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Skin: Your Body’s Largest Organ

woman sitting with hands on knees

The inner workings of our skin:

The epidermis is the exterior layer of the skin. It acts as a protective shield. The outer most barrier of the epidermis is called the stratum corneum. The dermis contains the underlying tissue and includes your sweat glands and hair follicles. And the hypodermis is the deepest layer of connective tissue.

Your skin absorbs tiny particles all day long and protects you from bacteria that can enter your body through your pores. While your skin is able to protect against larger microbes, certain nanoparticles are able to penetrate the different layers of the skin— and (depending on their size) enter your circulatory system.

Today, there are differences in opinion concerning your skin. It is easy to get caught up in the headlines that say big cosmetic companies are using toxic ingredients that are carcinogenic. But in reality, the research doesn’t exist. There is much speculation over what types of products you should be using to protect your skin properly but while your skin is susceptible to nanoparticle absorption that can affect your skin’s health, the long term effects of particle absorption are unknown.

What is a nanoparticle?

Nanoparticles are emitted from a variety of different sources and can also be created in different ways. Once formed, they are released into the atmosphere and are able to be absorbed by the human body. If this sounds vague, it’s because it is! These particles range from 1-100 nanometers in size and change depending on the source it was emitted from (such as pollution, smoke, technology), if they are absorbed (through your pores or through inhalation), nanoparticles are believed to cause damage to your cells. A 2011 study indicated that free radical formation can also be triggered by nanoparticles.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely prevent the absorption of nanoparticles— not to mention scientists are not entirely sure what the long-term effects are once these particles enter the circulatory system. Thus, the difficulty of protecting your skin comes from a shortage of research.

It is nearly impossible to create a “rule of thumb” when it comes to giving advice on how to protect your skin from absorbing different nanoparticles.

Size Matters

Nanoparticles are able to penetrate the skin layers depending on their size. According to a study performed by Dr. H Schaefer et al., “skin penetration depends on particle size is often taken as a rule: particles below 3 μm (micrometre) diameter can penetrate the stratum corneum through the intercellular pathway; particles between 3 and 10 μm accumulate preferentially in the sebaceous follicles; and particles above 10 μm do not penetrate the skin (they possibly remain adhered to the skin surface in the case of film-forming ability).”

If a nanoparticle is under 3 micrometres it is able to penetrate all 3 layers of skin and enter the circulatory system. The issue is, not every person’s reaction to these particles being absorbed is alike AND there is very limited research on what happens when the particles are inside your circulatory system. So, the only way to best protect yourself is to understand the largest sources of these nanoparticles and how to avoid absorption.

Where do harmful nanoparticles come from?

Three of the most harmful free radicals come from pollution, cigarette smoke, and UVA rays. In the study, “Cosmeceuticals and Active Ingredients” Dr. Lintner et. al., describes how millennials (in particular) are not accustomed to protecting themselves against these toxins because the “free-radical generated damage is not immediately visible.”

Although you may not realize it, our skin is subject to aggressors that deteriorate its overall health every single day. And although the long term health effects of your skin may be unknown, we do know that these aggressors slowly weaken your skin tissue and inevitably cause the skin to age prematurely.

While pollution, cigarette smoke, and UVA sun exposure may be three of the most significant causes of free radicals entering the skin, they may not be the only ones affecting the health of your skin. For example, a recent study found that there are nanoparticles released from a photocopy machine when you are making a copy. Based on your proximity to the machine, you are most likely inhaling these toxic nanoparticles, which then sit in your lungs! Additionally, there are also new concerns over the nanoparticles emitted from new 3-D printers. In a world where technology continues to have a strong presence in our day-to-day lives, it is important to be cautious of over-use.

The simple fact is: our skin has not modernized along with society.

As technology changes, our climate becomes more severe, and pollution becomes a larger problem, our skin has a more difficult time protecting itself against free radicals. Our skin is equipped to protect itself to a certain degree, however as you age the ability for your skin to continue creating metabolic enzymes that fight aging begins to slow. That, paired with the pace of our progressive lifestyle has caused the overall health of human skin to deteriorate.

It is also important to understand that “the aging of the skin manifests itself in many ways: drying out, loss of elasticity and texture, thinning, damaged barrier function, the appearance of spots, modification of surface line isotropy, and finally wrinkles.” (Lintner et al.). Thus, not every person’s skin damage manifests the same way. Having a dermatologist assess your skin health and recommend products that are tailored to your skin needs is important.

So, how do we keep our skin healthy?

Using the right creams to combat premature aging and always use SUNSCREEN!

One of the most interesting studies we read tested the accelerated aging of human skin in a tropical climate. The study was performed over a six month period and used 50 Caucasian volunteers, who were split into two groups, receiving either a placebo or a moisturizer containing Thermus thermophilus ferment (TTF), with the hope of proving that skin that was not sufficiently protected would experience measurable deterioration. “The results indicate that under these special conditions of accelerated aging, the skin aged by approximately 4 years in the placebo group, whereas no deterioration occurred in the TTF-treated group”

Yes, you read that correctly! By properly protecting and moisturizing their skin, volunteers in the treated group were able to maintain their skin’s health, whereas those who were subjected to accelerated conditions, aged 4 YEARS in a 6-month period!

While sunscreen protects your skin by its ability to combat UVA and UVB rays from damaging your collagen, moisturizers and cosmetic creams can help to replenish your skin’s collagen. Collagen is a type of protein that helps keep your skin firm and looking young. Products containing peptides are believed to help your skin as peptides are the amino acids found in collagen. By actively replenishing your body’s natural supply, you can help your body fight the effects of premature aging. You can also replenish your body’s collagen through the foods and vitamins you eat! Vitamins C and E, for example, have antioxidant properties that help replenish collagen and repair cell damage.

If you are thinking that the nanoparticles in cream or sunscreen will also enter your skin, it is true that that is a possibility. But, the current understanding of the advantageous effects of sunscreen outweigh any potential negative effects of nanomaterials in topical creams. According to the study performed by Lintner, et al. “we affirm that the current weight of evidence suggests that nanomaterial currently used in cosmetic preparations or sunscreens pose no risk to human skin or human health; on the contrary, they provide a large benefit to human health by protecting human skin against the adverse effects of UV radiation, including that of skin cancer.”

Broad-spectrum sunscreen is proven to be the most effective anti-aging cream you can use to protect your skin, so look for a broad spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Recent studies have shown that zinc oxide is the most favorable sunscreen ingredient as is not absorbed into the skin after application.  Using sunscreen regularly is known to reduce the risk of premature aging and skin cancer.

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Why Take a Vitamin?

Fruit and vegetable alphabet - letter V

Micronutrients are vital for your body’s overall health. They consist of thirteen vitamins, four major minerals, and nine minor minerals. In order to replenish your body’s natural supply, you need to eat the right foods or take the proper supplements.

