Also, during my 22 years of intermittent fasting, I've spoken to a lot of people who tried it. Some get very low blood sugar, some get very irritable, some fully compensate or overcompensate, and so don't lose weight.
People need to find what works for them (and what doesn't work for them).
I was very influenced by a study showing huge variation between individuals in glycemic response.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
What I'm interested in is differences between individuals in response. For saturated fat, there is Denke et al. (PMID 11105179) and the RISSCI study (PMID 39111551).
Denke et al. shows that interindividual variation is reproducible. This waterfall plot is from the RISSCI study.
I've been reading you for many of those years.
I generally agree with you, sometimes adamantly.
But I note that you want to make an exception on salt for people with low blood pressure (like yourself), and don't mention an exception on saturated fats for those with low LDL cholesterol.
Tamar Haspel lists 3 pieces of nutrition advice you can count on.
One is:
"Most saturated fat raises heart disease risk"
Her argument: most saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol, and LDL is causal for heart disease.
But what about people whose LDL cholesterol is in the healthy range?
wapo.st/3O10Xds
The 4-7-8 breathing technique (breathe in 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8) sounds promising, and I've started to try it. Anahad O'Conner says that it works for him, and it can't hurt.
Contrary to what he says, my pulse rate does not need to go below 60 for me to fall asleep. Most nights, it never goes below 60, and many nights it stays above 70 (the long term average of my nightly minimum is 67, SD 4.6). Furthermore, the time I wake up is not a time of rising pulse rate.
Non-sleep deep rest is good.
Over the years I have mastered non-sleep deep rest.
My pulse rate can reach its lowest point, and my Fitbit calls this light sleep.
But I am definitely awake; I maintain a train of conscious thought. I hear sounds, and if my wife says something, I respond.
He advises against getting up to go to the bathroom. I used to think that way, and I had a series of urinary tract infections, which were much worse than the sleep deprivation would have been.
I do avoid light or any activity that is engaging.
I do look at the clock.
I want to know if it's too early to get up.
Knowing the time does not make me at all anxious (which is his concern).
This is perfectly ordinary.
I'm up at 3 am most nights and I know what to do.
This YouTube by Michael Breus, is very informative about waking up at night, but is includes some advice that isn't right, at least not for me.
I'll address six points in my replies.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpdR...
I wake up most mornings at 3 or 4, and sometimes lay awake for long time.
Anahad O'Conner at the Washington Post has exactly the same sort of insomnia!
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
Most of his piece references Michael Breus, "The Sleep Doctor." I'll talk about his advice in my next post.
A blockbuster expose by @jeneeninterlandi.bsky.social on RFK's CDC. Read it. Get angry. And get on the phones to your elected members of Congress. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Alternate day fasting (which I've done for 21 yrs) seems best.
"more substantial weight losses ... accompanied by reductions in visceral fat and cardiometabolic improvements." "lowered total cholesterol, triglycerides, and non-high density lipoprotein"
www.bmj.com/content/389/...
This is a very important story. The government essentially censored news reports about a taxpayer-funded study because they feared that it might reflect badly on RFK Jr.
On the cyclic benefits of intermittent fasting and metabolic switching, this is an outstanding new perspective @naturemetabolism.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Varady remains unconvinced of effects independent of calorie restriction. “... I don’t think that there are any benefits ... beyond weight loss,” she says.
Mattson is equally sure of the opposite: “... considerable evidence of benefits ... that cannot be explained by reduction in calorie intake.”"
Everything you ever wanted to know about the science behind intermittent fasting… as always, many questions remain open but there are suggestions that its effects might not be simply a function of calorie restriction…
🧪 @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
If you are a scientist, or a nutritionist who follows the science, and you think beef tallow is healthier than seed oils, or if you just avoid seed oils, tell me why.
I'm looking for citations.
Wake up and drink your coffee!
"Lower risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were observed in people who mostly drank coffee in the morning."
If you keep drinking coffee all day, not so much.
www.medpagetoday.com/primarycare/...
There is no scenario where RFK Jr should be anywhere near HHS. Reporters, pundits and politicians trying to normalize this nomination are complicit in the coming disaster his rise represents. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
The short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have beneficial health effects, are produced by microbial metabolism and are unique acyl lysine histone marks. These papers show that the last bit is important; it's a mechanism by which the microbiome alters gene expression.
Interest in intermittent fasting appears to be lessening. There is an annual peak in Google searches right around this time of year, with the highest being 2020. Maybe this reflects the fact that most people already know what they want to know.
I agree. It would greatly simplify planning meetings with remote participation.
But there still has to be agreement on standard times.
Are the 9-to-5ers going to be 16:00-24:00 or 17:00-1:00? Would people ever use UTC for things like store hours?
It reminds me of conversion to metric.
I would favor allowing states to decide. Maybe Illinois wants to be Eastern with no time change, Alaska wants a time change, Florida wants Atlantic time (aka Eastern with permanent daylight savings). Let them.
And you want something to do? WRITE AND CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW.
The cardioprotective and anti-arthritic consequences of fasting are reported to depend on spermidine, acting via autophagy induction and hypusination of the translation regulator eIF5A.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
And now this. My father had polio when he was a child in the 1930s. He thankfully survived. Many did not. This is, well, evil. Let's not mince words. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/h...
Changes in RNA structure (3' UTR, alternative splicing) and base modifications with age in C. elegans, a new paper from Schiksnis et al. (Pasquinelli lab)
This new paper is at the intersection of my core scientific interest (RNA processing) and aging.
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
