Fatty Foods May Not Be That Bad For Your Heart
The saturated fat found mainly in meat and dairy products has a bad reputation, but a new analysis of published studies finds no clear link between people’s intake of saturated fat and their risk of developing heat disease, according to a new headline at MSNBC.
Research has shown that saturated fat can raise blood levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and elevated LDL is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Because of this, experts generally advise people to limit their intake of fatty meat, butter and full-fat dairy. But this poor advice is a result of oversimplification as I have written many times on this blog. There is very little evidence that high cholesterol actually results in heart disease. In fact, those with normal cholesterol according to the figures at the National Cholesterol Education Program, tend to have more heart attacks. Moreover, it is impossible to tell merely from the LDL number, that it is in fact, “bad.” Two people can have the same number yet one of them is healthy and the other is not. One must look at the individual particles to determine risk.
Despite this, the American Heart Association (AHA) suggests that adults get no more than 7 percent of their daily calories from the fat; for someone who eats 2,000 calories a day, that translates into fewer than 16 grams of saturated fat per day. This is one suggestion that I will gladly continue to ignore.
The new analysis combined the results of 21 previous studies and researchers found no clear evidence that higher saturated fat intakes led to higher risks of heart disease or stroke. They published these findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“No one is saying that some saturated fat is going to harm you … people should enjoy their food,” said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. But, he pointed out, many studies have shown that dietary saturated fat can raise people’s cholesterol, and the new analysis is not going to change recommendations to keep saturated fat intake in check.
That’s too bad. Rather than relying on the study, Dr Eckel should learn a little bit more about cholesterol before he makes such statements. If he did, then he would know that there is nothing to worry about just as the review of the studies makes clear. It never occurs to these geniuses that perhaps the combination of saturated fat and carbohydrates is really the problem and vilifying saturated fat does not help. Few can fathom a diet free of dietary carbohydrates but such a concept actually exists!
A number of studies have linked the so-called Western diet to greater heart disease risks; that diet pattern is defined as one high in red and processed meats and saturated fats — but also high in sweets and other refined carbohydrates like white bread. On the other hand, diets described as Mediterranean or “prudent” — generally high in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, unsaturated fats from vegetable oil — may help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
It’s that type of eating pattern that people should strive for, Eckel said.
And this is precisely why people continue to vilify saturated fat and preach the doctrine of vegetables and fruit, despite the high sugar content of these foods. The Western Diet may be “characterized” by many things but what is most important, is the aspect of the Western diet that is harmful. My diet is characterized as being high in saturated fat, yet I have normal cholesterol. It is devoid of sugar and sweets.
I would argue that this is the patten that people should strive for. Better yet, don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself for six weeks and go get your blood cholesterol checked. You will discover that your triglycerides will fall, your HDL will rise along with your LDL. However, your LDL will now by the healthy Patten A instead of the atherosclerotic Pattern B.
In: Diet, Heart Disease
Sugar!
1 Sugar cube = approximately 5 mmol of blood sugar
According to the Wiki, the blood sugar concentration or blood glucose level is the amount of glucose (sugar) present in the blood of a human or animal. Normally, in mammals the body maintains the blood glucose level at a reference range between about 3.6 and 5.8 mM (mmol/L). It is tightly regulated as a part of metabolic homeostasis.
The mean normal blood glucose level in humans is about 5 mM (5 mmol/L or 90 mg/dL) (since the molecular weight of glucose, C6H12O6, is about 180 g/mol). However, the glucose level fluctuates during the day. It rises after meals for an hour or two by a few grams and is usually lowest in the morning, before the first meal of the day (termed “the fasting level”). The total amount of glucose normally in human blood is only about 3.3 to 7g (assuming an ordinary adult blood volume of 5 litres, plausible for an average adult male).
When a blood sugar level is outside the normal range, it may be an indicator of a medical condition. A persistently high level is referred to as hyperglycemia or if low as hypoglycemia. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by persistent hyperglycemia from any of several causes, and is the most prominent disease related to failure of blood sugar regulation. A temporary elevated blood sugar level may also result from severe stress, such as trauma, stroke, heart attack, or surgery; and also from illness. Alcohol, after an initial surge in blood sugar, tends to cause blood sugar to fall. Also, certain drugs can increase or decrease glucose levels.
Gum Disease Linked to Obesity
Whenever we see the words “linked to” or “associated with” we have to be careful. What the researchers are saying is that two manifestations have been observed together; however, they understand that one does not necessarily cause the other. However, it is fair to infer that perhaps that which actually does cause one manifestation may in fact cause the other either directly or indirectly.
