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Whipped cream with strawberries - is it actually healthier with pastured cream? Is it less obesogenic, soothes inflammation and increases the oxidation while reducing the storage of body fat?

I guess I could have made two separate articles of the two recent studies from the University of Lyon (Benoit. 2014) and the INRA in Paris (Marsset-Baglieri. 2014), but in view of the fact that there are already plenty of dairy articles at the SuppVersity, I thought, Id pack them into one large "Dairy Double-Whammy Appreciation Article"; and in that I am about to start with something the average SuppVersity reader should know already: "Milk protein fractions moderately extend the duration of satiety compared with carbohydrates independently of their digestive kinetics in overweight subjects."

Well, at least the first part shouldnt be news. The fact that this happens independent of their digestive kinetics, on the other hand, may come as a surprise.
Why? Well, "independent of their digestive kinetics", that means that the satiety effect does not depend on whether were talking about fast- or slow-digesting dairy proteins. Or, practically speaking, it did not matter, if the subjects consumed

• 30g of casein (digested in 6h)
• 30g of whey protein (digested in 2.5h), or
• 30g of whey + casein protein (digested in 4h)

in conjunction with 30g of carbohydrates, the effect, i.e. the effects on  pancreatic and gastrointestinal hormones and the 17min increase in the time it took the subjects to ask for launch.

Figure 1: .Effects of the protein snackv. the control carbohydrate snack on the time period elapsing before the request for lunch in all subjects (n82) (a) and in early eaters (n=41) (b). The satiating effect of the protein snack is represented whatever the type of protein snack as well as in each protein group (Marsset-Baglieri. 2014).

In that, the effect on the size of a subsequent ad-libitum meal depended non-linearly on the proximity between the subjects regular launch-time and the time the snack was ingested. With 32min (vs. only 17min), the satiating effect of  the liquid protein meal was thus significantly more pronounced in the "early eater" who could have consumed their regular lunch within less than 2h after the ingestion of the test "snack".
Now that we know that dairy proteins can help you keep your weight in check, its about time to have a look at the macronutrient, Marsset-Baglieri, et al. simply forgot in their previously discussed study: Dietary fats!

From dairy protein to dairy fat - this is where pasture may matter

The question whether pasture (grass-fed) dairy is healthier, better or what-not is a topic of ongoing discussion among the members of the health and fitness community. While some people believe that the slightly higher amounts of CLA and omega-3 fatty acids, doesnt make a difference, others pretend as if eating conventional dairy would cost you 10 years of your maximal life experience.

Figure 2: Effect of feeding a control (CT), a standard dairy cream (SDC) or a pasture dairy cream (PDC) diet for 12 weeks on the gene expression of different markers of inflammation in the epididymal adipose tissue: (a)IL-6, (b) Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), (c) cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), (d)CD11c, (e) monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and (f) TNF-alpha normalised to hypo-xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase (HPRT; Benoit. 2014).

If we take a look at results of a recent study from the University of Lyon (Benoit. 2014), you will realize: The truth lies - as usual - somewhere in-between.

The markers of inflammation, for example, were significantly reduced in rodents who were fed a 20% pasture (PDC) vs. 20% standard dairy cream diet (SDC; see Figure 2). The levels of PPAR-alpha & carnitine palmitoyltransferase in the liver and the levels of UCP2 in the adipose tissue, all three indicative of increased fatty acid oxidation in the liver and fat cells, respectively, increased (not shown in Figure 2).

And although the effects on the tight junctions of the gut (important for "leaky gut" prevention) were non-significant, the increase in the percentage of crypts with Paneth cells, the number of goblet cells per crypt and the expression of MUC-2 in the colon indicate that the pastured dairy had beneficial effects on the intestinal health of the rodents, as well.

Overall, the scientists attest that the replacement of a standard dairy cream with a pasture
dairy cream, albeit as part of a generally unhealthy "high-fat" (=hypercaloric) diet...

• lowers metabolic inflammation - for some markers even below the levels of the "healthy" standard (low fat) rodent diet
• prevents fat mass accumulation, despite increased energy intake - possibly due to an inxrease in lipid beta-oxidation, the pasture cream fed rodents could eat 0.8g/day more of the isocaloric chow and still presented lower body fat stores
• improves the protective function of the intestine - the increase in mucus coat thickness in the colon of the PDC mice might actually also have contributed to the reduced inflammation by decreasing the proportion of lipopolysaccharide crossing from the gut lumen to the systemic circulation

Their study is yet not without limitation, such as the lack of a detailed identification of the CLA isomers, which does not allow a causal analysis of the contribution of differences in the conjugated linoleic acid make-up to the reduction in body fat Benoi et al. observed. Similarly, the amount of beta-sitosterol and desmosterol, polyphenols and flavonoids which varied between the creams, could have figured in, sa well.
Reference:

