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Posted by: | Posted on: March 29, 2026

Rethinking Cancer Through Cellular Energy and Metabolism


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2026/03/29/cancer-cellular-energy-metabolism.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     March 29, 2026

Story at-a-glance

  • In an interview on the Rooted in Resilience Podcast, bioenergetic researcher Georgi Dinkov argues that cancer is not a random genetic accident but a systemic metabolic breakdown that reflects low cellular energy
  • Experimental animal models discussed in the interview showed that supporting metabolism with compounds like aspirin, B vitamins, and DHT halted tumor growth and, in some cases, led to tumor disappearance
  • The common belief that sugar feeds cancer is challenged, with evidence suggesting that impaired fuel processing and excessive fat oxidation — not sugar alone — drive lactate production and tumor growth
  • Chronic stress signals such as elevated cortisol and serotonin suppress mitochondrial activity, reducing your cells’ ability to produce energy and repair damage effectively
  • Strengthening your metabolic foundation through balanced nutrition, eliminating seed oils, lowering stress, and rebuilding daily energy resilience shifts you from a passive patient to an active participant in protecting your cellular health

The standard story of cancer goes like this: a random genetic mutation turns one of your cells rogue, and your only options are to cut it out, poison it, or burn it away. But what if the story is wrong — not at the margins, but at its foundation?

Cancer shows up as unexplained weight loss, deep fatigue, persistent pain, lumps under the skin or abnormal bleeding. Once it spreads, it disrupts vital organs and becomes life-threatening. The conventional model tells you all of this traces back to damaged DNA — a molecular accident you couldn’t predict and can’t control. That framing leaves you with only three responses: surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation.

Bioenergetic researcher Georgi Dinkov, in an interview with Ashley Armstrong, co-founder of Angel Acres Egg Co., challenges that foundation directly. As he put it, “The tumor is not an alien trying to kill you … cancer should never be looked at as a localized disease. It’s a systemic disease.”1 That claim shifts the entire frame.

Instead of a rogue gene, he points to metabolic suppression — meaning your cells lose the ability to produce energy efficiently. When enough cells fall into that low-energy state, they send distress signals that overwhelm your body’s repair systems.

From that lens, the Warburg effect — the well-documented shift where cancer cells rely heavily on glycolysis and produce excess lactic acid — stops looking like a genetic accident. It becomes a symptom of broken energy production. In a healthy cell, mitochondria burn fuel efficiently and produce carbon dioxide as a byproduct — a sign that the energy cycle is running cleanly.

Stressed cells generate less energy and more lactic acid, creating an internal environment that favors chaos instead of order. If cancer reflects a collapse in cellular energy rather than a mysterious mutation lottery, then restoring metabolism becomes central.

Cancer Shifts When Energy Returns

During the interview, which aired on the Rooted in Resilience Podcast, Dinkov lays out a direct challenge to mainstream oncology.2 He argues that cancer develops when a large enough group of cells becomes “metabolically deranged” — meaning their internal energy machinery has broken down — and the rest of the body lacks the energy reserves to correct it.

Instead of focusing on mutated DNA as the root cause, the discussion centers on energy production inside the cell — specifically how well your mitochondria, the cell’s power plants, are functioning. This shifts the focus from fear of random mutations to something measurable and influenceable: your metabolic health.

• Cancer is described as systemic, meaning the whole body is involved — That means a tumor in one area signals a broader breakdown in cellular energy throughout the body. If your overall metabolic rate is suppressed — from chronic stress, poor diet, toxins, radiation or ongoing inflammation — your body loses the ability to keep abnormal cells in check. This gives you a new lens: instead of asking only how to remove a tumor, you ask how to strengthen the entire terrain in which that tumor formed.

• Experimental models showed tumors stopping or disappearing when metabolism was supported — Dinkov describes animal experiments involving aggressive cancers such as mantle cell lymphoma and prostate cancer. He reports that certain groups receiving combinations of B vitamins and aspirin showed tumor growth flattening, and in some cases tumors disappeared.

In prostate cancer models, he explains that dihydrotestosterone (DHT) — the very hormone mainstream medicine often blames — halted tumor growth, and in combination with an aromatase inhibitor led to tumor disappearance in most of the animals studied. That suggests that restoring energy and hormonal balance can change the trajectory of disease in controlled settings.

• Different compounds were compared to see which produced stronger effects — According to the interview, aspirin alone slowed tumor progression, but a metabolite called 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid achieved similar outcomes at lower doses. He also compared DHT alone, an aromatase inhibitor alone, and the two combined, noting that the combination produced the strongest regression in his model.

The takeaway: not all metabolic interventions carry equal weight. Some multiply the effects of others — which is why a stacking approach often outperforms any single change. If you’re serious about optimizing health, stacking supportive factors often yields stronger results than relying on a single change.

• The discussion challenges the idea that sugar feeds cancer — Dinkov directly disputes the claim that glucose is the main driver of tumor growth. He explains that excessive fat oxidation — meaning your body burns stored fat under stress — blocks proper glucose processing inside your mitochondria.

When glucose can’t enter the energy cycle efficiently, it gets diverted into lactate production, which supports rapid cell division. In simple terms: it’s not the presence of sugar alone, but the inability to burn it properly that creates trouble. That reframes diet decisions in a way that directly affects you. Instead of extreme carbohydrate restriction, the focus shifts toward restoring balanced fuel use.

Cellular Metabolism, Stress Signals, and the Foundations of Healing

A key concept discussed is “quorum sensing,” meaning cells communicate and respond to their neighbors. Your cells don’t operate in isolation — they constantly broadcast chemical signals to their neighbors, much like a crowd that shifts its mood depending on who’s shouting loudest. When enough cells signal distress, the collective tone shifts from repair to survival.

Healthy cells normally share resources, even transferring mitochondria to struggling neighbors, but that support fails if the overall system is weak. Your daily stress load, sleep, nutrient intake, and toxin exposure determine whether your cells cooperate toward healing or drift toward dysfunction.

• Carbon dioxide is a marker of healthy energy production — Dinkov explains that healthy oxidative metabolism produces carbon dioxide, while stressed metabolism produces excess lactate. While most people think of carbon dioxide as just an exhaust gas, it actually plays an active role inside your cells, helping maintain the pH balance mitochondria need to function.

Lactate, by contrast, shifts the internal balance toward a state that favors abnormal growth. This means that habits increasing efficient energy production — such as reducing stress hormones and supporting thyroid and androgen balance — strengthen your internal environment.

• Stress hormones are identified as metabolic brakes — Cortisol and serotonin are major suppressors of mitochondrial activity. When these rise chronically, mitochondrial biogenesis — the creation of new mitochondria — slows.

Lower energy output means slower repair, weaker immune oversight and higher vulnerability. In contrast, testosterone and vitamin D are signals that increase mitochondrial number and function. This reinforces the idea that hormone balance isn’t cosmetic; it determines whether your cells produce abundant energy or struggle.

• Fat metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism compete inside the cell — Dinkov explains that when fat oxidation dominates, glucose entry into the energy cycle is blocked. Think of it like a gate between glycolysis and your mitochondria.

An enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase controls that gate — it decides whether glucose gets escorted into the mitochondria for full energy extraction. When fat breakdown products pile up, they jam this gate shut. Glucose gets stranded outside, and instead of producing clean energy, it ferments into lactate.

• Hope replaces fatalism when metabolism becomes the target — The interview closes with a direct statement: “Cancer is a metabolic disease.” That statement changes your role from passive patient to active participant. Energy production responds to diet, light exposure, micronutrients, stress control and hormone balance. When you strengthen those pillars, you strengthen the system that keeps abnormal cells under control.

Practical Steps to Rebuild Your Metabolic Foundation

If cancer reflects a breakdown in cellular energy, then your strategy needs to start there. When your cells produce strong, steady energy, they regulate growth, repair damage and remove what no longer belongs. Your focus shifts from attacking a tumor to strengthening the terrain that allowed it to form. Here’s how you address the root cause — low metabolic function — in practical, daily steps.

1. Increase your cellular energy production every day — Your mitochondria run on carbohydrates and oxygen. Most adults need 250 grams of targeted carbohydrates daily, and more if you’re active. If you’re under chronic stress or have been restricting carbs for years, your metabolism has likely slowed. Begin by adding whole fruit and white rice before moving to starchy vegetables or whole grains.

Pair carbohydrates with adequate protein — about 0.8 grams per pound of lean body mass (or 1.76 grams per kilogram) — and make one-third from collagen-rich sources like bone broth, slow-cooked meats with connective tissue, or a quality collagen supplement. This supports repair without overloading your system.

2. Eliminate excess linoleic acid (LA) from seed oils — Excess polyunsaturated fats, including LA, block proper glucose oxidation and push your body toward stress metabolism. That drives lactate production and lowers efficient energy output. Remove all seed and vegetable oils. That means no soybean, corn, canola, sunflower or safflower oil. Avoid nuts and seeds.

If you eat out often, assume seed oils are in the kitchen — because they almost certainly are. Limit restaurant meals while you’re reducing your LA burden. Replace seed oils with stable fats such as grass fed butter, ghee or tallow. The goal is simple: remove the metabolic brake so your cells burn fuel cleanly.

3. Lower chronic stress signals that suppress metabolism — Cortisol and serotonin slow mitochondrial activity. If you’re running on caffeine, skipping meals or sleeping five hours a night, your body is in survival mode. Eat consistently. Get morning sunlight to regulate your circadian rhythm. Avoid blue light at night. Walk daily, ideally in sunlight.

If you’re indoors most of the day, understand that electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure adds another layer of metabolic stress. Reduce unnecessary wireless exposure where possible. Every stressor you remove frees up energy for repair.

4. Reduce chronic stress that suppresses your metabolism — The interview clearly links metabolic decline to chronic stressors such as poor diet, toxins and radiation. If you’re running on constant psychological stress, overtraining, undereating or sleeping poorly, your metabolic rate drops. Prioritize deep sleep, and if you’re under heavy emotional stress, confront it directly instead of pushing through it. Your body can’t maintain strong energy production in survival mode.

5. Rebuild your metabolic resilience through movement and light — Your body was designed to move and to absorb sunlight. Morning sun exposure stimulates nitric oxide and mitochondrial melatonin production. That strengthens cellular defense systems. Avoid harsh midday sun until you have been off seed oils for at least six months, as high LA levels increase sun sensitivity. Work your way up to a one-hour walk daily.

Add strength training gradually to build muscle, which acts as a metabolic engine. If you’re recovering from illness, start small — five-minute walks still count. Progress builds momentum. If you treat cancer as a metabolic problem, your daily choices become powerful. You’re not helpless. You’re rebuilding energy, one decision at a time.

FAQs About Cancer and Cellular Metabolism

Q: Is cancer really a genetic disease, or is it a metabolic problem?

A: According to Dinkov in the featured interview, cancer should be viewed as a systemic metabolic disease rather than just a genetic mutation problem. That means tumors develop when cells lose the ability to produce energy efficiently. Instead of seeing cancer as a random DNA accident, this perspective focuses on how well your cells generate and manage energy.

Q: What is the Warburg effect in simple terms?

A: The Warburg effect describes how cancer cells rely heavily on glycolysis — a fast but inefficient way of producing energy — even when oxygen is available. This process creates excess lactate. In contrast, healthy cells use their mitochondria to produce energy and generate carbon dioxide. In short, cancer cells shift toward low-efficiency energy production.

Q: Does sugar feed cancer?

A: The interview challenges the common claim that sugar alone drives cancer growth. Dinkov explains that excessive fat oxidation — meaning burning too much fat under stress — interferes with proper glucose processing. When glucose can’t be used efficiently, it gets converted into lactate, which supports tumor growth. The issue isn’t simply sugar intake but impaired fuel metabolism.

Q: How do stress hormones affect cancer risk?

A: Chronic stress hormones such as cortisol and serotonin suppress mitochondrial activity. When these remain elevated, energy production drops. Lower energy output weakens your body’s ability to regulate abnormal cells. Supporting metabolic health requires lowering chronic stress and stabilizing daily energy balance.

Q: What practical steps support healthy cellular metabolism?

A: Foundational strategies include increasing balanced carbohydrate intake to stabilize energy production, eliminating seed oils high in LA, reducing chronic stress, improving sleep and circadian rhythm, and rebuilding metabolic resilience through daily movement and sunlight exposure. These habits strengthen the internal environment that regulates cellular growth.

Posted in Cancer, Carbohydrates, Fat, Metabolism | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: March 18, 2026

The Surprising Role of Cortisol in Alzheimer’s


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2026/03/18/role-of-cortisol-in-alzheimers.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     March 18, 2026

role of cortisol in alzheimers

Story at-a-glance

  • New research shows that people with Alzheimer’s have higher cortisol levels and a skewed cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio, revealing that chronic stress drives early brain degeneration long before memory loss appears
  • Cortisol, your body’s main stress hormone, damages neurons and disrupts energy metabolism when it stays elevated, while DHEA-S acts as a protective neurosteroid that helps your brain resist inflammation and oxidative stress
  • Bioenergetic researcher Georgi Dinkov connected these findings to thyroid and metabolic health, showing that when your cells don’t produce enough energy, cortisol rises and accelerates cognitive decline
  • Tracking your cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio offers a powerful early warning sign for chronic stress and neurodegeneration, allowing you to take preventive action years before symptoms develop
  • You can rebalance these hormones naturally by fueling your metabolism with adequate healthy carbohydrates, improving sleep and light exposure, reducing overtraining, practicing calming breathwork, and using natural progesterone to help quiet cortisol

Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t begin with memory loss — it begins years earlier with a slow, silent shift in your body’s stress chemistry. Long before neurons die, your brain’s hormonal balance starts to erode under constant pressure from everyday stress. The same hormones that once kept you alert and focused start working against you, wearing down your brain’s repair systems and disrupting the flow of energy your cells depend on.

Cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, plays a central role in this process. When it stays high for too long, it drains your metabolic reserves and interferes with memory formation. Meanwhile, a second hormone called DHEA-S acts as cortisol’s natural counterbalance, helping protect neurons and stabilize brain function.

When the ratio between these two hormones tilts toward cortisol, your brain loses its resilience and becomes more vulnerable to aging and degeneration. This hormonal tug-of-war — shaped by stress, diet, and metabolism — has drawn new attention from researchers exploring why some people develop Alzheimer’s while others do not. The latest findings suggest that long-term hormonal imbalance, not just genetics or plaque buildup, could be one of the earliest warning signs of decline.

Understanding this relationship changes how you think about prevention. By strengthening your metabolism, restoring hormonal balance, and reducing chronic stress, you can support your brain’s ability to heal and adapt — long before symptoms appear. The new research provides a roadmap for how to start.

Stress Hormones Tip the Balance Toward Alzheimer’s

A clinical study published in Cureus examined 85 adults in Serbia — 45 with diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease and 40 healthy peers of similar age and sex — to determine how two hormones, cortisol and DHEA-S, relate to brain health.1 Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone, while DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate) acts as its built-in counterbalance — a neurosteroid that supports brain resilience and energy metabolism.

Unlike DHEA, which is the fast-acting, active form, DHEA-S is its sulfated storage form that circulates in your blood far longer and provides a more stable picture of long-term stress balance. By focusing on DHEA-S, the researchers could better gauge chronic stress effects on the brain rather than short-term fluctuations. The scientists wanted to know whether Alzheimer’s patients showed measurable differences in these hormones or in their ratio, which indicates how well your body manages prolonged stress.

• People with Alzheimer’s had higher cortisol levels but not lower DHEA-S — Those with Alzheimer’s showed cortisol levels averaging nearly 399 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) — about 20% higher than healthy adults — yet their DHEA-S concentrations stayed roughly the same.

This imbalance means the stress response remains chronically activated without the brain’s natural protection. When cortisol dominates, neurons experience more inflammation and less regeneration. The study also noted that this skewed balance was strongest among participants aged 65 to 75, suggesting that middle-to-late adulthood is when stress hormones begin exerting their most damaging effects.

• The cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio proved to be the real warning sign — Although each hormone alone tells part of the story, the researchers emphasized that their ratio — how much cortisol outweighs DHEA-S — offers a clearer window into chronic stress and brain decline.

In Alzheimer’s patients, that ratio climbed steeply, implying that the body’s defense system against cortisol’s toxicity was failing. This finding helps explain why some people with normal cortisol readings still experience cognitive decline: it’s the imbalance, not just the level, that matters.

• Men and women responded differently, revealing hormonal sensitivity — In healthy adults, men had significantly higher DHEA-S levels than women, meaning their brains could have greater protection from chronic stress. But that sex difference disappeared in those with Alzheimer’s.

