I would be skeptical of a formula that links GH release to BMI.  It is clear that abdominal obesity and low GH are related, but not it is not clear that BMI and GH are negatively related.  For one thing, BMI is a poor measure of obesity and does not distinguish between abdominal (the most dangerous kind) and other locations of fat.  It is also true that muscular individuals tend to have high BMI (mine is over 28, an indicator of obesity, while my body fat is only 6%).  Muscle is heavy and gives one a high BMI.

But, there is a deeper relationship that lies behind the presence of abdominal fat and low GH.  It is the HPA axis (the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis).  Elevated cortisol and consequent adrenal exhaustion are associated with 1. abdominal fat, 2. lower GH, 3. lower testosterone (in males), and 4. insulin resistance.  Fat aromatizes testosterone to form estrogen, so that obese males tend to be low on testosterone.

Stress is an activator of the HPA axis and, particularly among a genetically susceptible group, produces the symptoms listed above.  So, take stress and an individual predisposed to the HPA axis and insulin resistance and you have a pattern that leads to all of the above.  The stress has to be chronic to promote the adrenal exhaustion.  Hence, all the brief acute stress that Evolutionary Fitness promotes with intermittent periods of rest and play, is just the pattern that one would adopt to counter the HPA axis.

The relationship between smoked meat and cancer is one found in laboratory settings that are highly artificial.  Whenever one reads that "X causes cancer" you can be sure that X was supplied in a lab at extraordinary levels and chronically (continuously over a long period).  Chronic exposure at high levels overloads the body's adaptive capabilities to detoxify or eliminate the substance.  Another reason that Evolutionary Fitness calls for variety in eating patterns and in what is eaten.

It may also be the case that the substances in smoked meat do whatever harm has been found at high dosage levels through the production of free radicals.  The Evolutionary Fitness diet is high in natural antioxidants (and I also take them).

The notion of causality is not that simple where cancer is concerned, as  cancerous cells and the immune system are engaged in a long-term and complex interaction where no single substance or event can be identified as the "cause".  A cancerous cell refuses to obey the normal command from other cells to commit apoptosis (cell suicide).  The emergence and evolution of such non-cooperating cells is complex and not all that well understood.

So, I eat smoked meat, but not chronically.  Just now and then, like everything else.

Art De Vany
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Arthur De Vany
Professor
Economics and Mathematical Behavioral Sciences
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
Tel: 949-824-5269
Fax: 949-824-3733