Last week, I shared research that suggests that the same factor which contributes to gum disease could negatively affect a fetus. Even those fermentable carbohydrates assumed to be good for systemic health break down into simple sugars in the mouth and promote tooth decay. Carbohydrate consumption is also associated with spikes in blood sugar levels. There is fascinating evidence that suggests that the higher the glycemic level of a food, the more it will drop the acidity of dental plaque, and the higher it will raise blood sugar. So, possibly, dental decay may really be a marker for the chronic high-glycemic diets that lead to both dental decay and chronic systemic diseases. This puts a whole new light on studies that have linked dental diseases to such diverse illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer.
The correlations between dental diseases and systemic disease provide indirect support for those researchers who have suggested that Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer are due to an abnormal blood glucose metabolism.
Today, I discovered coverage of research from 2006. There, researchers from the University at Buffalo found that obesity is a significant predictor for periodontal disease, independent of age, gender, race, ethnicity, and smoking. This study was printed in a recent supplement to the Journal of Periodontology (JOP). A total of 12,367 non-diabetic individuals 20 to 90 years old participated in the dental section of the NHANES III study. Of these, 53 percent were men and 47 percent were women. Forty-three percent of all the individuals were overweight.
The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-94, was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of approximately 33,994 persons 2 months and over. The survey was designed to obtain nationally representative information on the health and nutritional status of the population of the United States through interviews and direct physical examinations. Physical examinations and objective measures are employed because the information collected cannot be furnished or is not available in a standardized manner through interviews with the people themselves or through records maintained by the health professionals who provide their medical care.
Some of the 30 topics investigated in the NHANES III were: high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, passive smoking, lung disease, osteoporosis, HIV, hepatitis, helicobacter pylori, immunization status, diabetes, allergies, growth and development, blood lead, anemia, food sufficiency, dietary intake-including fats, antioxidants, and nutritional blood measures.
An analysis of this national sample suggests that insulin resistance mediates the relationship between obesity and periodontal disease. It was found that the severity of periodontal attachment loss increased proportionally with increasing insulin resistance. In addition, the number of teeth lost increased significantly with increasing levels of insulin resistance. Individuals in the highest insulin resistance category lost 1.1 more teeth compared to individuals in the lowest category.
Robert J. Genco, vice provost at the University at Buffalo and editor of the JOP, along with his research team, recently showed that diabetics with periodontal disease may have greater mortality from diabetic complications such as cardiovascular disease and kidney complications than diabetics with little or no periodontal disease.
All of this provides further evidence that what is good for the teeth, is good for the body.
In: Diabetes, Diet, Sugar, Teeth
8 Secrets for All-Day Energy
The magazine, Prevention, recently published an article listing eight ideas for people to keep their energy levels up throughout the day. They sifted through the latest research on sleep, metabolism, stress, and chronobiology to identify the times when people are most vulnerable to fatigue — and, with expert help, devised a foolproof plan to help combat it. During the winter months, people tend to feel a lot more sluggish than at other times. Therefore, I decided to offer ZIOH’s take on these so-called “secrets.”
1. Wake up earlier rather than sleep in.
Do some activity with sun exposure, whether that is in front of the window or outside. Fresh air and sunlight have always been prescribed for doldrums. In fact, Stefansson wrote about it way back in the 1920s. Sailing ships did their best to provide sunlight and exercise for their crews yet they still suffered from scurvy. In the past, I have written about those who successfully wintered over in the Arctic. Lawyer and abolitionist Richard Henry Dana, Jr. wrote in 1840 about memoirs of life on a sailing ship, Two Years Before the Mast. He wrote:
“For sixteen months we lived upon almost nothing but fresh beef, fried beefsteaks, three times a day […] in perfect health, and without ailing and failings.”
We simply cannot understand what it was like to experience the terror of the frozen North, the dark for six months, the dreaded Arctic. Wintering over meant certain death for the majority of those who tried it. It was quite strange that people actually lived and thrived there. Despite the lack of sunlight, these people still managed to have energy throughout the day.
2. Limit Carbohydrate Consumption.
Although they can provide a burst of “quick burn” fuel, carbohydrates are an energy drain if you consume too many. Women who reduced the amount of carbohydrates in their diets and raised the amount of protein reported feeling more energetic in recent research done by Donald K. Layman, PhD, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois. Readers of this blog are well aware of what eliminating carbohydrates can do for a person. However, it’s hard to get our “experts” to acknowledge this. So when they do, there is always some catch:
“Keep your daily intake of healthy carbs below 150 g, best apportioned like this: five servings of vegetables; two servings of fruit; and three or four servings of starchy (preferably whole grain) carbohydrates such as bread, rice, pasta, and cereal.”