The disease seemed to override normal hormonal patterns, flattening DHEA-S levels in both sexes. This means that once neurodegeneration begins, your brain’s ability to maintain hormonal balance — one of its self-defense tools — breaks down.

• Age changed the picture again, suggesting a nonlinear hormonal response — When researchers divided participants by age, they noticed that younger Alzheimer’s patients (60 to 65) had higher DHEA-S levels, which dropped sharply in the 66 to 75 group before rising again after age 75.

This unexpected curve points to a possible window of hormonal collapse, where midlife stress overwhelms the body’s compensatory systems. If you’re in this age range and facing chronic stress, that’s when intervention — stress reduction, adequate rest, and metabolic support — could be most protective for your brain.

Cortisol Acts Like an Overzealous Cleanup Crew That Damages What It’s Meant to Protect

Elevated cortisol increases inflammation and oxidative stress — chemical reactions that corrode neurons and disrupt communication between brain cells. It also suppresses the growth of new neurons in your hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, making it harder to store new information.

In contrast, DHEA-S supports neuronal survival, enhances energy metabolism, and shields brain tissue from the harmful effects of excessive cortisol. When cortisol wins this hormonal tug-of-war, brain networks lose their flexibility and begin to deteriorate.

• Why stress and memory loss are so tightly linked — Chronic cortisol elevation interferes with glucose uptake in brain cells, depriving them of the fuel needed to form memories. It also increases amyloid-beta and tau accumulation — the same proteins that define Alzheimer’s pathology.

Meanwhile, DHEA-S helps counter these effects by enhancing insulin sensitivity and calming overactive immune responses in your brain. In simple terms, one hormone burns your mental circuits, the other repairs them.

• A new biological marker for early intervention — Instead of waiting for memory loss or imaging changes, tracking your cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio could signal early stress damage years before cognitive symptoms arise.

If your cortisol stays high while DHEA-S falls or stagnates, that’s a red flag. Supporting your metabolic health, prioritizing quality sleep, and restoring hormonal balance could help keep your brain’s internal environment stable long before Alzheimer’s develops.

Lowering Cortisol and Raising Metabolic Energy Could Reverse Brain Decline

In a commentary, bioenergetic researcher Georgi Dinkov analyzed the Cureus study showing that people with Alzheimer’s disease had significantly higher cortisol levels and a skewed cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio compared to healthy adults.2 He explained that these results validate decades of bioenergetic research linking chronic stress, low metabolism, and neurodegeneration.

Dinkov emphasized that it’s not just elevated cortisol that drives decline — it’s the imbalance between cortisol and protective steroids such as DHEA, testosterone, and progesterone. When this ratio tips toward cortisol dominance, your body remains in a chronic “fight-or-flight” state that accelerates tissue breakdown and cognitive loss.

• Dinkov connected the findings to thyroid-driven metabolic stress — Building on the Cureus data, Dinkov explained that hypothyroidism — a sluggish thyroid that slows metabolic energy production — creates the same hormonal pattern seen in Alzheimer’s patients: high cortisol and suppressed DHEA-S.

When your metabolism slows, your body compensates by ramping up stress hormones to stay alert and energized. But this backfires over time, leading to chronic brain inflammation, poor glucose uptake, and reduced adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production — the energy currency your brain depends on.

• Your cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio predicts long-term health better than any single hormone — According to Dinkov, this ratio — spotlighted by the Cureus research — is among the strongest predictors of all-cause mortality and neurodegenerative risk. Even when cortisol fluctuates throughout the day, the ratio reveals whether your stress and repair systems are balanced.

Dinkov suggested measuring cortisol and DHEA-S in hair or nails rather than blood, since these tissues reflect long-term hormonal patterns. For anyone trying to gauge chronic stress or cognitive risk, this offers a simple, objective biomarker that’s far more reliable than a one-time blood test.

• Natural compounds help restore hormonal balance and metabolic strength — Dinkov referenced several well-known substances — aspirin, niacinamide (vitamin B3), progesterone, pregnenolone, thyroid support, glycine, and emodin — that help correct the same imbalance observed in the Cureus study. These compounds work by lowering excess cortisol, improving mitochondrial energy output, and supporting the production of protective hormones.

Niacinamide, for instance, increases NAD+, which fuels cellular repair, while aspirin dampens inflammation and cortisol overproduction. Used together, these tools shift your body back into a “rest-and-repair” mode rather than the constant stress chemistry that drives brain aging.

• DHEA acts as a built-in cortisol regulator — Dinkov explained one of the key ways DHEA helps keep cortisol in check: it blocks the enzyme that turns inactive cortisol back “on” and boosts the one that clears excess cortisol from your body. This dual action makes DHEA a natural cortisol buffer that prevents the overactivation of stress pathways.

In other words, DHEA gives your brain a biochemical “cooling system,” stopping cortisol from overheating your neurons. Supporting DHEA through thyroid health, nutrition, and targeted supplementation helps restore this essential balance.

• Stress is a symptom of low energy, not just emotional strain — Dinkov described how the elevated cortisol levels observed in the Cureus Alzheimer’s cohort represent a deeper issue: energy failure. When your cells don’t make enough ATP — whether from poor thyroid output, nutrient deficiencies, or aging — they turn to cortisol to compensate.

The hormone breaks down tissue to release fuel, but that process worsens energy depletion over time. This self-reinforcing loop explains why chronic stress feels endless: it’s a metabolic, not psychological, trap. Dinkov concluded that maintaining a low cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio protects more than memory — it sustains whole-body resilience.

People who keep this ratio balanced experience better sleep, stable mood, and slower biological aging. His message is practical: by restoring thyroid function, eating enough to prevent energy deficits, and lowering chronic inflammation, you directly influence the biochemical environment that determines whether your brain decays or endures.

Rebuild Your Energy System to Lower Cortisol and Protect Your Brain

If you wake up tired, crash midafternoon, or feel wired when you should be asleep, your body’s stress chemistry has taken over. The Cureus study3 and Dinkov’s review4 both point to the same conclusion: your brain suffers when your cells can’t make enough energy.

To fix that, you have to restore steady fuel, retrain your stress response, and help your body recognize that it’s no longer in survival mode. Here’s how to bring your hormones — and your energy — back into balance:

1. Feed your metabolism the fuel it’s been missing — Cutting carbs keeps your body trapped in a constant stress loop because cortisol spikes whenever blood sugar drops too low. Break that pattern by eating enough healthy carbohydrates — around 250 grams daily — to give your mitochondria a steady energy supply.

Start with gentle foods like fruit and white rice. When your digestion feels stable (no bloating or irregularity), add cooked root vegetables, then more vegetables, legumes, and well-tolerated whole grains. Once your body trusts it’s being fed regularly, cortisol naturally declines, and your energy and focus stabilize.

2. Move in ways that restore instead of deplete — Overdoing endurance exercise or high-intensity intervals keeps your body in fight-or-flight mode long after the workout ends. Cortisol stays elevated, recovery slows, and sleep suffers.

Replace long, punishing sessions with physical activities that build energy rather than drain it — strength training, walking outdoors, dancing, or swimming at an easy pace. Use how you feel afterward as your guide: if you finish feeling grounded and calm, you’ve helped your hormones, not hurt them.

3. Train your nervous system to shift out of stress — Your breath is the fastest lever you have to quiet cortisol and activate your parasympathetic, or “rest and digest,” system. Try rhythmic breathing patterns like 4-7-8 or 4-8 breathing — inhaling for four seconds, holding briefly, and exhaling slowly for seven to eight seconds.

The extended exhale stimulates your vagus nerve, lowering heart rate and cortisol while signaling safety to every organ. Practice before bed, after meals, or whenever tension rises. Over time, your body learns that it no longer needs to live in emergency mode.

4. Rebuild your circadian rhythm through light and sleep — Cortisol follows your light exposure, not your alarm clock. Get outside within an hour of waking to anchor your body’s circadian rhythm, and dim screens and overhead lighting at night so melatonin can rise naturally.

Keep your bedtime and wake-up times consistent — even on weekends — to lock in hormonal balance. Deep, regular sleep clears stress hormones, strengthens memory, and repairs brain tissue. If you’re dragging through the day, fix your light and sleep first instead of relying on caffeine.

5. Use natural progesterone to quiet the cortisol surge — Bioidentical progesterone acts as your body’s built-in cortisol brake, restoring calm where chronic stress has hijacked balance. Unlike synthetic versions, natural progesterone fits perfectly into your body’s own receptor system, lowering cortisol’s overstimulation and supporting deep rest.

FAQs About Cortisol and Alzheimer’s Disease

Q: What did the new Alzheimer’s study reveal about cortisol and DHEA-S?

A: Researchers found that people with Alzheimer’s disease had cortisol levels roughly 20% higher than healthy adults, while their DHEA-S levels stayed about the same. This created a skewed cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio — meaning stress hormones were overpowering the brain’s natural defenses. That imbalance, not just genetics or amyloid buildup, appears to drive the early stages of brain decline.

Q: How are DHEA and DHEA-S different?

A: DHEA is the fast-acting form of the hormone, while DHEA-S is the stable, long-lasting form stored in your blood. Because DHEA-S changes slowly, it’s a better measure of long-term stress and brain resilience. It also acts as a neurosteroid, helping neurons resist inflammation and oxidative damage while buffering cortisol’s harmful effects.

Q: What did Georgi Dinkov’s analysis add to this research?

A: Dinkov explained that the Cureus study confirms a broader principle: high cortisol and low metabolic energy often go hand in hand. He connected these hormone shifts to thyroid sluggishness, nutrient depletion, and aging — all of which drain cellular energy and raise stress chemistry. He also noted that maintaining a low cortisol-to-DHEA-S ratio predicts not just better memory but longer life and greater overall resilience.

Q: What practical steps help lower cortisol and restore hormonal balance?

A: To calm your stress system, start by fueling your metabolism. Eat enough healthy carbohydrates — about 250 grams per day — to keep blood sugar stable. Cut back on overtraining, use rhythmic breathing to activate your vagus nerve, and rebuild your circadian rhythm by getting morning sunlight and sleeping on a consistent schedule. These changes lower cortisol naturally while improving energy and mental clarity.

Q: How does progesterone fit into this picture?

A: Natural progesterone acts as a built-in cortisol blocker. Your body recognizes it as a calming, balancing hormone that reduces overstimulation, helps you sleep deeply, and stabilizes mood. Natural progesterone effectively blocks cortisol by reducing blood concentrations, helping restore hormonal harmony, protecting your brain and body from the long-term effects of stress.

Posted in Carbohydrates, Cortisol, Hormones, Inflammation, Metabolism, NAD+, Stress, Thyroid | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: December 28, 2025

A Surprising Reason Why You May Need More Carbs in Your Diet


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/12/28/surprising-reason-why-you-may-need-more-carbs.aspx
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     December 28, 2025

Story at-a-glance

  • A ketogenic diet can be very useful initially when transitioning people who are metabolically inflexible. However, continuing in ketosis long term can lead to problems, including stubborn weight gain or the inability to lose unwanted weight
  • The reason for this has to do with cortisol. Your body needs glucose, and when deprived for too long, your body will release cortisol to stimulate the production of glucose by your liver. Cortisol also promotes inflammation and central obesity, so you don’t want chronically elevated cortisol levels
  • Your metabolic rate is strongly affected by the type of sugar you consume. High-fructose corn syrup promotes ill health while whole fruit, raw honey, and pure organic cane sugar are readily metabolized without promoting weight gain
  • When adding in more carbs, you also need to reduce your fat intake to avoid elevating your triglycerides
  • Restricting dietary fat and/or blocking the oxidation of fat inside of the cell have strong therapeutic effects against cancer by forcing the cell out of its excessive fatty acid oxidation state

In this interview, Georgi Dinkov and I continue our discussion about diet, diving into some of the finer details that can make or break your health. Dinkov is a student of Ray Peat, who passed away around Thanksgiving 2022, leaving behind a legacy of iconoclastic wisdom on how to optimize biological health.

For example, a ketogenic diet can be very useful initially when transitioning people who are metabolically inflexible, which is about 95% of the population of the United States. So, in the short term, the vast majority of people can benefit from going keto. However, if you continue in ketosis long term, you’re going to run into problems.

Elevated Cortisol Leads to Central Obesity

As just one example, while weight loss is a typical response when going on a ketogenic diet, months later, maintaining that weight loss often becomes a struggle again. Dinkov experienced this firsthand. Once he started following Ray Peat’s recommendations, he lost the weight again and kept it off.

“My take is it’s an endocrine problem,” Dinkov says. “So if you’re struggling with weight you cannot lose, I think it’s a good idea to do a blood work [panel] for the steroids … Every single person that has been struggling with excessive weight that has emailed [me] their blood results, without exception, their cortisol is either high-normal or above the range, both the AM and the PM value.

Their thyroid is less than optimal, in fact, pretty bad for most people … They’re at the upper limit of normal. A very large number of people are basically hypothyroid … I think we are eating foods that are lowering our metabolic rate. We’re living an excessively stressful lifestyle.

That’s probably not a surprise for anybody. Many people think, well, stress is good for you. It’s good as a hormetic response in an acute situation, but not when you have chronically elevated cortisol. Every doctor will tell you if you have a chronic elevated cortisol, you will develop the so-called spectrum of Cushing syndrome …

One of the defining features of elevated cortisol is that you have central obesity. So that, to me, is really the problem. We have higher than desirable levels of stress, suboptimal diet, and we’re surrounded by a number of different endocrine disrupters which are now proven to reliably cause obesity in animal models, even in very small amounts. Most of those are found in plastics.”

Why I Changed My Mind About Low-Carb Diets

One of the foundational concepts of health that I’ve had to radically revise my thinking on, based on the work of the late Ray Peat and his student Georgi Dinkov, is the idea that eating a low-carb diet long-term is the best way to optimize your metabolic and mitochondrial health.

I now realize that this was misguided, and the reason for that has to do with the fact that your body requires glucose and if you aren’t eating it you will go into a hypoglycemic coma and die. Obviously, your body has safeguards to prevent that and the major one is the hormone cortisol.

In medical school, we learned that cortisol is a glucocorticoid. Gluco means glucose (sugar) and cortico means it comes from the adrenal cortex. It’s also another word for steroid. We were told that cortisol is responsible for maintaining glucose homeostasis but led to believe its primary purpose was for inflammation.

Well, that’s just not true. While cortisol certainly contributes to glucose balance, its primary purpose is to raise your blood sugar when it is too low and you don’t have enough glycogen reserves in your liver.

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How Does Cortisol Work?

But just how does cortisol increase your blood sugar? It does it by breaking down your muscles, bones, and brain. It sacrifices your lean muscle mass to release amino acids that your liver converts to glucose in a process called gluconeogenesis.

So, ultimately, cortisol also is going to cause inflammation and impair your immune function. And it increases food cravings. So, you do not want your cortisol to be elevated. For a long time, I was a proponent of a low-carb diet, but now I realize that chronic low-carb is not a good idea.

As a fuel, glucose is vastly superior to fat, and this was something I simply got wrong. The same thing goes for fasting. Both low-carb and fasting are great interventions in the short-term for those who are overweight and metabolically inflexible.

However, once you’ve regained your metabolic flexibility, it is important to revise your strategy and add healthy carbs back in, or else these strategies will backfire and lead to decreased metabolic health, compromised mitochondrial function, and impaired metabolism.

Cortisol happens to be the primary aging hormone. If it is chronically elevated, you simply will die prematurely as it is highly catabolic, meaning it will break down your body tissues. To stay healthy as you age, you need to be anabolic and build healthy tissues like muscle and mitochondria. Elevated cortisol will seriously impair those efforts.

Important Cautions Before You Increase Carbs

So, it is clear that you need to be doing everything you can to keep your cortisol levels and chronic inflammation low. But it would also be a major mistake to increase your carb intake if you are still on a high-fat diet. I did this experiment in the mid-80s after I read the book by the Diamonds called Fit for Life.

They suggested having fruit only for breakfast which I tried. Then I did my lab work and found my fasting triglycerides and lipoprotein profiles had exploded for the worse. I prematurely concluded that a high fruit diet was nonsense and remained relatively low carb for nearly four decades.

This was until I encountered Ray Peat’s work and reevaluated my initial impression. I now understand that I was missing important parts of the strategy. And now I eat 3 to 4 pounds of watermelon (without the rind) virtually every morning at 5:30 as my first meal, followed by three eggs and eight ounces of white rice and two ounces of maple syrup 1 to 2 hours later.

That sounds like a lot of carbs, and it is. I have additional fruits later in the day and now my carb intake is about 475 grams a day and comprises about 60% of my daily calories. You might wonder what has happened to my weight and blood sugar with all these extra carbs.

