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WHY AUTOIMMUNE CONDITIONS/THYROID PROBLEMS DISAPPEAR ON A CARNIVORE DIET
I originally posted this a bit haphazardly as a response to a medical doctor being puzzled about the efficacy of the carnivore diet -- I would rather have it as my own thread
THREAD //
I originally posted this a bit haphazardly as a response to a medical doctor being puzzled about the efficacy of the carnivore diet -- I would rather have it as my own thread
THREAD //
It all starts with Vitamin C. Vitamin C and glucose are molecularly very similar, both use the same receptors to enter cells via glucose-ascorbate antagonism: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298181334_Vitamin_C_and_Disease_Insights_from_the_Evolutionary_Perspective
The similarity between the Vitamin C and glucose cannot be understated, as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words":
Unfortunately the more sugar that an individual consumes, the more Vitamin C is lost. But crucially, sugar causes the release of ADRENALINE and CORTISOL to keep blood sugar stable after insulin does its work.
This study showed that adrenaline levels doubled after the consumption of a sugary drink: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7844661/
So in our discussion let's replace a sugary drink with something seemingly less innocuous, say, a *large* amount of "healthy" vegetables. Even so, the response of the adrenal glands will be the same, just to a lesser degree since blood sugar *will* rise.
Over time (years or decades), adrenaline & cortisol on account of diet and stress will skew the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis to release more and more cortisol. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone and over time its effect can be detrimental: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379844/
A combination of life's stress will cause the sympathetic nervous system (the FIGHT/FLIGHT response) to more readily ramp up. Eliminating this ramp up from a dietary angle facilitates recovery since the adrenals are removed from using hormones to stabilize blood sugar.
On a carnivore diet, a person only needs about 2 mg of Vitamin C per day. As things stand now this is 30 times LESS than the United States' Recommended Daily Allowance of 60 milligrams.
So when a person goes on a carnivore diet they are eliminating the regular release of cortisol and adrenaline from their fight/flight system, greatly reducing the catabolic effects of cortisol and finally not displacing Vitamin C.
Autoimmune problems that disappear can be varied, everything from vitiligo to "thyroid problems." On the topic of "thyroid problems," many such problems are directly result of what I've described, the HPA axis gets skewed and cortisol starts causing systemic problems.
The skin has a peripheral axis: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5666813/
An HPA axis that continues to be skewed will release more and more cortisol and the consequences can be quite disruptive to our physiology.
Exacerbation of this skewed skate continues from a consistent lack of Vitamin C, continued stress (magnesium deficiency) and external agitators (sugar, caffeine) resulting in an autoimmune/thyroid will continue to worsen.
Unfortunately, unlike most mammals, we do not possess the "magical ability" to convert glucose into Vitamin C through the L-gulonolactone oxidase enzyme. If we could, there would likely be far fewer autoimmune cases and no one would have died from scurvy in centuries past.
But don't just take my word for it:
