Vitamin B12 - A Nutrition Guide for Vegetarians & Vegans: From Nori to Mushrooms, Omnivores Can Benefit, Too!

With 77µg per 100g of the Nori leaves in the wrapping sushi makes an excellent B12 source, even if you stick to the vegan, no tuna version ;-)

If this is not your first visit to the SuppVersity you will be aware that I am not a exactly a proponent of vegetarianism let alone vegan dieting. Just like any other severely restrictive diet people who don't eat animal products are at an increased risk of nutrient deficiencies.

For vegetarians and even more so for vegans, it is not exactly easy to cover their daily requirements of vitamin A, vitamin D3, iron, cholesterol (yes, cholesterol is an essential nutrient!), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and saturated fats. The most urgently needed nutrient for the average vegetarian / vegan dieter, however is vitamin B12, or cobalamin, as scientists say.

Actually dairy happens to be an excellent B12 source. Why not become lacto-vegetarian?

Dairy Has Branched-Chain Fatty Acids!

Is There Sth. Like a Dairy Weight Loss Miracle?

Foods, Not Ma- cronutrients Build Healthy Guts

Lactulose For Your Gut & Overall Health

Is There a "Fat Advantage" for Dairy Lovers

Want B12, But Hate Meat? Drink Milk!

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin with a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins. It is normally involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, but also fatty acid metabolism and amino acid metabolism. Neither fungi, plants, nor animals - including humans - are capable of producing vitamin B12. Therefore a sufficient intake of vitamin B12 is essential for optimal health.

Even in omnivorous humans, vitamin B12 deficiencies are frequent (Stabler. 2004). Among vegetarians and specifically vegans, it is yet rampant (Pawlak. 2013; Pawlak. 2014).

Figure 1: Reliable data on B12 levels is scarce. Based on surrogate markers and B12 deficiency symptoms scientists are still certain that "B12 deficiency as a worldwide problem." (Stabler. 2004) - one vegetarians are particularly susceptible to.

In the latest review by Pawlak et al. who included only studies that assessed serum vitamin B12 an reported actual percentages of vitamin B12 deficiency (40 studies total)...

• the deficiency prevalence among infants reaches 45%,
• the deficiency among the children and adolescents ranged from 0 to 33.3%, and 
• the deficiency among pregnant women ranges from 17 to 39%, dependent on the trimester

Adults and elderly individuals who follow a vegetarian lifestyle had a deficiency range from 0–86.5%. In general, higher deficiency prevalence was reported in vegans than in other vegetarians.  Accordingly, Pawlak et al. conclude that...

"[...]with few exceptions, the reviewed studies documented relatively high deficiency prevalence among vegetarians. Vegans who do not ingest vitamin B12 supplements were found to be at especially high risk." (Pawlak. 2014)

For vegans, specifically, the scientists recommend the routine use of vitamin B12 supplements to ensure adequate vitamin B12 intake and point out that "[v]egetarians, regardless of the type of vegetarian diet they adhere to, should be screened for vitamin B12 deficiency." (Pawlak. 2014)

Why is it so difficult for vegetarians and vegans to meet their requirements?

The Institute of Medicine’s recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of B12 needed to meet an adult’s requirement as 2.4mg per day. B12 is synthesized only by microorganisms, and this is why natural food sources of B12 are limited to meats and foods of animal origin.

 "Clams and beef liver are the highest sources of B12, containing about 84 and 71mg of B12 in a 3 oz serving (USDA. 2011). The amount of B12 found in a chicken varies from about 3.3mg in the entire chicken liver to 0.03mg in achicken’s neck. Pork contains between 0.3mg of B12 in each sausage patty to about 11.4mg in pork liver. 6 The content of B12 in fish ranges from about 9mg in one half of a fillet of sockeye salmon to about 0.5mg in a 3 oz serving of yellow fin tuna." (Pawlak. 2013)

Needless to say that a vegetarian or vegan person mustn't eat any of the aforementioned "good" B12 sources. The question is thus: Where can a vegan or vegetarian get his B12 from?

Diagnosis of low B12 levels is tricky! The most commonly used cobalamin essay has a sensitivity of "only" 62.6% and produces 22%+ false positives. An often-used alternative, the holotranscobalamin essay is a tad better, but with a sensitivity of 64.7% and 18.4% false positives, not exactly accurate, either (Carmel. 2013). Until now no 100% reliable test is available and studies like Salomon (2005) show that patients with "normal" plasma cobalamin levels, but symptoms vitamin B12 deficiency improve after treatment with the vitamin.

In view of the fact that the name of this website contains the word "supplement", the most obvious and probably safest source are supplements. In that, it's important to point out that not all supplements that promise to solve the vegetarian B12 problems will actually deliver.

Fourteen years ago, Micheal S. Donson tested the efficacy of sublingual cobalamine tablets, nutritional yeast, and probiotic supplements in a group of Hallelujah dieters and other raw-food vegetarians and found that only the former two, i.e. the sublingual cobalamine tablets and the nutritional yeast that contained 5µg of cyanocobalamin per tablespoon brought his subjects' depleted B12 levels back into the normal range. The probiotic supplement, on the other hand, was useless (Donaldson. 2000).

For patients with insufficient intrinsic factor production oral supplements are not suitable, though. For them, only injectable vitamin B12 will reliably bring their levels back up (Katz. 1972). People with low stomach acid, which often occurs with aging, as well, and people with gastric bypass (Smith. 1993) have similar, but less pronounced problems to cover their B12 requirements from oral sources (dietary and supplemental).

