Robert K. Su, MD interviewed with Dr. Uffe Ravnvskov, on the Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast show. Dr. Ravnvskov is an internist/nephrologists who has done lots of research in the roles of cholesterol in our health. He shared with us the reasons why treating cholesterol is unnecessary and harmful.
Read the full article here
Friday, November 4, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Fructose, Sunscreen, Statins and Flu Shots: a Recipe for Alzheimer's Disease.
Read the full article at SpaceDoc.com
========================================
by Stephanie Seneff
Senior Research Scientist at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Fructose, Sunscreen, Statins and Flu Shots: a Recipe for Alzheimer's Disease.
Alzheimer's is a dreaded diagnosis that immediately causes a patient to confront the frightening fact that the rest of their life will be defined by steadily eroding memory and cognitive function. Alzheimer's is alarmingly on the rise, and has been so for the past several decades. The cost to society, both financially and emotionally, is staggering.
Much research effort has been devoted to the search for a "cure" for
Alzheimer's, most of it predicated on the notion that the characteristic
amyloid-beta plaque and tau tangles are causative. Indeed, some drugs that
attack the plaque have made it to phase III clinical trials, and, although they
do indeed shrink the plaque, they unfortunately also accelerate the rate of
decline [1].
I think a better tactic is to look for a cause rather than a cure. Together with colleagues, I published a paper this year on a theory for the cause of Alzheimer's [2], which was based on the idea that a key contributor is insufficient cholesterol in the brain.
Indeed, a recent article has shown that serum levels of cholesterol as well as the ability to synthesize cholesterol are inversely associated with mental decline in the elderly [3]. Furthermore, another study directly comparing Alzheimer's patients with age-matched controls showed a reduced serum level of LDL in the Alzheimer's patients, with the more severe cases showing further reduction in LDL [6].
When you look back to the earliest stages of Alzheimer's, the principle
defect that is observed is an impairment in glucose metabolism in the brain [4].
Neurons ordinarily depend heavily on sugar as a fuel source, but sugar is toxic
to cells if it's not carefully managed.
The cells have developed a mechanism for controlling the entry of glucose to be restricted to certain "gates" - regions of the cell membrane called lipid rafts that are heavily enriched in cholesterol and sphingomyelin. When cells don't have sufficient cholesterol in their membranes, they have fewer lipid rafts, and this leads to defective glucose uptake, and therefore increased risk to glycation damage from the glucose.
The proteins in the cell get gummed up with sugar and can no longer perform their functions. Fructose is far more damaging than glucose, and fructose consumption has steadily increased in the last decades. In our paper, we described ways in which amyloid beta can actually pitch in to try to divert neurons to alternative fuel sources, in order to minimize the damage caused by wayward sugars.
Since writing that article, I have discovered some compounding factors that I think make the situation much worse. Essentially all cells in the body are surrounded by an exterior coat made up of complex molecules called "GAGs" - glycosaminoglycans.
These contain sugars, proteins, and a large population of attached ions,
particularly sulfate anions. These serve, I believe, an important role in
helping to safely break down sugar. Simply stated, the sulfur atom deflects the
reducing actions of sugars away from the vulnerable proteins.
The sulfate anions also provide a negative field around the cell, which is
very useful for keeping bacteria out, because bacteria are also negatively
charged, and hence repelled by the cell's negative electric field. So cells with
lots of surrounding sulfate are afforded protection from invasive bacteria.
If a bacterium does get in, the cell will have to release oxidizing agents to
kill it, and the cell itself will suffer damage from exposure to its own defense
system. The fats in the cell membrane are more vulnerable to oxidative damage
when there is insufficient cholesterol to protect them.
I now think that depletion of sulfate supply to the brain is another
important contributor to Alzheimer's, and I further think that sulfate is
supplied to the brain principally by sterol sulfates like cholesterol sulfate as
well as their derivatives like vitamin D3 sulfate.
Both cholesterol sulfate and vitamin D3 sulfate are synthesized in the skin
upon exposure to sunlight, and it is theorized that the skin is the major
supplier of these nutrients to the body [5]. This is why I believe that excess
sunscreen use and excess sun avoidance are another principal causative factor in
Alzheimer's disease.
Statin drugs interfere with cholesterol synthesis in the liver, but the
lipophilic statin drugs (like lovastatin and simvastatin) also interfere with
the synthesis of cholesterol in the brain. This would then directly impact the
neurons' ability to maintain adequate cholesterol in their membranes.
Indeed, a population-based study [7] showed that people who had ever taken
statins had an increased risk to Alzheimer's disease, a hazard ratio of 1.21.
More alarmingly, people who used to take statins had a hazard ratio of 2.54
(over two and a half times the risk to Alzheimer's) compared to people who never
took statins.
What I think is happening is that the doctor is taking the patient off the
statin drug once memory problems are noted, suspecting that the statin may be
causing the problem. But it may well be too late at that point to recover. In my
own studies on patient-provided drug side effect reports [8], I found a
statistically significant increase in the mention of words and phrases
associated with memory problems (p=0.011) in the statin drug reports compared to
age-matched reports on a variety of other drugs.
Finally, I want to talk about flu shots. The elderly are greatly encouraged
to renew their flu shots every single year, and I think this is another major
factor that is steadily increasing their risk to Alzheimer's disease. This is
mainly due to the aluminum contained in the flu shot.
It has been demonstrated without a doubt that aluminum in the water used in
dialysis fluid eventually leads to dementia in dialysis patients, if care is not
taken to extract all but trace amounts of aluminum from the water [9].
A very compelling article recently appeared on all the myriad dangers
associated with aluminum in vaccines, and aluminum penetration into the brain as
well as cognitive damage have both been well demonstrated in animal studies. The
aluminum in the Hepatitis B vaccine is a likely source of the association found
between this vaccine and autism [10], and I believe that the effects on the
infant's brain and those on the elderly person's brain are similar and equally
damaging.
The good news is that all of these factors are easy to correct, so the
individual can become empowered to lead a lifestyle that will minimize the
likelihood of having to face Alzheimer's as they age. The only challenge is to
convince yourself that the misguided advice widely espoused by the medical
establishment is dead wrong.
[1] Eli Lilly and Company, 2010 PR
Newswire, Lilly Halts Development of Semagacestat for Alzheimer's Disease Based
on Preliminary Results of Phase III Clinical Trials, August 17, 2010,
http://newsroom.lilly.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=499794 (accessed on
September 24, 2011).
[2] S. Seneff, G. Wainwright, and L.
Mascitelli, "Nutrition and Alzheimer's Disease: the Detrimental Role of a High
Carbohydrate Diet," European Journal of Internal Medicine 22(2):134-40, Apr
2011.
[3] R.S. Tilvis, J.N. Valvanne, T.E.
Strandberg and T.A. Miettinen, "Prognostic significance of serum cholesterol,
lathosterol, and sitosterol in old age; a 17-year population study," Annals of
Medicine, 2011; Early Online, 110
[4] E. Steen, B.M. Terry, E.J. Rivera et
al. "Impaired insulin and insulin-like growth factor expression and signaling
mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease-is this type 3 diabetes?" J Alzheimer's Dis
2005;7:63-80.
[5] C.A. Strott, "Cholesterol Sulfate In
Human Physiology: What's It All About?" J Lipid Res 44, 1268-1278,
2003.
[6] P. Presecki, D. Mückseler, N. Mimica,
et al., "Serum Lipid Levels in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease," Coll.
Antropol. 35 Suppl. 1: 115120, 2011.
[7] T.D. Rea, J.C. Breitner, B.M. Psaty
et al., "Statin Use and the Risk of Incident Dementia: The Cardiovascular Health
Study," Arch Neurol. 62, 2005
[8] J. Liu, A. Li and S. Seneff,
"Automatic Drug Side Effect Discovery from Online Patient- Submitted Reviews:
Focus on Statin Drugs," Proc. IMMM, Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 2011.
[9] M.R. Wills and J. Savory, "Water
Content of Aluminum, Dialysis Dementia, and Os- teomalacia" Environmental Health
Perspectives 63:141-147, 1985.
[10] Gallagher OM and Goodman MS,
"Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002."
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2010; 73(24):1665-77.
October 2011
==========================================
See also Stephanie's health blog here.
========================================
A Recipe for Alzheimer's Disease
by Stephanie Seneff
Senior Research Scientist at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Fructose, Sunscreen, Statins and Flu Shots: a Recipe for Alzheimer's Disease.
Alzheimer's is a dreaded diagnosis that immediately causes a patient to confront the frightening fact that the rest of their life will be defined by steadily eroding memory and cognitive function. Alzheimer's is alarmingly on the rise, and has been so for the past several decades. The cost to society, both financially and emotionally, is staggering.
