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Cabohydrates: Much More Than an Energy Source
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Transcript
Introduction to Carbohydrates Beyond Energy
00:00:00
chrisyzen
Hey, it's Christian, you're enough. Let's talk about carbohydrates as being more than just an energy source. So if you listen to a a keto bro or a carnivore bro, they'll tell you there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate in the textbooks, in the physiology textbooks.
Physiological Necessities of Carbohydrates
00:00:19
chrisyzen
So that's supposed to mean that when the body needs glucose, it will produce the glucose itself. It can do that via a number of different mechanisms, ah glycerol backbones from fatty acid, from triglycerides, certain as amino acids and so on. So that kind of,
Misconceptions and Health Risks of Low-Carb Diets
00:00:42
chrisyzen
is used as a very sort of backward logic to justify these low-carb diets that are really wrecking people's health right now. The reason is because, yes, while the body may be able to produce certain things itself, and that makes them, quote, non-essential nutritionally, it does not make them non-essential physiologically. physiologically example is water. We can actually produce water in the body from fat, which kind of makes water a non-essential nutrient in that sense, nutritionally speaking. However, that doesn't mean that you should stop drinking water and just rely on your own fat stores to make the water you
Carbohydrates' Role in Survival and Health
00:01:32
chrisyzen
need. So ah that that's this is the problem. When you cut down carbs, let's say to 100 grams a day,
00:01:40
chrisyzen
you there's a deficit of carbohydrates that could be you know 100 grams let's say and that's a deficit that will be made up by converting protein from the food into glucose or breaking down the tissue of the body the lean mass the muscles the bones whatever else and turning that into glucose. The problem is we we when there's a deficit of carbohydrate, first of all, that send sends a signal of scarcity, which long-term is deleterious to health. But the more dangerous aspect here is that, yes, we can make glucose to support
00:02:20
chrisyzen
the essential functions like super essential things for immediate survival like the the brain the central nervous system they require quite a lot of glucose over the course of a day like 100 plus grams easily so we can make that glucose however glucose and just in general carbohydrates are used in plenty of other areas in the body so if you have a deficit of let's say 100 grams and your body is working hard breaking down protein which is getting wasted by the way and causing ammonia ah to to be released as a byproduct which is toxic to the kidneys has to be detoxified that requires energy so while it's doing that certain
00:03:05
chrisyzen
things in the body will not get enough. So there will not be enough to go around for so many other aspects that are required.
Cellular Functions and Aging Related to Carbohydrates
00:03:14
chrisyzen
right so free And I'm just going to go over a few of them so see so you have a little bit of an idea of what is car What are carbohydrates used for other than just burning for energy, right? So the first thing is they're used as structural components. So we have these glycoproteins and glycolipids. These are so basically glycoproteins are proteins with carbs, carbohydrates attached, ah carbohydrate chains. These are used for cellular functions like cell to cell communication.
00:03:46
chrisyzen
in the immune response for protein folding right so when you fold proteins that's when they they're being synthesized they have to also be folded not just you know just attaching amino acids but they have to be folded into like this 3d shape structure that's that gives the protein its function right so that that's important.
00:04:06
chrisyzen
Then we have these glycolipids, which are lipids with carbohydrate chains attached, which play key roles in cell recognition and signaling, again in the immune system especially. So these glycoproteins and glycolipids are essential for maintaining the structure and integrity of our cell membranes. Then we have proteoglycans, which are made of a core protein with long carbohydrate chains called glycosaminoglycans, or GAGS, G-A-G's.
00:04:34
chrisyzen
And these are major components of the extracellular matrix providing structural support in tissues, including cartilage, skin, and connective tissues. And this is what I tell my clients, low carb diet will aid you visibly, faster. It will aid you because they will, they will yes, that your brain will get enough glucose, you will survive.
00:04:59
chrisyzen
But over time, your joints, your the cartilage in them, you know your knees, yeah you know the the collagen in your um in your skin, that will eventually be used up, right? Or it will be used up to at a faster rate.
00:05:15
chrisyzen
And then you're going to have visible signs of aging, not just because of that, but also because of the higher cortisol that these low carb diets cause, right? So we have glycosaminoglycans, like hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate that contribute to the viscosity and elasticity of tissues, enabling them to resist compression, making them critical in joints and other tissues. Now, if you're young,
00:05:41
chrisyzen
If you're 30, 35, and you're doing these carnivore diets, you're not going to feel it. You're not going to feel joint pain and stuff like that. But if you're 45 plus, if you're 55 plus, you start caring more about your joints and the ability to not not um wear them out as as quickly as you would otherwise, right?
