Physicians for Ancestral Health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qRCA08oblQ
Ivor Cummins, also known as “The Fat Emperor,” is a chemical engineer from Dublin, Ireland. His mission is to bring engineering problem-solving rigor and the scientific method to some of the more interesting issues in the world today, starting with Diabetes and Obesity Epidemic. See his website http://www.thefatemperor.com/ for blog posts, videos and podcasts.
In this presentation at the Physicians for Ancestral Health gathering, held January 2017 in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, Ivor gives a very detailed, yet accessible explanation of how he believes insulin resistance is triggered and worsened in humans.
What I learned:
- Using Dr. Joseph R. Kraft’s glucose/insulin test profiles, one could conclude that actually, 97% of modern adults will become diabetic in their lifetimes. (Dr. Kraft passed away recently at age 95.)
- According to Dr. Kraft, all those with cardiovascular disease are diabetic, but some just have not been diagnosed (!!)
- Ivor now feels that the first domino to fall in the development of insulin resistance is when fat cells (adipose tissue) become insulin resistant due to the defects in GLUT4 transport only in fat cells, caused by too much insulin in the blood, diet, genetic tendencies and many other factors.
- As a result of this GLUT4 transport problem, the PI3-Kinase(Phosphoinositide 3-kinase) pathway pathway is suppressed.
- Just because someone has a normal result on a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) doesn’t mean they aren’t metabolically disordered – if they have very strong insulin response to counter the blood sugar spike, their glucose responses will seem normal, but their insulin will be quite high, and the insulin level is not measured.
- Ivor feels that disturbance in insulin signaling is the root of all modern chronic diseases: diabetes and obesity of course, but also cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s Disease. See tree figure above.
- Researchers’ description of “high-fat diet” as fed to laboratory mice is 45% poor-quality fat (lard and soybean oil), and 35% poor quality carbohydrate – this so-called “high-fat diet” would in no way resemble a well-formulated ketogenic diet as defined by Phinney or Volek (typically 80% high quality fat, 15% protein, 5% carbohydrate by calorie count). Obesity is stimulated in these mice trials by overfeeding this mouse chow.