Ray Peat Email Advice Depository

[Lord Cola]

Response to question about hydrogenated coconut oil causing flaky skin and bad digestion while refined coconut oil doesn't:

"Heat involved in refinement creates some serious toxins."

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hi,
I have a few female patients that struggle with lipedema.
I told one to do things that help the liver and lower estrogen/ increase progesterone. She send me a review that suggests estrogen would actually help with it, but I'm not sure about it.

What do you think would be reasonable dietary or supplementary interventions to help with this condition ?

Thank you.

A: When cells are exposed to estrogen, their first two reactions (almost instantaneous) are to take up water and to activate fat synthesis. When dietary fats contain a lot of polyunsaturated fatty acids, the activity of estrogen is increased. Unsaturated fats have. higher affinity for water than saturated fats do.

Q: Thank you.
do you think lipedema is reversible, without liposuction?

A: Yes, by correcting the diet and hormones.

Q: Thanks. Do you have any specific recommendations or the usual pro-metabolic things like calcium, vitamin D , progesterone and thyroid ?

A: Yes, and avoiding PUFA.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hello Mr. Peat,
With the US and EU increasingly destroying their economy and russia beeing forced into trading more with china, it looks like china will be the only remaining superpower in the next years.
Especially if you look at their plans with the belt and road initiative: they could first dept-trap nations and then force their digital system onto them.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

A: Debt traps and digitalization can be avoided—it’s necessary to eliminate from government those agents of globalization who would allow them to develop.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hello Mr. Peat,
Do you know if altitude generators like the one below actually have similar benefits as beeing at high altitude or is this just marketing?

That's what they say about the mechanism of their generator:

"Hypoxico systems generate normobaric hypoxic air to replicate the oxygen levels found at altitudes up to 21,000ft/6,400m. This is achieved by drawing in ambient air, separating oxygen molecules to meet the desired O2 percentage, then outputting a continuous flow of fresh, filtered, hypoxic air for breathing. This allows altitude training to be performed anywhere on Earth, even at sea level!"

A: Oxygen depletion can be helpful in some situations, but it definitely isn’t equivalent to higher altitude. When people successfully adapt to altitude, their internal CO2 increases, with beneficial changes in metabolism and hormones. Successful adaptation to altitude takes at least several days; otherwise, lactate increases instead of CO2. When CO2 is absorbed through the skin by sitting in a tub or bag of the gas, any excess is exhaled (and respiration is slightly stimulated by higher CO2). Depending on a person’s health, the exhaled air contains a great variety of volative compounds, some of which are toxic, and account for some of the effects on cognition that have been blamed on CO2 in crowded offices and auditoriums. Ammonia, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, isoprene, methanol, ketones and a great variety of volatile hydrocarbons are exhaled. Low atmospheric pressure and stimulated respiration accelerate these breath emissions. These can accumulate to noticeably toxic levels in a tightly closed space.

Q:Interesting. So it does make sense to frequently let fresh air in your room, to get rid of these toxic gases ?

A: Yes. Exercising in a closed space is likely to have noticeably toxic effects.

Q:Oh , that is good to know!

On the altitude generator:
Do you think it is inferior to altitude because it can only be used for a certain amount of time during the day or because of the normobaric pressure it has ?

A: Acclimatization is a prolonged, continuous process.

 

[milk_lover]

Me: In a few days, Ramadan will start and we have to fast from sunrise to sunset for a month. Is there a way to reduce the stress of fasting? Any nutrition tips would be appreciated.

Ray Peat: Having a meal (or two), especially with extra carbohydrate, during the night, to reduce the morning rise of cortisol.

 

[Vileplume]

About Best Living-Climate

Me:
Hey Dr. Peat. I currently live in California, but I’m planning to move this summer to somewhere more affordable, within the US. I’m considering places that are sunny, near the equator, but without excessive humidity. I also want to live somewhere that provides large amounts of tropical fruit.

What do you think is the best pro-metabolic, pro-fruit living environment in the US?

Ray:
High, sunny places like Santa Fe, NM, are as expensive as California, and can be very cold; Santa Barbara grows some tropical fruit, otheriwise, cities with big universities usually have some for their international students. The “hill country” of NW Texas has a compromise altitude and weather and nice scenery, but not much else. The lowest latitude places in the US, i.e., Florida, are unlivably hot and humid for many people. For fruit, goat milk, altitude, weather, and costs, there are thousands of good places in Mexico.

Me:
Thanks, Dr. Peat. The idea of moving to Mexico is extremely intriguing--a nice climate, fruit, and goat milk are all I need to enjoy a happy life. Can you suggest a few cities that I can check out, to start my search?