Well, I thought my weight was good at 192 as I increased my muscle mass, but it has decreased by ten pounds to 182 with no change in muscle mass. My fasting blood sugar has dropped ten points. So far it seems to be working for me.

The Vital Metabolic Switch You Need to Understand

This is one of the most important principles in food science that I never learned or understood until later. My strong guess is that this is also true for most natural medicine clinicians. Low-carb diets have helped at least tens of millions of people improve their health for a very good reason and that is there is a stealth switch that controls what fuel your mitochondria can burn as they can only burn one fuel at a time, either fat or glucose.

The switch has been given the name the Randle Cycle, but it is more helpful to visualize it as a railroad switch that changes the tracks of the train, and the train can only travel down one track not both. This is because only one type of fuel can be burned at a time.

The best-case scenario is you metabolize, or burn, glucose in your mitochondria without any reductive stress (a term I will explain in my upcoming interview with Georgi Dinkov). When you do this, you will only generate 0.1% reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Not only does this route generate less ROS but is also incredibly efficient at energy production by creating 36 to 38 ATP for every molecule of glucose that is metabolized. It will also generate metabolic water and carbon dioxide which are also important for your health.

For this to occur you will need to consume less than 30% of your calories as fat. When you consume significantly more than that amount the switch changes to burn fat in your mitochondria and you will not be able to burn glucose until your fat decreases to less than 30% of calories.

Since glucose is unable to be shuttled into the mitochondria to burn it winds up backing up into your blood stream raising your blood sugar. This is a major contributor to diabetes. What little glucose is burned for fuel is done by using glycolysis which is a primitive pathway that bacteria and cancer cells use.

It is great we have this pathway as you absolutely need it for quick fuel when you are activating your type II muscle fibers. But if this is the primary way you burn glucose you are in a catastrophic metabolic state as you are creating loads of lactic acid as a waste product instead of healthy CO2, and you are only generating 2 ATP for every molecule of glucose, which is 95% less energy.

Lactic acid increases reductive stress, which causes reverse electron flow in the mitochondria and causes reductive stress which increase the ROS to 3% to 4% which is 30X to 40X more than when glucose is burned efficiently in the mitochondria. You likely don’t yet understand reductive stress, the opposite of oxidative stress, but will have done an interview with Georgi on this and will be posting it later this month.

How High-Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Disease

One factor that makes a big difference in your metabolic rate is the type of sugar you consume. Contrary to popular belief, there’s a dramatic difference between high-fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. They’re really two different foods. If the high-fructose corn syrup is properly processed to remove all starch, then it’s very similar to cane sugar because it’s about 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

However, studies have shown beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup contain a tremendous amount of starch, which isn’t accounted for in the calories listed on the label. Once the starch is factored in, the caloric content of many sodas can easily quadruple that on the label, so you’re getting FAR more calories than you think.

Additionally, because the starch is made up of such tiny particles, they can enter your blood circulation unprocessed via your digestive system, causing an allergic reaction.

They can also trigger a low-grade inflammatory reaction, which will trigger the release of histamine, nitric oxide, and serotonin. As noted by Dinkov, if you’re sneezing and have itchy eyes even though it’s not allergy season, you may well be having a reaction to something you ate or drank, and high-fructose corn syrup may be the culprit.

Starch particles also serve as fuel for pathogenic bacteria in your gut, and the endotoxins from these bacteria contribute to inflammatory conditions. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is one example of what can happen, especially if you’re on a proton pump inhibitor, as these drugs decrease the amount of stomach acid you’re producing. Stomach acid is there not only to help with digestion but also to keep bacteria in check.

“If you’re not producing a sufficient amount of acid, you’re going to get bacteria colonizing your small intestine, either from food or creeping up from the large intestine. And that’s not a good thing. Basically … the portion of the intestine that is supposed to be clean and just focused on absorbing food is now harboring a microbiome.

And then, if you give it any kind of a food that the bacteria can process, you’re increasing the turnover [which] result in the endotoxemia that is now accepted to cause a large number of diseases, especially cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurological disease.

Alzheimer’s has been conclusively tied to chronic low-grade endotoxemia. They’re still claiming there’s a genetic component to it, but they’re now admitting that endotoxin is a causative factor in Alzheimer’s disease,” Dinkov says.

Can Cane Sugar Be Part of a Healthy Diet?

Most people who embrace natural health believe sugar is a pernicious evil, but Peat’s and Dinkov’s position is that the negative effects are primarily caused by high-fructose corn syrup, and that pure cane sugar can actually be a useful strategy to counteract some of the challenges that people can get into when on a strict low-carb diet. Dinkov explains:

“Cane sugar, if it’s pure, has a very different overall systemic health effect than high-fructose corn syrup … I think most of the sugar sold in the crystal form, especially organic ones, is pretty safe. Heavy metal contamination used to be a problem in sugar distillation but it looks like most of the western countries have sorted this out …

Now, some people that have an issue with sugar are saying, ‘Well, it’s just empty calories and whatnot.’ Multiple studies demonstrated that honey, which is very similar in composition to plain white sugar, does not trigger the normal hyperglycemic response that most of the other simple carbohydrates do. In fact, it improves the hyperglycemia in Type 2 diabetic patients despite being pure sugar.

I think that’s the greatest confirmation that we have that sugar is not evil. It depends how you’re getting it and in what form. One animal study demonstrated that rats, when given free access to [Mexican] Coke sweetened with cane sugar, they were eating the equivalent of 8,000 calories daily … without gaining an ounce of fat.

So sugar is not dangerous. It’s perhaps the only nutrient that we evolved to metabolize for fuel. But the other two micronutrients, even though we can metabolize them as fuel, come with a lot of strings attached …

If you’re oxidizing PUFA, then all hell breaks loose. If you’re oxidizing saturated fats, it’s far less dangerous. But in the long run it still puts you, due to the Randle cycle, into the semi-diabetic state because it decreases your insulin sensitivity.

So pure sugar is what we are meant to oxidize for fuel. If you get it from ripe fruit, great. If you can get it from [raw unadulterated] honey, probably just as good if not even better. But if not, then the pure white variety, preferably organic, that you get from the store, I think is a very good source of most of the carb calories that you intend to eat throughout the day.”

The Glucose-Cortisol Link

In my book “Fat for Fuel,” I argued that healthy saturated fats generate fewer free radical species in the electron transport chain than sugar. However, I’m starting to revise my views on this, based on Peat’s work.

The problem is that if your glucose level is low because you’re on a low-carb diet, your body is going to compensate by self-generating glucose, and that stimulus to make glucose is part of the obesity puzzle, because one of the ways in which your body produces glucose is by secreting cortisol.

And, as explained by Dinkov, if your cortisol is chronically elevated, you end up with central obesity and chronic inflammation, which clearly isn’t good. So, you’ve got to have a certain amount of glucose, and it’s best to get it from your diet rather than forcing your liver to make it, as cortisol is then also being churned out. Dinkov explains:

“If glucose is oxidized properly going through the Krebs Cycle and electron transport chain, it generates more carbon dioxide per molecule of glucose oxidized than do fats.

Now, carbon dioxide has this kind of controversial role in medicine. It used to be considered a metabolic byproduct that could be dangerous. People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.

But then, medicine started to look into this more closely, I think, over the last 10 years, outside of Dr. Pete’s research, and said, ‘Hm. Carbon dioxide seems to have a lot of positive effects in the body.’ One of them is vasodilation.

So basically, if your metabolism is not working properly, if you’re not oxidizing glucose properly, you’re not going to produce sufficient amounts of carbon dioxide. What happens then? Vasoconstriction. And since that is actually a problem, it raises blood pressure and all kinds of other things; all hell breaks loose. The body then releases an emergency vasodilator, known as nitric oxide. And that is now acquiring a bad reputation.

Even in mainstream medical circles, they’ve started seeing that people who are taking the drug nitroglycerin, which used to be the mainstream drug for angina — chest pain — for cardiovascular disease and blood pressure.

With nitroglycerin, you’ll quickly lower blood pressure. But over time, the inflammatory nature of nitric oxide ensures that these people actually get worse. And, in fact, most people who take nitroglycerin on a long-term basis die from a heart attack or ischemic stroke.

So, if you’re not eating enough glucose, your body will make it. And, in fact, the primary evolutionary role of cortisol, the acute role, is actually preventing blood glucose from dropping too low, because that will put you into a hypoglycemic coma.

In the longer run its secondary role is to dampen down inflammation. So really, the acute, the lifesaving role of cortisol on a daily basis, is to prevent you from dropping into a coma because your blood glucose went too low.

But we don’t want that process because it’s going to get the glucose from the tissues. So, we need glucose [in our diet]. I think even the ketogenic proponents are now getting to the point of saying, ‘We cannot be always in ketosis.’ In the long term, it’s not good.”

Will Sugar Feed Cancer?

Ketogenic diets have also been hailed for their ability to prevent and treat cancer, but even this may turn out to be a misunderstanding in the end.

“I think some of the ideas around glucose feeding cancer stem from two basic misunderstandings,” Dinkov says. “One is that cancer is an evil cell, genetically mutated, and that your only chance is to kill all of those cells because they’re not going away by themselves.

First of all, that’s not true. Spontaneous remissions of cancer are known, and they vary depending on the cancer. Prostate cancer has a pretty high rate of spontaneous remission … A paper that came about five years ago … from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas … said it’s always been the position of medicine that cancerous mutations [happen] and after that, the cell becomes metabolically deranged.

But it looks like we’ve had it backwards. It’s the metabolic derangement that happens first, and, over time, this triggers the genetic mutations, because the cell, being in an energetic deficiency, cannot properly maintain its structure. That was a huge admission …

So what we need to be doing here is not trying to kill the cancer cell, because it is not a cancer cell. It is actually a normal cell that is metabolically deranged.

If we could compare it to anything, it’d be a diabetic cell [and] diabetes is now known to be caused by hyperlipidemia — too much fat in the body, too much fat in the blood. Basically, the cells are getting stuck in oxidizing fats, due to the Randle cycle.

And then, the glucose that’s floating around in diabetes, a good portion of it — because it cannot be metabolized — is being peed out … or you’re converting it into lactic acid. This [MD Anderson] paper said the exact same thing is happening in cancer.

We are seeing an abnormal rate of fatty acid oxidation, because the cell is stuck in the cycle due to oversupply of fat.

The glucose, the ‘cancer cell’ cannot actually metabolize it, but because the cell needs its glucose for a variety of purposes — not just synthesizing energy, but also synthesizing DNA and RNA, and those two … can only be synthesized from glucose, not from fats — the cancer cell says, ‘Oh, I’m in a state of extreme deficiency of glucose. Give me more.’

So, it increases the synthesis of these glucose transporters known as GLUT1 through GLUT4. Basically, that’s why when you give a patient with cancer a little bit of radioactive sugar, it accumulates mostly into the tumor, because the tumor has a much higher capacity for uptake of sugar.

However, and this is the key difference, it has a much lower capacity for oxidizing that sugar. So, you’re going to see a lot of radioactive sugar accumulation in the tumor, but most of it will get converted to lactic acid. So this paper that came out said, ‘We need to do something that gets the cell out of its stressed state.’

And I think we already agreed that excessive oxidation of fat is a stress state. Right? We don’t want to produce lactic acid, and as long as we are over-oxidizing fat, we will be producing lactic acid, and we will be uptaking more glucose …

Several studies have come out since then … and they said, ‘OK, how can we restrict the supply of fat?’ assuming the fat is the problem. There’s only really two macronutrients that can go to the cell. Assuming cancer is a metabolic disease, and assuming a cell can only oxidize fat or sugar, then if it’s not the sugar, it’s got to be the fat. There’s nothing else.

And if it’s not the mutations, if the mutations are secondary to the metabolic derangement, it’s got to be one of these two macronutrients that we can manipulate to actually try to cure the cancer. They already tried glucose restriction … That did not cure cancer. It did have a sensitizing effect to chemotherapy, but it did not result in actual cancer remission.

So now we’re back to the other micronutrient, restricting the supply of fat. Multiple studies … I have at least 30 on my blog … have shown that restricting lipolysis by administering the beta blocker propranolol … lowers lipolysis.

The way [propranolol] lowers blood pressure is by blocking adrenaline. If you’re blocking adrenaline, you’re also lowering lipolysis, because adrenaline is the primary activator of the hormone-sensitive lipase enzyme. Basically, you’re going to be restricting the supply of fat from your own tissues to the tumor.

What else can be done? Well, that’s not the only source of fat. You’re also getting it through the diet. Other studies have tried doing low-fat diets for cancer, and are getting actually good results. Not cure, but good results. The propranolol induced full remission in the cancer.”

Summary

Dinkov also cites research in which the beta oxidation inhibitor etomoxir, prescribed for heart disease, induced full remission in neuroglioblastoma, which is thought to be incurable. So, in summary, either restricting dietary fat or blocking the oxidation of fat inside the cell appears to have strong therapeutic effects against cancer by forcing the cell out of its excessive fatty acid oxidation state.

“And, once you do that, there’s no metabolic damage preventing the cell from oxidizing glucose,” Dinkov says. “It’s all functional. If you flood the cell with fat then, basically, that’s what the cell will oxidize, because it’s overabundant relative to the glucose that is getting to the cell. If you stop that process, or at least greatly restrict it, the cell starts oxidizing glucose again.”

The Devil in the Details

Here, I’d like to share a personal story. In an effort to adopt this new knowledge, I increased my carbohydrate intake to about 250 grams to 300 grams, depending on the day and the fruit availability. When I got my blood work back, I was surprised to find my triglycerides were in the low triple digits, just over 100, which is abnormal.

Normally, I’m closer to 50. In my clinical experience, elevated triglycerides is almost always related to excessive carbohydrate intake, which seems to conflict with what Dinkov just explained. But here’s the key: When you increase carbohydrates, you also have to lower fat. If you don’t, you could end up with complications, as just happened to me. So, now I’m lowering my fat intake. Dinkov confirms my experience:

“Most of the animal studies say, ‘High sugar diet causes this. High sugar diet causes that.’ But if you look at their diets, these animals are already on a high-fat diet. All they did was add more sugar on top of it. Well, of course, in a situation like that, you’re going to have an increase in the triglycerides, increase in LDL cholesterol, because the body can synthesize cholesterol from the sugars.

So, you’re going to get these biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease to increase, but it’s actually not really a fair comparison. What you should be doing is keeping the diets isocaloric, the same. And also, not increase the total amount of calories, just replace some of that fat with sugar …

Another thing that is probably important is that since there’s always some baseline lipolysis going on, when you’re increasing the carbohydrate intake, the excess that cannot get metabolized will get converted to triglycerides and then stored.

When you are increasing the carbohydrate intake, you should be decreasing the amount of fat. If you’re not, then at least you should be taking something that stimulates the oxidation of carbohydrate so that it doesn’t result in the raising of triglycerides.

Aspirin, caffeine, especially vitamin B-3 niacinamide, all of these are known to lower triglycerides and, by now, the consensus mechanism of action is that all three of these components are increasing the oxidation of carbohydrates.

So, if you’re increasing carbohydrates and you’re getting an increase in triglycerides, two things, either you’re eating too much fat or your baseline metabolic rate is not where it should be, so you can use some metabolic stimulation from these substances.”

In addition to increasing the oxidation of glucose as fuel, aspirin, caffeine, and niacinamide may also inhibit the oxidation of fatty acids, specifically linoleic acid, and the most foundational strategy that anyone could implement to improve their health is to lower their linoleic acid, the omega-6 intake. These supplements will also lower inflammation, which in turn will lower your baseline cortisol.

The metabolite of aspirin, salicylic acid, also has an inhibitory effect on the enzyme 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Type 1. This enzyme synthesizes active cortisol from the inactive precursor cortisone.

“So, aspirin will actually lower your synthesis of cortisol directly, not just by lowering inflammation, but also lowering the actual synthesis of cortisol,” Dinkov explains. “A study demonstrated that baby aspirin, 81-100 milligrams daily, decreased fatty acid oxidation by about 30% …

Aspirin also has an anti-lipolytic effect, not as strong as niacinamide, but it’s got these three different things that are basically helping to lower both the supply of fat to the cell and excessive oxidation of fats even at these tiny dosages.”

Be mindful about the aspirin you use, though. Immediate-release aspirin made with cornstarch is the preferred version that is now hard to find. Extended-release aspirin is not recommended due to the additives they put in it. Your best option would be to use a salicylic acid or willow bark supplement.

Benefits of Vitamin E

Dinkov also reviews the benefits of other supplements, such as vitamin E, which inhibits lipolysis, improves glucose metabolism, acts as an estrogen antagonist and helps counteract much of the damage caused by linoleic acid and other polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs).