Did you know that 80% of children who lived in Boston had rickets back in the early 1900s? The pollution from coal and wood limited their sun exposure, and they were getting no Vitamin D. Many long voyage sailors and explorers have indirectly thanked surgeon James Lind, who discovered that citrus fruits could assuage scurvy. If only they had vitamin C on board…

Vitamins Help Protect Against Disease

Vitamins play a significant role in preventing different diseases and each individual vitamin serves a different purpose. Vitamin E, for example, helps keep your eyes and skin healthy. Some scientists also argue that the antioxidant properties of vitamin E can potentially help prevent diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Vitamin C assists your body’s collagen production, the most prevalent protein in mammals. As you get older, your collagen starts to break down. When your skin collagen breaks down, it can cause wrinkles! Vitamin C allows your body to create new collagen, potentially slowing the effects of aging. It can also boost your immune system.

Minerals are just as important.

Minerals are just as important. We all know how important calcium is for our bones and teeth, but did you know it also helps in clotting your blood? Unlike calcium, chromium is a mineral that is probably not on your radar. One of the benefits of chromium is that it helps our bodies use insulin thus keeps our blood sugar normal. Luckily (for chocolate lovers) it can be found in dark chocolate. Minerals and vitamins are also known to complement each other. For example, you are familiar with Calcium-Magnesium vitamins. Not only does magnesium help you sleep and regulate your blood pressure, but it also helps your body’s absorption of calcium! The combination of Calcium and Magnesium together provides bone support.

Micronutrients Can Benefit Your Long Term Health.

Micronutrients also play an important role in our body’s long term health. Dr. Bruce Ames, from University California at Berkeley, has studied the long term effects of vitamins on our mitochondria and our aging cells. As we age, our mitochondria is not as prevalent, but Dr. Ames has found that micronutrients can enhance mitochondria – thus amending DNA damage leading to aging issues. Dr. Ames associated vitamin bioavailability with a “triage theory”. Similar to triage in an emergency room where the doctors take care of the most severe cases first, our bodies use vitamins and minerals the same way. First, they take care of short term vitamin and mineral shortages. Then they address fixing long term problems such as inflammation or DNA mutation. Hence why you need a steady supply of vitamins to maintain your health! If you are deficient in any vitamins and minerals, your long term repair system could be in trouble and unable to help protect your body against cancer, neurological diseases, and/or other aging diseases.

So, we know why we need vitamins and minerals—but exactly how does your body use these specific vitamins to protect your body?

Vitamins help to maintain the healthy condition of your cells, organs, and tissues and can keep your body from wearing down. Of the 13 vitamins, four are fat-soluble vitamins and nine are water-soluble vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins D, E, A, and K, are stored in the liver or fat tissues. Rather than passing quickly through your body, fat-soluble vitamins remain in the body for longer. Once they are stored, these “reserves” can be used days after ingestion.

Water-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, dissolve in water—and your body does not store them for very long. They are expelled from your body through your urine and need to be replenished more quickly than fat-soluble vitamins. All fat and water-soluble vitamins play different, but equally important roles in your body’s overall health.

These days, our lives are pretty hectic and we often don’t get enough sleep, we are exposed to environmental and food toxins, and most likely we are not getting the full requirement of vitamins and minerals through our diet. And since our bodies rarely produce enough of these on their own, typically we need supplements to stay healthy.

Now, this might not be true for all our readers, but globally there are more than two billion people that suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. In fact, nine out of ten Americans suffer from dietary gaps with the most common micronutrients of vitamin A, C, D, E, Magnesium, and Calcium. Amending these deficiencies with a diet change is pretty unrealistic. Not to mention when you look at a nutrition label, you often go straight to the calories, sugar, and protein listing. And while that is good practice, the bottom of the “Nutrition Facts” label often gets overlooked.

You can rely on different foods to help replenish various vitamin deficiencies. Refer to this chart for a little help!

The Dietary Supplement Label Database

With all the various vitamins and different requirements for each one—it is difficult to keep up! The FDA publishes the Dietary Supplement Label Database to help you understand the minimum daily requirements for vitamins and minerals.

If you would like even more detail, the National Academies Food and Nutrition Board has categorized daily requirements by children, males, females, pregnancy, and lactation. For more detail on what each vitamin and mineral does for your body, check out The Ultimate Guide to Vitamins and Minerals or the Harvard Medical School Health Publication.

Now that we know how much we should take, how do you know which supplements are safe to take?

Because the FDA does not regulate supplements, many are tested independently by third-party certification. The most common to look for are The USP Seal of Approval, NSF International, Informed Choice, ConsumerLab, and Banned Substances Control Group (BSCGF). They test to confirm that the ingredients listed on the label are:

  • actually in the product in the stated amounts.
  • made in sanitary FDA Good Manufacturing Conditions.
  • will break down in the body in an appropriate amount of time.
  • do not contain harmful levels of toxins or contaminants.

Third party organizations provide independent testing, but it is at a point in time and does not guarantee future batches. So you want to look for those companies who manufacture their vitamins under ‘Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). These standards are written by the FDA.

According to the FDA, here’s how to be a savvy supplement user:

  • When searching for supplements on the internet, use noncommercial sites (e.g. NIH, FDA, USDA) rather than doing blind searches.
  • Watch out for false statements like “works better than [a prescription drug],” “totally safe,” or has “no side effects.”
  • Ask your healthcare provider for help in distinguishing between reliable and questionable information.
  • If you want to know more about the product that you are taking, check with the manufacturer or distributor about information to support the claims, ingredients, and effectiveness.

If you are integrating vitamin supplements into your routine, there are two different types of supplements you can purchase: natural or synthetic. Read our post to help you make an informed decision about what supplements you should be purchasing.

Resources to learn more about essential vitamins and minerals:

NIH: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), from the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), has a range of materials, across topics, and offers an easy-to-understand fact sheet on supplements.
FDA: The U.S. FDA: Dietary Supplements page has a roster of helpful information.
CRN: The Council of Responsible Nutrition (CRN), here you will find helpful tips from a leading trade association, including how to read a supplement label.
A Guide to Vitamin and Mineral Safety.
IOM: To learn more about recommended intake levels based on RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances) from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences.

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The Red Wine Diet

three red wine glasses clinking

Some of our D2D readers were toasting each other with glasses of red wine over the weekend cheering, “healthier than going to the gym!” Publications like Shape, Bustle, and Elite Daily, are writing about the positive health effects of red wine, telling readers that it is equivalent to an hour of cardio. How?

The secret lies in resveratrol. This common compound in wine has been found to “enhance exercise training and performance.” In May 2012, the Journal of Physiology published an article by seven researchers from the University of Alberta entitled “Improvements in skeletal muscle strength and cardiac function induced by resveratrol during exercise training contribute to enhanced exercise performance in rats.” In laymen’s terms: these researchers discovered that a substance found in wine gave rats an extra boost during exercise. The energy boost comes from “an increase in skeletal muscle force, cardiac function, and oxidative metabolism.”

