I am an Endocrinologist, a
medical doctor interested in the metabolism of the body. A lot of the diseases
which start with HYPO or HYPER… denoting the lack or excess of hormones belong
to our library, as in, Hypothyroidism or Hypercortisolism or Cushing’s Syndrome.
There was a time when the
demand for my specialty was minimal and they used to joke that only those who
are very curious about science and fond of poverty went on to become
Endocrinologists. No wonder more Endocrinologists have won the Nobel Prize in
Medicine in the seventy years 1945-2015 than let us Dermatologists or
Gastroenterologists or Orthopedic surgeons!!
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
|
Year
|
Name
|
Prize motivation
|
|
1943
|
Edward
A. Doisy
|
"For
his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K"
|
|
1947
|
Bernardo
Alberto Houssay
|
"For
his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary
lobe in the metabolism of sugar"
|
|
1950
|
Edward
Calvin Kendall
|
"For
their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure
and biological effects"
|
|
1977
|
Roger
Guillemin
|
"For
their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the
brain"
|
|
1977
|
Andrew
V. Schally
|
"For
their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the
brain"
|
|
1977
|
Rosalyn
Yalow
|
"For
the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones"
|
|
1998
|
Ferid
Murad
|
"for
their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the
cardiovascular system"
|
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
|
Year
|
Name
|
Prize motivation
|
|
1955
|
Vincent
du Vigneaud
|
"For
his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the
first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone"
|
|
1985
|
Herbert
A. Hauptman
|
"For
their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the
determination of crystal structures"
|
|
2012
|
Robert
J. Lefkowitz
|
"For
studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"
|
One thing you learn early
on in your career is that you have to metabolically determine what is lacking
or in excess and then correct the situation:
supplement it if it is low, find a way to reduce secretion if it is in
excess. If the thyroid function is low, you give enough thyroid supplements to
bring the metabolism to normal.
One spin off is that many
charlatan/businessmen/medical doctors have made fortunes with creating
“deficiencies” and propagandized treatments were “pseudo treatments for pseudo
diseases”
I distinctly remember,
Thyroxin being prescribed for speeding up the metabolism in obese patients or
obese patients being consoled with the thoughts that it is not their nutrition
but thyroid hormone deficiency. Both of which are not acceptable nowadays.
For a while Adrenal
Deficiency or Fatigue was fashionable which prompted selling of Cortisol or
DHEA supplements.
While Thyroid and Adrenal
hormones caught the imagination of general population and the entrepreneurs,
many of the other hormones began creating havoc.
Take Insulin for example,
much needed for the metabolism of Sugar (glucose) in the body. Most people know
it as the hormone lacking in Type 1 Diabetes but the increasing pandemic of
Obesity is partially explained by the excess of Insulin!
Did you know that eating
processed food increases your Insulin levels and makes it ineffective and makes
you put on weight?
In this instance, the
excess insulin can be regulated by good NUTRITION as well as EXERCISE both of
which makes the levels of Insulin decrease.
But do people take these
natural methods of reducing excess hormonal levels?
No, the fact that each year
since 1980, every state in the USA has increased in weight to such an extent
that in 14 states, one in three American or immigrant is OBESE, not just
overweight.
And of course, in no
country in the world, they have been able to control the increasing incidence
of Type 2 Diabetes!
Travelling frequently as I
do to Malaysia, Kerala in India, USA and countries in South America, I am
saddened to conclude that people want a quick fix, however unnatural and
unscientific, over natural and nutritional related assistance.
Take for instance, the
multivitamin and supplement industry in the USA alone, worth 30 billion dollars
per year. I am amazed the kind of supplements they sell at supermarkets and
pharmacies. Coenzyme Q?
I still believe what I
began to learn in Australia under the tutelage of Professors Jack Martin and
Richard Larkins: supplement only when it is necessary. Healthy people do not
need any sort of supplementation and to which I add my own adage. It is best to
supplement with FOOD when such is available.
The following note from the Epidemiologists at Harvard University who
are conducting studies on the supplementation with Vitamin D and Omega-3.
