Feb 3

5. FEB 3

Assigned Work

• Nix, Stacy. Chapter 2: "Carbohydrates" Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (pp. 13-30).
• Complete Carbohydrate Worksheet by Wednesday night, midnight.
• van Tulleken, Chris. C14 "Additive Anxiety" (208-221; 13)

In-class

• Discussion of SW1 assignment and prompt. Some reminders about good writing.

van Tulleken, Chris. C14 "Additive Anxiety"

• Mention premise of the book. He goes on an ultra-processed diet (as in Fast Food Nation). Mostly science reporting on ultra-processed foods.

• Pret a Manger - PR of brand v reality of additives.

• 2007 UK study in the Lancet - additive enhanced drinks and hyperactivity in kids.

• EU: 2,000 approved additives. US Unknown, but 10,000 officially approved. Read at 210 - list.

• Focuses on emulsifiers - (digress a moment on gastronomy value of natural emulsification)

• An ingredient list can say “lecithin” which is natural emulsifier, but could by a processed version.
• E472e or DATEM (Panodan is DuPont’s brand) - processed from fats (lecithin). Partly why shelf bread stays springy.
• PFOA - another DuPont additive read at 212 - also poisoned drinking water in W VA. Note legal strategy popular now - unload division with liabilities.

• Microbiota section 213ff — You all know more than this!! - Alfino

• viruses, pages, bacteria, protozoans, archaea, fungi, a few worms and mites!
• Nice point about fibre. It’s important because we can’t digest it. But they can.
• SCFAs mentioned here.
• Dysbiosis - disruptions in the MB that lead to harmful organisms taking up residence.

• Evidence on two emulsifiers: carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate 80. Found in pickles, ice cream, aerosolized whipping cream, toothpaste, and hair and skin products. 2015 study in Nature found gut damage in mice. Leaky gut. Helicobacter pylori - a nasty one implicated in cancer and ulcers.

• Maltodexdrins - synthetic sugar molecules in UPF. - read harms at bot 219.

• Xanthan gums - note uses. Still understanding its effects, but it has changed our guts.

Nix, Chapter 2, "Carbohydrates"

• Nature of Carbs

• Carbs are a source of short term energy. All Carbs break down into sugars during metabolism.
• Scale of simple to complex. Simple sugars (monosacharides) don't even require digestion. Starchs are complex and "slow burning".
• Limits to the "energy" metaphor:

• carb levels and types help regulate other processes like insulin response,
• fiber helps with useful bacteria production, appears to reduce colon cancer, helps with bowel function and avoidance of diverticulosis.
• carb types and level signal body to break down protein for energy or not.
• soluble fiber binds bile acids, lowering cholesterol

• Classes of Carbs:

• Mono and di-saccharides are “simple carbs”. Glucose is the form that sugar takes in your blood.
• Polysaccarides are found in starches: grains, rice, corn. Also in plant proteins: legumes.
• Per capita HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) up from .12 tsp daily in 1970 to 11.18 tsp in 2008. p. 15

• Fibers

• Soluble and insoluble - soluble fiber binds bile acids and lowers blood cholesterol.
• Insoluable are roughly what the Sonnenbergs were calling “MACs”.

• Note warning on high fiber low iron-rich diet. Phytic acid in this diet can cause iron deficiency. You can get too much fiber, but most Americans don't.

• Functions of Carbs

• reserve fuel supply is stored as glycogen in muscles [[1]] and blood sugar. Roughly 1-2 hours of aerobic exercise. glycogen also stored in the liver to regulate blood sugar.
• Carbs keep us from going into ketosis, but as we've noted, you can have a diet based on having your body in a state of ketosis (Paleo).

• Digestion

• Primarily in small intestine, through enzymes such as amalyse from the pancreas, and from the "microvilli" of the intestine which contain specific di-saccaridases: sucrase, lactase, and maltase. (digression from p. 26 text box on dairying as textbook case of gene-culture co-evolution.)
• Saliva contains enzymes that break down carbs.
• Glycemic index vs. Glycemic load link for GI vs. GL
• Note how our bodies are designed to chemically and mechanically break down carbs. There is no need to outsource this to an industrial food!

• As we learned from study of the microbiome, you can think of carbs as feeding both you and them (the other 15 trillion organisms you walk around with in your gut). Neither fat nor protein get into the large intestine in significant amounts. We feed our gut bacteria with carbs.

• Recommendations

• Decrease added sugar to less than 10% of calorie intake. Current ly 28 teaspoons of added sugar a day.)

• Increase proportion of complex carbs. (But also, following Kessler and the Sonnenbergs, distinguish complex carbs that are in forms that reach your MB.)

• There’s a good chance you are within the normal range for total carb intake (it's a broad range), but many of you could benefit from shifting the balance toward complex carbs. Think about your "carb profile". Is it tilted toward simple carbs and a high glycemic (index and load) diet? Or are you more invested in complex carbs that travel in rougher textures (with grain structure attached).

• Check to be sure you are approaching <10% of carbs from refined sugar. 3 2 oz packages of Skittles = 750cal / 168 grams of carbs, but not a good approach! Note this is already more than 10% of calories from refined sugar.