Top 10 Inflammatory Foods to Avoid Like the Plague

Stay clear of these inflammation-causing foods to instantly upgrade your health

According to the statistics from the World Health Organization, about 12.9 million people worldwide died from some form of cardiovascular disease in 2004. And each year, the World Cancer Research Fund estimated that some eight million people died from cancer. Heart disease and cancer, the deadly manifestation of chronic inflammation, are expected to remain as the leading causes of death in developed countries for many years to come.

But study after study shows that the risk of heart disease and cancer are modifiable by our lifestyle choices which include the food we choose to eat each day. With every bite that we take, we’re either balancing the pro- and anti-inflammatory compounds in the body, or tipping the scale to one end.

To shift the balance to your favor, other than incorporating more natural anti-inflammatory foods in your diet, it’s also equally important to avoid or cut down on foods which are known to promote inflammation. Here, we look at the top ten foods which set the stage for inflammatory diseases:

1. Sugars

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Excessive sugar intake causes tooth decay and has been linked to increased risks of obesity, inflammation and chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Recently, it has also finally been proven that sugar, as well as dairy, are the causes of acne.
  Find them in: Sugar-sweetened beverages like soft drinks, fruit drinks and punches are one of the major sources of dietary sugars that many have overlooked. Do you know that drinking a can of Coke is as good as sucking ten sugar cubes? Other obvious sugar-loaded foods to avoid or at least limit include pastries, desserts, candies and snacks. And when you’re looking out for sugar in the ingredients list, note that sugar has many names: corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, golden syrup, maltose, sorghum syrup and sucrose are some of the creative names used.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Got a sweet tooth? Opt for natural sweeteners like stevia, honey, or blackstrap molasses to flavor your beverages and foods modestly. Natural sugars found in fresh or dried fruits and fruit preserves with no added sugar are also great choices. Not only do they give you the sweetness you crave for, fruits also supply you with vitamins, antioxidants and fibers that you won’t find in sugary foods and drinks. Dates, figs, persimmons, kiwis, tangerines and various types of berries are but some of the natural healthy snacks you can sink your teeth into.

2. Common Cooking Oils

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Common vegetable cooking oils used in many homes and restaurants have very high omega-6 fatty acids and dismally low omega-3 fats. A diet consisting of highly imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio promotes inflammation and breeds inflammatory diseases like heart disease and cancer.
  Find them in: Polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as grape seed, cottonseed, safflower, corn and sunflower oils. These industrial vegetable oils are also commonly used to prepare most processed foods and takeaways.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Replace your omega-6-saturated cooking oils with macadamia oil, extra virgin olive oil, or other edible oils with a saner omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids ratio. Macadamia oil, for instance, has an almost one to one ratio of omega-6:3 fats, and it’s also rich in oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acid.

3. Trans Fats

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Trans fatty acids are notorious for their double whammy effect: they increase the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, while lowering levels of the ‘good’ cholesterol. But that’s not all they can do. They have also been found to promote inflammation, obesity and resistance to insulin, laying the ground for degenerative illnesses to take place.
  Find them in: Deep fried foods, fast foods, commercial baked goods and those prepared with partially hydrogenated oil, margarine and vegetable shortening. Note that items that list 0g trans fats on the label may still contain some amount of this toxic fats. This is because in the US, the government allows items containing less than 0.5g of trans fats to be declared as trans-fat free. Commercially prepared peanut butter is one good example. Your best bet is to read the ingredients list and make sure partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening is not used.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Look for alternative products that contain no trans fats, or don’t have partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening in the ingredients list. When in doubt, assume that all commercially prepared foods contain trans fats unless stated otherwise.

4. Dairy Products

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: As much as 60% of the world’s population can’t digest milk. In fact, researchers think that being able to digest milk beyond infancy is abnormal, rather than the other way round. Milk is also a common allergen that can trigger inflammatory responses, such as stomach distress, constipation, diarrhea, skin rashes, acne, hives and breathing difficulties, in susceptible people.
  Find them in: Milk and dairy products are as pervasive as foods containing partially hydrogenated oil or omega-3-deficient vegetable oil. Apart from obvious milk products like butter and cheese, foods with hidden dairy content include breads, cookies, crackers, cakes, cream sauces and boxed cereals. Scanning the ingredients list is still the safest way to suss out milk.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Kefir and unsweetened yogurt are acceptable in moderation for those who are not allergic to milk. They are easier on the stomach as the lactose and proteins in the milk have been broken down by beneficial bacteria and/or yeasts.

