Credible Research

[Mike5840]

I'm a bit concerned that the great information on this sight is being compromised by association with less credible information.

For example:

Is there any credible research that shows a positive correlation between the intake of saturated fat and testosterone levels?

Is there any valid reason not to adopt a diet lower in saturated fat ?

Also, I thought I'd mention:

There seems to be no mention of the research that shows the human brain requires a daily minimum of 120g of glucose which cannot be converted from fat and that if an extremely low carb diet is followed the brain will catabolise muscle to obtain said glucose.

That it is possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, it is just harder to do, takes longer and requires a sticter dietary regimen.

Higher rep ranges of 8 - 12 also build strength and allow the joints to recover from the pounding that frequent, heavy lifting can inflict. (I know)

20-Rep squats are fatiguing and result producing and a lot harder that heavy doubles.

Reg Park rules!!!!

Steve Reeves rules too!!!!!

[JasonLB]

There seems to be no mention of the research that shows the human brain requires a daily minimum of 120g of glucose which cannot be converted from fat and that if an extremely low carb diet is followed the brain will catabolise muscle to obtain said glucose.

Either that or the body uses the amino acids it takes in from food, in conjunction with fat, to produce glucose. The body need not catabolize itself. Their are entire populations which, out of necessity, live on mostly animal products (fat and protein) and they do just fine.

[lovestolift]

Seconding JasonLB's post. It's known as "gluconeogenesis."

[mjh]

If you doubt the veracity of any claims made here or anywhere, then by all means research them and share what you find. I would hope that anyone reading this blog and putting its methods into practice would exercise a degree of critical engagement with what is discussed. I know Mehdi, the author, encourages no one to blindly follow what he says, and would rather people do their own research to discover what's best for them.

Also, I note that you didn't provide sources for any of the points you raised.

[Mike5840]

Actually I was not trying to discredit anyone in particular I have been searching the web for any research regarding the saturated fat/ testosterone connection. I was actually asking for assistance in regards to that point and the other point regarding saturated fat. However, I think that even a cursory search will find many journal articles linking sat fats and disease.

Here are a few:

CLINICAL RESEARCH: LIPIDS AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Consumption of Saturated Fat Impairs the Anti-Inflammatory Properties of High-Density Lipoproteins and Endothelial Function
Stephen J. Nicholls, MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FACC*,, Pia Lundman, MD, PhD, FESC*,,, Jason A. Harmer, BSc (Hons), Belinda Cutri, BMedSc (Hons)*, Kaye A. Griffiths, DMU, Kerry-Anne Rye, PhD*, Philip J. Barter, MBBS, PhD, FRACP*,|| and David S. Celermajer, MBBS, PhD, FRACP


Saturated Fat Intake and Lung Cancer Risk Among Nonsmoking Women in Missouri
Michael C. R. Alavanja, Charles C. Brown, Christine Swanson, Ross C. Brownson*

RESULTS: A strongly increasing trend in lung cancer risk was observed with increased saturated fat consumption among these nonsmoking women; the relative risk was more than sixfold greater for the highest quintile of consumption than for the lowest quintile. The effect of saturated fat was more pronounced for adenocarcinoma than for other cell types.


As far as gaining muscle while losing fat, I've lost 30lbs and put 1/2" on each arm in the last twelve weeks, my max bench press is down 25lbs but I'm much leaner (an feel healthier)

Sets of 8-12 make you stronger for sets of 8-12, I have no article to back this up but my joints are enjoying the rest. (I usually train 5x5 style but I need to change it up now and then)

Reg Park rules...that's just a fact!!


TTFN

[atypical1]

If you took the time to look around a bit (that was insulting, I apologize but don't retract my statement) you will see plenty of success stories around here regarding diets high in fat. I posted up my very own story in which I lost several inches in my waist by eating a high protein and veggie diet. This diet was high in sat fat but low in carbohydrate. My BP dropped and my cholesterol dropped 40 points. That is proof enough for me to stick with this way of eating. I can't speak for non-smoking women getting lung cancer because I'm not one and I haven't read that article.

Enjoy your workouts and good luck in your goals.

james

[James1v27]

I'm not interested right now in digging the net for studies, but I have read (from reputable, literature-cited, scientific documents, i.e. Mary Enig, a decorated lipid scientist) that many of the early studies on saturated fat and heart disease actually used hydrogenated (read "artificially saturated") oil instead of saturated fat from animal sources.
At the same time, any study trying to isolate a single variable, in this case sat. fats, is very precarious, as there are so many factors and possible correlations, synergistic effects, etc.

