Today we yet again return to T-Nation as they continue to spew out utter and complete nonsense, which ‘fortunately’ gives me a simple and easy opportunity to educate my wonderful and sharp followers, as well as the new readers who daily find their way here.
As you likely know, T-Nation is all about pushing toxic and useless supplements to their followers, not unlike the pharmaceutical industry (who actually are the leading manufacturer of most compounds found in these vile “health-,” “sport-,” and “nutritional” supplements.)
This time, in yesterday’s advertisement article, they pushed the carotenoid, as in “antioxidant,” known as ‘lycopene.’ And this is a tricky one, as there is an abundance of inverted backwards-thinking studies, as well as misinterpreted studies surrounding it within the pseudo-science of “nutrition” and “modern medicine.”
However, if you are well-versed within human physiology, biology, microbiology, and know a thing or two within the field of biochemistry, you already know that humans are obligate hyper carnivores and that anything derived from plants are damaging to our physiology (and to most other animals as well,) and you also know that all these “carotenoids” and “flavonoids” or “antioxidants” are simply plant defense chemicals — made by the plants to protect them from anyone wanting to eat or hurt them, as well as from environmental hazards. Thus, they are all poisonous and extremely toxic.
So, to find relevant information that is backed-up by real science, we need to filter out all the noise and nonsense produced by the food companies, the supplement industry, and the pharmaceutical industry and instead focus on real findings within biology, microbiology and biochemistry. And to make it easy, I will provide such screenshots as I’ve done in most articles as of late to make it easier for you as the reader to continue your research on your own.
With that being said, even within the field of nutrition, there have been some voices raised by concern about carotenoids and antioxidants as the detrimental effects on human health are difficult to ignore.
Now, let’s see what the supplement-shills at T-Nation have to say this time.
“Lycopene is a red plant pigment (a carotenoid) found in tomatoes, but it also occurs in watermelon, pink grapefruit, and papaya. Biotest included it in its prostate support and vascular sexual health supplement, because lycopene loves the prostate.
- A meta-analysis of 26 studies with over 560,000 participants found an inverse relationship between lycopene levels and prostate cancer.
- A study of almost 50 thousand men found those with higher intakes of lycopene were less likely to develop prostate cancer.
- A meta-analysis of 17 studies found that men with increased tomato product consumption correlated with a 15 to 20% lower rate of prostate cancer.
- There’s also a bunch of research showing how lycopene inhibits prostate growth, otherwise known as benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH.”
Well, Biotest is the company funding T-Nation and using it as their platform to sell you totally useless and also very health damaging supplements, as in complete and utter shit that you should never consume. And yes, lycopene is a carotenoid with what some researchers label as “antioxidant” properties, which in their world means that the compound has the ability to neutralize or counteract the effects of free radicals, which could be a good or a really bad thing, depending on the context (we’ll get to this later.)
In the plant itself, the primary function of carotenoids is to quench (deactivate) singlet oxygens, which are oxidants formed during photosynthesis. Now, this function can be somewhat replicated in vitro, as in a highly unnatural petri-dish of cells, solvents and chemicals, but not in vivo, as in observing the effects in an actual living human being.
All you have are “coincidence” studies, as in those listed by T-nation above, where the reason for the inverted relationship could have been just about anything.
For example, people who have been deceived to believe that vegetables are healthy, and thus try to add them to their diet, usually have a “cleaner” diet over all with less processed junk food, especially sweets, sodas, and bakery items, which is even worse and more unhealthy than the vegetables themselves. Thus, those who consume a diet that is higher in “lycopene” or any other toxic defense chemical, may still have a lower toxic load than those consuming junk food and drinking sodas all day long. So, is it just this “lycopene” or is it several dietary factors in play, such as a slightly lower toxic load that the body might be able to handle for a longer period of time before diseases begin to manifest?
Also keep in mind that the prostate is very sensitive to hormonal changes, something that happens rather quickly on a highly processed carbohydrate/sugar-dominant plant-based diet.
And, just for a minute, let’s humor these fools. Let’s say that your lifestyle and diet is complete shit and that your “free radicals” are through the roof and that a toxic chemical like “lycopene” could lower this “free radical” load, thus lowering the damage to cells. Why would you be so frikkin’ stupid to use a band-aid only to tolerate that damage a little bit longer instead of removing that toxic load all together and never have to worry or get sick ever again?
