In a randomized placebo-controlled trial moderately overweight adults consumed 1900 mgs of green tea catechins per day for 90 days.  The green tea also contained 400 mg of caffeine.  At the end of the study the green tea group lost on average 2.64 pounds and ¾ inch from their waistline while also reducing body mass index.  Not bad considering that no dietary or exercise changes were part of the study. 

A 12-week randomized controlled trial with 60 obese adults was performed in a hospital setting with all 60 participants placed on a 3 meal per day diet.  All their food was prepared for them.  Half the group received green tea.  The green tea group lost significantly more weight over the 12-week period (24 pounds).  The researchers demonstrated that weight loss occurred by green tea increasing energy expenditure and fat oxidation.

Another 12-week randomized controlled trial with green tea and obese adults produced little weight loss (less than 1 pound).  There was no dietary intervention and the dose of green tea catechins was relatively low (458 mg per day).  However, even this modest intake of green tea catechins did produce statistically significant reduction in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides while raising the protective HDL cholesterol and adiponectin (which prevents insulin resistance).  Even though weight was not improved on this dose of green tea it did produce a variety of important metabolic changes that are associated with reduced risk for diabetes and heart disease.

Consumption of 582 mg of green tea catechins per day for 12 weeks in type II diabetic patients, compared to a control group of diabetic patients, enabled a statistically significant reduction in waistline (abdominal fat).  Importantly, green tea catechins were able to promote a restored insulin production by the pancreas.  Catechins caused a significant increase in adiponectin, the important hormone signal coming from fat that improves insulin resistance.  The combination of diabetic medication and green tea produced a statistically significant reduction in hemoglobin A1C.  These results indicate that even modest intake of green tea catechins improves blood sugar control in type II diabetic patients.  When blood sugar control is being improved in conjunction with a trend of weight loss then health is being restored.

Consumption of 576 mg green tea catechins per day for 24 weeks in obese children found that those who were the most obese had a statistically significant reduction in waist circumference, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol.

A study published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a combination of green tea, resveratrol, vitamin E,  vitamin C, Omega-3 fatty acids, and tomato extract given to overweight men for 5 weeks raised their adiponectin level by 7%.  The researchers documented numerous favorable metabolic changes indicating:  modulated of inflammation within white adipose tissue, improved endothelial function of arteries, improved antioxidant function, and increased burning of fat by the liver.

It is well known that being overweight or obese is associated with increased inflammation, both within white adipose tissue and around your body.  One way to help calm inflammation is through the function of specialized regulatory T cells that initiate signals that are anti-inflammatory.  A recent study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that obese humans have fewer of these important regulatory T cells than normal weight people and the T cells they did have were less active in terms of quenching inflammation.  The researchers went on to expose the regulatory T cells of the obese people to ECGC and found that the T cells woke up and started producing anti-inflammatory signals and were then able to cause the reduction in NF-kappaB, the primary inflammatory gene signal.  They were also able to show that ECGC increased anti-inflammatory activation in the regulatory T cells of the normal weight people in their study.

Further insights into the molecular mechanisms of green tea come from a variety of recent animal and cell studies.  Studies with fat cells shows that green tea catechins turn on gene signals that produce adiponectin.  Adequate adiponectin production is required to prevent insulin resistance and type II diabetes.  Green tea has been shown to blunt the effect of insulin on baby fat cells, helping to prevent them from turning into mature fat-storing fat cells.  Another study shows that green tea prevents the accumulation of fat inside fat cells.  While yet another study shows that green tea turns on genes within fat cells that dispose of calories as heat (a helpful way to get rid of excess).  Collectively, green tea induces multiple favorable effects on white adipose tissue which are supportive of weight loss.

Leptin is the primary hormone coming from white adipose tissue that regulates weight gain.  Too much leptin in the blood causes a problem known as leptin resistance, setting into motion all manner of poor metabolic health.  A recent animal study showed that green tea decreased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides while also lowering the levels of leptin in the blood.

