Your Gut Talks to Your Brain

I've been reading through some papers on a gut-brain connection that regulates food intake and blood nutrient balance. I've learned some interesting things.

First of all, when fat hits your small intestine (especially long-chain fatty acids), it sends a message to the brainstem via the vagus nerve. This rapidly inhibits eating behavior.

The hypothalamus can also inhibit glucose production by the liver in response to fat in the bloodstream, by sending it signals via the vagus nerve.

A recent paper that got me interested in all this showed that when you put fatty acids on the upper small intestine, it sends a signal to the brain, which then sends a signal to the liver, increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing glucose production.

The upper small intestine is not just a passive nutrient sponge. It's a very active player in the body's response to food, coordinating changes in food intake and nutrient disposal.

Hair Loss : Causes and Home Remedies

Although hair is not essential to life, it is of sufficient cosmetic concern to provoke anxiety in anyone when it starts thinning, falling, or disappearing. To a woman, the sight of a comb or brush covered with lost hair can cause intense mental strain.

Hair is formed in minute pockets in the skill called follicles. An upgrowth at the base of the follicle, called the papilla, actually produces hair when a special group of cells turn amino acids into keratin, a type of protein of which hair is made.

The rate of production of these protein 'building blocks' determines hair growth. The average growth rate is about 1.2 cm per month, growing fastest on women between fifteen to thirty years of age. Seeing hair on your clothes, after you comb, bald patches appearing gradually, receding hairline. Symptoms are pretty obvious for hair loss!

Causes

.Inadequate nutrition. Persons lacking in vitamin B6 lose their hair and those deficient in folic acid often become completely bald. But the hair grows normally after the liberal intake of these vitamins.

.Stress such as worry, anxiety, and sudden shock, general debility caused by severe or long standing illnesses like typhoid, syphilis, chronic cold, influenza, and anaemia.

.An unclean condition of the scalp which weakens the hair roots by blocking the pores with the collected dirt; and heredity.


Home Remedies

1.Rubbing of scalp
A vigorous rubbing of the scalp with fingers after washing the hair with cold water is one of the most effective among the several home remedies for the prevention and treatment of hair loss. The scalp should be rubbed vigorously till it starts to tingle with the heat.

2.Amla oil
Prepared by boiling dry pieces of amla in coconut oil, is considered a valuable hair tonic for enriching hair growth. A mixture of an equal quantity of fresh amla juice and lime juice, used as a shampoo also stimulates hair growth and prevents hair loss.

3.Amaranth
Amaranth is another valuable remedy for hair loss. Its fresh leaf juice should be applied to the hair. It will help the growth of the hair and keep it soft.

4.Mustard oil and henna leaves
About 250 ml of mustard oil should be boiled in a tin basin. About sixty grams of henna leaves should be gradually put in this oil till they are burnt in the oil. The oil should then be filtered using a cloth and stored. Regular massage of the head with the oil will produce abundant hair.

5.Coconut milk
It nourishes the hair and promotes hair growth. Coconut milk is prepared by grinding the coconut shavings and squeezing them well.

6.Onion
Onion has also been found beneficial in patchy baldness. The affected part should be rubbed with onions morning and evening till it is red. It should be rubbed with honey afterwards.

7.Daily diet
The healthy condition of the hair depends, to a very large extent, on the intake of sufficient amounts of essential nutrients in the daily diet. Persons with a tendency to lose hair should take a well-balanced and correct diet, made up of foods which, in combination, should supply all the essential nutrients.

Diabetes and Your Small Intestine

In the last post, I introduced you to the remarkable antidiabetic effect of gastric bypass surgery. It rapidly reverses diabetes in 83% of patients, and it seems to be due to bypassing the upper small intestine specifically, rather than caloric restriction. This points to a special role of the upper small intestine in regulating food metabolism. I told you I was going to look into the mechanism of why this effect happens, and here's the short answer:

It's complicated and no one understands it completely.

Now for the long answer. Nutrient homeostasis is very important and we have sophisticated ways of coordinating it among different tissues. Part of the small intestine's job is telling the body that nutrients are on their way into the bloodstream. Two ways it conveys this signal are by secreting hormones into the bloodstream, and by sending signals to the brain and liver via parasympathetic nerves.