• Benoit B, Plaisancié P, Géloën A, Estienne M, Debard C, Meugnier E, Loizon E, Daira P, Bodennec J, Cousin O, Vidal H, Laugerette F, Michalski MC. Pasture v. standard dairy cream in high-fat diet-fed mice: improved metabolic outcomes and stronger intestinal barrier. Br J Nutr. 2014 Aug;112(4):520-35.
• Marsset-Baglieri A, Fromentin G, Airinei G, Pedersen C, Léonil J, Piedcoq J, Rémond D, Benamouzig R, Tomé D, Gaudichon C. Milk protein fractions moderately extend the duration of satiety compared with carbohydrates independently of their digestive kinetics in overweight subjects. Br J Nutr. 2014 Aug;112(4):557-64.

Weights works for ladies, too! Really!

I am not sure if you remember it, but youve read about what I would like to refer to as the "proximity hypothesis" before, here at the SuppVersity.

The basic idea behind is eventually similar to the notion of "localized fat loss", yet on the micro- not the macro-scale. In other words, instead of "do sit-ups to burn abdominal fat" the no-bro-science-variety of the "proximity hypothesis" says: "Train your legs to empty the huge intra-muscular fat stores and have them refilled from the abdominal fat."

Probably you will already have realized that this is "proximity" as in "right next to the skeletal muscle mitochondria" and not "proximity" as "a fat depot next to the muscle your train".

SuppVersity Suggested Read: " Spot Reduce Abdominal Fat With Green Tea, Green Clay & Magnesium Sulfate Soaked "Plaster Body Wrap"... Really!?" | read more

As S.O. Shepherd and his colleagues from the Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Birmingham and the University of Stirling point out, it has long been speculated that part of the improvements in insulin sensitivity following endurance training

"[...] are mechanistically linked to increases in muscle oxidative capacity, intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG) utilization during endurance exercise and increases in the content of the lipid droplet-associated perilipin-2 (PLIN2) and PLIN5." (Shepherd. 2014)

These lipid droplet-associated proteins (or short PLINs) coat the lipid droplets in fat and other cells and protect them from lipases of which you, as a SuppVersity reader know that they are enzymes our body uses to break down and "free" stored body fat - a process scientists usually refer to as "lipolysis".

An increase in perilipin in the musculature will thus necessarily increase the storage of lipid droplets in the muscle; and since it does not affect fat storage in the adipose organ and in view of the fact that the fat must come from somewhere (nutrition, endogenous fatty acid production from glucose, or stored body fat) this is not a bad thing.

More fat in the muscle? Thats bad, right?

Its thus not shocking to have a "high" amount of fat in the muscle, as long as it is deposited there as a fat reserves for the mitochondria and serves as an alternative, additional or auxiliary, astonishingly readily available energy source for the muscle. A "range extender" with profound beneficial effects on muscular endurance.

Figure 1: Changes in heart rate VO2max, carbohydrate + fat oxidation, and respiratory exchange ratio (left); blood glucose + insulin levels after an oral glucose tolerance test before and after RT intervention (Shepherd. 2014)

Any marathon runner, ironman or -woman and even pharmaceutically enhanced Tour de France drivers would thus be happy if they experienced a similar increase in intramuscular triglyceride stores (IMGT) as the thirteen sedentary males (20±1 years, 24.8±0.8 kg/m²) in the study at hand.

The guys had perfoemed a 6-weeks whole-body resistance training program (3 sessione per week) in the course of which Shepherd et al. observed not just the previously mentioned increases in IMTG, and PLIN2 and PLIN5 protein content, but also highly significant increases in intramuscular fat breakdown during "light" cardio training (65% VO2max; +43% in slow-twitch type I and +37% in fast-twitch type II fibers).
References:

• Geirsdottir, Olof Gudny, et al. "Physical function predicts improvement in quality of life in elderly Icelanders after 12 weeks of resistance exercise." The journal of nutrition, health & aging 16.1 (2012): 62-66.
• OConnell, Matthew DL, et al. "Do the effects of testosterone on muscle strength, physical function, body composition, and quality of life persist six months after treatment in intermediate-frail and frail elderly men?." Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 96.2 (2010): 454-458.
• Rizzoli, René, et al. "Quality of life in sarcopenia and frailty." Calcified tissue international 93.2 (2013): 101-120. 
• Shepherd, Sam O., et al. "Resistance training increases skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and net intramuscular triglyceride breakdown in type I and II fibres of sedentary males." Experimental Physiology (2014).
• Silva, Neto LS, et al. "Association between sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, muscle strength and quality of life variables in elderly women." Revista brasileira de fisioterapia (Sao Carlos (Sao Paulo, Brazil)) 16.5 (2011): 360-367.