Mice that make no leptin (ob/ob) experience unrelenting appetite, obesity, and fat accumulation in all the wrong places such as the liver.  In this extreme model of malfunction green tea was able to prevent fat from accumulating in the liver.  This finding is significant since fat accumulation in the liver of humans is a key marker that metabolic health is in big trouble.

In another transgenic mouse, this one programmed to die quicker; it was found that green tea in combination with exercise extended the mouse’s health and life.  The green tea enabled better use of oxygen by muscles, improved antioxidant function within muscles, and increased the rate of fat burning by muscles.   

A recent study also showed green tea helps build bone.  Green tea catechins significantly boosted the activity of bone building cells known as osteoclasts while reducing the activity of the osteoclasts that take down bone.  A significant reduction of the primary inflammatory gene signal, NF-kappaB, was associated with these positive findings.  Not only is this good news as yet another bone helping nutrient, but new science is showing that positive bone health and proper metabolism are highly linked.

Green tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world.  Dietary supplements that concentrate the active components of green tea offer consumers a novel tool to assist multiple aspects of metabolism.  Combining green tea with appropriate diet and exercise yields the best results, which is true for any dietary supplement.  Green tea is synergistic with many other nutrients and is a worthy candidate for any person seeking to manage their weight.

This past week the national media attempted to cover the breaking news story that obesity was linked to the wrong type of bacteria in your stomach.  The inability of each station’s supposed health expert to properly explain what the study meant is a testament to the poor training physicians have in actually understanding how the human body functions.  As soon as a story isn’t involved with a surgery, diagnostic procedure, or drug to be given they are at a loss. 

The widely reported story was based on animal research performed at Emory University School of Medicine.  Lead author, Matam Vijay-Kumar, PhD, has been studying a mouse engineered to lack an important gene signal that helps to recognize bacteria propelling themselves around, Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5).  This one change causes the mouse to have an excessive appetite (eating 10% more than normal), develop insulin resistance, have high blood pressure, have elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, develop fatty liver disease, and become 20% heavier than normal mice.  In short, the mouse develops the condition known as metabolic syndrome that is an epidemic in America.  The mouse also tends to develop ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

The researchers determined that it is the flora content, or microbiota of the intestinal tract that is the source of the problem.  Because the mouse lacks TLR5 the wrong type of bacteria overgrow in the stomach.  Interestingly, when the researchers transferred the overgrown bacteria to normal mice they also developed metabolic syndrome abnormalities.  This overgrowth of bacteria fueled obesity and it was found that the bacteria actually made the mice have inappropriate food cravings.  If food was restricted the mice did not get fat but insulin resistance persisted, which of course leads to type II diabetes.

While there are over a thousand different kinds of bacteria that naturally live within your digestive tract, there are two main classes:  Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes.  TLR5 mice have abnormal Firmicute populations causing the problem. 

“It has been assumed that the obesity epidemic in the developed world is driven by an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and the abundance of low-cost high-calorie foods,” says senior author Andrew Gewirtz, PhD, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. “However, our results suggest that excess caloric consumption is not only a result of undisciplined eating but that intestinal bacteria contribute to changes in appetite and metabolism.”

Earlier Research on Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes

The famous mouse that makes no leptin, the ob/ob mouse, eats endlessly and becomes extremely obese.  This mouse has a 50% reduction in Bacteroidetes and a proportional increase in Firmicutes.  This means that the condition of obesity itself is causing there to be excess numbers of Firmicutes. 

Through a variety of experiments with genetically altered mice scientists now believe that excessive populations of the wrong type of Firmicutes activate enzymes that promote the storage of fat in fat cells (adipocytes).  This means that what is going on in your gut can have a direct impact on where calories go in your body.

Firmicutes are gram positive bacteria, many of which are friendly and essential to human digestion, such as Lactobacillus.  On the other side of the Firmicute coin are members in the Streptococcus and Clostridium families, responsible for many infections. 

What Does All This Mean to Your Health?

The short answer is plenty.  A bit more explaining is required.