Now, supplementation and injections are nice, but isn't is possible to get your B12 from foods without having to eat meat and animal products?

In general, it is possible, but there is one major problem: The total content and bioavailability of vitamin B12 in food sources vegetarians and vegans can eat is comparably low.

Table 1: Content and bioavailability of selected "good" dietary sources of vitamin B12 (Watanabe. 2007)

If you take a look at the data in Table 1 you will see that the only source that can keep up with fish and meat are algae. Chloeralla in particular is an excellent source of dietary B12 for both vegetarians and, if I didn't miss yet another stupid dogma, vegans, as well (Watanabe. 2007).

In a previous study, Watanabe et al. (2002) have found that chlorella tablets, but not spirulina, which contains mostly pseudy vitamin B12 is a suitable source of vitamin B12 for man (and woman ;-).

In a more recent overview of vegetarian and vegan B12 sources, the researchers from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences at the Tottori University in Japan (Watanabe. 2014) compiled a comprehensive overview of suitable B12 sources which includes...

• 

  Are "organic" vegetables worth it? Find out in a previous article.

  Vitamin B12-Enriched Beans and Vegetables Produced Using Organic Fertilizers or Hydroponics -- Previous research has shown that you can significantly increase the B12 content of spinach by adding an organic fertilizer such as cow manure. Practically speaking this is an increase to to approximately 0.14 μg/100 g fresh weight - that's huge considering the fact that "regular" spinach contains < 0.01µg/100g vitamin B12.
  
  In view of the fact that the RDA for B12 is 2.4 μg/day that's still too little to be able to cover your B12 needs from spinach alone. Still, in the future we may be seeing other "high B12" vegetables on the market even non-vegetarian dieters may benefit from.
• Fermented Beans and Vegetables -- The Vitamin B12 content of soybeans is low or undetectable. In the course of the fermentation process soybean products are yet loaded with B12, so that fermented soybeans (Tempe, a traditional Indonesian food that's made of fermented soybeans) can contain up to 8.0 μg B12 per 100g (Nout. 1990)
  
  Comparable increases in B12 content have been observed in vegetables that have been fermented with certain lactic acid or propionic bacteria (up to 10µg/100g; Gupta. 1998).
  
  

  

  "Pesticide pollution: Chinese tea may not be safe to drink," this is what you could read on the website of Greenpeace in 2012, already and obviously this has not changed over the last 2 years | read more

  Tea, of which most people forget that it is fermented (not green tea, though), as well can also contain significant amounts of vitamin B12. For black tea (Batabata-cha), scientists have shown that drinking 50 mL/day, equivalent to a daily dose of 1 ng Vitamin B12, for 6 weeks, compensated the B12 deficiency of B12 deficient rodents (Kittaka-Katsura. 2004). As Watanabe et al. point out, results like these "indicate that Vitamin B12 found in fermented black tea is bioavailable in rats." Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for human beings, where the consumption of 1–2 L of the fermented tea drink, which is equivalent to 20–40 ng of Vitamin B12, is not sufficient to meet the RDA of 2.4 μg/day for adult humans.
• Edible Mushrooms --  Zero or trace levels (approximately 0.09 μg/100 g dry weight) of Vitamin B12 were measured in the dried fruiting bodies of porcini mushrooms (Boletussp.), parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera), oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), and black morels (Morchella conica).
  
  

  

  Figure 2: The micronutrients in nori and dried shiitake mushrooms complement each other perfectly (see bottom line for explanation)

  In contrast, the fruiting bodies of black trumpet (Craterellus cornucopioides) and golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) contained higher levels of Vitamin B12 (1.09–2.65 μg/100 g dry weight) than the above mentioned mushrooms (Watanabe. 2012).
  
  In addition, high levels of Vitamin B12 were detected in the commercially available dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies (Lentinula edodes), which are used in various vegetarian dishes. The Vitamin B12 contents of dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies (100 g dry weight) significantly varied and the average Vitamin B12 value is approximately 5.61 μg (Bito. 2014). 

In conjunction with algae and algae supplements the aforementioned vegetarian sources of B12 may in fact be sufficient to cover the daily requirements of 2.4µg of vitamin B12.

Milk has a built-in B12 absorption enhancer (learn more). Now you tell me: Who would ever doubt that nature knows best?

Bottom line: Of all vegetarian B12 sources, nori is the one marine source of vitamin B12, Watanabe et al. highlight in particular. The consumption of only 4g of dried purple laver (Vitamin B12 content: 77.6 μg /100 g dry weight) supplies the RDA of 2.4 μg/day. Moreover, nori can be easily consumed as a wrapping for rice and fillings and retains most of its precious B12 content upon heating (Miyamoto. 2009).

