Worldwide, it is estimated that over one billion people are now overweight.¹ This is a shocking number, and it is all the more so when you consider that four or five generations ago there were only a few rare cases of obesity, and there was not even an idea that it could ever become a major health problem. Being overweight was something that afflicted only the very rich, and two hundred years ago it was so rare as to be considered a status symbol. Today, close to one-sixth of the world’s population is overweight, a number greater than those who are in danger of not having enough food.²

It has long been known that being overweight increases a person’s risk for chronic disease, and we know now that inflammation plays a large role in this. High levels of inflammation are associated with heart disease, stroke, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and more. As the prevalence of obesity has increased, we have experienced much higher rates of chronic diseases.³

Treating Excess Inflammation

The link between inflammation and chronic diseases has made inflammation a target of drugs designed to treat cancer,⁴ arthritis, and other chronic diseases. One class of drugs targeting inflammation is known as COX-2 inhibitors. The COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx® was found to cut C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in half. Some researchers believe CRP is the real culprit behind heart disease. COX-2 inhibitors are a potential treatment for cancer and have been used for treating inflammatory conditions like lupus, arthritis, and contact dermatitis.^5,6 COX-2 inflammation has also been shown to be a key factor in insulin resistance, which decreases food’s ability to lower hunger.⁷

While COX-2 inhibitor drugs have been useful in treating inflammation, some may have increased the likelihood of heart attack and stroke, and several are no longer sold in the United States. The remaining COX-2 inhibitors are now sold with a warning label. However, it has been discovered that there are natural COX-2 inhibitors. A study completed in 2008 has found that many types of E vitamins are broken down into substances that inhibit the activity of COX-2 and other inflammatory molecules.⁸ While vitamin E supplements do not show effects like COX-2 inhibitors, some scientists believe that “generations of studies on vitamin E may be largely meaningless…because new research has demonstrated that the levels of [vitamin E required]…are far higher than those that have been commonly used in clinical trials.”⁹ Higher levels are necessary because vitamin E in synthetic form is very poorly absorbed. We have been gaining weight, eating more inflammatory foods, and removing natural vitamin E from flour since the beginning of the twentieth century, and it is not surprising that these factors would cause a rise in chronic inflammatory diseases.

Vitamin E and other nutrients are deficient in many chronic diseases. Pre-modern agrarian societies, which often used stone ground grains, had much lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and other chronic inflammatory diseases than do modern societies. We have already seen that wheat germ oil has a significant effect on cholesterol and inflammation, but it appears that nutrients in the rest of the wheat germ have a major impact on our health as well.

Amino acids play a variety of roles in metabolism. There are twenty standard amino acids in human nutrition, and they are usually referred to as the building blocks of enzymes and other proteins. However, less than 10% of human amino acid use is for the creation of proteins.¹⁰ They are also used to create biomolecules such as neurotransmitters, which can be used for energy, to manage nitrogen levels, as antioxidants,¹¹ and for other functions, not all of which are known. The human body cannot create eight of the standard amino acids and must get them from food; these are known as the essential amino acids. The other fourteen are called non-essential amino acids, and they can be obtained from food or manufactured by the body. However, the term “essential” is not a completely accurate description in this context.

For genetic reasons, people have different abilities to manufacture these non-essential amino acids.¹² Animal experiments have shown that amino acid deficiency results in increased hunger.¹³ Certain diseases are “associated with deficiencies and imbalances of particular amino acids causing specific changes in [our dietary] requirements,”¹⁴ including non-essential amino acids. There is a connection between low levels of amino acids in the blood and increased inflammation,¹⁵ with amino acid requirements increasing in cases of chronic inflammation.¹⁶ It also appears that raising amino acid levels can reduce inflammation.

Low E vitamin levels are also associated with certain inflammatory diseases. The body combines amino acids, vitamins, and minerals to form new compounds that have anti-inflammatory effects. For example, glutathione is an antioxidant that protects the body. It is created from three separate amino acids. If any one of these amino acids is not present, the body cannot produce glutathione. Once the body has made glutathione it can be combined with vitamin E and the mineral selenium to form the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which is an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. By lowering the level of inflammation in the body, this enzyme can increase the levels of vitamin E in our blood.^{17, 18}

While we often study disease by looking at the levels of vitamins and minerals in our body, this may be akin to judging a book by the number of each letter it contains. The body uses vitamins, minerals, and amino acids somewhat the way letters are used to form new words. From twenty-six letters, the English language makes hundreds of thousands of words. Our body has an even greater number of letters, and scientists have not yet decoded its language. Still, while a complete understanding of what the body does with all of the nutrients is beyond us, it is possible to ascertain some which are deficient in chronic diseases. Once we identify those which are deficient, we will determine why they are deficient.