[JasonLB]

I, too, don't have the energy to sift through studies. To truly understand a study -- to know whether its methods are valid, the source is free of biases, etc. -- is a rather daunting task, especially when anything related to the food or drug industries is involved. For instance, the study that showed a link between saturated fat consumption and lung cancer in non-smokers: Without having looked at the study, I wonder how such a long term observational study (which this surely must have been) controls for other variables, whether what they are finding is only a correlation or an actual instance of causation. They obviously excluded smoking as a variable -- because these women report themselves as non-smokers -- but how many other variables might there be? What about obesity, for instance? I'm willing to bet that each of these women were also obese. Who's to say, then, that obesity, not saturated fat consumption, is the underlying cause of the increased risk of cancer? Furthermore, conclusions derived from observing untrained, relatively sedentary women, who may or may not be obese, shouldn't necessarily be extrapolated to individuals that frequently exercise. (Just so we are clear, I'm only using this as an example of why I'm leery of these types of studies.)

But I will say that the research I have done does not lead me to believe saturated fat is dangerous in and of itself. Some Inuit communities, to this day, obtain well north of 50% of their daily calories from animal fat, and they consume almost no carbohydrates at all. There are nomadic tribes in Mongolia and Africa who rely almost exclusively on heard animals -- their meat, fat, and milk -- for the majority of their caloric intake. These communities, despite very high saturated fat intakes, also have some of the lowest cancer rates on the planet. I'm inclined to believe that the real danger is an imbalanced ratio of fatty acids; specifically, the ratio between Omega-6 and Omega-3. In wild game, which eat wild grass, the ratio is optimal (I couldn't tell you the exact numbers off the top of my head). The vast majority of our farm animals, on the other hand, consume corn (and other not so healthy feed) and, as a consequence, have an abysmal fatty acid profile (something like 16:1 Omega-6 to Omega-3, if memory serves). So, if we were getting our animal fat from natural sources, as do the Inuit, we wouldn't have a problem. In addition, lets not forget that human beings were never meant to eat all the processed carbohydrates we habitually shove down our collective gullets. I'd be much more concerned about all that than I would eggs and red meat -- caloric sources human beings have always consumed.

[Mike5840]

First off let me say this:

1. I follow and promote at the highschool at which I teach a three day per week strength training regimen. The kids all want to train body parts and I am constantly pushing them to train lifts.

2. I squat, deep. I use olympic lifting shoes and get my "ass in the grass".

3. I believe in perioidization of training.

4. I power clean, power snatch and/or push jerk at least once per week.

5. I never wear a belt.

6. I eat clean 90% of the time. I use olive oil, take fish oil supplements, grow my own produce and try to get the freshest food possible.

7. I believe in the Stronglifts 5x5 principles. If it were not for Stronglifts I would never have discovered the Pendlay Row. (What a low-back saver!!)

8. I believe that processed, refined flour is a major cause of heart disease and obesity, more so that saturated fats.


Now in regards to my original post, I must admit that when I look back to the heady days of yore when I was but a lad, my #1 goal wasto get bigger and stronger and to that end I drank a lot of milk. I forget, now that I'm 44 how desperate I was to look like Reg Park (I didn't realize it was Reg Park back then, he was just the guy in the York Barbell exercise posters). I was probably approaching GOMAD without knowing it. (Now my priorities are to get leaner and healthier, GOMAD is not for me at this stage)

BAck then I knew nothing of nutrition (I'm still learning)

With that in mind:

I have also read/heard the studies of Inuit/Mongol diets. These people eat unprocessed, wild game and are extremely active. They also take in a lot more omega-3 fats than we in western culture do. My main question is still:

where can I find the link between saturated fats and testosterone levels, I've looked high and low and have come up blank.

[atypical1]

where can I find the link between saturated fats and testosterone levels, I've looked high and low and have come up blank.

A quick google search revealed these:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... ne_booster

http://ifitandhealthy.com/how-to-increa ... ne-levels/

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/anthony5.htm

http://www.fitnessforoneandall.com/nutr ... rt_two.htm

http://biomed.gerontologyjournals.org/c ... /11/1260-a

http://www.bhrt-resource.com/how-to-inc ... erone.html

I'm not going to say that you didn't look high and low but I literally just pulled those articles up in a 10 second search.

james

[Mike5840]

Silly me, and I thought I might find it in a peer reviewed MEDICAL JOURNAL, when all along all I needed to do was go to "bodybuilding.com" .