Also this past week Chinese researchers released a report on 3.3 million microbial genes obtained from the fecal samples of 124 individuals from Denmark and Spain. The gene set is 150 times larger than the entire human genome.  Over 99% of the genes are bacterial, indicating between 1,000 and 1,150 prevalent bacterial species.  Each individual has at least 160 species, which are also largely shared.  This is the first catalog of organisms found in the human digestive tract. 

In this preliminary work the researchers identified gene signals associated with obesity and Crohn’s disease.  “Apart from helping you digest, these bacteria may also play a very important role in ... diseases like Crohn’s disease, cancer, obesity,” said lead author Jun Wang, executive director of the Beijing Genomics Institute.

Wang and colleagues in China are working on a similar 120-sample study in Chinese hospitals.  “There are four groups: obese diabetics, obese non-diabetics, lean diabetics and lean non-diabetics. And we found some interesting bugs related to each type of diabetes,” Wang said.

In other words, gene signals arising from populations of gut bacteria have a direct interaction with human metabolism – a dramatic finding.

Another angle to this problem is that bacteria produce endotoxin from the shedding of their cell wall called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS is commonly studied compound as it reliably induces inflammation.  Researchers have found that gut-derived bacterial LPS enters the bloodstream and directly triggers insulin resistance, especially liver-related insulin resistance that is typically accompanies type II diabetes.  Furthermore, a chronic high-fat diet for four weeks raises LPS two-three times normal levels.  It is also documented in obese women that LPS activates inflammation that sets the stage for metabolic disease.

Of great importance is the fact that LPS is another factor that inhibits leptin from entering your brain correctly.  LPS has been shown to cause a rise in blood levels of leptin, meaning that it directly induces leptin resistance.  It also raises blood levels of triglycerides, which are the main known cause of leptin resistance at the blood-brain barrier. 

It has been demonstrated in overweight and obese children that a lack of friendly flora and an excess number of the Firmicute Staphylococcus aureus are common findings. 

Overweight women are known to have imbalanced microbiota with excess numbers of Firmicutes in the Clostridium and Staphylococcus families.  This problem is aggravated during pregnancy when the mother’s immune system is down-regulated so as not to reject the fetus, leading to excessive weight gain during pregnancy.  Furthermore, the mother’s microbiota pattern is typically passed to the child.  Interestingly, women given friendly flora probiotic supplements in the first trimester of pregnancy had less abdominal fat 1 year after pregnancy.

Another study shows that the gram negative bacteria H. pylori and stop it from producing the toxic LPS that interferes with human metabolism.

Collectively, all of these studies show a clear path from the overgrowth of the wrong digestive bacteria to the creation of leptin-resistant and insulin-resistant obesity which eventually leads to higher risk for type II diabetes and heart disease.

While killing Firmicutes with antibiotics does lessen the metabolic problems of TLR5-lacking mice, that remedy in humans would be of no value as it would encourage regrowth of equally bad if not worse Firmicutes, encourage the overgrowth of another anti-metabolic population – Candida albicans, and make the societal problem of antibiotic resistance and new superbugs even worse than it already is.

Rather, it appears that natural remedies are the front line of defense against this problem.  This begins with diets that do not promote imbalanced digestion; i.e., diets too high in fat, refined sugar, alcohol, and junk food.  Encouraging the growth of friendly flora with probiotic supplements (acidophilus) and prebiotic supplements (various types of fiber) is another very workable solution. 

There are also many natural compounds known to kill inappropriate gram positive bacteria in the digestive tract.  Oregano oil, medium chain fatty acids, bovine colostrum, and bovine lactoferrin are but a few examples of nature’s toolbox.  These all have significant advantages over antibiotics as they do not breed germ resistance or disturb the good flora.  While helping to reduce the surplus population of unwanted bacteria they also reduce any surplus population of Candida albicans – unlike antibiotic drugs that encourage Candida albicans overgrowth.

It has always been important to your health to correct any type of digestive problem – actually solving it and not just covering it over with antacids that further induce the spreading of undesirable bacteria in your stomach by reducing your front line of defense (stomach acid).  Now we see that improving your digestive tract can also have a significant impact on your metabolism, weight management, and cardiovascular health. 