What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol is of the “polyphenols” family and “polyphenol” is essentially all plant-based micro-nutrients. You may have first come across the benefits of polyphenol in wine in the book, The Red Wine Diet, published in September 2007. Author Dr. Roger Corder examined the role of “procyanidins”, another nutrient of the polyphenol family that is found in red wine. This book asserts that procyanidin, a micronutrient with strong anti-oxidant properties, is a “key health component” for humans. According to Dr. Corder, procyanidins may keep your blood vessels healthy and “healthy blood vessels are the key to keeping your heart, brain, and every other organ in good shape. Healthy blood vessel function may also help prevent cancer.” (Corder, 2007) For these reasons, Dr. Corder believes one glass of red wine a day is a good way to live a longer, healthier life. However, some researchers believe that many of these effects can now be attributed to the alcohol content of the wine. In fact, it is the fermentation process that extracts procyanidin from the seeds and skin of the grapes used to make wine. While procyanidins are believed to protect against free radicals, it is almost impossible to say with certainty that these nutrients help you to live a longer life without conducting human trials.

According to the study, Resveratrol has been shown to increase the mitochondrial energy in cells; break down fatty acids into energy, and improve oxygen delivery to the big muscles attached to the bones. However, the giant leap from “resveratrol is an exercise enhancer” to “drinking red wine as equivalent to a trip to the gym” is entirely inaccurate. Resveratrol enhances exercise performance, it does not replace it.

We spoke to lead researcher, Dr. Jason Dyck. He clarified that many of the stories that are being published citing this research are not correct. Nowhere does this study advocate avoiding exercise. Not to mention, the amount of red wine you would need to drink in order to get a high dosage of resveratrol is anywhere from 100 to 1,000 bottles per day! Clearly, a resveratrol supplement is in order here.

Resveratrol is believed to decrease the risk of heart disease and cancer. However, the research conducted by the University of Alberta focused on the unique relationship between resveratrol and exercise. This fueled the increasingly popular (and inaccurate) headline that drinking red wine = a workout.

Their study used male Wistar rats, separated into 4 groups over a period of 12 weeks and focused on their exercise program. The individual groups were fed either a standard diet or a diet that included resveratrol. By controlling the rat’s exercise regimen and their dietary requirements, the scientists successfully tested the effectiveness of resveratrol. The study concluded that resveratrol increased the endurance capacity of their Wistar rats.

While it is very catchy to say a glass of wine is equivalent to an hour in the gym – that is not the case. Yes, both resveratrol and an hour in the gym can benefit your overall health, but they are not mutually exclusive. The incorporation of resveratrol into your diet supports the effectiveness of your time in the gym.

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Wild vs. Farmed Salmon

salmon swimming upstream

I traveled along the coast of Norway to visit salmon farms and see if there truly was a difference to our health and the environment between wild and farmed salmon   Before this trip, I would always purchase wild salmon over farmed. When I think of “wild caught salmon” I thought of untouched salmon leaping and splashing upstream to spawn in a clean river nestled below forested and snowcapped mountains. And while it is true that wild salmon do jump upstream—you can watch the grizzlies enjoying that—not all wild salmon are better for you and it is not necessarily better for the environment to eat wild salmon.

The general understanding of farm-raised salmon is vague because the process of farming these typically wild fish is not discussed very often. It is safe to say that the majority of salmon-eaters are not quite sure how farmed salmon are grown, bred, and harvested for food. This uncertainty often leads to fear of the unknown. You might envision a large metal holding tank filled with dirty water, chemicals, fish food residue, and packed with fish unhappily swimming in circles. Well, thankfully, this perception is not reality.

The Global Salmon Initiative

The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) is a leadership initiative established by leading farmed salmon CEOs from around the world who share a vision of providing a healthy and sustainable source of protein to feed a growing population while minimizing their environmental footprint and continuing to improve their social contribution. (Global Salmon Initiative)

Why is salmon such a popular food?

These fish are a healthy source of protein and fatty acids. A four ounce serving of salmon contains 23 grams of protein! That is roughly 50% of your suggested daily intake of protein. Salmon is also loaded with Vitamins B-6, B-12, C, potassium, and more. Not to mention they are extremely high in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help your body protect itself against heart disease, lower the levels of unhealthy blood fats (also known as triglycerides), and may reduce joint inflammation.

A 4 oz serving of salmon contains 23 grams of protein!

Where does our salmon come from?

Today, wild salmon primarily come from the rivers off the northern Pacific Ocean surrounding Alaska, Russia, and Japan. Wild Atlantic salmon also border the northern shores of the United States, Canada, and Scandinavia. These fish are born in fresh water and migrate to the ocean but return to the fresh water when they reproduce. The average wild salmon lives for about six years. This is assuming life goes well and there are no diseases, predators, extreme temperature fluctuations, or too much competition for food.

In the wild, salmon are born in fresh water and migrate to the ocean but return to the fresh water when they reproduce. Image source

After hatching, wild salmon remain in the freshwater river for roughly two to three years before they make their way to the ocean. Once in the ocean, they grow to their full size and navigate back to their stream of birth to spawn. These fish miraculously find their way home using the earth’s magnetic field and their early fish-hood smells. Some even swim over 1,000 miles to their birthplace. After they spawn, many of them die or are eaten.

Wild Caught or Farmed

The salmon on your plate is either from a wild-capture fishery or a fish farm, otherwise known as aquaculture. Capturing salmon from the wild is much more sophisticated than a few men wielding several large fishing poles.

Commercial salmon fishermen use electronic fish finders, hydraulic equipment, and large nets in order to capture the most salmon possible in a given expedition. In fact, they have been so effective that many of the wild salmon fisheries are fished out. While many salmon are coming back throughout the East Coast river system, they are still protected and are only fished as catch and release. The largest population of Atlantic Salmon can be found off the coast of Maine. As a result, salmon in the Pacific Northwest are under the watchful eye of government regulators in the United States.

As the concern over depleting our natural wild resources has increased, there has also been a substantial focus on producing farmed salmon over the last few years. Today, roughly 95% of the salmon is farmed in Norway, Chile, Scotland, and Canada. Additionally, 70% of this farmed fish are grown by only fifteen producers. Aside from carp and tilapia, salmon is the third largest aquaculture species. In 2013, global aquaculture production of fish, crustaceans, and other species totaled 97 million tons. And to put that in perspective, global cattle weighed in at 64 million tons. According to the World Wildlife Fund, “Salmon Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world – accounting for 70 percent of the market. This is three times higher than it was in 1980”. Over the past 13 years, salmon production has increased by 133% to two million tons, while wild-caught salmon has decreased by 53%.

What are the benefits of farmed salmon?

Raised and harvested responsibly, farmed salmon meet all the benefits of sustainable agriculture farming: good for the environment, and good for our health. Because of the high standards most farms uphold, these farmers ensure that the entire value chain from the fish feed to the ecosystem is taken into consideration.

What are farmed salmon fed?

According to the World Wildlife Fund, “Salmon Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world – accounting for 70 percent of the market. This is three times higher than it was in 1980”.

