Is Diabetes Really The Inability To Oxidize Sugar?

[Mr. God of Cars]

Ray Peat said:

° "Saturated fats activate the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is essential for the efficient use of glucose, while PUFA block it." [1, 1.5]

° "In the 1940s, Bernardo Houssay found that coconut oil protected animals from poison-induced diabetes, while a lard-based diet failed to protect them. Later, glucose itself was found to protect the pancreatic beta-cells from poisons." [2, 3, 4]

We eat sucrose, part of which is broken down to glucose, which is converted to pyruvate in the glycolysis metabolic pathway. The pyruvate is, then, converted into Acetyl-CoA, which then delivers its acetyl group to the citric acid cycle (Krebs cycle) to be oxidized for energy production, producing CO2, ATP, water, and heat. But B-oxidation of fats is also a source of substrate for the pyruvate production.

"Cancer researchers have become interested in this enzyme system that controls the oxidation of pyruvic acid (and thus sugar) by the mitochondria, since these enzymes are crucially defective in cancer cells (and also in diabetes). The chemical DCA, dichloroacetate, is effective against a variety of cancers, and it acts by reactivating the enzymes that oxidize pyruvic acid." [5]

So, if these enzymes (specifically pyruvate dehydrogenase) is defective in diabetes, then diabetes is not a matter of sugar or fat oxidation problem, but a matter of pyruvate conversion into Acetyl-CoA. Am I right?

 

[Steven Bussinger]

@Kyle M

 

[Kyle M]

This is semantics, right? If sugar oxidation involves, say, 12 steps, and one of them is inhibited by PUFA, it is correct to say PUFA inhibits sugar oxidation, if insufficiently specific.

 

[Mr. God of Cars]

This is semantics, right? If sugar oxidation involves, say, 12 steps, and one of them is inhibited by PUFA, it is correct to say PUFA inhibits sugar oxidation, if insufficiently specific.

It means diabetes is the inability to convert pyruvate, either from glucose or from fat, to Acetyl-CoA. So, since polyunsaturated fats inhibit the enzyme which converts it to that, then polyunsaturated fats cause diabetes and, since saturated fats activates that enzyme (as does fructose and T3), then coconut oil (especially) and high-fat dairy products are anti-diabetes, meaning it should prevent blindness, retinopathy, nephropathy, and peripheral neuropathy, mortality and morbidity.

 

[Kyle M]

It means diabetes is the inability to convert pyruvate, either from glucose or from fat, to Acetyl-CoA. So, since polyunsaturated fats inhibit the enzyme which converts it to that, then polyunsaturated fats cause diabetes and, since saturated fats activates that enzyme (as does fructose and T3), then coconut oil (especially) and high-fat dairy products are anti-diabetes, meaning it should prevent blindness, retinopathy, nephropathy, and peripheral neuropathy, mortality and morbidity.

I don't think all saturated fats, in all conditions, activate pyruvate dehydrogenase. I think the activation observed may just be as compared to a more balanced of PUFA-heavy cellular fat milieu.

Still though, my point on semantics remains. If step X of sugar oxidation is inhibited, then it's a matter of semantics to say that sugar oxidation is inhibited, or step X is inhibited. They both have the same practical result, which is to inhibit sugar oxidation.

 

[Mr. God of Cars]

They both have the same practical result, which is to inhibit sugar oxidation.

"Cancer researchers have become interested in this enzyme system that controls the oxidation of pyruvic acid [...], since these enzymes are crucially defective in cancer cells (and also in diabetes). The chemical DCA, dichloroacetate, is effective against a variety of cancers [and diabetes], and it acts by reactivating the enzymes that oxidize pyruvic acid." -- Ray Peat.

Although further (and possibly better) examination of what the scientific studies and literature say or of the physiology is needed, the quote proves diabetes is the inability to oxidize pyruvate, not specifically sugar, because fats (saturated fats only) also provide pyruvic acid and help to oxidize it.

Ray Peat's quote: "Saturated fats activate the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is essential for the efficient use of glucose, while PUFA block it." means "Saturated fats activate the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is essential for the efficient oxidation of pyruvic acid (generated either by sugar or fats), while PUFA block it."

Ray Peat's quote: "In 1947, B. A. Houssay found that a diet based on sugar as a source of energy was more protective against diabetes than a diet based on lard, while the most protective diet was based on coconut oil." (source) adds and confirms my interpretation of the previous quote, because, otherwise, coconut oil would not be the most protective against diabetes, but sugar would.

 

[Kyle M]

"Cancer researchers have become interested in this enzyme system that controls the oxidation of pyruvic acid [...], since these enzymes are crucially defective in cancer cells (and also in diabetes). The chemical DCA, dichloroacetate, is effective against a variety of cancers [and diabetes], and it acts by reactivating the enzymes that oxidize pyruvic acid." -- Ray Peat.

Although further (and possibly better) examination of what the scientific studies and literature say or of the physiology is needed, the quote proves diabetes is the inability to oxidize pyruvate, not specifically sugar, because fats (saturated fats only) also provide pyruvic acid and help to oxidize it.

Ray Peat's quote: "Saturated fats activate the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is essential for the efficient use of glucose, while PUFA block it." means "Saturated fats activate the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is essential for the efficient oxidation of pyruvic acid (generated either by sugar or fats), while PUFA block it."

Ray Peat's quote: "In 1947, B. A. Houssay found that a diet based on sugar as a source of energy was more protective against diabetes than a diet based on lard, while the most protective diet was based on coconut oil." (source) adds and confirms my interpretation of the previous quote, because, otherwise, coconut oil would not be the most protective against diabetes, but sugar would.

Fatty acid oxidation doesn't have to go through pyruvate dehydrogenase.

 

[Mr. God of Cars]

Fatty acid oxidation doesn't have to go through pyruvate dehydrogenase.

Ok, so it makes me conclude that Diabetes is the inability to oxidize pyruvate, and that the reason for the fact that coconut oil is the most protective, according to Bernardo Houssay's study, against diabetes is because it is almost 100% made of saturated fats, which enhance and activate the oxidation of pyruvate by increasing the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase, and that the reason sugar is also protective against diabetes, although slightly, is because it is the only source of pyruvate production; however, I don't get why sugar was not found by Bernardo Houssay to be as equally diabetes-protective as coconut oil was (and even why corn oil was also found to be protective against it).

And I think that just because diabetes is the inability to oxidize pyruvate doesn't mean that restricting its production source (carbohydrates) will cause it, specifically or especially if such person eats (a lot of) saturated fats as an alternative fuel/energy source.