This is my free weekly newsletter covering 5 interesting points from the week. Subscribe if you’d like to get it in your inbox each week!
1. Gelatin (collagen) supplementation increases human collagen synthesis 153%
Per Vitamin C–enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis, daily supplementation of 15g of vitamin C-enriched gelatin increased collagen synthesis 153%. Good thing I ate some pig ears last night.
2. Bloodletting for higher free testosterone?
Functional medicine practitioner, Elliot Overton, has a very interesting video titled How I Fixed My Low (free) Testosterone: High SHBG & Iron Overload
Elevated SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) is a common reason for low free testosterone. SHBG reduces bioavailability of testosterone. Elliot had an issue with elevated SHBG for a quite long time, but managed to bring it down by giving blood, presumably because he was experiencing iron overload.
Per Iron and a Man’s Reproductive Health: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, “profoundly low testosterone levels are a common finding in severe iron overload. …autopsy studies in iron overloaded men revealed that iron deposition is specific to the gonadotrophs.” Gonadotrophs are specialized cell types of the anterior pituitary that synthesize and secrete LH and FSH. LH stimulates testosterone production and FSH stimulates testicle growth.
Further, per Liver iron overload is associated with elevated SHBG concentration and moderate hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism in dysmetabolic men without genetic haemochromatosis, iron overload in the liver can elevate SHBG levels.
Elliot points out a case study An unusual case of erectile dysfunction with high total testosterone levels where a man experiencing ED had high total testosterone, but also high SHBG and very high iron levels.
On Elliot’s advice, Paul Saladino also did therapeutic blood letting (phlebotomy) to reduce his iron levels and this lowered his SHBG and increased his free testosterone.
3. Why entrepreneurs need to live a testosterone-promoting lifestyle
Per Testosterone measurements in social and clinical psychology
Activity of the endocrine system often matches the pace of social interaction. Testosterone has a characteristic baseline level for each individual, which predicts individual differences in behavior. Testosterone levels also change over periods of minutes and hours in response to social stimuli. Testosterone is thus both a cause and an effect of social interaction, pat of a system rather than purely dependent or independent variable. Testosterone is related to sexual activity, antisocial behavior, occupational achievement, and experiences of success and failure.
Per Biology (prenatal testosterone), psychology (achievement need) and entrepreneurial impact
Entrepreneurship holds the key to poverty alleviation and economic development. We find entrepreneurial impact as indicated by the number of jobs created by an entrepreneur is predicted by a biological factor – prenatal exposure to testosterone and a psychological factor – need for achievement. In a sample of 64 male German entrepreneurs we find that the interaction between prenatal exposure to testosterone and need for achievement predicted entrepreneurial impact. This study supports the idea that biological and psychological approaches need to be combined to explain social phenomena.
This research uses evolutionary psychology as the theoretical perspective for exploring the relationship between a heritable biological characteristic (testosterone level) and an important business behavior (new venture creation). Data were collected from 31 MBA students with significant prior involvement in new venture creation and from 79 other student subjects with no new venture start-up experience. Consistent with evolutionary psychological theory, the biological (testosterone level) effect upon behavior (new venture creation) is partially mediated by the psychological (risk propensity).
4. Blue Zone bullshit lives on
I just wrote a post last week about how a shaky data point from 1949 was used to make claims about the long-lived Okinawans’ traditional diet in support of a plant-based narrative. I happen to be in Okinawa right now as I write this and last night for dinner I plenty of a key part of Okinawan traditional food: pork. I got the “assorted stew platter” which included pig feet, pork belly and pork rib with cartilage. I also got some pig ears on the side.
I hadn’t realized it, but my post on the Okinawans came out just 6 days after Netflix released a documentary about the ‘Blue Zones’ which includes Okinawa. Of course they mentioned the 1949 data point that claims Okinawans’ diet was 69% sweet potatoes with only 1% of their calories coming from meat or fish. Yes, that’s right. The ISLAND of Okinawa had barely any interest in eating fish or pork despite having 110,000 pigs (1 pig for every 6 people) before the war and hit 142,000 pigs by 1960. No need for inquiry there, of course Okinawans just thought pigs were neat.
Ironically while the documentary is showcasing a woman making the traditional dish gōya chanpuru, you see a big hunk of pork belly being cut up. It’s not mentioned in the narration.
While what’s said about the diet composition of the diet is very misleading, I can appreciate pretty much everything else he says about Okinawans’ longevity promoting lifestyle:
・Focus on community & maintaining personal relationships
・Focus on ikigai which literally means ‘worth of living.’ Something like mission in life.
・Reasonable food portions
・Mantra of ‘eat until you’re 80% full’ 「腹八分」
・Maintain activity levels, flexibility, balance and muscle mass into old age
・1-2 hours per day of low intensity exercise (tending to gardens)
5. Muscle matters: 40% of weight loss from Ozempic is muscle.
The weight loss drug Ozempic has been making a buzz recently as it’s been hailed as a miracle drug for weight loss
Ozempic, a drug used to treat diabetes, keeps gaining attention as celebrities, a tech mogul and TikTok influencers have described taking it to lose weight in short time frames. -NY Times
It then drew attention again when there were reports of it causing stomach paralysis.
Is the weight loss worth it? Well, even if you’re lucky enough to not have terrible side effects, it’s not even that great of a weight loss drug. A 2020 study titled Effects of once-weekly semaglutide vs once-daily canagliflozin on body composition in type 2 diabetes: a substudy of the SUSTAIN 8 raindmozed controlled clinical trial found that people lost 7.4 lbs of fat after 52 weeks of once-weekly semaglutide but also lost 5 lbs of muscle. 40% of their weight loss was muscle. If you’re not aware of just how bad it is to lose that much muscle, take a look at my recent video on the topic:
#2
Dang. That's disappointing to hear when blood pudding is so good.
#4
Apparently, the full proverb goes
腹八分目に医者いらず、腹六分目で老いを忘れる、腹四分目で神にちかづく
80% keeps the doctor at bay, 60% makes you forget old age, 40% makes you feel like a god
I started eating grass fed beef gelatin everyday after my knee gave out 3 years ago. And I started giving blood after learning about a famous journalist I love nearly died, but was brought back from a transfusion.
Thanks for confirming things that I've figured out intuitively.