Today we return to Examine.com and a summary of a recent cross-sectional study looking at participants without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and participants with OSA and their dietary food choices and macronutrient breakdown, as in the amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
As we already know, humans are obligate hyper carnivores and our natural metabolic state is that of being in ketosis and running on a fat metabolism where our body produces all the glucose it needs through gluconeogenesis. In other words, we are only meant to consume animal fat and protein. Consuming carbohydrates to provide glucose will elevate blood glucose levels above it’s safe natural maintained levels, which is extremely toxic and will damage all soft tissues and organs. This damage will accumulate and depending on other toxins, the overall toxic load and the ability to detoxify and heal due to each individual’s nutrient status, the damage can either take only a few years or several decades to show. I’ve covered this in many, many articles.
Key study details
“Two hundred participants with symptoms of OSA underwent a sleep study to diagnose OSA and filled out Food Frequency Questionnaires to evaluate their diets.”
Reading the full study, the researchers identified a total of 200 patients who matched the selection criteria, and of these, 173 were diagnosed as having OSA. The 27 patients with an Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) of < 5 were allocated to the OSA-negative group. AHI is a measure used to indicate the severity of sleep apnea. It is defined as the number of apnea and hypopnea events per hour of sleep. An apnea is the complete absence of airflow through the nose and mouth for at least 10 seconds, while a hypopnea is a partial collapse of the airway, limiting breathing.
The participants with normal AHI were younger than those with mild or moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA,) which is logical as their diets have yet to cause that degree of damage and fat gain. Participants with moderate or severe OSA had higher BMIs than those without OSA, which again is logical, as fat gain is from overconsuming toxic foods that are not species-appropriate, forcing the body to store both excessive energy and toxins as body fat. Thus, both the extra body fat pushing on organs and airways, as well as the damage from the toxic load contributes to obstructive sleep apnea. And since obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can be common even in thin people with a normal body mass index, the largest factor is the damage done to tissues and organs by toxins from the “food,” as in elevated blood glucose (carbohydrates,) plant-based unsaturated fats (seed/vegetable oils,) and the defense chemicals, antinutrients, heavy metals, and pesticide residues that are present in all plant-based edibles and plant-based processed foods.
“There was no association between (i) energy, fat, or protein intake and (ii) having OSA or not. The researchers adjusted their analyses for the potential confounders of age, sex, diabetes, and waist-hip ratio.”
Actually, looking at the full study and not the useless abstract, the authors claimed that an analysis of nutrient intake showed a reduced energy intake in non-OSA patients (11953.98 ± 7578.11 kJ, 95% CI 9677.27–14230.70 kJ) as compared to severe-OSA patients (15153.43 ± 6541.89 kJ, 95% CI 13678.46–16628.40 kJ.)
Non-OSA patients also had a slightly lower intake of protein and fat, which is logical since their “energy intake” was dramatically lower. However, the biggest difference was that of carbohydrates and food choices.
“A diet with a higher proportion of carbohydrates was associated with poorer levels in 4 out of 4 sleep study outcomes (e.g., apnea/hypopnea index, how many times per hour the participant had impaired breathing, how OSA severity is determined).”
Yes, and again looking at the full study, the researchers found that while carbohydrate intake was significantly higher in moderate- and severe OSA, they also consumed more fried food, dairy products (yoghurt, powdered milk) and sweet beverages.
As we know, fried foods are the worst offenders as the seed oils used oxidize and a lot of aldehydes are produced. Also, by consuming some popular fried foods like fried rice, fried noodles, dough sticks and onion rings, you consume both toxic carbohydrates and toxic plant-based fats at the same time. That is the ultimate recipe for cardiovascular damage and plaque build-up.
Also, dairy products are pasteurized, homogenized and fortified with toxic useless artificial vitamins. They are dead foods and should not be counted as “animal-based,” as they are man-made, altered and poisoned. And of course, sweet beverages are purely sugar, as in fructose and glucose. Extremely toxic to the body and to the liver.
The OSA patients also consumed more rice, wheat, and stuffed food items (steamed stuffed buns, wontons, dumplings, etc.)
When adjusting for age, sex, and the presence or absence of diabetes, the extremely higher consumption of carbohydrates still stood out among those with OSA.