I think a better tactic is to look for a cause rather than a cure. Together with colleagues, I published a paper this year on a theory for the cause of Alzheimer's [2], which was based on the idea that a key contributor is insufficient cholesterol in the brain.
Indeed, a recent article has shown that serum levels of cholesterol as well as the ability to synthesize cholesterol are inversely associated with mental decline in the elderly [3]. Furthermore, another study directly comparing Alzheimer's patients with age-matched controls showed a reduced serum level of LDL in the Alzheimer's patients, with the more severe cases showing further reduction in LDL [6].
The cells have developed a mechanism for controlling the entry of glucose to be restricted to certain "gates" - regions of the cell membrane called lipid rafts that are heavily enriched in cholesterol and sphingomyelin. When cells don't have sufficient cholesterol in their membranes, they have fewer lipid rafts, and this leads to defective glucose uptake, and therefore increased risk to glycation damage from the glucose.
The proteins in the cell get gummed up with sugar and can no longer perform their functions. Fructose is far more damaging than glucose, and fructose consumption has steadily increased in the last decades. In our paper, we described ways in which amyloid beta can actually pitch in to try to divert neurons to alternative fuel sources, in order to minimize the damage caused by wayward sugars.
Since writing that article, I have discovered some compounding factors that I think make the situation much worse. Essentially all cells in the body are surrounded by an exterior coat made up of complex molecules called "GAGs" - glycosaminoglycans.
Stephanie Seneff is a Senior
Research Scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory.
Website at MIT: people.csail.mit.edu/seneff
Blog: stephanie-on-health.blogspot.com
ReferencesWebsite at MIT: people.csail.mit.edu/seneff
Blog: stephanie-on-health.blogspot.com
==========================================
See also Stephanie's health blog here.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Why small LDL particles are the #1 cause of heart disease in the US
Why small LDL particles are the #1 cause of heart disease in the US
September 15, 2011
Ask your doctor: What is the #1 cause of heart disease in the US?
Let’s put aside smoking, since it is an eminently modifiable risk and none of those crazies read this blog anyway. What will your doctor say? Most like he or she will respond:
High cholesterol or high LDL cholesterol
Too much saturated fat
Obesity
Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca and their kind would be overjoyed to know that they can add your doctor to their eager following.
I’d tell you something different. I would tell you that small LDL particles are, by far and away, the #1 cause for heart disease. I base this claim on several observations:
–Having run over 10,000 lipoprotein panels (mostly NMR) over the past 15 years, it is a rare person who does not have a moderate, if not severe, excess of small LDL particles. 50%, 70%, even 90% or more small LDL particles are not rare. Over the course of a year, the only people who show no small LDL particles are slender, athletic, pre-menopausal females.
–In studies in which lipoproteins have been quantified in people with coronary disease, small LDL particles dominate, just as they do in my office. Here’s a 2006 review.
–Small LDL is largely the province of people who consume carbohydrates, such as the American population instructed to “cut fat and eat more healthy whole grains.” Conventional diet advice has therefore triggered an expllosion in small LDL particles.
–When fasting triglycerides exceed 60 mg/dl, small LDL particles increase as a proportion of total LDL particles. This includes the majority of the US population. (This ignores postprandial, or after-eating, triglycerides, which also contribute to small LDL formation.)
If you were to read the data, however, you might conclude that small LDL affects a minority of people. This is because in most studies small LDL categorize it as either “pattern B,” meaning exceeding some arbitrary threshold of percentage of small LDL particles, versus “pattern A,” meaning falling below that same arbitrary threshold.
Problem: There is no consensus on what percentage of small LDL particles should mark the cutoff between pattern A vs. pattern B. In many studies, for instance, people with 50% small LDL particles are called “pattern A.”
If, instead, we were to set the bar lower to identify this highly atherogenic (atherosclerotic plaque-causing) particle at, say, 20-30% of total, then the number or percentage of people with “pattern B” small LDL particles would go much higher.
I see this play out in my office and in the online program, Track Your Plaque, every day: At the start eating a low-fat, grain-filled diet with lots of visceral fat (“wheat belly”) to start, they add back fat and cut out all wheat and limit carbohydrates. Small LDL particles plummet
Saturday, October 1, 2011
The David Korech of Medicine?
Tom Naughton's critical review of a critical review that must have been so off base, mis-leading, false etc. that the powers that be have removed it from the shelves.
=====================================================
=====================================================
The Long Knives Are Out For ‘Wheat Belly’
from Fat Head
Look as if the grain-industry people have been trolling the internet
attempting to trash Wheat Belly, the outstanding new book
by Dr. William Davis. How else do you explain an Amazon review written under
the title The David Korech of Medicine. Notice that the
review doesn’t dispute any of the facts or science presented in Wheat
Belly:
The author has no credentials, no credibility, just a small cult of terriby misinformed followers. Don’t be fooled by the high volume screech against wheat and grains.
I have to admit, it didn’t occur to me when I recommended Wheat Belly that Dr. Davis has no credentials. I assumed being a doctor who’s seen the benefits of a wheat-free diet in thousands of his own patients counted for something. I also figured that after poring over hundreds of studies on wheat’s health effects and thoroughly researching the history and genetic structure of wheat, Dr. Davis was qualified to write on the topic.
Allegations of “secret ingredients in wheat” to make you eat more, or comparisons to cigerettes. Seriously?!
Apparently the wheat lobby doesn’t require its job applicants to pass a spelling test. Are cigerettes similar to cigarettes?
Dr. Davis never claimed there are secret ingredients in wheat. He didn’t (as far as I know) don a Ninja costume or disguise himself as a plumber and break into the headquarters of Wheat , Inc. to pilfer documents. He simply described, based on published documents, how wheat has been modified during the past 50 years.
For over 8000 years wheat has sustained and grown human kind …
Eight-thousand years ago, humans (some of them, anyway) consumed Einkorn wheat. The main similarity between Einkorn wheat and today’s mutant wheat is they’re both called “wheat.” We also call both Thomas Jefferson and Adolph Hitler “humans,” but they produced rather different effects on other humans. What we ate 8,000 years ago has nothing to with the health consequences of eating a highly modified variety of wheat that’s only been around for the past 50 years.
And wheat didn’t “grow” humankind. Wheat shrunk humankind.
… oh and it tastes good when mixed with a little water and yeast.
That explains why nearly every brand of bread includes high fructose corn syrup high on the list of ingredients.
Every nutritionist and serious medical professional will tell you that bread is the most economical and safe source of essential nutrients.
Every one, seriously? That’s odd … I seem to recall a lot of conversations and interviews with nutritionists and medical professionals who agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Davis — who, despite having a good sense of humor, is a serious medical professional. So serious that he wrote a book about wheat.
In fact, bread is handed out in natural disasters because it sustains life without food safety issues or requiring refrigeration.
Tell ya what: if I’m ever starving because a tornado wiped out all the refrigerators within a 50-mile radius, I’ll eat some of the bread FEMA hands out. But the fact that bread doesn’t require refrigeration doesn’t in any way prove it’s good for us. Coca-Cola and heroin don’t require refrigeration either.
And now, suddenly it will kill you. Comical!
No, today’s mutant wheat doesn’t kill you suddenly. It’s more like slow torture.
This book is such a bone headed, misinformed way to just scare people into not eating.
Now wait a minute, Buster! Dr. Davis is 100% in favor of people eating. He just doesn’t want them eating a mutant grain product that will make them fat and sick.
As for secret ingredients, humm, apparently the author is ignorant of the food laws that regulate everything that goes into food and on food labels. Unlike some enforcement agencies, the FDA has some serious teeth behind its enforcement.
Well, that certainly negates all the studies demonstrating the negative effects of wheat that Dr. Davis cited in Wheat Belly. If the USDA and FDA are on the beat, mutant wheat (which is heavily subsidized by the same government that funds the USDA and FDA) simply has to be safe. That’s why they conducted all those tests on the stuff to make sure it wouldn’t cause any … no, wait a minute. Nobody ever conducted tests on mutant wheat to see if it’s fit for human consumption. Okay then, we’ll just have faith the USDA and FDA can tell if a food product is safe by looking at it. That works for me.
As for frankenwheat, again seriously?! Wheat, due to its ubiquitous presence in the world is treated as sacrosant from any GMO research or development.