The small intestine secretes dozens of hormones, one category of which is called the incretins. Incretins by definition increase the secretion of insulin by the pancreas, among other things. They were discovered when researchers realized that oral glucose elicits more of an insulin response than intravenous glucose. The reason is that cells in the upper small intestine secrete incretins when they detect glucose.

There are two known major incretin hormones that are secreted by the small intestine, GIP and GLP-1. There was a recent study by the lab of Blanca Olivan which looked into the levels of incretins in patients who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, a common type in which 95% of the stomach and part of the upper small intestine is bypassed.

Their results are very interesting! Compared to controls losing an equivalent amount of weight on a low-calorie diet, the bypass patients saw a HUGE increase in their oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) GLP-1 secretion (9.8 vs 112.5 pmol/L), a large increase in GIP secretion, and a corresponding increase in insulin secretion (575 vs 769 pmol/L). Two-hour OGTT blood glucose levels went from borderline diabetic to "normal", by American Diabetes Association standards. Fasting glucose and insulin dropped substantially. The bypass group gained considerable glucose control, better than the matched controls on a low-calorie diet.

It looks like part of the mechanism involves whipping the pancreas to produce more insulin in response to glucose. It also affected fasting insulin, although that could simply be due to calorie restriction because it went down in both groups. Interestingly, non-diabetic patients who get a Roux-en-Y bypass often get reactive hypoglycemia, where their pancreas overproduces insulin after a meal and they get dangerously low blood sugar. Dr Mary-Elizabeth Patti calls it "diabetes reversal in people who don't have diabetes". So the effect doesn't seem to be specific to people with diabetes.

There is some suggestion that the effect on incretins is due to bypassing the duodenum, which is part of the upper small intestine. Here's how the (very sophisticated) reasoning goes: when the duodenum doesn't get glucose dumped on it, that somehow increases release of incretins by the small intestine further along the line.

There's actually an antidiabetic drug that mimics GLP-1; it's called Byetta. There's another that inhibits the breakdown of GLP-1 called Januvia. A second effect of GLP-1 is to delay stomach emptying, which both drugs do. They have been effective for some diabetics.

Well this turned into a long post, so I'll follow up on the parasympathetic (nerve) signaling of the small intestine next time.

The Miracle Diabetes Cure You Don't Know About

What would you say if I told you there's a cure for type II diabetes that's effective in 83% of people, extremely rapid, and requires no lifestyle changes? Would you think I was crazy? Well maybe I am, but the cure exists nevertheless.

All it requires is a little intestinal mutilation. It's called gastric bypass surgery. It's an anti-obesity surgery where the digestive tract is re-routed, bypassing 95% of the stomach as well as the duodenum and jejunum, which are parts of the upper small intestine.

The effect was first reported in 1995 by Dr. Walter Pories. Initially, researchers thought the cure was simply from caloric restriction due to a smaller stomach volume, but since then the story has become much more interesting. The key finding was published in 2004 by Dr. Francesco Rubino, who showed that bypassing the duodenum and jejunum but not the stomach of type II diabetic rats was enough to cure their diabetes. The effect wasn't due to caloric restriction, since both groups ate the same amount of food.

What this suggests is that there's some kind of feedback coming from the upper small intestine that affects glucose control and insulin sensitivity. What could be causing it? It just so happens there are some pretty good candidates: hormones called GLP-1 and ghrelin.

I'm going to dive into this and see if I can figure out what's going on.

Sorry for the cheesy post title, I'm practicing for my best-seller. Maybe I should add the word "secret"? How about this: "101 Secret Diabetes Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About".

Dandruff : Causes, Treatment and Home Remedies

Dandruff is a condition in which flakes and chunks of dead skin are shed from a persons scalp. Contrary to popular belief, it is not always caused by a dry scalp, many people with oily scalps are also afflicted.

Causes

1. Dry scalp
Often caused by overly dry environmental conditions or the overuse of cheap hair care products, this condition can be cured by moisturizing.

2. Oily scalp
People who have oily scalps can also get dandruff. The exact cause has not yet been proven, but has been speculated to be due to the excessive oil promoting the growth of yeast and fungi that can irritate the scalp.

3. Seborrheic dermatitis
It is a skin condition that effects the scalp, face and upper-body. Symptoms include scaly or flaky skin that is itchy and red. It is believed to be caused by the fungus.

4. Psoriasis
Psoriasis is a skin condition that can cause silvery, flaky patches of skin on different areas of the body. It is commonly seen on the scalp, creases of the nose, eyebrows, elbows, knees and arms.