In conjunction with dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies that contain 18.9 mg of Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and 2.0 mg of iron, both likewise micronturients vegetarians usually don't get enough of in their diets, the dried purple lavers that are rich sources of n-3 polysaturated fatty acids and can be easily integrated in Italian, French, and other forms of Western cuisine, are thus probably the best non-supplemental source of B12 vegetarians can get | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Bito, Tomohiro, et al. "Characterization of vitamin B< sub> 12</sub> compounds in the fruiting bodies of shiitake mushroom (< i> Lentinula edodes</i>) and bed logs after fruiting of the mushroom." Mycoscience (2014). 
• Carmel, Ralph. "Diagnosis and management of clinical and subclinical cobalamin deficiencies: Why controversies persist in the age of sensitive metabolic testing." Biochimie 95.5 (2013): 1047-1055.
• Gupta, Uma, E. R. Rati, and R. Joseph. "Nutritional quality of lactic fermented bitter gourd and fenugreek leaves." International journal of food sciences and nutrition 49.2 (1998): 101-108. 
• Katz, Max, Sook K. Lee, and Bernard A. Cooper. "Vitamin B12 malabsorption due to a biologically inert intrinsic factor." New England Journal of Medicine 287.9 (1972): 425-429.
• Kittaka-Katsura, Hiromi, et al. "Characterization of corrinoid compounds from a Japanese black tea (Batabata-cha) fermented by bacteria." Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 52.4 (2004): 909-911.
• Miyamoto, Emi, et al. "Characterization of vitamin B12 compounds from Korean purple laver (Porphyra sp.) products." Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 57.7 (2009): 2793-2796.
• Nout, M. J. R., and F. M. Rombouts. "Recent developments in tempe research." Journal of Applied Bacteriology 69.5 (1990): 609-633.
• Pawlak, Roman, et al. "How prevalent is vitamin B12 deficiency among vegetarians?." Nutrition reviews 71.2 (2013): 110-117.
• Pawlak, R., S. E. Lester, and T. Babatunde. "The prevalence of cobalamin deficiency among vegetarians assessed by serum vitamin B12: a review of literature." European journal of clinical nutrition 68.5 (2014): 541-548. 
• Smith, C. Daniel, et al. "Gastric acid secretion and vitamin B12 absorption after vertical Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity." Annals of surgery 218.1 (1993): 91.
• Solomon, Lawrence R. "Cobalamin-responsive disorders in the ambulatory care setting: unreliability of cobalamin, methylmalonic acid, and homocysteine testing." Blood 105.3 (2005): 978-985.
• Stabler, Sally P., and Robert H. Allen. "Vitamin B12 deficiency as a worldwide problem." Annu. Rev. Nutr. 24 (2004): 299-326.
• USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.Vitamin B12 (mg) Content of Selected Foods Per Common Vitamin B-12 Measure, Sorted by Nutrient Content. 2005; Available at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR18/nutrlist/sr18w418.pdf. Accessed 27 November 2011. 
• Watanabe, Fumio, et al. "Characterization and bioavailability of vitamin B12-compounds from edible algae." Journal of nutritional science and vitaminology 48.5 (2002): 325-331.
• Watanabe, Fumio. "Vitamin B12 sources and bioavailability." Experimental Biology and Medicine 232.10 (2007): 1266-1274.
• Watanabe, Fumio, et al. "Characterization of vitamin B 12 compounds in the wild edible mushrooms black trumpet (Craterellus cornucopioides) and golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)." Journal of nutritional science and vitaminology 58.6 (2012): 438-441.
• Watanabe, Fumio, et al. "Vitamin B12-Containing Plant Food Sources for Vegetarians." Nutrients 6.5 (2014): 1861-1873.

Brown Algae Extract Reduces Body Fat Without Dieting or Exercise. Ecklonia Cava Polyphenols Help Shed Weight Even in The Presence of a Slight Caloric Surplus.

Image 1: If that were a peace of meat, I'd
say its roadkill, in the case of these
Ecklonia  cava algae the term "floatsam"
would probably be more  fitting,
though (photo by Nikemoto2511)

With obesity being among, if not the major promoter of all modern diseases, researchers around the world are constantly trying to find magic bullet against, a condition of which hardly anyone argues that it could not be prevented in 99.9% of the cases by diet and lifestyle changes, or even better, leading an active and healthy life from early childhood to old age, alone. Be that as it may, if the horse has already bolted, the help of a side effect free dietary supplement, to promote and accelerate the results of consistent life style interventions, would unquestionably come handy. In a recently published study (Shin. 2011) a polyphenol extract from Ecklonia cava, a brown algae that has long been used in traditional foodstuff and folk medicine in Asian countries, turned out to be a another potential candidate in the long list of natural diet aids in the arsenal of holistic medicine.

For 12 weeks, a group of 97 overweight (not obese; BMI 24-29kg/m²) Koreans (mean age 40.5yr) consumed a test liquid containing 0 g of fructose, 0.65 g of dextrin, 12mg of sucralose, 0.15 g of sodium chloride, 0.6 g of citric acid, 0.15 g of vitamin C and lemon flavor. Depending on which group (C, LD, HD) the respective subject had been assigned to, the content of the otherwise identical cans held had been enriched by 0mg (C), 72mg (LD) or 142mg (HD) of an Ecklonia cava extract with a total polyphenol content of 98.5% (measured in phloroglucinol equivalents). The subjects were adviced to consume the drink in between meals, but otherwise to maintain "their usual dietary intake and physical activity", so that any changes in antropometric measurements, dietary intakes and biochemical and hematologic parameters would be attributable to the Ecklonia cava polyphenol (ECP) supplementation.

