Tor and Leucine

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Van Canna
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Tor and Leucine

Post by Van Canna »

Bill,

What do you make of this article? It sounds like almost everything we eat is no good for us.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/calori ... ction.html
Van
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Van Canna
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Re: Tor and Leucine

Post by Van Canna »

This may also help explain the longevity of populations like the Okinawa Japanese, who have about half our mortality rate. The traditional Okinawan diet is only about 10% protein, and practically no cholesterol, because they ate almost exclusively plants. Less than one percent of their diet was fish, meat, eggs, and dairy – the equivalent of one serving of meat a month and one egg every two months. Their longevity is surpassed only by vegetarian Adventists in California, who have perhaps the highest life expectancy of any formally described population in history.
Van
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: Tor and Leucine

Post by Bill Glasheen »

I file this under "interesting but not conclusive."

First... consider the source. Look at the causes supported by the website. This is a very special group, and there are a lot of vegetarians in the group. Naturally they will select publications which support their lifestyle.

Second... correlation does not imply causation. There are a lot of things that can be said about both Okinawans and Seventh Day Adventists in terms of what makes them so healthy. The same can be said of Mormons in Utah, by the way, and they have different dietary choices.

Third... calorie restriction may make you live longer, but at what cost? If you're constantly bonking, you're not going to be very productive - either mentally or physically. A calorie-restricted individual will not make it as a manual laborer, and certainly wouldn't be a professional athlete. Calorie restriction may also lower hormone levels, which means lower incidence of hormone-related cancers. But who wants to live without adequate hormone levels?

This gets to what's optimal in Nature. Cockroaches have it right. They live shorter lives, and reproduce like crazy. As such the *species* is able to endure all sorts of environmental perturbations - including radiation exposure. So do we optimize for the species or optimize for the individual?

As for what makes Okinawans and Seventh Day Adventists live longer, well there are a myriad of factors. Vegetarianism or near-vegetarianism is one. (Okinawans however do eat pork, and they eat *all* of the pig.) So is hard work, strong social support, lower mental stress, strong spiritual practices, little processed food (containing sugar/HFCS*), and the shunning of certain vices. These populations also *include* ingredients in their diets which improve longevity such as vegetables with myriad phytonutrients (all the colors of the rainbow) and sources of beneficial fatty acids (e.g. fish or flax).

One interesting running experiment is observing the shortening of the Okinawan lifespan with adoption of the Western Diet. KFC and McDonalds aren't agreeing well with them in the doctor's office, even though the youth prefer the more-flavorful and sweet tastes of fast food over the more-bitter and bland tastes of a traditional diet. It's sad to see the outcome.

Finally... we cannot discount the effect of a high iron diet on longevity. Red meat has a lot of iron; fish and white meat not so much. Iron is a known oxidant, and is known to shorten lifespan (unless you regularly give blood either female/naturally or by choice). Some of the foods mentioned are high in iron.

- Bill

* HFCS = High Fructose Corn Syrup.
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: Tor and Leucine

Post by Bill Glasheen »

As I thought, Van... consider the source.

This is from a peer-reviewed source, and not some vegan website. This study suggests that leucine and TOR can be important for treating people with muscle-wasting conditions. It also is useful for bodybuilding.
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2008 May;11(3):222-6. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e3282fa17fb.

Leucine-enriched nutrients and the regulation of mammalian target of rapamycin signalling and human skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

Drummond MJ1, Rasmussen BB.
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-1144, USA.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW:
To highlight recent studies that have examined the cell-signalling mechanisms responsible for the amino acid (primarily leucine and the essential amino acids) stimulation of human skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

RECENT FINDINGS:
Ingestion of a leucine-enriched essential amino acid nutrient solution rapidly and potently activates the mammalian target of rapamycin signalling pathway and protein synthesis in human skeletal muscle. Further, mTOR signalling and muscle protein synthesis are enhanced when leucine-enriched nutrients are ingested following resistance exercise. The addition of leucine to regular meals may improve the ability of feeding to stimulate protein synthesis in old human muscle.

SUMMARY:
Leucine and essential amino acids appear to stimulate human muscle protein synthesis primarily by activating the mammalian target of rapamycin signalling pathway. How human muscle cells sense an increase in leucine and/or essential amino acids to activate mammalian target of rapamycin signalling is currently unknown. Recent work, however, suggests that the kinases hVps34 and MAP43K may be involved. Leucine-enriched essential amino acid ingestion, in combination with resistance exercise in some cases, may be a useful intervention to promote mTOR signalling and protein synthesis in an effort to counteract a variety of muscle wasting conditions (e.g. sarcopenia, cachexia, AIDS, inactivity/bed rest, sepsis, kidney failure, and trauma).
So again... correlation does not imply causation. Leucine per se doesn't shorten your life. If anything, it promotes vitality.

- Bill
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Van Canna
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Re: Tor and Leucine

Post by Van Canna »

Great post, thanks Bill.
Van
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