5. Environment
Dry environments that lead to dryness of the scalp. Consider humidifying your living space if you have dry skin elsewhere on your body.

6. Food allergies
Poor nutrition and food allergies have been blamed for dandruff .

7. Cheap hair care product
The use of cheap hair care products that dry or irritate the scalp as well as chemical and mechanical over styling.


Treatment



1. Dandruff shampoos
Use anti-dandruff shampoos which used active ingredients such as Zinc pyrithione, Ketoconazole, Selenium sulfide, Coal tar and Salicylic acid .

2. Tea tree oil
Massage the mixture into the scalp and let it sit for 15 minutes prior to rinsing clean.

3. Vinegar rinses
Rinse your hair with white or apple cider vinegar prior to bathing. It may have something to do with correcting your hair�s PH balance.

4. Aloe Vera
Put aloe Vera gel into the scalp and leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Then shampoo your hair with baby shampoo.

5. Coconut oil
Massage the scalp with coconut oil once or twice a week before shampooing.

6. Olive oil
Massage the scalp with olive oil for 10-15 minutes before shampoo your hair.

Recipe - chicken curry

Chicken Curry























Ingredients:

10 shallots - grounded

1 clove garlic - grounded

4-5 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 star anise

50g curry powder (refer to recipe above), mixed with � cup water

750-800g meaty chicken pieces with bones

2 sprigs curry leaves

500ml water

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

125ml thick coconut milk (from � coconut)

salt to taste




Method :




1. Pound or grind the shallots, garlic to a smooth paste.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or roomy saucepan, add the star anise and fry over low heat for 5 seconds. Add the shallot paste and fry, stirring continuously, until fragrant and oil starts to separate.

3. Mix the curry powder with enough water to form a thick paste - about 125ml - add this to the wok. Stir fry for 5-10 minutes or until curry paste is fragrant.

4. Add the chicken, curry leaves and water; simmer for 10 minutes. Add potatoes and simmer until potatoes are tender.

5. Add coconut milk, season to taste with salt and bring curry back to a boil before turning off the heat.

6. Serve with steamed rice.

Real Food VI: Liver

Liver was a highly regarded food among many hunter-gatherer and traditional agricultural societies. It's not surprising once you realize it's quite literally the most nutritious food in the world. It's because the liver is a storage depot, into which important nutrients are deposited in case of later need. A modest 4-oz serving of calf's liver contains 690% of your RDA of B12, 610% of preformed vitamin A, 215% of folate, 129% of B2, 24.5 g protein, and the list goes on. The nutrients found in liver are particularly important for development, but are also helpful for continued health in adulthood.

Preformed vitamin A is one of the nutrients Weston Price suggested was responsible for the glowing health of the cultures he studied in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. It's an essential nutrient, but it's different from most vitamins (except D) because it acts like a hormone, entering cells and altering gene transcription. Thus, it has its hand in many important bodily processes.

"Vitamin A" from plant sources such as carrots is actually a group of vitamin A precursors called carotenes, which the body inefficiently converts to actual vitamin A. The efficiency of conversion varies around 10%, depending on the carotene and how much fat is ingested along with it. Nutrition labels in the US do not reflect this. When a nutrition label on a plant-based product says "30% vitamin A", you can assume you will get about 3% of your RDA from it. This doesn't apply to eggs, dairy and liver, which contain preformed vitamin A.

I'm not sure how this happened, but somewhere along the line we decided in the US that muscle is the only proper animal tissue to eat. We are missing out on the most nutritious parts of the animal, and our health is suffering.

I recommend purchasing organic calf's liver, 100% grass-fed if possible. Chicken livers are also nutritious but ruminant livers are the most concentrated in vitamins by far.

Here is a recipe for a liver pate. I recognize that many people don't like the taste of liver, which is why I chose this recipe because it is very mild.

Ingredients

• 1/2 to 1 lb calf's liver, chopped into 1-in strips
  
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 onion
• 1-2 carrots (optional)
• Sage and/or rosemary (optional)
• Salt to taste
  

Recipe

1. Saute the onions and carrots in 1 tbsp butter until they're soft.
2. Add liver and herbs and cook until the liver is just done.
3. Crack the eggs right into the pan and stir them until they're cooked.
4. Turn off the heat, add the remaining butter.
5. Blend until smooth.

Enjoy!