MCT for Health

Why are there so many light sensors in adipose tissue? Until today, I have always considered the influence of light only in terms of its direct effect on the functioning of enzymes in mitochondria . It is time to change that.  A strange question occurred to me, the one you see in the headline. Could modern LED displays on computers and mobile phones, with their limited emission spectrum, be causing not only the epidemic of myopia , but also metabolic problems and obesity? So I started investigating.  First, I asked artificial intelligence whether it happened to know anything about it:  AI quote  “Yes — OPN5 (opsin 5, neuropsin) has a demonstrable connection to the regulation of metabolism and thermogenesis, but so far mainly from experiments in mice. And interestingly, the connection with the thyroid gland was not directly confirmed in the key study.  What is known so far  OPN5 is a light-sensitive receptor. In the brain, specifically in the preoptic area o...

The Introduction from AI Myopia in children and adolescents is increasing significantly both in the world and in the Czech Republic. The trend is described as an "epidemic" and is mainly related to lifestyle (more time spent on close-up screens, less time outdoors in daylight), partly also to genetics and earlier/better diagnostics. According to an extensive meta-analysis (276 studies, over 5 million participants from 50 countries, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology): The prevalence of myopia in children and adolescents (approximately 5–19 years old) has increased from 24% (1990–2000) to approximately 36% (2020–2023). This corresponds to approximately 1 in 3 children/teens. The highest incidence is in East and Southeast Asia (often 50–80%+ in older schoolchildren/teens; e.g. Japan or South Korea have very high values). In Europe and some other regions, it is lower, but it is also increasing. The prevalence is higher in adolescents than in younger children, in g...

Something strange happened this summer...  During the pandemic, I looked at the death statistics published on the EuroMOMO portal. Occasionally even now. I remember them and take a look. I am usually interested in whether those strange humps from the COVID era are still there and whether the epidemic is already over or is still ongoing. You may object that the epidemic ended a long time ago. Well, I think it is not that simple. You only need to take a quick look at the graphs.  Where is the epidemic? Do you really see it there? I don't, at least not much—or it hasn't ended. There is a certain wave there, but it seems that epidemics recur almost every year, practically up to the present day. But they were there before that as well; it is just no longer visible because the older data is not there. Isn't that strange? After all, we are told that the effective mRNA vaccine dealt with the epidemic, as all the mouthpieces controlled by the World Health Organization (WHO) say. But...

Today it will be more of a summary, a more general reflection. In one of my recent posts, I commented on a study that quite clearly showed that if we remove the regulatory processes limiting the rate of fat burning, then the rate of burning is suppressed only after mitochondrial damage, loss of cardiolipin, loss of the necessary phospholipids , simply through oxidative stress . It is not a good idea to switch off regulatory mechanisms and think that things will be better without regulation—they will not. If researchers try to switch mice or rats to a high-fat diet, they almost always damage their mitochondria. We now know that they will probably deprive them of sufficient cardiolipin, a phospholipid necessary for the proper functioning of the enzymes that produce cellular energy in the form of ATP molecules. We also know that this can be prevented by a different composition of fats, for example if the diet contains fish oil , or if it contains MCT oils, or if it contains vinegar/aceta...

Could an excess of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid in the diet and in adipose tissue create the paradoxical situation in which linoleic acid (LA) is lacking in the phospholipids needed to form mitochondrial cardiolipin? That would mean reduced mitochondrial function and increased oxidative stress, which we observe in animal models fed very high-fat diets. We have already encountered a similar situation with omega-3 fats. Take a look. The percentage of omega-3 phospholipids in cell membranes initially increases sharply but then declines as the consumption of more plant-derived omega-3 and omega-6 fats increases. This phenomenon is explained by changes in the activity of the enzymes that elongate and desaturate plant fats into the long-chain fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are found primarily in fish oil. The same enzymes also elongate and desaturate linoleic acid (LA) into arachidonic acid (ARA), whose concentration is maintained relatively stable. Thus, a higher intake of LA mean...

Recently, Georgi Dinkov commented on an interesting study on his blog, which shows that uncontrolled fat burning could damage mitochondria. Let's take a closer look at this study, considering all the facts known so far. Should we be afraid of fats or not? We must first show the position of the study authors. Quote "Unrestrained fatty acid oxidation triggers heart failure in mice via cardiolipin loss and mitochondrial dysfunction" "Collectively, these results indicate that although FAO is essential for cardiac energy production, therapeutic strategies aimed at stimulating cardiac FAO may be detrimental rather than beneficial in heart failure." Unquote So, can promoting fat burning really be harmful? Well, we already know that promoting fat burning without overeating extends the life of mice . Cells need fat burning to improve resilience . So the scientists' statement about the dangers of promoting fat burning is contradictory to these findings,  so something...