Food For Thought

1. Food For Thought Carol M Brown, DO, PhD, FAARFM December 1, 2012

2. Warning: • Some material in this lecture will seem to fly in the face of everyday knowledge but discoveries are the only way health care advances • This presentation will be at the speed of light so keep your arms and legs inside the tube until we come to a complete stop

3. What is food in the first place? Food is a substance consisting primarily of • Protein • Fat • Carbohydrate • Along with vital cofactors: minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients…

4. The body needs food for • Structure • Protein is the basic structure of bone • Fat is the basic structure of brain cells • Carbohydrates compose cell signaling sites on the cell walls

5. The body needs food to • Sustain growth • regenerate nerve cells, grow hair, meet the high rate of intestinal cell turnover…

6. The body needs food to • Repair • Proteins are the foundation of DNA. • DNA in turn, makes proteins the body uses for repair • 4,000 red blood cells are replaced every second of your life

7. The body needs food to • Perform vital processes • Insulin transporting sugar into cells. • Immune defense activation • Digestion

8. The body needs food to • Furnish the body’s energy • Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid, from butter is the main energy source for cells in the intestine. • Saturated fats are the body’s sustained, slow release source of energy • Carbohydrates are used for energy

9. In order for food to be medicine and medicine to be food, it must be real, unadulterated food. The body is specific about that! The brainis even more specific about its needs!

10. C. Martin, A crash course, 2012 Original Food • Gave us strength • Healed us when we were sick • Satisfied us at the end of a day filled with purpose and work • Satisfied a need that rose from deep within • Satisfied hunger • Was savored

11. Food used to be… • Brilliantly colored fruits and vegetables, rich brown grains, milk and butter, game meats, and plump fish wrestled from living rivers and oceans • Picked from the home garden after a summer of planting, fertilizing, raking, and weeding

12. Food used to be… • Rooted deeply in soil that was alive with life forms that enriched the earth. • From animals that fed on tender green plants and who drank from pristine streams, reflecting life from the sun • In many cases it was eaten raw on the day it was harvested

13. Food was respected… “Just a few decades ago, Americans accepted without question the premise that raw milk was good for us and that a safe, plentiful supply was actually vital to our national security.” Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, 2001

14. C. Simontacchi, The Crazy Makers,2000 Food is different now • Grown in water or in dead, damaged soil, fertilized with chemicals, harvested by machinery • Ripened with chemicals • Grown miles away, sits on grocer’s shelf for days to years • Sold in packages, boxes and plastic • Irradiated, fumigated, pasteurized, and altered through processing

15. Food is different now • Contains artificial flavors, coloring agents, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and thickeners made from wood fiber • Some chemicals for growing and processing are tested for safety and carcinogenicity; many are never tested • Commercial growing practices produce toxic waste and use vital resources for transportation

16. Hunger is different now; Our brains are different now • Our diets are markedly different from the diets enjoyed by past generations, both in quality and quantity • Food is now consumed to satisfy artificial cravings generated by a brain that isn’t working right and whose receptors now prefer synthetic stimulation from chemicals • We eat, but are never satisfied. We are full but not contented

17. A lesson in food processing (alteration) Pasteurized, processed commercial milk and milk products Never mind if it’s Greek Yogurt from Trader Joe’s!

18. Raw vs. Pasteurized • Substance Raw Pasteurized • Protein (22 a.a.) 100% Bio-available Damage-Lys, Tyr • Fats (18 Sat/UnSat) 100% Bio-available UnSat Damaged • Carbs (eg. Lactose) 100% Bio-available Poorly digested • Enz. (eg. Lactase) 100% Bio-available Unfunctional • Minerals (Ca,Cl,Mg) 100% Bio-available Poorly absorbed • Vit (A,D,E,K) 100% Bio-available Heat destroys • Vit (B1,2,3,9,12) 100% Bio-available Heat destroys

19. Pasteurized Milk • When milk is pasteurized the bacteria are killed but they are still there in the milk. Remember, much higher bacterial counts are allowed in milk to be pasteurized • This contributes to the weird taste. • When bacteria are killed, their cell walls rupture releasing endotoxins and any chemicals they may have gobbled up • These substances are toxic and allergenic

20. Whole Milk vs. Skim Effects of Processing Fractioned Milk Whole Milk • 1% and 2% milk are made by adding powdered milk to skim milk. A bad idea as the fats contained in the powder are already oxidized by heating • In skim milk, the minerals are poorly absorbed despite their presence, as fat and Vit C are needed to assist absorption It becomes apparent… Whole unprocessed milk is the only effective delivery system for the nutrients it contains

