MCT for Health

The hormone leptin is produced by fat cells and is known to normally reduce the need to eat. In obese individuals, however, this mechanism does not work properly. They have higher leptin levels yet still consume more food than necessary. This condition is called leptin resistance; the body simply does not respond to leptin's signal, the signal that sufficient fuel is stored in the body. It appears that this condition is closely linked to improper protein/enzyme folding and to endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress), which is where enzymes are created and folded within the cell. What substances can trigger such stress? How about aldehydes formed by the autooxidation of linoleic acid? Could it be 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE)? Would activating the enzyme that breaks down HNE, namely aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), help? Would this also work to reduce leptin resistance? Perhaps the most serious effect of the increased presence of the toxic aldehyde HNE, derived by the autooxidation of li...

We will continue exploring cis-vaccenic acid (CVA), which appears to be a very important component of one very special material used in mitochondria, specifically in the inner membrane. Yes, that material is cardiolipin, a unique phospholipid with four connected fatty acid chains. A normal phospholipid contains only three chains, while cardiolipin contains four. If you have no idea what cis-vaccenic acid is, or if you think you obtain it from milk fat, first read my previous post. It is usually stated that cardiolipin mainly contains linoleic acid (18:2n-6). However, as I found out, mitochondrial function is strongly influenced by the presence of CVA. In one study, I read that this is related to the composition of cardiolipin. Then AI found me a rather old study examining its exact composition  (dating back to 1985), where cis-vaccenic acid is mentioned. And indeed, CVA (18:1n-7) is the second most abundant fatty acid at the 2(2") positions of cardiolipin! The content of oleic aci...

While exploring the positive effects of various conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), I also found studies on the effect of CLA on the development of cancer and tumors . Results from animal experiments make therapies based on supplementing several percent of CLA appear very interesting. For example, this study of artificially induced cancer (DMBA) in rats shows the effect of adding 0% (A3), 1% (B3), and 2% CLA (C3) to the diet. The results are very interesting, approximately a 10-fold reduction in both the number and size of tumors. For such a small dietary change, this is quite a large effect. What could be causing it? The same study also reports that dietary CLA reduces the activity of certain enzymes involved in processing polyunsaturated fats (D6D, delta-6-desaturase). This reduces the conversion of linoleic acid into arachidonic acid and its concentration in membranes. But it also reduces the conversion of the plant omega-3 ALA into the long-chain omega-3s EPA and DHA.  As we will...

Today we will look at how the composition of fats in a low-fat diet affects metabolism in mice, for example how it affects fatty liver development. The low-fat diet is an important factor here; the researchers did not overload the mice’s bodies, so in my opinion we are getting fairly relevant results. So what does the study tell us ? We’ll take it slowly. There are six diets here: lard (L1, L2), soybean oil (S1, S2), and a mixture of lard and soybean oil (LS1, LS2), each with either 10% or 15% fat in the diet. For example, this is the difference in blood free fatty acid levels between diets containing 10% and 15% lard. Isn’t that interesting? Such an ordinary low-fat diet. And if it contains 10% fat in the form of lard, it still works reasonably well. But if we increase the lard content by 50%, to 15%, the level of free fatty acids in the blood rises by about 75%. Clearly, something is not right here. What happens if instead of pure lard we provide a mixture of lard and soybean oil in ...

I would like to loosely follow up on the previous post about conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as a potential treatment for atherosclerosis. We saw that a 1% CLA mixture in the diet was able to almost completely heal blood vessels in mice within eight weeks; the previously formed atherosclerotic plaque in the aorta almost disappeared. This was not a slowing of plaque deposition processes, but its removal! What could the mechanism be? Could this work in humans as well? In one older post , I showed how the number of unsaturated bonds in polyunsaturated fatty acids determines the degradation rate of apoB100 molecules, and therefore also the liver production of VLDL/LDL particles. The greater the susceptibility to peroxidation, the faster the degradation of apoB100 and the lower the export of fats and cholesterol from the liver. Take a look at the following findings. Unlike the previous study, linoleic acid and palmitic acid behave the same way here. Human liver cells were used, which could ...

If you think that vegetable (seed) oils protect your blood vessels, that is probably not true . This is suggested by studies examining their effects in older age or looking at lifespan. Vegetable oils may lower cholesterol, but low cholesterol levels are associated with shorter lifespan. But what would you say to the information that simply adding 1% of a special mixture of polyunsaturated oils—specifically processed linoleic acid—to the diet causes vascular plaque to disappear in an animal model within a few weeks! However, the processing of these vegetable oils was not carried out by any industrial food company. No—the processing was performed by bacteria in the cow’s stomach! The resulting product is called CLA, conjugated linoleic acid. There are several types, but the most interesting is rumenic acid, c9,t11-CLA. Another is t10,c12-CLA, but the first one is found in butter at ten to twenty times higher levels than the second. Could it be, then, that full-fat dairy products—especia...

Overweight and obesity are fairly common nowadays, much more common than they were, say, fifty or a hundred years ago. There are many opinions on the causes, but to me it currently appears to be the result of poisoning from food, drink, or the environment—whether the air we breathe or contamination by foreign electromagnetic signals. I assume that the environment and food simply play a role. Let’s review the most important processes that influence fat storage and obesity. First of all, rapid and easy storage into adipose tissue does not cause a problem and quickly removes fats from the blood. To achieve this, it is necessary to maintain metabolically healthy adipose tissue protected by the glutathione antioxidant system. How much fat will be stored is determined by excess—some fat is constantly being burned, and excess is stored. So it is determined by the ratio at which fats and glucose are burned. With any change in the ratio of fats and carbohydrates in the diet, suppression of fat...