I see. So when wheat went from being a wispy plant that couldn’t be harvested until it was five feet tall to a short, stubby little plant that’s harvested when it’s two feet tall — all in just the past 50 years – that was a natural mutation, was it? Boy, evolution works really, really fast. I wonder what all those plant geneticists on the Monsanto payroll are doing all day. They’re probably just sitting around, playing poker and thinking, “Geez, I wish they’d let us develop some kind of hybridized new seeds that the company could patent and then force farmers to buy by threatening to sue them if some of those seeds blow onto their farms and start growing even if the farmers didn’t want the seeds in the first place.”
If you need real, science based information on healthy eating, check out [...] and leave this book and its cult in the compound.
I’ll try to read [...], but when I searched for […] on Amazon, all that came up was a kids’ book titled “Dot and Dash play Dot-Dot-Dot.”
I was hoping the grain lobby wouldn’t find out about our cult. For those of you who haven’t been recruited yet, we have a secret handshake that requires a lot of flexibility in the fingers — that keeps out the grain-lobby infiltrators who are suffering from wheat-induced arthritis. At our meetings, Dr. Davis sacrifices a goat and then we all spend hours enjoying ritual dancing around a bonfire on our pain-free legs. Sometimes we even dance naked. It’s not a sexual thing, you understand … we just like showing off our rash-free skins.
I’m sure this campaign by the grain industry will succeed. Any day now, Dr. Davis will have a conversation with a patient something like this:
“So how do feel after being wheat-free for the past two months?”
“Well, Dr. Davis, I lost 25 pounds, my psoriasis cleared up, my arthritis went away, I’m sleeping better, I’m not depressed anymore, I think more clearly, and I stopped wheezing.”
“Excellent! So you’ll continue avoiding wheat?”
“Of course not.”
“But—“
“Wheat has sustaining humans for 8,000 years, Dr. Davis, so it has to be good for us. Besides, I don’t want to end up spending all day the airport banging on a tambourine and selling flowers to passengers.”
“But I never asked you to– why are you sticking your fingers in your ears?”
“What?”
“I said, WHY ARE YOU STICKING YOUR FINGERS IN YOUR EARS?”
“My de-programmers told me not to listen to you.”
The author has no credentials, no credibility, just a small cult of terriby misinformed followers. Don’t be fooled by the high volume screech against wheat and grains.
I have to admit, it didn’t occur to me when I recommended Wheat Belly that Dr. Davis has no credentials. I assumed being a doctor who’s seen the benefits of a wheat-free diet in thousands of his own patients counted for something. I also figured that after poring over hundreds of studies on wheat’s health effects and thoroughly researching the history and genetic structure of wheat, Dr. Davis was qualified to write on the topic.
Allegations of “secret ingredients in wheat” to make you eat more, or comparisons to cigerettes. Seriously?!
Apparently the wheat lobby doesn’t require its job applicants to pass a spelling test. Are cigerettes similar to cigarettes?
Dr. Davis never claimed there are secret ingredients in wheat. He didn’t (as far as I know) don a Ninja costume or disguise himself as a plumber and break into the headquarters of Wheat , Inc. to pilfer documents. He simply described, based on published documents, how wheat has been modified during the past 50 years.
For over 8000 years wheat has sustained and grown human kind …
Eight-thousand years ago, humans (some of them, anyway) consumed Einkorn wheat. The main similarity between Einkorn wheat and today’s mutant wheat is they’re both called “wheat.” We also call both Thomas Jefferson and Adolph Hitler “humans,” but they produced rather different effects on other humans. What we ate 8,000 years ago has nothing to with the health consequences of eating a highly modified variety of wheat that’s only been around for the past 50 years.
And wheat didn’t “grow” humankind. Wheat shrunk humankind.
… oh and it tastes good when mixed with a little water and yeast.
That explains why nearly every brand of bread includes high fructose corn syrup high on the list of ingredients.
Every nutritionist and serious medical professional will tell you that bread is the most economical and safe source of essential nutrients.
Every one, seriously? That’s odd … I seem to recall a lot of conversations and interviews with nutritionists and medical professionals who agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Davis — who, despite having a good sense of humor, is a serious medical professional. So serious that he wrote a book about wheat.
In fact, bread is handed out in natural disasters because it sustains life without food safety issues or requiring refrigeration.
Tell ya what: if I’m ever starving because a tornado wiped out all the refrigerators within a 50-mile radius, I’ll eat some of the bread FEMA hands out. But the fact that bread doesn’t require refrigeration doesn’t in any way prove it’s good for us. Coca-Cola and heroin don’t require refrigeration either.
And now, suddenly it will kill you. Comical!
No, today’s mutant wheat doesn’t kill you suddenly. It’s more like slow torture.
This book is such a bone headed, misinformed way to just scare people into not eating.
Now wait a minute, Buster! Dr. Davis is 100% in favor of people eating. He just doesn’t want them eating a mutant grain product that will make them fat and sick.
As for secret ingredients, humm, apparently the author is ignorant of the food laws that regulate everything that goes into food and on food labels. Unlike some enforcement agencies, the FDA has some serious teeth behind its enforcement.
Well, that certainly negates all the studies demonstrating the negative effects of wheat that Dr. Davis cited in Wheat Belly. If the USDA and FDA are on the beat, mutant wheat (which is heavily subsidized by the same government that funds the USDA and FDA) simply has to be safe. That’s why they conducted all those tests on the stuff to make sure it wouldn’t cause any … no, wait a minute. Nobody ever conducted tests on mutant wheat to see if it’s fit for human consumption. Okay then, we’ll just have faith the USDA and FDA can tell if a food product is safe by looking at it. That works for me.
As for frankenwheat, again seriously?! Wheat, due to its ubiquitous presence in the world is treated as sacrosant from any GMO research or development.
I see. So when wheat went from being a wispy plant that couldn’t be harvested until it was five feet tall to a short, stubby little plant that’s harvested when it’s two feet tall — all in just the past 50 years – that was a natural mutation, was it? Boy, evolution works really, really fast. I wonder what all those plant geneticists on the Monsanto payroll are doing all day. They’re probably just sitting around, playing poker and thinking, “Geez, I wish they’d let us develop some kind of hybridized new seeds that the company could patent and then force farmers to buy by threatening to sue them if some of those seeds blow onto their farms and start growing even if the farmers didn’t want the seeds in the first place.”
If you need real, science based information on healthy eating, check out [...] and leave this book and its cult in the compound.
I’ll try to read [...], but when I searched for […] on Amazon, all that came up was a kids’ book titled “Dot and Dash play Dot-Dot-Dot.”
I was hoping the grain lobby wouldn’t find out about our cult. For those of you who haven’t been recruited yet, we have a secret handshake that requires a lot of flexibility in the fingers — that keeps out the grain-lobby infiltrators who are suffering from wheat-induced arthritis. At our meetings, Dr. Davis sacrifices a goat and then we all spend hours enjoying ritual dancing around a bonfire on our pain-free legs. Sometimes we even dance naked. It’s not a sexual thing, you understand … we just like showing off our rash-free skins.
I’m sure this campaign by the grain industry will succeed. Any day now, Dr. Davis will have a conversation with a patient something like this:
“So how do feel after being wheat-free for the past two months?”
“Well, Dr. Davis, I lost 25 pounds, my psoriasis cleared up, my arthritis went away, I’m sleeping better, I’m not depressed anymore, I think more clearly, and I stopped wheezing.”
“Excellent! So you’ll continue avoiding wheat?”
“Of course not.”
“But—“
“Wheat has sustaining humans for 8,000 years, Dr. Davis, so it has to be good for us. Besides, I don’t want to end up spending all day the airport banging on a tambourine and selling flowers to passengers.”
“But I never asked you to– why are you sticking your fingers in your ears?”
“What?”
“I said, WHY ARE YOU STICKING YOUR FINGERS IN YOUR EARS?”
“My de-programmers told me not to listen to you.”
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
My cardiologist says.....
In answer to a question about cholesterol.
Q - I'm ... confused about getting cholesterol numbers down. In my reading I've discovered that there is a "cholesterol myth" - Uffe Ravnskov, Gary Taubes, etc. that says that cholesterol does not cause heart disease. Why am I trying to get these numbers if cholesterol does not cause heart disease? I cannot take statins so I'm concerned about this subject.
A - That's right: The issue is not cholesterol, nor was it ever cholesterol.
The issue is the kinds, numbers, and behavior of the complex particles in the blood that can contribute to atherogenesis, i.e, atherosclerotic plaque formation. They contain cholesterol, but the cholesterol component is not the crucial causal factor. These are, of course, lipoproteins.