According to Dinkov, research suggests your need for vitamin E can be directly calculated by your PUFA intake. You need about 2 milligrams of vitamin E from all sources per gram of PUFA that you’re eating. So, if you’re eating 50 grams of PUFA daily — which is about 10 times what you should be getting — you need about 100 mg of total tocopherol.

Importantly, PUFAs aren’t just the omega-6s. It’s also omega-3. In the interview, Dinkov goes into detail as to why omega-3 supplements such as fish oil are mostly garbage and shouldn’t be used. I also wrote an article about this very topic.

Whole food, in this case, small fatty fish and wild-caught Alaskan salmon are really your best bet. It’s virtually impossible to find fish oil that’s not rancid. So, to review, when you’re calculating your PUFA intake you also need to include your omega-3s. Ideally, your daily PUFA intake would be below 10 grams.

Dinkov’s Dietary Suggestions

In closing, Dinkov reviews some of his top dietary recommendations for optimal health. No. 1 is keeping PUFA intake below 10 grams; below 5 grams would be even better. No. 2 is to avoid high-fructose corn syrup when adding carbs. Stick with the simple sugars from ripe fruit, raw honey (make sure it’s not adulterated with high-fructose corn syrup, as many are) and/or pure organic cane sugar.

As for the macro composition of your diet, equal amounts of fat, healthy carbs, and protein seem to be best for otherwise healthy individuals, so he recommends getting one-third or 33% of your daily calories from each. If you have metabolic problems or some kind of inflammatory disease, he recommends cutting down on fats.

Lower fat intake will also allow your body to digest protein better, as bile acids are released in response to fat, and bile interferes with the absorption of protein. Next, he recommends adding:

  • Vitamin E, based on your PUFA intake (as detailed above)
  • Aspirin or willow bark extract
  • Niacinamide at a dose of 50 mg to a max of 100 mg, three times a day. In addition to antiobesity effects, niacinamide will also help synthesize NAD+, which has important health benefits
  • Caffeine — BC powder, sold as a headache remedy, contains both aspirin and caffeine. According to Dinkov, research has shown that taking caffeine with aspirin increases the blood concentrations of both and prolongs their effects. Taking 50 mg of aspirin with 50 mg of caffeine can raise your metabolic rate by about 7% and keep it elevated for up to 12 hours
  • Copper — Copper is the rate limiting factor for cytochrome c oxidase (Complex 4). With aging, the amount of copper in that enzyme decreases while iron increases, and the less copper you have, the lower your metabolic rate. Ideally, get your copper from whole foods such as liver, oysters, shrimp, or acerola cherry. If using a supplement, bisglycinate is a good option with high bioavailability

How to Apply This When Using Time-Restricted Eating (TRE)

If you’re using time-restricted eating, or considering starting, then this final side note will be important. If you’re metabolically inflexible, insulin resistant, and unable to easily switch between burning sugar and fat as your primary fuel, then a TRE program, such as that described by Dr. Mindy Pelz in my interview with her, may be quite beneficial, and this is true whether you’re eating a ketogenic diet or not.

However, once you regain your metabolic flexibility, which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, you will need to increase your eating window. The reason for this goes back to the glucose-cortisol connection, Dinkov explains in this interview. Your body needs glucose, and if you deprive it for too long, it will produce cortisol to stimulate your liver to make it.

This increased cortisol can contribute to chronic inflammation and cellular damage. Therefore, once you are no longer insulin resistant, it is best to vary your eating window between eight and 12 hours, and avoid going lower or higher than that window. It is also best to avoid eating before sunrise or after sunset and at least three hours before bedtime.

More Information

To learn more, be sure to listen to the entire interview, as we dive into far greater detail than what I’ve summarized here. Georgi is an absolute fire hydrant when it comes to biochemical details.

Also check out Georgi’s blog at www.haidut.me or follow him on Twitter. You can also obtain a major sampling of Ray Peat’s work for free by going to these two sites: wiki.chadnet.org/Ray-Peat and RayPeat.com.

Posted in Cancer, Carbohydrates, Cortisol, Fructose, Glucose, Metabolism, Obesity, Sugar | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: December 10, 2025

The Importance of Exercise and Biological Youth for Longevity


Reproduced from original article: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/12/09/exercise-biological-youth-longevity.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     December 09, 2025

Story at-a-glance

  • Maintaining “biological youth” is crucial for longevity. Exercise, particularly moderate activity and 150 to 180 minutes of weekly resistance training, is the most powerful intervention for slowing biological aging
  • Optimal protein intake is about 0.8 grams per pound of ideal body weight. Protein quality matters, with collagen and glycine being especially important but often overlooked nutrients
  • Moderate carbohydrate intake (40% to 55% of calories) is associated with lowest mortality risk. Long-term low-carb diets may impair metabolic flexibility and mitochondrial function
  • Up to 99% of the U.S. population may have some degree of insulin resistance. The HOMA-IR test is a simple way to assess metabolic health
  • Regular sun exposure is critical for health and longevity. Other key factors include adequate sleep, stress management, minimizing environmental toxins, and maintaining gut health

I spoke with Siim Land, author of the book “The Longevity Leap,” discussing key factors for optimizing health and lifespan. Maintaining “biological youth” is the single most important factor for longevity, but the question is how to achieve this as you get older.

Land’s book is 500 pages, with 8,000 references, so it’s a good resource to take a deep dive into the strategies that will help keep you biologically young. He’s a leader in the longevity field and walks the walk — he implements the programs he talks about and is a stellar example of taking good care of your biology. Chronologically, Land, who lives in Estonia, is 29, but he claims the biological ages of his organs are much lower — 17 years overall, with a 9-year-old liver.

These estimates are based on relatively new epigenetic and biological age tests, which are intriguing, but we don’t yet know if the results translate to longer lifespans. I personally do not put much trust in them and believe they are flawed. Land explains:1

“What does it mean if you have a liver of a 9-year-old? Does it mean that you’re going to live exponentially longer than someone else? We don’t have that data yet … I wouldn’t put a lot of emphasis on the tests themselves, much rather I would look at the traditional biomarkers, like glucose, inflammation … and those other things.”

Historically, many mistakes have been made in longevity research, particularly the focus on extreme calorie, carbohydrate and protein restriction:2

“The practical outcome would be that you’re eating very small amounts of food and you are becoming very frail and skinny. But in the actual world, we’re starting to see right now that frailty is a huge risk factor for early death and mortality. And malnutrition itself also increases the risk of a lot of different diseases, all-cause mortality and neurodegeneration and heart disease events.

Right now, I think the field has started to appreciate a lot more of these tangible, practical, functional outcomes, like muscle strength and body composition … other biomarkers that move more from the theoretical side of biological aging.”

Optimal Protein and Carbohydrate Intake for Longevity

Land and I agree that most adults need about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of ideal body weight (the weight you would ideally be, not necessarily the weight you are now), or for Europeans, approximately 1.76 grams of protein per kilogram, for appropriate muscle maintenance and growth.

“If you eat too much, then that could be problematic from the perspective of kidney health and homocysteine levels. If you’re eating too little, then that’s the risk of the sarcopenia and frailty,” Land notes. Regarding carbohydrates, we’re also in agreement that low-carb diets are not typically optimal for longevity.

Land cites research showing that moderate carbohydrate intake is associated with the lowest mortality risk. “With carbohydrates as well, it’s very commonly thought that eating too many carbs is going to be bad for your health. At least in observational studies, it’s the opposite — 40% to 55% of calories as carbohydrates is linked to the lowest risk, usually,” he says.3

Land argues that while low-carb diets can be beneficial in the short term for certain individuals, long-term carbohydrate restriction may impair metabolic flexibility:4

“In the short-term, someone might have pre-diabetes or insulin resistance, then in the short-term, it makes sense for them to maybe control the carbohydrate intake slightly to regain some of that insulin sensitivity. But chronic ketosis, chronic low-carb does impair long-term insulin sensitivity as well.”

Indeed, adequate carbohydrate intake is crucial for optimal mitochondrial function and overall health. It’s the optimal fuel for your mitochondria, but most people don’t consume enough healthy carbohydrates. If you’re metabolically healthy, most adults need 200 to 250 grams of carbohydrates daily as a minimum, while active individuals need closer to 400 grams. Chronically restricting carbohydrates can lead to increased stress hormone production and muscle breakdown.

Many people experience initial health improvements on low-carb diets, but these benefits are typically not sustainable long-term. The short-term benefits occur because you’re no longer feeding harmful bacteria in your gut, which decreases the production of endotoxins that can damage your overall health. In the long term, however, if you don’t consume enough healthy carbohydrates, your mitochondrial health will suffer.

While low-carb diets temporarily alleviate symptoms by starving harmful bacteria, they don’t resolve the underlying mitochondrial and gut health issues. A more sustainable approach involves addressing the root causes: improving mitochondrial function, reducing exposure to environmental toxins, including seed oils, endocrine-disrupting chemicals in plastics and electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and supporting a healthy gut microbiome balance.

The Most Powerful Intervention to Maintain Biological Youth

When asked how to maintain biological youth, Land states that exercise is likely the most powerful intervention:5

“Probably the single most powerful thing for biological aging is moderate exercise. Just maintaining physical activity, it just targets all the hallmarks of aging in a positive way. It improves all the organ function and it also improves the risk of all these chronic diseases as well. It targets everything that you need to do when it comes to slowing down biological aging.”

As highlighted in Dr. James O’Keefe’s landmark study,6 too much vigorous exercise can be detrimental, so finding the right balance is key. Land suggests that for vigorous exercise like resistance training, the sweet spot appears to be around 140 to 200 minutes per week.

Land has adjusted his own routine based on this data. “I’m doing about 180, maybe 150 to 180 minutes, of resistance training, and I’m training three times a week … cycling between upper body, lower body or push-pull leg split,” he says.7

I’ve also reduced my resistance training to three days per week based on potential risks of excessive training, but most people need to exercise more, not less. Moderate-intensity exercise like walking is an ideal form of physical activity, as it’s very hard to overdo it.

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The Importance of Protein Quality and Collagen

It’s not only protein quantity that’s important but also its quality and amino acid balance. Glycine and collagen, which are often overlooked, are among the most important. Land explains:8

“Glycine is conditionally essential, not essential, but that’s because your body makes 3 grams of glycine per day. But those 3 grams would be used for things, like creatine synthesis. But then you have 12 grams of glycine for collagen turnover, like optimal collagen turnover.”

Most people are deficient, as they’re likely only consuming 0 to 1 gram of collagen protein daily. About one-third of total body protein is collagen, so it’s crucial to consume adequate collagen, from foods like bone broth or grass fed ground beef, which contains connective tissue, or glycine to support connective tissue health.

The Prevalence of Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Dysfunction

The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) is a test discovered in 1985, which is the gold standard for measuring insulin resistance. If you use HOMA-IR data, up to 99% of the U.S. population may have some degree of insulin resistance. Using this test is a simple way to assess your metabolic health.

You can figure out your HOMA-IR using two simple tests — your fasting blood glucose, which you can do at home, and then a fasting insulin level, which is an inexpensive test. Multiply those two numbers, and if you’re in the U.S., you divide by 405, and if you’re in Europe you have different units than the U.S. and need to divide by 22. If the result is below one, you’re not insulin resistant. The lucky less than 1% of the population does not have insulin resistance.

Land agrees this is a useful marker, while also emphasizing the importance of looking at multiple biomarkers to assess metabolic health.

The Importance of Sunlight and Vitamin D

We also discussed the critical importance of sunlight exposure and maintaining optimal vitamin D levels. Land, who lives in Estonia at a high latitude, maintains his vitamin D levels through a combination of sun exposure when possible, diet and supplementation when needed.

Sun is one of the most important factors for longevity, probably comparable to exercise. I think it’s almost biologically impossible to be healthy if you don’t have enough sun exposure. One way to help compensate, if you live in an area where year-round sunlight exposure isn’t practical, is using topical lanolin.

If you put lanolin on your skin before going in the sun, it will enhance vitamin D production from sunlight and helps reduce skin drying, cracks, wrinkles and fissures, so it’s especially useful if you’re concerned about photoaging.

However, if your diet is rich in vegetable oils, you should exercise extra caution with sun exposure. These oils contain high levels of linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fatty acid that easily oxidizes when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. When sunlight interacts with skin laden with these oils, it triggers their breakdown, resulting in inflammation and DNA damage.

Therefore, it’s advisable to limit sun exposure to earlier in the A.M. or later in the P.M. if you’ve been consuming these oils, ideally abstaining until you’ve eliminated seed oils for four to six months.

Practical Recommendations for Longevity

By focusing on foundational aspects of health — from mitochondrial function and gut health to exercise and nutrient balance — you may be able to significantly improve your long-term health outcomes. Several key strategies to optimize your health and longevity covered in the interview include:

• Exercise regularly, including moderate-intensity activity like walking and about 150 to 180 minutes of resistance training per week

• Consume adequate carbohydrates (200 to 400 g daily for most adults) from whole food sources to support metabolic health

• Prioritize protein quality, aiming for about 0.8 g per pound of lean body mass, with roughly one-third coming from collagen sources

• Get regular sun exposure and maintain optimal vitamin D levels

• Focus on gut health through diet, lifestyle and possibly targeted interventions

• Minimize exposure to environmental toxins, including seed oils, endocrine disruptors and EMFs

• Use simple tests like HOMA-IR to assess metabolic health regularly

• Prioritize sleep, stress management and overall lifestyle balance

You can find more details in Land’s book, “The Longevity Leap,” which provides a comprehensive overview of these topics and more, backed by extensive scientific references. As he describes:9

“I covered a lot of specific chronic diseases. I have a full chapter on kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, three chapters on heart disease, actually, neurodegeneration and inflammation. I’m going into a lot of deep dives with a lot of these conditions.”

As research in longevity science continues to evolve, it’s clear that a proactive, comprehensive approach to health is crucial. Rather than seeking a single magic bullet, the path to longevity appears to lie in the consistent application of evidence-based health practices, regular self-monitoring and a willingness to adapt as new information emerges.

– Sources and References

Posted in Carbohydrates, Exercise, Longevity, Protein | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: August 20, 2025

Heart Scan Study Finds Low-Fiber Diets Raise Risk of Dangerous Artery Plaque


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/08/19/low-fiber-diets-dangerous-artery-plaque-risk.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     August 19, 2025

low fiber diets dangerous artery plaque risk

Story at-a-glance

  • A heart scan study found that low-fiber diets are strongly linked to dangerous, rupture-prone plaques in people with no diagnosed heart disease
  • Participants with the worst diets had up to 97% higher odds of having soft, unstable plaques, making silent heart attacks far more likely
  • High blood pressure, large waist size, and elevated triglycerides amplified the risk, acting as biological bridges between diet and plaque formation
  • People who looked and felt healthy still had widespread plaque in key heart arteries, showing the damage builds long before symptoms show up
  • Repairing the damage starts with healing your gut, avoiding fermentable fiber until digestion stabilizes, and then reintroducing resistant starches and other fiber that supports anti-inflammatory gut bacteria

You won’t always feel heart disease coming. In fact, many people don’t know there’s a problem until it’s too late. That’s because the real danger often lies in the type of plaque building silently in your arteries, not just how much of it is there.

Soft, unstable plaques, especially the kind that don’t contain calcium, are the most dangerous. They’re more likely to rupture, triggering sudden clots that block blood flow to your heart. These aren’t just rare medical anomalies. They’re increasingly common in people who appear otherwise healthy on the surface.

What drives the formation of these high-risk plaques isn’t random. Diet plays a central role in shaping both the structure and behavior of what accumulates in your arteries. The foods you eat influence inflammation, gut health, metabolic balance, and the stability of the plaque itself. The wrong combination — like low fiber intake, frequent processed meat, and blood sugar instability — creates a perfect storm.

If you’ve been told your blood pressure is “a little high,” your triglycerides are “something to watch,” or you’re just getting older, don’t dismiss those signs. They’re often the red flags of underlying arterial inflammation and metabolic dysfunction that starts in your gut, spreads through your bloodstream, and quietly raises your cardiac risk.

What’s inside your arteries has more to do with what’s on your plate than you might think. Let’s break down what the newest heart scan data reveals, and why the absence of symptoms doesn’t mean the absence of risk.

Low-Fiber Diets Silently Load Your Arteries with Dangerous Plaque

Research published in Cardiovascular Research analyzed coronary artery scans from 24,079 middle-aged Swedish adults with no known cardiovascular disease to find out how dietary habits affect heart plaque.1 Using imaging, researchers were able to not only see the presence of plaque but also assess how dangerous it looked based on its size, structure, and whether it was calcified or soft.

The study focused specifically on how low-fiber diets, marked by high intake of processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, compared to fiber-rich, plant-heavy diets in relation to plaque risk.