We saw previously that inflammation and cholesterol levels are major risk factors for heart disease. Consumption of whole grains that include the germ and bran has long been known to lower the risk of heart disease,¹⁹ as has consumption of fruits and vegetables. A study conducted at the University of Berne, Switzerland, has found a surprisingly strong link between insufficient amounts of a certain nutrient and death from coronary artery disease. The study followed roughly two thousand men from sixteen European populations who had never suffered a heart attack. It found that low blood levels of the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E predicted 63% of deaths from heart attack in all the study’s participants and 73% of deaths in those with normal cholesterol levels. By looking at both vitamin E blood levels and cholesterol, 79% of the risk of death from coronary artery disease could be predicted. Also including blood pressure and levels of vitamin A made it possible for 87% of deaths to be predicted.²⁰

The American Heart Association recommends eating foods rich in vitamin E, but not taking synthetic vitamin E supplements.²¹ Studies have demonstrated that synthetic vitamin E supplements do not lower the risk of death from heart disease, possibly because the body absorbs vitamin E efficiently only when it is contained in fat. On the other hand, studies on human cells and mice have suggested that antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, in combination with the amino acid L-arginine, may prevent heart disease. This nutrient combination reduces arterial clotting and inflammation, key factors in heart disease.²² The consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, which contain this amino acid and several types of vitamin E along with other antioxidants, has long been associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

Asthma is an inflammation of the lungs which causes the airways to be narrowed, and it can result in shortness of breath, coughing, and death. As of 2002, it was estimated that about 10% of the United States population would be diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives. The total number of Americans with asthma has more than doubled since 1980. It is now the number one cause of hospitalization among children. Asthma is more common and more severe among people who are overweight. Obese people make 75% of emergency room visits for asthma attacks. The connection between obesity and asthma is believed by some researchers to be a chronic low level of inflammation.²³

Consumption of whole grains has been found to significantly lower rates of childhood asthma. One study has suggested that increasing consumption of whole grains and fish, which are both high in vitamin E, would cut rates of childhood asthma by 66%.²⁴ As we have noted, heart disease is characterized by low blood levels of vitamin E. If insufficient vitamin E is a cause of the inflammation that leads to asthma, then we should expect low blood levels of vitamin E in asthma similar to those observed in heart disease. However, this is not always the case. Some asthmatics have low levels of alpha-tocopherol vitamin E in their lung lining fluid despite having normal levels in their blood.

While vitamin E does reduce inflammation, consumption is only one factor that determines its level in our bodies. A high level of inflammation increases our need for vitamin E and can lead to deficiency. Another anti-inflammatory molecule, glutathione peroxidase, is deficient in heart disease, obesity, and asthma. Consuming nutrients that raise its level has resulted in resolving some inflammatory conditions. We cannot obtain the enzyme glutathione peroxidase directly from our diet, but we can get the amino acids and other nutrients used to manufacture it, among which is the amino acid glycine. High levels of glycine are “associated with a strongly reduced risk of asthma.”²⁵ This amino acid is present in wheat germ and fish, but it is also present in conventional meats, so inadequate consumption cannot explain why whole grains and fish have been found to lower the prevalence of asthma but conventional meats have not.²⁶ Since we are consuming this amino acid in sufficient quantity, we need to determine why someone would develop a deficiency.

While we have discussed many instances of anti-inflammatory nutrients being deficient in diseases linked to obesity, we have not yet dealt with any diseases cured by remedying those deficiencies. Skin disorders, which are more commonly found in overweight people,²⁷ offer examples of diseases cured through nutrition. Systemic inflammation in the body makes skin inflammation more likely and, as we have seen previously, inflammation levels are higher in overweight people.

Dermatitis is a term that means any inflammation of the skin, such as a rash. Eczema is a name for a range of dermatitises. These are usually recurring skin rashes that are red, dry, swollen, and itchy. Records of the prevalence of eczema do not exist from before the mid-1940s, but it has been increasing in both the U.S. and U.K. since that time. The prevalence of eczema in American children more than doubled from 1946 to 1970, from 5.1% to 12.2%.²⁸ Recent measurements have found that about 29% of children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with eczema during childhood.²⁹