Examine.com’s Take
“This study showed that carbohydrate intake, even with adjustment for one measure of adiposity (waist-hip ratio), was associated with OSA severity.”
Yes, and since obstructive sleep apnea is common among people of all sizes, ranging from thin, to overweight, and to obese, it’s not really the fat accumulation that is the underlying cause. Obesity simply worsen the issue, making it more severe.
Obstructive sleep apnea is also more common the older you get, but not all old people get OSA, so logic therefore dictates that it is not age related.
The only logical explanation of the main cause of OSA is therefore the accumulation of soft tissue damage in the throat, including the tongue and the soft palate. This damage is caused by toxic exposure, and the worst offenders is that of elevated blood glucose from carbohydrates and that of unsaturated fats, especially oxidized/rancid fats, as only found in plant-based seed/vegetable oils. While all plant-based oils have a degree of rancidity/oxidation after being manufactured, this process accelerates multifold as soon as the oil is heated and/or exposed to oxygen and/or sunlight, with heat being the largest influencer.
So, it’s no surprise that fried food was mentioned. Still, simply consuming carbohydrates, as in this example from rice, wheat, and stuffed food items together with any kind of seed/vegetable oil, which is common in China, is extremely toxic and will cause a lot of tissue damage, especially to your arteries and heart. And changes in the structure and function of the heart might affect the upper airway.
Also, toxic accumulation can cause enlarged tonsils and adenoids, which can block the airway.
So, yes, it’s a no-brainer that a higher carbohydrate intake, which also means a higher intake of toxins from plant-based edibles, will be associated with OSA severity, as it is associated with just about any modern “disease” and ailment. It’s simply a result of all the damage and accumulation of toxins in all soft tissues and organs.
Also, sleep apnea and other sleep disturbances will put extra strain on your heart, so unless those with OSA change their diet it’s a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.
“However, it would have been interesting to evaluate whether this association was consistent after adjusting for other measures of adiposity, BMI, or other common potential confounders such as physical activity.”
Other measures of adiposity, as in fat mass, would have returned the same results. However, physical activity will mitigate a little bit of the damage caused by carbohydrates, as you will use some of that toxic elevated blood glucose as fuel for your muscles and also use some stored glycogen, opening up for more storage of the glucose you provided by consuming carbohydrates. So, yes, being physically active will reduce some of the damage done by carbohydrates. However, excessive exercise will damage the body in other ways, tearing it down and increasing the requirement for other nutrients to keep up with tissue repair, so it’s a very retarded band-aid.
While a little physical exercise and physical work is beneficial, as it will keep you strong and keep the density in your bones, performing exercise more than 45 to 60 minutes four times a week, will cause more damage than it will do good, accelerating aging and the tear and wear on the body.
Instead, any sensible human should return to their species-specific, species-appropriate diet of purely animal-based foods and thus never touch carbohydrates or plant-based oils. This will not only fix any possible health problems over the long run, including OSA, it will also normalize your body weight and make your body and brain work as intended.
With all that said, what would be interesting is to examine the composition and the timing of the last meal of the day in people with OSA. We know that consuming carbohydrates and elevating blood glucose is a life-threatening scenario for the body and thus it takes the highest priority, shutting down all other metabolic pathways to get rid of that glucose as fast as possible. So, every time you consume carbohydrates, your body is in a state of stress, a state of emergency. This is easily checked by observing your resting heart rate before a carbohydrate meal and after.
And we also know that digestion interferes with sleep, especially our natural detoxification- and healing processes, as in tissue repair. In other words, eating close to bedtime will severely reduce your sleep quality. And if that meal also contains a lot of carbohydrates, well, you do the math.
So, by simple logic we can guarantee that someone with OSA would increase his or her sleep quality within days if they made sure that their last meal for the day was at least 4 hours before going to bed, and even more so if that meal was very low in carbohydrates.
And after they notice the extreme improvement, I bet that they will be more inclined to start changing their whole diet, removing carbohydrates and adding in more animal-based foods. That’s a win-win for their sleep quality, their quality of life and their health.
And folks, that is how health-care should work, small changes and small steps that produce results and encourage the patient to keep doing better, to keep improving his or her lifestyle, not by prescribing toxic and damaging drugs and letting them continue to poison and damage their bodies by their toxic lifestyle and dietary habits.
If you need help with any kind of health problems 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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