Figure 1: Anthropometric changes in 97 overweight Koreans after 12 weeks of 0mg=control, 72mg=ECP(72) and 144mg=ECP(144) supplemtal Ecklonia cava polyphenols (data calculated based on Shin. 2011)

The anthropometric data taken after 12 weeks of supplementation makes it quite clear, that the polyphenols from the brown algae found in the ocean off Japan and Korea do in fact hold some potential as an adjunct to a well planned weight loss regimen. In that, two things are particularly intriguing:

1. In contrast to some other natural weight loss supplements (cf. yesterday's news on green tea extract), the dose response curve does not seem to flatten out. At least within the range that has been tested in this study, doubling the dosage even produced a 2.25-fold increase in body fat loss.
2. The polyphenol extract does not seem to work its magic by appetite suppression. As the data in figure 1 shows, the difference between calorie intake and estimated calorie expenditure did even rise by 4.7% and 5.5% in the ECP(72) and the ECP(144) group respectively (judged by the estimated calorie-expenditures both groups had a minimal caloric surplus of 79 and 106kcal).

If you also take into account that subjects in the ECP groups, "showed significant decreases in total cholesterol level after 12 weeks by 7.1% [ECP(72)] (p < 0.01) and 9.3% [ECP(144)] (p < 0.001), [...] significantly reduced serum total cholesterol levels (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively)" and 10.0% and 14.3% lower LDL and 8.6% and 13.3% higher HDL levels, the slimy sea food from the Far East does already appear more appetizing, doesn't it? To eat your way through >10kg of sea weed (this is what the yield of the extraction process described by Lo et al. (Lo. 2009) would suggest to be needed as "basis" of a high quality extract), would nevertheless be pretty hard, which is why I tend to think that this is one of the few cases, where you should prefer the highly processed over the unprocessed variety of a natural superfood.

As far as the mechanism of action, responsible for the highly appreciable effects on body composition, blood lipids and, at high doses, glucose management (-4.9% blood glucose in the ECP(144) group) are concerned the scientists are yet still in the dark:

The antidyslipidemic mechanism of the phlorotannins is not clear. Based on the moderate inhibition of cholesterol esterase (IC50 = ~100 μg/mL on porcine pancreatic cholesterol esterase, unpublished result) by ECP, inhibition of cholesterol absorption may partly contribute to this effect. Other mechanistic speculations include protection of liver function from chronic exposure to high‐fat or high‐glycemic diet. [...] In the present study, significant reduction was observed of serum ALT and AST levels in ECP‐supplemented groups compared with the placebo group. Therefore, based on its antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and hepatoprotective (Kim et al., 2005) activities, ECP might possibly contribute to normalization of blood lipids by
suppressing fat‐induced damage of liver tissue.

Be that as is may, as long as it entails small, but statistically significant, side-effect-free improvements in body-composition, lipid profile and glucose management, I doubt any overweight end-consumer will give a damn about the underlying molecular mechanisms which certainly won't make the necessary lifestyle changes obsolete, but could potentially multiply and accelerate their effects.

3x15g/Day E401, Sodium-Alginate, Increase Weight Loss and Reduction in Body Fat % on Mild Caloric Deficit by 30-40%! The GPA (Gut-Brain Axis) Makes it Possible.

Image 1: The small amounts of sodium-alginate, aka E401 many chocolates and commercially produced foods contain is obviously not enough to ward off obesity. Otherwise the obesity rates should have fallen not risen with the increase in crappy foods.

Aside from the ubiquitous stimulant based fatburners there is another class of weight loss supplements emerging as of late. Those of you who have read Adelfo's Thursday post, here at the SuppVersity, may have seen his plug for Myotropics' WM-HDP based "new Fat Burning Carbohydrate" ThermiCarb(TM). Now as hilarious as it may sound, this resistant starch is in fact as much of a "fat burner" as any of the 1001 currently available stims is. After all, none of those products actively burns fat. What still makes them effective, though, is their ability to shift substrate utilization away from glucose and towards fat, to curb appetite and to deliver the energy you need to do what it takes to shed body fat, i.e. to function normally while eating slightly less and working out.

Contrary to the good old (and certainly not obsolete) stims, these new "fat burners" act on the gut-brain axis, instead of HPA (the hypothalamus-pituatary-adrenal axis), by stimulating the release of a whole host of peptides from the gut. Among those, the  incretin hormones GLP-1 & co. (cf. "Eat More, Burn More and Lose Fat Like on Crack with GLP-1!?") are probably the best understood among these mis-understood "satiety hormones" with their profound  downstream effects on overall energy expenditure, glucose and fatty acid metabolism (Mudaliar. 2012). 

Is alginate, a polysaccharide from marine brown algae, a novel "fat burning fiber"?

Next to designer-starches such as WM-HDP there is also an increasing interest in the effects natural fiber / fiber extracts, such as the 15g alginate from brown algae the obese subjects (0–55y; BMI 30-45kg/m²) in a recent study from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark had to consume before each of their three meals in the course of a 12-week double-blind randomized parallel-intervention (Jenson. 2012), exert on the endocrine signals from your gut.

Image 2: Popsticles are not the only products containing sodium alginate (E401) as a thickener and stabilizer. If you take a closer look at the ingredients of the stuff in the supermarkets, you will notice that  many commercially produced low fat dairy products, ready made sauces, gravies, dressings, puddings, pies and pastry fillings contain it, as well.

