MCT for Health

In one of the previous posts , we saw how the omega-6 vegetable fat stored in adipose tissue, specifically linoleic acid (LA), causes weight gain even with reduced food intake when blue light induces increased lipolysis. Eventually, it is probably depleted and replaced by oleic acid, a much more stable fat. At least, this is how I explain the rather incomprehensible recovery of metabolism at the end of the experiment. It did take somewhat longer than the approximately 20 days that might be expected based on the results of the study of LA kinetics in mice , but the change was induced solely by ambient light, not by zero fat intake. The 1959 study of LA kinetics in mouse adipose tissue is interesting because it shows how, after just three weeks on a diet providing 30% of calories from vegetable oil, the fat composition of fat cells changes to become very similar to the composition of the oils being consumed. It is as if the composition of dietary fats were copied directly into the compos...

Let's continue exploring the effects of light on the eyes and metabolism. My interest focuses mainly on effects associated with the photoreceptors OPN3, OPN4, and OPN5. The first two are sensitive to blue light, while OPN5 is sensitive to near-ultraviolet light, that is, UV-A. It appears that OPN5 is an important component of the mechanisms involved in healing mechanical tissue injuries. Here, we'll look at an interesting study investigating the healing of corneal injuries. Genetic suppression of OPN5 (Opn5-/-) leads to impaired healing of corneal injuries and a loss of light sensitivity in the healing process. Perhaps we can quote a few paragraphs here. The non-visual opsins, OPN3, OPN4, and OPN5, are opsinfamily receptors that are activated by light but that subserve non-visual functions. We have previously shown that the local molecular circadian clocks in cells of the murine retina and skin display an Opn5-dependent violet-light-induced photo-entrainment, which is independe...

The literature usually states that blue light is harmful because it damages DNA. This damaged DNA activates the mechanism of cellular senescence or directly triggers cell removal through apoptosis/ferroptosis. Something about this doesn't add up to me.  DNA damage occurs constantly in our bodies, and at the same time, DNA is constantly being repaired . Why should blue light in particular be so extremely harmful, much more so than other destructive environmental factors, such as cosmic radiation? It doesn't make much sense to me. Don't you think? First of all, if blue and UV-A light directly damage DNA, how is it possible that there are methods that protect cells? Yes, you might argue that activating pigment production can protect cells by safely absorbing blue radiation. But pigment production is only triggered by UV-B. So how is it that there are methods to protect cells from blue light even in the absence of UV-B? Perhaps I'm being too bold, but I believe that DNA dam...

If you haven't read the previous post on this topic, here it is: Can Mobile Phone and Computer Screens Cause Obesity? What Is the Difference Between Blue Light and a High-Fat Diet? I have to return once again to the issue of modern light sources and the filtering of daylight by windows and glasses. It seems that inadequate research before the widespread adoption of new LED light sources may be responsible for a number of health problems. We could already observe changes when fluorescent computer screens were introduced, when it became apparent that their light could cause vision problems. Our ancestors were fairly lucky when fluorescent tubes were introduced into schools and workplaces. Fluorescent lights were developed in such a way that they are still used today as control sources of white light in animal studies . That does not mean they have no effect; it only means that the effect was sufficiently small that it went unnoticed. LED light sources are different. I really like thi...

We already know that in order to maintain a healthy metabolism, we need to keep our mitochondria in very good condition. But how do we do that? When I tried to find out what the usual composition of cardiolipin, one of the most important phospholipids in a healthy mitochondrial membrane, is, I always found that it contains a high percentage of tetralinoleoyl cardiolipin (4L-CL), i.e. cardiolipin containing four linoleic acid chains. Cis-vaccenic acid (cVA) comes in second, and only further down do we find, for example, DHA (in mitochondria from the heart), oleic acid, or other polyunsaturated fatty acids. In some studies, researchers have tried to replace linoleic acid with the long-chain fatty acids ARA and DHA, but the results are not particularly encouraging. For example, in this study , they tried to remodel cardiolipin by manipulating the enzyme ALCAT1 and achieved the incorporation of more DHA into cardiolipin, but they obtained the best results after shutting down remodeling v...

We know that some plant compounds are poisonous to us, and some of these compounds are also found in foods that we commonly eat. Our ancestors therefore developed a number of sophisticated methods for preparing such foods so that they would not harm us. Lectins are among these compounds, and you can read about them, for example, in the book called "The Plant Paradox" by Dr. Steven Gundry. I was going through previously saved studies and one caught my attention: it reported that some plant lectins mimic the effects of insulin, sometimes even better than insulin itself. They act on insulin receptors for a longer period of time, and the effects can be seen as suppression of lipolysis as well as activation of lipogenesis. In other words, they make sure that we can easily store fat, but also that we never use it. These are test-tube experiments. We therefore do not know whether these experiments have any practical impact on real life. But if diseased intestines can allow bacterial...