Tracking Nutrients

[Guest guest]

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From: " jwwright " <jwwright@e...>

Date: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:54 pm

Subject: Re: Vitamin E Linked to Higher Death Rates

I think you may very well want to track the vits and mins and try to

manage them. Some are difficult like phosphorus. You can get a lot of

beta-carotene eating a lot of carrots, something I'd like to keep

below 32000 IU per just one study on Prostate cancer.

But most things are ok, with needed added Ca (milk), Mg (MV), Se (MV),

maybe Zn(MV).

The hardest maximums to control are sat fats, cholesterol if I ate

meats/egg yolks.

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Fats and cholesterol are two nutrients that you cannot track

accurately because the body has the ability to synthesize them. It is

not unusual for people on a low-fat diet to have high Total

Cholesterol because the body converts carbs into saturated fatty acids

such as palmitic acid. Low-fat diets may be equivalent to diets high

in tropical oils. Optimum nutrition should involve ingesting a proper

ratio of fatty acids. We are all concerned about our omega-3 and

omega-6 fatty acids, but a low level of linoleic acid (C18:2) in the

diet may result in increased Total Cholesterol levels for diets that

are high in saturated fat, or are low in fat and high in

carbohydrates.

Below is an interesting paper that discusses the impact of low-fat,

high carbohydrate diets on lipids.

Tony

P.S. Today I updated my " progress report " web page with my yearly

picture:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/pictures.html

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http://www.ebmonline.org/cgi/content/full/225/3/178

Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology

and Medicine 225:178-183 (2000)

SEBM Symposium

Effect of High-Carbohydrate Feeding on Triglyceride

and Saturated Fatty Acid Synthesis

C. Hudgins1,

The Rogosin Institute, Rockefeller University, New

York, New York 10021

Recently, new isotopic and nonisotopic methods have

been used to determine in vivo whether low-fat,

high-carbohydrate diets increase triglyceride levels

by stimulating fatty acid synthesis. The results of a

series of studies in lean and obese weight-stable

volunteers showed that very-low-fat (10%),

high-carbohydrate diets enriched in simple sugars

increased the fraction of newly synthesized fatty

acids, along with a proportionate increase in the

concentration of plasma triglyceride. Furthermore, the

concentration of the saturated fatty acid, palmitate,

increased and the concentration of the essential

polyunsaturated fatty acid, linoleate, decreased in

triglyceride and VLDL triglyceride. The magnitude of

the increase in triglyceride varied considerably among

subjects, was unrelated to sex, body mass index, or

insulin levels, and was higher when fatty acid

synthesis was constantly elevated rather than having a

diurnal variation.

Conclusions

Very-low-fat formula and solid-food isocaloric diets

with a high ratio of sugar to starch (> 60/40)

increased the synthesis of the saturated fatty acid,

palmitate. This occurred to a similar extent in lean

and obese subjects. Although there were no detected

effects on energy balance, there were large

alterations in the concentration and fatty acid

composition of plasma triglyceride with substantial

interindividual variation that was unrelated to body

mass index or insulin levels. Recommendations to the

public to reduce dietary fat must take into

consideration the stimulatory effect of increased

dietary sugar on fatty acid synthesis and plasma

triglyceride levels. The reasons for the variability

in response among individuals and the consequences of

these effects on the cardiovascular system need

further study.