What is alginate? Alginate is a gelling polysaccharide (gelling = it forms a gel which passes slowly through your digestive tract) that is extracted from marine brown algae. In seaweed the mannuronic and guluronic acid based components are responsible for the mechanical strength and flexibility. During the regular extraction process alginate is bound to sodium. The result, sodium alginate, has been used a E401 in various foodstuffs to stabilize, gel or viscosify it for years now (Brownlee. 2005). The appetite reducing effects of sodium alginate and other marine-derived fiber are widely known, but the underlying mechanism is still not completely elucidated. According to the current paradigm, it is related to the interaction of sodium-alginate and calcium during the digestive process and the subsequent changes in viscosity of the gastric content, which has been associated with slowed gastric emptying and a reduction of postprandial glucose and insulin response. Of these the latter, i.e. the prolonged influx of glucose, the absence of blood glucose spikes and the overall reduction in insulin levels is currently believed to be at the heart of the observed satiety effects (Cani. 2009).

What is interesting about this study is that according to the self-set goals of the scientists, which lay at the ground of their "Intention-To-Treat analysis" (ITT), which evaluated the changes in body weight and overall body composition, as well as the improvements of metabolic risk factors as a whole, yielded no differences between the two study arms.

Figure 1: Changes in body weight and body composition in response to caloric reduction (-300kcal/day) with or without supplemental alginate (15g/day) after 12 weeks (large graph); actual weight development over the whole 12-week study period (small graph; directly from Jenson. 2012)

If you do yet take a closer look at the actual study data (see figure 1), you will see that there were very important differences between those dieters who simply consumed 300kcal/per day less (control group) and those who followed the exact same calorically reduced dietary regimen yet with an additional 15g of fiber from sodium alginate before every meal (alginate group)!

Lose more weight, more fat and do this at a constant rate beyond week 9!

Despite the fact that onlye the differences between the reduction in total weight and body fat percentage reached statistical significance, this and the absence of the "weight loss plateau" in week 9+ (see figure 1, right) in the alginate group clearly suggest that much contrary to what Jenson et al. had apprehended, the previously demonstrated short-term weight loss benefits of fibrous algae extract and other dietary fiber (Paxman. 2008; Odunsi. 2010; Peters. 2011; Wanders. 2011) did not disappear after an initial adaptation phase. On the contrary! The 40% greater reduction in body weight, as well as the 36% greater reduction in body fat percentage would be of little value if the body weight stagnated after only -6.78kg weight loss in week 9 and left the dieters with an average BMI of 32kg/m² well in the obesity / danger zone.

Figure 2: Changes in glucose metabolism and ghrelin (left) and lipid metabolism (right) in response to caloric reduction (-300kcal/day) with or without supplemental alginate (15g/day) after 12 weeks (large graph); actual weight development over the whole 12-week study period (small graph; directly from Jenson. 2012)

Looking back at the exact weight development in figure 1 (right), we may thus speculate that the observed improvements of the measured markers of blood glucose management and lipid metabolism of which only the HbA1c (not shown in figure 2) showed a statistically significant inter-group difference (+0.01% in control -0.01% in alginate; p < 0.024) would have reached statistical significance after 16-20 weeks. This is particularly true for the insulin levels, for which the difference between control and alginate group is already borderline significant (p < 0.062) after 12 weeks of alginate supported dieting.

Bottom line useful for the obese, safe, well tolerated, but...

Image 3: Duong Nguyen from the first installment of the SuppVersity Student Spotlight at the beginning and end of his amazing 12-week transformation!

As usual we do however have to remember that the subjects in this study were more than just a little chubby, with body fat percentages in the >40% range a reduction of -5.8% (control) and -8.2% (alginate) is easier achieved than a (from a merely mathematical standpoint) equal -12% of the body fat content from 12% to 10%. So, while healthy dieters don't have to care about the minimal, but statistically significantly lower reduction in blood pressure in response to weight loss with sodium-alginate (the scientists ascribe this to the relatively high sodium content of the alginate supplement), the will probably not benefit in the same way as Jenson's obese subjects from the additional 45g of fiber per day. Well, unless, it exerts similar effects effects as they have been observed for hydroxypropyl-distarches (cf. "Waxy Maize Reloaded") on the expression of GIP, GLP-1 and the whole host of the initially mentioned incretin hormones, and adipokines (Sánchez. 2012) and don't just curb appetite and slow digestion.

If it had all those GBA (gut brain axis ;-) effects, seaweed derived sodium-alginate supplements could however make an ideal adjunct to a ~20% reduction in food intake, a reasonable fat loss workout (e.g. "Step By Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine - Part V: Example Routines - Round 2: Fat Loss Support Routine") and a stimulant-based fat burner of your choice, whenever you strive to cut a few pounds of body weight. I mean, just imagine if Duong (see image 3), who likewise dieted for 12 weeks would have lost 35% more fat mass - yeah you're right, he would probably have been "disgustingly" lean, as Adelfo likes to call it ;-)

References:

