Fatty Liver Reversal

On April 15th, I received an e-mail from a reader who I'll call Sam. Sam told me that he had elevated levels of the liver enzyme ALT (alanine transaminase) in his blood, which indicates liver damage. ALT is an enzyme contained in liver cells that's released into the bloodstream when they rupture. Sam also had fatty liver confirmed by biopsy.

Liver damage with fat accumulation is very common in the United States. According to the NHANES health and nutrition surveys, in the time period 1999-2002, 8.9% of Americans had elevated ALT. Just 10 years earlier (1988-1994), the number was 4.0%. Fatty liver is a growing epidemic that currently affects roughly a quarter of Americans. Sam told me he had been trying to reverse his fatty liver for nearly a decade without success, and asked if I had any thoughts. He was not overweight, and from what I could gather, his diet was already better than most. I believe Sam knew intuitively that the right diet would improve his condition. With the usual caveats that this is not advice and I'm not a doctor, here's what I told him:

The quality of fat you eat has a very large influence on health, and especially on the liver. Excess omega-6 is damaging to the liver. This type of fat is found primarily in refined seed oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and safflower oil... Sugar is also a primary contributor to fatty liver. Reducing your sugar intake will go a long way toward reversing it. Omega-3 fats also help reverse fatty liver if an excess of omega-6 is present. There was a clinical trial using fish oil that was quite effective. You might try taking 1/2 teaspoon of fish oil per day.

On May 11, I received another e-mail from him:

The day after your recommendations, less than a month ago, I started a regimen of 1200 mg/day of fish oil concentrate.

At the same time, I significantly reduced or even eliminated all forms of sugar from my diet. I did have a half glass of orange juice for breakfast every few days or so, and some fruits, and maybe a taste of dessert or a small candy bar here and there. I never exceeded the 30 g/day sugar limit you suggested.

I completely eliminated any and all fried foods and avoided most oils. I also avoided high glycemic index foods to some degree, e.g. white bread and potatoes. I did eat quite a bit more protein, including red meat, eggs, fish, chicken, and pork.

The balance of my diet and lifestyle was largely unchanged. I do drink a couple of beers every two to three weeks, but never more than three drinks in day. I have been doing more yard work, simply because of the season. Other than that, I don't get much more exercise than a typical inactive office worker.

In the same e-mail, he sent me his new ALT test results. He had been getting tested since 2002. The latest result, reflecting his progress since adopting the new diet, followed the previous test by less than a month. Here's a graph of his ALT levels. Below 50 is considered normal: The latest test was 52, just on the cusp of normal. That's nearly 50% lower than his next lowest result over the past 7 years, in less than one month of eating well. I suspect that his next ALT test will be well within the normal range, and the fat in his liver will gradually disappear, if he continues this diet. When I asked him how he was feeling, he said:

I did feel different after adjusting my diet. It's hard to describe, but overall I just felt better. I wasn't as tired when I woke up in the morning and I became a little slimmer, not a lot, maybe 3-5 pounds [note: he was not overweight to begin with]. I figured it was a placebo effect, but I think the fish oil has made a real difference.

Yesterday I had a few potato chips, corn chips, and some others. I didn't like it at all. Today I had half of a brownie for an afternoon snack and I completely crashed after an hour or so. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I no longer have much of a craving for snack food, I prefer to eat a full meal with more protein, e.g. beans, meat etc.

Fatty liver is a serious problem that responds readily to diet. I believe the main culprits are excess omega-6 from industrial vegetable oils; insufficient omega-3 from seafood, leafy greens and pastured animal foods; and excess sugar. The liver is your "metabolic gatekeeper", so it pays to take care of it.

How to Fatten Your Liver
Excess Omega-6 Fat Damages Infants' Livers
Health is Multi-Factorial

My Organic Garden!

A Little Tidbit

I'm gearing up for a new series of posts based on some fascinating reading I've been doing lately. I'm not going to spill the beans, but I will give you a little hint, from a paper written by Dr. Robert S. Corruccini, professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois university. I just came across this quote and it blew me away. It's so full of wisdom I can't even believe I just read it. The term "occlusion" refers to the way the upper and lower teeth come together, as in overbite or underbite.