Small LDL particles, for instance, have a unique conformation that makes the lysine residues on the resident apo B molecule more prone to glycation. Glycated small LDL particles are more prone to oxidation. The resultant glycoxidated small LDL molecule, in turn, is more readily able to cross intercellular barriers, is more adherent to the components of plaque, are poorly recognized by the liver receptor for LDL particles and thereby "lives" in the bloodstream much longer than larger LDL particles, and are avidly taken up by inflammatory cells.
So viewing this as a "cholesterol" problem is an incredible oversimplification that tends to focus on the wrongs things, such as statin drugs alone to "reduce cholesterol."
here
Q - I'm ... confused about getting cholesterol numbers down. In my reading I've discovered that there is a "cholesterol myth" - Uffe Ravnskov, Gary Taubes, etc. that says that cholesterol does not cause heart disease. Why am I trying to get these numbers if cholesterol does not cause heart disease? I cannot take statins so I'm concerned about this subject.
A - That's right: The issue is not cholesterol, nor was it ever cholesterol.
The issue is the kinds, numbers, and behavior of the complex particles in the blood that can contribute to atherogenesis, i.e, atherosclerotic plaque formation. They contain cholesterol, but the cholesterol component is not the crucial causal factor. These are, of course, lipoproteins.
Small LDL particles, for instance, have a unique conformation that makes the lysine residues on the resident apo B molecule more prone to glycation. Glycated small LDL particles are more prone to oxidation. The resultant glycoxidated small LDL molecule, in turn, is more readily able to cross intercellular barriers, is more adherent to the components of plaque, are poorly recognized by the liver receptor for LDL particles and thereby "lives" in the bloodstream much longer than larger LDL particles, and are avidly taken up by inflammatory cells.
So viewing this as a "cholesterol" problem is an incredible oversimplification that tends to focus on the wrongs things, such as statin drugs alone to "reduce cholesterol."
here
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Dr. Michael R. Eades endorses Wheat Belly
"Wheat Belly hit the New York Times Bestseller list shortly after it came out (and has been there for two weeks now), which I can tell you from experience, is not an easy thing to do. As a result (because being on the NY Times list means a book has had big sales numbers), the wheat producers have not taken their hits lying down. They’re fighting back with full venom, because a book like this one can do them serious economic damage."
Read Dr. Michael R. Eades complete review here.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
HeartHawk examines the Scientific Advisory Board of the Grain Foods Foundation
The "Big-Wheat" Empire Strikes Back: Attack Begins on Dr. Davis and Wheat Belly
The Grain Foods Foundation, Wheat Foods Council, Go with the Grain,
GrainPower, SixServings, you know them by many names but they all have one
goal. To fatten you you up with wheat before the slaughter - by your
own bagel-laden hand - while making a buck in the process.
This collection of dubious organizations has recently gone after Dr. William R. Davis and his new book "Wheat Belly" in what I believe will be a vain attempt to discredit him before the truth gets out. A truth that could cost them billions of dollars. Judging by the overwhelming online response and support of Doc Davis they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Here is the link.
http://www.sixservings.org/2011/08/500/
After reading it I though I would do a quick investigation into their so-called "Scientific Advisory Board." It ain't pretty. This is what passes for independent scientific advice? Yikes!
Glenn Gaesser, PhD: Author of "Big Fat Lies" a book that promotes the concept that actual weight (how fat you are) is not as important as (surprise) dietary fat. Not surprisingly, the book recommends a diet of complex carbohydrates. Most humorously, it rails against the so-called "experts" who produce healthy weight/height charts. Gee, isn't it the Grain Foods Council who admonishes us to believe the "experts?"
James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD: This disclosure gem is precious. "Served as an advisor or consultant for: sanofi-aventis; LifeScan, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.; Abbott Diabetes Care; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; Served as a speaker or a member of a speakers bureau for: Novo Nordisk; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; sanofi-aventis: Owns stock, stock options, or bonds from: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Served as member of the Board of Directors for: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc." Care to guess on what ALL the above drug companies have in common? Surprise, surprise, surprise, they make diabetes drugs! LifeScan, Inc. makes blood glucose monitors. Hmmm, does it seem that ANY of these companies is particularly interested in reducing the number of diabetics?
Ronald Kleinman, MD: Yeah, it gets better! Kleinman, who is known to accept compensation for his opinion, "serves on scientific advisory boards for General Mills, the Grain Foods Foundation and Burger King. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Project Bread in Boston; a member of the Board of Directors Global Child Health Foundation; and a consultant for Mead Johnson Nutritionals." Hey, guess who owned Mead Johnson for 42 years? Bristol-Myers Squibb! Guess what the first item is in the Mead Johnson Food Pyramid For Pregnant Women. If guessed "grains" give yourself a gold star! And whats with: General Mills? Burger King? Project Bread? LMAO! You're kidding, right?
Robert S. Rosenson, MD: The beat goes on. He "Served as an advisor or consultant for: Abbott Laboratories; Amarin Corporation plc; Amgen Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; LipoScience Inc.; Roche; sanofi-aventis; Received grants for clinical research from: Amgen Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Roche. We covered some of the other drug makers. Amarin is finalizing development of drug to treat high triglycerides. Guess what one of the leading causes of high-TGs is. Roche make anti-diabetes drugs and the famous Accu-Check blood glucose monitor.
Shelley Case, RD: Can't say much about Ms. Case. Her financials are clean but her laser-like focus and expertise is restricted to the gluten protein and celiac disease. What about all those other proteins manufactured by the extra 28 chromosomes in the cross-bred and genetically engineered "Frranken-food" we call wheat. To quote Ms. Case, "Patients should be thoroughly tested for Celiac if they present with conditions such as anemia, bone issues, thyroid and liver dysfunction, and arthritis." Hmmm, any chance those conditions - as mentioned in Wheat Belly - could be due to one of the other proteins in wheat?
Julie Miller Jones, PhD, LN, CNS: This quote from Ms. Jones and a group of her cronies enlisted by grain growers in repsonse to the USDA altering the food pyramid logo says it all. " ... we will provide input on the science behind the new icon and ways to achieve the key goal of getting consumers to eat more healthfully, ensuring they are getting their six servings of grains daily, making at least half their grains whole and the rest enriched grains." Does that include celiacs? Do you suppose Ms. Case and Ms. Jones ever talk?
Sylvia Melendez-Klinger, MS, RD, LD: From Ms. Klingers corporate website, "Ms. Klinger is also culinary consultant to food and beverage companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Kellogg’s, Hormel Foods, Ross Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline, Dannon, AztraZeneca, Uniliver, Mc Neil Nutritionals, and Weight Watchers International were she completed numerous administrative and communications projects." I think that just about covers Ms. Melendez-Klinger's credentials as an "independent" expert!
Bruce Young, MD: Dr.Young is an obstetrician and gynecologist with credentials in programs for mid-wifery and fetal medicine but I have no idea what his standing is as a grain expert. Best I can tell "Big-Wheat" wants so-called experts to push wheat from conception to our untimely and miserable deaths.
Yeah, if this is an "independent" board then I'm Batman (I'd settle for Bruce Wayne, hell, I'd settle for Adam West). But what did you expect? Let the battle begin. If this is the best the competition can offer I'm betting on Doc Davis!
Looking out for your health,
HeartHawk
This collection of dubious organizations has recently gone after Dr. William R. Davis and his new book "Wheat Belly" in what I believe will be a vain attempt to discredit him before the truth gets out. A truth that could cost them billions of dollars. Judging by the overwhelming online response and support of Doc Davis they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Here is the link.
http://www.sixservings.org/2011/08/500/
After reading it I though I would do a quick investigation into their so-called "Scientific Advisory Board." It ain't pretty. This is what passes for independent scientific advice? Yikes!
Glenn Gaesser, PhD: Author of "Big Fat Lies" a book that promotes the concept that actual weight (how fat you are) is not as important as (surprise) dietary fat. Not surprisingly, the book recommends a diet of complex carbohydrates. Most humorously, it rails against the so-called "experts" who produce healthy weight/height charts. Gee, isn't it the Grain Foods Council who admonishes us to believe the "experts?"
James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD: This disclosure gem is precious. "Served as an advisor or consultant for: sanofi-aventis; LifeScan, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.; Abbott Diabetes Care; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; Served as a speaker or a member of a speakers bureau for: Novo Nordisk; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; sanofi-aventis: Owns stock, stock options, or bonds from: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Served as member of the Board of Directors for: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc." Care to guess on what ALL the above drug companies have in common? Surprise, surprise, surprise, they make diabetes drugs! LifeScan, Inc. makes blood glucose monitors. Hmmm, does it seem that ANY of these companies is particularly interested in reducing the number of diabetics?