A new animal study tested the ability of carvacrol, the active ingredient in oregano oil, to activate HSP via regulatory T cells and stop experimentally produced autoimmune arthritis.  The researchers found that oregano oil had “an unprecedented capacity” to activate HSP via regulatory T cells.  This completely suppressed the experimentally induced joint damage.  The researchers concluded that carvacrol “can boost protective T cell responses to a self-stress protein and down-regulate inflammatory disease.”

This is a new finding for oregano oil in terms of the published literature and hopefully human studies for RA will be conducted in the hear future.  An earlier animal study showed that the carvacrol in Oregano oil was a potent pain killer.  The primary traditional use of oregano oil is as a germ killer, with documented anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic activity.  It has also been used for pain in traditional medicine.

The use of bisphosphonate drugs to prevent osteoporosis is fraud.  At the center of the fraud is the FDA and their friends in Big Pharma.  Following the ABC exposé  the FDA now says it will look into the matter further – isn’t it interesting what a little public exposure will do.  Regardless, the corrupt FDA looking into the problem is like having a fox checking on the status of a henhouse.  In addition to the FDA and Big Pharma, the medical profession itself is a major perpetrator of this fraud.  The information has been available for decades as to the extreme damage these drugs cause healthy bones.  There is no excuse for the ineptitude of the Western medical profession.  This isn’t a small joke.  These are major crimes against women that cause a serious deterioration of health.  Be clear about who is responsible:  FDA management, Big Pharma, and prescribing physicians.

This is not terribly difficult to figure out.  Insulin is structured like growth hormone and neither is working well in a type II diabetic patient in the first place.  Giving even more insulin not only forced sugar into cells causing toxic overload and potential mutation, but excess insulin readily induces growth hormone abnormalities (IGF-1 problems) leading to cancer risk.  So why do doctors do it?

They do it because they are obsessed with changing numbers like fasting blood sugar or hemoglobin A1C.  They think that if they change a number (called a biomarker) that they have improved health.  There is no data to prove that changing numbers with drugs improves health.  Sure you can lower blood sugar with insulin, however, where is the sugar going?  Chances are it is causing serious health problems in its new location or the insulin itself in abnormal levels is directly causing health problems. 

There is a lot of talk on Capital Hill that health care costs can be reduced by paying physicians to actually get people better.  However, physicians don’t know how to get type II diabetics better.  All physicians do is keep managing numbers, thinking they are doing a good job even if the person in front of them is gaining weight (as long as the numbers are reasonable).  They are not blamed for the cancers they obviously cause as simply being overweight is itself a risk factor for excessive-insulin induced cancer.

The failure of doctors to heal difficult metabolic problems is a simple reflection of the woeful inadequacy of the Big-Pharma drug theory that is the essence of Western medicine.

The scientific fact that vitamin D is required for healthy immune system function is not new.  There already exists an overwhelming body of information that vitamin D adequacy is essential for mounting a proper immune defense, preventing autoimmune disease, and preventing many cancers.  The latest study shows that a lack of vitamin D causes the higher-powered T cells of your adaptive immunity to be unable to activate.  The bottom line of the study is that a lack of vitamin D to your T cells is like having a dead battery in your car.  How much more evidence does a corrupt government need? 

Vitamins prevent disease.  It would cause great pain for the unelected, bureaucratic regulatory goons at the FDA and FTC to admit the massive error of their ways.  However, the scientific facts are the facts - vitamins prevent disease.  The FDA and FTC are living in the Stone Age.  Change the laws – the earth is not flat.  Our government’s corrupt cronyism with the dangerous industries they are supposed to be regulating is no longer going to fly.  Americans are beginning to realize a primary source of the true cost of health care – the fraudulent use of drugs to suppress symptoms and hardly ever produce the result of health.

Our government should be making major public health announcements for the value of nutrition to prevent and even treat disease of all kinds, ranging from obesity to heart disease to cancer and many others.  The science is overwhelming that key fundamental nutrients are lacking in the American diet that set the stage for the common diseases plaguing our health system, including vitamin D, DHA omega 3 oil, magnesium, and antioxidants.  Restoring these basic nutrients to a deficient population would drastically improve the quality of health in America.

