Page 14 - Summer2009

Caustic Commentary

BROWN FAT myelin. In other words, irradiated food caused irreparable
Brown fat is a type of adipose tissue which has the sole damage to the myelin sheaths. So much for spin-doctored
purpose of expending energy. Biologists once thought that headlines. What’s mysterious is how researchers could be
brown fat disappeared after infancy, but new studies show so suborned by political correctness that they refrain from
that most adults have unexpectedly large and active deposits warning the public about the very real dangers of irradiated
of this calorie-burning fat. According to scientists, the only food uncovered in their research. “We think it is extremely
safe way to activate brown fat is to stay chilly, right on the unlikely that [irradiated food] could become a human health
verge of shivering, for prolonged periods. This causes the fat SUREOHP ´ VD\V 'XQFDQ ³:H WKLQN LW LV VSHFLHV VSHFL¿F ,W¶V
to use up calories to keep us warm. As expected, leaner people important to note these cats were fed a diet of irradiated food
have more detectable brown fat than overweight people. for a period of time.” Maybe they have been eating too much
Studies show that stimulating the production of brown fat in irradiated food!
mice—which can be done by injecting them with a growth
factor called BMP7—makes them resistant to gaining weight NEW LOOK AT DIABETES
or to developing diabetes when fed a high-calorie diet (Wash- In the Spring, 2008 issue of Wise Traditions, Dr. Tom Cowan
ington Post, April 9, 2009). Naturally, scientists are looking describes research showing the link between our immune sys-
for ways to increase brown fat in humans—by injection or tem and our emotions. When we experience emotional pain,
pill—the typical reductionist mentality. What would be really our immune system suffers, leading to immune dysfunction
interesting to know is what kind of nutritional support allows and autoimmune disease, and illnesses like cancer, Crohn’s
us to carry large amounts of brown fat from infancy into ma- disease and type 1 diabetes. The standard explanation for type
turity, so that we know how to ensure that lucky condition of 1 diabetes is malfunction and death of the insulin-producing
being able to eat lots of food but not gain weight. islet cells in the pancreas. A recent study points to the model
described by Dr. Cowan. Researchers Hans Michael Dosch
SPIN DOCTORING and Michael Salter from the Hospital for Sick Children in
³6FLHQWLVWV VWXG\LQJ D P\VWHULRXV QHXURORJLFDO DIÀLFWLRQ LQ Toronto have found that malfunction of the pain nerves sur-
cats have discovered a surprising ability of the central nervous rounding cells in the pancreas can cause type 1 diabetes.
system to repair itself and restore function.” Thus begins a Dorsch had observed in previous research that islet cells in
ScienceDaily report (March 31, 2009), “Cats’ Central Nervous diabetics were surrounded by an “enormous” number of pain
System Can Repair Itself And Restore Function,” on a study nerves that signaled to the brain that pancreatic tissue was
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci- damaged. When Dosch and Salter injected capsaicin (hot
ence (March 30, 2009). The report describes remyelination in red pepper extract) into mice with type 1 diabetes to kill the
cats recovering from a “severe neurological disorder” indicat- animals’ pancreatic pain nerves, the islet cells began produc-
ing “a profound ability of the central nervous system to repair ing insulin normally almost immediately. Further research
itself.” It’s only well into the report that we learn more about uncovered the fact that the pancreatic nerve cells were a vital
WKH ³P\VWHULRXV QHXURORJLFDO GLVRUGHU´ DQG WKH ¿QGLQJ WKDW part of the functioning of islet cells, secreting neuropeptides
should really have made headlines. The cats that developed that tell the islets to release insulin. When the researchers
WKLV ³P\VWHULRXV´ DIÀLFWLRQ KDG EHHQ IHG LUUDGLDWHG IRRG GXU- injected the neuropeptide into the pancreases of the diabetic
ing pregnancy! Within three or four months, the irradiated PLFH WKHLU LVOHW LQÀDPPDWLRQ UDSLGO\ FOHDUHG XS DQG DJDLQ
food caused neurological dysfunction, movement disorders, their diabetes disappeared. Some mice have remained “cured”
vision loss and paralysis. “It’s a very puzzling demyelinating for up to four months with a single injection. The capsaicin-
disease,” said Ian Duncan, the lead researcher. Cats put back neuropeptide treatment also helped curb the insulin resistance
on a normal diet recovered, but here’s the really important that causes type 2 diabetes. Human trials are forthcoming
part: the recovery of the cats was not a rapid one, but slow, and ZZZ QDWXUDOQHZV FRP ] KWPO 7KH UHDO TXHVWLRQ LV
the restored myelin in the sheaths was not as thick as healthy ZKDW FDXVHV WKH SDQFUHDWLF QHXURQV WR PDOIXQFWLRQ LQ WKH ¿UVW
12 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2009