Since skin disorders have become more common in our period of changing nutrition, it implies that nutrition may be a cause. Multiple dietary changes have occurred during the time period in which many types of dermatitis and eczema have become much more widespread and severe. In fact, experiments have demonstrated that treating dermatitis by correcting nutrient deficiencies can cure at least some skin conditions. For example, glucagonoma is a type of cancer of the pancreas which frequently results in low levels of amino acids, insulin resistance, and severe rashes with redness and blistering. A team of doctors treating a man with this cancer was able to improve his symptoms by raising his amino acid levels. After three days of intravenous supplements, most of the patient’s amino acid levels had returned to normal and his skin rashes rapidly disappeared.³⁰

Another type of skin rash, seborrheic dermatitis, has also been successfully treated by targeting anti-inflammatory enzymes. Scientists performed an experiment on a group of HIV patients suffering from seborrheic dermatitis in which they administered nutrients known to raise levels of glutathione peroxidase: the mineral selenium, the amino acid L-methionine, vitamin E, and fatty acids. After two months, levels of the enzyme increased and all of the subjects in the study had an improvement in their seborrheic dermatitis. Several additional months of therapy led not only to a cure of their dermatitis, but also to increases in their white blood cell counts, a sign of immune system health that is critical in the treatment of HIV.³¹

Wheat germ, which is anti-inflammatory and contains all the compounds necessary to create glutathione peroxidase, has been reported to improve seborrheic dermatitis, though this has not been tested in a clinical setting. In addition, wheat germ has long been used as a home remedy for acne by people who have claimed it makes their skin softer and smoother, a sign of decreased skin inflammation.^{32, 33} We noted earlier that blood levels of vitamin E tend to be lower in people with acne, but they also have lower levels of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase. Treatments that raise levels of this enzyme have been shown to improve acne.³⁴ If inflammation causes acne, it would explain the effectiveness of wheat germ as an acne remedy.

We have already reviewed the connection among inflammation, diabetes, and insulin resistance, but not the connection with nutrition. Interestingly, scientists have discovered that insulin resistance is related to impaired metabolism of glutathione, the substance made from three amino acids which is a building block of the anti-inflammatory enzyme glutathione peroxidase. Whole grains, but not refined flour, are known to substantially lower the risk of insulin resistance, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes.³⁵ The main difference between flour, even so-called “whole wheat flour,” and whole grains is the removal of germ and bran. The germ is the part of the grain that contains the amino acids necessary to create the glutathione which is deficient in diabetes. In laboratory experiments, wheat germ has been found to reduce insulin resistance.³⁶

Cancer is one of the least understood diseases associated with obesity. Several forms of cancer have been shown to have some connection to inflammation and different E vitamins. Organs that are chronically inflamed are more likely to develop tumors. This connection may explain a mystery known as the “Japanese Smoking Paradox” that has long puzzled cancer researchers. Smoking causes lung cancer, and smoking more cigarettes means a higher risk of lung cancer than smoking fewer cigarettes. Yet in Japan, the relationship is not so strong. Heavy smokers in Japan have higher rates of lung cancer than do nonsmokers, but nowhere near the rates found in the United States. The Japanese diet consists mainly of rice, fruits, vegetables, and fish. Other countries have similar diets, but none have the same “Smoking Paradox.” A component of the Japanese diet that has not been studied to see if it is related to lower cancer rates among Japanese smokers is rice bran oil. While smoking cigarettes is inflammatory and depletes vitamin E from the lung tissue, rice bran oil is anti-inflammatory and is the richest source of vitamin E. Later on, we will see another difference in the Japanese diet that could be an explanation for their low rate of obesity and chronic disease.

Inflammation is the cause of insulin resistance, which causes increased hunger and weight gain. Amino acids are deficient in chronic inflammation, and increasing amino acid consumption lowers inflammation. However, we are eating more amino acids, which come from proteins, than in earlier centuries. It seems amino acid deficiencies are occurring because the body is using up its supply of amino acids by trying to reduce chronic excess inflammation, not because we are not consuming enough of them. The problem seems to be that the modern diet increases inflammation in the body. While inflammation is a natural process, the chronic low level inflammation linked to obesity and many diseases is not. To lose weight and be healthy, we need to identify all the causes of that chronic inflammation and correct them.

For the last several thousand years, up to the twentieth century, the vast majority of our calories have come from whole grains. Unlike refined grains, whole grains contain all the amino acids essential in human nutrition. High consumption of whole grains instead of refined grains has been associated with weight loss, lower levels of inflammation, and lower rates of chronic disease. There were far lower rates of obesity and chronic disease in the United States before the twentieth century, during a time when we received over 80% of our calories from whole grains. However, during this time when whole grain consumption was greater there was a much higher rate of death from infectious disease. According to one theory, these early deaths masked the real cause of obesity in the modern diet.

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