• Those with the worst diets had the most dangerous plaque features — Researchers divided participants into dietary score groups based on their intake of anti-inflammatory foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The lowest-scoring group (those with the poorest diet) had more plaque, more blocked arteries, and higher calcium levels in the arteries compared to those with the best diets.

Even more concerning, this group was also much more likely to have high-risk plaques — soft, unstable deposits that block blood flow and are more likely to rupture. These individuals didn’t just have more buildup; they had the kind of buildup most likely to trigger heart attacks.

• Heart plaque risks rose as diet quality declined — The odds of having dangerous coronary plaque jumped dramatically in those with the lowest diet quality scores. Compared to the healthiest eaters, those in the lowest tier had:

◦23% higher odds of having soft, non-calcified plaques

◦37% higher odds of having calcified plaques with mild artery narrowing

◦67% higher odds of having non-calcified plaques causing major blockage

◦Up to 97% higher odds of having the most dangerous high-risk plaques in unadjusted models

This means you’re significantly more likely to develop the worst kind of plaque just by following a low-fiber, highly processed diet.

• Diet influenced how many segments of the heart had plaque — Researchers also tracked how many segments of the coronary arteries were affected. The worst diets were linked to more widespread plaque, meaning more branches of the heart’s vascular system were impacted. The scan data showed more advanced blockages and greater overall burden among those eating the least fiber-rich foods. The problem wasn’t limited to a single artery. It was systemic.

• Specific arteries were more vulnerable to poor diet — Plaques showed up most often in the right coronary artery and left anterior descending artery — two key areas that supply large portions of the heart. These are the arteries you don’t want compromised. The diet’s impact wasn’t evenly spread across the heart, suggesting some regions are especially vulnerable to poor dietary patterns.

Diet-Driven Plaques Showed Up in People with No Known Heart Problems

One of the most important parts of the study is that all participants were considered “healthy” with no diagnosed heart disease. This means people are walking around with ticking time bombs in their arteries without any clue. They likely feel fine. Their doctor might say everything looks good. But the damage is already underway.2

• Inflammation and diet were directly linked — People with the lowest dietary scores also had the highest levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a common marker of systemic inflammation. This confirms that inflammatory foods don’t just affect your gut or blood sugar — they light a fire in your cardiovascular system that alters how plaques form in your arteries.

• Biggest plaque risks tracked with waist size, blood pressure, and triglycerides — Waist circumference, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides were the strongest links between bad diets and dangerous plaques.

In fact, waist size alone explained up to 56.7% of the increased risk for high-risk plaque types in low-quality diets. Triglycerides explained up to 39.8%, and high blood pressure up to 32.1%. These three markers acted like biological bridges, translating your food choices directly into plaque formation.

• The damage is likely cumulative and starts long before symptoms appear — The findings support the idea that dietary damage builds up slowly and silently. Even small changes in diet quality showed noticeable differences in plaque type and location. And while this was a cross-sectional study, meaning it only took a snapshot in time, the associations were strong enough to suggest that poor diet is a key driver of dangerous, symptomless atherosclerosis.

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How to Repair the Damage and Protect Your Heart with Fiber

You don’t have to guess whether your diet is putting your heart at risk. The damage shows up in your arteries long before you ever feel a symptom. If you’ve been eating a highly processed, low-fiber diet — or struggling with bloating, constipation, or blood sugar swings — it’s time to step back and rebuild your gut and heart health from the ground up.

I’m not going to tell you to just “eat more fiber” and hope for the best. That kind of advice ignores one of the most common problems I see: a damaged gut microbiome that can’t handle fermentable fiber in the first place. You’ve got to fix the root before layering more fiber on top of dysfunction. Here’s where to begin.

1. Start by checking your gut’s current condition — If you regularly feel bloated after meals, struggle with gas, go days without a bowel movement, or swing between constipation and loose stools, your gut is telling you something. These are signs your microbiome is imbalanced, your gut lining is inflamed, or both. Adding a bunch of fiber at this stage is like pouring fuel on a fire.

2. Avoid fermentable fibers until your digestion calms down — You’ve probably heard that fiber “feeds good bacteria,” but that only works if your microbiome is balanced to begin with. When it’s not, fiber feeds the overgrowth, especially oxygen-tolerant bacteria that thrive in a leaky, inflamed gut. That’s the fiber paradox — and it leads to more endotoxin, more inflammation, and even more plaque-promoting damage.

For now, skip the leafy greens, raw vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Focus on easy-to-digest carbs like fruit and white rice. These provide clean fuel that doesn’t ferment too fast or feed the wrong bacteria.

3. Reintroduce the right types of fiber slowly and strategically — Once your bloating has subsided and your digestion becomes more regular, you’ve likely turned a corner. This is your green light to start feeding your fiber-fermenting bacteria again, but only with specific foods, in small doses.

Start with resistant starches like cooked-and-cooled white potatoes, green bananas, or white rice that’s been chilled. These feed butyrate-producing bacteria — the kind that nourish your colon cells, lower inflammation, and promote metabolic health. Then add small amounts of garlic, leeks, and onions, which are rich in prebiotic compounds.

4. Support the bacteria that make butyrate, your gut’s anti-inflammatory fuel — Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) made when fiber is fermented by the right kind of bacteria. It fuels colonocytes (cells that line your colon), tightens your gut barrier, and reduces systemic inflammation — the exact mechanisms that protect your arteries from plaque buildup.

Once you tolerate fermentable fiber, emphasize foods that increase butyrate naturally. That means adding in prebiotic foods slowly, staying consistent, and avoiding things that kill off good microbes like alcohol, vegetable oils high in linoleic acid (LA), and processed junk.

5. Build your tolerance and personalize your fiber intake — Not everyone needs the same amount or type of fiber. If you’re healing from gut damage, your tolerance will change over time. This is where personalization matters. You’ll need to listen to your symptoms and track how you respond to new foods.

Increase variety slowly, one ingredient at a time. Keep portions small at first. If you tolerate cooled potatoes, try a spoonful of lentils. If leeks go down well, try adding cooked organic oats. Give your microbiome time to adjust and rebuild the bacterial species that protect your heart and gut.

Fiber isn’t the enemy, but it’s not always your friend either, especially if your gut is compromised. Get your digestion back on track first, then add in healthy, fiber-rich foods. You’ll not only avoid the kind of plaque that triggers heart attacks — you’ll also feel stronger, lighter, and more stable in the process.

FAQs About Low-Fiber Diets and Heart Health

Q: What did the heart scan study reveal about low-fiber diets?

A: A large Swedish study using advanced heart scans found that people who ate the least amount of fiber and the most processed meat had significantly more dangerous types of plaque in their arteries. These soft, non-calcified plaques are more likely to rupture and trigger heart attacks, even in people without any known heart disease.

Q: Can heart disease develop even if I feel fine and have no symptoms?

A: Yes. The study involved over 24,000 adults who appeared healthy but still had high-risk plaque silently building in their arteries. These individuals had no diagnosed heart conditions, showing that dangerous plaque buildup occurs long before any symptoms appear.

Q: What are the biggest risk factors that made the plaque worse?

A: The worst plaque risks were seen in people with larger waistlines, higher blood pressure, and elevated triglycerides. These markers, especially when combined with a low-fiber, inflammatory diet, acted like biological messengers that translated poor food choices directly into dangerous plaque formation.

Q: Should I just eat more fiber to fix the problem?

A: Not necessarily. If your gut is already damaged, jumping into a high-fiber diet will backfire. You need to check for signs of poor digestion, like bloating, constipation, or loose stools, before adding fermentable fibers. The first step is restoring gut balance with easier-to-digest foods before reintroducing specific fibers in small amounts.

Q: What are the best steps to protect my heart and repair my gut?

A: Start by cutting out inflammatory foods and focusing on simple carbs like fruit and white rice if your digestion is impaired. Once symptoms improve, introduce resistant starches and prebiotic-rich foods slowly. Support the bacteria that produce butyrate — an anti-inflammatory compound that protects your colon and your arteries — by personalizing your fiber intake and staying consistent.

 

Posted in Arteries, Blood Clots, Carbohydrates, Cardiovascular, Fibre, Food, Heart, Inflammation | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: August 11, 2025

How a Woman’s Diet Directly Shapes Her Vaginal Microbiome


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/08/09/diet-vaginal-microbiome.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     August 09, 2025

diet vaginal microbiome

Story at-a-glance

  • A woman’s vaginal microbiome is shaped by what she eats daily — choosing whole foods over processed ones gives more control over infections, irritation, and long-term health
  • Eating more processed meats and drinking alcohol increases harmful vaginal bacteria like Gardnerella, raising the risk for infections, odor, irritation, and pregnancy complications
  • Research shows that omega-3 fat alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) supports beneficial bacteria strains that help keep vaginal pH low and defend against bacterial overgrowth and inflammation
  • Carbohydrates are crucial during pregnancy — getting over 49% of calories from healthy carbs promotes a balanced vaginal microbiome and lowers the risk of dysbiosis
  • Excess linoleic acid (LA) from seed oils like soybean, corn, and sunflower disrupts bacterial balance and promotes inflammation, undermining vaginal and gut health

Many women today deal with recurring vaginal infections, yeast overgrowth, or just a general feeling of discomfort down there. While it may seem like an issue related to hygiene, there’s a chance that the problem goes much deeper — and that diet likely plays a role.

Most women have no idea that their daily food choices are shaping their vaginal health. Yet research now shows that what a woman eats directly influences which bacteria thrive — and which don’t — inside her body. The good news is that this is something that can be controlled. By making certain dietary changes, it’s possible to bring back balance to the vaginal microbiome.

Researchers Studied the Link Between Vaginal Microbiome Patterns and Food Intake

A recent study conducted by researchers in Italy examined how macronutrients in the diet affect the bacterial makeup of the vaginal microbiome. Published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, the research team investigated which dietary patterns support a protective bacterial environment and which ones led to vaginal dysbiosis (microbial imbalance).1

• Study participants were mostly young women — The cross-sectional study involved 113 sexually active women between the ages of 19 and 30, with a median age of 21 years. All were in good health and free from chronic disease, infections, or pregnancy.

• The participants provided two self-collected vaginal samples — These were taken during the late follicular phase (the final stage in the menstrual cycle). One sample was tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the other was used for metabolomic analysis and microbiota profiling.

• The vaginal bacteria were grouped into different categories — These categories show which types of bacteria are most dominant. The team also identified the different types of Lactobacillus, a strain known to help protect vaginal health.

• The researchers also evaluated the participants’ food intake — They used a food questionnaire with 188 food items classified into 24 categories. The dietary data included how much alcohol, protein, fiber, and carbohydrates each woman regularly consumed.

“Nutritional data were processed and analyzed for alcohol, energy, and macronutrient intake, and macronutrient balances were examined using Compositional Data Analysis (CoDA), employing additive log-ratio transformations,” News-Medical.net explains.

“Statistical analyses included correlation studies, diversity indices, and multinomial logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders such as stress, contraceptive use, age, and body mass index (BMI).”2

Eating More Plants and Fewer Processed Meats Changes the Vaginal Microbiome

One of the most important findings was how excessive protein intake along with alcohol consumption significantly led to an imbalance in the vaginal microbiome, allowing harmful bacteria to thrive.

• A high intake of animal protein and alcohol was associated with high amounts of harmful bacteria — In women whose diets were rich in meat and alcohol, the bacterial communities shifted into CST IV, meaning they have more anaerobic bacteria and fewer healthy Lactobacillus species.

• In particular, Gardnerella and Prevotella strains are prevalent in these participants’ vaginal microbiome — These two microbes are the main culprits behind bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition marked by abnormal discharge, odor, irritation, and increased risk of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy complications.

• These dysbiotic communities were linked to increased glucose and simple sugar metabolites — These conditions favor the growth of unwanted bacteria. These microbial groups also had more diverse species present, which may sound good, but in the vaginal environment, more diversity usually signals an imbalance. A healthy vaginal microbiome is one where just a few dominant good bacteria keep the ecosystem stable and defend against invaders.

• Meanwhile, consuming more vegetables, fiber, and healthy carbohydrates led to more favorable microbiome profiles — Specifically, those with higher intake of these nutrients had more beneficial Lactobacillus strains, which are protective for vaginal health, helping lower infection risk.

• Bacterial balance wasn’t just about which microbes were present — It also came down to the chemical compounds those microbes were producing. In healthy vaginal environments dominated by Lactobacillus strains, researchers found higher levels of branched-chain amino acids like leucine and isoleucine, and antioxidants that support local immune defenses and help keep vaginal pH low, preventing the overgrowth of BV-causing bacteria.

• These results support the idea of a “vagina-gut axis” — This is a two-way street where dietary nutrients modulate not just the digestive system but reproductive health as well. The researchers concluded:

“A healthy diet could preserve the vaginal homeostasis by regulating the trafficking of bacterial species across the vagina and gut (bacterial translocation), in turn modulating the level and type of metabolites produced by the microbiota, acting as indirect players of the vagina-gut axis.

In conclusion, we highlighted that specific dietary habits (i.e., reduced consumption of alcohol and animal proteins, higher intake of linolenic acid) can have a beneficial impact on the vaginal environment, through the maintenance of a microbiota mostly dominated by ‘protective’ Lactobacillus species …”3

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Plant-Based Omega-3s Led to Favorable Microbiome Profiles, but There’s a Catch

One of the key beneficial nutrients highlighted by the study was alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Researchers suggest this plant-based omega-3 may actually interact with vaginal bacteria, possibly converting into other helpful fatty acids that nourish Lactobacillus species directly.4

While I do acknowledge the advantages of ALA shown by this study, I believe that animal-derived omega-3 fats, specifically docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are far more superior for overall health, for two reasons:

• EPA and DHA surpass ALA in terms of their bioavailability — To put it simply, the body uses these two animal-based omega-3s more easily, making their benefits more easily attainable.

• Plant sources of ALA are also loaded with polyunsaturated fats (PUFs) — Most of the foods high in ALA — nuts, seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds — also contain high amounts of linoleic acid (LA), a PUF that disrupts the mitochondria and increases inflammation. Hence, excessively consuming these foods could be causing more damage to your health.

In fact, the featured study made a reference to research on how women’s dietary intake of omega-3s reduces bad bacteria, while supporting the growth of beneficial strains that protect against intestinal inflammation and infections. In the study, DHA and EPA were specifically found to exert these benefits.5

That said, too much omega-3 is just as problematic as too little — after all, they are also a type of PUF. The key is that if you’re raising your omega-3 intake, it is absolutely crucial to lower your LA intake from seed oils and processed foods (especially for women who are pregnant or planning to conceive). Getting too much omega-3s from certain supplements is also not advisable — read more about it in this article, “The Omega-3 Paradox — How Much Is Too Much?”

A Healthier Vaginal Microbiome During Pregnancy Starts with the Right Carbs

Maintaining a balanced vaginal microbiome is essential at every stage of life, but it becomes imperative during pregnancy. Earlier research published in Nutrients looked at how diet quality influences the vaginal microbiome throughout pregnancy.6

• The study followed a group of 40 women during all three trimesters — Both their dietary habits and the bacteria living in their vaginal tract were closely monitored during this time. The participants, who came from different ethnic backgrounds and were between 18 and 45 years old, were all considered low-risk pregnancies.

Each woman completed food questionnaires in the first, second, and third trimesters, while also self-collecting vaginal samples for microbiome analysis. The goal was to determine if better eating habits were linked to a healthier vaginal environment, which could reduce the risk of complications like preterm birth and bacterial infections.

• What the researchers found was eye-opening — Diet quality had a consistent and measurable impact on which bacteria showed up in each woman’s microbiome. Women who scored higher on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) — a tool that measures how closely their diets align with recommended dietary guidelines — were more likely to have protective bacteria strains.

• The biggest dietary driver of this beneficial balance was carbohydrate intake — Women who got more than 49% of their daily calories from carbohydrates had a microbiome dominated by good bacteria, while those who ate fewer carbs showed a rise in less favorable species and anaerobic bacteria that are linked to vaginal dysbiosis, which raises the risk for infection, inflammation, and complications during labor.

• Timing made a difference, too — In early pregnancy, better diet scores were associated with fewer overall bacterial species, which is a good thing in the vaginal ecosystem. Unlike the gut, where diversity is usually beneficial, the vaginal microbiome works best when just a few dominant good species hold their ground. This low-diversity, Lactobacillus-rich environment is what keeps things balanced and prevents harmful bacteria from taking over.

• The biological mechanisms at play here come down to something simple but powerful — glycogen — When a woman eats enough carbohydrates, her vaginal cells store glycogen, a starch-like compound that acts as food for beneficial Lactobacillus species. These bacteria convert glycogen into lactic acid, which keeps vaginal pH low and stops pathogens in their tracks. Without enough glycogen, the vaginal microbiome becomes imbalanced.

