Most people alive today would probably agree that organic, pesticide-free, whole wheat, grain-based diets, low in animal-based foods, richer in plant proteins from lentils and beans, and consisting mainly of vegetables are ideal diets. The ancient Egyptians ate this way. To repeat, it was organic, pesticide-free, and whole-grain. Ask the folks who made the food pyramid (My Plate) and the Eat Lancet Diet, and they will love it. Does it sound amazing to you? Well, not to me. My Plate has adult men eating around ten slices of bread per day, or the equivalent of 47 teaspoons of table sugar! I wrote about how the Eat Lancet Diet causes malnutrition on January 1, which is a similar diet to My Plate. If you are interested in their recommendations—the Lancet's diet causes protein deficiency, among other things. Let’s see how the ancient Egyptians who ate the same way fared.
Read MoreCognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time. The psychologist Leon Festinger came up with the concept in 1957. Festinger believed that all people are motivated to avoid or resolve cognitive dissonance due to the discomfort it causes, and it can prompt people to adopt certain defense mechanisms when they have to confront it—namely, avoidance, delegitimizing, and limiting the impact. The last thing people seem to want to do is confront the conflicting ideas and change their beliefs. Sadly, scientists are not immune to this phenomenon. Today I am going to present some recent studies that are generating cognitive dissonance even though they do a better job of explaining phenomena related to cholesterol levels than the traditional theories.
Read MoreHealth experts and doctors have long touted the benefits of grains, with rice being a particularly healthy option. They also caution against consuming too much fat, particularly saturated fat. In recent years, low-carb-high-fat diets like keto have gained popularity because they reverse high blood sugar and blood pressure and improve BMI. This has led many to question the traditional belief in high-grain, low-fat diets. According to the PURE study, there is a connection between the amount of fat and carbohydrates consumed, cardiovascular risk, and mortality. The results will surprise you.
Read MoreAfter repeated conversations with me, a close relative in his late 50s decided to try the carnivore diet. He immediately began to feel better than he had ever felt. The carnivore diet is ultra-low-carb, similar to the ketogenic diet, which often raises LDL and total cholesterol. He has lost 22 pounds, lowered his BMI from 25.8 (overweight) to 22.8 (normal), lowered his blood pressure from 110/70 to 100/66, has more energy, lowered his triglycerides from 106 to 71 (lower is better), raised his HDL from 47 to 79 (higher is better), lowered his VLDL by 1/3, rid himself of chronic foot and hip pain, and he has no more leg cramping. As we will see later in this post, these changes indicate inflammatory, metabolic, and cardiovascular health improvements.
At the same time, he raised his LDL from 69 to 192 and his total cholesterol from 137 to 285, which made his doctors panic. Later in this post, we will see that LDL levels below 105 cause twice the amount of death. Despite this, his doctors have ignored nine positive changes and stressed two that, as we will see in this post, have little relevance in their ability to predict cardiovascular disease. What kind of a world do we live in when doctors fret when their patients become healthier? Read on if you are curious.
Read MoreMy father is almost 94. When he was in his early 50s, he had a massive heart attack and has had heart problems since that time, including heart failure. Sadly, he followed all of the advice to avoid heart attacks but still had a few. I will explain some of the reasons in this post.
Read MoreThe major precursor of vitamin D is cholesterol. Without cholesterol, we cannot make it. Some people may find this shocking because vitamin D is highly praised, while cholesterol is demonized. Since vitamin D and cholesterol are so closely related, they have an interesting interplay. Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, also take part in the interplay. The enzyme statins block is active at step two, so we would expect less production of all molecules in the cholesterol pathway, like CoQ10. Statins should block vitamin D production, but they don’t. Statins are supposed to lower your risk of heart disease. But by how much? You may be surprised by the answer. This post will cover the synthesis of cholesterol, vitamin D, and Co Q10 and discuss how statins alter the pathways.
Read MoreMany traditional ways of measuring your risk for having a heart attack are not nearly as accurate as many believe. For example, many believe that our total cholesterol and LDL are the best indicators for heart disease, but the association is weak. As far back as 1964, Garrett, Horning, and Creech found no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease. They published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The famous Framingham heart study concluded in 1977 that HDL was a much better predictor of heart disease than LDL, and total cholesterol was not associated with any risk. In 1997, The Lancet published a paper on the elderly that showed for each 18 mg/dl increase of cholesterol, the chance of death went down by 15%. Amazingly, they also found that mortality from cancer and infection was significantly lower among the participants in the highest total cholesterol category. We believe these readings to be the best way to predict heart disease because we have been told to. Today I will show you some more statistical hocus pocus that helped promote these tests, and tell you about a much more accurate one you should get.
Read MorePrevalence of metabolic health in American adults is alarmingly low, even in normal weight individuals. The large number of people not achieving optimal levels of risk factors, even in low-risk groups, has serious implications for public health. In this post I discuss the poor state of our health, why it is so bad, and what to do about it.
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