Photo: Julia Kadel, Unsplash
Tiny Biohazards Are All Around Us, Just Like The Matrix:
So, Kurt Vonnegut came up with this wild idea for something that could freeze all water on earth beyond thawing, called Ice-9.
And in a weird way, it seems like Microplastics are becoming something like an Ice-9.
They’re another pervasive pollutant you just can’t get rid of.
Unfortunately, the party doesn’t stop there.
Because not only are we finding out Ultra-Processed Foods are bad for you.
They’re also apparently bad in new & more-terrifying ways each time a new study comes out…
The Short Answer:
- Plastics were supposed to make utensils and containers lighter, stronger, and cheaper.
- A small study on 45 men aged about 35 showed strange effects from processed food.
- Researchers put them on 2 diets with 2 variations each.
- Men eating ultra-processed-foods gained ~1lb extra fat, regardless of calories.
- Their testosterone, sperm production hormones, sperm quality, and energy hormones all went down.
- Plastic-based chemicals and bad cholesterol also went up.
- Researchers concluded that much of the problems came from the processing itself.
- They also said that you don’t have to eat that much UPFs to be affected, either.
- There are things you can to do help, and staying hydrated is one of them.
Read on to find out the details…
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Unintended Consequences. Inventions Often Have Side-Effects:
So lots of things were supposed to do one thing, but ended up doing another.
Nuclear bombs were supposed to end wars quickly or even prevent them, but they turned out to be a global menace.
The internal combustion engine was supposed to replace horses, but it gave us no small amount of pollution, climate-change, and Texans.
Processed-foods were supposed to make food affordable.
And plastics were supposed to make things lighter and more convenient…
The Study Results Show UPFs Have Some Weird Effects On Men:
That’s where the study picks up, because if you’re a man, or even just a hu-man,
The last two are going to be about as helpful as that nifty Horse was to the Trojans.
So in a small study of 45 men, aged about 35, subjects were asked to try four different diets.
These had a “washout” period of resetting between each so that the one wouldn’t influence the other.
The four different diets were
1) Almost all ultra-processed foods
1a) Excess calories (500) from ultra-processed foods
2) Almost exclusively minimally-processed foods
2a) Excess calories (500) from minimally-processed foods
And the results were pretty weird.
The Obesity Crisis Might Be Revealed In One Key Finding:
-Because men were expected to gain weight on both excess calorie plans.
But somehow mysteriously, they did not gain the 1 kg of excess fat on the UPF diet.
For the same amount of calories in UPFs as the MPF group was eating,
The subjects gained a total of 1.8kg of fat mass!
-BOOM!
But wait it gets even better.
Men on a UPF diet gained that .8kg of fat, regardless of whether they were on excess calories or not!
-DOUBLE BOOM!
The Minimum List Of Bad Effects From UPFs For Men:
But hang on a sec, because it gets even worse.
Because for the men on any of the UPF diets:
1) Their cholesterol got worse
2) They got elevated levels of plasticizing chemicals in their blood
2a) This indicates exposure to a group of them called phthalates
3) Their testosterone went down
4) Their hormone that causes sperm production went down
5) Their sperm quality went down toward what’s called “impairment”
6) At least two other hormones besides just testosterone were disrupted
6a) These also included hormones related to energy-production as well
Even Despite Food Differences, UPFs Cause Mystery Weight-Gain:
So just like some of the guesses why Americans get slimmer when they go on vacation,
The researchers were pretty surprised at some of the potential causes of these results.
Because the comparison is clear that the calorie-difference is not the main culprit.
-Even if you were to give the UPFs a slight edge at having more calories that are available for the body to use.
Or as the H&W nerds call it, “Bioavailable”. ::cringe::
You Don’t Need That Much To Screw You Up, Either!:
Many of them seem pretty clear that the fact that the food is even just processed,
Is already a problem and a source of some real hormone-disruption.
They were also shocked that UPFs could have this much of an effect on so many bodily-functions of what were basically, healthy young men.
The results also worryingly-suggest that you don’t have to eat that much of those types of foods for your body to be affected either.
Here Are Some Steps To Start Reversing The Damage:
And now for those who read to the end, The light at the end of the tunnel!
You can at least do something to get chemicals like these out of your body.
Such as!:
1) Fiber supplements help microplastics exit your body
2) Broccoli & similar sulphur-compound veggies help you detox
3) Staying well-hydrated
4) Sweating through exercise or sauna
Obviously, you want to get your food from as close to natural sources as possible.
And also either make your food at home, or get it in non-plastic containers from the store.
Because “Plastics” may have been an amazing material-of-tomorrow back in the movie, “The Graduate”,
But right now, we may have gotten a little bit more than we bargained for!
References & Links:
• Source: U.Copenhagen
• Source Study: CellMet – Effect of ultra-processed food consumption on male reproductive and metabolic health