In aquacultures, the purpose of the nutrient-rich diet is to enable fish to maintain their health and reach maturity in three years. A key component in sustainable salmon farming is ensuring the amount of salmon harvested outweighs the amount of food the salmon in the farm consume. The feed to fish ration is 1:1 in farmed salmon versus 6:1 for wild salmon. One and a half pounds of food generally produces roughly a pound of salmon, as opposed to wild fish which need to eat six pounds of fish to gain one pound of weight. This is because the wild fish expend a lot of calories swimming many miles against strong currents.

Carnivorous fish, like salmon, are happy to eat – other fish. The ingredients used in fish feed have changed in recent years. Historically, the salmon feed was made up of fish meal, fish oil, and micronutrients. However, to maintain the right balance between catching fish and feeding fish today, some of the fish oil and fish meal is replaced with terrestrial raw materials such as canola, soybean oil, and vegetable protein sources. This substitution of fish oil is discussed because some people are concerned that the nutritional benefits of salmon will change.

However, even with the substitution of the marine ingredients, farmed salmon still provide more than enough omega-3 per portion. The health benefits of omega-3 capsules is yet another reason for the demand for fish oil – in fact, salmon is a much more efficient converter of omega–3 than the capsules. Luckily for all the omega-3 junkies, because of the nutrients fed to farmed fish, their omega-3 content is generally a little higher than those in the wild. So don’t be afraid of your farmed salmon dinner. It will provide you with the same health benefits as wild caught salmon.

 

You might be curious about the genetically engineered Aqua Advantage Salmon from AquaBounty. This is a case of taking the Atlantic salmon and inserting a growth-promoting gene from the Pacific Chinook salmon along with an ocean pout. The modified salmon will now grow year-round instead of only during the spring and summer. Market size can be reached in 16 to 18 months rather than the more typical three years. However, this fish is not yet on the market and is only grown in Panama. At the moment, the overall salmon industry is not leaping over the falls to embrace this fast-growing fish as they feel that selective breeding will ultimately produce the same result.

Do farmed salmon have more risk of disease?

Image credit: Patrick Pleul

Farmed salmon are raised in big open water netted pens about the size of a football field.

There are certainly challenges that present themselves in aquacultures, but unfortunately, there is an over-publicized fear of diseases and sea lice. It is believed that because of the threat of disease, farmed fish are given antibiotics to prevent the spread. However, antibiotics are not used in salmon farming practices! Instead of antibiotics, farmed fish are vaccinated early in their life. They are also bred to be hardy and resistant to disease. The one exception is for the bacterial disease, found only in Chile, called SRS. In response to this threat, many companies are working on launching a vaccine.

As for sea lice, while it is an issue, salmon farming has been accused of allowing sea lice infested salmon to escape and infect the wild salmon swimming nearby. The truth is that the wild cousins swimming nearby infect the farms. However, it is still an issue to manage for the farmer as well as a major consideration by consumers and NGOs alike. There are two main methods of treating sea lice. One is adding ‘pilot fish’ to the pens; they eat the sea lice off the salmon. The next is a treatment called SLICE, which is put into the fish feed to kill the lice if it is contracted. Of course, the use of SLICE is regulated and not used before the fish is harvested, thus it is not finding its way onto your dinner plate. While it is true that both sea lice and disease are enemies of farmed salmon, wild salmon are certainly not exempt either.

There are certainly challenges that present themselves in aquacultures, but unfortunately, there is an over-publicized fear of diseases.

Another fallacy of farmed salmon is that they are full of toxins, specifically polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB). However, what we need to do is put wild salmon under the microscope. In fact, because wild salmon live longer and humans cannot control what these salmon eat, they often may have a higher level of unwanted substances in their system than that of a farm-raised salmon. Farmed fish have a controlled diet and life cycle and their lifespan is shorter.

If you’ve ever had a goldfish you know that the bowl can get pretty dirty and has to be cleaned regularly. Those opposed to fish farming apply the same logic to aquacultures. They argue the dirty water of the aquaculture somehow pollutes the surrounding water and transmits bacteria to humans. However, it behooves the farmer to maintain a farm with clean flowing water. Generally, the ratio is around 2.5% fish to 97.5% fresh water. If the water isn’t clean and fresh in the sea cages, the fish will become diseased, die and have to be discarded. Not the optimum result for the farmer. Additionally, the general practice is to leave the harvested pen empty for a period of three to six months to eliminate any possibility of cross-contamination.

The sophisticated technology is such that fish farmers can feed the fish exactly what they need to grow efficiently without excreting large amounts of waste into the ecosystem. This limits the possibility of excess feed spreading throughout the ecosystem as well. This also means that only a minimal amount of waste is flowing through the fish pens and spreading out to the bottom of the sea. This small amount of fish waste is actually a positive nutrient for kelp, prawns, crabs, and other sea creatures! AND in order to verify that the salmon are healthy and safe, the water inside and around the pens is frequently measured, tested, and regulated.

Sustainable Salmon = Wild and Farmed

It is important to know that not all salmon farms are created equal. So, how do you know the farmed salmon you are eating is safe and was raised sustainably? Is the salmon you eat certified to any standards?

In order to ensure that all farmed fish, and future fish, are raised in a healthy, clean manner, fifteen of the largest salmon companies from Norway, Chile, and Scotland recognized the need for a global certification process and created the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI). According to their mission statement, “the GSI is a leadership initiative by global farmed salmon producers, focused on making significant progress toward fully realizing a shared goal of providing a highly sustainable source of healthy protein to feed a growing population while minimizing our environmental footprint, and continuing to improve our social contribution.”

GSI has selected the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) to monitor best practices and provide a certification label. The ASC assures you that farmed fish are raised in farms that abide by national and local laws; and that fish farmers conserve the ecosystem, protect the health of wild populations, use resources in an environmentally responsible manner, manage disease in an environmentally responsible manner, operate in a socially responsible manner, and are a good neighbor and conscientious citizen. These standards help to ensure we are getting healthy fish while promoting sustainable aquaculture.

For those of you who shop at Whole Foods, you know that they are also a proponent of farmed salmon and have their own “responsibly farmed 3rd party certification” where they partner with salmon farmers in Norway, Iceland, and Scotland.

On the other hand, how do you know that your wild salmon was caught responsibly? Have the fishermen followed the regulations on caught fish? Have they fished in areas where the fish are diminished? Is the eco-system healthy? Luckily, there are standards here too. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) “offers the world’s only wild-capture seafood certification and eco-labeling program that is consistent with international organizations.”

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The 5:2 Fasting Diet

tape measure wrapped around an apple - diet

Alternate-day fasting diets, like the 5:2 diet, have become a popular way to quickly lose weight. The 5:2 diet made its way into the spotlight in 2013 when BBC aired a documentary entitled Eat, Fast & Live Longer. In this program, journalist Michael Mosley investigated the health benefits of fasting. Before attempting the various and attainable fasting methods himself, Mosley met with a series of doctors and industry professionals who assessed his current health condition. Mosley wanted to understand how to best protect himself against the negative effects of aging. From his story on alternate-day fasting, Mosley derived the 5:2 diet, which subsequently took the UK by storm.