You can never outrun a bad diet and a bad lifestyle. You might be able to extend your tolerance a little bit, but at what cost? And why live a life where you feel like shit all the time? Remove all the toxic and damaging stuff and you will not only avoid all health hazards, but you will feel and perform a thousand times better — every single day for the rest of your life.
Do not focus on the symptoms and try to remove them, instead, track down the main root of the problem, the things that cause the symptoms.
After this, T-Nation lists supposed benefits of lycopene, all from backwards-thinking and bogus studies drawing backward-ass conclusions. It’s totally irrelevant, so let’s jump to the funny parts.
How Does Lycopene Do That?
“Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant, which explains a lot of its beneficial effects (reducing fasting blood glucose, improving sperm quality and quantity, reverting tumor initiation, etc.).”
These alleged improvements are still out of context as there are thousands of other factors to take into consideration in such flawed and retarded studies. And I’ve already explained that antioxidants are defense chemicals made to protect, hurt, and kill. They will cause great harm if ingested, no matter if they actually neutralize some free radicals or not. Also, too much of an “antioxidant” effect is extremely damaging to our body, as it can become pro-oxidant, disrupting cell communication, and they will build up toxicity and thus form tumors/cancer. I’ve covered this in many articles, all backed up by biology, microbiology, and physiology.
“But lycopene is also a potent anti-inflammatory agent, has hypocholesterolemic action (prevents plaque in arteries), exhibits strong immune modulation (protects against bacterial infection), displays anti-angiogenesis properties (prevents blood vessels from “feeding” tumors), and has significant abilities to modulate phase I and phase II enzymes, allowing it to protect cells and tissues in general.”
As I’ve explained many times, this is a very bad thing! Inflammation is the result of a healing process taking place, repairing damaged tissue. Anything that has an immediate anti-inflammatory effect is simply ‘anti-healing.” It is so toxic that the body has to prioritize neutralizing this new threat so it has to down-prioritize other healing processes, thus the lowering of inflammation, of healing.
And if you understand anything about tumors, they are simply formed by our body to store toxins as the toxic load is too high for the body to handle. It’s a last-resort survival mechanism. So, anything that blunts the “feeding” of a tumor, as in having “anti-angiogenesis” properties, will result in an increased toxic load and thus, in the long run, severe damage to other tissues within the body. Not a good thing at all. The only way to reverse tumors and cancer is to lower or eliminate the toxic load, as in changing your diet and limit your exposure to possible hazardous environmental toxins. Taking a stupid supplement can never do this, and in the case of this ‘lycopene,’ it does the exact opposite, working against the body, which will result in severe organ damage.
And phase I and phase II enzymes are believed to break down (oxidize, reduce, or hydrolyze) xenobiotics (foreign compounds) and endogenous substances into more reactive intermediates. Well, at least in vitro. Also, an increased activity of these enzymes over their normal levels could be very damaging as it could contribute to the accumulation of toxic compounds, oxidative stress, and an altered metabolism.
“Most interestingly, lycopene fosters something known as “gap junctional communications,” which is another way of saying that it allows the exchange of signaling molecules and nutrients between neighboring cells. This is important because one of the characteristics of cancer is the loss of gap junctional communications.”
This upregulation in communication and sharing between cells is a common response to acute poisoning, which happens when you introduce a highly toxic compound to the body, such as lycopene. Temporarily increasing “gap junctional communications” let the cells increase their ability to detoxify and reduce cellular damage done by this compound.
After this, T-Nation pushes their supplement, arguing that absorption is better and that you need a more concentrated source instead of eating a ton of tomatoes or some other toxic and vile vegetable containing this poison.
Well, humans are carnivores and you should not consume vegetables or lycopene at all, so that problem was easily solved. You’re welcome.
So, again, we have another case of “backwards-thinking” and reasoning, as seen within the whole field of the pseudo-science that is “nutrition science.” And again, it is easily debunked if you have a basic understanding of physiology, biology, microbiology and biochemistry.
If you need help with your health, nutrition, and/or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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