The Morning Dose #23: Cholesterol, Probiotics, and Low-Carb vs. Low-Fat Diets

In this week’s edition of The Morning Dose:

 Low Carb vs. Low Fat for Weight Loss: Who Wins?

  Does More Cholesterol = More Testosterone?

 Peptide Spotlight: Sermorelin

Eat This to Boost Your Mood

Let’s inject this.

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 Low Carb vs. Low Fat for Weight Loss: Who Wins?

If you’ve spent any time looking at fat-loss diets, you’ve already seen all sorts of dramatic claims that seemingly contradict each other.

Back in the day, everyone was taught to avoid fat like the plague, keeping their dietary fat intake very low. After all, eating fat = gaining fat, right?

This was proven wrong, the pendulum has swung the other way, with the soaring popularity of the ketogenic and Carnivore diets that all but eliminate carbs, and encourage high fat consumption.

Nutritional gurus strongly defend each side, claiming they have the best method… but what does the science say?

Well, a recent study aimed to determine if people’s genetics impacted the type of diet they should follow. Genetic testing continues to grow in popularity, so if we can test our genetics to find our optimal nutrition intake, this would be a big win for our health.

The researchers divided study participants into two groups: fat responders, the people who should theoretically eat more fat, and carb responders, people who should theoretically eat more carbs.

Participants were divided based on 10 different genes, and then randomly assigned either a high-carb or high-fat diet for 12 weeks, designed to create a calorie deficit that resulted in fat loss.

The results? Both groups had identical outcomes.

The low-carb responders eating high carbs lost just as much fat as the low-fat people who ate a diet high in fat.

In other words, the genetic predisposition had no impact on fat loss, as long as participants stuck to the calorie deficit.

Now, there were slight changes in cravings and hunger levels, but this is true with any diet setup and mostly comes down to personal preference.

So if you’ve been trying to figure out which sort of diet is best for you, the research is clear–any diet that keeps you in a calorie deficit will help you lose fat, regardless of the carb-to-fat ratio.

  Does More Cholesterol = More Testosterone?

If you’re reading this newsletter, there’s a strong chance you’re very interested in maintaining high testosterone levels.

Even the females out there benefit from balancing their hormones, and regardless of your gender, testosterone is an important hormone.

We know that cholesterol is required to make testosterone, and low-fat diets (which lead to low cholesterol) often cause a cascade of hormonal issues, including reduced testosterone levels.

But, does it work the other way? Can we eat more cholesterol and see even higher testosterone levels?

You’ve likely seen this advice floating around, with claims that eating more eggs and red meat will increase your testosterone.

As it turns out… this isn’t quite how it works.

A recent study review looked at the relationship between total serum testosterone and cholesterol levels and found that neither dietary cholesterol intake nor blood cholesterol levels were significantly associated with total testosterone levels.

You’ll hear people claim that switching to the ketogenic diet or some other low-carb, high-fat diet boosted their testosterone, but we can’t really claim that this is due to cholesterol.

Will further research disprove this? Maybe. But so far, we know that simply eating more cholesterol likely does more harm than good.

One possible explanation is that eliminating or reducing carbs will lower inflammation, which can decrease testosterone production, but it’s not due to the cholesterol itself.

If you’re concerned about your test levels, focus on maintaining a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, and optimizing your sleep and stress levels.

Once you do that, if your levels are still low, you’ll want to ask your physician if TRT is right for you to increase your levels, NOT an increase in cholesterol intake.

 Peptide Spotlight: Sermorelin

For this week’s peptide spotlight, we’re going to take a look at how sermorelin works, one of the more popular peptides on the market.

Sermorelin is a growth hormone secretagogue, which means it mimics a compound in the body that stimulates growth hormone production.

Increasing growth hormone can enhance muscle growth, promote efficient wound healing, reduce body fat, improve sleep quality, enhance brain functioning, and support cardiovascular health.

Interestingly, it was FDA-approved for human use in 1997 to treat growth hormone deficiency in children and off-label for adults showing early signs of aging, but officially discontinued in 2008.

It was discontinued due to difficulties in the manufacturing process, not health and safety issues.

Sermorelin can still be prescribed by knowledgeable physicians, as many compounding pharmacies and research peptide companies still manufacture this peptide.

If you’re interested in anti-aging effects, or enhanced muscle growth, sermorelin is a great peptide to ask your physician about.

To read our full breakdown of this growth-hormone boosting peptide, check out our Sermorelin for Bodybuilding guide.

Eat This to Boost Your Mood

As we head into the winter months, many find that seasonal depression is starting to kick in.

Even if it’s not, the holiday season is often very stressful, causing stress, anxiety, and depression as we get closer to the end of the year.

Fortunately, there’s a way to fight back with food, and I’m not talking about looking for ways to bump up your vitamin D levels…

I’m talking about Lactobacillus, a probiotic strain found in nearly every probiotic supplement, as well as high-probiotic foods like Greek yogurt and kefir.

While gut health is very complex, more research suggests that your gut health and mood are closely related.

Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine took a closer look at Lactobacillus and found that this potent probiotic helps the body reduce stress, which may improve overall mood and combat anxiety and depression.

This is one of the first times research has looked at a very specific strain (there are countless strains out there), and the results are promising.

Now that we know that this common strain is one of the most important, further research can begin looking at supplementing with this specific strain, rather than a blend of probiotics.

In the meantime?

Greek yogurt and kefir are excellent foods to eat, rich in lactobacillus, protein, and calcium.

If you’re interested in trying a supplement, there are countless probiotic supplements to choose from that contain lactobacillus you can try.

Our best tip? Be sure to try a probiotic supplement that’s stored in a refrigerator, as the living bacteria begins to die and become less effective if it’s left on a shelf for too long.

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