Ronald Kleinman, MD: Yeah, it gets better! Kleinman, who is known to accept compensation for his opinion, "serves on scientific advisory boards for General Mills, the Grain Foods Foundation and Burger King. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Project Bread in Boston; a member of the Board of Directors Global Child Health Foundation; and a consultant for Mead Johnson Nutritionals." Hey, guess who owned Mead Johnson for 42 years? Bristol-Myers Squibb! Guess what the first item is in the Mead Johnson Food Pyramid For Pregnant Women. If guessed "grains" give yourself a gold star! And whats with: General Mills? Burger King? Project Bread? LMAO! You're kidding, right?
Robert S. Rosenson, MD: The beat goes on. He "Served as an advisor or consultant for: Abbott Laboratories; Amarin Corporation plc; Amgen Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; LipoScience Inc.; Roche; sanofi-aventis; Received grants for clinical research from: Amgen Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Roche. We covered some of the other drug makers. Amarin is finalizing development of drug to treat high triglycerides. Guess what one of the leading causes of high-TGs is. Roche make anti-diabetes drugs and the famous Accu-Check blood glucose monitor.
Shelley Case, RD: Can't say much about Ms. Case. Her financials are clean but her laser-like focus and expertise is restricted to the gluten protein and celiac disease. What about all those other proteins manufactured by the extra 28 chromosomes in the cross-bred and genetically engineered "Frranken-food" we call wheat. To quote Ms. Case, "Patients should be thoroughly tested for Celiac if they present with conditions such as anemia, bone issues, thyroid and liver dysfunction, and arthritis." Hmmm, any chance those conditions - as mentioned in Wheat Belly - could be due to one of the other proteins in wheat?
Julie Miller Jones, PhD, LN, CNS: This quote from Ms. Jones and a group of her cronies enlisted by grain growers in repsonse to the USDA altering the food pyramid logo says it all. " ... we will provide input on the science behind the new icon and ways to achieve the key goal of getting consumers to eat more healthfully, ensuring they are getting their six servings of grains daily, making at least half their grains whole and the rest enriched grains." Does that include celiacs? Do you suppose Ms. Case and Ms. Jones ever talk?
Sylvia Melendez-Klinger, MS, RD, LD: From Ms. Klingers corporate website, "Ms. Klinger is also culinary consultant to food and beverage companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Kellogg’s, Hormel Foods, Ross Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline, Dannon, AztraZeneca, Uniliver, Mc Neil Nutritionals, and Weight Watchers International were she completed numerous administrative and communications projects." I think that just about covers Ms. Melendez-Klinger's credentials as an "independent" expert!
Bruce Young, MD: Dr.Young is an obstetrician and gynecologist with credentials in programs for mid-wifery and fetal medicine but I have no idea what his standing is as a grain expert. Best I can tell "Big-Wheat" wants so-called experts to push wheat from conception to our untimely and miserable deaths.
Yeah, if this is an "independent" board then I'm Batman (I'd settle for Bruce Wayne, hell, I'd settle for Adam West). But what did you expect? Let the battle begin. If this is the best the competition can offer I'm betting on Doc Davis!
Looking out for your health,
HeartHawk
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fat Head interviews Dr. William R. Davis
Interview with ‘Wheat Belly’ Author Dr. William Davis
Posted by Tom Naughton in Good Science, News and Reviews
You all (or y’all, as we say around these parts) submitted so many good questions for Wheat Belly author Dr. William Davis, we decided to make this a two-part Q & A. We’ll probably have part two ready early next week.
Fat Head: You’re a cardiologist by profession, and yet you just wrote an in-depth book about the negative health effects of consuming wheat. How did wheat end up on your radar? What first made you suspect wheat might be behind many of our modern health problems?
Dr. Davis: It started several years ago when I asked patients in my office to consider eliminating all wheat from their diet. I did this because of some very simple logic: If foods made from wheat raise blood sugar higher than nearly all other foods (due to its high-glycemic index), including table sugar, then removing wheat should reduce blood sugar. I was concerned about high blood sugar since around 80% of the people coming to my office had diabetes, pre-diabetes, or what I call “pre-pre-diabetes.” In short, the vast majority of people showed abnormal metabolic markers.
I provided patients with a simple two-page handout on how to do this, i.e., how to eliminate wheat and replace the lost calories with healthy foods like more vegetables, raw nuts, meats, eggs, avocados, olives, olive oil, etc. They’d come back three months later with lower fasting blood sugars, lower hemoglobin A1c (a reflection of the previous 60 days’ blood sugar); some diabetics became non-diabetics, pre-diabetics became non-pre-diabetic. They’d also be around 30 pounds lighter.
Then they began to tell me about other experiences: relief from arthritis and joint pains, chronic rashes disappearing, asthma improved sufficiently to stop inhalers, chronic sinus infections gone, leg swelling gone, migraine headaches gone for the first time in decades, acid reflux and irritable bowel symptoms relieved. At first, I told patients it was just an odd coincidence. But it happened so many times to so many people that it became clear that this was no coincidence; this was a real and reproducible phenomenon.
That’s when I began to systematically remove wheat from everyone’s diet and continued to witness similar turnarounds in health across dozens of conditions. There has been no turning back since.
Fat Head: You cite quite a bit of academic research in your book, but you also cite case histories from your medical practice. So, as a chicken-or-the-egg issue, which came first? Did you start noticing that patients who consumed a lot of wheat had more health problems and then go looking for the research to back up your suspicions, or did you come across research that prompted you to take notice of what your patients were eating?
Dr. Davis: The real-world experience came first. But what surprised me was that there already was an extensive medical literature documenting all of this, but it was largely ignored or didn’t reach mainstream consciousness nor the consciousness of most of my colleagues. And a lot of the documentation comes from the agricultural genetics literature, an area, I can assure you, my colleagues do not study. But I dug into this area of science and talked to people at the USDA and in agriculture departments in universities to gain a full understanding of all the issues.
One of the difficulties that partly explains why much of this information has not previously seen the light of day is that agricultural geneticists work on plants, not humans. There is a broad and pervasive assumption followed by these well-meaning scientists: No matter how extreme the techniques used to alter the genetics of a plant like wheat, it is still just fine for human consumption …no questions asked. I believe that is flat wrong and underlies much of the suffering inflicted on humans consuming this modern product of genetics research still called, misleadingly, “wheat.”
Fat Head: So after pinpointing wheat as a driver of various health problems, you started counseling your patients to eliminate wheat from their diets. What inspired you take the extra step – and it’s a big step – of writing a book?
Dr. Davis: What I witnessed in the thousands of people removing wheat from their diet was nothing short of incredible. When I saw weight loss of 70 pounds in six months, energy and mood surging, reversal of inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, relief from chronic rashes and arthritis — and the effects were consistent over and over again — I realized that I could not just let this issue pass quietly in my office practice.
Admittedly, the world is going to need more confirmatory data before wheat, or at least the modern genetically-altered version of wheat we are being sold, is removed from the world’s dinner plate. But the data that are already available are more than enough, I believe, to bring this information to the public for people to make the decision themselves. I liken this situation to living in a village where everyone drinks water from the same well. Nine out of 10 people get sick when they drink water from the well; all recover when they stop drinking from it. Drink from the same well, they all get sick again; stop, they get better. With such a consistent and reproducible cause-and-effect relationship, do we need a clinical trial to prove it to us? I don’t.
This is going to be a long, hard battle in the public arena. Wheat comprises 20% of all human calories. It requires a huge infrastructure to grow, harvest, collect seeds, fertilize, herbicide, process, and distribute. This message is going to potentially hurt the livelihoods of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who are part of the infrastructure. It reminds me of the battles that were fought (and still being fought today) when it became widely accepted that smoking cigarettes was bad. When people within the tobacco industry were asked how they could work for a company that destroyed people’s health, they replied, “I had to support my family and pay my mortgage.” The eliminate-all-wheat-in-the-human-diet argument that I make will hurt many people where it counts: right in the pocketbook. But, personally, I am not willing to sacrifice my own health, the health of my family, friends, neighbors, patients, and the nation to allow the incredibly unhealthy status quo to continue.
Fat Head: The more of the book I read, the more I found myself thinking, “Wow, I knew wheat was bad for us, but it’s even worse than I thought.” Did you have the same reaction while researching the book? Were you surprised at how many physical and mental problems wheat can cause?
Dr. Davis: Yes. I knew wheat was bad from the start of this project. And there were times when I wondered if I was missing something, given the unanimous embracing of this grain by agribusiness, farmers, agricultural scientists, the USDA, FDA, American Dietetic Association, etc. But the opposite happened: The deeper I got into it, this thing being sold to us called “wheat” appeared worse … and worse, and worse, the farther I got.
