The Potbelly Syndrome

Per Marin, Russell Farris

Description

This book clarifies the cause and consequences of hypercortisolism to help readers do something about it.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Diététique
• Santé du quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Diet
• Health
• BMI
• Fitness
• Nutrition
• diététique

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781591206385
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The
Potbelly
Syndrome
How Common Germs
Cause Obesity, Diabetes,
and Heart Disease
Russell Farris and Per Mårin, M.D., Ph.D.
Foreword by Richard P. Huemer, M.D.
The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of the authors. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other healthcare provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a healthcare professional.
The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular healthcare protocol but believes the information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and authors are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the authors and the publisher strongly suggest consulting a professional healthcare advisor.
Basic Health Publications, Inc.
28812 Top of the World Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
949-715-7327 • www.basichealthpub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farris, Russell
The potbelly syndrome : how common germs cause obesity, diabetes, and heart disease / by Russell Farris and Per Marin ; foreword by Richard Huemer.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59120-638-5
ISBN-10: 1-59120-058-X
1. Chronic diseases—Etiology. 2. Obesity. 3. Diabetes. 4. Germ theory of disease. 5. Microorganisms. I. Marin, Per II. Title.
RB156.F37       2005
616.07'1—dc22
2005031713
Typesetting/Book design: Gary A. Rosenberg
Cover design: Mike Stromberg
Copyright © 2006 by Russell Farris and Per Mårin, M.D., Ph.D.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Printed in the United States of America
10     9     8     7     6     5     4     3     2
Contents
Foreword by Richard P. Huemer, M.D.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Germs and Potbellies
2. Stress, Infections, and Cortisol
3. Germs That Cause Chronic Illnesses
4. How Germs Cause Atherosclerosis
5. Cholesterol Is Good for You
6. Hypertension Is Not All Bad
7. The Stages of Potbelly Syndrome
8. Infections and Insulin Resistance
9. How Stress Affects Fat Storage
10. How Stress Affects Appetite
11. Cortisol, Infections, and Potbellies
12. Why Dieting Almost Never Works
13. Type 2 Diabetes
14. Cushing’s Syndrome
15. Cortisol Production, Regulation, and Measurement
16. Diagnosing Chronic Subtle Hypercortisolism
17. Taking Charge of Your Own Health
18. Avoiding Stressors
19. Building Stress Resistance
20. Reversing Infection-Cortisol (IC) Loops
Conclusion
Glossary
About the Authors
To Norman Cousins
(1915–1990)
My determination is not to remain stubbornly with my ideas but I’ll leave them and go over to others as soon as I am shown plausible reasons which I can grasp. This is the more true since I have no other purpose than to place the truth before my eyes so far as it is in my power to embrace it….
—A NTONI VAN L EEUWENHOEK, THE FIRST GERM HUNTER, CIRCA 1700, QUOTED IN M ICROBE H UNTERS BY P AUL DE K RUIF (1926)
Foreword
Potbellies have ever been with us, a fact of which I was reminded on a recent excursion to an art museum. I saw a depiction of William Penn’s 1682 meeting at Shackamaxon with the Delaware Indians. There, on the left, were the Indians—bronzed, hale, well-proportioned; to the right of center was Penn, not yet forty, with his round face, spindly arms, and a prominent potbelly. Penn appeared cushingoid!—as well he might have been, given his stressful life: kicked out of college, imprisoned more than once in the Tower of London, and generally set upon for his antiestablishment views.
Cushing’s syndrome often arises from stress, for stress goads the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, which is responsible for potbellies and other physical stigmata of Cushing’s syndrome. Cortisol is also to blame for hidden, dark things like glucose intolerance and compromised immunity. In this book, Russ Farris and Dr. Per Mårin set forth lucidly the hypothesis that abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, excess fats in the blood, diabetes, and related ills share an underlying causative factor: chronic subtle hypercortisolism.
Dr. Mårin is a distinguished senior scientist, physician, and clinical teacher from Sweden, who has been writing on human obesity since 1985. Many of his eighty-two publications deal with the relation of hormones, including cortisol, to obesity. Russ Farris is not a doctor, but a retired artificial-intelligence researcher whose many years of service for the U.S. Navy included technical writing and editing. His ability to analyze the behavior of complex systems has served him well in assembling this book’s big picture from many diverse elements of evidence.