People are generally encouraged to get vitamins and minerals from a
healthy, well-balanced diet. Micronutrients are better absorbed through the
diet and a person will receive many other beneficial components besides these
micronutrients. And through the diet, you get the optimal biological ratio of
vitamins and minerals as opposed to a mega-dose of a particular supplement that
can cause harm and may interfere with the absorption or bioavailability of
other vitamins and minerals.
Studies have since
been published that support the general belief of many of the supplements are
unnecessary if you have a demonstrated measurable deficiency. Certainly it is well
understood that in healthy individuals supplementing with nutrients, minerals,
hormones etc. in pill form are of no benefit. The brilliant Israeli scientists,
the two Erans, Elianav and Segal, have demonstrated that ADDED probiotics do
not do anything to your Microbiome!
If you want Fish Oil,
please eat Fish. If you want Vitamin D, go out in the sun for 20-40 minutes per
day depending upon the shade of your skin colour.
There is nothing better than natural, fresh food rather
than industrialized, processed and food prepared with inflammatory cooking oils
and food that has been prepared months before that comes to you in a package.
New science from
Israel shows how we are different from one another and just a bland
prescription of nutrition is not appropriate for all of us.
Here is a summary of
their work in 2015
Summary
Elevated postprandial blood glucose levels
constitute a global epidemic and a major risk factor for pre-diabetes and type
II diabetes, but existing dietary methods for controlling them have limited
efficacy. Here, we continuously monitored week-long glucose levels in an
800-person cohort, measured responses to 46,898 meals, and found high
variability in the response to identical meals, suggesting that universal
dietary recommendations may have limited utility. We devised a
machine-learning algorithm that integrates blood parameters, dietary habits,
anthropometrics, physical activity, and gut microbiota measured in this cohort
and showed that it accurately predicts personalized postprandial glycemic
response to real-life meals. We validated these predictions in an independent
100-person cohort. Finally, a blinded randomized controlled dietary
intervention based on this algorithm resulted in significantly lower
postprandial responses and consistent alterations to gut microbiota
configuration. Together, our results suggest that personalized diets may
successfully modify elevated postprandial blood glucose and its metabolic
consequences.
In the future, we may
be able to predict from many measurements and diagnostic examinations, what
exactly we are lacking and find out the kind of food that we must eat to
correct it. I am sure Israelis would come up with an answer. In the meantime,
one pill suits all is but blind belief.. And vote with your feet, take away
your share of the 30 billion dollar vitamin, supplement industry!
Michael Pollan has
said it succinctly:
Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed
up in seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
Probably the first two words are most important. "Eat food"
means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and
meat -- and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."
Here's how:
1.
Don't
eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you
pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients
you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing
there?" Pollan says.
2.
Don’t
eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't
pronounce.
3.
Stay
out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real
food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where
it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
4.
Don't
eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey --
but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," It is
not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a
little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures
have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat
until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in
German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"
5.
Families
traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times.
It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember
when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.
6.
Don't
buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the
car.
Many social commentators worry that the advantage USA has
over the rest of the world might be lost if the current state of UNCONTROLLED
OBESITY continues, bringing with it ILL HEALTH and other chronic diseases such
as DIABETES, Hypertension and Kidney disease and blindness and loss of limbs.
Then the thin people (in USA the well off people are
usually less overweight than others) would rule regardless of their race
(welcome thin brothers from Asia!! And Latin America!!)
·
Among
men, obesity prevalence was lower in the lowest and highest income groups
compared with the middle-income group. This pattern was seen among non-Hispanic
white and Hispanic men. Obesity prevalence was higher in the highest income
group than in the lowest income group among non-Hispanic black men.
·
Among
women, obesity prevalence was lower in the highest income group than in the
middle and lowest income groups. This pattern was observed among non-Hispanic
white, non-Hispanic Asian, and Hispanic women. Among non-Hispanic black women,
there was no difference in obesity prevalence by income. CDC
Ah well
Bon apetit…
There are well established situations where mineral supplements are absolutely recommended:
Pregnant women with Multivitamins and Folate is one example that comes to mind