I am mindful of the “For a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail” trap we can all fall into, but when you see disease condition after disease condition vanish with elimination of wheat, you can’t help but become convinced that it plays a crucial role in hundreds, literally hundreds, of common conditions.
Fat Head: You described in your book how today’s wheat is the product of energetic cross-breeding. Is cross-breeding inherently bad? Doesn’t cross-breeding take place in nature all the time?
Dr. Davis: Yes, it does. Humans, along with all plants and animals, are the product of cross-breeding or hybridization. Love, sex, and cross-breeding make the world go ‘round and make life interesting. The problem is that these terms are used very loosely by geneticists.
For example, if I subject wheat seeds and embryos to the potent industrial poison sodium azide, I can induce mutations in the plant’s genetic code. First, let me tell you about sodium azide. If ingested, the poison control people at the Centers for Disease Control advise you to not resuscitate the person who ingested it and stopped breathing as a result —just let the victim die—because the rescuer can die, too. And, if the victim vomits, don’t throw the vomit in the sink because it can explode (this has actually happened). So, expose wheat seeds and embryos to sodium azide and you obtain mutations. This is called chemical mutagenesis. Seeds and embryos can also be exposed to gamma irradiation and high-dose x-ray radiation. All of these techniques fall under the umbrella of hybridization or, even more misleading, traditional breeding techniques. I don’t know about you, but cross-breeding among the humans I know doesn’t involve slipping each other chemical poisons or a romantic evening in the cyclotron to induce mutations in our offspring.
These “traditional breeding techniques,” by the way, are markedly more disruptive to the plant’s genetics than genetic engineering. Americans are up in arms about genetically-modified (GMO) foods (i.e., the insertion or deletion of a single gene). The great irony is that genetic engineering is a substantial improvement over “traditional breeding techniques” that have gone on for decades and are still going on.
[Note from Tom: I tried talking my wife into stepping into a cyclotron with me on our honeymoon. She told me to stop drinking the champagne and go to sleep.]
Fat Head: I met you in person over a year ago, and you’re a very lean guy, so I was surprised to learn from the book that you used to carry around your very own wheat belly. Describe the differences between you as a wheat-eater and you now, both in terms of your physique and your health.
Dr. Davis: Thirty pounds ago, while I was still an enthusiastic consumer of “healthy whole grains,” I struggled with constant difficulties in maintaining focus and energy. I relied on pots of coffee or walking and exercise just to battle the constant stuporous haze. My cholesterol values reflected my wheat-consuming habits: HDL 27 mg/dl (very low), triglycerides 350 mg/dl (VERY high), and blood sugars in the diabetic range (161 mg/dl). I had high blood pressure, running values around 150/90. And all my excess weight was around my middle—yes, my very own wheat belly.
Saying goodbye to wheat has helped me shed the weight around the middle; my cholesterol values: HDL 63 mg/dl, triglycerides 50 mg/dl, LDL 70 mg/dl, blood sugar 84 mg/dl, BP 114/74—using no drugs. In other words, everything reversed. Everything reversed including the struggle to maintain attention and focus. I can now concentrate and focus on something for so long that my wife yells for me to stop.
All in all, I feel better today at age 54 than I felt at age 30.
Fat Head: How has learning what you now know about wheat and other grains changed your medical practice?
Dr. Davis: It has catapulted success in helping people regain health into the stratosphere. Among people following this diet, i.e., eliminate wheat and limit other carbohydrates (along with the other heart-healthy strategies I advocate, including omega-3 fatty acid supplementation with fish oil, vitamin D supplementation to achieve a desirable 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml, iodine supplementation and normalization of thyroid dysfunction), I no longer see heart attacks. The only heart attacks I see are people whom I’ve just met or those who, for one reason or another (usually lack of interest) don’t follow the diet. A priest I take care of, for instance, a wonderful and generous man, couldn’t bring himself to turn down the muffins, pies, and breads his parishioners brought him every day; he had a heart attack despite doing everything else right.
This diet approach, though it seems quirky on the surface, is extremely powerful. What diet, after all, causes substantial weight loss, corrects the causes of heart disease such as small LDL particles, reverses diabetes and pre-diabetes, and improves or cures multiple conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to acid reflux?
Fat Head: You’ve seen hundreds of your own patients become cured of supposedly incurable diseases after giving up wheat. Describe one or two of the most dramatic examples.
Dr. Davis: Two people are on my mind nearly every day, mostly because I am especially gratified about the magnitude of their response and because I shudder to think what their lives would have been like had they not engaged in this diet change.
I describe Wendy’s story in the book, a 36-year mother and schoolteacher who had nearly incapacitating ulcerative colitis; so bad that, despite three medications, she continued to suffer constant cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding sufficient to require blood transfusions. When I met Wendy, she told me that her gastroenterologist and surgeon had scheduled her for colon removal and creation of an ileostomy bag. These would be lifelong changes; she would be consigned to wearing a bag to catch stool at the surface for the rest of her life. I urged her to remove wheat. At first, she objected, since her intestinal biopsies and blood work all failed to suggest celiac disease. But, having seen many amazing things happen with removal of wheat, I suggested that there was nothing to lose. She did it. Three months later, not only had she lost 38 pounds, but all the cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding had stopped. It’s now been two years. She’s off all drugs with no sign of the disease left—colon intact, no ileostomy bag. She is cured.
The second case is Jason, also described in the book, a 26-year old software programmer, in this case incapacitated by joint pains and arthritis. Consultations with three rheumatologists failed to yield a diagnosis; all prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs and pain medication, while Jason continued to hobble around, unable to engage in much more than short walks. Within five days of removing all wheat, Jason was 100% free of joint pains. He told that he found this absolutely ridiculous and refused to believe it. So he had a sandwich: Joint pains rushed right back. He’s now strictly wheat-free and pain-free.
Fat Head: Your patients are lucky – you’d rather change a patient’s diet than write a prescription whenever possible. Unfortunately, you’re in the minority. As I recounted on my blog recently, a co-worker’s wife was finally cured of her pounding headaches when an acquaintance suggested she stop eating grains. She’d been to several doctors who merely prescribed medications. So … why are so few doctors aware of how grains can affect our health?
Dr. Davis: I believe healthcare has detoured towards high-tech, high revenue-producing procedures, medications, and catastrophic care. Too many in healthcare have lost the vision of helping people and fulfilling their mission to heal. While that sounds old-fashioned, I believe it is a bad trend for healthcare to be reduced to a financial transaction bound by legal constraints. It needs to be restored to a relationship of healing.
I believe that many in healthcare have also been disenchanted with the ineffectiveness of dietary advice. Because dietary “wisdom” has been wrong on so many counts over the past 50 years, people have become soured on the ability of nutrition and natural methods to improve health. From what I’ve witnessed, however, nutrition and natural methods have enormous power to heal—if the right methods are applied.
Fat Head: Do you hope your book will educate more doctors on the topic, or is this one of those situations where the public will have to ignore their doctors and educate themselves?
Dr. Davis: Regrettably, many people will read the message in Wheat Belly, experience the life-changing health and weight transformations that can result, then they will then tell their doctors, who will declare their success “coincidence,” “mind over matter,” “placebo effect,” or some other dismissal. Many of my colleagues refuse to recognize the power of diet even when confronted with powerful results. That can only change over a very long time.
Thankfully, more and more of my colleagues are beginning to see the light and not look for the answer in drugs and procedures. These are the healthcare providers that I hope will emerge to assist people as advocates and coaches in conducting an experience like that described in Wheat Belly.
Fat Head: If more doctors were informed of the issues you wrote about in Wheat Belly, do you think they’d change their dietary advice, or is the “fat is bad, grains are good” mentality too ingrained in the profession?
Dr. Davis: There is absolutely no question that the “fat is bad, grains are good” argument will persist in the minds of many of my colleagues for many years. However, I believe if they were to read the arguments laid out logically in Wheat Belly, they would first come to recognize that “wheat” is no longer wheat but an incredibly transformed product of genetics research. Then they would begin to follow the logic and understand that the long menu of problems associated with consumption of modern “wheat” begins to explain why we’ve all been witnessing an explosion in common diseases. That’s when I hope we all hear a collective “Aha!”
Fat Head: You’re a cardiologist by profession, and yet you just wrote an in-depth book about the negative health effects of consuming wheat. How did wheat end up on your radar? What first made you suspect wheat might be behind many of our modern health problems?