Similar to heart disease and diabetes which are "diseases of civilization" or "Western diseases" (Trowell and Burkitt, 1981) that have attained high prevalence in urban society because of environmental factors rather than "genetic deterioration," an epidemiological transition (Omran, 1971) in occlusal health accompanies urbanization.

Western society has completely crossed this transition and now exists in a state of industrially buffered environmental homogeneity. The relatively constant environment both raises genetic variance estimates (since environmental variance is lessened) and renders epidemiological surveys largely meaningless because etiological factors are largely uniform. Nevertheless most occlusal epidemiology and heritability surveys are conducted in this population rather than in developing countries currently traversing the epidemiological transition.

In other words, the reason observational studies in affluent nations haven't been able to get to the bottom of dental/orthodontic problems and chronic disease is that everyone in their study population is doing the same thing! There isn't enough variability in the diets and lifestyles of modern populations to be able to determine what's causing the problem. So we study the genetics of problems that are not genetic in origin, and overestimate genetic contributions because we're studying populations whose diet and lifestyle are homogeneous. It's a wild goose chase.

That's why you have to study modernizing populations that are transitioning from good to poor health, which is exactly what Dr. Weston Price and many others have done. Only then can you see the true, non-genetic, nature of the problem.

The Lyon Diet-Heart Study: A Few More Thoughts

Although the degree of atherosclerosis (hardening/narrowing of the arteries) correlates with the risk of heat attack, the correlation isn't perfect. In fact, if you read my previous post on 20th century coronary heart disease trends in the U.K., you know that the frequency of heart attacks rose dramatically during the first half of the century, while the prevalence of severe atherosclerosis stayed the same or even declined.

If you accept the standard idea of how a heart attack occurs, first the coronary arteries become narrowed due to atherosclerosis. Then a clot forms, which lodges itself in a narrowed artery, blocking it and cutting off the blood supply to part of the heart muscle. The clot may be the result of a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque.

If you're unlucky, the loss of blood to your heart causes arrhythmia, or a loss of coordination of the heart muscle. This can cause it to pump blood inefficiently, sometimes resulting in death. Arrhythmias are estimated to account for about half of all heart attack deaths in the U.S. Sometimes they occur without a coronary blockage as well.

Omega-3 fatty acids seem to affect all three parts of the process: the atherosclerosis, the clot formation and the arrhythmia. Supplementing fish oil, even in the absence of reduced omega-6, may slow the progression of atherosclerosis according to a controlled trial.

Where omega-3 really shines is its ability to prevent clots and arrhythmias. In the DART and Lyon trials, the benefits of improving omega-6:3 balance appeared much more quickly than would be possible if it were acting by reversing atherosclerosis. This may have involved the blood-thinning properties of omega-3. The most dramatic effects were on sudden cardiac death, often the result of arrhythmia. Omega-3 fatty acids potently suppress arrhythmias in animal models.

You can have severely narrowed and calcified arteries, but if a clot never shows up, you may never actually have a heart attack. The modern industrial diet is extremely thrombotic (clot-promoting), probably in large part due to the combination of excessive omega-6 and insufficient omega-3. If the artery blockage doesn't cause an arrhythmia, the heart attack may not be fatal.

Omega-3 fats seem to prevent heart attacks on multiple levels.

The Lyon Diet-Heart Study: Background
The Lyon Diet-Heart Study
The Lyon Diet-Heart Study: Implications
Polyunsaturated Fat Intake: What About Humans?

Donations Gratefully Accepted

I've been incurring significant costs buying books and photocopying journal articles for the blog lately, so I've decided to add a donation button to the right sidebar. Anyone is still welcome to read posts and participate in the community, regardless of whether or not they donate. If you feel like you'd like to chip in, I'd appreciate it.

The button takes you to a PayPal webpage, where you can securely donate either with a PayPal account or using a credit card.

A Closer Look at Herbs!

