from the Greater Park Hill News, November 2006 :
On lizard spit and pesto October 9, 2006
As I make pesto this fall, I find myself thinking about lizards, Gila Monsters to be exact. Gila Monsters and pesto
Go back a hundred years to understand this.
Back in 1902 a doctor named Ernest Starling, made famous for later on inventing the word, ‘hormone', said he'd discovered a hormone (obviously, he didn't use the word then) made by the intestine which encouraged the pancreas to make insulin. He probably didn't use the word insulin as that it hadn't been invented yet either. He knew the intestines made a chemical that stimulated the pancreas to lower blood sugar. He tried to treat diabetics with this intestinal ‘hormone' but was unsuccessful.
In 1932, La Barre again tried using this chemical to treat diabetes, again with no success; he gave a name to this hormone, calling it incretin. It was another 50 years before anyone understood why you couldn't use incretin to treat diabetes. Turns out that the active form of incretin, something called Glucagon-Like-Protein-1 or GLP-1, has a short half-life; it breaks down to an inactive form in about 90 seconds. Hopeful scientists were just as stuck as Starling had been 80 years earlier. The potential for GLP-1 was obvious. People with diabetes either make too little insulin or need extra insulin to get by. GLP-1 is safe; it's a natural compound circulating in everyone's body. If it can be increased, the pancreas will make more insulin when needed. As exciting as this was, it was going nowhere. GLP-1 doesn't linger long enough to use as a drug.
The solution came from an unexpected place, an ugly lizard in the Bronx. John Eng, working at a Bronx VA hospital, discovered a molecule in the saliva of the Gila Monster, a nasty looking lizard from Mexico . The molecule acts just like GLP-1. It hooks up to where GLP-1 does and triggers the pancreas to release insulin. The difference between Eng's lizard spit and real GLP-1 was that it lasts; it takes hours to break down. Eng figured out how to make a synthetic version of the lizard spit version of GLP-1, and patented it for use against diabetes. At long last, here was a chemical that acts like GLP-1 that we can use. This synthetic lizard spit, was quickly turned into a drug named Byetta. It is not the actual incretin molecule, GLP-1. Instead, it acts like GLP-1; it mimics it.
GLP-1 may treat more than diabetes; it may protect from and treat Alzheimer's disease. GLP-1 decreases amyloid-beta levels and protects against brain cell death.
What about Pesto?
I'm getting there Food stimulates the production of incretin hormone. Large meals may stimulate more secretion than small meals. Certain foods have more effect than others. Fatty meals increase GLP-1 production and insulin secretion. Fat effect varies with the type of fat. Olive oil is particularly stimulating.
A June 2006 study reports that when human diabetics eat a couple of spoons of olive oil before eating mashed potatoes, it causes a marked improvement in blood sugar levels, slowing gastric emptying, delaying blood sugar rises and increasing GLP-1 production. Olive oil works better than butter, increasing GLP-1 and also increasing HDL cholesterol. While olive oil may increase GLP-1 production by as much as 55%, coconut oil does not trigger incretin secretion. Alcohol, sorry to say, decreases GLP-1 production.
Pine nuts also increase GLP-1 production. A July 2006 report said that eating Korean pine nuts increased GLP-1 production by 25% over the control group which it turns out was olive oil, which we already know is a decent stimulator.
There is, it turns out, a good reason to eat pesto with your pasta. Pesto stimulates GLP-1 production and this incretin hormone turns on the pancreas to make insulin. When that starchy pasata breaks down to sugar, your body is ready and waiting for it. Finally, we are talking about pesto. For what is pesto but olive oil and pine nuts with some basil, garlic and parmesan cheese added for flavor?
There is one point to add. Adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet lowers risk of Alzheimer 's disease. In a June 2006 study, researchers showed that people whose diets most resemble a Mediterranean diet, have the lowest chance of developing Alzheimer's disease. What makes a diet look Mediterranean ? Well, pesto, of course.
This story took a long time unfolding. It is more than a hundred years since Starling proposed incretin hormone's existence. Although lizard spit made it possible to use this idea for human benefit, this story is not over. Expect to hear more about incretin and GLP-1 in years to come.
Pesto recipe:
1 quart basil leaves
1 cup Parmesan
1 cup olive oil
1 cup pine nuts
4-5 garlic cloves
Throw everything is a food processor and grind it to mush.