What is Metabolic typing?
Metabolic typing was introduced by William Donald Kelley, a dentist, in the 1960s. Kelley advocated basing dietary choices on the activity of one's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (Interestingly enough, In 1970, Kelley was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, as he had diagnosed a patient with lung cancer based on a fingerstick blood test and prescribed nutritional therapy). The practice has been further developed by others including Harold Kristol and William Wolcott. Wolcott provides three general metabolic types:
•Protein types -- Protein types are fast oxidizers of parasympathetic dominant. They tend to be frequently hungry, crave fatty, salty foods, fail with low-calorie diets, and tend towards fatigue, anxiety, and nervousness. They are often lethargic or feel "wired", "on edge", with superficial energy while being tired underneath.
•Carbo types -- Carbo types are slow oxidizers or sympathetic dominant. They generally have relatively weak appetites, a high tolerance for sweets, problems with weight management, "type A" personalities, and are often dependent on caffeine.
•Mixed types -- Mixed types are neither fast or slow oxidizers, and are neither parasympathetic or sympathetic dominant. They generally have average appetites, cravings for sweets and starchy foods, relatively little trouble with weight control, and tend towards fatigue, anxiety, and nervousness.
What are the guidelines for the diet?
According to the metabolic typing diet, the three metabolic types should eat the following foods:
•Protein types should eat diets that are rich in protein, fats and oils, and high-purine proteins such as organ meats, pate, beef liver, chicken liver, and beef. Carbohydrate intake should be low.
•Carbo types should eat diets that are high in carbohydrates and low in protein, fats, and oils. They should eat light, low-purine proteins.
•Mixed types should eat a mixture of high-fat, high-purine proteins and low-fat, low-purine proteins such as cheese, eggs, yogurt, tofu, nuts. This type requires relatively equal ratios of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Now down to business...
Some people may respond slightly differently to particular foods, experiencing higher or lower tolerances to certain foods, which occasionally draws correllations to ethnicities. But this does not change the fact that we all share the same biochemistry. We all process nutrients and react accordingly in the same fashion. Having sensetivities or preferences to foods does not mean we need different macronutrient compositions in our diets. There are plenty of other factors that may influence our nutritional needs and sensetivities, but this has nothing to do with where our great ancestors hailed from. In fact almost every factor you can think of, age, sex, medical history, etc... apart from where 10 generations ago of your family lived.
One of the biggest quacks perpetuating the myth of metabolic typing is Dr Joe Mercola. Dr Mercola's testing is not only completely unscientific and inaccurate, but rather based on how you feel when you eat certain foods. The testing for metabolic typing is purely subjective. It is like asking a smoker if they enjoy smoking, and if they feel better after having a cigarette. Most people's addiction to unhealthy foods means that the results of any metabolic test will be nonsense. In fact, the more you crave something and the worse you feel when you stop consuming it is a good sign that you are addicted to it and it is harming you, not helping. For example, most people with hypoglycemic symptoms feel better when they eat a mostly animal-based diet, yet these same people get completely well once they are off the high-protein diet they have been using to lessen their symptoms. and their body is no longer nitrogen toxic. In other words, they no longer feel ill when their withdrawal symptoms have been allowed to come to completion, and they are off the high nitrogen diet. he is appealing to that person's food preferences and addiction and not only deviating from scientific integrity here, but promoting dietary suicide to his uneducated entourage to make a buck. His opinion is without scientific foundation in both these areas, and unquestionably can lead people to a shorter lifespan. Dr. Mercola's position on saturated fat (high in cheese, butter and red meat) runs counter to thousands of medical research studies showing that saturated fat is the food factor most promoting high cholesterol levels and heart disease. Though Dr. Mercola (like Atkins) denies the saturated fat--> high cholesterol--> heart disease link. Dr. Mercola's topsy-turvy advice actually promotes the consumption of high saturated fat foods and makes ridiculous health claims for coconut oil (ninety percent saturated fat) including weight loss, detoxification, viral killing, heart disease reversing and other unsubstantiated silliness'. Good health comes from nutritional excellence, not from a jar of oil.
Metabolic typing is also refered to as Genetic Based Nutrition - suggesting that we require different diets because of different genetic make up. Our biggest genetic difference is being male or female, so by that account males and females should have vastly different diets! That fact alone shows that metabolic typing is pure fiction.