5. Feedlot-Raised Meat

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Commercially produced meats are feed with grains like soy beans and corns, a diet that’s high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids but low in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats. Due to the small and tight living environment, these animals also gain excess fat and end up with high saturated fats. Worse, to make them grow faster and prevent them from getting sick, they are also injected with hormones and fed with antibiotics. The result is one piece of meat which you and I shouldn’t be eating.
  Find them in: Unless otherwise stated, most, if not all, beef, pork and poultry you can find in the supermarkets and restaurants come from feedlot farms.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Organic, free-range animalsthat fed on their natural diet like grasses instead of grains and hormones contain more omega-3 fats. Having more room to roam freely, they are also leaner and contain less saturated fats.

6. Red Meat & Processed Meat

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Researchers at theUniversity of California San Diego School of Medicinefound that red meat contains a molecule that humans don’t naturally produce called Neu5Gc. After ingesting this compound, the body develops anti-Neu5Gc antibodies – an immune response that may trigger chronic inflammatory response. And low-grade simmering inflammation that won’t go away has been linked to cancer and heart disease.
  The link between processed meat consumption and cancer is even stronger. In the 2007 report by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, processed meat has been stated as a convincing cause of cancers of the colon and rectum, and possibly esophagus and lung cancer too. Processed meat includes animal product that has been smoked, cured, salted or chemically preserved.
  Find them in: Common red meats are beef, lamb and pork, while processed meat include hams, sausages and salami.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: You don’t need to avoid red meat totally, though the same thing can’t be said for processed meat. No amount of processed meat is safe. Replace the bulk of your red meat with organic vegetables, poultry and fish, and relegate red meat to a weekly treat. When you do eat red meat, remember to choose lean cuts and preferably, that of grass-fed animals.

7. Alcohol

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Regular high consumption of alcohol has been known to cause irritation and inflammation of the esophagus, larynx (voice box) and liver. Over time, the chronic inflammation promotes tumor to grow and gives rise to cancer at the sites of repeated irritation.
  Find them in: Beers, ciders, liquors, liqueurs, and wines.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: A refreshing and thirst-quenching glass of pure, filtered water, anyone?  How about a cup of anti-aging and anti-inflammatory jasmine green tea? If you find the idea of swapping ethanol for water or tea implausible, at least limit your consumption to no more than one drink a day.

8. Refined Grains

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: A lot of the grains we eat nowadays are refined. They are devoid of fiber and vitamin B compared to unpolished and unrefined grains that still have the bran, germ and the aleurone layer intact. This makes refined grains as good as refined sugars, which are practically empty calories. And like refined sugars, refined grains have a higher glycemic index than unprocessed grains and when they are consistently consumed, can hasten the onset of degenerative diseases like cancer and coronary disease.
  Find them in: Refined grains and products made out of them are almost everywhere. The common ones are: white rice, white flour, white bread, noodles, pasta, biscuits and pastries. To make things worse, many products with refined grains undergo further processing to enhance their taste and look, and are often loaded with excess sugar, salt, artificial flavors and/or partially hydrogenated oil in the process. A prime example is boxed cereals which contain substantial amounts of added sugar and flavorings.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Go for minimally processed grains if you are not gluten intolerant or allergic to grains. If you’re an avid bread or pastry maker, invest in a grain mill to produce your own flour. It will be much fresher than the stale one found in stores. When buying cereals or other products made from grains, don’t take the words on the packaging for granted. Just because the box says whole grains, it doesn’t mean the grains inside are 100% intact. The problem is due to a lack of an internationally accepted definition for the word ‘whole grain’. When in doubt, if it doesn’t look close to its natural state, don’t buy.

9. Artificial Food Additives

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Some artificial food additives like aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) reportedly trigger inflammatory responses, especially in people who are already suffering from inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
  Find them in: Only packaged foods contain artificial food additives. If you need to buy them, read the labels carefully and weigh your risks. If you order Chinese takeaways, make sure you’ve the option to ask for no MSG. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Besides limiting the consumption of processed foods, use anti-inflammatory herbs, spices or natural sweeteners to add flavor to your dishes instead of relying on food additives.

