Government Is Bad For Your Health
Dr. Malcolm Kenrick and Dr. Duane Graveline clear up some of the crap we've been all fed by the government:
According to the U.S. Government's latest guidelines, one egg per day does not result in increased blood cholesterol levels. Nor does it increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in normal people.What it might have said is that 12 eggs per day will not increase your blood cholesterol or have a significant impact on cardiovascular risk. And the government could say this about many other cholesterol containing foodstuffs such as whole milk and butter.
Four decades ago when the U.S. Government abruptly placed eggs, butter and whole milk on the restricted list, doctors began to counsel patients likewise and warned about the evils of these farm products.
...Now after years of researching the true purpose of cholesterol and the terrible consequences of statin use to lower cholesterol we have discovered that cholesterol is not the cause of cardiovascular disease. It has never truly been Public Health Enemy #1.
Foods containing cholesterol don't raise blood cholesterol for several reasons. The main one is that our bodies, like the bodies of all living creatures, are capable of an amazing thing called homeostasis. Namely, keeping the level of things that are important e.g. temperature or potassium levels, at a constant level. No matter what you do on the outside, things remain calm and in control on the inside.
If your body couldn't do this, you would die in about two seconds flat. Looking at cholesterol, our livers synthesize around five times as much cholesterol as you are ever likely to eat in your diet. If you eat less cholesterol, your liver will synthesize more (of this vital substance). If you eat more cholesterol, you liver will synthesize less. This is homeostasis in action.
Quite how much cholesterol you would need to eat to overwhelm your homeostatic system is unknown. Nobody has managed to do it yet. People fed up to ten eggs a day kept their 'cholesterol levels' constant; something first proven by Ancel Keys - ironically the man who almost single handedly created the diet-heart/cholesterol hypothesis in the 1950s.
...Cholesterol is perhaps the most important biochemical in our bodies. The true cause of heart attacks and strokes is a form of inflammation. For the past 40 years our dietary guidelines have been wrong. Is anyone coming out with an apology for all this - some words from our national leadership? Don't hold your breath while you are waiting.
Can he say this so definitively about inflammation? I don't know.
Dr. Eades explains inflammation here:
Overeating leads to the fat accumulation that stimulates the chronic inflammation, but simply eating does it as well. Eating is an inflammatory process. A number of scientific studies have shown that eating a meal, regardless of the macronutrient composition, causes acute inflammation, which makes sense when you think about it. Food coming into the body is a foreign substance that fires up the innate immune system - but it does so briefly until the food is digested and the various fats, proteins and carbohydrates are broken down into their basic units and absorbed into the blood stream. (Although it might seem strange that food that we absolutely need to live could cause inflammatory problems, it makes sense when you realize that the very oxygen we breathe and that we would be dead in about four minutes without is slowly killing us also.) When the average American noshes along throughout the day snacking on first this then that the inflammatory response becomes chronic.Over the past couple of decades just two of dietary changes - eating more and eating more often--have led to a state of chronic inflammation. The changes in diet composition have had an additive effect as well. Numerous studies have shown that while carbohydrates in general cause more of an inflammatory response than other macronutrients, fructose specifically causes the most rapid and intense inflammatory response of all. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils of the omega-6 variety (the majority) are inflammatory, trans fats (all of which start out as vegetable oils) are the worst, and most of the fat of animal, fish and dairy origin are actually anti-inflammatory. Sadly, we've been busy replacing the latter with the former. We find ourselves as a nation in the situation where most of our population is overfed the wrong kinds of food all too often with resulting high rates of obesity and chronic inflammation.
via @DrEades
I have given up my favorite food group (ice cream, popsicles and candy) after reading Gary Taubes and Dr. Eades (Thanks Amy). I have had a blood sugar problem for years, obviously, but now it is under control thanks to when the student is ready and as "luck" would have it - Gary Taubes. My doctor is finally off the stomach surgery push.
However, my doctor is still on the cholestrol kick. This week I received my blood work results (insurance company wants me checked every three months). Blood sugar and HbA1C normal. However, with cholesterol at 232 the doctor included a prescription for Zetia with note "Cholesterol is elevated possibly from all the meat and cheese. Add Zetia to your treatment." He forgot I do not do well with these cholesterol drugs, and like the stomach surgery requests, probably not necessary nor beneficial.
Dave B at February 20, 2011 9:03 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/02/20/government_is_b.html#comment-1847721">comment from Dave BThis isn't my area of expertise -- I just try to quote people who I see are good on the science -- but it seems likely from what I've read that cholesterol is actually protective. Mine is high as well. What seems to matter, per Eades and others, is that your triglycerides are low and your LDL particles are large and fluffy as opposed to small and dense.
Getting your coronary calcium levels measured to see if there's blockage and how much seems important also, per Eades, but with the scanner that doesn't have radiation (not the CT scanner). He has a clinic he sends people to in Santa Barbara that has the non-rad scanner.
Amy Alkon
at February 20, 2011 9:28 AM
The article was very interesting and I do think that inflammation is a leading factor in strokes and heart disease. However, when I clicked inflammation in your article, cholesterol was cited as a factor leading to inflammation.
When I've tried a low carb diet, I felt as though I was suffering daily.
I tried eating a Mediterranean type diet and felt great! Lots of fruit, veggies, "good fats", nuts, and fish. I had energy, my joints felt great, and I lost weight.
I suppose I will stick with my cholesterol reducing drugs for the time being, for I am the poster who suffered her first stroke at the age of 38 at 5'6" and 128 lbs. They did find that I have an autoimmune disorder that leads to inflammation, but have never been able to connect all the dots and blame my autoimmune system for my series of strokes.
Jen at February 20, 2011 11:22 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/02/20/government_is_b.html#comment-1847813">comment from JenThere's frequently a period of withdrawal symptoms from carbs, Jen, and Taubes suggests drinking salted chicken broth daily to combat it ("the Atkins flu," it's called).
You also need to be sure you're eating enough fat when you eat low-carb. The lean meat brigade is ridiculous.
Amy Alkon
at February 20, 2011 11:24 AM
The Mediterrean diet definitely a low-carb diet compared to most of what's out there! If you can reap 100% of the benefits of eating a complete Taubes-style diet, shouldn't you be able to reap 75% (or whatever number) by eating a modified version? It seems to me like this would be more realistic for most people, rather than making it an all-or-nothing decision.
Shannon at February 20, 2011 8:16 PM
The Mediterrean diet definitely a low-carb diet compared to most of what's out there! If you can reap 100% of the benefits of eating a complete Taubes-style diet, shouldn't you be able to reap 75% (or whatever number) by eating a modified version? It seems to me like this would be more realistic for most people, rather than making it an all-or-nothing decision.
Shannon at February 20, 2011 8:18 PM
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