The belief that fasting can improve your health shares similarities with the Paleo diet. Like Paleo dieters, Mosley looked to our ancestors for help when investigating fasting. When hunters and gatherers had a successful kill, they gorged themselves on the meat. This feast might last a few days and certainly was not restricted— however, if the hunters went days without a kill, they would be starved, surviving on minimal food and nutrients. Thus, our bodies are capable of functioning when we are underfed. But, bear in mind, our hunting and gathering ancestors put themselves in great peril, even wrestling mammoths to provide a feast. That is a lot of physical activity that we do not necessarily get today.

Throughout Mosley’s investigation, he interviewed a handful of researchers and specialists, one of them being Mark Mattson, an expert on the aging brain. Mattson, Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging and Professor at John Hopkins University, discussed the laboratory studies he performed regarding starvation. Based on the tests he had been conducting on mice, Mattson identified positive aspects of fasting. In one of these studies, Mattson found that when mice were given an unhealthy diet high in saturated fats and sugars, mice health declined much more rapidly, roughly 3-4 months sooner. On the other hand, mice given a diet lower in fat and subjected to intermittent fasting lived roughly 6 months longer. Thus, the mice maintaining a smaller size proved to live longer.

5:2 dieters argue that our bodies are not made to handle the modernization of food and that giving the digestive system frequent “breaks” helps to mend any issues with digestion.

Additionally, in his meeting with Mark Mattson, Michael Mosley learned that sporadic bouts of hunger help stimulate new neurons to grow in our brains. Mattson also looked to our mammoth-hunting ancestors to answer the question regarding cell growth. From a survival standpoint, hunger provides a survival advantage as it causes you to be more focused. Fasting’s effect on the brain is actually compared to exercising’s effect on your muscles…well, for mice anyway. In order to truly prove that these findings hold true for humans, human trials must be performed.

So how did this research and studies like it lead to Mosley’s famed 5:2 diet?

As Mosley attempted intermittent fasting, he realized how difficult this task is. Anyone can attest that we need food, and regularly! To accommodate this need, Mosley met with Dr. Krista Varady, author of The Every Other Day Diet and an advocate of alternate-day fasting. Like the 5:2 program, the “Every Other Day Diet” instructs participants to limit their caloric intake to 500 calories on fasting days. Although they are very similar in practice, on the “EODD” you are fasting slightly more than on the 5:2 diet. For example, one week you will fast 3 days and the next you will fast 4, then the following you are back to 3 days of fasting, and so on…

During Dr. Varady’s clinical studies of alternate-day fasting, researchers found participants decreased their levels of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), triglycerides (fat), and blood pressure. Surprisingly, these scientists found it actually didn’t matter if you were eating a high-fat diet versus a low-fat diet on the given feast days—the LDL cholesterol and blood pressure were relatively the same for all participants.

Because they consumed 25% of their energy needs on fasting days, Dr. Varady predicted that most participants would consume 175% of their energy needs on a “feed” day. But, throughout the course of her study, participants were only consuming 110% of their energy needs on the feed days. Inevitably, there is a -65% consumption deficit.  This tells us that starving a few days a week and then feasting on cookies, pasta, pizza, and cheeseburgers will probably help you lose weight because you are reducing your overall caloric intake. However, your body will be missing proper nutrients. Additionally, if you are exercising regularly, your energy levels may be negatively affected by the significant decrease in calories on the fast days.

While the 5:2 diet and similar programs are not sensible dieting practices, the science behind fasting is worth a second look.

While we dismiss the 5:2 diet and similar programs, like the “Every Other Day Diet”, as viable dieting practices, we acknowledge that the science behind fasting and Mark Mattson’s research is worth a second look. Scientists have found that restricting caloric intake can help to regulate your body’s blood sugar levels. Research in mice has discovered that by reducing daily caloric intake, the body lowers its production of hormone IGF-1. A drop in the creation of this hormone is known to help your body go into repair mode—meaning, the body begins to protect itself against carcinogens, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues.

From his studies on mice, Mattson has also determined that “intermittent energy restriction” may help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The mice Mattson studied are destined to develop the disease and by controlling their food regimen, he was able to delay the onset of the disease and keep the mice healthier for a longer period of time. In his TED talk, Mattson explained that intermittent fasting helps to stimulate the growth of cells in your brain. Why? “Fasting is a challenge to your brain and your brain responds to that challenge of not having food by activating adaptive stress response pathways that help your brain cope with stress and resist disease.” (Mattson, 2014). By forcing your brain to handle stress and fight disease, Mattson believes you are increasing your brain’s productivity and potentially slowing the natural progression of aging in your brain.

In agreement with Mark Mattson, Valter Longo, a cell biologist at the University of Southern California, also pioneered studies on the health benefits of fasting. Dr. Longo put hormone IGF-1 under the microscope and was another influential resource in Michael Mosley’s special for BBC. Longo, however, does not recommend the 5:2 diet. In fact, he doesn’t recommend any fad diets. He believes in “time-restricted feeding”, which means you eat 2 meals a day between 3 and 12 hours of each other. This, he argues, will keep the effects of aging at bay. How? Through the reduction of IGF-1. According to Dr. Longo, “the reduction of IGF-1 is really key in the anti-aging effects of some of the interventions. Both the dietary ones and the genetic ones. We’ve been putting a lot of work into mutations of the growth hormone receptor that are well established now to release IGF-1 and also cause a record lifespan extension in mice” (Jones, 2014).

With no balanced diet, intermittent fasting will not help to encourage healthy eating habits.

Nutritionists argue, however, that intermittent fasting will not help to encourage healthy eating habits. Because of the structure of the 5:2 diet, or any diet where you are encouraged to eat more freely on your “food days”, the importance of balanced healthy eating is not emphasized. 

With all of the concentration on calorie restriction, we are missing the importance of healthy eating. Don’t forget, your body needs food. A balanced diet consists of roughly 2,000 calories a day, made up of 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables, roughly 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and 3 to 5 servings of whole grains. By fasting and feasting, you are not “tricking the system”.

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Understanding the Paleo Diet

cookbook with kale on page

These days, it feels like new food trends are constantly coming to market. From juice cleansing to going gluten-free, dieters and healthy eaters alike are left wondering, “What are the smart choices for my diet and my body?” In an effort to offer some clarity and take it back to simpler times, we have chosen to examine: the Paleolithic diet.

Inspired by the foods of our ancestors.

A Paleolithic, or “Paleo,” diet is a diet inspired by the foods of our ancestors. Often called “the caveman diet,” this diet regimen focuses on a more simple call to action: clean, primal eating. The Paleo diet emphasizes the importance of the foods that our ancestors had access too, which include grass-produced meats, nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, healthy oils (those of olive, avocado, coconut, etc.), and animal products, such as eggs.

 

The Paleo method believes that human metabolism was not made to digest today’s highly processed foods. Instead, the diet emphasizes the importance of the foods that our ancestors had access too, which include grass-produced meats, nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, and healthy oils (those of olive, avocado, coconut, etc.), and animal products, such as eggs.

