I'm no believer in Taubes as he tends to oversensationalise things. And it is possible to become overly fat on a zero-carb diet despite his assertions, judging from other zcers' reports(for example overdoing the percentage of fat in the diet >80%).

 

Here's a couple of articles which debunk many of his claims:-

 

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28714.html

 

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28715.html

 


Geoff
 
> Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:32:29 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Joint pain
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Oh my.
> 
> http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/01/tokelau-island-migrant-study-gout.html
> 
> Both sucrose and fructose have been demonstrated to increase serum uric 
> acid. Fructose seems to figure prominently.
> 
> From Taubes:
> "Fructose, for instance, accelerates the breakdown of a molecule known 
> as ATP, which is the primary source of energy for cellular reactions and 
> is loaded with purines. (ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate; 
> adenosine is a form of adenine, and adenine is a purine.) And so this in 
> turn increases formation of uric acid. Alcohol apparently raises uric 
> acid levels through the same mechanism, although beer also has purines 
> in it. Fructose also stimulates the synthesis of purines directly, and 
> the metabolism of fructose leads to the production of lactic acid, which 
> in turn reduces the excretion of uric acid by the kidney and so raises 
> uric acid concentrations indirectly by that mechanism."
> 
> "Finally, there’s the repeated observation that eating more protein 
> increases the excretion of uric acid from the kidney and, by doing so, 
> decreases the level of uric acid in the blood. This implies that the 
> meat-gout hypothesis is at best debatable; the high protein content of 
> meats should be beneficial, even if the purines are not."
> 
> Taubes is in email contact with a friend of mine. The link I posted 
> earlier from him was info that was not included in his book, and instead 
> was emailed to my friend from Taubes by request. Well worth reading, if 
> you haven't yet Geoffrey.
> 
> Tracy
> 
> Geoffrey Purcell wrote:
> > 
> >
> >
> > Gout is commonly linked to the consumption of (cooked) meat by numerous studies such as this one:-
> >
> > 
> >
> > http://arthritis.about.com/cs/gout/a/foodstoavoid.htm
> >
> > 
> >
> > (granted, though, there are other factors cited such as corn-syrup as well).
> >
> > 
> >
> > One thing that I've noticed is that acquaintances of mine who live past a certain age always tend to greatly limit their consumption of cooked meat and go mostly vegetarian as they find that (cooked) meat greatly aggravates their arthritis/gout and other conditions.Indeed, it is commonly suggested to go in for raw plant foods to avoid gout.
> >
> > 
> >
> > Raw meat doesn't cause such problems as it doesn't have those heat-created toxins which aggravate conditions like arthritis etc. However, for those unable to transition to raw, it is at the least, vital to only lightly cook one's meats so as to avoid these particular issues or to add a higher percentage of raw veg into the diet.
> >
> > 
> >
> > Geoff
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> > 
> >> Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:33:22 +0000
> >> From: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Joint pain
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >> Over the last four weeks I have been eating low carb, though not zero, with a large increase in the amount of meat and fish ingested. 
> >> 
> >> I have managed to lose 7lbs which has to be good. After following the various discussions via email on eating zero carbs I decided yesterday to go as close to that as I could. Today I can hardly walk because of pain in my hip and knee joints.
> >> 
> >> Researching various sites it seems that I may have inadvertently created an excess of uric acid, leading to arthritic gout....? Can anyone comment. I have not found the regime all that difficult and was pleased with the weight loss, but the discomfort has prevented my doing what I should have been doing today. 
> >> 
> >> K McEwen
> >> 
> >
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