Live data from Hacker News

Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

harvardmagazine.com

151–160 of 240 posts

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#151
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except major performance decrease. Some people cannot afford that.

Anecdotally I found my performance to - both in the gym and in the office - increase not decrease. From athletes and academics I follow on social media, they also say the same. I've read a few hypothesis as to why this may happen. In an evolutionary sense, when in a fasting state we would require more energy to go out and hunt/gather food to take us back out of that state. IIRC, metabolism increases while fasting. It…

How long are your fasts?

I experimented at the start of the year and didn't experience any drop in performance - office or gym - with water fasts less than 24 hours.

Fasting between 24-72 hours, though, really affected my sleep and made me feel weaker during workouts (though it didn't really affect me mentally). Curious to see if others experienced the same.

Can't comment on longer fasts as I didn't exceed 72 hours (though I did read many reports of it actually getting easier after that point in time).

Currently doing IF (very rough 20/4) which is working pretty well.

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#152
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bottom line: pharma sells pills to make money; they don't make money off of healthy people who don't take their pills. So long as we link the health industry to making profit, we are prioritizing profits over health.

Profits are what drives innovation in pharmaceuticals.

Yes but it also skews the incentives. The cure for diabetes has little meaning to pharmas. They want to keep people alive but paying for rest of their lives. That's how money shape commercial research

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#153
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd predict the pharmaceutical pill will be damaging! Our body is very smart and heals most things by itself, given the right nutrition.

The first few generations probably will be. But it'll be solved.

As much as I distrust the foundation of the comment that you are responding to, this statement is factually incorrect. All you need to do to understand why this is the case is look at current medication. It's all pretty bad, and the only reason you'd take it is because the alternative is even worse.

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#154
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go for keto + IF. It helped a lot of people.

I did. In fact that was a great start, but once you reach a certain point (in having metabolic syndrome), the Keto+IF reaches diminishing returns. It did bring me down 18 inches on the waist. The gut and hypertension will remain. In fact, my hypertension actually went up. To go further requires either Metformin or Berberine. I opted for Berberine, but time will tell.

I also found that for some reason, MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), caused me to lose several pounds of fat.

I don't exactly know why, but some suggest it reduces inflammation, or improves blood sugar regulation.

From wikipedia:

Multiple human and animal trials indicate MSM may reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#155
post #22

I find these sorts of arguments to be... odd. “Inflammation” includes so many normal homeostatic processes that it’s essentially a tautology to point to inflammation as being a critical component of disordered homeostasis. The biggest key as to whether a molecule is considered inflammatory is what type of biologist discovered it first.

[deleted]

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#156
post #28

As with any news article that includes "may" - reader should remember to add: "... but probably isn't".

I'm a bit concerned that the comments here are so credulous. "Inflammation" has been part of the woo-woo arsenal of certain corners of the health and wellness community for at least a couple of decades, and which I wouldn't be surprised if it supplies a not-insignificant number of the anti-vax adherents. It's that specious.

Perhaps, but Inflammation is detected via several blood tests e.g. CRP which presumably can't be imaginary and signify some real physical processes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15823493/

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#157

How can a symptom be the "cause" of a disease? Gingivitis is "inflammation of the gums", but it's "caused" by bacteria, plaque, tarter, etc... inflammation is the description of what is happening (ie, symptom) not the "cause".

The gum disease thing is actually one of the best bits of evidence for the inflammation does bad stuff hypothesis:

>People with gum disease (also known as periodontal disease) have two to three times the risk of having a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular event. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/gum-disease-and-...

The idea is bacteria in the gums cause inflammation (red swollen flesh, more white cells, metabolic changes) causes clogged arteries causes heart attacks.

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#158
I'm quite sure eventually this will all align with the research into sugar which basically says that sugar is poison. Especially in the quantities that the modern people eat these days.

Dr Lustig has done the sugar research. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I found my performance to - both in the gym and in the office - increase not decrease. From athletes and academics I follow on social media, they also say the same. I've read a few hypothesis as to why this may happen. In an evolutionary sense, when in a fasting state we would require more energy to go out and hunt/gather food to take us back out of that state. IIRC, metabolism increases while fasting. It…

How long are your fasts? I experimented at the start of the year and didn't experience any drop in performance - office or gym - with water fasts less than 24 hours. Fasting between 24-72 hours, though, really affected my sleep and made me feel weaker during workouts (though it didn't really affect me mentally). Curious to see if others experienced the same. Can't comment on longer fasts as I didn't exceed 72 hours (…

Honestly it varies massively - I play it by ear, as it's normally interrupted by going out to dinner with friends or dates.

I fast once every 10 days minimum (arbitrary number, but it keeps me disciplined). If I've had a few weeks of excess (lots of drinking and greasy takeaways) I might do 3-4 days. At least 2-3 times a year I like to do a 6-8 day fast. I've done this for the past 4 years and I've felt remarkably better for it, with the most noticeable thing being reduction in scar tissue (from surgery) and inflammation symptoms.

In terms of how it makes me feel while fasting, it depends on the day. A one day fasts tends to make me just feel hungry around meal times, assumedly because I'm still largely running on the glycogen in my muscles. I used to find day 2 pretty rough, as I'm guessing that's how long it would take for the process of ketosis to start in me. As your body adapts to frequent fasting though it becomes plain sailing though. I'll often arrange my fast to coincide with a large stint of work, as I feel my mental clarity is much higher - akin to taking Modafinil if you've ever tried it. Hunger isn't an issue for me at all once I'm in a state of ketosis.

I highly recommend doing an extended fast at some point. If anything it allows you to become much more satiated by smaller portions, and it eliminated any sugar cravings I used to have.

Re: Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a truism, right? Currently in the US we have private pharmaceutical companies driven by a profit motive, so profits are what drives their innovation. Setup a different system, and other motivations will drive their innovation, right? Unless your claim is that innovation can only EVER be driven by profit?

I thing the argument is more along the lines of: 1. Observed value drives innovation. 2. Profit / profit-motive is one of the most straightforward / most efficient means we have to observe value.

You’re probably right and my counter argument would be:

1. Human [curiosity, desire, necessity] drives innovation.

2. Profit mandate suppresses most of those innovations by promoting the few money making ideas (however beneficial or harmful they may be).

Post reply on HN