Proponents of the Paleo diet believe the human digestive system has wrongfully adapted to eating “toxic” foods, such as grain, legumes, and dairy. Foods such as these were not available to our ancestors, thus our bodies are not designed to consume them. However, lean meats, seafood, and seasonal fruits and vegetables were the basis of a Neanderthal’s diet and our digestive system is equipped to break these foods down.

or example, while we agree that protein is a very important part of your diet, the way our ancestors consumed protein is not similar to modern practices. When our ancestors hunted and killed an animal for its meat they gorged themselves on the food for days and could go months without another successful hunt.

There are health benefits from eating whole grains.

While it is healthy to consume protein and whole fruits and veggies as the diet prescribes, there are health benefits from eating whole grain. Whole grains are high in fiber–which is good for your digestive system, are digested slowly so can keep you full for longer, and can help reduce the risk of heart disease. As for the argument that eating whole grain can cause inflammation, this is certainly true for those suffering from celiac’s disease, however, it is untrue if you have no wheat sensitivity. In fact, going gluten-free can often lead to a diet higher in sugar and saturated fats. For these reasons, we disagree with the Paleo diets requirement to cut grain completely from your diet.

There are health benefits from eating legumes.

In addition to eliminating grain, the diet recommends eliminating legumes, like lentils, beans, or peas, from your diet. The Paleo diet argues that the lectins, which is a sugar-binding protein, found in legumes eliminate their nutritional value. But this is not true! A 2013 study suggests the nutritional content of legumes outweighs the issue with lectins. The Huffington Post also reported that cooking legumes can eliminate the anti-nutrient qualities of lectins. Legumes pack a powerful punch! They are high in dietary fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals while being low in fat.

There are health benefits from drinking and eating dairy products.

Now that we’ve covered grains and legumes, let’s put dairy under the microscope. Dairy is where it gets a little trickier. Did you know that the human species is the only species that consume dairy in adulthood? This is one of the primary reasons why dairy is a strict “no” in the Paleo diet. Paleo dieters believe that by eating the food that our ancestors ate, we are eating the most natural, “untouched” foods. The milk we know today has been harvested from animals that have been bred for milk production. When we drink cow’s milk, we are ingesting the hormones that have been fed to the cow, which the Paleo diet does not condone. But—when you think about it, of course, humans are able to eat dairy into adulthood…because we can produce it.

When consumed in moderation, dairy is a good source of potassium, protein, and fat, and is important for your bone health. Many non-Paleo physicians argue that adults have no nutritional requirements for dairy. Our opinion? You do not need to eliminate the food group entirely, but you do not need to consume more than two servings of dairy per day to maintain a balanced diet. There are additional ways to get potassium, protein, and healthy fats.

In order to properly follow the Paleo diet, you must eliminate potatoes, dairy, cereal grains, salt, refined vegetable oils, and refined sugar from your diet. Eating at a restaurant is not easy!

The Modern Paleo: 85:15

Legumes, whole grains, and dairy can be consumed as part of a healthy, well-rounded diet. There are certainly some benefits to the Paleo approach, specifically that your diet is high in fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, nuts and healthy fats— but it is unnecessary to eliminate entire groups of food from your diet unless prescribed by a doctor. A modern version of the Paleo diet is the 85:15 rule. This means 85% of the time you are strictly Paleo and 15% you are allowed to consume non-Paleo foods. That way you are not completely eliminating certain beneficial food groups from your diet.

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Should We Eat Wheat?

sliced wheat bread displayed with wheat

Wheat has come under fire recently. The rise in gluten-free dieting has left many questioning its nutritional value. One-third of American consumers are trying to eliminate gluten, and subsequently wheat, in the hopes of losing weight.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture advises adults to eat between 3 and 5 servings of whole grains a day, and 6 to 11 servings for children.

Is wheat unhealthy?

It is hard to talk about wheat without mentioning its relationship to gluten. Walk into your local grocery store and the popularity of gluten-free products is astounding. Even foods that would never contain gluten are being stamped with the famous “GF” mark. We recently discussed “the gluten myth” on D2D and can confirm: gluten is not the enemy. Many non-celiac afflicted people choosing to maintain a GF diet do find they experience sudden weight loss, however, this is from the elimination of an entire food group and sudden change in eating habits. This is not gluten weighing you down. And whole grains are an important part of a balanced diet.

Modern wheat production

Some researchers have taken issue with modern wheat because it has changed from its original form. In order to keep up with a rapidly growing population, wheat farming has adapted. As such, mass-farming has manipulated the wheat we consume today relative to the wheat that our ancestors consumed.

The creator of modern wheat, Norman Borlaug, a biologist from Iowa, won both the Nobel Peace Prize and the World Food Prize for his positive contribution to farming.

Norman Ernest Borlaug, photographed in Mexico for LIFE Magazine in November 1970 (Flickr)

Borlaug was able to roughly double wheat production per acre. Instead of long grain stalks, wheat farmers are now producing higher yielding crops, which are smaller in size—18 inches in height compared to the traditional 4-foot tall wheat plant. These crops are smaller in size due to the weight of excess grain now created per stalk. If they maintained their original height, the stalks would not be able to support themselves. While these crops produce more wheat to feed the growing population, it is argued that these crops are less nutritious.

What is Wheat Belly?

One anti-wheat proponent, who lobbies for all humans to eliminate wheat from their diet is Dr. William Davis MD, author of Wheat Belly. According to Dr. Davis, we are victims of “Frankenwheat”, which he considers addictive and toxic. Davis asserts that today’s wheat contains a protein called gliadin that, Davis argues, “has the potential to bind to the opiate receptors of the human brain—like heroin or morphine—except it has a different effect of course. Wheat doesn’t provide relief from pain, it doesn’t provide a euphoria, it only stimulates appetite, so that people who consume modern wheat are triggered to consume 440 calories more per day.” (Davis, Wheat Belly).

Davis believes that consuming gliadin tells your body it wants more carbohydrates and as a response, you end up overeating. These excess carbs eventually are stored as fat. Dr. Davis believes if you eliminate modern wheat from your diet you will see a noticeable change in your hunger levels, lose weight, and benefit from positive health changes like decreased blood pressure, low blood-sugar levels, and less joint pain.

Gliadins are not the cause of overeating

How much of this argument should we hold true? According the article “Does Wheat Make Us Sick and Fat?” published by the Journal of Cereal Science, Davis’ understanding of gliadins is misleading as gliadins are present in all forms of wheat, including ancient grains. In some cases, “modern wheat” actually contains less gliadin than the grain of our ancestors. The article reports, “there is no evidence that selective breeding has resulted in detrimental effects on the nutritional properties or health benefits of the wheat grain” (Shewry et al., 2011).