1. Brownlee IA, Allen A, Pearson JP, Dettmar PW, Havler ME, Atherton MR, Onsøyen E. Alginate as a source of dietary fiber. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2005;45:497–510.
2. Cani PD, Lecourt E, Dewulf EM, Sohet FM, Pachikian BD, Naslain D, De Backer F, Neyrinck AM, Delzenne NM. Gut microbiota fermentation of prebiotics increases satietogenic and incretin gut peptide production with consequences for appetite sensation and glucose response after a meal. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;90:1236–43
3. Jensen GM, Kristensen M, Astrup A. Effect of alginate supplementation on weight loss in obese subjects completing a 12-wk energy-restricted diet: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;96(1):5-13. Epub 2012 May 30.
4. Mudaliar S, Henry RR. The incretin hormones: from scientific discovery to practical therapeutics. Diabetologia. 2012 Jul;55(7):1865-8. Epub 2012 May 4.
5. Odunsi ST, Vazquez-Roque MI, Camilleri M, Papathanasopoulos A, Clark MM, Wodrich L, Lempke M, McKinzie S, Ryks M, Burton D, et al. Effect of alginate on satiation, appetite, gastric function, and selected gut satiety hormones in overweight and obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2010;18:1579–84.
6. Paxman JR, Richardson JC, Dettmar PW, Corfe BM. Daily ingestion of alginate reduces energy intake in free-living subjects. Appetite 2008; 51:713–9.
7. Peters HP, Koppert RJ, Boers HM, Stro ¨m A, Melnikov SM, Haddeman E, Schuring EAH, Mela DJ,Wiseman SA. Dose-dependent suppression of hunger by a specific alginate in a low-viscosity drink formulation. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2011;19:1171–6.
8. Sánchez D, Miguel M, Aleixandre A. Dietary fiber, gut peptides, and adipocytokines. J Med Food. 2012 Mar;15(3):223-30. 
9. Wanders AJ, van den Borne JJGC, Graaf EJMF. Effects of three dietary fiber on food in real life setting. Appetite 2011;57:544.

Algae Cake: Delicious & Healthy!? Wait Until You Learn that it is a Waste Product of Biofuel Production

Despite the Fukushima disaster and the possible contamination of seafood and algae from the pacific ocean, seaweed still has a very good reputation among the health & longevity "experts" (especially those who happen to sell respective supplements).

Figure 1: Algae cake (left) and differently processed algae (right);
pictures as they appear on homepage of Dr V Sivasubramanian

And though I do not want to argue that there are lots of studies that indicate beneficial effects of eating whole algae or supplementing with certain constituents, I must say that I was somewhat puzzled, when I read about the "terrific" idea, a group of Indian scientists (Singh. 2011) has recently come up with. They want to use algal cake (basically a waste product of the production of biofuel from algae) as ...

[...] extremely valuable, high protein by-product of our system that will be used for the production of nutritional food additives, vitamin supplements, animal/fish feed and other valuable consumer products.

Somehow that reminds me of the economically clever, yet from a health perspective questionable practice of feeding cows and other cattle with fishmeal, another "by-product"  which has traditionally been produced from the waste products of the fishery industry and has - among other health problems - been implicated as a contributing factor to the rise of BSE infection, everyone seems to have forgotten about, these days... But, hey, these are just my 2 cents. If anyone of you has the chance to taste one of these outstanding "cakes" let me know how it did you ;-)

Science Round-Up Seconds: DHA, Algae Oil, Fish Protein, Insulin Sensitivity, Fat Loss & Muscle Gain. Plus: Night Shifts & BPA = Pro-Carcinogenic From Breast to Prostate

It's somewhat ironic that Nurse's are one of the three high risk groups for breast cancer, because they work night shifts to help others. Who the other two groups are? Female military personnel and flight attendants on international flights.

If you did already listen to yesterday's installment of the Science Round-Up, you should actually be able to connect the dots between both, the first and second course of today's installment of the Science Round-Up Seconds, and the studies on the effects of DHA on fatty acid metabolism, as well as the fallacies of insufficient, interrupted, or irregular sleep Carl and I have been addressing, yesterday.

If all that does not ring a bell, I suspect you missed the show and have not had a chance to listen to the podcast (as usual the Science Round-Up starts in the 2nd hour of the show), yet. In this unfortunate case, I'd suggest you do at least start downloading the file while you take the first bite of today's two course menu ;-)

More things fishy from proteins with funky names to DHA and fish protein

Pollachius virens (Photo: Tino Strauss) is king, when it comes to the n:3/n:6 ratio, but with <1% of fat you will still be hard pressed to get tons of omega-3s from eating pollock... but is more really better, let alone necessary? Learn how to make the right fish choices here.

(Lane. 2013; Vikøren. 2013) -- Actually I wanted to title this one "Some Things Fishy", but then I remembered that there is already a SuppVersity post with this title, one I am still not able to make head or fin... ah, pardon tail of, by the way, because it clearly suggest that the consumption of oxidized fish oil is not a problem. Be that as it may, these are the SuppVersity Science Round Up Seconds, so the "more" does not refer to the said SuppVersity post on oxidized fish oil, but rather to the 70x* increase in the expression of a protein called Angiopoietin-like 4, which controls the availability of fatty acids for fuel I mentioned during the podcast (*the differential response for DHA was elucidated in a separate study on isolated rat hepatic cells, the general effect was however observed in a human trial, where all tested fatty acids, not just DHA, produced 11-12x ANGPTL-4 increases).

In view of the more of less undisputed benefits of having reasonable amounts of DHA (400mg) in your diet, it would obviously be nice if we could increase our intake of this relatively scarce omega-3 fatty acid in our diet, without having to resort  to fish and fish oil caps. A recently published overview of vegetarian dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids by Katie Lane and her colleagues does however confirm what you've heard both Carl and me say on previous episodes of the SuppVersity Science Round Up, already.

The conversion of alpha linolic acid (ALA, the short-chain version of omega-3) from nuts (walnut) and seeds (flaxseed, echium) to DHA is literally zero. 