Genetic and Metabolic Importance of Carbs
00:06:04
chrisyzen
So that's just one aspect of it. Then we have cellular communication and recognition. So we have these glycans, which are involved in cell surface recognition, right? So we also have these selectins, which are carbohydrate binding proteins that help regulate the movement of white blood cells. We have the formation of DNA and RNA that actually involves sugars like ribose and deoxyribose, right? So these are five carbon sugars that are essential components of nucleotides, which are the building blocks of DNA
00:06:41
chrisyzen
and RNA, right? ah Then we have the synthesis of coenzymes and cofactors. So NAD and FAD flavin, so nicotinamide adenine adenine dinucleotide. So these are, there's there's carbohydrates involved in the synthesis of these important cofactors NAD and FAD.
00:07:03
chrisyzen
So these are super crucial for cellular metabolic processes, like ah basically producing energy the is the biggest one. right So these are essential in that ah process. And ribose is part of the structure of these coenzymes. Then we have coenzyme A. Ribose is also involved in in ah producing that, which is critical for ah energy metabolism.
00:07:30
chrisyzen
Then we have, so immune cell function, carbohydrates are integral to the functioning of immune cells, including antibodies, immunoglobulins, which are glycoproteins. Now I should also say that the red blood cells, they also can only use car glucose basically.
00:07:47
chrisyzen
So if you're not getting enough glucose over time, you can actually expect your body to down regulate how many red blood cells are getting produced, you know, so that can actually over time, because you're sending the signal is not enough to go around. So we have to like make do with lack. And imagine
Impact of Low-Carb Diets on Hormones and Detoxification
00:08:04
chrisyzen
if you're if your household budget is stretched every month.
00:08:08
chrisyzen
Eventually things are not gonna get repaired you're you'll be getting less ah you know food ah there'll be less to go around you'll be buying less clothes for you yourself your children so overtime things start start to tighten up and similarly in the body when he has to manage um scarcity scarcity it does so by functions nice to have functions not working as well as possible and and in the next episode I'm gonna talk about how actually low carb diets are contributing to low testosterone reduced fertility and then with that of course what what what happens you know you're gonna have lower libido you're gonna have
00:08:49
chrisyzen
obviously ah a lot of other health issues start occurring because of the lower testosterone which is lowered in many ways because of the increase in cortisol so they have an inverse relationship so these are kind of some examples of the things that can go wrong when you're restricting carbohydrates for a long time you know for months or years at a time so we have what what else do we have that carbohydrates are involved so we have ah mannose-binding lectin. This is a carbohydrate-binding protein involved in the innate immune system. It recognizes pathogens by binding to their surface, carbohydrates. ah So let's see, glucuronidation. OK, so in the liver, in phase 2 detoxification, carbohydrates play a role in the detoxification of toxins, drugs, and metabolic waste products through a process called glucuronidation. In this process, glucuronic acid, a carbohydrate derivative,
00:09:44
chrisyzen
is conjugated to toxic substances and these toxic substances can include polyunsaturated fat, tea acids, just estrogen, um that's one pathway of detoxifying estrogen, also just all your various toxins that you're exposed to throughout the day and night.
Supplements and Sustainability of Low-Carb Diets
00:10:02
chrisyzen
So this is one way you we detoxify which is converting glucose to glucuronic acid and then attaching that to the transformed toxin through phase one detoxification and that's the phase two detoxification is when you bind it to glucuronic acid.
00:10:19
chrisyzen
um Then we have, okay, again, hyaluronic acid is a major component of synovial fluid, which lubricates joints and acts as a shock absorber. Then again, chondroitin sulfate provides cushioning and structural integrity to tissues, especially in joints and connective tissues. So this is again, yeah, I mean, you could you could supplement with chondroitin sulfate. And there's a few other things, you know, some people supplement with like hyaluronic acid or MSM for joint health, which is yeah, which I think as you get older, it's probably a good idea. But this is what this is kind of the insidious nature of these low carb diets is because people are getting hooked on them when they are
00:11:07
chrisyzen
or at a fairly young age, at least a lot, at at least a lot of people are a lot of it's attracting a lot of people, all of the stuff, because those people can manage to get by on these diets and and other things like intermittent fasting or whatever whatever other stressful regimes. The sure you're talking about,
00:11:28
chrisyzen
So younger people can generally last longer on them, whereas if we're on the older side of things, and not that not that much older really, 40 plus, you're already kind of creeping into that territory depending on how well you've taken care of of yourself, you know.