Gliadins are not the cause of addictive eating behaviors

As for Davis’ theory regarding wheat opioids and their effect on the human brain, the Journal of Cereal Science also discredits this claim. According to a 2008 study, although gliadin is known to release a peptide called gliadorphin, which can induce an opiate-like effect, the compound’s composition of 7 amino acids actually cannot be absorbed into the intestine. Because of this, gliadin is not present in its original form in the circulatory system and therefore the opiate effects of gliadorphin do not affect the central nervous system. The evidence of this study undermines the Wheat Belly argument concerning gliadin. Therefore, Davis’ claims cannot be substantiated given today’s scientific understanding of wheat.

A pro-wheat organization that has examined the science behind grains is American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC). Their journal Cereal Foods World is responsible for bringing current industry information regarding grain science and technology to light. Cereal Foods World does not believe that modern wheat is a so-called “super carbohydrate.” In a report written by researchers at CFW, the process of crop cultivation and modernization is examined. To quote their findings,

Modern cultivated food plants are the product of thousands of years of plant breeding, and wheat is no exception. Breeding programs have enabled a number of positive outcomes in terms of plant yield, food quality, and nutritional value. It is interesting to note that wheat varieties carried to the New World by colonists did very poorly because the varieties were not suited to the new climatic conditions…Despite the implication in the book, these varieties were produced using traditional plant breeding techniques. Currently, there are no commercially available, genetically modified wheat varieties sold. (Brouns, 2013)

So why do “wheat-eliminators” lose weight and subsequently feel better?

Again, the answer is the drastic change in diet. When you eliminate an entire food group from your diet—especially one that you consumed frequently—your system is shocked and responds rapidly. Especially if the wheat you were consuming before making this switch was an indulgence, like pasta, bagels, or even pretzels. You aren’t eliminating gliadin, you are eliminating junk food!

Wheat and brain diseases?

Another anti-wheat assertion is that wheat consumption is a contributing factor in long term brain diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. David Perlmutter, MD is the author of the national bestseller, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar. Perlmutter argues that the modern human diet has steered off course, relying heavily on carbs, whereas our ancestors’ diet was mostly fat and protein-based.

Grain Brain believes this dietary shift is the reason for increased inflammation in the body. “Researchers have known for some time now that the cornerstone of all degenerative conditions, including brain disorders, is inflammation. But what they haven’t documented until now are the instigators of that inflammation— the first missteps that prompt this deadly reaction. And what they are finding is that gluten, and a high-carbohydrate diet for that matter, are among the most prominent stimulators of inflammatory pathways that reach the brain.” (Perlmutter, Grain Brain)

One of the biggest issues Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. Davis have with processed grain is its ability to spike your blood sugar levels. When your blood sugar increases your body creates more insulin—and while insulin helps keep the glucose level of your cells healthy, too much insulin will cause your cells to desensitize. Davis and Perlmutter, MD believe that this leads to inflammation and inevitably may contribute to Alzheimer’s. However, data that shows a very weak link between blood and glucose levels and a risk for developing Alzheimer’s. This conclusion is considered to be a far stretch with current evidence.

In order to consider the harmful effects of inflammation, we must examine inflammation and its relationship with your body’s insulin and blood sugar levels.

Both Grain Brain and Wheat Belly discuss the effect whole grain can have on your blood sugar by highlighting the fact that two pieces of whole wheat bread actually raise blood sugar levels more than a Snickers candy bar. So, why is this?

Processed grains, like whole grain or white bread, cause blood sugar levels to rise, but you should not be scared away from wheat by the glycemic value and its likening to a chocolate bar. The nutrients of the two foods are very different and you cannot draw a conclusion on one being unhealthy because of its similarity to the other.

Do you really believe that a snicker’s bar is healthier than a serving of whole wheat bread? As delightful as it tastes, a Snickers has 250 calories, 12g of fat, and 27 grams of sugar with little nutritional components. Two slices of whole wheat bread also have 250 calories but only 5 g of fat and include protein and fiber as nutrition. You also need to consider how much whole wheat is in the bread in question. For a serving of bread with a Glycemic Index of 71, the bread in question is processed whole wheat or white bread—but these are not your only options. 100% stone ground wheat is a low Glycemic Index food, for example, Ezekiel 4:9 bread has a GI value of 35. Additionally, you are typically eating the serving of bread with a protein, such a turkey or peanut butter, which can also slow your spike in blood sugar.

When discussing the glycemic index, you must also consider wheat’s glycemic load. The glycemic load relative amount of carbohydrate the food contains in an average serving. By taking each gram of carbohydrate into account, you are able to better estimate how the food will affect your glucose levels. Yes, the glycemic index helps interpret how quickly glucose levels rise, but the glycemic load helps interpret how long glucose levels will stay elevated for, ie. how much the sugar is affecting you. Read what our research says about Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load.

So while two pieces of whole wheat bread can raise your insulin levels, consuming whole wheat will not lead to rapid weight gain. In his book, Dr. Davis makes the argument that our ancestors avoided diabetes because of their diet, which mainly consisted of wild boar, salmon, and berries. But there is no scientific data regarding the possible diabetic condition of hunters and gatherers! Not to mention, their diets relied entirely on what they were able to hunt or collect and their lifespans were much shorter than the average human today. As such, Dr. Davis is drawing hard conclusions from limited evidence.

Complex carbs, such as whole oats, sprouted bread, or even pasta do not have the same effect on blood sugar levels as the average piece of white or whole wheat bread. This type of grain is actually helpful for keeping blood sugar levels low as they are high in dietary fibers and take a longer time to metabolize. The more refined the grain is, the higher your blood sugar will spike.

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The Truth about Juice Cleanses

green juice displayed next to apples, broccoli and kale

What does it mean to cleanse? Many people believe cleansing is like spring cleaning for your body and helps to restart your metabolism and improve digestion. Most cleanse programs call for a limited caloric intake over a shortened period of time to give your digestive system a rest and help flush your body of toxins. By consuming only juice, you are eliminating the majority of fiber from your diet, which gives the digestive system a break. Cleansing advocates argue this can help to revive sluggish digestion. Supporters of these programs also assert that participating in a cleansing program will help you lose weight, clear your skin, feel less bloated, and eliminate headaches. However, while these short-term results may be beneficial, there is no long-term scientific evidence that supports the lasting benefits of juice cleansing.

As cleansing becomes increasingly mainstream, we at D2D wanted to properly assess the benefits of a cleanse. We decided to look at the most popular cleanse programs and determine if they are actually worthwhile. For example, there is The Master Cleanse, a.k.a., The Lemonade Diet—one of the most extreme cleansing options. The Blueprint Cleanse, which can be tailored to your lifestyle and allows for 3 levels of cleansing: the Renovation, the Foundation, and the Excavation. There’s also Liquiteria, Juice Press, Beverly Hills Juice and many more…

But what are the health benefits of these cleansing options? Sure, they are a quick way to lose water weight, but do they actually help your digestive system? The answer is no!

According to Dr. Joy Dubost, a dietitian, food scientist, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, cleansing is not worth the hype. She has spoken out against cleanses by saying,

To date, there’s no solid science backing any of these cleansing or detox approaches for weight loss or health. Your body has built-in mechanisms for detoxification, including your liver, kidneys, and gastrointestinal system. Swallowing some kind of solution isn’t going to further enable those organs, so the whole premise of detoxifying is inaccurate.