10. <Fill in the blank>

• Pro-inflammatory Agent: Why is this blank? Because it is meant for you to fill in with the food that you’re sensitive to. Many people are sensitive to certain food but are totally unaware about it. Unlike food allergy in which symptoms usually come fast and fiery, symptoms caused by food intolerance take a longer time to manifest. And when they do appear, they are often brushed off as common minor ailments such as tiredness and headaches. But repeated, long-term exposure to food that irritates can cause inflammation and lead to chronic diseases.
  Find them in: Common food allergens are gluten, milk, nuts, eggs and nightshade vegetables. Contrary to common belief, it is possible to develop an allergy to the foods that you eat often.
  Inflammation-dousing Substitute: If you suspect that a particular food may be responsible for your food intolerant response, try avoiding it completely for about two weeks and monitor your reaction. At the end of the abstinence period, re-introduce the food back into your diet. If you’re in fact incompatible with it, you should be able to notice the difference in how you feel easily.

We need more kids like this

Most inspiring video of the year?  This kid's attitude is amazing.  (also he's a great presenter!)

But I weep when I hear the term 'conventional farms' when describing factory farms.  It's true that they're the norm, but sad their ways are common practice.  This video is worth the 5mins.  Show it to your kids!

Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

We observe that umbrellas pop open when it rains.  If we could JUST get rid of those umbrellas we can finally prevent these annoying rains!!

Summary of today's 'heart healthy article' by Dr. Dwight Lundell:

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.

<Inflammation = Heart Disease> There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.  

One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.  

Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled polyunsaturated. Forget the "science" that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today. 
The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.  

Read the entire article here 

New Balance 2012 Line Now Available

If you're brand loyal to NB, or had a good experience with their Minimus line - this year's Minimus Zero line  looks really promising.  I plan to try a pair, but I'm not a fan of the discs of tread on the sole.



Would love to hear your opinion about them.

Regulating Sugar

Regulating Sugar (Listen to show Here)

Sugar, under the gun. It’s making us fat. Making us sick. Is it time to regulate sugar? Mark Bittman joins us.

Sugar cubes. (Howzey/Flickr)

Americans love sugar.  And the big food processors love to feed it to us, by the ton.  Put the two together, and you’ve got one big fat, sick problem.  Sugar is a major contributor to the tsunami of American obesity.

Sugar – the way we eat it – is a major health threat.  Now there’s a call to put on the brakes.  To regulate sugar.  Like we regulate alcohol.  Like we regulate tobacco.  For the sake of our health and our health care budget.  Much higher taxes on sweets.  Limited sales.  Limited access.

This hour, On Point:  We love it, but it makes us fat.  It makes us sick.  Is it time to regulate sugar?

What's you opinion??  Tax it?? Let people have information and fend for themselves?? 

Think about it, if you were making packaged foods and wanted to make it palaettable, would you buy sugar cane from Brazil, or use tax-payer subsidized corn syrup from USA?  Let tax payers help pay to make your product??  Sounds 'smart'!  (ugh!)

Science Behind Paleo Diet - Interview

This is a 27minute long interview and well worth the time invested.  Matt LaLonde approaches the 'ancestral diet' in a very logical and scientific way.  The arguments of "do this because our ancestors did" is NOT a valid argument.  Introductions of new foods into a species' diet can happen and be greatly beneficial.  Sadly, things like wheat, especially the dwarf wheat we eat today that's been on planet Earth since the 1970s is not one of those things.   Grains have one defense mechanism, to irritate the digestive tract of something that eats them.


Matt also explains how testimonial evidence is not valid science either - just because you 'heard' about somebody that ate a certain way and lost weight has NO bearing on how it will affect you.  We are all an experiment of one and we have different genetics and (more importantly) epigenetics.


Look to your body as an extremely complex system.  Treat this system with a know quantity of fuel for a while.  Then introduce a new fuel and measure its affects.


This interview also is the only source I have where a scientist cover how to be a smart vegetarian!  eating foods we are designed to eat while avoiding meat if you choose to for ethical reasons. 