Ray:
I think it’s good to spend a week or two at a moderate altitude, 4000 to 5000 feet, to adapt, before doing much at higher altitude. Towns around Guadalajara without heavy industry are probably less polluted; Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, Zamora, Michoacan, and Tequila, Jalisco might be good places to start. The Patzcuaro area is very nice, towns around the big lake; Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, is expensive but nice, usually has good fruit.

 

[Vileplume]

About which Writers, Thinkers, or Philosophers he Recommends

Me:
Hey Dr. Peat.

Which thinkers, philosophers, or writers would you recommend to someone trying to gain an appropriate grasp of ethics, morality, and worldview?
I think William Blake is helpful here, but who else would you suggest?

Ray:
Bergson, Whitehead, and Albert Schweitzer.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hello Mr. Peat,
I saw a study where pig lard strongly increases testosterone in mice. A lot more than coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil and fish oil. It also lowered total cholesterol quite a bit.
Do you have any idea what the mechanism could be ?
Because I can't see anything in pig lard that olive oil or coconut oil don't have.
They used iberian pig lard for the study.

This is the name of the study:

"Dietary Fat Influences Testosterone, Cholesterol, Aminopeptidase A, and Blood Pressure in Male Rats"

A: Iberian pigs, with an acorn diet, have lard that’s very different from the lard of corn and soy fed pigs.

Q:The authors mention that the iberian lard they used is actually higher in PUFA than regular lard. They suspect that this is where the benefits came from. Shouldn't that have the opposite effect on testosterone and cholesterol ?

A: Yes, long chain PUFA increase estrogen. US pork is typically more than 30% PUFA, Iberian pork just under 10%.

https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/foods/foods-09-00149/article_deploy/foods-09-00149.pdf

Q:I'm starting to think that it's something specific in the acorn that's androgenic. Maybe a certain fatty acid or something along those lines...

 

[Gânico]

Q: Hello, Dr.Peat. I usually make my drip coffee using paper filters, i never thought about it, but do you think paper could leech some residual chemicals into the beverage, if any? I was researching a bit, and everywhere there's a paper mill or paper factory, in all of those areas, the locals have pretty high the miscarriage/abortion rates, and high cancer rates, especially in children.

A:Washable cloth filters are better. I think it’s good to poor hot water through the paper filters before using them.

 

[Elast1c]

Me: You had mentioned in an interview a few years back a person had used dhea and their liver had increased to the size of a watermelon even after stopping use. Do you know if that person ever fully recovered and what miligram dosage the man had used was? Would pregnenelone or progesterone help remediate the issue and is there a quality enough pregnenelone on the market to try or would that be very risky after such a liver complication for the rest of that persons life?


Dr. Peat: He was using 25 mg/day; his estrogen level normalized after he stopped using DHEA. He’s prematurely grey, but I haven’t heard about his liver since then.

 

[Elast1c]

Me: Attempting to use the baking soda bath to increase co2 at low altitude it came to mind that there are both chlorines filtered by conventional filters and then some which are removed easily by vitamin C. Would it be safer to take the bath with the vitamin C filter + carbon filter to try to avoid the trihalomethanes and chlorine, would it be better to use only a conventional or kdf filter (avoiding the C excipients)


Dr. Peat: Drinking a little baking soda in water helps to increase internal CO2.

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Dec 15;605-606:405-410.
Chloromethane emissions in human breath
Frank Keppler, Jan Fischer, Tobias Sattler, Daniela Polag, Nicole Jaeger, Heinz Friedrich Schöler, Markus Greule.
Abstract
Chloromethane (CH3Cl), currently the most abundant chlorinated organic compound in the atmosphere at around ~550 parts per trillion by volume (pptv), is considered responsible for approximately 16% of halogen-catalyzed stratospheric ozone destruction. Although emissions of CH3Cl are known to occur from animals such as cattle, formation and release of CH3Cl from humans has not yet been reported. In this study a pre-concentration unit coupled with a gas chromatograph directly linked to a mass spectrometer was used to precisely measure concentrations of CH3Cl at the pptv level in exhaled breath from 31 human subjects with ages ranging from 3 to 87years. We provide analytical evidence that all subjects exhaled CH3Cl in the range of 2.5 to 33 parts per billion by volume, levels which significantly exceed those of inhaled air by a factor of up to 60. If the mean of these emissions was typical for the world's population, then the global source of atmospheric CH3Cl from humans would be around 0.66Ggyr-1 (0.33 to 1.48Ggyr-1), which is less than 0.03% of the total annual global atmospheric source strength. The observed endogenous formation of a chlorinated methyl group in humans might be of interest to biochemists and medical scientists as CH3Cl is also known to be a potent methylating agent and thus, could be an important target compound in future medical research diagnostic programs.