According to he researchers' review of the literature, only the ingestion of oils that were derived from micro-algae provide some, albeit preliminary evidence to support their usefulness as dietary source of DHA. The number of studies is yet relatively limited and "further research is necessary to evaluate optimal doses" (Lane. 2013) of respective supplements and/or food additives for "functional foods" (how I hate this word)

Micro-algae oils are not fish, though, and thus you would once more be missing out on the unique synergy only real foods have to offer: The fish proteins!

If you are not one of the many new visitors who have found their way to the SuppVersity only recently, the keyword "fish protein" should actually ring a bell... exactly! That's the stuff that has previously been shown to have astonishingly pronounced effects on glucose metabolism. Effect that have initially been observed in rodent studies and are not being replicated in human trials. Trials such as the one by Vikøren and his colleagues from the University of Bergen who report in their latest paper that was February issue of the British Journal of Nutrition that the provision of 3 g/d of a cabbed fish protein supplements for the first 4 weeks and 6 g/d for the last 4 weeks of a 2 months placebo controlled intervention study effectively and significantly

• 

  Table 1: Amino acid composition of fish, whey and casein protein (Hall. 2003; Vikøren. 2013)

  lowered the values of fasting glucose
• 2 h postprandial glucose and glucose-area under the curve,

• increased the important early insulin and 
• decreased the detrimental late insulin response to glucose ingestion 

• reduced the amount of  LDL-cholesterol (P< 0·05) and

• led to increases in lean (+0.8%) and decreases in fat mass  (-1.6%)

compared to the calorie-free placebo. Pretty impressive results, right? That's particularly true in view of the fact that neither the food intake nor the physical activity levels changed in the course of the 8-week intervention period.

What's that: Fish protein + fish oil? (Almost) whole fish, right!

Fish happens to be a way better source of taurine than the sperm of this Belgian Blue. There is in fact so little taurine bull sperm that it is "supplemented" with this amino acid in order to keep it fresh and stable and have it survive refrigeration. Apropos, you do remember that taurine can boost testosterone levels up to 250% - at least in rodents?

The obvious question therefore is: How does that work? The scientists don't provide a satisfactory explanation and to be honest, I have nothing more than a couple of half-assed hypotheses either. My best bet, and I am suggesting that despite the fact that a recent post of mine was entitled "Don't Judge a Protein By Its Amino Acid Content", would in fact be the amino acid content. If you take a look at table 1 it is obvious that the cod protein the scientists used in the study contained one amino acid you as a SuppVersity reader should by now be familiar with and neither whey, nor casein or any of the other standard proteins has to offer: Taurine!

Yet despite the fact that taurine has the potential to boost testosterone levels, increases insulin sensitivity and has in fact been shown to actively reduce body weight in a 2003 human study by Zhang et al. (Zhang. 2003), I am not sold on the idea that the relatively minor total quantity of taurine in the already low amount of fish protein (I mean 8g?) is the only reason for the non-negligible health benefits the scientists observed in their 10 male and 10 female participants (BMI 31-37kg/m²). Maybe it's another of those funky di-peptides you've read about in the context of the nutrient repartitioning effect of whey protein hydrolysate, only lately.

Regardless of what exactly it may be that facilitated the improvements in blood glucose management and the minor, but significant improvements in body composition, the health benefits you can derive from the consumption of cod protein make the notion of fish oil, let alone micro-algae oil supplementation appear even more retarded, when eating fish once or twice a week offers a way more natural and unquestionably more tasty solution to satisfy your DHA requirement.

Night shifts and breast, BPA and prostate cancer

There are two clockworks operating parallel in your body. The one in the brain has to be hacked by light exposure (learn more about "Sunlight a la Carte"), the one in your liver and other peripheral organs, on the other hand, can be (re-)set by specific feeding strategies, like Intermittent Fasting (learn more)

I simply assume that you have by now downloaded and listened to the podcast and are thus aware of what I said about the importance of rythmicity (if you did not really get the notion, I suggest you read up on the posts in the SuppVersity Circadian Rhythm Series to get a better grasp of the different clocks that are ticking in your body ;-) Exactly this kind of rhythmicity is continuously disturbed when you are either switching back and forth from day- to night-shifts or work the night-shift continuously and dare having a social life that's simply not compatible with sleeping all day and waking all night.

That the life of a nurse, for example takes it's toll on your health and precipitates not just the development of breast cancer (+36% after 30 years of rotating night shifts; Schernhammer. 2001), but colorectal cacers (+35% after 15 years of rotating night shifts; Schernhammer. 2003) and endometrial cancer (+47% after 20+ years and even +109% in obese women; Viswanathan. 2007), as well, has been debated ever since the early years of the 21st century.

With the recent publication of two meta-analyses the debate probably will not be over; and that despite the fact that even the less unsettling analysis by Kamdar et al. reports increases in breast cancer risk of +21% for women "with ever night-shift work exposure" (Kamdar. 2013).

"Subgroup analyses suggested that flight attendants with international or overnight work exposure and nurses working night-shifts long-term were at increased risk of breast cancer." (my emphases in Kamdar. 2013)

While the Kamdar study also included observational data, this 2nd meta-analysis, which was likewise published less than a week ago, included only case-control and cohort-studies yielding risk increases of +32% and +8%, respectively (Jia. 2013). Somethin else thatg may be worth mentioning is the fact that both, the studies the scientists ranked as "high quality" research, as well as the only existing study involving female military personnel observed even higher risk increases of +40%.