00:11:45
chrisyzen
but uh so older folks can't keep it up for too long you know you might try for a couple of months or maybe some people will last six months and and certain types of characters will push harder so some people they just have this Attitude of you know, I'm gonna get it done and I can't I can't fail how I will I will succeed with it So they push harder and harder So some some folks can go longer But invariably it kind of messes them up, you know, I've worked with enough clients that have done the low-carb thing to know that if you are not in a good state of health it will make you worse and
00:12:29
chrisyzen
And if you're in a good state of health, it can it can start to make you deteriorate. The exception here, there is this honeymoon period at the beginning. If you're going from a super unhealthy diet or lifestyle and or both, you know,
00:12:44
chrisyzen
two carnivore or two keto or whatever, paleo, Atkins,
Long-Term Effects and Misleading Benefits of Low-Carb Diets
00:12:50
chrisyzen
plant-based. If you're going from that kind of unhealthy standard American diet to low carb, yeah, you will feel better for a while for sure. And depending on how poor your state of health was initially, you might even start reversing some health problems. So you you then think that this diet is magical. Unfortunately,
00:13:14
chrisyzen
did This honeymoon period, sooner or later, it will end, right? For some people it can last quite a while. Again, depending on how young and resilient you still are and how, how you know, again, how healthy you are to begin with. The less healthy, less resilient and or older, the quicker this type of diet will grind you down.
00:13:36
chrisyzen
Let's see, sorry, we were talking about what where else are carbohydrates used? So cell adhesion, tissue organization. So we have this extracellular matrix. um So the proteoglycans and the glycoproteins are critical in the formation of the extracellular matrix, which provides structural support to tissues. They help organize cells within tissues and influence processes like cell migration and differentiation.
00:14:03
chrisyzen
Then we have carbohydrates attached to cell adhesion molecules like integrins and cadherins.
00:14:12
chrisyzen
facilitate interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix, which is important for tissue development, wound heing healing, and maintaining tissue integrity. Then we have hormonal functions of glycoprotein hormones. So many hormones like follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, and erythropoietin are glycoproteins, meaning they have carbohydrate components that are essential for their stability and function. The carbohydrate portions of these hormones are important for their secretion, stability and biological activity, helping to regulate key physiological processes such as reproduction thyroid function and red blood cell production.
00:15:01
chrisyzen
Then wound healing, role of glycosaminoglycans or g GAGs, carbohydrates like hyaluronic acid are critical in wound healing. They are involved in the initial stages of wound repair by helping to form a hydrated matrix that supports the migration and proliferation of cells including fibroblasts and immune cells to the wound site.
Summary of Carbohydrate Functions and Conclusion
00:15:25
chrisyzen
The extracellular matrix rich in glycosaminoglycans provides the scaffold for tissue regeneration and repair after injury. um Then we have cell metabolism regulation. We have post-translational modification or glycosylation. So glycosylation is a post-translational modification where carbohydrate chains
00:15:45
chrisyzen
are attached to proteins or lipids affecting their stability, folding and function. Be like oscillation is essential for protein trafficking, signaling and immune function. It also plays a role in regating regulating insulin receptors and other cell surface receptors involved in metabolism influencing cellular responses to nutrients and hormones. So the summary of non-energy roles of carbohydrates. They are used as structural components. So the glycoproteins, glycolipids, and proteoglycans essential for cellular structure and function. They're involved in cellular communication, cell recognition and signaling, in immune responses, nucleotide synthesis serving as building blocks for DNA and RNA through sugars like ribose and deoxyribose.
00:16:36
chrisyzen
cofactor and coenzyme formation, so essential for the synthesis of molecules like NAD, FAD, and coenzyme A. Immune support integral to immune cell function and mucosal defense mechanisms. Detoxification, like we mentioned, the glucuronic acid, which aids in the detoxification of estrogen, toxins, polyunsaturated fats and stuff like that, other waste. Lubrication and so shock absorption like glycosaminoglycans.