• Hormonal shifts also play a role — Estrogen, which rises steadily throughout pregnancy, helps the body build and store glycogen in vaginal tissue. However, not getting enough carbs means it can’t do its job effectively. That’s why what women eat matters just as much as what their hormones are doing.

Interestingly, even among women with similar body weights or ethnic backgrounds, the quality of their diet still made a difference in microbial outcomes. This means dietary improvements will help almost anyone, regardless of other risk factors.

The Type of Carb Matters

Remember that there’s a world of difference between carbs that nourish the cells and carbs that accelerate inflammation and decline. It’s important to consume high-quality carbohydrates from real, whole foods, and not refined carbs that harm the gut and vaginal microbiome. Aim for 200 to 250 grams of the right carbs per day.

• Carbs from ultraprocessed foods damage health — Avoid carb choices that come in a box, bag, or bar with a long list of hard-to-pronounce ingredients. Refined carbs, like white bread, cookies, breakfast cereals, store-bought baked goods, and granola bars, spike blood sugar, damage both the gut and vaginal microbiome.

• Optimize gut health before consuming complex carbs — Symptoms like bloating, food intolerances, or loose stools, indicate that a compromised gut, and consuming complex carbs will only feed the bad bacteria. The key is to heal the gut first — stick to easy-to-digest carbs like white rice and whole fruit to fuel the body without overfeeding the bad microbes.

• Reintroduce fermentable fibers once the gut is healed — If the symptoms are gone, consider adding in small amounts of fibers that feed the good gut bacteria. Start with cooked and cooled white potatoes or green bananas, which contain resistant starch.

More Strategies to Support the Vaginal Microbiome

If you’re a woman who’s dealing with frequent vaginal infections, irritation, or discomfort, or if you simply want to support a healthy microbiome during pregnancy, your first step is to address the root cause — your diet. What you eat affects your body’s internal ecosystem, especially the balance of bacteria in the vaginal tract.

The right type of macronutrients will either support protective bacteria or feed the ones that lead to imbalance and infection. In addition to consuming the right carbs and getting omega-3s, here are some changes that will help the vaginal microbiome.

1. Eliminate linoleic acid (LA) from your diet — This omega-6 fat promotes inflammation and has been linked to microbial imbalance in the body. If you’re using seed oils like soybean, corn, sunflower, or safflower oil in your cooking or eating a lot of processed foods that contain them, you’re likely getting too much LA.

Replace these oils with healthier fats like grass fed butter, tallow, or ghee. If you often snack on chips or eat out often, cutting back on fried and processed foods will help reset your inflammatory load and support a healthier microbiome.

2. Avoid eating processed meats — As noted by the featured study, eating more processed meats like bacon or deli meat allows harmful bacteria to thrive, which leads to bacterial vaginosis. I recommend getting your protein from whole food sources like pasture-raised eggs, raw dairy, grass fed beef, and wild-caught fish.

3. Skip the alcohol — Even having a few cocktails a few times a week can affect the vaginal ecosystem. Both featured studies linked alcohol intake with increases in bad bacteria tied to BV and increased vaginal pH. Cutting back or eliminating alcohol completely could be one of the fastest ways to reset the balance and prevent unpleasant vaginal conditions.

4. Avoid douching — Despite what is shown in many advertisements, douching is not a healthy, recommended practice. Flushing the vagina with water or another cleansing agent only serves to disrupt its healthy bacteria balance, giving bad bacteria the advantage. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Women’s Health:7

“Douching can change the necessary balance of vaginal flora (bacteria that live in the vagina) and natural acidity in a healthy vagina. A healthy vagina has [both] good and harmful bacteria. The balance of bacteria helps maintain an acidic environment. The acidic environment protects the vagina from infections or irritation.

Douching can cause an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. This can lead to a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis. If you already have a vaginal infection, douching can push the [infection-causing] bacteria up into the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. This can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, a serious health problem. Douching is also linked to other health problems.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Diet and the Vaginal Microbiome

Q: How does a woman’s diet affect her vaginal health?

A: Daily food choices directly influence the types of bacteria that grow in the vaginal microbiome. Diets high in processed meat, alcohol, and seed oils support harmful bacteria, while whole foods like vegetables, fiber, and healthy carbs promote protective Lactobacillus species that prevent infections and irritation.

Q: What is the role of linoleic acid in disrupting vaginal health?

A: Linoleic acid, found in seed oils like soybean, corn, sunflower, and safflower, promotes inflammation and microbial imbalance. Too much of it fuels harmful bacteria, increasing the risk of vaginal infections and irritation.

Q: What foods or habits should women avoid to prevent imbalance in their vaginal flora?

A: Avoid alcohol, processed meats, and seed oils high in linoleic acid. These promote harmful bacteria and inflammation, leading to discomfort, bacterial vaginosis, and higher infection risk.

Q: Why are carbohydrates especially important during pregnancy?

A: Carbs help the body store glycogen in vaginal tissue, which feeds beneficial bacteria. Pregnant women with higher carb intake (over 49% of calories) had healthier microbiome profiles and lower risk of complications like preterm birth.

Q: Is more bacterial diversity always better?

A: Not in the vaginal microbiome. Unlike your gut, a healthy vaginal environment actually thrives with fewer, dominant good bacteria. High diversity here often means imbalance, especially when harmful species start to outnumber the protective ones.

Posted in Carbohydrates, Food, Linoleic Acid, Women | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: July 11, 2025

Midlife Carbohydrate Quality Linked to Healthier Aging in Women


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/07/10/midlife-carb-quality-healthier-aging-in-women.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     July 10, 2025

midlife carb quality healthier aging in women

Story at-a-glance

  • Women who ate more whole fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains in their 40s and 50s had up to 31% better odds of aging without disease or decline
  • Diets high in white bread, sugary snacks, and processed carbs were linked to significantly worse mental, physical, and metabolic health in older age
  • Eating carbs with little fiber, typical of most processed foods, was tied to a 29% drop in the chance of healthy aging across all categories
  • Consistent intake of high-quality carbs over many years had a stronger effect on aging than temporary diet changes made later in life
  • If your gut is compromised, even healthy carbs cause problems, so start with simple carbs like fruit and white rice, then reintroduce fiber slowly once your gut heals

Most people assume aging is something that just happens to you. But your daily habits, especially the food you put on your plate, have far more control than you’ve been told. What if one of the simplest changes you make today could drastically shift how you age decades from now?

Carbohydrates are one of the most misunderstood nutrients in modern health culture. You’ve probably heard they’re something to fear, cut out, or “earn” through exercise. But the truth is more nuanced — and far more powerful. Certain carbs are necessary for sustaining cellular energy, supporting brain health and protecting against the slow erosion of physical function that many people accept as inevitable with age.

The real issue isn’t whether you eat carbs; it’s which ones. There’s a world of difference between carbs that nourish your cells and carbs that accelerate inflammation and decline. And the earlier you understand that difference, the more time you have to put it to work.

If your goal is to stay sharp, independent and physically strong as you get older, this information is for you. What researchers uncovered about carb quality and aging will likely change the way you think about your next meal.

Women Who Aged the Best Ate the Right Carbs in Midlife

A large-scale cohort study, published in JAMA Network Open, followed 47,513 women from the Nurses’ Health Study to evaluate how the type and amount of carbohydrates they consumed in midlife affected their chances of aging well later in life.1 The researchers defined “healthy aging” as living past age 70 without major chronic diseases, memory loss, significant physical limitations, or poor mental health.

• Only 7.8% of women met the healthy aging criteria — Despite decades of nutrition advice, fewer than 8 in 100 women reached older age in good mental, physical, and emotional health. What set these women apart wasn’t just how many carbs they ate but what kind. Diets rich in high-quality carbohydrates, especially from whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, were consistently associated with better outcomes.

• Refined carbs and starchy vegetables worsened aging outcomes — Women who consumed more refined carbohydrates, like white bread, sugary snacks, and processed grains, were significantly less likely to age well. These findings held even after adjusting for other factors like exercise, weight, smoking, and medication use.

• High-quality carbs boosted the odds of healthy aging by up to 31% — Every 10% increase in calories from high-quality carbs was linked to a 31% greater chance of healthy aging. Total carbs also helped, but not nearly as much. Refined carbs, on the other hand, lowered the odds by 13% for each 10% increase in intake.

• Fruit, vegetable, and legume carbs gave the strongest protective effect — When carbs came from fruits, vegetables, and legumes, the odds of aging well jumped by 6% to 37%, depending on the food group. This suggests that not all plant-based carbs are created equal — some fuel health, while others, especially those that spike blood sugar, erode it.

• Carbohydrate-to-fiber ratio was one of the strongest predictors — A high carb-to-fiber ratio, meaning diets with lots of refined sugar and starch but very little fiber, was linked to a 29% lower chance of healthy aging. That’s a massive drop, and it shows how important fiber-rich foods are to maintaining gut integrity, blood sugar control, and metabolic function.

Long-Term Habits Made a Bigger Difference Than Short-Term Changes

Women who consistently ate high-quality carbs over many years had stronger results than those who made changes only briefly. When carbohydrate intake was averaged over a 12- to 14-year period, the health benefits were even more pronounced.

• Starting in midlife was key — The average age at the beginning of the study was 48.5 years, and the dietary data was drawn from the mid-1980s. This means the choices these women made in their late 40s and 50s had ripple effects for decades. So, starting in midlife is not too late; it’s still a good window to invest in a healthier future.

• The benefits held regardless of body mass index (BMI) or general diet quality — Researchers found that even after adjusting for body weight, physical activity, and overall dietary scores, the quality of carbs still predicted how well someone aged. That reinforces the idea that carb quality is not just a secondary detail — it’s a driving force.

• Women with higher fiber intake saw the strongest gains — The benefits of carbohydrates were most pronounced in women whose diets were already high in fiber. In these individuals, total carbs and glycemic load, a measure of how much a food raises blood sugar, were more likely to predict better aging outcomes.

• Substituting quality carbs for other foods made a difference — When high-quality carbs replaced trans fats or refined carbs, the odds of healthy aging rose by up to 16%. This shows that what you swap in and out of your diet really matters. It’s not just about removing bad foods but choosing better ones.

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How Quality Carbs Protect Your Health at the Cellular Level

One reason high-quality carbs make such a difference is that they contain fermentable fibers that feed beneficial gut microbes. These microbes produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which help maintain a strong intestinal barrier, reduce inflammation and regulate immune function. Just be aware of the fiber paradox: fiber is necessary, but if you consume it when your gut is unhealthy, it makes symptoms worse. So always heal your gut health before adding beneficial fiber to your diet.

• Low-fiber diets let toxins and pathogens into your bloodstream — When you eat too many refined carbs and too little fiber, your gut barrier weakens. This allows endotoxins — harmful compounds from bacteria — to leak into your bloodstream. That leakage is linked to everything from brain fog to heart disease and autoimmune problems.

• Refined carbs cause blood sugar spikes that age your cells faster — Refined carbs digest quickly, sending your blood sugar and insulin levels soaring. Over time, this wears out your mitochondria — the energy factories inside your cells — leading to lower energy, more inflammation and greater risk for age-related diseases.

• The best carbs don’t just give energy; they stabilize your system — Whole fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes do more than fuel your body. They help your body regulate stress hormones, maintain steady blood sugar, and support healthy immune responses, all of which contribute to how you age and how you feel decades from now.

How to Use Carbs the Right Way to Age with Energy, Strength, and Clarity

If you’ve been cutting carbs thinking it’s the key to staying lean and healthy, it’s time to rethink that strategy. The real problem isn’t how many carbs you eat — it’s which ones you choose and whether your gut is healthy enough to process them without triggering inflammation or fatigue.

The study shows that high-quality carbs help you age better, while refined ones push you toward chronic disease and early decline. That means your job isn’t to avoid carbs but to use them as a tool for healing, strength, and long-term energy. Here’s how to do that step by step.

1. Start by checking the state of your gut — If you have gut dysfunction, you’ll need to go slow with fiber-rich carbs. Ask yourself: Do you get bloated after meals? Do you go days without a bowel movement — or have the opposite problem, like frequent loose stools? Do you struggle with food intolerances?

If you answered yes to more than one of these, your gut is likely too compromised to tolerate complex carbs right now. You’ll need to support your gut first, or even healthy carbs will backfire. Don’t guess — listen to your symptoms. That’s your gut’s way of telling you what it can and can’t handle.

2. Avoid fiber and complex carbs until your gut settles down — When your gut lining is damaged or overrun with the wrong bacteria, even “healthy” foods cause trouble. Beans, whole grains, leafy greens, and cruciferous vegetables ferment fast in an imbalanced gut, leading to bloating, gas, and inflammation.

In the early healing phase, keep things simple. Stick to easy-to-digest carbs like whole fruits and white rice. These give your body fuel without overfeeding the bad microbes. Later, you’ll reintroduce complex carbs, but forcing it too soon will only slow you down.

3. Cut out refined and ultraprocessed carbohydrates completely — If your carb choices come in a box, bag, or bar with a long list of hard-to-pronounce ingredients, they’re working against you. Refined carbs, like white bread, cookies, breakfast cereals, store-bought baked goods, and granola bars, spike your blood sugar, damage your gut and leave you more tired over time.

These carbs were directly linked to worse aging outcomes in the study and should be treated like toxins, not food. Your mitochondria, gut lining, and brain are all harmed by these refined carbs. Replace them with real carbs that come from real foods, not a factory.

4. Aim for 250 grams of the right carbs each day — Carbohydrates are your main source of glucose, and glucose is the fuel your cells actually want. If you’ve been eating low-carb or keto, you’ve been starving your mitochondria of their preferred energy source. That slows healing, lowers energy, and stresses your system.

Focus on carbs from whole fruits and white rice, and, when your gut is ready, gradually add in root vegetables, then legumes, additional vegetables, and well-tolerated whole grains. These are the same types of carbs that helped the healthiest women in the study age without disease or decline.

5. Reintroduce fermentable fibers in small amounts once you’re stable — After your gut is calm, meaning no more bloating and no more irregular bowel movements, you’ll begin to reintroduce fibers that feed your good bacteria. Start with cooked and cooled white potatoes or green bananas, which contain resistant starch.

This type of fiber skips digestion and feeds your gut’s butyrate-producing bacteria directly. Next, try small amounts of garlic, onions, or leeks. These build your gut’s resilience without overwhelming it. Take your time here. Your goal is to nourish your gut, not overload it. Remember, carbs aren’t the enemy. The wrong carbs are. The right ones help you heal, thrive and age with a body and brain that still work.

FAQs About Carbohydrates and Aging

Q: What kinds of carbohydrates are best for healthy aging?

A: The most beneficial carbs come from whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and well-tolerated whole grains. These high-quality carbohydrates are rich in fiber and nutrients, and were linked to better odds of aging without chronic disease, physical decline, or poor mental health.

Q: Should I avoid all carbs as I get older?

A: No. The study found that total carbohydrate intake was associated with healthier aging — if those carbs came from unprocessed, whole food sources. It’s refined and ultraprocessed carbs, like white bread, pastries, and sugary snacks, that accelerate aging and increase disease risk.

Q: What if I have gut issues or can’t tolerate fiber-rich foods?

A: If you experience bloating, irregular bowel movements, or pain after eating fibrous foods, your gut needs to heal before you reintroduce certain carbs. Start with easy-to-digest options like white rice and whole fruits, and avoid complex fiber until symptoms improve.

Q: How many carbs should I be eating daily to support longevity?

A: Most adults need 250 grams of the right carbs per day. If you’re active, you need more. Carbs are your cells’ preferred fuel source for energy, and low-carb diets worsen mitochondrial dysfunction and slow recovery.

Q: What’s the fastest way to start improving my carb quality?

A: Eliminate refined and ultraprocessed carbs immediately. Instead, build your meals around simple, whole carb sources like fruit, root vegetables, white rice and — once your gut is stable — legumes, vegetables and whole grains.