George Campbell’s research clearly demonstrated that keeping carbohydrates below 70 pounds of sugar, per person, per year would keep a person in top form and free of chronic disease. That means a person would need to limit carbohydrate intake to about 84 grams of carbohydrates per day. The experts’ recommendation of 150 is not good enough. When carbohydrates are this low, it is still enough to negatively affect blood sugar such that cravings will result. Cravings and hunger will derail any diet so therefore a person must get below the cravings threshold in order to be successful. Our diet does this quite easily, obviously. When we talk about 84 grams of carbohydrates per day, this seems to be a human tolerance level. Just because one can tolerate something does NOT mean that this is something a person should do. We would never tell a drug addict to exercise portion control so it baffles me why we tell those addicted to various sugars the same thing.
3. Drink Coffee Later in the day
I say, skip it. No one should need a stimulant to get through the day. Enough said.
4. Time your meals — Don’t graze all day.
I agree that one shouldn’t be a grazer, but timing meals? I disagree. With ZC, we eat when hungry, period. Because our blood sugar is stable, we only get hungry once or twice per day. Food is the last thing we have to worry about, as long as we’ve been to a store. If there is no food, it’s not very hard to go without until appropriate food is found. Doesn’t that sound more like humans should work? We’re not grazers. We only have one stomach.
5. Meditate for shorter periods of time.
Eat a proper diet and don’t worry about it. One shouldn’t have to schedule time for such meaningless activity. Go out and live life. Leave meditating to the monks and those with nothing better to do.
6. Skip the Power Nap – Take a Power Walk.
Again, when you get your blood sugar steady, you will not have the insulin spikes which send you to inappropriate highs and devastating lows. You will no longer feel the need to nap within an hour after eating. You can take a stroll if you want to. I rarely take the stairs. If there is an elevator or a moving sidewalk, you can best believe I’m on it. I will take stairs if I’m in a hurry, but that’s my choice. I certainly don’t worry about burning calories or any other nonsense.
7. Get pumped up before a workout. Skip the snack and listen to music instead.
I run half-marathons without the need for food or drink of any kind. I also don’t need music to distract me. One cannot run at their best with the distraction of music. Running well takes a very focused and powerful effort. Sure, many run well with music, but those runners would perform even better with a proper diet and less distractions. Something to think about.
8. Don’t use the computer right before bed. Watch television or read a book.
Whatever! The computer is usually the last thing I’m on prior to bed and I sleep just fine. I’m sure everyone’s mileage would vary concerning these “tips” but I found it amusing to read about these tips and contemplated myself on ZC. It’s nice to know I can skip all of these things and remain in perfect health.
In: Diet, Exercise, Running
Mother’s Gum Disease Linked to Infant’s Death
Scientists from Case Western University worked with a 35 year-old mother to investigate the loss of her baby. Earlier studies by these researchers showed that an oral bacteria called Fusobacterium nucleatum could spread from the bloodstream to the placenta in mice. The woman wanted to know if it was possible in humans. Bacteria from the mouth can easily get into the bloodstream once a woman’s gums are bleeding, explains the study’s lead author Yiping Han, an associate professor of periodontics and pathology at Case Western University. Generally, this type of bacteria can be easily combated by the immune system of the mom-to-be, whether mouse or human. But because of special conditions that exist in the womb, the fetus can be more susceptible, Han suspects.
The California woman told researchers that she had experienced heavy bleeding from her gums — a sign of gum disease — during her pregnancy. Bleeding gums aren’t unusual in pregnant women, with about 75 percent developing the condition due to normal hormonal changes. According to the conventional wisdom, mild gum disease can be treated simply by brushing and flossing more often. Pregnant women with more serious cases may need dental surgery. Usually, women’s uterine infections, which can harm a fetus, are thought to be caused by bacteria that work their way up from the vaginal canal, says Han. But the researchers detected a bacteria in the baby not typically found in the vaginal region. Plaque samples from the woman’s teeth were found to be positive for the exact same strain of the oral bacteria found in the dead baby’s stomach and lungs.