McCain himself has not yet made any public statements to this effect.  However, a letter from Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) to McCain has been posted on the McCain senate website and indicates the current bill is dead.

What isn’t dead is the non-stop expansion of regulatory policy by the Obama Administration’s FDA and FTC.  These issues don’t have anything to do with new laws; they have to do with the policy interpretation and consequent implementation of existing laws.  Both the FDA and FTC are in a new highly aggressive anti-supplement strategy that is sending shock waves through the industry and spells grave concern for the future of dietary supplements. 

Last week the FDA sent warning letters to 17 food companies and issued an open letter to the industry.  While some of the FDA points are logical, the policy details in their warning letters indicate draconian implementation of regulation directed at an industry so as to limit consumer access to valuable health information and products.  In particular, the warning letter sent to Pom Wonderful, while containing a number of valid regulatory points under current law, also contains policy interpretation that is targeted to prevent any company from explaining news and science relating to the ingredients in products they sell.  This is a ludicrous interpretation of law and represents extreme suppression of the 1st Amendment.  However, Pom Wonderful is in such a weak legal position to counter valid FDA points that it is unlikely they will protest this expansion of FDA abuse.  What will the FDA do next??

Similarly, in February the FTC attacked a number of dietary supplement companies for making structure/function claims relating to the clear benefits of DHA for vision and intelligence in children.  The FTC says such claims are fraudulent even though they are backed by an overwhelming body of science and are not making any disease claims – they are simply promoting health benefits that can be made under current FDA law.  It is unclear at this time if any of the companies receiving the warning letters are going to fight the FTC in court, as doing so costs at least $500,000.  However, agreeing with the FTC in a decree enables the FTC to set a new policy precedent that stifles free speech and is itself an extreme disservice to the health of Americans.

There are several points consumers should understand.  Actions of the Obama Administration’s regulatory agencies affecting natural health options are more repressive than at any point in the last decade – this is squarely on the shoulders of the cigarette-smoking Obama.  The backwards-leaning regulation of the dietary supplement industry by the Obama Administration is clearly at odds with science, which has now proven conclusively that nutrition is a primary reason for the prevention and treatment of disease.  The fact that existing laws are at odds with an overwhelming body of science is showing that regulators are little more than stooges and puppets of the pharmaceutical industry (the real source of skyrocketing health care costs in America).  The fact that our government is pushing authoritarian regulation under the false pretense of protecting consumers is a travesty against a free people.  Health freedom is a leading indicator of the overall freedom in any society, as can be demonstrated by numerous historical examples.  Control a population’s health and you control their free will.  Leaders who truly value a free society will do everything in their power to promote health freedom – as they do not fear a population of independent thinkers. 

The McCain bill or any compromise on it with Orin Hatch still needs to be watched closely.  The Obama Administration’s regulators need to get a life.  Health freedom in the United States continues to teeter on the edge of a cliff, as do a number of other basic freedoms we take for granted. 

The use of insulin to help regulate diabetes has a tendency to provoke an undesirable immune response leading to the production of anti-insulin antibodies.  This causes deterioration of the usefulness of insulin to function correctly in metabolism.  Corosolic acid mimics the function of insulin but it does not cause the production of these problematic auto-antibodies.  While human studies still need to be done, animal studies and traditional use support a powerful use of this nutrient in the regulation of blood sugar.

Other research on corosolic acid shows that it may also help bones.  In an animal study it was found to help stimulate the formation of osteoblasts, the important bone-building carpenter cells.  It is becoming more evident with each passing day that bone health and blood sugar metabolism are highly inter-dependent. 

Yet another study shows that corosolic acid can reduce inflammation in heart cells, preventing hypertrophy, a common problem in diabetes.  It did so by reducing the powerful inflammatory gene signal, NF-kappaB. 
Collectively, these studies show multiple benefits for key issues affecting millions of Americans.