Our organs are well equipped to handle detoxification.

Our kidneys and liver are well equipped to handle the detoxification process—in fact, that’s what they are there for! Your kidneys’ primary function is to filter your blood. The organ contains millions of microscopic units called nephrons, which sift through your blood to eliminate waste and regulate your body’s fluid and electrolyte balance. The liver, on the other hand, is the primary detoxifying agent. It is responsible for keeping pathogens from entering the bloodstream. It also eliminates environmental toxins and detoxifies chemicals.

While these short-term results may be beneficial, there is no long term scientific evidence that supports the lasting benefits of juice cleansing.

The best thing to help your body detoxify is actually to consume whole fiber, found in fruits and vegetables.

The best thing to help your body detoxify is actually whole fiber, found in fruits and vegetables. Research shows that your body can actually benefit more from eating whole foods as opposed to drinking them in juice form. If you really want to incorporate juice in your diet, throw everything in a Vitamix, which keeps the fiber intact. If you are substituting soda for a green juice—great! But if you normally eat a balanced diet filled with fruits and vegetables, cleansing isn’t going to do very much.

So how do these cleanses aid in your body’s natural detoxification process? They don’t. In fact, there is no clinical proof that juices aid your organs. One of the major issues with juicing is that it eliminates fiber, which your body needs to maintain proper digestion. Additionally, when fiber is eliminated from the fruit or vegetable, the fructose content skyrockets! Your sugar levels spike because there is no fiber content to slow digestion.

The only benefit to juice cleansing is actually the elimination of foods containing saturated fat and refined sugar.

In a study conducted by the Food Technology Journal entitled “Detox Diets Provide Empty Promises”, Roger Clemons, a professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences explains why people can see positive results immediately after a cleanse. The article acknowledges that cleansing will help you drop a few pounds, but warns that this is strictly because of the low caloric intake. Reports of clearer skin can be attributed to the increased water you are told to drink and the reduced headaches can be attributed to substantially lower alcohol and caffeine levels. Overall, the health benefits that you are experiencing are from a dramatic diet shift and not from a “detoxifying” component of the juice. Eating clean, whole foods will help your body detoxify itself.

It is important to note that juicing eliminates fiber, but blending shakes does not. Like Dr. Merrell, Dr. Joy Dubost has acknowledged one benefit to cleansing programs. In a recent article published by Time Magazine, Dubost agreed that people looking to drastically change their diet may benefit from a radical approach to “get your head in gear”. But, keep in mind if you are preparing to shock your system with a cleanse, it’s the days after the cleanse that matter most. If you return to a diet high in sugar or saturated fat, you will put back on the weight and then some. You should also be careful if you are using cleanses as a crash diet and will resume drinking alcohol afterward. After you cleanse, your digestive system is fragile so you should ease back into healthy solid foods.

Here are a few ways you can support your body’s natural detoxification process without buying into the multi-million dollar fad industry:

Eating proper foods: Eating foods like green tea, lemon, kale, and artichokes help your liver and kidneys better cleanse your body of its toxins. These foods help your organs neutralize the toxins, and inevitably expel them from your body.

Getting enough fiber: Everyone seems to forget about fiber! On average, you should consume between 25 and 30 grams of fiber per day. This is no easy feat! To give this a quick visual – that amount of fiber would be approximately 6.5 apples! Keep in mind though, you don’t want to get all your fiber from fruit as that is way too much sugar. Fiber helps regulate your digestive system and optimizes your GI tract. By improving the quality and the quantity of your daily fiber intake, you can help your body stay regulated.

Exercise: People often forget that your skin is the body’s biggest organ. Although the majority of detoxification is reliant on the liver and kidneys, there are trace amounts of toxins found in sweat, so be sure to sweat it out!

Sleep: Getting 8 hours of sleep per night will keep your body’s organs performing at their best.

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Is Red Meat Carcinogenic

red meat steak protein

If I eat steak or bacon, will I get cancer?

NO!

On October 26th, 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer— the cancer agency of the World Health Organization— gave a press release that evaluated the consumption of processed and red meat and its link to cancer. The study looked specifically at colorectal cancer and its association to stomach, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. While the IARC classified red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans” and processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans”, it is important to note that the evidence supporting these claims is very limited.

The research reviewed over 800 individual studies and was run by twenty-two experts from ten different countries, and yet the findings released were not conclusive.

According to the American Cancer Society, in 2018, the chance of getting colorectal cancer for an average 50-year-old male or female is 4.49% or 4.15%, respectively. The World Health Organization stated the possibility of an 18% increase from eating red meat. It is misleading to say that one will have an 18% chance of getting cancer when it is really an 18% increase over a base of a little over 4%. This brings us to 4.9% (for women) and a 5.23% (for men) chance of getting colorectal cancer if we eat 50 grams of processed or red meat per day.

The cancer risk related to the consumption of red meat is more difficult to estimate because the evidence that red meat causes cancer is not as strong. However, if the association of red meat and colorectal cancer were proven to be causal, data from the same studies suggest that the risk of colorectal cancer could increase by 17% for every 100-gram portion of red meat eaten daily.
– World Health Organization

Consuming large amounts of processed meat is worth monitoring and not something to incorporate every day. So while you might not want to have 2 servings of bacon every day, you can enjoy it a few times a week without fear.

The American Cancer Society also weighed in on the issue. ACS managing director of nutrition and physical activity says, “we should be limiting red and processed meat to help reduce colon cancer risk, and possibly, the risk of other cancers. The occasional hot dog or hamburger is okay.” So, when consumed in moderation, red or processed meat does not pose a big health threat.

When considering the IARC’s classification of carcinogenic foods, you have to be aware of the serving size.

The degree to which your red or processed meat consumption will affect your health has a lot to do with the other lifestyle choices you make. Do you have a well-balanced diet, exercise regularly, and drink enough water? All of these factors influence your overall health. The protein and iron that your body receives from red meat support your cells, tissues, organs, bones, and overall immune system.

Based on the study’s findings, the World Health Organization labeled red meat as Group 2A, stating that the classification was made on “limited evidence.” The IARC clarifies, “limited evidence means that a positive association has been observed between exposure to the agent and cancer but that other explanations for the observations (technically termed chance, bias, or confounding) could not be ruled out.”

The WHO also inappropriately labeled processed meat as Group 1, the same group that contains asbestos, arsenic, and tobacco— some of the most carcinogenic dangers to humans. Is it fair and reasonable to say that your chance of getting cancer from smoking is equal to getting cancer from eating meat? Of course not. Then the WHO discredited their own argument by stating the following:

Processed meat has been classified in the same category as causes of cancer such as tobacco smoking and asbestos (IARC Group 1, carcinogenic to humans), but this does NOT mean that they are all equally dangerous. The IARC classifications describe the strength of the scientific evidence about an agent being a cause of cancer, rather than assessing the level of risk.