21. Is it any wonder people cannot tolerate “dairy”

22. Since I have entertained this basic health food discussion… I will answer your question

23. Can raw milk make us sick? • It can, however, these are the statistics: • Each year in the US, 9 million people chose to drink milk in its fresh unprocessed form* • An average of 42 people a year develop illnesses traced to raw milk* • There have been no deaths in 38 years from raw milk (since 1974 when tracking began) ** (Incidentally, there are over 100,000 deaths annually from properly prescribed medications--the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.)*** • There have been ~ 80 deaths traced to pasteurized milk during the same time period** • *Dr. Beals, 3rd Int’l Raw Milk Symposium 2011 • **Mark McAfee, www.OrganicPastures.com • ***CDC

24. Raw milk is an excellent source of nutrients, should it still be avoided? • It is illegal to sell raw milk in Wisconsin (The Dairy State), therefore it is likely to be avoided… • After research, I don’t think so and neither does Queen Elizabeth • Queen Elizabeth personally drinks raw milk and has for her entire life. She reportedly smuggled it to her grandsons, William and Harry, while they were attending Eton College.

25. Indeed… Our food has changed over the past 112 years Is it still useful food? Can the body operate properly with this new stuff? Does the brain have what it needs in its role as Emperor?

26. Does it matter what we eat? You bet it does! We become what we eat—healthy, robust self sufficient organisms vs. listless, lifeless, crippled, hairless, obese, infertile, anxious, angry protoplasm dependent upon others for survival

27. Missing the forest for the trees… • We, as consumers, assume arthritis is from aging • We believe knee surgery, bypass surgery, hypertension, diabetes, saggy skin, dementia, Alzheimer’s, cancer, are to be expected and are related to “normal aging” • We believe we are fat because we don’t get enough exercise (yet we don’t have the energy to exercise) • We believe our young people behave as they do because they are bored or stressed or whatever is currently offered as an explanation

28. Degenerative disease is ubiquitous; Brain problems are ubiquitous • This would lead a thinking person to believe there is something almost everyone is doing (or exposed to) at the root of the problem • There are a few possibilities but the new kid on the block is our food

29. Now, with that introduction to processed food, let’s proceed…

30. Could it be our “food”? A likely connection: • Physical structure is built from physical nutrients • If the nutrients (building blocks) are removed or missing from our food we can neither build nor rebuild our bodies our brains and we degenerate

31. What is happening to our food? • “Food” and “nutrition” have lost their meanings in our marketing/advertising driven world • Today, we carve a culture of our favorite food icons. • Our favorite tastes have been identified and rewarded as “healthy” or “irresistible” through marketing • Most ( if not all) our food is processed by techniques unfamiliar to most of us. • The physical structure of the food is changed. Many foods are actually replaced by chemicals. Should we assume this is optimal to maintain human health and function?

32. Your banana split • Vanilla flavored ice cream—Iperonal (originally a lice killer) is now used for the vanilla flavoring • Chocolate flavor—Amylphenyl acetate • Strawberry flavor—Benzyl acetate • Toppings • Cherry flavor—Aldehyde C17 • Pineapple flavor—Ethyl acetate (vapors known to cause lung and liver cancer) • Nut flavor—Buteraldehyde • Banana flavor—Amyl acetate • Why? Aldehyde C17 costs 7 cents/gal (no real cherries required!) Real cherries cost 35 cents/gal • A single commercial ice cream may contain 55 chemicals

33. Brain Specifics

34. Taste Imprinting:How your brain responds • Psychological taste preferences occur with positive or negative experiences, and even with subtle suggestion • The development of taste preference begins in utero • Humans crave foods they are allergic to; with a brain response similar to opiate craving; gluto-morphones and caseo-morphones are created in the brain from gluten and casein

35. Excellent brain function depends upon precise nutrition

36. R. Blaylock, Excitotoxins, A taste that kills, 1997 Your amazing brain • A 3 pound universe • The can retrain itself—Neuroplasticity • The brain can regenerate itself—Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) • The brain runs everything in the body including itself (The Emperor)

37. Brain facts • The brain is only 2% of the body’s weight but consumes 20% of the body’s oxygen 25% of the body’s glucose (Brain cells manufacture an enormous amount of energy) • The brain is built from fat: Omega 3 fats, cholesterol, and phospholipids (PC and PS) • Blood flow to the brain is~ one liter of blood/min.

38. Brain Facts, con’t • The brain never stops. Even during sleep the brain is generating theta and delta (slow) waves which are responsible for “filing and archiving” the previous day’s events. • The brain’s immune system “reboots” during sleep • Contains its own immune system and helps manage the entire body’s immune system

39. Basic Brain Physiology • Generates its own electrical impulses and chemical events (Note: the brain is also affected by ambient frequencies) • Is an endocrine organ and makes most of its own neurotransmitters. Exception: Serotonin is primarily made in the small intestine

40. Basic mental function • Hierarchies of brain mental function • The amygdala is “a primitive area” deep in the brain, equipped with “basic survival software” reinforced in childhood and by society. It contains actual worn pathways of “default thinking”

41. Basic mental function • The outer layer of the brain (cortex) can update and adjust worn thinking pathways of the amygdala • Within the cortex are specialized areas that direct and update the less specialized areas (override) • All areas are susceptible to repeated pathways of thinking and are retrainable through repetition. (Neurons that fire together, wire together)

42. The brain is affected by • How you think. Thoughts matter! • The status of your hormones (brain and body) • The status of your immune system (brain and body) • The status of your gut (which has everything to do with the food you eat) • All the above systems interact (cross talk) with each other and are known as the “psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune system”

43. The Brain Needs Food • Protein • For structure and neurotransmitters. • A fat caveat; protein cannot be used without dietary fats. Perhaps, that is why nature provided protein and fats together in eggs, fish, meat, etc.. • Glucose • For energy (brain makes its own glucose from protein, fat and carbohydrate) • For structure, the glycoprotein attached to outer cell walls used for cell signaling • Fats • For structure and energy. Saturated fats make up 50% of all cell membranes in the body. It is estimated that the dry weight of the brain is 60-75% cholesterol. • Below 160mg of cholesterol (in the blood) there is not enough fat for adequate brain structure and function.

44. Protein Deficiency Quiz • Sluggish, poor energy, no desire to do anything • Foggy thinking • Depression/anxiety, “glass half full” • Leg pain, TMJ, fibromyalgia • Unfocused, trouble concentrating on things • Tired, need caffeine, chocolate, diet pills or cocaine to wake up • Low self esteem • Obsessive thoughts • Easily angered • Unable to relax • More stressed if I skip meals • I use substances such as sugar, alcohol and/or drugs to help me relax • More than 8 suggests the need for animo acids

45. Specific Proteins for Brain Hormones • Neurotransmitter Amino Acid Food Source • Serotonin tryptophan avocado, turkey, brown rice, cottage cheese, peanuts, sesame seeds • Dopamine/Adrenaline tyrosine chicken, turkey, fish, peanuts, bananas, almonds, dairy • GABA glutamine beef, pork, poultry, milk, raw spinach, raw parsley

46. Saturated Fat for Structure and as a Major Energy Source for the Brain • Recall the structure of a saturated fat: A carbon backbone, saturated with hydrogen

47. Unsaturated Fat • A carbon backbone, much less saturated with hydrogen • Hydrogen=Energy. More hydrogen; more energy. • Think Hydrogen bomb! • Could a diet low in saturated fat be a source of general fatigue and poor brain function?

48. Fatty Acids Deficiency Quiz • Soft, cracked, brittle nails • Dry, itchy, scaling, flaking skin • Hard ear wax • Tiny bumps on back of arms or on trunk • Dandruff, “cradle cap” • Aching, stiff joints • Thirsty most of the time • Constipated (less than 2 BM/day) • Light colored foul smelling stools • Depression, ADHD, fatigue, memory loss • High blood pressure • Fibrocystic breasts, PMS • Altered lipid panel: High LDL, Lpa, Triglycerides, Low HDL • Risk: North Atlantic genetic background; Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Scandinavian, or costal Native American Greater than 8 indicates a severe fatty acid deficiency

49. Vital Nutrients Needed for Optimum Brain/Body Function • B Vitamins • Formation of neurotransmitters, clearing of metabolic debris, prevention of dementia (B12,Folate,B6), Alzheimer’s (Folate, Choline), metabolic encephalitis (B1), clarity of thought (all the Bs), synchronize neuronal activity (B12), Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important for memory (choline, a B vitamin) • Vitamin D • Brain infection, depression, epilepsy, Down syndrome, dementia, bipolar syndrome, ADHD, SAD • Omega 3 • Depression (dopamine), dyslexia, learning disabilities

50. Vital Brain/Body Nutrients • Magnesium • Deficiency • Depression, ADHD, insomnia, anxiety, eye and muscle twitching, hand and leg cramps, trouble swallowing, GERD, sensitivity to loud noises, fatigue, asthma, kidney stones, MVP, diabetes, toxemia, Torsades • Deficiency= 2x as likely to die in the hospital. Low magnesium prevents production of serotonin • Half of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Routine blood tests won’t detect the deficiency