Herbs can be classified in one or more of four basic categories, depending on the compounds they contain and the properties they possess. Unique compounds in herbs have the ability to stimulate or alter body processes. These compounds can influence things like circulation, metabolism, digestion, excretion and fluid regulation.

Four Catagories of Herbs

Aromatics

Aromatic herbs are generally activating. They contain volatile oils that evaporate in the presence of heat. Volatile oils give plants a characteristic odor and taste. Many volatile oils are used in aromatherapy to benefit the body's emotional and physical needs. Upon evaporation, these oils stimulate the central nervous system via taste and smell. This stimulus signals the digestive tract to begin secreting digestive enzymes, hormones and hydrochloric acid. Aromatic herbs can also enhance circulation and help build secretions from mucus membranes.

Aromatics can be subdivided according to their stimulating and relaxing properties. Stimulating aromatics such as capsicum, ginger and horseradish are warming and energizing; they generally stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, which responds to stress stimuli. Relaxing aromatics like peppermint, valerian and chamomile are soothing and calming; they tend to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts the sympathetic nervous system.

Remember*

Essential oils should NOT be taken internally! Essential oils can be inhaled, diffused and used in other external preparations when properly diluted.

Some Aromatics Herbs are:

*ginger *valerain

*garlic *chamomile

*horseradish *yarrow

Category 2 Mucilants coming on next post...

Should Believers go to Doctors?

Physicians are referred to about a dozen times throughout the Bible. The only verse that could be taken out of context to teach that one should not go to physicians would be 2 Chronicles 16:12.

"In the thirtyninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the YHWH, but only from the physicians."

But this particular case involved Asa's whole outlook on life in his later years (that of turning his back on Elohim at an earlier point in his life). His sin? NO trust in YHWH. TOTAL trust in doctors. Lack of balance!!! Are your medical views in, or out of balance, one way or the other?

There are many verses that speak of using "medical treatments" such as applying bandages (Isaiah 1:6), oil (James 5:14), oil and wine (Luke 10:34), leaves (Ezekiel 47:12), wine (1 Timothy 5:23), and salves, particularly the "balm of Gilead" (Jeremiah 8:22). Also Luke, the author of Acts and the Gospel of Luke, is referred to by Paul as "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). If visiting doctors was somehow sinful, Rav Shaul would not have travelled with Luke and had him as a ministry partner!

Mark 5:25-30 relates the story of a woman who had trouble with continual bleeding, a problem that physicians could not heal even though she had been to many of them and had spent all of her money on them. Coming to Yahshua, she thought to herself that if she but touched the hem of His garment/His tzitzit, she would be healed, and she was. Yahshua never rebuked her for visiting doctors all her life! Yahshua, in answering the questioning Pharisees as to why he spent time with sinners said to them, �Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick" (Matthew 9:12). Yahshua clearly recognizes the need and validity of doctors, comparing the physical realm�s need for doctors�, with the spiritual realm�s need for HIMSELF as THE Spiritual Healer of all of mankind! Moreover based on Matthew 9:12 we see that:

1) Physicians are not Elohim and should not be viewed as such. They sometimes can help, but there will be other times when all they will accomplish is the removal of money.

2) Seeking physicians and using "earthly" remedies are not condemned in Scripture, but rather seem to have been used throughout Scripture.

3) Elohim's intervention in any physical difficulty should be sought (James 4:2; 5:13). He does not promise us that He will answer the way we will always want (Isaiah 55:8-9), but we have the assurance that all He does will be done in love and thus in our best interest (Psalm 145:8-9).

So, should Nazarene Yisraelites go to doctors? Elohim created us as intelligent beings and gave us the ability to create medicines and learn how to repair our bodies. There is nothing wrong with applying this knowledge and ability towards physical healing. Doctors can be viewed as Elohim�s gift to us, a means through which Elohim brings healing and recovery. At the same time, our ultimate faith and trust is to be in Yahweh, not doctors or medicine. As with all the difficult decisions we face in life, Elohim promises to give us wisdom when we ask for it (James 1:5), so we know how to pursue all available venues of healing.