Transcription
They tried to make them obese. The scientists literally fed them the kind of diet in which they would induce obesity, and this protected against it. It actually protected and stopped the fat cells from growing, and it slowed down the accumulation of fat. We're talking about literally like capitalizing on what's called dietary induced thermogenesis to the max.
Spoiler alert, I'll just tell you straight up what it is. They looked at red onion. But we need to know more about this. Like, I'm not just going to go walking around smelling like onions all the time in an effort to like keep lean. I mean, actually, I guess it's worth it. Let me know in the comments. It actually helps the algorithm anyway. Would you smell like onions if you could be lean all the time?
Anyhow, this research was really fascinating, but it opens up a couple different cans of worms because we can understand why. But then we can also take away some other attributes from this study. So maybe it's not just going to be red onions we have to eat because we can get some similar effects from a couple other foods. I put a link down below for something called Timeline Nutrition, which is a compound called urolithin, which is a really cool compound if you're looking at just overall muscle health and mitochondrial health. Remember that mitochondria is where the fat is burned, right? And mitochondria is also where we produce energy for fitness and working out and life in general. So that link down below, that's for 10% off a compound called urolithin from Timeline.
Okay, so urolithin A increases mitophagy, where the mitochondria essentially recycle themselves to become stronger. So lots of peer-reviewed evidence now, really solid RCTs, really solid studies demonstrating that urolithin makes muscle quality better and makes stronger mitochondria. So it started out as a longevity research model, and then they're like, wait a minute, this is also just good for muscle health in general. So that link down below, using that code will get you 10% off Timeline Nutrition's urolithin A. I highly, highly, highly recommend you check it out. Been using it about 3 years and I noticed a significant difference in my recovery overall. So that link down below.
So this study published in Genes and Nutrition that I like opened with. This particular study was rodents. But don't get me wrong, there's human models on this whole stuff too. So in the case of onions, they had rodents consume high-fat or low-fat diet, right? And they wanted to see like how different things would interact. So they gave them concentrated quercetin, which is in red onion, or concentrated red onion itself. What they found is that the red onion actually ended up protecting against the obesity. It protected against the accumulation of fat. What they also found, this is what's really wild, it increased energy expenditure. So it was increasing the amount of energy that was expended at rest. Resting energy expenditure. They were eating more, but then they were just expending more energy. Like this is like so groundbreaking for us that would be sedentary, right? Not saying that this is a shortcut and you shouldn't exercise. I mean, all this and that. No, forget it. I want to capitalize on these things because something is going on.
And what they found in this, in addition to all this going on, was the cut-through was there was an increase in the number of mitochondria in the skeletal muscle. So this increase in the number of mitochondria means that there are now more places for fat burning to occur. Remember, the mitochondria is where fat loss happens. So now we have more sites in which fat burning could occur, which is exactly what we would like. Healthier muscle, more mitochondria.
The second thing that they found is that red onion "rescued" incomplete beta-oxidation. Beta-oxidation is fat burning. It's where fats are going into the mitochondria and getting converted into fuel. Sometimes this process arrests. It self-arrests where it doesn't complete. So beta-oxidation starts, but then it doesn't complete and actually turn the fat into energy, and it sort of recycles and it goes back to fat and it doesn't really complete. It has to do with carnitine palmitoyltransferase, that whole cycle of getting fats in. Somewhere along the line, fat burning is incomplete. So they found that this rescued that and actually reduced the amount of incomplete fat burning. So the fat burning became more efficient.
Okay. So this was with a small amount of red onion extract or red onion powder. And same thing would happen with a little bit of red onion powder. But if you would want to get it like more of a supplement form, you could take quercetin. Quercetin didn't perform as well as red onion, but it still had a powerful benefit. Another food that's going to have a similar effect is going to be garlic. Garlic contains something called allicin, but remember, you have to cut up garlic and let it sit for a little bit for allicin to actually take effect. If it's hard on your gut, you can cook it a little bit, but it really should be raw garlic that's been cut up and then sitting out for a minute. Doesn't have to sit for long, 5-10 minutes. And that allows the enzymes to actually activate what needs to be activated for this whole process to actually work.
Because what happens is this allicin, these compounds like quercetin, these other things, mustard is another one. Mustard, the AITCs in mustard, they activate what are called what are called TRPV1 receptors. TRPV1 receptors, when they get activated, they are like senses to pungent, strong, intense things, and it activates our nervous system. It activates our nervous system so much that we actually increase our resting energy expenditure. Now crank it up to 11. Let's imagine that you activated your sympathetic nervous system by taking in a bunch of caffeine and something else, right? Like you'd be jittery. You'd feel it, and you would definitely be expending more energy.
And maybe you watched my video that I did on ginger because ginger is a good example. Ginger activates the TRPV1 receptor. But the human randomized control trial published in Metabolism with ginger showed that just having two grams of ginger powder with water ended up triggering such an increase in metabolic rate that they burned 42 more calories just at rest throughout the course of the day, which adds up to almost four and a half pounds of fat burned per year with literally just adding ginger in. That's a human randomized control trial right there showing the absolute potency of activating that TRPV1 receptor.
What makes the red onion particularly interesting with this is the red onion increased the number of mitochondria. We didn't see that with ginger. We didn't see that with mustard. Right? So there's an extra benefit with the quercetin and the muscle health in the red onion. So cooking with red onion, cooking with garlic, it's going to be extremely potent. Utilizing whole grain mustard, not yellow mustard, but whole grain or Dijon mustard that has the seeds in it. That's going to be really potent, too. Of course, having spicy food, that's just direct activation. That's like not activating the NRF2 pathway and some of these other pathways that like red onion that we get out of that. But spicy food is definitely good for increasing metabolic rate. Like if I wanted to just increase my body temperature and maybe sweat out a few calories, I would definitely have some spicy food. It can definitely make a big difference.
So, here's what I would do. Ginger powder with some water in the morning in a fasted state, maybe with a little bit of apple cider vinegar because that also activates the TRPV1. So I'd do that in a fasted state with maybe some caffeine or some green tea. I'd go exercise. Maybe I'd wait a little bit longer after my exercise, have a little bit more like green tea with ginger or something like that, just to kind of keep that process going. And then if possible, like that first meal that I would have would actually be a decent amount of meat and maybe some chopped garlic just kind of put on the top, a little bit of red onion powder or something to that effect. And honestly, I would put some Dijon mustard. It sounds so cheesy or mustardy, but it is true. It's very real and it does have an impact.
So, as always, please give it a like to hear my channel. I'll see you tomorrow.