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The Protein Debate: Why Source Matters More Than Amount

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I discuss a public health case for modernizing the definition of protein quality. In 2019, Dr. David Katz and colleagues, including one of my favorite researchers, David Jenkins, published a “public health case for modernizing the definition of protein quality.” The prevailing definition seems to have more to do with biochemistry than the overall effects on human health. The common belief that protein is “good,” and the more the better, combined with a definition of protein quality that favors animal protein, gives the impression that eating more meat, eggs, and dairy is desirable and preferable. But this is directly opposed to nutrition guidelines that are instead trying to push more plants. Although protein malnutrition is still common in many areas of the world, it is extremely rare in the industrialized world, where “the most formidable public health threats…are from chronic diseases,” not something like kwashiorkor, severe protein and calorie malnutrition. In 2016, a landmark stu...
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Are Potassium Chloride Salt Substitutes Safe and Effective?

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Healthy kidneys are required for potassium excretion. If you aren’t sure if you’re at risk, ask your doctor about getting your kidney function tested. Based on how we evolved, the optimum dietary potassium intake likely greatly exceeds current and even recommended intakes. The problem is we replaced many of the potassium-rich plant foods that used to fill our diets—fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, roots, tubers—with calorie-dense junk heavy with added fats and sugars, and stripped not only of fiber but also potassium. In a traditional, mostly plant-based diet, potassium intake is high and sodium intake is low. But now, high blood pressure is the second leading risk factor for death worldwide, killing more than 10 million people each year. Only unhealthy diets rank higher among global risk factors for death, as you can see below and at 0:41 in my video Potassium Chloride Salt Substitute Side Effects . We can improve both by eating more whole, healthy plant foods like greens and...
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Are Potassium Chloride Salt Substitutes Worth Trying?

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Is potassium chloride a win-win by decreasing sodium intake and increasing potassium intake? Of all the terrible things about our diets, high dietary sodium intake—high salt intake— is the leading risk. It’s estimated to be causing millions of deaths every year, killing mainly through adverse effects on blood pressure and increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and kidney damage. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is still called the “silent and invisible killer” because it rarely causes symptoms, but it’s one of the most powerful independent predictors of some of our leading causes of death. We evolved eating a diet very rich in potassium and low in sodium, but today that pattern has been completely reversed. This flip reflects a shift away from traditional plant-based diets high in potassium and low in sodium—a shift away from fruits, greens, roots, and tubers—and a move towards salty processed foods stripped of potassium, which is considered a “nutrient of public health concer...
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The Mineral Intake Recommendations Only 1 in 6,000 U.S. Adults Meet

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A staggering 99.99% of Americans fail to get the minimum recommended potassium intake (despite it being perhaps only half of our natural intake) and stay below the recommended sodium intake (even though it may be twice our natural intake). Worldwide, physical inactivity accounts for more than 10 million years of healthy life lost, but what we eat accounts for nearly 20 times that. Unhealthy diets shave hundreds of millions of disability-free years off people’s lives every year. What are the worst aspects of our diets? Four out of the five deadliest dietary traps involve not eating enough of certain foods—not eating enough whole grains, fruits, nuts and seeds, and not eating enough vegetables. But our most fatal flaw is too much salt—about 15 times deadlier than diets too high in soda, for example, just to help put things in perspective. You can see the breakdown below and at 1:12 in my video Fewer Than 1 in 5,000 Meet Sodium and Potassium Recommended Intakes . “There remains no...
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Do Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds Help an Enlarged Prostate?

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Cranberries and pumpkin seeds are put to the test for benign prostatic hypertrophy. More than 50% of men in their 50s and at least 70% of men over age 60 suffer from benign prostatic hypertrophy, or BPH, otherwise known as enlarged prostate. This can result in burdensome lower urinary tract symptoms, such as having to get up frequently at night to pee. While current medical treatments are clinically effective, side effects and low compliance rates compromise their efficacy. Symptoms include sexual dysfunction, high-grade prostate cancer, and depression. No wonder there’s poor compliance. And when medication treatment fails , surgical procedures—such as transurethral resection of the prostate—are considered. There has got to be a better way. Population studies suggest that low intake of animal protein and high intake of fruits and vegetables may be protective, but this is not just about cutting down on any animal protein. Eggs and poultry seem to be the worst, along with refined ...
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The Science Behind Oatmeal and Diabetes

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Before Insulin, There Was Oatmeal Before the discovery of insulin, the lives of many people with diabetes were saved or prolonged by Carl von Noorden’s oatmeal diet. As I discuss in my video Is Oatmeal Good for People with Diabetes? , he published his findings in 1903, which were received with a great deal of skepticism. But the critics were overcome in the following years by the weight of the evidence. Acclaimed doctor James B. Herrick began to try the oatmeal diet on his patients. Initially very doubtful, he became astonished by the results, which led to the 1909 proclamation that no case of juvenile or adolescent diabetes should be deprived of the benefits of the oatmeal cure. The great Elliott Joslin, founder of the oldest and largest diabetes clinic in the world, described the effects of oatmeal as “sometimes magical,” calling the oatmeal cure an unsolved mystery, referred to back then as “one of the greatest puzzles in diabetes.” They did have some clues, though. They found th...
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A Surprising Vegetable Approach to Insomnia

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Lactucin, the hypnotic component of lettuce, is put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of lettuce seeds. “There is a perception that time spent asleep is time wasted,” but it’s widely recognized that insufficient sleep is linked to multiple acute and chronic conditions and increases the risks of death and disease. As I discuss in my video Natural Dietary Remedy for Insomnia , forcing people to get only six hours of sleep per night for one week can change the expression of more than 700 genes. The most dire effect may be endothelial dysfunction. The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the inside of blood vessels and is responsible for allowing our arteries to relax and dilate properly. Randomizing people to get five instead of seven hours of sleep for about a week results in a significant impairment in artery function from just that two-hour nightly difference. How bad is a week of getting only five hours a night? Sleep deprivation ...
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