– Sources and References

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Posted by: | Posted on: May 13, 2025

What Ghost Poops Say About Your Digestion and Gut Health


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/05/13/ghost-poops.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     May 13, 2025

ghost poops

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Ghost poops — bowel movements that leave no residue when wiping and sink in the toilet — are indicators of excellent gut health and proper digestion, showing your body is efficiently processing nutrients
  • Many digestive issues that prevent ghost poops stem from poor diet, stress, dehydration or insufficient physical activity, all of which disrupt your gut microbiome
  • Contrary to popular belief, healing your gut often requires increasing digestible carbohydrates (200 to 350 grams daily) rather than focusing on fiber-heavy foods that might worsen symptoms in an unhealthy gut
  • Proper toilet posture significantly impacts elimination — using a footstool or leaning forward opens your colon for more complete evacuation
  • Floating or sticky stools signal issues with fat absorption or gut inflammation, while regular ghost poops indicate your digestive system is functioning optimally

Most people have no idea that one of the best signs of good digestive health leaves no trace behind. In fact, when you flush without needing to wipe or scrub the bowl, that’s not a problem — it’s a goal. In HuffPost, colorectal surgeon Dr. Ira Leeds of Yale Medicine calls these ideal bowel movements “nirvana poops,” while Stanford physical therapist Julia Barten refers to them as “no wipers” or “unicorn poops.”1

Either way, they’re a powerful signal that your digestive system is working the way it’s supposed to. What defines a ghost poop is not what you see, but what you don’t: no smearing, no floating, no excessive wiping.

Bowel movements are a direct reflection of your microbiome, your diet, your stress levels, your sleep and even your nervous system. So, if your goal is better gut health, the question isn’t only how often you go — it’s how well. And there’s no better marker for that than the elusive but achievable ghost poop.

Most People Don’t Realize Perfect Poops Are a Health Goal

HuffPost featured commentary from gastroenterologists and pelvic health experts explaining what it really means when your poop leaves no residue, no streaks and no need to wipe. Unlike most conversations about bowel movements that focus on frequency or urgency, this dug into quality — and what your stool says about the efficiency of your digestion.2

• Ghost poops are a sign of excellent gut function — Ghost poops pass easily, appear smooth and sausage-shaped, and leave your toilet paper clean. These bowel movements sink to the bottom of the toilet and glide through your anal canal with no straining or discomfort — indicating well-formed stool and a low risk of irritation, hemorrhoids or inflammation.

• These poops aren’t rare — they’re achievable if digestion is working properly — A ghost poop usually falls under Type 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart, which classifies stool shapes and textures. Type 4 describes a soft, smooth, sausage-like form. That shape means your body is properly breaking down nutrients — especially fats. When digestion works as it should, the stool exits without drama, leaving no trace behind.

• A clean wipe means less stress on your rectum and skin — One key benefit of a ghost poop is that it reduces the need for wiping. According to Leeds, if you’re wiping more than three times, you’re not eliminating cleanly. That could mean inflammation, excess mucus or mechanical problems like hemorrhoids or fissures.

• Stool that floats or sticks tells a different story — While ghost poops sink to the bottom, floating stools often signal trouble. Stools loaded with undigested fat tend to float, because fat is less dense than water. That means your digestive system isn’t breaking fat down and absorbing it. Sticky or smeary poops also leave residue in the bowl and on your toilet paper, which is another red flag that something’s off in your digestion.

How Your Lifestyle and Diet Shape Every Trip to the Bathroom

Your gut’s ability to perform well is tied to how you live. “Our gut is our emotional center,” said Barten.3 As such, lack of sleep, chronic stress and a sedentary lifestyle all disrupt the rhythm of your digestive system. When you don’t move enough, your bowels slow down. When you’re sleep-deprived or anxious, your gut tightens up. These factors affect stool consistency and how easily it passes, making ghost poops more elusive.

• Even a brisk walk makes a difference in your bowel health — Barten points out that physical activity — like walking — improves nervous system function and boosts the wave-like contractions that move food through your intestines. Regular movement literally helps things move better. You don’t need a gym membership to improve your gut — just adding consistent, low-impact activity like daily walking helps regulate your bowels and improve elimination.

• Food sensitivities are a hidden trigger behind inconsistent poops — Many people are unknowingly reacting to certain foods. These reactions can show up as sticky, smeary stools, excess gas or bloating.

Removing irritants — even healthy-seeming ones like high-fiber vegetables until your gut is healed — might be necessary if you’re not seeing clean, smooth eliminations. Pay attention to how your body responds to different meals and cut back on what triggers symptoms.

• Getting your gut back on track starts with self-care — Healing your digestion often requires a holistic approach, and that includes tending to sleep, stress and emotional health. Prioritizing activities you enjoy, getting enough high-quality sleep and reducing chronic stress all contribute to improved bowel movements. When you feel emotionally well, your gut health improves.

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Addressing the Root Causes of Irregular Bowel Movements

If your bowel movements are leaving streaks in the toilet, floating on the surface or requiring endless wiping, that’s a sign something deeper is going on with your gut. You’re not just dealing with a minor inconvenience — you’re looking at poor digestion, microbiome imbalance or toxin buildup interfering with how your body processes food. The good news? You can fix this. But you have to address what’s really causing the problem.

If your goal is to have ghost poops regularly, you need to make real, strategic changes. These steps focus on repairing your gut, restoring proper microbial balance and giving your body the fuel it needs to eliminate waste efficiently.

1. Start with easy-to-digest carbohydrates — If your gut is struggling, now’s not the time for fiber-packed whole grains. Start with simple, digestible carbs like white rice and whole fruits. These give your gut the energy it needs to start healing without overwhelming your system.

White rice offers a stable glucose source, while ripe fruits provide natural sugars and important nutrients that nourish your beneficial bacteria. You want fuel that supports gut repair — not ingredients that stir up inflammation.

2. Drink dextrose water if your gut is severely compromised — If you’re someone who has struggled for years with bloating, irregular stools or food sensitivities, your gut may be in rough shape. In that case, you’d benefit from starting with dextrose water. Mix pure dextrose with water and sip it slowly throughout the day. This gives your cells immediate energy while minimizing the digestive effort required.

I don’t recommend this as a long-term fix — but it’s a valuable jump-start for people whose guts are inflamed or damaged. After a week or two, begin transitioning to fruit and white rice.

3. Increase your total carb intake — but do it smartly — You might’ve been told to cut carbs or avoid sugar. That’s the wrong advice if you’re trying to restore your digestion. Your gut lining needs carbs to heal. Most adults benefit from at least 200 to 350 grams of carbs per day — more if you’re active. But not all carbs are equal.

Skip the fiber-heavy grains until your gut is healed and instead focus on easy-to-process sources like fruit, root vegetables and white rice. These help restore your mitochondrial function, leading to improved cellular energy that’s necessary to support a healthy gut barrier, reduce the risk of leaky gut and promote healthy stool formation.

4. Use your posture to support better elimination — The way you sit on the toilet matters more than you think.

Sitting with your knees lower than your hips puts your rectum in a kinked position, which makes it harder to pass stool. That leads to straining, incomplete elimination and, eventually, issues like hemorrhoids. Instead, mimic a squat. You can do this by using a footstool, crossing one leg over the other or leaning forward with your elbows on your knees. These small shifts open up your colon and help you empty more completely.

5. Stay hydrated — but let your body guide you — Your intestines rely on water to soften stool and keep things moving. Dehydration is one of the most common — and most overlooked — causes of constipation and sticky poops. But you don’t need to chug gallons. Just drink clean, pure water throughout the day and listen to your thirst. A good rule of thumb is to check your urine. It should be a pale yellow — if it’s dark, you’re dehydrated.

If you’re consistent with these steps, you’ll start to see changes in how your body eliminates waste. Your goal isn’t just regularity — it’s quality. Smooth, complete, effortless bowel movements are a sign your digestion is working and your body is on track.

FAQs About Ghost Poop

Q: What is a ghost poop, and why does it matter?

A: A ghost poop is a bowel movement that passes easily, sinks in the toilet and leaves little to no residue when you wipe. It’s considered the ideal stool because it reflects efficient digestion, nutrient absorption and a healthy gut microbiome. If you’re having ghost poops regularly, it means your body is processing fats, proteins and carbs properly.

Q: What does it mean if my poop floats or sticks to the toilet?

A: Floating or smeary stool often signals fat malabsorption or gut inflammation. If your stool doesn’t sink or leaves behind residue that’s hard to wipe, your body likely isn’t digesting food efficiently. This can indicate issues like bile insufficiency, poor fat digestion or microbial imbalance in your gut.

Q: How can I get ghost poops more often?

A: To support ghost poops, prioritize gut-healing carbs like whole fruits and white rice. Stay well hydrated, reduce stress and move your body daily — even a short walk helps. Also, adjust your toilet posture to better align your colon and ease elimination.

Q: Is fiber the best way to fix irregular bowel movements?

A: Not always. While fiber is valuable, it often worsens symptoms for those with a damaged gut. If you’re dealing with sticky, floating or incomplete stools, it’s better to start with low-fiber, easy-to-digest carbs. Only add fiber back once your gut begins to heal.

Q: What lifestyle habits affect my ability to have ghost poops?

A: Diet, sleep, stress, hydration and movement all play a major role. A lack of sleep or chronic stress throws off your nervous system and slows digestion. In contrast, a whole food diet, consistent hydration, regular sleep and regular daily movement improve gut motility and support healthier bowel movements.

– Sources and References

Posted in Carbohydrates, Gut | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: May 3, 2025

How Mitochondria Help Fight Infections and Calm Autoimmune Storms


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/04/22/how-mitochondria-help-fight-infections.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     April 22, 2025

how mitochondria help fight infections

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Macrophages and mitochondria are immune partners; macrophages clear germs and control inflammation, while mitochondria power cells and signal macrophages to manage inflammation effectively
  • Mitochondria’s complex III produces superoxide, signaling macrophages to release IL-10, the “off switch” for inflammation — key for preventing chronic and autoimmune issues
  • Research showed impaired mitochondrial complex III reduces IL-10, causing unchecked inflammation and severe illness, highlighting mitochondria’s important immune regulatory role
  • Naturally boost IL-10 through fiber-rich foods for butyrate, sunshine exposure, exercise and spices like garlic to enhance your body’s inflammation control mechanisms
  • Healthy mitochondria, threatened by seed oils in processed foods and toxins, are essential for energy and immunity; lifestyle choices significantly impact mitochondrial function and overall well-being

Your body’s a busy place, full of tiny workers keeping you healthy. Some of these workers, like macrophages and mitochondria, do more than you might think. They’re not just cleaning up germs or powering your cells — they’re also teaming up to control inflammation, that fiery response that protects you from infections in the short term but contributes to diseases when it becomes chronic.

It’s important to understand how these cellular heroes work, why they’re key for fighting infections and calming autoimmune flare-ups, and, perhaps most importantly, how to support them with simple, everyday habits.

Meet Your Body’s Cleanup Crew — What Are Macrophages?

You’ve got a squad of cells called macrophages patrolling your body. Think of them as your cleanup crew — part janitor, part security guard. They roam around, gobbling up germs like bacteria and viruses, and tidying up after cuts or bruises. But they don’t stop there. They also play a big role in managing your immune system’s reaction when trouble hits.

• How do they work? When something invades — like a cold virus — macrophages swoop in to eat it up. They’re your first line of defense, keeping pathogens in check.

• What’s their secret weapon? Macrophages release a helper called IL-10, which is like an “all clear” signal. It tells your immune system to back off once the danger’s gone. This is important because it stops inflammation from going overboard.

Inflammation is like a fire alarm — it’s loud and grabs attention when you need to fight off invaders. But if it keeps blaring after the germ’s gone, it’s trouble. That’s where macrophages and IL-10 save the day, especially for conditions like autoimmune diseases — such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, where your body attacks itself — or severe infections like sepsis, a body-wide emergency.

What Are Mitochondria? More Than Just Energy Makers

Inside your cells, you’ve got tiny mitochondria, often referred to as “power plants.” They churn out energy to keep you moving, like batteries powering a city. Macrophages lean on them to fuel their cleanup jobs. But mitochondria do much more than just make energy.

• A hidden superpower — Mitochondria are like command centers, sending signals to guide how macrophages handle infections or injuries. Complex III, part of the electron transport chain, is the star here — it’s like a switchboard operator telling everyone what to do.

• Why this matters — Without these signals, your macrophages can’t do their full job. It’s not just about power — it’s about control. And when that control slips, inflammation runs wild.

So, mitochondria aren’t just keeping the lights on — they’re helping you fight germs and calm things down when the battle’s over.

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What Did Scientists Find About Mitochondria and Inflammation?

In a 2025 study published in Science Advances, researchers tested mice to see how mitochondria help macrophages.1 They interfered with the complex III switch in the macrophages of some mice, breaking it on purpose. Then they gave these mice the flu or a serious infection-like state. Those mice got much sicker than normal ones.

• What went wrong? In the lab, those broken macrophages barely made IL-10 when they got infection signals. Without IL-10, they couldn’t quiet the inflammation alarm — it just kept screaming.

• Meet superoxide — Normally, complex III pumps out a molecule called superoxide, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that’s like a flare macrophages shoot off to influence the production of IL-10. But with no complex III, there’s no superoxide and no calm-down signal in the form of IL-10. The result? Inflammation takes over. The study reveals how important mitochondria are for your immune system. They’re not just energy makers — they tame inflammation, too.

How Does Superoxide Work? The Firefighter Analogy

Let’s break this down with a picture you can see in your head. Imagine superoxide as a firefighter spotting a blaze — that blaze is inflammation. The firefighter grabs a radio and calls for backup — IL-10, the water truck that douses the flames.

• What happens when it breaks? In those mice with broken complex III, the firefighter’s radio is dead. No call goes out, no water trucks roll in and the fire (inflammation) rages on. That’s why the mice in the study got so sick.

• Energy isn’t the fix — Scientists tried giving the macrophages a backup power source called alternative oxidase. It kept the lights on, but without superoxide, IL-10 still didn’t show up. So, superoxide is a key signaling molecule involved in regulating inflammation in your body.

How Can a Protein Save the Day?

Here’s where it gets interesting. When superoxide couldn’t call for help, researchers found a backup plan: a protein called protein kinase A (PKA). Think of PKA as a stand-in firefighter.

• What did the researchers do? In the lab, they turned on PKA in those broken macrophages. Guess what? It worked. PKA picked up the radio and called for IL-10, calming inflammation even without superoxide.

• Why this matters — This finding hints at new ways to help your immune system when mitochondria stumble. It’s like having a spare key to cool things down when inflammation’s heating up.

Do All Macrophage Jobs Need Superoxide?

Not exactly. Macrophages don’t just fight germs; they also make repairs. The researchers gave some macrophages a “repair” signal called IL-4 to heal tissues instead of battle invaders. Interestingly, broken complex III did not interfere with this job.

• Two modes, one cell — Picture macrophages like a car with two gears:

1. Fighting gear — Takes on infections — needs superoxide to call IL-10.

2. Healing gear — Fixes tissues — runs fine without superoxide.

• What this means — Your mitochondria play different roles depending on what’s needed. Fighting germs? They need that superoxide flare. Healing cuts? They’re good without it. This shows how smart your body is — it’s got backup plans for different tasks.

Why Should You Boost IL-10 Naturally?

More IL-10 means a stronger “off switch” for inflammation. That’s beneficial for your health, especially if you’ve got:

• Autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, where your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy body tissue.

• Severe infections, where inflammation often spirals out of control.

• The benefits — Boosting IL-10 helps calm those storms naturally. It’s like giving your cleanup crew a megaphone to shout “all clear” louder and faster.

• How do you do it? You don’t need fancy tools, just simple lifestyle changes to lift your IL-10 levels.

How Does Butyrate Boost IL-10 Naturally?

One superstar for raising IL-10 is butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid your gut bacteria make when you eat fiber-rich foods. It’s beneficial for both your gut and immune system. Growing evidence indicates butyrate increases IL-10 production.2

• What does butyrate do? It boosts complex III’s signaling, so your macrophages shoot off more superoxide flares and call in more IL-10 — like giving your firefighter a megaphone. Butyrate also helps nourish your colon cells, which rely on butyrate as a main energy source.

When these cells get the fuel they need, your gut lining stays strong, lowering the chances of substances such as undigested food, bacteria and metabolic wastes sneaking through into your bloodstream, a condition known as leaky gut. Butyrate’s protective effects are linked to multiple health benefits, including more stable digestion and better immune response.

• How do you get it? To boost butyrate production, eat fiber-filled carbohydrates like fruits on a regular basis. You also get butyrate from certain foods like grass fed butter and ghee, but a key way to increase your supply is by adding fiber sources such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans to your meals. When you give your gut bacteria enough fiber to ferment, they create even more butyrate.

It’s important to understand, however, that if your gut health is poor, increasing dietary fiber must be done gradually to avoid the production of endotoxin, a mitochondrial poison. Rice and whole fruits are a good starting point.

What Are Other Ways to Boost IL-10 Naturally?

Butyrate’s not the only trick up your sleeve to boost IL-10. Here are more easy ways to increase IL-10 and keep your immune system happy:

• Sunshine or ultraviolet B (UVB) light therapy — Exposure to sunlight or UVB light therapy increases levels of IL-10.3 Ideally, expose your bare skin to direct sunlight daily. Be aware, however, that seed oils, rampant in processed and fast food, are packed with linoleic acid (LA).

