#5 Dr. Bruce Ames Talks CHORI-Bar Weight Loss
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Dr. Rhonda Patrick speaks with Dr. Bruce Ames, about a micronutrient- and fiber-dense nutrition bar (referred to as the CHORI bar) that was developed in the Ames laboratory. The bar was formulated to be moderate in calories (107 kcal/≈25 g bar), but nutrient dense, with a polyphenolic-rich matrix of fruit, walnuts, and non-alkali-processed dark chocolate, supplemental vitamins, minerals, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a blend of insoluble and soluble fibers, protein, and glutamine. Most vitamins and minerals are present in amounts representing 10 to 50% of their corresponding recommended daily allowance (RDA) per bar; with the exceptions of vitamin D and vitamin C (both added above 50% RDA). The goal was not to meet the RDA in every case but to complement standard dietary intakes by consumption of 2 bars each day. People that ate the bar were told not to change their diets but just to eat the bars on top of their normal diet.
Lean people that ate the CHORI bar twice a day were able to raise HDL, lower homocysteine, and raise glutathione in just two weeks. Overweight/obese people with low inflammation that ate the bar showed weight loss after 8 weeks, raised their HDL, lowered triglycerides and small LDL particles, and improved insulin sensitivity. Overweight/obese people that had high inflammation were able to lower their inflammation after 2 weeks of eating the bar and raise their HDL after 8 weeks.
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So, Bruce, let's go back to the obese eating a terrible diet. Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about that. Well, there are lots of papers showing that if you define worse as ratio of calories to essential micronutrients, the obese are eating the worst diet in the country because they're eating empty calories and not eating the greens and not eating— They don't eat much fish and all of that. And again, it tends to be the poor who don't know, and they're just eating carbohydrate. And it may be comfort food, but it's aging them much faster. And every possible disease that's been looked at is higher in the obese. More cancer, more brain decay, more heart disease. Yeah. Heart disease, you name it, and if it's been looked at, it's higher in the obese. Right.
And I think a lot of that's due to the fact that they're starving for vitamins and minerals. That makes sense. And so, how— and I think there's an easy solution to it. We invented something called the CHORI-bar about 10 years ago, Mark Shigenaga and I. doctors. He was an expert in the gut, and I wanted to get vitamins and minerals into the poor. So we came up with this bar. The local USDA was making a fruit bar, and we added vitamins to it, and plant phenolics were in there, and fiber, the 3 kinds of fiber you need to keep your gut healthy. And we've done 15 human clinical trials. Joyce McCann's running the project, so she should really talk about it. Okay.
We can talk about all of this, but she just sent off a fantastic paper which shows that this Cory bar, if you know what you're doing, the obese can lose weight. So I suspect it might affect satiety, that whether you're hungry or not, fiber is known to fill you up, and the obese are short of fiber. And I think it's gonna make them feel good. So you're basically giving this, the Cory bar, which has, you know, some Vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids, and fiber. Yeah, fiber. We're trying to mimic the Mediterranean diet for the things that— the aspects of it that people don't get. Right. And you're giving it to them on top of their terrible diet. They're just— Oh, yeah. We just tell them, just eat what you're eating, but take 2 Kori bars a day on top. It's just a small bar.
And it raises their HDL and lowers their LDL and improves their insulin resistance and improves their inflammation. It does all these wonderful things. The biomarkers we measure that are linked to heart disease or cancer, things, all improved. Cancer we haven't really done yet, but all improved. So I think most of the world could do better with this thing. So really, that's— it's a really interesting finding that you can give someone that's so metabolically unhealthy just a bar with a good amount of micronutrients and fiber and And they can still eat their terrible diet, and yet you can make improvements in, you know, these things that are known to cause cardiovascular disease, things that are known to lead to cancer, like inflammation.
Their diet is so messed up because they're disabling a lot of the metabolism because they're not getting the essential vitamins and minerals. Right. So basically, you're providing them with precursors so that their metabolism can work and so that they can repair a lot of this damage that they've already done Yeah, it takes time. If we give it to lean people who are mostly eating pretty good diets, we can raise everybody's HDL, or practically everybody's. So even people who think they're eating good diets aren't optimum. Wow. And they're at least— and you can deconstruct it, leave out one item, and we know there are at least 3 different items in there that are important. And so Joyce McCann's running this project, It's— I think this bar is like a super vitamin pill.
So basically, if you're already, you know, metabolically healthy, you know, as measured by being lean, then you can, you can do good things like raising your HDL even higher quicker than the obese can. But the obese eventually can raise their HDL if they take these vitamins and minerals, suggesting that it— they have— first, the vitamins and minerals are probably going to You know, repair all this damage to those, you know, energy requirements that are repairing the damage. And then, you know, then you can move on to the other good things. And if they're inflamed— see, when you're, uh, if you don't get your fiber and other important things for your gut, the gut— the more bacteria in your gut than cells in your body.