Dr. Davis: It started several years ago when I asked patients in my office to consider eliminating all wheat from their diet. I did this because of some very simple logic: If foods made from wheat raise blood sugar higher than nearly all other foods (due to its high-glycemic index), including table sugar, then removing wheat should reduce blood sugar. I was concerned about high blood sugar since around 80% of the people coming to my office had diabetes, pre-diabetes, or what I call “pre-pre-diabetes.” In short, the vast majority of people showed abnormal metabolic markers.
I provided patients with a simple two-page handout on how to do this, i.e., how to eliminate wheat and replace the lost calories with healthy foods like more vegetables, raw nuts, meats, eggs, avocados, olives, olive oil, etc. They’d come back three months later with lower fasting blood sugars, lower hemoglobin A1c (a reflection of the previous 60 days’ blood sugar); some diabetics became non-diabetics, pre-diabetics became non-pre-diabetic. They’d also be around 30 pounds lighter.
Then they began to tell me about other experiences: relief from arthritis and joint pains, chronic rashes disappearing, asthma improved sufficiently to stop inhalers, chronic sinus infections gone, leg swelling gone, migraine headaches gone for the first time in decades, acid reflux and irritable bowel symptoms relieved. At first, I told patients it was just an odd coincidence. But it happened so many times to so many people that it became clear that this was no coincidence; this was a real and reproducible phenomenon.
That’s when I began to systematically remove wheat from everyone’s diet and continued to witness similar turnarounds in health across dozens of conditions. There has been no turning back since.
Fat Head: You cite quite a bit of academic research in your book, but you also cite case histories from your medical practice. So, as a chicken-or-the-egg issue, which came first? Did you start noticing that patients who consumed a lot of wheat had more health problems and then go looking for the research to back up your suspicions, or did you come across research that prompted you to take notice of what your patients were eating?
Dr. Davis: The real-world experience came first. But what surprised me was that there already was an extensive medical literature documenting all of this, but it was largely ignored or didn’t reach mainstream consciousness nor the consciousness of most of my colleagues. And a lot of the documentation comes from the agricultural genetics literature, an area, I can assure you, my colleagues do not study. But I dug into this area of science and talked to people at the USDA and in agriculture departments in universities to gain a full understanding of all the issues.
One of the difficulties that partly explains why much of this information has not previously seen the light of day is that agricultural geneticists work on plants, not humans. There is a broad and pervasive assumption followed by these well-meaning scientists: No matter how extreme the techniques used to alter the genetics of a plant like wheat, it is still just fine for human consumption …no questions asked. I believe that is flat wrong and underlies much of the suffering inflicted on humans consuming this modern product of genetics research still called, misleadingly, “wheat.”
Fat Head: So after pinpointing wheat as a driver of various health problems, you started counseling your patients to eliminate wheat from their diets. What inspired you take the extra step – and it’s a big step – of writing a book?
Dr. Davis: What I witnessed in the thousands of people removing wheat from their diet was nothing short of incredible. When I saw weight loss of 70 pounds in six months, energy and mood surging, reversal of inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, relief from chronic rashes and arthritis — and the effects were consistent over and over again — I realized that I could not just let this issue pass quietly in my office practice.
Admittedly, the world is going to need more confirmatory data before wheat, or at least the modern genetically-altered version of wheat we are being sold, is removed from the world’s dinner plate. But the data that are already available are more than enough, I believe, to bring this information to the public for people to make the decision themselves. I liken this situation to living in a village where everyone drinks water from the same well. Nine out of 10 people get sick when they drink water from the well; all recover when they stop drinking from it. Drink from the same well, they all get sick again; stop, they get better. With such a consistent and reproducible cause-and-effect relationship, do we need a clinical trial to prove it to us? I don’t.
This is going to be a long, hard battle in the public arena. Wheat comprises 20% of all human calories. It requires a huge infrastructure to grow, harvest, collect seeds, fertilize, herbicide, process, and distribute. This message is going to potentially hurt the livelihoods of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who are part of the infrastructure. It reminds me of the battles that were fought (and still being fought today) when it became widely accepted that smoking cigarettes was bad. When people within the tobacco industry were asked how they could work for a company that destroyed people’s health, they replied, “I had to support my family and pay my mortgage.” The eliminate-all-wheat-in-the-human-diet argument that I make will hurt many people where it counts: right in the pocketbook. But, personally, I am not willing to sacrifice my own health, the health of my family, friends, neighbors, patients, and the nation to allow the incredibly unhealthy status quo to continue.
Fat Head: The more of the book I read, the more I found myself thinking, “Wow, I knew wheat was bad for us, but it’s even worse than I thought.” Did you have the same reaction while researching the book? Were you surprised at how many physical and mental problems wheat can cause?
Dr. Davis: Yes. I knew wheat was bad from the start of this project. And there were times when I wondered if I was missing something, given the unanimous embracing of this grain by agribusiness, farmers, agricultural scientists, the USDA, FDA, American Dietetic Association, etc. But the opposite happened: The deeper I got into it, this thing being sold to us called “wheat” appeared worse … and worse, and worse, the farther I got.
I am mindful of the “For a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail” trap we can all fall into, but when you see disease condition after disease condition vanish with elimination of wheat, you can’t help but become convinced that it plays a crucial role in hundreds, literally hundreds, of common conditions.
Fat Head: You described in your book how today’s wheat is the product of energetic cross-breeding. Is cross-breeding inherently bad? Doesn’t cross-breeding take place in nature all the time?
Dr. Davis: Yes, it does. Humans, along with all plants and animals, are the product of cross-breeding or hybridization. Love, sex, and cross-breeding make the world go ‘round and make life interesting. The problem is that these terms are used very loosely by geneticists.
For example, if I subject wheat seeds and embryos to the potent industrial poison sodium azide, I can induce mutations in the plant’s genetic code. First, let me tell you about sodium azide. If ingested, the poison control people at the Centers for Disease Control advise you to not resuscitate the person who ingested it and stopped breathing as a result —just let the victim die—because the rescuer can die, too. And, if the victim vomits, don’t throw the vomit in the sink because it can explode (this has actually happened). So, expose wheat seeds and embryos to sodium azide and you obtain mutations. This is called chemical mutagenesis. Seeds and embryos can also be exposed to gamma irradiation and high-dose x-ray radiation. All of these techniques fall under the umbrella of hybridization or, even more misleading, traditional breeding techniques. I don’t know about you, but cross-breeding among the humans I know doesn’t involve slipping each other chemical poisons or a romantic evening in the cyclotron to induce mutations in our offspring.
These “traditional breeding techniques,” by the way, are markedly more disruptive to the plant’s genetics than genetic engineering. Americans are up in arms about genetically-modified (GMO) foods (i.e., the insertion or deletion of a single gene). The great irony is that genetic engineering is a substantial improvement over “traditional breeding techniques” that have gone on for decades and are still going on.
[Note from Tom: I tried talking my wife into stepping into a cyclotron with me on our honeymoon. She told me to stop drinking the champagne and go to sleep.]
Fat Head: I met you in person over a year ago, and you’re a very lean guy, so I was surprised to learn from the book that you used to carry around your very own wheat belly. Describe the differences between you as a wheat-eater and you now, both in terms of your physique and your health.
Dr. Davis: Thirty pounds ago, while I was still an enthusiastic consumer of “healthy whole grains,” I struggled with constant difficulties in maintaining focus and energy. I relied on pots of coffee or walking and exercise just to battle the constant stuporous haze. My cholesterol values reflected my wheat-consuming habits: HDL 27 mg/dl (very low), triglycerides 350 mg/dl (VERY high), and blood sugars in the diabetic range (161 mg/dl). I had high blood pressure, running values around 150/90. And all my excess weight was around my middle—yes, my very own wheat belly.
Saying goodbye to wheat has helped me shed the weight around the middle; my cholesterol values: HDL 63 mg/dl, triglycerides 50 mg/dl, LDL 70 mg/dl, blood sugar 84 mg/dl, BP 114/74—using no drugs. In other words, everything reversed. Everything reversed including the struggle to maintain attention and focus. I can now concentrate and focus on something for so long that my wife yells for me to stop.
All in all, I feel better today at age 54 than I felt at age 30.
Fat Head: How has learning what you now know about wheat and other grains changed your medical practice?
Dr. Davis: It has catapulted success in helping people regain health into the stratosphere. Among people following this diet, i.e., eliminate wheat and limit other carbohydrates (along with the other heart-healthy strategies I advocate, including omega-3 fatty acid supplementation with fish oil, vitamin D supplementation to achieve a desirable 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml, iodine supplementation and normalization of thyroid dysfunction), I no longer see heart attacks. The only heart attacks I see are people whom I’ve just met or those who, for one reason or another (usually lack of interest) don’t follow the diet. A priest I take care of, for instance, a wonderful and generous man, couldn’t bring himself to turn down the muffins, pies, and breads his parishioners brought him every day; he had a heart attack despite doing everything else right.
