For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering a bunch of questions from comment sections. First, did I get AMPK and mTOR mixed up in a recent post? Yes. Second, I give a warning for those who wish to add ginger to their broth. Third, is it a problem that we can’t accurately measure autophagy? Fourth, how does coffee with coconut oil affect a fast? Fifth, is there a way to make mayonnaise with extra B12 and metformin? Actually, kinda. Sixth, should you feel awkward about proposing hypotheses or presenting scientific evidence to your doctor? No.
Let’s go:
Great article, but a couple of amends are required with regards to mTOR. Firstly, you mention in the last paragraph that curcumin activates autophagy by activating mTOR. Reading the actual article abstract though, it states the opposite, ie the effect of curcumin “downregulating AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in human melanoma cells”.
Great catch. I’m not sure how I flipped that around. AMPK triggers autophagy, mTOR inhibits it.
What you say about curcumin goes for all the other broth ingredients I mentioned. Ginger, green tea, and curcumin all contain phytonutrients which trigger AMPK, which should induce autophagy, or at least get out of its way. What remains to be seen is whether the amino acids in broth are sufficient to inhibit fasting-and-phytonutrient-induced autophagy. I lean toward “yes,” but is it an on-off switch, or is autophagy a spectrum? Does inhibition imply complete nullification? I doubt it.
Regarding autophagy and health and longevity, it’s important to note the manner in which glycine, the primary amino acid found in broth and gelatin, opposes the effects of methionine, the primary amino acid found in muscle meat and a great stimulator of mTOR.
One notable study found that while restricting dietary methionine increased the lifespan of lab rodents, if you added dietary glycine, you could keep methionine in the diet and maintain the longevity benefits. That doesn’t necessarily speak to the effect of broth on autophagy during a fast, but it’s a good reminder that broth is a general good guy in the fight for healthy longevity.
Funny you mentioned ginger and turmeric as I add both, along with a whole lemon and/or lime, to my list of ingredients when cooking my broth. Here’s another great tip: I juice turmeric root, ginger & lemon together in my Omega juicer and freeze in ice cube trays. I add a cube to curries and other dishes.
That’s a great idea. One cautionary note about the raw ginger: it will destroy your gelatin.
Raw ginger has a powerful protease, an enzyme that breaks down protein. If you grate a bunch of ginger into a batch of finished broth, or juice a few inches and dump it in, there’s a good chance you’ll lose the gel. The amino acids will remain, but you’ll miss out on the texture, the mouthfeel, the culinary benefits of a good strong gelatinous bone broth.
Heating the ginger with the broth as it cooks, or even just reducing the amount of raw ginger you add, should reduce the protease activity.
References:
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Touché.
Although it will all shake out in the end, or towards it. If things seem to be “going good” for you as you get older, if your doctor is always pleasantly surprised at your test results, if you maintain your vim and vigor as your peers degenerate, maybe it worked. Maybe it’ll add a few months or years to your life, and you’ll never quite know because you don’t have an alternate life in which you didn’t add the turmeric, green tea, and ginger to your broth for comparison.
At any rate, the mix tastes really, really good. That’s reason enough to drink the stuff.
You’ll burn less body fat (because you’re eating 14 grams of it).
Autophagy will be maintained (because fat has little to no effect on autophagy).
You may have better adherence. The fast might “feel” easier, although you might not be “fasting as hard.”
I often have cream in my coffee during a “fast,” and I see no ill effects. Although as I alluded to in the previous answer, these things are hard to definitively measure. Much of it is a mix of speculation, hope, intuition, and faith that our health practices are helping us and improving our outcomes.
Read my post on coffee during a fast for more information.
You know what? Let’s try to make this happen.
Start with your favorite mayo recipe. Then, swap out the chicken egg yolks for two duck egg yolks. Each duck egg contains almost 4 micrograms of B12—more than the daily requirement. For comparison’s sake, the average chicken egg has about 0.5 micrograms.
At the end, add in a few drops of barberry extract—barberry is a good natural source of berberine, an alkaloid whose effects are similar to metformin’s. I don’t know if the extract will affect the emulsion of the mayo, but it shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance. Barberry is said to be bitter, so perhaps add a few pinches of a natural sweetener like stevia or monk fruit to counteract it.
Wack a doos make the world go round. Some of the greatest thinkers, creators, and doers throughout human history were considered by many to be insane.
And hey, this is your mother. There’s no shame in helping your kin.
A wack a doo would ask her doc about the potential for crystals to heal her tumor. A wack a doo would bring a printout of a random Reddit post to the appointment and use it as proof of her hypothesis. A wack a doo would ask the staff dietitian for a Breatharianism protocol. Bringing a legitimate medical article discussing a specific mutation that has been shown to induce B12 deficiencies in people taking the very same medication your mother is taking along with genetic results showing she has the mutation is far from crazy. Do it.
Besides, you’re totally right. A vitamin B12 deficiency (and the resultant elevated homocysteine levels) is a known risk factor for blood clots.
That’s it for today, folks. Take care and be sure to leave your comments and questions down below. Thanks for reading!