Amelia Joins Frank In ‘The Cave,’ Both Shrink Waistlines « CBS Minnesota

News report of 'caveman' diet.  Tracked fitness and health markers.  Good video if you have 5mins to spare.

Amelia Joins Frank In ‘The Cave,’ Both Shrink Waistlines « CBS Minnesota

What's your opinion??

How do you feel about this commercial?  Is this a 'fast food' restaurant that's doing it right?

The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table

Tracie McMillan spent 3yrs working undercover in the food industry.  She learned a lot about the industrial food system off which we subsist.  Her pursuits' results are in her new book: "The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table"
Her nine debunked perceptions are summarized here:
Tracie McMillan spent 3yrs working undercover in the food industry.  She learned a lot about the industrial food system off which we subsist.  Her pursuits' results are in her new book: "The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table"
1. Everybody Wants Good Food (85% of 1,500 low-income families surveyed said eating healthy food was a priority.)

2. Poor people spend more on food than the rich. (households earning $5k-35k year, spent 16-35% of their income on food. households earning $70,000 a year or more--spent 8 percent)

3. You can't eat a balanced diet from food grown here (42% of the nation's $18 billion in farm subsidies is spent on commodity crops, most of which are the grains that get turned into sweeteners, animal feed, and, grain--and just 5 percent on fruits and vegetables.)

4. Higher wages don't mean unaffordable food (Farm workers get about 2% of  the cost of food, if we gave them a 40% raise it'd cost us $16 more/year on our grocery bills)

5. Hamburger Helper is expensive (the same ingredients made from scratch is 69% cheaper)

6. The biggest predictor of how much time a woman spends in the kitchen is whether or not she's married (Women who go to work full-time spend 36 to 48 percent less time in the kitchen)

7. Walmart isn't always cheaper (produce can be cheaper than you'd expect at a smaller store.)

8. Supermarkets were designed to sell us junk (Supermarkets create a 'natural oligopoly,'and are explicitly designed to sell industrial food)

9. Eating like the French requires changing more than our meals (The French see food as a much highre priority- result is they spend 6% more than avg US household.  --note, their min wage is 66% higher.)

For more detail, read her entire article here

Time to Stop Talking About Low-Fat

News at HSPH

Time to Stop Talking About Low-Fat, Say HSPH Nutrition Experts

It is time to end the low-fat myth, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) nutrition experts told food industry leaders at the seventh annual World of Healthy Flavors Conference held in Napa, CA, from January 19 to 21, 2011. The conference, co-hosted by the Culinary Institute of America and HSPH, brings together nutrition researchers with representatives from schools, supermarkets, and food industry goliaths such as Burger King, The Olive Garden, and Panera Bread to share strategies for offering Americans healthier menu options.

HSPH nutrition department chair Walter Willett and associate professor of epidemiology Dariush Mozaffarian, along with Ron Krauss of Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, presented on the “Focus on Fat” panel. They encouraged audience members to avoid “low-fat” terminology and thinking, since diets low in fat are often high in sodium and carbohydrates from sources such as white flour and rice, refined snacks, and sugary drinks. Instead, the panelists said, chefs should focus on cutting trans fats from their menus and educating consumers about seeking out healthy fats.

Willett chairs the World of Healthy Flavors Scientific Advisory Committee, which also includes HSPH colleagues Frank Hu, Frank Sacks, and Eric Rimm. Hu, Rimm, David Ludwig and Nutrition Source editorial director Lilian Cheung also presented at the 2011 conference.

Read coverage of the conference (ZesterDaily)

Gluten Free Processed Foods

Celiac's, and 100s of other issues in digestive tract were 100% cured by dietary changes (this includes treatments for autism, infertility, psychoses, depression, etc etc...). I said 'were'. Until JUST recently the 'fix' was to avoid certain foods, the wheat, flour, basically junk food. But that's all changed. 


Oh yeah, now you can still eat horrible foods while avoiding some bad ingredients. Gluten-free used to be based on avoidance, now it's based on substitution (I believe it was Bedknobs and Broomsticks that had substitutiary locomotion... need to check that).  


