a source of minerals
from the trabecular bone as well as fat.
And the Inuit were reported by Stefansson
to enjoy gnawing seal ribs
back from their cartilagenous insertion at the sternum
towards the dorsal end where they were heavily calcified
-again a source of marrow fat and bone mineral.
And finally, I think the topic of low carb diets and vitamin C
is pretty much academic – literally.
In ‘The New Atkins’,
we advise people to eat 3-5 servings of vegetables
and/or berry fruit daily, and for the sake of “insurance’,
a daily multivitamin as well.
The academic question is,
before they had year-round access to fruits and vegetables,
how could hunting cultures maintain health and function?
And this is where our emerging understanding
of the role of oxidative stress and inflammation
stemming from dietary carbohydrate intake
offers a fascinating hypothesis, if not valuable insight.
2011.12.9: web
more comments to the pemmican post:
homemade pemmican turns out to be missing vit'C:
The Zero Carb people at Zeroinginonhealth (ZIOH)
have always praised pemmican as the “perfect” food.
Pemmican is made from dried, raw meat
that is ground up and then mixed with fat.
They also believe that you can live on it “indefinitely”
as some explorer (Stefansson) claimed so in a book,
making this statement despite there being no evidence
that anybody has survived on pemmican-only
for any extended period of time .
[reference to http://pemmi-pucks-inc.squarespace.com/
how-i-make-my-pemmi-pucks/:
. he uses bison, but it might not be as healthy
as what natives accessed,
plus he slow-cooked and then double cooked the fat,
which may have destroyed too much c .]
On the western/northern prairies
where the Lakota etc made Pemmican
there are a huge amount of berries available in the fall.
In bushier areas are late raspberries, closer to the mountains
and on burned out areas there are blueberries
and all across the prairies in bison territory
there are Pemmican berries. AKA saskatoon berries.
. the reason they were called pemmican berries
is that was what the whitemen saw the natives
putting into pemmican.
These are available in late fall,
and often throughout the winter
– they stay on the trees and get a little dry but are edible.
Rosehips are also widely available
and excellent sources of Vit C.
I don’t believe raspberry/strawberry
or other wetter berries were used
but I am pretty sure Pemmican berries,
blue berries and rosehips were used .
Garold Spire Jr M.D. February 6, 2011
Allow me to add that
the choke cherries are first pounded seed and all,
apparently to obtain the nutrition in the almond like pit,
then pressed into cakes and dried.
There is virtually no moisture in them.
Berry picking is done by the women.
Please refer to Lewis and Clarke’s journal
to see the reference to
Native Americans eating the dried berry cakes.
It is a long tradition here on the
Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
I’m certain it resolves several metabolic issues
with pemmican only diets.
January 21, 2011 at 8:03 am:
The use of dried berries with pemmican
but not necessarily in pemmican,
I believe is essential since the
citric acid cycle intermediates of malic acid and citrate
that are present in the berries
allow metabolism of fat avoiding ketosis.
Here on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation
dried cakes of choke cherries are used
since June Berries are no longer found.
They are not mixed with pemmican.
Hawthorn, buffalo berries and wild plums are common here
and may have been used as well.
Dr. Spire
Dr.Phinney June 26, 2011 at 10:45 am
High protein diets were known to induce
illness, including nausea, fatigue, and diarrhea.
When the Karluk survivors awaited rescue
on Wrangel Island in 1913,
the Europeans in the party contended with each other
over the lean meat provided by their Inuit hunter.
Many of them suffered from swelling and joint pain,
and two died.
In contrast, the Inuit family of three in the party
remained healthy eating the fats that the others spurned.
With a kind nod to Dr. Spire,
not all states of ketosis are bad,
but neither are all forms of ketosis good.
A well-formulated ketogenic diet
results in blood ketone levels in the 1-5 millimolar range,
at which levels ketones provide a sustained
and effective fuel supply
to multiple organs including the brain.
Humans adapted to a well-formulated ketogenic diet
also experience a marked reduction in
inflammation biomarkers
(and presumably reduced oxidative stress as well).
Oxidative stress is important in the context of scurvy,
as the presumed metabolic role of ascorbate
is to regenerate reduced glutathione
to protect against free-radical damage.
Thus the reduced inflammation and oxidative stress
associated with a well-formulated ketogenic diet
could significantly reduce the metabolic need for ascorbate.

We do know that Stefansson lived for a year
on a ketogenic diet;
Drs. McClellan, DuBois, Rupp, and Toscani
expressed surprise and grudging admiration
that he (and his fellow explorer-subject Andersen)
survived without any signs of scurvy or kidney problems
(3 papers: e.g., McClellan et al, JCI, 87:651-8, 1930).

Stefansson also published a paper in JAMA in 1917
describing his experience in the Arctic
in which some of his party spent the winter eating
carbohydrate-rich foods rather than hunting,
thus developing scurvy,
which was promptly cured by feeding them
fresh meat and fat without carbs (be it sugar, flour, or berries).
Quite likely it was this publication that prompted
much of the vilification of Stefansson .
This is obviously not a simple subject,
as there are lots of variables at play here.
Clearly a well-formulated ketogenic diet
can contain lots of vegetables
and even some berry fruit,
but there is also solid evidence
that a ketogenic diet  that does
not contain fruit or vegetables

need not cause scurvy.
Equally evident is that
a badly formulated diet,
particularly one high in protein
and low in fat,
can cause malaise,
gastro-intestinal upset,
and perhaps overt disease as well.
It was to deal with these issues
that Dr. Volek and I wrote
“The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living”
to address some of the misunderstandings
and to better define a well-formulated
low carbohydrate diet.