SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Coconut oil yay or nay? Not the B vs. W question Michels' lecture made it. I am pretty sure you will have read about  or even seen the lecture by Karin Michels , the director of the Institute for Prevention and Tumour Epidemiology  at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany, which probably got so much attention, because Prof. Michels also works as an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health . In her lecture, she claims that there was no single clinical human study that would refute her claim that coconut oil (CO) was, due to its high concentration of saturated fatty acids (SFA), "pure poison" that would unquestionably "clog your arteries and lead to certain cardiovascular death" (translated based on the video ). The effects of coconut oil in a  low-carbohydrate diet are completely unknown: Protein Oxidation an Issue W/ High PRO Diets? CHO ↓ = Perfor-mance ↓ - What about Avg. Joes? More Protein ≠ More Satiety, St...

Fat is an important nutrient for the unborn child. Accordingly, the question is not if pregnant women should consume fat, it's rather how much and at which ratios saturated, monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids should be consumed. A new study does now go even one step further and tries t assess the optimal amount of individual fatty acids like arachidonic acid (ARA), Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). It should be obvious: Out of ethical reasons, the question from the headline can only be answered based on rodent or epidemiological studies. Now, I am not exactly a fan of epidemiology, but  in this important case, I wouldn't like to rely on rodent data, which tends to deviate significantly from human data in long-term trials spanning several developing periods. As you will probably know, a high-intake ratio of n -6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been suggested to contribute to excess fetal adipose tis...

 Image 1: Fatty fish and organ meats aside, whole eggs and full-fat dairy are your best food choices to raise vitamin D levels - I would even venture the guess that they (combined with fish and organ meats) would make supplementation obsolete, even in the Nothern hemisphere (if you "load up" on sun in the summer). Those of you who have been following my daily blogposts, here at the SuppVersity for more than the last couple of days will be aware that I am one of the few outspoken vitamin D (-supplementation) skeptics . I am by no means doubting the scientific data which clearly indicates that low vitamin D levels (low in medical, not in "Internet blogosphere" terms) are associated with all sorts of diseases. I do not question the hypothesis that, from a biomolecular perspective, vitamin D has more of a hormone than of a "vitamin" (=essential nutrient). And I do not challenge the use of vitamin D(3) supplements by people with low or even borderline lo...

Image 1: Could this be made of obes vegan salmon? (img from littlesteps.eu ) If you listened to yesterday's episode of Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio , you may remember that I repeatedly pointed out that "not all milk is created equal" and that milk quality is determined by food quality (if you want to read more about milk in general and colostrum in particular, I suggest you read last week's Ask Dr. Andro , as well). Today I am going to tell you about another of the industry's economic (in the monetary sense) ways of reducing the quality of animal foods in our foodchain - and we are talking about a food with a much better reputation than milk or beef: Salmon, the "heart-healthy cold-water fish" that is literally in on (or rather between) everyone's lips, lately. Note : Salmon is explicitly mentioned in the "sample one-day menu" scientists at Colorado State developed according to the USDA dietary guidelin...