Example: Can't have gluten used to mean avoid pizza, now it means eat pizza with rice starch instead of wheat flour. Gluten has 10 things wrong with it, rice starch has 5 things wrong with it. I have now subb'ed the worst with the bad - aren't I clever?? Refined flours, regardless of wheat are just a way of putting your body through nutritional deficiencies. Eat what's essential and no more. Today's Diane Rehm show is a great series of interviews explaining differences of gluten intolerance, sensitivity and Celiac's disease. Just assume you have it whether you have symptoms or not. Link here: Diane Rehm Show

Dietary Fiber in the News...

There was a bill on congress's table about 10years ago saying "we need to tell people what they're eating so they can avoid unhealthful foods.  That bill got watered down and the end result was "it's ok to list what's good about a food on its labels."  Now we have breakfast cereals made of ~60% sugar by volume with a label that reads 'good source of fiber'.  So we're doing ourselves a favor?

They could read "good source of synthetic fiber that will give you gas and cut up your digestive tract" - but honesty and benefits are sadly NOT the concern.  

3g of fiber is the amount added if you want to put "good source of fiber" on a grocery store item.  note, an apple has 5grams of natural fiber.  counting fiber is like counting O2 molecule in the air around you.  If you just breathe you'll be 'ok' - likewise if you eat whole foods as we're intended you'll get plenty of fiber.  In case you need more, you can always tear off pieces of notebook paper and have a snack.  

Link to the NPR story: worth a listen

One Of My Fave Podcasts...

Oxford Style debating in the US.  http://intelligencesquaredus.org/  Episode here


There is seldom a topic that pertains to this blog.  But this month's episode is "Is Obesity the Government's Business".  Like any debate they take the audience's opinion before and after and the debate winner is who swayed the audience the most.  


The arguments immediately talk about the limiting of calories, the Eat Less Move More (ELMM), the whole grains...  They are PROVING the fact that they don't KNOW what causes obesity.  

Obesity is NOT sloth(laziness) and gluttony(too many calories).  Eating less and moving more are TWO recipes of making you more hungry and more often.  This is a horrendous misconception.  Obesity is caused by hormone imbalances plain and simple.  Same diet between two people can have different effects.  Same diet and same activity level can have different effects in different people.  There are genetics, and MORE importantly epigenetics at play.  It's sad no one seems to know this.  

The question should not be 'should the gov't intervene in our diets' - it should be the 'should a gov't that actually understands why we get fat intervene in our diets'.  


What do you think?

Mark Sisson Interview

http://vimeo.com/33622882

Are we supposed to eat meat?

"Are we supposed to eat meat?" I got that question last night at the gym (the 'box' for you crossfitters).  Actually I got two questions, "Should we eat meat? and "Why do we gain fat in different places differently?"  Interestingly these questions are very related.  

Humans are designed to eat meat.  We know this through comparisons to other mammals:

Intestine and stomach(s):
Some mammals eat only meat or only plants, or both.  Even though we get food from different sources, we're all mammals and need to obtain a similar set of nutrients. By calories, mammalian diets are typically composed of a majority, (typically 50-75%) of saturated and monounsaturated fats (including the short-chain fatty acids produced by fermentation of fiber); a mix of carbohydrates and protein (usually totaling around 25-40%) and a modest amount of polyunsaturated fat, typically less than 10%.  These mixtures of macronutrients can be extracted from many mixtures of foods -- if you CAN extract them properly.

You can simply look at an animal's digestive tract to determine what types of material can be broken down in there.  Animals have evolved variations in organs and fluids to break down foods to supply us with energy and energy-storage.  Animals have evolved digestive tracts and livers to transform diverse food inputs into the uniform set of nutrients that all they need.  Digestive tract length is a good indicator of what types of food an animal can process:

•  A cow wouldn't know what to do with meat in its gut, they have a 30 meter digestive tract.  Herbivores have foregut organs such as rumens or hindgut chambers for fermenting carbohydrates, turning them into fats and volatile acids that can be used to manufacture fats.  

• A lion wouldn't know what to do with grass in his gut, they have a seven meter digestive tract.  Carnivores have livers capable of turning protein into glucose and fat. Meat digests more easily and the micronutrients are more easily extracted and a shorter gut length is fine.    