 

[milk_lover]

Me: Do you have a recommendation about the ideal room temperature for sleeping? In where I live, outside temperatures are starting to increase so we have to use AC to keep the room cool. Does sleeping under the AC affect human biology in a negative manner? I feel it dries the air and I wake up with a stuffed nose especially if the cooled air is hitting my face.

Ray: Have you checked the relative humidity in the cool room? Usually a cool room with comfortable covers allows the body to regulate its temperature.

Me: How can I check the relative humidity? In that note, would you recommend a humidifier to increase the humidity of the cool room?

Ray: Weather reports usually give the relative humidity; when that air is cooled, the relative humidity increases considerably. It can be calculated from the decrease in temperature, but a little device, usually combined with a thermometer, is convenient.

Me: In my city right now, the temperature is 106 F and relative humidity is 7%. We’re 50 km from the sea. Everyday I open my window for half an hour to let new air comes in. So I would guess the room humidity is more than 7% due to a lower temperature inside (even with the AC off) and the water steam coming from the bathroom and kitchen. I will probably get the device to be sure of the numbers. When I sleep I usually put the AC on 75 F. There is a “dry” mode in the AC remote controller. That mode is supposed to reduce humidity while keeping the room cool.

What is the ideal relative humidity inside houses if we’re planning to cool the air in the day and during sleep? Do you think getting a dehumidifier is a good idea?

Ray: In a 75 F room, relative humidity between 35 and 60 is o.k.; bathroom, kitchen, and people add to the humidity, but with the outside relative humidity of only 7%, a humidifier might help.

Me: Unfortunately, most of the year, the humidity is quite high, especially at night. So if humidity goes higher than 60%, do you think a dehumidifier would help or does it affect health negatively? If someone has respiratory problems like asthma, would sleeping in a less humid room help him?

Ray: High humidity itself tends to soften mucus and can improve asthma symptoms, but the humidity favors the growth of microorganisms and can increase allergens in the air.

 

[milk_lover]

Me: Is there an optimal sleeping position where we can prevent losing too much CO2? On the back, stomach, right side, left side, on the floor, etc. How do you usually sleep?

Ray: I don’t think position in itself has much effects.

Me: How about using pillows and sleeping on comfortable beds? My grandfather claims sleeping on the ground with no pillow makes the body stronger. Is there any truth to that?

Ray: I think a pillow and a soft bed are good for the health.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: A while ago you said a very interested thing:

"The holistic aspect of the organism has almost always been neglected as a component of inflammation.
And why healthy people can avoid getting inflammatory conditions. A lot of it is simply a matter of their attention, how their brain is organized in daily work. If you're scattered and distracted constantly by meaningless tasks, I think that seriously affects your inflammation processes and immunity."



I was wondering what people could do to stop those scattered thoughts, outside of nutrition and supplements.
And the best thing I could come up with is finding a purpose in life. A purpose will make it easier for them to focus on something meaningful and not engage in useless, instant gratification things.

What do you think about that?


A: Yes, a meaningful, purposeful life is essential. The present culture and economy, the fact that most work is producing either harmful or useless things, is a great health problem.

Q: Thanks. Do you have any advice on how to find one's purpose ?

Do you think building a family could be a good purpose ?


A: Yes, combining your efforts with others in a project is effective.

 

[Jam]

.

 

[Murtaza]

me :
Hey Ray, hope all is well with you. Do you know what causes a man to develop Peyronies disease?
Also what could be potential treatments for it? thankyou

Ray : Inflammation from certain foods or imbalances increase collagen formation. Avoiding excessive protein consumption can be helpful.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hello Mr. Peat,
I've been having digestive problems with oysters .
Do you think oyster extract/ powder is an okay replacement, if one can't stomach cooked oysters?

A:
No, dehydration produces some toxic materials.

 

[Vileplume]

On masa harina as a staple food:

Me: Do you think there are any concerns to using masa harina as the major carb source in one’s diet, alongside good fruit (when available) and sugar?

Dr. Peat: I think it’s a good staple food.

 

[Mauritio]

Q: Hello Mr Peat,
What do you think about ultrasound for breaking up tumor tissue, as in the link below ?

Could this be a much safer alternative for chemotherapy?

Tumors partially destroyed with sound don't come back

Noninvasive sound technology breaks down liver tumors in rats, kills cancer cells and spurs the immune system to prevent further spread -- an advance that could lead to improved cancer outcomes in humans.

www.sciencedaily.com

Thanks.


A: One advantage is that any damage to good tissue is localized, while chemotherapy damages the brain and other organs.

 

[rr1]

[Question]
do you believe that the brain has a limit of knowledge it can store? Or is there an unlimited potential?

[Answer]
I don’t think there’s a limit. The anatomy of the brain changes constanty with experience and learning.