Blood Should Be Only Slightly Thicker Than Water

This is Dr. Casey Means, a physician, lecturer (mostly at Stanford), and CMO of a metabolic health company, Levels, as well as being Associate Editor of the International Journal of Diabetes Reversal and Prevention, where she serves alongside such names as Dr. Colin Campbell, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. William Li, Dr. Dean Ornish, and you get the idea: it’s a star-studded cast.

What does she want us to know?

The big blood problem:

❝We’re spending 3.8 trillion dollars a year on healthcare costs in the U.S., and the reality is that people are getting sicker, fatter, and more depressed.

Over 50% of Americans have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes; it’s insane, that number should be close to zero.❞

~ Dr. Casey Means

Indeed, pre-diabetes and especially type 2 diabetes should be very avoidable in any wealthy nation.

Unfortunately, the kind of diet that avoids it tends to rely on having at least 2/3 of the following:

• Money
• Time
• Knowledge

For example:

• if you have money and time, you can buy lots of fresh ingredients without undue worry, and take the time to carefully prep and cook them
• if you have money and knowledge you can have someone else shop and cook for you, or at least get meal kits delivered
• if you have time and knowledge, you can actually eat very healthily on a shoestring budget

If you have all three, then the world’s your oyster mushroom steak sautéed in extra virgin olive oil with garlic and cracked black pepper served on a bed of Swiss chard and lashed with Balsamic vinegar.

However, many Americans aren’t in the happy position of having at least 2/3, and a not-insignificant portion of the population don’t even have 1/3.

As an aside: there is a food scientist and chef who’s made it her mission to educate people about food that’s cheap, easy, and healthy:

Where Nutrition Meets Habits…

…but today is about Dr. Means, so, what does she suggest?

Know thyself thy blood sugars

Dr. Means argues (reasonably; this is well-backed up by general scientific consensus) that much of human disease stems from the diabetes and pre-diabetes that she mentioned above, and so we should focus on that most of all.

Our blood sugar levels being unhealthy will swiftly lead to other metabolic disorders:

Heart disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are perhaps first in line, but waiting in the wings are inflammation-mediated autoimmune disorders, and even dementia, because neuroinflammation is at least as bad as inflammation anywhere else, arguably worse, and our brain can only be as healthy as the blood that feeds it and takes things that shouldn’t be there away.

Indeed,

❝Alzheimer’s dementia is now being called type 3 diabetes because it’s so related to blood sugar❞

~ Dr. Casey Means

…which sounds like a bold claim, but it’s true, even if the name is not “official” yet, it’s well-established in professional circulation:

❝We conclude that the term “type 3 diabetes” accurately reflects the fact that AD represents a form of diabetes that selectively involves the brain and has molecular and biochemical features that overlap with both T1DM and T2DM❞

~ Dr. Suzanne M. de la Monte & Dr. Jack Wands

Read in full: Alzheimer’s Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed ← this is from the very respectable Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.

What to do about it

Dr. Means suggests we avoid the “glucose roller-coaster” that most Americans are on, meaning dramatic sugar spikes, or to put it in sciencese: high glycemic variability.

This leads to inflammation, oxidative stress, glycation (where sugar sticks to proteins and DNA), and metabolic dysfunction. Then there’s the flipside: reactive hypoglycemia, a result of a rapid drop in blood sugar after a spike, can cause anxiety, fatigue, weakness/trembling, brain fog, and of course cravings. And so the cycle repeats.

But it doesn’t have to!

By taking it upon ourselves to learn about what causes our blood sugars to rise suddenly or gently, we can manage our diet and other lifestyle factors accordingly.

And yes, it’s not just about diet, Dr. Means tells us. While added sugar and refined carbohydrates or indeed the main drivers of glycemic variability, our sleep, movement, stress management, and even toxin exposure play important parts too.

One way to do this, that Dr. Means recommends, is with a continuous glucose monitor:

Track Your Blood Sugars For Better Personalized Health

Another way is to just apply principles that work for almost everyone:

10 Ways To Balance Blood Sugars

Want to know more from Dr. Means?

You might like her book:

Good Energy – by Dr. Casey Means

…which goes into this in far more detail than we have room to today.

Enjoy!

PFAS & Cancer Risk: The Numbers Are High

This is Dr. Maaike van Gerwen. Is that an MD or a PhD, you wonder? It’s both.

She’s also Director of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Scientific Director of the Program of Personalized Management of Thyroid Disease, and Member of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology and the Transdisciplinary Center on Early Environmental Exposures.

What does she want us to know?

She’d love for us to know about her latest research published literally today, about the risks associated with PFAS, such as the kind widely found in non-stick cookware:

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and thyroid cancer risk

Dr. van Gerwen and her team tested this several ways, and the very short and simple version of the findings is that per doubling of exposure, there was a 56% increased rate of thyroid cancer diagnosis.

(The rate of exposure was not just guessed based on self-reports; it was measured directly from PFAS levels in the blood of participants)

• PFAS exposure can come from many sources, not just non-stick cookware, but that’s a “biggie” since it transfers directly into food that we consume.
• Same goes for widely-available microwaveable plastic food containers.
• Relatively less dangerous exposures include waterproofed clothing.

To keep it simple and look at the non-stick pans and microwavable plastic containers, doubling exposure might mean using such things every day vs every second day.

Practical take-away: PFAS may be impossible to avoid completely, but even just cutting down on the use of such products is already reducing your cancer risk.

Isn’t it too late, by this point in life? Aren’t they “forever chemicals”?

They’re not truly “forever”, but they do have long half-lives, yes.

See: Can we take the “forever” out of forever chemicals?

The half-lives of PFOS and PFOA in water are 41 years and 92 years, respectively.

In the body, however, because our body is constantly trying to repair itself and eliminate toxins, it’s more like 3–7 years.

That might seem like a long time, and perhaps it is, but the time will pass anyway, so might as well get started now, rather than in 3–7 years time!

Read more: National Academies Report Calls for Testing People With High Exposure to “Forever Chemicals”

What should we use instead?

In place of non-stick cookware, cast iron is fantastic. It’s not everyone’s preference, though, so you might also like to know that ceramic cookware is a fine option that’s functionally non-stick but without needing a non-stick coating. Check for PFAS-free status; they should advertise this.

In place of plastic microwaveable containers, Pyrex (or equivalent) glass dishes (you can get them with lids) are a top-tier option. Ceramic containers (without metallic bits!) are also safely microwaveable.

See also:

Here’s a List of Products with PFAS (& How to Avoid Them)

Take care!