Do We Feel What We Eat?

I would like to interrupt my programmed writing schedule for an additional entry on diet and how it affects us. A friend of a friend told me that there was a discussion on how food affects our mood and may help us cope with what we may feel. Before you believe these claims, I’ve written something down to get you to a thinking mood.

Let’s start things off with something easy, the easiest being the “sugar rush.” Although most parents attribute their children’s manic behaviour following a large intake in sweets to the intake itself, it would be nothing short of folly to attribute this as the sole explanation. The best instances to consider are those where sugar, either alone or with substances considered neutral with regards to affecting our mood, are administered in a controlled environment. One of the things that may come to mind is intravenous dextrose. To be honest, I’ve never seen a patient happy while an intravenous line was attached, regardless of how much sugar we pumped into their veins. However, one could rationalize that either the amount was not sufficient or perhaps ingestion was a necessary component. Giving a 50% glucose solution via an intravenous push does not give a rise in excitement either, perhaps due to the fact that administration of a viscous solution into a blood vessel is a painful experience.

The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) involves the ingestion of 75 g of glucose dissolved in a glass of water. There are several people who complain that this test is extremely nauseating; indicating that it often pushes against our limits of ingesting sugar. For those who do not complain, there is no excitement or happiness. The predominant mood being an anxious one, chiefly due to thoughts on whether they have diabetes, pre-diabetes, or not.

So maybe it isn’t glucose. Table sugar is sucrose. It is made mainly of two sugar molecules, mainly glucose and fructose. Fructose is the sugar commonly found in fruits. I don’t see children get the sugar rush, regardless of how many ripe mangoes and mango shakes they consume. To cut a long story short, there may be a period of hyperactivity in people after they consume large amounts of sugar. However, more frequent reliable observations show that this may be due to something else in the situation rather than just sugar. Perhaps the fulfilment of a guilty pleasure is enough?

Another thing that bugs me is the frequent assumption that an increased intake of tryptophan-rich food will result in an increase in the serotonin levels of the brain. Considering that the human body is fully dependent on outside sources for this amino acid, the statement may seem plausible. This also means that it is available in very low concentrations within our body. There are two ways that this molecule may be fashioned three-dimensionally and they are called the D- and L- forms. Our body uses the L- form and it is called L-tryptophan.

The biggest investment of our absorbed tryptophan is, of course, protein synthesis. This only concerns structural proteins and proteins that speed up chemical reactions (called enzymes). Now before the tryptophan goes to serotonin, it also goes to a pathway responsible for vitamin B level maintenance. According to present day estimates, only about 3% of dietary tryptophan is used in the manufacture of serotonin. The funny thing is that, in mammals, 80-95% of our serotonin is found in our stomach. So isn’t it more plausible to believe that it would more likely be able to affect gastrointestinal function than brain activity?

The absorption and metabolism of tryptophan is an extremely complicated and boring discussion. Suffice it to say, given their levels all throughout the body; it should affect a lot more than just our mood. But it doesn’t.

One common flaw in reasoning is the assumption that, when two things happen together frequently, it's a cause-and-effect relationship. It just means that there is an association. Proving one causes the other is another thing altogether. Common sense screens the obvious associations that do not cause the other, like people having the same birthday or the rooster crowing in the morning.

Remember that people don't eat pasta because they're lonely. It’s just as believable as kids eating spaghetti because they’re lonely.

Natural Safety

First off, thanks to a local radio show called “Disturbing the Peace” for advertising my blog and for the warm welcome that the SaGOs have given it. Being an avid and active listener definitely has it perks. One listener by the name of Luis had a suggestion that I change the title of this blog to “The Thing Is.” I’ll definitely consider it since I use that phrase with some consistency. For those who want topics discussed, I’ll try to work them in as fast as I can. You can send me topic requests by commenting on my blog. For those who send me requests through Facebook, that account was only made per request of Sam and Gibb, so it will only be accessed on necessity. But once I get them, I’ll work them in.

For comments, I’m very open to them. Please comment if you wish further discussion or clarification. Just keep in mind that a blog entry has to be long enough to convey everything you have to say and short enough to keep from exceeding the reader’s attention span.

Now, on to the next article.

I left off last time saying that even natural things have harmful effects. Saying that natural supplements have no side effects because they’re natural is as credible as fire not having the ability to burn or water not having the ability to drown. Take note that fire and water are both natural. Consider also the fact that all diseases have a natural basis. The corollary is also amusing. The only natural medication for Diabetes Mellitus is the one that the diabetics commonly fear the most – insulin. If you still don’t believe me, the Wikipedia actually has a handy list that you can access here. I mean, don’t take my word for it – read! Be cautious, however, since the list is far from complete.

When you click on it, I would like to focus your attention on a substance known as aristolochic acid. This beauty was brought to my attention a couple of years ago when I was part of a transplant ethics committee. Some recipients had their kidneys inadvertently destroyed by the lavish unnecessary intake of Chinese herbal medications. Because of this discovery, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an alert. This alert was issued more than a decade ago and people still peddle to the belief that “natural” means “safe” to this very day.

One of the more popular herbal supplement components are antioxidants. One thing that people don’t know is recent research indicates that an increased intake of beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality significantly. In plain English, it can kill you. Again, don’t take my word for it. If you don’t have the time to read the entirety, focus on the abstract’s conclusion here. Take note that the article is more than four years old and it still remains largely unknown to the majority of the population.

Welcome to the 21st century, people. I’ll get back to you when I do. I'll probably write about weight loss and maintenance next.

All Things Herbal

So I finally decided to start my own weblog, or blog as most would put it. I was initially wondering on what to put in it but I eventually came to the conclusion that if whatever I wrote was interesting, others would give it their time and attention. In short, whatever came to my mind: my beliefs, opinions, and interpretations of events, whether actual or theoretical.

In this day and age, my biggest concern would be the preponderance of health supplements. Now most people would debate that this depends mainly on one's healing paradigm. True, of course. So, before I continue, here is my disclaimer: everything that follows pertains only with regards to Western medicine.

Most supplements are connected with Western medicine mainly because this is the one most intimately connected with financial gain. It's also the one with the largest market. So basically, if you wanted to sell something related to health, the most rewarding paradigm would be this one.

The primary tagline of supplements is “natural, not artificial.” This might seem common sense to you but this is nothing but wordplay. As defined by the Merriam-Webster, “natural” in this sense means either “growing without human care” or “existing in or produced by nature” whereas, “artificial” is defined as “humanly contrived often on a natural model.”

Yes, my dear readers, for some reason, the human animal has considered its work of lesser quality than that of other animals. For that reason, I often jest with the more fanatical of my students. I often ask them that, if they believe natural things to be superior, why wear clothes or ride mechanical means of transportation? It seems quite self-defeating to me and that is the main reason why I do not ascribe to this school of thought. I have realized that the natural-artificial dichotomy is, likewise, artificial.

Is there any evidence that imperfection resides in both the natural and the artificial? Sadly, the answer is yes. There is nothing perfect in this imperfect world. For every substance that has an effect, there is a side effect. If there are no side effects, logic dictates that there is most likely no effect at all.

Don’t worry, I’ll continue this where I left off next time.