In the future we will be referring to these fats as PUFs which is short for polyunsaturated fats as it is far more accurate than calling them PUFAs, since most people know them as fats and not acids.

When LA accumulated in your skin interacts with the sun’s UV rays, it triggers inflammation and DNA damage. It’s best to avoid direct sunlight during peak hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) until you’ve cut back on seed oils for six months. This gives your body time to clear some of the accumulated LA.

• Exercise — Getting moving, whether it’s walking, dancing or biking, boosts IL-10. One study found a 27-fold increase in IL-10 immediately after exercise.4

• Spice it up — Try adding these to your meals regularly:

1. Garlic — Toss it in your meals — it’s tasty and helps boost IL-10.5

2. Licorice — Consider sipping it as a tea — but be aware licorice is contraindicated for those with high blood pressure, kidney or liver disease and pregnant and breastfeeding women.6

Why Does Mitochondrial Health Matter to You?

Mitochondria play a key role in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency essential for numerous cellular functions. When mitochondrial function is compromised, ATP production decreases, leading to cellular energy deficits.

This reduction in energy impairs the cell’s ability to regulate normal processes, fostering an environment ripe for chronic inflammation. If your mitochondria are dysfunctional, you might notice trouble fighting infections, more inflammation and chronic disease.

• What harms mitochondria? LA in most processed foods is a widespread mitochondrial poison that compromises your cellular energy production. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including estrogen-mimicking compounds like xenoestrogens, and pervasive electromagnetic fields (EMFs) also interfere with your mitochondria and your cells’ ability to generate energy efficiently.

• What helps mitochondria? Along with avoiding LA, EDCs and EMFs, carbohydrates play a key role in supporting your mitochondrial function.

Most adults need a daily intake of around 200 to 250 grams of targeted carbohydrates to support cellular energy. If you lead a more active lifestyle, you likely need even more. If you have dysbiosis, avoid fiber until your gut heals.

If your gut health is generally healthy or you have only minor gut issues, start with easily digestible options like white rice and whole fruits. As your gut adjusts, consider adding root vegetables, then non-starchy vegetables, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or squash, beans, legumes and, finally, minimally processed whole grains.

FAQs About Mitochondria and Autoimmune Disorders

Q: What foods boost IL-10 naturally?

A: Fiber-rich foods, including apples, berries, broccoli, sweet potatoes, oats and rice, feed your gut bacteria, which then produce butyrate. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that acts as a “power-up” for your immune system, specifically boosting the signaling of mitochondrial complex III in macrophages.

This enhanced signaling leads to increased superoxide production, which in turn triggers a greater release of IL-10, the anti-inflammatory molecule. Therefore, focusing on incorporating diverse fiber sources in your diet is key to naturally elevating IL-10 levels. One caveat — if you have dysbiosis, avoid fiber until your gut health is healed.

Q: How does exercise help your immune system?

A: Exercise serves as a rapid and potent natural method to enhance your immune system’s ability to manage inflammation. Even a short burst of physical activity, such as walking or dancing, significantly increases IL-10 levels — up to 27 times in one study.7

This surge in IL-10 acts as a powerful “off switch” for inflammation, quickly calming down immune responses. By regularly engaging in physical activity, you’re effectively training your immune system to efficiently resolve inflammation, promoting balance and preventing it from becoming chronic.

Q: Why does IL-10 matter for autoimmune disorders?

A: IL-10 is important in autoimmune disorders because it functions as the immune system’s “off switch” for inflammation. In autoimmune conditions like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own healthy tissues.

IL-10’s role is to signal the immune system to stand down and stop this attack. By effectively promoting the resolution of inflammation, IL-10 provides significant relief in autoimmune disorders by preventing the immune system from continuously harming healthy cells and tissues.

Q: What’s the best way to support mitochondria?

A: Supporting your mitochondria involves several key strategies: dietary fiber intake to produce butyrate, daily physical activity to boost IL-10 and overall mitochondrial function and regular sun exposure (or UVB light therapy) to also increase IL-10. Equally important is avoiding factors that harm mitochondria, such as linoleic acid prevalent in processed foods and seed oils, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and electromagnetic fields.

Further, ensuring adequate targeted carbohydrate intake (200 to 250 grams daily) fuels mitochondrial energy production. Paying attention to gut health and gradually increasing fiber intake is also important for optimal mitochondrial support.

 

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Posted by: | Posted on: March 22, 2025

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Sparks Inflammation and Cancer Risk


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/03/19/mitochondrial-dysfunction.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     March 19, 2025

mitochondrial dysfunction

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Suppression of mitochondrial ATP production prevents apoptosis and activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, a key player in inflammation and disease
  • Inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) lead to changes in mitochondrial cristae structure and retention of cytochrome c, which is necessary for NLRP3 activation but not sufficient on its own
  • Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome requires two signals, one of which is mitochondrial, highlighting the complexity of its regulation
  • Diverse NLRP3 activators share the ability to suppress apoptosis, allowing damaged cells to survive and contributing to chronic inflammation and cancer
  • Mitochondrial dysfunction is closely linked to inflammation and various diseases, emphasizing the importance of understanding these mechanisms for optimal health

Chronic inflammation and cancer are health challenges that affect millions of individuals worldwide. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury or infection, characterized by redness, swelling and pain. However, when inflammation becomes persistent, it leads to tissue damage and contributes to the development of various diseases, including cancer.

Cancer itself is marked by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells, which invade surrounding tissues and form harmful tumors. If left untreated, these conditions significantly impair quality of life and increase mortality rates. Mitochondria, often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell, play a key role in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency essential for numerous cellular functions.

When mitochondrial function is compromised, ATP production decreases, leading to cellular energy deficits. This reduction in energy impairs the cell’s ability to regulate normal processes, fostering an environment ripe for chronic inflammation.

According to research published in Immunity,1 impaired mitochondrial function directly activates the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, a key component in the inflammatory response. This activation not only sustains inflammation but also creates conditions that promote cancer development by enabling cancer cells to thrive and evade your immune system.

Mitochondrial Function Is Intricately Involved in Inflammation and Cancer

The impact of mitochondrial dysfunction on inflammation and cancer is significant. Studies show that approximately 20% of all cancers are linked to chronic inflammation, highlighting the strong connection between these conditions.2 Additionally, individuals with mitochondrial disorders are at a higher risk of developing inflammatory diseases compared to the general population.3

• Millions of Americans are affected by mitochondrial dysfunction — In the U.S. alone, chronic inflammatory conditions affect close to 125 million adults,4 while cancer remains the second leading cause of death, accounting for more than 608,000 fatalities each year.5 Moreover, research indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the resistance of cancer cells to conventional therapies, making treatment more challenging.6

• A call to action for better treatment for mitochondrial health — The statistics underscore the urgent need to address mitochondrial health as a strategy to combat both inflammation and cancer effectively.

Beyond their direct effects, chronic inflammation and cancer driven by mitochondrial dysfunction leads to a cascade of additional health problems. Persistent inflammation is associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders, further compounding the burden on affected individuals.

• Cancer stems largely from mitochondrial dysfunction — Cancer progression often results in debilitating symptoms such as pain, fatigue and loss of organ function, which drastically reduces life expectancy and quality of life.

Understanding the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in driving inflammation and cancer not only illuminates therapeutic targets but also emphasizes the importance of maintaining mitochondrial health to prevent a wide array of serious health issues.

• Mitochondrial dysfunction is a key player in the development of NLRP3-related conditions — When mitochondria fail to produce adequate ATP, it sets off a cascade of cellular stress signals.

These signals activate the NLRP3 inflammasome, a protein complex that plays a significant role in the body’s inflammatory response.7 The activation of this inflammasome is linked to various diseases, including chronic inflammation and cancer, as it leads to uncontrolled cell death and tissue damage.

Study Reveals How Mitochondrial Dysfunction Fuels Inflammation and Cancer

A recent study investigated the intricate relationship between mitochondrial function and the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. The research focused on understanding how the inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the process by which mitochondria produce ATP, affects cell death and inflammation.

The study employed various cell types, including myeloid cells, primary murine microglia, human monocyte-derived macrophages, HCT116 and HeLa cells, as well as conducted in vivo experiments using Xenopus laevis tadpoles.8

• The NLRP3 inflammasome negatively impacts mitochondrial health — The population studied encompassed a diverse range of cells to mimic different physiological conditions. The findings revealed that activators of NLRP3 significantly hinder mitochondrial ATP production, which in turn suppresses apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death.

This suppression allows damaged cells to survive longer than they should, contributing to inflammation and leading to cancer development. The study demonstrated that when OXPHOS is inhibited, mitochondrial cristae — the inner folds of mitochondria — undergo structural changes that trap cytochrome c, a molecule essential for apoptosis.9

• Other factors that diminish apoptosis — The research also showed that various NLRP3 activators, such as nigericin, imiquimod and extracellular ATP, inhibit apoptosis not by activating the inflammasome directly, but through their disruptive effects on mitochondrial function. These compounds cause the closure of crista junctions, preventing cytochrome c from being released into the cytoplasm, which is a necessary step for apoptosis to proceed.

• The impact of viral infections on mitochondrial function and apoptosis — It was observed that infections like SARS-CoV-2 could strongly suppress apoptosis by inhibiting the cleavage of caspase-3, an enzyme involved in the execution of apoptosis. This suppression not only hinders the removal of infected cells but also facilitates the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, thereby promoting an inflammatory response.10

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Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is at the Root of Most Chronic Disease

Biologically, the mechanism at play involves the inhibition of mitochondrial ATP production by NLRP3 activators. When OXPHOS is blocked, mitochondria cannot produce sufficient ATP, leading to the rearrangement of cristae and retention of cytochrome c within the mitochondria. This retention prevents apoptosis, allowing damaged cells to survive and multiply unchecked.

• The process of NLRP3 signaling and activation — The suppression of ATP production provides a necessary signal for the activation of NLRP3. However, full activation of NLRP3 requires a second signal, highlighting the complexity of the inflammasome’s regulation.11

The study also compared the effects of different NLRP3 activators and OXPHOS inhibitors, revealing that while all these agents suppress apoptosis, only certain ones could activate NLRP3 without an additional signal.

• A way to control mitochondrial processes to facilitate healing — This comparison highlights the intricate relationship between mitochondrial function and inflammasome activation, suggesting that modulating mitochondrial processes could be an effective strategy for managing inflammation and reducing cancer risk.12

The research provides compelling evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction, specifically through the inhibition of OXPHOS, plays a pivotal role in suppressing apoptosis and activating the NLRP3 inflammasome.

This dual action not only fosters a proinflammatory environment but also allows for the survival of malignant cells, thereby linking reduced mitochondrial function to the progression of inflammation and cancer.13 As noted on Georgi Dinkov’s blog, the study demonstrates that mitochondrial dysfunction is a key player in both cancer and inflammation:14

“Yet another study, which demonstrates the inseparable link between metabolism and ‘structural’ problems such as cellular integrity and lifecycle (e.g. apoptosis), as well as mysterious processes of systemic inflammation, often occurring without any cause that medicine can identify.

Both of these processes are highly visible in cancer — i.e., lack of apoptosis in ‘cancer’ cells despite their wrecked genome and metabolic dysfunction, as well as their highly inflamed nature that ‘recruits’ nearby cells to the ‘cancer’ process through the cytokines the ‘cancer’ cells produce and releases in the blood.

In other words, all that takes for systemic inflammation and even cancer (i.e., lack of apoptosis in damaged cells) to form is reduced mitochondrial function, resulting in a prolonged drop of ATP levels.

Thus, chronic stress, inflammatory diet (PUFA anyone?), endocrine disruptors, and the ‘modern’ life characterized by never-ending soul-crushing routines are all direct causes of all our ailments as the one thing all those pathological processes have in common is their profoundly suppressive effects on mitochondria/OXPHOS.

Conversely, simply restoring/improving mitochondrial function may be enough to ameliorate/cure virtually all chronic diseases known to medicine.”

How to Address Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Reduce Inflammation

Your mitochondria power every cell in your body. When they don’t work properly, inflammation rises and damaged cells multiply instead of dying off naturally. Here’s how to support your mitochondrial function and restore cellular energy:

1. Eliminate processed foods and vegetable oils — The modern diet is rife with processed foods and vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid (LA) that damage your gut microbiome and promote harmful bacteria.

LA is a mitochondrial poison that compromises your cellular energy production. In addition to processed foods, avoid nuts and seeds as well to reduce LA intake. It’s also advisable to avoid dining out, since most restaurants use vegetable oils in their cooking, sauces and dressings.

Additionally, limit your consumption of chicken and pork, which are typically high in LA. Replace processed foods with whole, unprocessed foods and healthy fats such as grass fed butter, tallow and ghee. It’s wise to keep your LA intake below 5 grams from all sources. If you can get it below 2 grams, that’s even better. To help track your LA intake, enter all your daily meals into an online nutrition tracker.

2. Optimize carbohydrate intake — Carbohydrates play an important role in supporting mitochondrial function since glucose is the preferred fuel for energy production at the cellular level. Tailor your carbohydrate consumption to support cellular energy by aiming for at least 250 grams of targeted carbohydrates daily for most adults. Individuals with higher activity levels typically require more.

Introduce carbohydrates gradually to allow your gut to adapt, thereby minimizing digestive issues and endotoxin levels. Begin with white rice and whole fruits to nourish beneficial bacteria before considering vegetables, whole grains and starches. Avoiding high-fiber diets initially is important if your gut microbiome is compromised, as excessive fiber will increase endotoxin levels.

If your gut health is severely compromised, focus on easily digestible carbohydrates like dextrose water for the first week or two. Sip it slowly throughout the day to support gradual gut healing.

3. Reduce exposure to environmental toxins — Exposure to synthetic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), estrogen and pervasive electromagnetic fields (EMFs) further impairs your cells’ ability to generate energy efficiently. This energy deficit makes it challenging to sustain the oxygen-free gut environment necessary for beneficial bacteria like Akkermansia to flourish.

Further, a lack of cellular energy creates an environment in your gut that favors endotoxin-producing bacteria, damaging mitochondria and creating a vicious cycle of worsening health. By tackling excess LA, estrogens (xenoestrogens found in everyday items like plastic), EDCs and EMFs, you restore your cellular energy and start down the path toward optimal mitochondrial function and health.

4. Get proper sun exposure and boost NAD+ levels — Take niacinamide (50 milligrams three times daily) to increase NAD+ production, which helps your mitochondria generate more energy. NAD+ enables proper cell death signaling and supports your immune system’s ability to identify and remove damaged cells.

Daily sun exposure is also important as it promotes cellular energy production by stimulating mitochondrial melatonin, offering powerful antioxidant protection. Start with brief morning exposures and gradually increase tolerance. It’s important to avoid direct sunlight during peak hours (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in most U.S. regions) until you’ve eliminated vegetable oils from your diet for at least six months to reduce sunburn risk associated with stored linoleic acid.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Inflammation

Q: What is the connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and chronic inflammation?

A: When mitochondria underproduce ATP, the body perceives this energy deficit as cellular stress. This stress triggers the NLRP3 inflammasome, a protein complex that amplifies inflammation. Over time, chronic inflammation damages tissues and can set the stage for serious conditions like cancer.

Q: How does mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to cancer development?

A: Damaged mitochondria hinder the cell’s ability to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death). When apoptosis is suppressed, abnormal cells survive longer than they should, accumulating more mutations and fueling tumor growth. Additionally, chronic inflammation driven by impaired mitochondrial function creates an environment that supports cancer progression.

Q: Why is linoleic acid problematic for mitochondrial health?

A: LA, found in most vegetable oils and many processed foods, is considered a mitochondrial poison because it impairs cellular energy production. Consuming high amounts of LA results in both gut dysbiosis (an imbalance of gut bacteria) and heightened inflammation, further undermining mitochondrial function and overall health.

Q: Can improving carbohydrate intake help restore mitochondrial function?

A: Yes. Glucose is a key fuel for energy production (via oxidative phosphorylation) in the mitochondria. By incorporating adequate, easily digestible carbohydrates — such as white rice or whole fruits — you’ll be able to support cellular energy and encourage healthier gut bacteria. This approach is especially important if your gut microbiome is already compromised.

Q: What lifestyle strategies can support better mitochondrial function?

A: Key strategies include eliminating processed foods (especially those high in vegetable oils), optimizing carbohydrate intake, reducing exposure to toxins like endocrine disruptors and heavy electromagnetic fields, getting regular sun exposure, and boosting NAD+ levels (e.g., via niacinamide supplementation). These measures help reduce inflammation, restore proper cell death signaling, and protect against chronic diseases linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.

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