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Takeaways from LowCarbUSA

Last weekend in San Diego there was a conference known affectionately as “LowCarbUSA.” Researchers, practitioners, writers, and other leaders in the field of low-carb nutrition get together to present the latest research on food and metabolic health in a CME (aka, super smarty-pants) symposium.

Unfortunately, it’s a busy time of year for me at work, so I wasn’t able to get away. But thanks to the tireless efforts of organizers Doug Reynolds and Pam Devine (big shout-out to those two!), I was able to tune in virtually, geeking out in front of the live stream between to-do list items. I didn’t catch every talk, and I’m still working through the recordings, but here are some of my favorite quotable moments so far:

stressed out

“What’s the elephant in the room? Stress.”

- Brian Lenzkes, MD

In a previous podcast, I talked to Dr. Brian about how he uses CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) technology to help patients understand their blood sugar and to help keep them on track with their diet. This time, he talked about how taken together, all that CGM data pointed to something interesting: the role of stress in our metabolism.

Starting out with the anecdotal, he said he has seen many patients struggle to lose weight whenever they go through stressful times — whether it be a big deadline at work, moving to a new house, family struggles… whatever. He then went on to present slide after slide of actual CGM readings, showing how his patients’ blood glucose can go up, and stay elevated, through times of stress, even when they’re sticking to a low-carb diet.

I’m always tempted to think of stress management as a “feel good” kind of thing. Nice to have, but really it’s much more important that I get my work done. But thinking about how deeply stress can affect our actual biology, it just drove home the importance of all the different lifestyle factors on our health.

With his trademark good humor, Dr. Brian finished by pulling out his own phone and taking a CGM reading on himself, right there on stage. “See, that’s how nervous I am to be up here,” he said, “my blood sugar is up to 125, and I haven’t had anything to eat today.”

feeding the world

“Animal-source foods are the key to public health, sustainable food systems, and culture and tradition.”

-Peter Ballerstedt, Ph.D

This was a jaw-dropper. Ballerstedt, forage agronomist, spoke about the health value and sustainability of meat — in particular, ruminants like beef and lamb. His presentation was a blitzkrieg of truth bombs, each blowing up the anti-meat narrative that seems to be everywhere today.

He pointed out, for example, that despite what we hear, the world is already eating a plant-based diet (84% of calories globally come from plants — 73% in the developed world), and that the most plant-based (89%) is the developing world. Yet, despite eating such an “ideal” diet, those countries have the highest rates of nutrition-related disease.

I’ll share just one of his slides here, which I think gives you a sense of Ballerstedt’s unique perspective:

Image credit: Peter Ballerstedt, PhD

Says Ballerstedt, “The average American with Type 2 Diabetes uses pharmaceuticals equal to 2 metric tons of CO2. If their use of those diabetes-specific pharmaceuticals was eliminated, it could result in a reduction of almost 50 million metric tons CO2.” How could this be achieved? By cutting the carbs… and eating more meat.

As someone who cares about food, health, and the environment, I found this one particularly interesting. Dr. Ballerstedt has shared all of his slides here if you want to dig into them some more.

meat in the media

“Virtually all the media outlets in the United States amplify certain stories, and ignore other stories.”

Nina Teicholz

Another great presentation from the “meat wars” front was given by Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fat Surprise. She talked about a study that came out just last month in which the authors posit a theory that red meat causes heart disease by raising levels of a gut metabolite called TMAO.

Pretty interesting. But then Teicholz shares a list of foods that raise TMAO higher than red meat: carrots, cauliflower, peas, peanuts, potatoes, and most of all, cod and halibut.

Nevertheless, the story was picked up by 92 news outlets, indicating that a huge PR effort was likely behind it. (Teicholz also notes that the study was funded by Proctor and Gamble, who is busy developing and promoting a TMAO test in conjunction with the Cleveland Clinic.)

Meanwhile, another study came out recently: a trial using the ketogenic diet for patients with mental illness. Highlights included a 46% reduction in symptoms of schizoaffective disorder and 70% reduction in depression symptoms. At a time when mental health is a major issue nationwide, this is huge news. How many outlets picked it up? Just 14.

In what perhaps may be the understatement of the conference, Teicholz says that the people making decisions in the media “are not unbiased,” despite all claims to the contrary. I was lucky enough to interview Nina for my book. She’s a brilliant thinker and terrific writer. If you like to geek out on this stuff, I recommend you check out her substack newsletter, Unsettled Science.

metabolic mobsters

1.2 billion years ago, some bacteria arose from the biome and made themselves vital to our health. These “mobsters,” called mitochondria, “muscled” their way into our bodies and “made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.” Namely, they would “launder” chemicals (from food) into energy in every cell in our bodies. Today these little guys comprise 20% of our body weight, and gram for gram, produce more energy than the sun.

-Dr. Ben Bocchicchio

In my most recent posts, I’ve talked to Dr. Ben about exercise and diet. But for this one, he went deep — to the microscopic level, in fact. He shows not only the importance of mitochondria in our health, but also how we can train them through exercise. Much of it was way over my head, but his unique perspective and deep knowledge on the subject always keeps me engaged. I walked away with a renewed sense of wonder at this incredible thing called the human body. And of course, he finished with a very “Dr. Ben” joke.

Image credit: Ben Bocchicchio, PhD

zoo humans

“The idea is to die young as late as possible.”

- Dr. Mark Cucuzzella

In his talk, “Metabolic Flexibility for Athletic Performance - Become a Better Butter Burner,” Dr. Cucuzzella, a physician at West Virginia University, also takes up the subject of mitochondria, specifically their role in endurance training, and fueling exercise on a low-carb diet.

Along the way, he makes an argument that we need to fight against becoming a member of the species “Homo Sedentary,” an animal that goes by the common name, “zoo human.” The zoo human is plagued by what he calls the “Three C’s”: chairs, cars, and computers. Our modern conveniences, he says, are making us old quickly. How do we fight? We can stay young through exercise and movement.

Like Dr. Ben, Dr. Cucuzzella gets into the weeds of mitochondrial function, but the long and short is that I’m definitely convinced to add some zone 2 exercise into my currently-faltering regimen.

to be continued…

There’s lots more — too many to relate here — and as I say, I still have more watching to do. If you want to check out the videos online for yourself, you can purchase a pass here.

Meanwhile, I’ve already bought my in-person ticket for the next LowCarb USA event, which takes place in Florida in January. It’ll be my first in-person low-carb conference, and I can’t wait. Meanwhile, this conference has given me plenty of material to share in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!