• Humans are lucky bastards we can handle either we're omnivores - but which do we 'need' to consume. For example we NEED sugars for muscle and brain fuel, so we have to eat sugar?  Consuming carbohydrates and sugars is redundant, like lions humans have livers which make our own sugars from the proteins and fats in our system.   In fact, consuming any outside sources carbohydrates is 'nonessential' but the vitamin density of leafy greens and root/tubor have micronutrients which are essential.   Note, there is a variation across humans as well.  Humans with longer colons allow more fermentation of plant fiber, but the the presence of a longer colon doesn’t dramatically change required macronutrient ratios of the diet. Across human populations, the optimal human diet probably doesn’t vary in any macronutrient by more than 5% of energy or so.  

A good rule of thumb for our diets is that humans have always made good fasters- we can go for weeks without eating, think about eating a diet that is similar in macronutrients to what we are made of. 

Teeth

I've heard the argument that 'look, we have canine teeth therefore we're carnivores'.  This isn't a good argument, compare ours to a gorillas, their canine teeth are so long they're behind their eyeballs.  Sorry, teeth don't tell a story about human food because we've been cutting our food up with tools long enough that we haven't needed to bite through a rhinoceros's hide for quite a while (pre homo sapien, in fact.).  The introduction of tools is what allowed our canine teeth and the supporting muscles to atrophy over millennia.  Shrinking teeth meant shrinking jaw muscles.  Those muscles were binding our skulls into a shape that ceased brain development. The order may seem counterintuitive: Tools -- shrinking teeth -- smaller jaw muscles -- bigger brains.  All of this was set 77,000 generations ago. 

I'll hit up the summary of why some people collect fat in different locations in a following post.  Spolier alert, it has to do with the same reasons we grow hair in more places than others.  

How Massage Heals Sore Muscles

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Barbara P. Fernandez for The New York TimesResearchers are learning how massage soothes aching muscles.

A massage after vigorous exercise unquestionably feels good, and it seems to reduce pain and help muscles recover. Many people — both athletes and health professionals – have long contended it eases inflammation, improves blood flow and reduces muscle tightness. But until now no one has understood why massage has this apparently beneficial effect.

Now researchers have found what happens to muscles when a masseur goes to work on them.

Their experiment required having people exercise to exhaustion and undergo five incisions in their legs in order to obtain muscle tissue for analysis. Despite the hurdles, the scientists still managed to find 11 brave young male volunteers. The study was published in the Feb. 1 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

On a first visit, they biopsied one leg of each subject at rest. At a second session, they had them vigorously exercise on a stationary bicycle for more than an hour until they could go no further. Then they massaged one thigh of each subject for 10 minutes, leaving the other to recover on its own. Immediately after the massage, they biopsied the thigh muscle in each leg again. After allowing another two-and-a-half hours of rest, they did a third biopsy to track the process of muscle injury and repair.

Vigorous exercise causes tiny tears in muscle fibers, leading to an immune reaction — inflammation — as the body gets to work repairing the injured cells. So the researchers screened the tissue from the massaged and unmassaged legs to compare their repair processes, and find out what difference massage would make.

They found that massage reduced the production of compounds called cytokines, which play a critical role in inflammation. Massage also stimulated mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells that convert glucose into the energy essential for cell function and repair. “The bottom line is that there appears to be a suppression of pathways in inflammation and an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis,” helping the muscle adapt to the demands of increased exercise, said the senior author, Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky.

Dr. Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that massage works quite differently from Nsaids and other anti-inflammatory drugs, which reduce inflammation and pain but may actually retard healing. Many people, for instance, pop an aspirin or Aleve at the first sign of muscle soreness. “There’s some theoretical concern that there is a maladaptive response in the long run if you’re constantly suppressing inflammation with drugs,” he said. “With massage, you can have your cake and eat it too—massage can suppress inflammation and actually enhance cell recovery.”

“This is important research, because it is the first to show that massage can reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines which may be involved in pain,” said Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School. She was not involved in the study. “We have known from many studies that pain can be reduced by massage based on self-report, but this is the first demonstration that the pain-related pro-inflammatory cytokines can be reduced.” she said.