Medical researchers like to break problems down into bite-size pieces, a process called reductionism. Thus, presented with a metaphorical elephant, one will describe the tail, another the legs, another the trunk, and so on. Each becomes an expert on his chosen piece of the puzzle. The authors of this book have put those pieces together, glimpsed the whole elephant, and named it the potbelly syndrome.
This is not your garden-variety health book, with self-assessment quizzes, menu plans, recipes, and nutritional supplement recommendations. There are, to be sure, many helpful suggestions about reducing stress, exercising, and taking care of medical conditions, along with a short list of supplements. Mainly, though, this is a book about asking why 47 million Americans suffer from a metabolic syndrome characterized by obesity, insulin resistance, high blood fats and sugar, and high blood pressure—and answering that question.
It is highly unlikely that Mr. Farris and Dr. Mårin will be flung into the Tower of London for their views, but their views are antiestablishment nonetheless. I expect acceptance of them initially to be an upstream swim against a tide of controversy, but honest dialogue is how medical science progresses, even in an era of managed care, rigid diagnostic codes, and governmental regulation. I wouldn’t anticipate an outcome like that of a spawning salmon, whose upstream battle leaves it discolored, dysmorphic, and ultimately dead, suffused by a toxic concentration of its own cortisol.
Mr. Farris admits to having been influenced in his youth by Paul De Kruif’s marvelous Microbe Hunters , as I was myself. It shows in his writing. As these pages unfold, enjoy Mr. Farris’s clear and to-the-point prose style, along with the many diagrams for those who thirst for technical details. I know William Penn would have liked this book, not only because of his potbelly, but because of something he once said: “Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.” You will understand.
—Richard P. Huemer, M.D.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my distinguished coauthor, Per Mårin, M.D., Ph.D., for his many contributions to this book. Dr. Mårin was an expert on the stress hormone cortisol for many years before I became interested in it. He gave me valuable suggestions, corrected many errors, tutored me on some of the finer points of endocrinology, and wrote the chapter on diagnosing chronic subtle hypercortisolism.
This book would not have been possible without the encouragement and sage advice of Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Director of the Autism Research Institute. Dr. Rimland is my long-time friend and mentor, a philosopher of science without parallel, and the center of an amazing network of people who know interesting things. Dr. Rimland’s friend Susan Owens provided the seed idea from which this book grew.
Woody McGinnis, M.D., and Sheldon Hendler, M.D., were the first physicians to hear my ideas on infections and cortisol. Donald Foster, M.D., was the first physician to read an early draft of the book. I was so unsure of myself when I started that a negative word from any of these gentlemen might have persuaded me to forget the book and go fishing. Instead, their encouragement and advice kept me going while I gained confidence.
Richard Huemer, M.D., reviewed drafts of the book and made suggestions that improved both its organization and its contents. Finding the answer to one of his questions probably delayed completion of this project by a year, but the book is much better for that delay. Dr. Huemer was gracious enough to write the foreword.
Allan Shor, M.D., described the circumstances that led him to discover C. pneumoniae in clogged arteries, and he gave me the amazing photograph shown in Figure 3.1 .
My editor, Carol Rosenberg, made or suggested many improvements to the manuscript. I want to thank my publisher, Norman Goldfind, for recognizing the need for this book.
The Liz Fong Foundation provided encouragement and material support. I also received much help and good advice from the librarians at the University of California campuses in San Diego, Los Angeles, Irvine, Berkeley, and San Francisco.
More than a hundred people took the time to answer questions, give advice, send information, or help in other ways. I appreciate all of their input, but I particularly want to thank Emma Adam, M.D.; April Apperson-Farrell, M.S.; Burton Berkson, M.D.; Teresa Binstock; Alison Blake; J. Edwin Blaylock, M.D.; Robert Da Prato, M.D.; Elissa Epel, Ph.D.; Karin Everett, Ph.D.; Clara Felix; Diana Flory; Dr. Leigh Gibson; Kenneth Grattendick, Ph.D.; Ray Hanson; Les Hayes, Pharm.D.; Lane Heldfond; Robert Henry, M.D.; Abram Hoffer, M.D.; Denise Hooks; Dr. Gail Ironson; Dale Lieu, M.D.; Petru Liuba, M.