Five Articles Worth Reading This Week

Five Articles to Consider This Week

I think the single biggest struggle we face when trying to do something to better ourselves like exercise and clean up our diet is the idea that in doing so, we’re giving something up. When we choose to exercise, we’re giving up time to decompress after a long day of work. When we choose to clean up our diet we’re missing out on that tasty cheeseburger and fries. When we choose to get adequate amounts of sleep, we experience FOMO thinking about all the fun that everyone else is having.

But we never give enough credit to how much we are gaining from those actions. This is in part because we live in a society based on consumption. It is the job of major corporations to make us feel like we’re missing out if we’re not participating because that’s what keeps their pockets fat and happy. But as the articles below make abundantly clear, there is plenty to gain from avoiding what corporate has to offer.

Parkinson’s and Exercise

Add Parkinson’s to the list of diseases that exercise has been shown to improve. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that effects dopamine producing neurons in the brain which impacts both motor and non-motor skills, and mood. Historically treatments for Parkinson’s have focused on dopamine supplementation which only masks the symptoms and is not a sustainable solution long term. Exercise, by contrast, has been shown to not only slow the deterioration of the dopamine neurons but even to reverse it in some cases. The type of exercise required is moderate-high intensity aerobic exercise, like HIIT, performed 3 or more times per week. Weight training may also have benefits, but it has not been studied.

Why it matters: Exercise is the one supplement that has been shown to improve nearly every disease across the board. Adding a degenerative and debilitating disease such as Parkinson’s to the list is further evidence of just how powerful exercise can be. If it can help treat Parkinson’s, what can it do for a healthy brain and body?

Read here: Aerobic exercise for Parkinson’s disease

Read here: Yale study shows HIIT can reverse nerve damage caused by Parkinson’s

9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize

Factory farms, not farming, is contaminating the water we drink, polluting the air we breathe and causing an increased rate of climate change, as well as causing the inhumane treatment of billions of animals each year. Like so many other industries in recent years (i.e. healthcare, retail, housing, banking), large scale factory farms have benefited from consolidation, absorbing there would be competitors into their business, and concentrating too much of where our food comes from into the hands of a few. A few key takeaways:

• ¾ of chickens raised for meat live on farms that house 500,000 or more chickens.

• Egg producers are sometimes housed with millions of other hens in one place, increasing the likelihood of disease and making the transmission of bird flu even more likely.

• 2/3 of dairy cows live on farms with 100,000 or more cows.

• 1/3 of U.S. River miles have been contaminated by farm run off consisting of waste from high concentrations of animal manure.

• 40 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is used for ethanol (it takes 100 acres of corn to produce the same amount of energy as 1 acre of solar).

Why it matters: Relying on a shrinking number of growing farms to supply our food means, in addition to the harm to the planet and animals it causes, our food system is losing it’s resilience. During times of disaster (i.e. COVID) or disease (i.e. bird flu) the potential for our food supply to be disrupted is greatly increased. Small local farmers by contrast offer sustainability across communities.

Read here: 9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize

The Science Behind Ozempic Was Wrong

It turns out that they don’t know how the new class of weight-loss drugs that millions of people are taking actually works. They just know that they do. Initially they thought the drug reduced appetite by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone produced naturally in your gut. It’s now believed that the high concentrations and extended half-life (how long it takes for the hormone to be absorbed by your body) of the manufactured GLP-1 drug allows it to cross the blood brain barrier and penetrate deep into the brain.

Here’ a direct quote from the article that should make you feel better: “The latest drugs succeeded not because we fully understood the hormone, they’re based on but because we got lucky. And drug development, for all the careful research required, does sometimes come down to luck.”

Why it matters: It’s just the latest example of pharmaceutical companies chasing profits over safe treatments. The expected utilization of Ozempic and Wegovy has been enough to make Novo Nordisk, the company that manufactures both drugs, more valuable than the country, Denmark, it’s based out of. It makes you wonder what all those clinical trials are for.

Read here: The Science Behind Ozempic Was Wrong

CEO of Kellogg’s Say Eat Cereal For Dinner

The CEO of Kellogg’s took to TV this past week to tell Americans, particularly those struggling to put food on their tables, that they should eat cereal for dinner. The backlash was quick as many people pointed out that it’s very unlikely that the CEO making close to $5 mln per year is feeding his children cereal for dinner. He of course also missed the fact that cereal (as the next article points out) is not food.

Why it matters: This is the second time I’ve read about the CEO of a major food corporation telling people to eat processed foods. It continues to amaze me how people in positions of power are allowed to lie and omit facts on TV or in print without any real repercussions. The idea that while 44 million Americans face food insecurity, and millions more face nutrition insecurity, the CEO of Kellogg would make a statement such as this one tells you where we are in society.

Read here: Kellogg CEO under fire for suggesting cereal as a money-saving dinner

Read here: Let them eat Flakes: Kellogg’s CEO says poor families should consider ‘cereal for dinner’

Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to 32 Health Problems

An umbrella review of 45 distinct pooled meta-analysis that included 10 million people concluded that consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) increases the risk of death and disease. The studies included the impact of increased exposure to UPFs such as cereal, ready to eat meals, protein bars, and soda. Heart disease, cancer, metabolic disease, respiratory illness, obesity, and diabetes were among the diseases with increased prevalence. Rates of anxiety and depression also increased dramatically. The researchers concluded “It is now time for UN agencies, with member states, to develop and implement a framework convention on ultra-processed foods analogous to the framework on tobacco.”

Why it matters: We’ve been told for too long that ‘calories in and calories’ out is all that matters. This review proves that the type of calorie is key. Ultra-processed foods are stripped of their nutrients and fiber and contain toxic ingredients that are banned in other countries. Up until now this has mostly been ignored by the “experts.” Perhaps now they will take it seriously and work to introduce legislation to make the food we eat be more like food.

Read here: Ultra-processed food linked to 32 harmful effects to health, review finds

Cheers to your practice.

James.