The scientific literature is clear; there is no genetic type that has immunity from such a disease-causing, high saturated fat diet-style. People can eventually develop atherosclerosis and hypertension from the low intake of unprocessed vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds. Our high intake of animal products AND processed foods and our low intake of unrefined plant food is the dietary pattern undeniably associated with these avoidable illnesses and a premature death from heart attacks or stroke.
Metabolic typing is pure fiction! Anybody saying otherwise is either uneducated or selling something.
4 comments:
Lets see: Eskimo's very healthy eating traditional diets (arctic mostly protein). Quechua Indians very healthy eating traditional diets (jungle mostly plant based diet). Both lived worlds apart with very different macro-nutrient make up. Both adapted to their environment. If you don't think people have adapted to their environments explain skin color. Now if our skin colors changed in relation to environments what about our digestive system. Come on, really? This is common sense. It's a sliding scale and there is no such thing as a one size fits all diet. Your argument about men and women DNA. Is this the DNA that deals with diet? Your equating the parts to the whole, a simple fallacy of logic. You don't have a neuron firing in your brain if you want to argue any of what I just said. Your logic is shallow and just plain wrong. Read biochemical individuality by Roger Williams PhD. And by the way Mercola's version of MT (actually he calls it Nutritional Typing) is a far cry from the complexity of real MT. It all boils down to results and I've had fantastic results with MT. Once I learned it I'll never go back and I have loads of clients to back it up.
Anybody who claims metabolic typing is the real deal often brings the eskimo arguement in to back themselves up. Fair enough - they live on a protein rich diet, whereas the Quechua Indians do not. But I'm not talking about Eskimos and Indians. I'm talking about people living in the same environment who 'apparently' require vastly different diets according to their genetic make-up. You talk about common sense. Does your body produce insulin is response to carbs? Yes. Does everybody elses? Yes. Biochemically our bodies react in the same way to the same nutrients. You mention skin colour has changed due to environment differences, and you suggest that our digestive systems have changed too. Really? Do people have different digestive systems? Do some people have multiple stomachs like cows, and do some have a significantly shorter large intestine? No they don't. Your arguement is ridiculous if you think people can have different digestive systems. Metabolic typing is the same as any snake-oil out there. There is some truth in it, and people will latch on to it so that they can then 'sell' something. Some people do better with more carbs, so do better with more protein. Is there enough to that to create a new way of looking at how we should eat? No, there isn't. I never said there was a one size fits all diet. I am not selling any diet plan, and I never will. I will not hoodwink my clients into believing such utter nonsense. Good luck with your diet and your clients, you're going to need it.
My congratulations to Alex Kay for breathing some common sense into the metabolic typing debate. There is no peer-reviewed scientific research to show that metabolic typing is effective. Metabolic and Nutrition Typing is a myth used by quaks to sell products.
Regarding the traditional eskimo diet, it is in fact an extremely unhealthy diet. Traditional eskimoes were/are short lived and diseased. The belief that the eskimo diet is somehow healthy is another on of those great myths. Here's quote from the book "Do Primitive Peoples Really Live Longer?":
'Inuit Greenlanders, who historically have had limited access to fruits and vegetables, have the worst longevity statistics in North America. Research from the past and present shows that they die on the average about 10 years younger and have a higher rate of cancer than the overall Canadian population.1…'
As explained in my book The Foolproof Diet (www.the-foolproof-diet.com)there is only one best diet for humans, because all humans are biologically the same.
Russell Eaton
Author of The Foolproof Diet
I like the idea that it bases the foods you eat around the physical reaction you get. I myself have been typed as a protein type. I have been trialing it out because I am a personal trainer and I want to see if it works for me and if I could recommend it to my clients. I've always struggled with my weight and recently tried low calorie diet never satisfied my hunger! I have a huge appetite basically I live to eat. I think there is a lot of premise in this idea and the science behind it seems pretty legit. Yes I believe it's not good to have a huge amount of fats in your diet. But I also think that not everyone is the same and we all react to foods differently. You can't tell someone that they should hit the gym and cut down there fats and carbs that everything will be ok. It's not that simple! I know. I think if you follow this diet and eat clean whole unprocessed foods. How can it be bad??
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