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Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

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Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#71
post #44
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. There is a tremendous more amount of evidence that eating fish helps cardiovascular health. Unlike the “carnivore diet” where they just cherry pick RCTs. And for those who say “you don’t have to eat the animal to get the health benefits”, please tell that to any Inuit or Saami people. They lived on his diet for generations and it’s affected their genome as a result.

Taurine, omega 3, calcium, and vitamin D, the nutrients discussed in the article are all available from sources other than fish. If you take someone who has a diet that's deficient in one or more those and give them sardines, then it's not surprising to see improvements. But it doesn't show that sardines/fish are the only way to get those benefits or that adding sardines/fish to a diet that isn't deficient in those n…

The Inuit and Saami have lived on those diets for so long they became genetically adapted to them. The same is true for many Northern Europeans.

When they do not adhere to these diets they have worse outcomes.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6254/1343

So those diets are better FOR THEM, not for everyone. But the same could hold true for you or me. I know it is true for me because I have Saami heritage and the diet cures my hyperlipidemia.

And Taurine, omega 3, calcium, and vitamin D are not the only thing in the fish. There is a synergy that humans could never find with logic.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#72
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, just adding sardines your diet will probably do nothing for most people. It’s more about the elimination of other things we eat as well. It wasn’t until I was eating only salmon for my fat and protein source that I was able to raise my HDL from 35 to 54!. I credit this to totally eliminating the omega-6 fats. But this is just me because I’m a genetic freak with hyperlipidemia.

Totally eliminating omega-6 from your diet can't be healthy, can it? There are only two essential fatty acids for humans and one of them (linoleic acid) is omega-6.

Well, I exaggerated to make a point. Even salmon has long chain omega 6. I soul have said "eliminating plant based omega 6" and this is just for me and my genetics. People without certain FADS1 genetics can do fine with short chain omega 3 and 6.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#73
> but only the intervention group added 200 grams of sardines to their diet every week (two cans of sardines in olive oil)

So they significantly changed the macro nutrient ratios of the intervention group, along with the addition of sardines. I would like to see an intervention versus a control group with matched macros, to see if the effect is due to more sardines, or to more fat and protein and fewer carbohydrates.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#74
post #53
post #20

I see it now, everyone going to their local mega grocery buying sardines packed in sunflower oil, Totally abolishing any of the positive effects of omega-3.

Why is sunflower oil unhealthy?

I will add here to clarify my stance on food and health.

There is no healthy food, only food that is healthy for you, and that will be determined by your genetics. Wheat is not healthy for celiac and short chain PUFAs and bad for me.

But too much of any food or nutrient can override genetics as well.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're incredibly intelligent, and there's a healthy debate around whether they're actually conscious[1]. I tend to question whether I should be eating something that might reasonably be aware, were it alive, that it's about to die. 1. see e.g. https://qz.com/1045782/an-octopus-is-the-closest-thing-to-an...

I’m pretty certain the mammals we eat are conscious, and that doesn’t seem to bother most of us.

I've had a growing suspicion that even plants have more 'awareness' than we give them credit for. You still gotta eat, though.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#76
post #53
post #20

I see it now, everyone going to their local mega grocery buying sardines packed in sunflower oil, Totally abolishing any of the positive effects of omega-3.

Why is sunflower oil unhealthy?

Most sunflower oil isn't really sunflower oil. It's the leftovers being extracted using hexane.

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#77
post #71
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taurine, omega 3, calcium, and vitamin D, the nutrients discussed in the article are all available from sources other than fish. If you take someone who has a diet that's deficient in one or more those and give them sardines, then it's not surprising to see improvements. But it doesn't show that sardines/fish are the only way to get those benefits or that adding sardines/fish to a diet that isn't deficient in those n…

The Inuit and Saami have lived on those diets for so long they became genetically adapted to them. The same is true for many Northern Europeans. When they do not adhere to these diets they have worse outcomes. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6254/1343 So those diets are better FOR THEM, not for everyone. But the same could hold true for you or me. I know it is true for me because I have Saami heritage and…

> There is a synergy that humans could never find with logic.

Perhaps, but there is no science that demonstrates that.

It sounds like you are looking at this research and coming to stronger and more general conclusions than they claim. Again, most of it seems to be of the form "we took some people who were deficient in [some nutrient that is found in fish], gave them fish, and found that they did better than a control group who weren't given fish". Eg, the paper you link to shows that Greenland Inuits are genetically adapted to higher levels of PUFAs in their diet. It doesn't make any claims that those PUFAs have to come from fish. The paper that that one cites as showing that "fish oil supplementation is associated with increased concentrations of plasma insulin-like growth factor–1" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22337227/) does indeed show that association, but it doesn't show that non-fish oil sources of DHA (eg, algae-sourced DHA) don't also produce the same effect because they didn't test that.

That you've found a diet that cures your hyperlipidemia doesn't mean that that's the only diet that could achieve that or even that it's the best one.

Your previous comment:

> And for those who say “you don’t have to eat the animal to get the health benefits”, please tell that to any Inuit or Saami people. They lived on his diet for generations and it’s affected their genome as a result.

Actually sounds like an argument against a meat/fish heavy diet. If eating it for generations results in genetic changes that produce problems like hyperlipidemia, maybe it's not something that we should recommend or promote.

(An aside, as someone who's also of partial Sámi descent (Northern Sweden, represent!), I do want to point out that the Sámi diet was/is not strictly carnivore; it also traditionally includes a lot of flatbreads, berries, and foraged plants like mountain sorrel and wild celery).

Re: Eating sardines regularly helps prevent type 2 diabetes

#80
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Speaking of Portugal, they do grilled fresh sardines One of my Portuguese guilty pleasures, along with (ethically questionable, I know) octopus salad. Highly recommend trying this if you can get your hands on some fresh sardines. Edit: grilled sardines are also a Japanese thing, so you might have luck finding them at an Asian market if your fishmonger doesn't have them.

Haven't sardines, like most other fish, been overfished, making them ethically questionable too?

Overfishing of sardines happen because most of it is ground up and used as feed in aquaculture (which is very inefficient). Instead, if you consume sardines directly, it will be a more sustainable enterprise.
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