Getting a massage from a professional masseur is obviously more expensive than taking an aspirin. But, as Dr. Field points out, massage techniques can be taught. “People within families can learn to massage each other,” she said. “If you can teach parents to massage kids, couples to massage each other. This can be cost effective.”

Dr. Tarnopolsky suggests that, in the long run, a professional massage may even be a better bargain than a pill. “If someone says “This is free and it might make you feel better, but it may slow down your recovery, do you still want it?” he asked. “Or would you rather spend the 50 bucks for a post-exercise massage that also might enhance your recovery?”

Training Question

Guess which training I prefer??:

Endurance training effects (Hawley, 2009):
-increase in mitochondrial density
-increase in peripheral capillary density
-increase in oxidative enzyme density
-increase in stroke volume and cardiac output
-reduces peripheral resistance
-better utilization of lipid for fuel at lower intensities with the conservation of glycogen

Strength exercise effects (Hawley, 2009):
-increased in movement coordination and neuromuscular efficiency
-increased in muscle cross sectional area (hypertrophy)
-enhanced relative and absolute strength properties

Explosive strength training and plyometric traing effects:
-enhanced elastic and reactive properties
-increased rate of force development
-increased power production
-increased musculo-tendon stiffness

The Right Shoe For the Job: Part II (Workout Shoes)

The Right Shoe For the Job: Part II (Workout Shoes)

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. 

-Baz Luhrmann

Injury = weaknesses showing its ugly head.  Injury prevention must be the opposite of weakness.... so, what gets us to injury prevention? Strength! 

We've discussed running shoes that need to allow the many muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your foot to do their job, unimpeded. Have you thought about how that might transfer to gym shoes?  Shoes that include 'support' or cushion are an attempt to replace your own support mechanisms.  The body is better than that.  When we feel the ground (proprioception) we can use this incoming information for stability, balance and posture.  Unfortunately, marketing execs have done a lot of work to brainwash you into thinking "<insert global shoe company name here> knows more about my balance than I do."

If you're working hard on strengthening your body - think about what you may be leaving out - which, in the end, could result in injury or weaknesses leading to injury.  As mentioned in Part I of this series, the body is a big chain of muscles and tendons; movement of that body or parts of that body is a series of small reactions among those body parts.  Why would you be content with a weak link in that chain?  If you're wearing well-cushioned shoes on your feet, you're providing a weak link! Instead, you should wear minimal shoes that are akin to going barefoot to let your feet feel the ground while you're exercising, which in turn will allow the support muscles in your feet to set the foundational support as they were intended. 

Photo taken from US Patent number: 6115941

Lateral Movements: This figure is from a US Patent about a shoe with a heel portion is designed to be a close fit to the wearer's heel.  The first picture is the cut-away of a typical running shoe with a large support cushion, or pedestal.  The problem with putting your foot on such a pedestal of support is that as you move laterally, you need to reach a sharp angle before the shoe follows you.  When the shoe does tilt, it does so abruptly. This is a bad way to find the next weak point in your chain - it could cause you to roll your ankle or tear a tendon!  On the flip side, a shoe that follows the shape of your foot is critical when participating in a sport where you plan to change directions abruptly.  The closer the shape of the shoe resembles the foot, without unnecessary cushioning, the better!

Weightlifting: Cushioning is a gentle way to mess you up when weightlifting! Extra padding may place cushioning under the soles of your feet, but this will only give you short term relief and long term injuries.  This is because the extra foam padding removes your feet's feedback to the nervous system (prioprioception, again).  If you begin to lose balance and there's weight on your shoulders, the last thing you need is a delay in sensory feedback, such as what cusioned shoes provie.  With all this extra cushioning, a small tilt can easily become a fall or a twisted ankle or knee.

Flexibility: Most overly supportive shoes also come 'equipped' with a generous heel raise.  Unnaturally pointing your foot to make flat contact with the ground is asking for compensation errors.  When you wear shoes with raised heels, your achilles tendon is shortened, reducing your lower leg flexibility.  This may feel comfortable in a deep squat, but it is not full range of motion, and you are losing all the power that should be generated from your heels to all that cushion in the bottom of your shoe. 

The bottom line: for workout shoes, remove the heels and cushions and you'll have more balance and improve the strength and flexibility of all the major and minor muscle groups in your body. Go minimalist!