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What Determines Fasting Blood Glucose?

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Do not expect me to answer the question in the title with certainty. You probably understand that the body is very complex and nothing is that simple; moreover, each of us is different, and when something works for one person it may not work for someone else. So let’s get back to reality, we will look at two studies and I will try to comment on the observed results in my own way. Take it as you wish—believe it or not, that is up to you. The answer to the basic question “What is good and what is bad?” may not be easy at all. Is easy and rapid fat storage good or bad? Recently it has become increasingly clear that easy and rapid storage of fat in adipose tissue is a sign of good metabolism and does not lead to obesity . Obesity is determined by overeating, the easy availability of overly tasty and overly digestible food, and insufficient satiety signaling. The ability to quickly store these surpluses without damaging metabolism determines the health of adipose tissue; unhealthy adipose t...
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Can MCT Oils Reduce the Omega-6 Content in Membranes?

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You probably already know this. Oxidative stress of any kind triggers the activity of enzymes called phospholipases, especially iPLA2γ, which releases oxidized polyunsaturated fats from the mitochondrial membrane . This is how cells monitor their condition and oxidative stress, and the released oxidized products derived from omega-6 linoleic acid (LA/ARA, e.g., 4-HNE) serve as signals for many processes. For example, they can also trigger chronic inflammation by activating aldose reductase (AR) and the polyol pathway . Elevated glucose levels (HG), when the enzyme ALDH2 functions insufficiently and 4-HNE molecules are attached to it, become problematic and instead of correcting oxidative stress they deepen it further. The missing ALDH2 activity can be restored using H2S (NaHS was used here) or by activating the CSE enzyme (e.g., by restricting methionine and cysteine in the diet ). I have many posts about this here; most of them concern liver cells or pancreatic cells, and therefore a...
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Do You Know That Without Oleic Acid, Fats Cannot Be Stored?

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You probably suspect that fats only begin to be stored once a signal for their storage appears in the body. But what exactly is that signal? Do we know? In an earlier post, I already searched for the answer to this question, and I believe I found it . It involved the formation of triglycerides in the liver and their export throughout the body in the form of VLDL particles. For the formation and export of fats from the liver, oxidative stress is required—specifically hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)—and oleic acid (OA). This time, we will look at fat storage in adipose tissue, in subcutaneous (SWAT) and organ (visceral, EWAT) fat. It might seem that storing fat is easy. That it does not matter which fats are available. After all, it should be enough to raise insulin levels and fat will store itself, right? But it really does not work that easily. Without oleic acid, you will not store any fats! Truly! And moreover, the association with insulin levels also somehow does not work (mice, 3 days on ...
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Obesity and Hydrogen Sulfide

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In this post, I will try to summarize information from previous posts and studies and supplement it with the latest insights on the effect of enzymatic hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production on metabolism. What do we already know? Intestinal permeability A high-fat diet with sugar promotes a composition of gut bacteria that produces a large amount of hydrogen sulfide. There is so much of it that this hydrogen sulfide deprives intestinal epithelial cells of ATP energy, blocks mitochondrial complex IV, and causes leaky gut . A high concentration of H2S damages metabolism. Liver With a high-fat diet containing sugar, the liver is burdened by endotoxins (LPS) from a leaky gut. These activate aldose reductase (AR), increasing the formation of H2O2 (ROS) in the liver. According to the already known scheme, this switches on fatty acid synthesis (DNL) as well as triglyceride (TG) production and activates their export further into the body , either to be burned for heat, to produce chemical energy (...
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Hydrogen Sulfide as a Protector of Blood Vessels?

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Hydrogen sulfide, H2S, a smelly gas known for example from rotten eggs, appears to be a very important regulatory product in the body. If you read this blog regularly, this will not be any surprise to you. It has been quite a while since, while searching for the mechanism of action of sulfur amino acid restriction, I found studies that surprisingly link the restriction of these amino acids with increased production of H2S as a product of the activity of the enzyme cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE/CTH). The main mechanism of hydrogen sulfide is S-sulfhydration of enzymes, that is, a certain change in the “decoration” of these nano-machines, which either further activates or deactivates their function. Today we will look at the effect of hydrogen sulfide on vascular endothelial cells, that is, those that influence cardiovascular diseases generally associated with LDL-C levels, that is, cholesterol. I will not repeat here that cholesterol is a very poor marker of risk for these diseases. Take a...
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Is Hydrogen Sulfide Essential for Thermogenesis? How Is It Related to Omega-6 Fat Burning?

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Do you often feel cold? Are you unable to warm up in a cooler environment? You may have a problem with hydrogen sulfide deficiency and with omega-6 fat metabolism. This condition is usually attributed to insufficient thyroid function, inadequate hormone production. But as studies in mice show us, the problem may also lie elsewhere, possibly even in a deficiency of NADPH molecules. But I am getting ahead of myself. How is thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue regulated in the first place? In one older post I pointed to a study in mice where, when they were placed in a cold environment, there was an increase in the production of succinic acid (succinate), which subsequently activated the formation of hydrogen peroxide, and this then triggered heat production by activating UCP1 proteins in brown adipose tissue. It appears that hydrogen sulfide (H2S), produced enzymatically (that is, via the CSE/CTH enzyme), also plays a role somewhere along this pathway. I found a study showing how therm...
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