This diet approach, though it seems quirky on the surface, is extremely powerful. What diet, after all, causes substantial weight loss, corrects the causes of heart disease such as small LDL particles, reverses diabetes and pre-diabetes, and improves or cures multiple conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to acid reflux?
Fat Head: You’ve seen hundreds of your own patients become cured of supposedly incurable diseases after giving up wheat. Describe one or two of the most dramatic examples.
Dr. Davis: Two people are on my mind nearly every day, mostly because I am especially gratified about the magnitude of their response and because I shudder to think what their lives would have been like had they not engaged in this diet change.
I describe Wendy’s story in the book, a 36-year mother and schoolteacher who had nearly incapacitating ulcerative colitis; so bad that, despite three medications, she continued to suffer constant cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding sufficient to require blood transfusions. When I met Wendy, she told me that her gastroenterologist and surgeon had scheduled her for colon removal and creation of an ileostomy bag. These would be lifelong changes; she would be consigned to wearing a bag to catch stool at the surface for the rest of her life. I urged her to remove wheat. At first, she objected, since her intestinal biopsies and blood work all failed to suggest celiac disease. But, having seen many amazing things happen with removal of wheat, I suggested that there was nothing to lose. She did it. Three months later, not only had she lost 38 pounds, but all the cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding had stopped. It’s now been two years. She’s off all drugs with no sign of the disease left—colon intact, no ileostomy bag. She is cured.
The second case is Jason, also described in the book, a 26-year old software programmer, in this case incapacitated by joint pains and arthritis. Consultations with three rheumatologists failed to yield a diagnosis; all prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs and pain medication, while Jason continued to hobble around, unable to engage in much more than short walks. Within five days of removing all wheat, Jason was 100% free of joint pains. He told that he found this absolutely ridiculous and refused to believe it. So he had a sandwich: Joint pains rushed right back. He’s now strictly wheat-free and pain-free.
Fat Head: Your patients are lucky – you’d rather change a patient’s diet than write a prescription whenever possible. Unfortunately, you’re in the minority. As I recounted on my blog recently, a co-worker’s wife was finally cured of her pounding headaches when an acquaintance suggested she stop eating grains. She’d been to several doctors who merely prescribed medications. So … why are so few doctors aware of how grains can affect our health?
Dr. Davis: I believe healthcare has detoured towards high-tech, high revenue-producing procedures, medications, and catastrophic care. Too many in healthcare have lost the vision of helping people and fulfilling their mission to heal. While that sounds old-fashioned, I believe it is a bad trend for healthcare to be reduced to a financial transaction bound by legal constraints. It needs to be restored to a relationship of healing.
I believe that many in healthcare have also been disenchanted with the ineffectiveness of dietary advice. Because dietary “wisdom” has been wrong on so many counts over the past 50 years, people have become soured on the ability of nutrition and natural methods to improve health. From what I’ve witnessed, however, nutrition and natural methods have enormous power to heal—if the right methods are applied.
Fat Head: Do you hope your book will educate more doctors on the topic, or is this one of those situations where the public will have to ignore their doctors and educate themselves?
Dr. Davis: Regrettably, many people will read the message in Wheat Belly, experience the life-changing health and weight transformations that can result, then they will then tell their doctors, who will declare their success “coincidence,” “mind over matter,” “placebo effect,” or some other dismissal. Many of my colleagues refuse to recognize the power of diet even when confronted with powerful results. That can only change over a very long time.
Thankfully, more and more of my colleagues are beginning to see the light and not look for the answer in drugs and procedures. These are the healthcare providers that I hope will emerge to assist people as advocates and coaches in conducting an experience like that described in Wheat Belly.
Fat Head: If more doctors were informed of the issues you wrote about in Wheat Belly, do you think they’d change their dietary advice, or is the “fat is bad, grains are good” mentality too ingrained in the profession?
Dr. Davis: There is absolutely no question that the “fat is bad, grains are good” argument will persist in the minds of many of my colleagues for many years. However, I believe if they were to read the arguments laid out logically in Wheat Belly, they would first come to recognize that “wheat” is no longer wheat but an incredibly transformed product of genetics research. Then they would begin to follow the logic and understand that the long menu of problems associated with consumption of modern “wheat” begins to explain why we’ve all been witnessing an explosion in common diseases. That’s when I hope we all hear a collective “Aha!”
Bad Science Used To Push Cholesterol-Reducing Drugs
By Cholesterol Truth
I had a patient in my practice this week who was seeking advice about the prevention of heart disease. He’d been on a statin for several years, and then started to get what he felt might be side-effects.
He stopped the statin and the side-effects went away. As he rightly pointed out, the relief from his symptoms might have been entirely coincidental and nothing to do with the fact that he stopped his statin medication. However, he was disinclined to restart. My patient told me that he expects his doctor to be up in arms about this. He has, apparently, an unbridled enthusiasm for statins and believes ‘everyone should be taking them’.
As I pointed out to my patient, the reality is the vast majority of people who take statins are destined not to benefit from them. And then we have the problem, of course, of toxicity and side effects.
Not to mention the cost. What is it then, that causes doctors to be so enthusiastic about drugs that, on balance, have limited benefits and can cause serious harm?
Well, some of this has to do with the fact that doctors make money from cholesterol reduction. In private medicine, the cholesterol concept suddenly makes ‘patients’ out of essentially healthy people.
Here in the UK, national health general practitioners are remunerated for their cholesterol-reducing efforts with patients.
But a major part of the problem too, I think, has to do with how the ‘benefits’ of statins and other drugs are communicated to doctors by drug companies. As I’ve pointed out before, the emphasis is usually on reductions in the ‘relative risk’ of, say, heart disease. But if the overall risk is small, the real reduction in risk (known as the ‘absolute risk’ reduction) becomes vanishingly small.
Another problem is that data can be presented to doctors that gives a misleading account of a drug’s effects for the unwary. I spotted a prime example of this recently in the on-line version of the GP magazine Pulse here.
One problem: the study that purportedly shows that ezetimibe saves lives actually does nothing of the sort. The study is ‘epidemiological’ in nature, and can only tell us that ezetimibe is associated with a reduced risk of death. You see, individuals who take ezetimibe may have a reduced risk of death that has nothing to do with ezetimibe. Maybe, for example, they’re particularly health conscious and in addition to pressing their doctors for more and stronger medication, they’re also active and eat good diets.
The fact that the study in question here is epidemiological means that the statement that ‘A cholesterol-lowering drug…has been shown to reduce mortality…’ is simply wrong and misleading.
To know if ezetimibe really does save lives, we need clinical ‘intervention’ studies. We now have several of these. And here’s what you and your doctor need to know: Not one of them has shown that ezetimibe benefits health or health markers. Some of the studies actually suggest the ezetimibe does more harm than good.
The Pulse piece ends with the following paragraph: ‘Dr Peter Fellowes, a GP in Lydney, Gloucestershire and a member of the GPC clinical and prescribing subcommittee, said: ‘I don't think it should be blacklisted. It is very useful in patients who are statin intolerant. The arguments against ezetimibe and the more potent statins are entirely cost based as I see it, and that is a sorry state of affairs.'’
I’ll tell you what’s a ‘sorry state of affairs’: When a doctor is advocating the use of an expensive and potentially toxic drug that has no proven benefits on health. And it doesn’t help that a magazine for GPs presents information on cholesterol-reducing drugs in a misleading and utterly imbalanced way, either.
To your good health,
Dr. John Briffa
for The Cholesterol truth
==============================================================
Read the full article here.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Getting a CT Heart Scan - Dr William R Davis
Wheat Belly author Dr. William Davis answering questions about getting a CT Heart Scan.
Dr. William Davis from http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog appeared as a guest on Jimmy Moore's "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes and answers questions about why he believes the calcium heart scan is an effective means for heart disease prevention, which CT Heart Scan is the correct one to get done and where to go to do it, and why it's a simple, safe and effective means for knowing where you stand.
http://www.youtube.com/user/livinlowcarbman
Dr. William Davis from http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog appeared as a guest on Jimmy Moore's "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes and answers questions about why he believes the calcium heart scan is an effective means for heart disease prevention, which CT Heart Scan is the correct one to get done and where to go to do it, and why it's a simple, safe and effective means for knowing where you stand.
http://www.youtube.com/user/livinlowcarbman
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