Despite methodological differences and slightly different outcomes of the two meta-analyses, both research groups do reach very similar conclusions stating that the evidence is still "weak", but does "support previous reports that night-shift work is associated with increased breast cancer risk" (Kamar. 2013) and that "large-scale epidemiological studies are needed" (Jia. 2013).

From breasts to prostates ;-)

Figure 1: Effects of 4-days of BPA injections at different dosages on systemic hormone levels (Castro. 2013)

I know the subheading sounds somewhat gross, but there are certain parallels. For one, there is the same need for large-scale epidemiological studies on the connection between BPA exposure and the development and malignancy of prostate cancer as it is the case with breast cancer and night shifts. On the other hand, BPS of which a recent study was now able to show that it messes with the aromatase and 5-alpha reductase activity in the prostate and can thus precipitate prostate cancer even in adulthood (Castro. 2013), is unquestionably relevant for the development of breast cancer, as well.

What's more, the reductions in 5α-R1 and 5α-R2 Castro et al. observed in their previously healthy, adult rodents after only 4-days of BPA injections at doses of 25, 50, 300, or 600 µg/kg per day and the concommitant increase in the expression of the third isoform of 5-α reductase (5α-R3) does not only precipitate cancerous growth, it's also a recently proposed as a biomarker of cancer malignancy. In conjunction with the quasi-reversal of hormones (see figure 1), the results of this study, which happens to be the first one to demonstrate such profound detrimental effects on mature mammals, should remind us of the fact gestation and early childhood are not the only time-points in our lives, we have to beware of endocrine disruptors.

---

That's it for the Seconds and in case you are missing the information about fruits and vegetables, I will serve those tomorrow as part of the as of in fact short, but way more numerous "Short News". In case you are still hungry for more, I suggest you make take a slight detour to the SuppVersity Facebook Wall before you you sally into the weekend. There are a couple of appetizers waiting for you there:

• 

  "Does the Usefulness of Vitamin E Supplementation Depend on Your Activity Level?" While the marathon runners in the facebook study took only 50IU, 400IU is what most supplements have to offer as a minimum. Is that too much, for you? Do athletes need more? What about the hormetic response to exercise - it it even hormetic? (learn more)

  EGCG is an "anti-folate" - You still don't have to worry, nature has made sure that those who value the synergy of whole foods, or in this case drinks, won't be harmed (read more)
• LOW(!) doses of vitamin C & E (125mg & 50IU) don't diminish the benefits of exercise - On the contrary, in marathon runners that's enough to blunt the neutrophil damage (read more)
• Smart Kids = Lean Adults  - General intelligence as assessed in childhood has a significant and direct effect on adult obesity risk (read more)
• Valine, vanadium and oxygenated water - All useless for athletes. That's at least what the latest installment of the "A–Z of nutritional supplements" says (read more)

When you are done with those, it's about to start news fasting, for a couple of hours until tomorrow's morning news (for you probably today's late evening news) will be published on Facebook. Have a great "Post-Valentine's Day", everyone - I just  hope your spouses were happy with their presents ;-)


References:

• Castro B, Sánchez P, Torres JM, Preda O, Del Moral RG, Ortega E. Bisphenol A Exposure during Adulthood Alters Expression of Aromatase and 5α-Reductase Isozymes in Rat Prostate. PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e55905.
• Hall WL, Millward DJ, Long SJ, Morgan LM. Casein and whey exert different effects on plasma amino acid profiles, gastrointestinal hormone secretion and appetite. Br J Nutr. 2003 Feb;89(2):239-48.
• Jia Y, Lu Y, Wu K, Lin Q, Shen W, Zhu M, Huang S, Chen J. Does night work increase the risk of breast cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Cancer Epidemiol. 2013 Feb 8.
• Kamdar BB, Tergas AI, Mateen FJ, Bhayani NH, Oh J. Night-shift work and risk of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013 Feb 12. 
• Lane K et al. Bioavailability and potential uses of vegetarian sources of omega-3 fatty acids: a review of the literature. Critical Reviews in Food and Science Nutrition. February 2013 [Epub ahead of print].
• Schernhammer ES, Laden F, Speizer FE, Willett WC, Hunter DJ, Kawachi I, Colditz GA. Rotating night shifts and risk of breast cancer in women participating in the nurses' health study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2001 Oct 17;93(20):1563-8. 
• Schernhammer ES, Laden F, Speizer FE, Willett WC, Hunter DJ, Kawachi I, Fuchs CS, Colditz GA. Night-shift work and risk of colorectal cancer in the nurses' health study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003 Jun 4;95(11):825-8. 
• Vikøren LA, Nygård OK, Lied E, Rostrup E. Gudbrandsen OA. A randomised study on the effects of fish protein supplement on glucose tolerance, lipids and body composition in overweight adults. British Journal of Nutrition. 2013; 109:648-657.
• Viswanathan AN, Hankinson SE, Schernhammer ES. Night shift work and the risk of endometrial cancer. Cancer Res. 2007 Nov 1;67(21):10618-22.
• Zhang M, Bi LF, Fang JH, Su XL, Da GL, Kuwamori T, Kagamimori S. Beneficial effects of taurine on serum lipids in overweight or obese non-diabetic subjects. Amino Acids. 2004 Jun;26(3):267-71. Epub 2003 Dec 15.