Dr. Phillippe P. Hujoel reviewed the relationships between diet, dental disease, and chronic systemic illness in a report published July 1 in the Journal of Dental Research. He weighed two contradictory viewpoints on the role of dietary carbohydrates in health and disease. The debate surrounds fermentable carbohydates: foods that turn into simple sugars in the mouth. Fermentable carbohydrates are not just sweets like cookies, doughnuts, cake and candy. They also include bananas and several tropical fruits, sticky fruits like raisins and other dried fruits, and starchy foods like potatoes, refined wheat flour, yams, rice, pasta, pretzels, bread, and corn.
One viewpoint is that certain fermentable carbohydrates are beneficial to general health and that the harmful dental consequences of such a diet should be managed by the tools found in the oral hygiene section of drugstores. A contrasting viewpoint suggests that fermentable carbohydrates are bad for both dental and general health, and that both dental and general health need to be maintained by restricting fermentable carbohydrates.
Sharp readers of this blog will quickly conclude that I tend to lean towards the latter view, of course. The first viewpoint is questionable because they’ve been providing this advice for years but it doesn’t seem to stem the tide of bad teeth in Western nations.
Over the past twenty years or so, Hujoel says, people have been advised to make fermentable dietary carbohydrates the foundation of their diet. Fats were considered the evil food. A high-carbohydrate diet was assumed to prevent a number of systemic chronic diseases. Unfortunately, such a diet – allegedly good for systemic health – was bad for dental health. As a result, cavities or gingival bleeding from fermentable carbohydrates could be avoided only – and not always successfully, as Hujoel points out — by conscientious brushing, fluorides, and other types of dental preventive measures. When these measures are not successful, people end up with cavities and gum disease.
Hujoel observed that the dental harms of fermentable carbohydrates have been recognized by what looks like every major health organization. Even those fermentable carbohydrates assumed to be good for systemic health break down into simple sugars in the mouth and promote tooth decay. All fermentable carbohydrates have the potential to induce dental decay, Hujoel notes.
So there seems to be no debate when it comes to the dentists, that restricting carbohydrates is a very good thing for the teeth. But what if fermentable carbohydrates are also bad for systemic health? Hujoel asks. What if dietary guidelines would start incorporating the slew of clinical trial results suggesting that a diet low in fermentable carbohydrates improves cardiovascular markers of disease and decreases body fat? Such a change in perspective on fermentable carbohydrates, and by extension, on people’s diets, could have a significant impact on the dental profession, as a diet higher in fat and protein does not cause dental diseases, he notes. Dentists would no longer be pressed to recommend to patients diets that are bad for teeth or remain mum when it comes to dietary advice. Dentists often have been reluctant, Hujoel says, to challenge the prevailing thinking on nutrition. Advising patients to reduce the amount or frequency of fermentable carbohydrate consumption is difficult when official guidelines suggested the opposite.
The close correlation between the biological mechanisms that cause dental decay and the factors responsible for high average levels of glucose in the blood is intriguing. Hujoel explains that eating sugar or fermentable carbohydrates drops the acidity levels of dental plaque and is considered an initiating cause of dental decay.
“Eating these same foods, he says, is also associated with spikes in blood sugar levels. There is fascinating evidence that suggests that the higher the glycemic level of a food, the more it will drop the acidity of dental plaque, and the higher it will raise blood sugar. So, possibly, dental decay may really be a marker for the chronic high-glycemic diets that lead to both dental decay and chronic systemic diseases. This puts a whole new light on studies that have linked dental diseases to such diverse illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer.”
The correlations between dental diseases and systemic disease, he adds, provide indirect support for those researchers who have suggested that Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer are due to an abnormal blood glucose metabolism.
The headline under discussion today stems from a study reported in the Journal for Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Hujoels work is published in the Journal of Dental Research. Given today’s climate of specialization, it’s entirely likely that the researchers and the mother who lost the child have no knowledge of the work of Dr. Hujoels team. The woman is unlikely to understand that her diet likely played the biggest cause in the infant’s death. Brushing and flossing is not at all a “preventive measure.” A preventive measure would be to tell people to stop eating foods that are bad for the body rather than sheepishly suggesting that they brush to counter the effects of poor nutrition. Many pregnant women have strong enough immune systems to ward off such a bacterial infection but I’ve written before how carbohydrates weaken the immune system.
This is the state of medicine in our country. We’re very good at treating manifestations of diseases but we are very poor when it comes to preventing these diseases because we are too afraid to face the obvious. Carbohydrates case disease of all kinds. They are cheap and tasty but they are also very deadly.
In: Diet, Immune System, Teeth