And the gut barrier function is the cells have very tight junctions so bacteria can't get into your bloodstream. And if endotoxin, or it's also called lipopolysaccharide, which is the outside of bacteria, get into the body, it rings all the alarm bells in the body. It says, I'm invaded. And that's— they get inflamed, and that takes over because the body has to deal with an invasion first before it can do anything else. Right. And so that— So, we can get obese people who are not all inflamed to lose weight. But if they're inflamed, you blunt all that. But I think the cordyceps will lower inflammation eventually. And so, it's just a matter of— it doesn't help if people just drink sugary soft drinks and eat white bread or donuts. I mean, that's not a healthy diet. Yeah.
But we didn't tell them to change the diet, we just put the Corybar on top. But eventually, they'll have to transition, and this may be a good way to do it, to a healthier diet. It may even be that once they start getting these vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids and fiber, that their dietary patterns change just because they feel better, just because they're realizing, you know, they like to feel good. It may even be as simple as their brain functions a little different. I mean, you mentioned endotoxin. I found this study that was very interesting where they injected people with endotoxin, caused inflammation, and it caused depressive symptoms. Yeah, no. So you're talking about affecting brain function, cravings, things like that.
It may actually be that their dietary habits will change as a function of getting the right micronutrients so that their brain is— Right. I was in Denmark for a meeting in early spring, I think it was. And Denmark's always raining or cloudy. It's just terrible weather. And, or by California standards. And there were 3 beautiful days where there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was just like California. And every Dane had taken off most of their clothes and they were lying in the sun. Just everywhere you saw all these half-naked bodies. And I queried a few Danes, how come? They said, well, we feel good when there's sun and we sunbathe. It's built into us because we get so little sun. And they're getting their vitamin D. Serotonin. Serotonin makes you feel good. That's right.
So, yeah, that's— it makes perfect sense that people would be out there laying in the sun. But the Corybar is very interesting. And is it something that is gonna be For available to the public? Yeah. Joyce McCann just got a beautiful paper out, a second paper on the Corybarb, which shows all these things. And, you know, statins is a $35 billion industry, but there's side effects. Most drugs are blunderbusses, and there are some side effects. And nutrition is what's getting at the essence. And I don't think you expect a lot of side effects. So I think that's the way to go. So maybe the Corybar can replace statins? Well, we'll see.
A disease characterized by the deposition of fatty plaques on the inner walls of arteries. Something is said to be atherogenic when it promotes the formation of fatty plaques in the arteries. Atherosclerosis causes coronary artery disease.
A measurable substance in an organism that is indicative of some phenomenon such as disease, infection, or environmental exposure.
Organic pigments that are found mainly in the chloroplasts of plants and are responsible for absorbing light. Plants use carotenoids to create energy and protection from harmful UV rays and animals commonly use carotenoids as a precursor for vitamin A.
The process by which the body responds to stressors in order to regain homeostasis. This can be carried out by means of alteration in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, the autonomic nervous system, cytokines, or a number of other systems.
A substance whose presence is essential for the activity of an enzyme. Many minerals and vitamins are cofactors for enzymes.
A type of water-soluble B-vitamin, also called vitamin B9. Folate is critical in the metabolism of nucleic acid precursors and several amino acids, as well as in methylation reactions. Severe deficiency in folate can cause megaloblastic anemia, which causes fatigue, weakness, and shortness of breath. Certain genetic variations in folate metabolism, particularly those found in the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene influences folate status. Inadequate folate status during early pregnancy increases the risk of certain birth defects called neural tube defects, or NTDs, such as spina bifida, anencephaly, and other similar conditions. Folate deficiency and elevated concentrations of homocysteine in the blood are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Low folate status and/or high homocysteine concentrations are associated with cognitive dysfunction in aging (from mild impairments to dementia). The synthetic form of folate is called folic acid. Sources of folate include most fruits and vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables.
A gene coding for an enzyme that converts homocysteine into methionine; a critical step in the methyl cycle. Natural variation in this gene is common among healthy people, however, some variants have been reported to influence susceptibility to occlusive vascular disease, neural tube defects, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, colon cancer, and acute leukemia.
Vitamins and minerals that are required by organisms throughout life in small quantities to orchestrate a range of physiological functions. The term micronutrients encompasses vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids.
An agent, such as radiation or a chemical substance. that causes genetic mutation.
The daily nutrient goals for essentially all healthy people. RDAs are calculated by determining the Estimated Average Requirements (the average amount of nutrients that half of all healthy people in any given demographic need each day) and adding two standard deviations. This ensures that the RDAs exceed the requirements of approximately 97.5% of the population.
A disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy is characterized by bleeding, swollen gums, poor wound healing, joint pain, and bruising. Clinical features of scurvy appear in a person in as little as 84 to 97 days of vitamin C depletion. As scurvy progresses, a person might experience shortness of breath, dry eyes, joint swelling, weakness, fatigue, and depression.
Theory proposed by Dr. Bruce Ames which proposes that when the body is deficient in a micronutrient it will allocate its scarce supply to enzymes necessary for short-term survival and reproduction at the cost of long-term survival enzymes. This may result in the acceleration of the aging process.
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