Meat offers protection from diabetes and has anti-aging properties

This post features a synopsis on a study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2006 May;1067:369-74 and a recipe for a quick steak.

Study title and authors:
Would carnosine or a carnivorous diet help suppress aging and associated pathologies?
Hipkiss AR.
Centre for Experimental Therapeutics, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts' and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK. alanandjill@lineone.net

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16804013
 
In this review of the effects of carnosine, Hipkiss notes that carnosine (an amino acid) acts as an antioxidant and is found exclusively in animal tissues.
                                                                                                                                           Books:

The review found:
(a) Carnosine suppresses the formation of advanced glycosylation end products, which therefore protects from the complications of diabetes which advanced glycosylation end products promote.
(b) Dietary carnosine has improved the behaviour of autistic children.
(c) Carnosine rich diets may help prevent alzheimers. In old age, blood levels of homocarnosine decrease by more than 10-fold and high levels of advanced glycosylation end products are associated with alzheimers. So a carnosine rich diet offers protection from alzheimers by suppressing the formation of advanced glycosylation end products.

This review found that carnosine can supress the formation of dangerous advanced glycosylation end products and may give protection from diabetes, autism and alzheimers.

The richest sources of dietary carnosine are beef, poultry and pork.

 
Carnosine may be the reason that people who include meat in their diets have lower levels of the dangerous advanced glycosylation end-products compared to vegetarians. 

More information on this subject: Books : Scientific Studies : Websites : Videos : Food Mall

Recipe of the day

Quick Steak
 
serves 3-4
 

Ingredients:                                                                                                  Food Mall: Rib-eye steak

1 1/2-2 lbs ribeye or T-bone steak

1-2 tablespoons cracked pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
 
Instructions:
Sprinkle steaks with pepper and press in.
 
Melt butter and olive oil in a skillet.
 
Saute steaks a few minutes a side until desired doneness.

Ketogenic diet provides effective treatment for many conditions

This post includes a summary of a study published in behavioral pharmacology 2006 September; 17(5-6): 431–439 and a recipe for five spice beef.

Study title and authors:
Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet

Books:

Maciej Gasior,a Michael A. Rogawski,a and Adam L. Hartmanab

aEpilepsy Research Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
bThe John M. Freeman Pediatric Epilepsy Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
 
This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/
 
The study found evidence that a ketogenic diet can provide effective treatment for epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and may also be protective in traumatic brain injury and stroke.

More information on this subject: Books : Scientific Studies : Other Websites : Videos : Food Mall

Recipe of the day

Five Spice Beef

Ingredients:

Food Mall: Sirloin Steak

450g/1lb minute, sirloin or rump steaks, cut into 10cm/5inch strips

15-30ml/1-2tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 x 5cm/2inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
½ bunch spring onions, finely chopped
5ml/1tsp Chinese five-spice powder
225g/8oz spring greens, finely shredded
Freshly milled black pepper

Method:
1.Heat the oil in a large non-stick wok or frying pan and stir-fry the beef strips for 1-2 minutes with the garlic, ginger, spring onion and five-spice powder.

2.Add the spring greens. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Season and reduce the heat.



The many health benefits of a ketogenic diet

This post contains a summary of a paper published in Pediatrics Vol. 119 No. 3 March 2007, pp. 535-543 and a recipe for lamb shanks with horseradish and rosemary.

Study title and authors:
The Ketogenic Diet: One Decade Later
John M. Freeman, MD, Eric H. Kossoff, MD, Adam L. Hartman, MD
John M. Freeman Pediatric Epilepsy Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland

This paper can be accessed at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/119/3/535#R2

Books:

The paper concludes: "The past decade has been an amazing one for those interested in the Ketogenic diet (KD). Its increasing use in children with difficult-to-control seizures has opened new vistas for these children and also for our understanding of epilepsy. Its potential use in adults by using a less restrictive Atkins diet may make a difference to this population as well. The diet’s documented efficacy and tolerability have opened new horizons as it is tried for a variety of ills from brain tumors to migraine, and from head trauma to neurodegenerative diseases. Most exciting is the realization that beliefs concerning a high-fat diet making people fat and dyslipidemic have been proven false. Researchers are rediscovering that ketone bodies are not necessarily bad and that glucose is not necessarily good. A whole new era of metabolic research has opened up. It is not completely clear where it will lead, but its promise is exciting".

More information on this subject: Books : Scientific Studies : Other Websites : Videos : Food Mall 

Recipe of the day

Lamb Shanks with Horseradish and Rosemary

 

Ingredients:

Food Mall: Lamb

2 lamb shanks

15ml/1tbsp oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, sliced

30ml/2tbsp horseradish sauce or fresh horseradish

400g/14oz tomato passata

Salt and freshly milled black pepper

300ml/½pint good, hot lamb stock

2 fresh rosemary stalks

Method:

1.Preheat the oven to Gas mark 3, 150ºC, 325ºF.

2.Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the lamb shanks and fry until golden all over (approx 10 minutes). Add the garlic, onion, carrot, celery, horseradish sauce and stir together. Pour over the passata, stock and bring to boil. Season. Pour into a casserole dish and add the rosemary.

3.Cover and cook for 2 hours.