BTW in one of the links you posted I read the following:

"In our study, lean mass and saturated fat intake were significantly correlated, but after adjusting for dietary cholesterol, the association was greatly reduced."


I'm not saying saturated fat is evil, I'm just looking for some credible study that links saturated fat with testosterone levels ( I like saturated fats, they taste good, you find 'em in filet mignon, porterhouse, and T-bone steaks, but I'm 44 and I need to think about my heart and colon health too)

[atypical1]

Look, you asked for links and I provided them. I suggest you do your own research. My cholesterol dropped 40 points while eating a lot of saturated fats and reducing my simple carb intake. I had it measured before I started my diet and again 8 months later. Why don't you do the same? Sometimes the only way to see if something works for you is to just go out there and try it.

For what it's worth, you can find research out there that supports or disproves just about any theory out there. Take all research (including that in peer reviewed medical journals) with a grain of salt.

james

[Mehdi]

There's the China Study philosophy, there's the Weston Price philosophy. Both are well researched and make sense. But both are completely opposite philosophies. You can keep quoting research, studies, docus, whatever. Someone can come up with the complete opposite material. This is wasting your time.

Example:
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html => critizing china study
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRel ... cdent.html => criticizing Weston Price

Campbell (China Study) is a vegeterian. Does that make him biased? You'll keep confusing yourself reading opposite philosophies all the time. As SamuraiMark said: keep an open mind, keep trying different stuff, you'll find out in 50 years who was right.

From: why-do-people-get-freaked-out-gomad-t17040-30.html?hilit=china%20study#p284353

[Mike5840]

I'm having steak tonight.

[JasonLB]

No offense, but it's perfectly obvious that you really aren't interested in learning anything. (And I don't mean to imply I know the truth, just that I have a feeling your "question" wasn't asked in earnest.) If you were, you'd have bothered to read the links posted by atypical1. Had you done that, you would have discovered, in the very first link, an article with numerous citations. (The article itself, by the way, despite its not being peer reviewed, is well reasoned and worth your attention.) If you had then scrolled down to the very bottom of that article, to the end notes, you would have found the following list:

1. Grundy SSM. Influence of stearic acid on cholesterol metabolism relative to other long-chain fatty acids. The American journal of clinical nutrition 1994;60:986-90S.

2. Nicholls SJSJ, Lundman PP, Harmer JAJA, Cutri BB, Griffiths KAKA, Rye KAK-A, Barter PJPJ, Celermajer DSDS. Consumption of saturated fat impairs the anti-inflammatory properties of high-density lipoproteins and endothelial function. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2006;48:715-20.

3. Volek JS, Forsythe CE. The case for not restricting saturated fat on a low carbohydrate diet. Nutr Metab (Lond) 2005;2:21.

4. Howie BBJ, Shultz TTD. Dietary and hormonal interrelationships among vegetarian Seventh-Day Adventists and nonvegetarian men. The American journal of clinical nutrition 1985;42:127-34.

5. Dorgan JJF, Judd JJT, Longcope CC, Brown CC, Schatzkin AA, Clevidence BBA, Campbell WWS, Nair PPP, Franz CC, Kahle LL, Taylor PPR. Effects of dietary fat and fiber on plasma and urine androgens and estrogens in men: a controlled feeding study. The American journal of clinical nutrition 1996;64:850-5.

6. Key TTJ, Roe LL, Thorogood MM, Moore JJW, Clark GGM, Wang DDY. Testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, calculated free testosterone, and oestradiol in male vegans and omnivores. The British journal of nutrition 1990;64:111-9.

7. Hämäläinen EEK, Adlercreutz HH, Puska PP, Pietinen PP. Decrease of serum total and free testosterone during a low-fat high-fibre diet. The Journal of steroid biochemistry 1983;18:369-70.

8. Meikle AAW, Stringham JJD, Woodward MMG, McMurry MMP. Effects of a fat-containing meal on sex hormones in men. Metabolism, clinical and experimental 1990;39:943-6.

9. Sallinen JJ, Pakarinen AA, Ahtiainen JJ, Kraemer WWJ, Volek JJS, Häkkinen KK. Relationship between diet and serum anabolic hormone responses to heavy-resistance exercise in men. International journal of sports medicine 2004;25:627-33.

10. Volek JS, Kraemer WJ, Bush JA, Incledon T, Boetes M. Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol 1997;82:49-54.

A number of these studies appear to have relevance to the question you've raised (apparently you'd agree, because I believe you cited one of the studies yourself). I have no idea what the various conclusions might be, but I hope they prove edifying.