00:17:05
chrisyzen
like hyaluronic acid provide lubrication in joints and resist compression. Tissue organization support cell adhesion and tissue structure within the extracellular matrix. Hormonal function, essential for the function of many hormones through glycosylation, wound healing and regulation of metabolism. So a lot of these things Yes, some of these things are super critical, right? So for example, the NAD, FAD, coenzyme A formation, that's super critical. um oh The nucleotide, so the DNA and RNA synthesis. So these nucleotides that are made with ribose and deoxyribose, which are pentose sugars, five carbon sugars. So that's pretty damn critical. Obviously cellular communication is critical.
00:17:57
chrisyzen
um but then some of this stuff is Structural and it's a spectrum like for example immune immune function you you can Absolutely down regulate immune function to conserve conserve energy or if there's no energy to go around you will absolutely down regulator you will down regulate hormonal function you will slow wound healing right you will um slow down or down-regulate the structural aspects of whatever, the extracellular matrix, joints, synovial fluids. And that what that does is it takes much longer to manifest this, quote unquote, a symptom, like, oh, my joints my joints are starting to hurt and creak. Why is it that some 80-year-olds have
00:18:51
chrisyzen
No joint problems and pains and whatever. And fifty some 50-year-olds have loads. It's not genetic. it The 50-year-old wore themselves out faster because of they didn't do certain things that were going to support their joint health. They weren't thinking about that kind of stuff and maybe the older person Maybe they were or they just maybe they got lucky that they were living a low stress, high nutrient density lifestyle without constant brainwashing that low carb fasting, starving yourself is good for your health and and and signaling starvation to your body by cutting carbohydrates out is a good idea. Maybe that's why.
00:19:31
chrisyzen
So that this is this is what but what, once you kind of understand, you can't sort of unknow is that you have, yes, you have function in your cells, they function, your organs, they function.
00:19:47
chrisyzen
but they also have a structure and when you understand that we need energy not just for the functioning of the cells and the organs and the tissues right but we need energy to maintain their structure and a lot of that energy is coming from carbohydrates from glucose right So to maintain a good structure because that ah those cells are all alive in the bones, in the skin, all those cells are constantly functioning, doing stuff, using energy and nutrients obviously.
00:20:22
chrisyzen
when you understand that you are like well if I need energy not just to run my vehicle but to maintain the vehicle so it doesn't start breaking down mid flight or kind of mid while in motion so you need energy for both of those things they're kind of almost
00:20:42
chrisyzen
can't even be separated but we kind of obviously in the physiology books everything is kind of separated you know you have the detoxification system the immune system the whatever energy production system so once you understand that you need energy to maintain your structure not just your function You're like, okay, I don't just need glucose or carbohydrates to run my brain and my blood red blood cells, but I need and ah you know to to exercise or whatever whatever else you think you might need that energy for. You also need energy to maintain yourself. like the physical This entire physical freaking thing requires energy constantly to maintain itself.
00:21:24
chrisyzen
And what happens if you take that energy away and you force the body to burn more fat and use its own stores more or whatever, um what happens is over time that signals to the body that things are not super peachy and we need to start down regulating things. And what's gonna get down regulated? Well, probably This lubrication and shock absorption, this structural stuff, maybe some of the immune function, the some of the hormone function will start to get ah down-regulated. Some structural stuff is not going to get rebuilt and repaired and regenerated.
00:22:08
chrisyzen
as well and over the years in the decades that is what accelerates the visible signs of aging and eventually it can even lead to disease so that is why low-carb is a terrible idea Or rather, that is another reason why doing a low carb diet chronically is ah is a really a terrible, terrible, terrible idea for longevity, for staving off disease and degeneration, for maintaining
00:22:50
chrisyzen
maintaining optimal health physically optimal performance mentally and just being a happy thriving human being it's a terrible idea and that is it for this episode i hope that this was interesting to you maybe you learned something i definitely learned something i i just kind of asked chad gpt some questions and i thought i would discuss some stuff just and just looking at carbohydrates from another angle right they're not this thing that we have to eat as little of, they're super healthful when you eat the right carbohydrates and not this garbage that we call carbs nowadays, what most people think of as carbs. you know So thanks for tuning in and I'll see you on the next episode.