For various reasons, including a chest infection that just will not clear, I have been quiet recently. (When you are physically unwell, your brain doesn’t work. At least mine doesn’t). I have coughed more in the last six weeks than in the rest of my life put together x 10.
Anyway, my brain cleared enough to read an e-mail by Gary Fettke, who has promoted the high fat low carb lifestyle for a long time. He, like many others has been ruthlessly attacked for doing this. Professor Tim Noakes was accused of exactly the same thing, and the South African authorities dragged him to court in order to silence him (not yet sure of the verdict).
Gary Fettke is an Australian orthopedic surgeon who has suffered the same fate as Tim Noakes. However, in Australia it seems you can be accused, tried and found guilty without having any chance to defend yourself in person. This is not a court of law, but the Australian Medical Board (AHPRA) who can – as with the General Medical Council (GMC) – strike you off being a doctor. Which for a doctor is a gigantic punishment.
Previously, Gary had been told that he could not comment on any area of nutrition for advocating a reduction in sugar intake (to what are now WHO guidelines). Of course, as with all such cases the ‘authorities’ changed the goalposts from a discussion on low carb high fat (LCHF) and turned the discussion into something else.
Namely, that Gary Fettke, as an orthopaedic surgeon should never give advice on dietary matters. “The fundamental fact ‘is’ that you are not suitably trained or educated as a medical practitioner to be providing advice or recommendations on this topic as a medical practitioner.”
This of course allows the AHPRA to silence him, without discussion any of the science, and no chance of any appeal. So, his suspension about discussing any matters of diet has now been turned into a lifelong ban. Please read Gary’s e-mail:
Hi everyone,
It is with frustration that I write to inform you that I have been ‘silenced’, forever, by the Australian Medical Board, known as AHPRA.
We have a draconian system here in Australia where anonymous notifications can go in and they are investigated for public safety. The accused can only submit material but never have right of reply. It is a star chamber.
I recently got to present that ‘opinion’ of the process and the fabricated evidence at a Senate Inquiry. My evidence on the failings of AHPRA was granted parliamentary privilege which allowed a tell all opportunity. Within a few hours I received an email final determination of the 2 ½ year investigation. Coincidence or just another kick in the guts?
My verbal submission and the whole issue of bullying and harassment in the hospital system is linked from http://www.nofructose.com/introduction/senate-inquiry-into-medical-complaints-process-in-australia/
My first notification in 2014 was from an anonymous dietitian for me advocating cutting back sugar intake to what is now the WHO recommendations. Behind closed doors, with no right of reply or appeal, the goal posts shifted and I was investigated for the whole LCHF concept, for being disrespectful to health professionals (the Dietitians Association of Australia and the Heart Foundation, but never an individual) on social media and for failing to disclose a conflict of interest (COI) in our Nutrition for Life Centre, whilst on social media.
The good news is that AHPRA have decided NOT to argue the LCHF concept. I submitted enough material for a thesis and they have accepted that LCHF may be that the benefits of the LCHF lifestyle become the accepted best medical practice.
The central issue for my silencing has been that my primary medical degree and my further qualifications as an Orthopaedic Surgeon are not satisfactory to give nutritional advice. “The fundamental fact ‘is’ that you are not suitably trained or educated as a medical practitioner to be providing advice or recommendations on this topic as a medical practitioner.”
If it wasn’t so serious it would be farcical. This decision is non-appealable under National Law. The determination is life long and by its wording, does not allow me to even do research in the area or gain further qualification because that would involve me communicating in the area of nutrition. The only thing I have not clarified is if it affects international boundaries.
We have put up the post this morning re the AHPRA decision and the launch of our community fund to keep the LCHF message going
The web page is
http://www.nofructose.com/introduction/help-be-a-voice-for-lchf-after-gary-is-silenced/
and the Facebook one is off Belinda Fettke No Fructose
https://www.facebook.com/belindanofructose/posts/1175659919195124
The other parts of the AHPRA decision I can live with.
I will not force anyone to eat LCHF, not that I ever did or ever could.
I will show respect to the medical profession (doesn’t stop me from thinking otherwise).
The COI allegation is unproven as I do declare my vested interest for all patients that I send to Nutrition for Life. I admit guilt for not doing that in social media but the doctor/patient relationship is not defined in that context. I pointed out to AHPRA that they shouldn’t be applying jurisdiction in an area that is undefined. That went down like a lead balloon.
I also pointed out that AHPRA don’t govern nutritional advice in Australia. Another lead balloon.
I had a recent notification, again from an anonymous dietitian, and have been investigated for ‘inappropriate’ reversal of someone’s Type 2 Diabetes and was also reported for what I was ‘about to say’ at a hospital food national conference. AHPRA actually asked me for a copy of my speech BEFORE I gave the talk. I refused as it was an infringement of the right of free speech.
AHPRA have just this week decided to close that investigation but have warned me that they will be observing me to see if a ‘pattern of behaviour’ continues, presumably in relation to reversing more patients’ diabetes.
I hear rumours that I have ‘attacked’ health professionals at a personal level – that is simply unfounded and I think started by some naysayers. Alas, I am having some sh!t thrown at me at times. If you hear something, then let me know please.
If this sounds like a horror story, it is. I honestly thought that this would just fade away but strange things do happen when you upset the ‘industry’. Just see what’s happening with Tim Noakes. The only thing in Tim’s favour is that it has gone to court. Mine is a closed process with no right of appeal, unless I can continue to have politicians assist.
My next step is to challenge the process via more closed groups and that will be years of tying me up. I am going the public awareness path as the finding lacks the common-sense conclusion. We are liaising with some media channels and politicians. It’s all we can do.
Any support would be appreciated. Happy to liaise. Feel free to forward this email as it is.
Cheers.
Gary
Gary Fettke
Orthopaedic Surgeon
M.B.,B.S.(University NSW), F.R.A.C.S.(Orthopaedic Surgery), F.A.Orth.A.
Science evolves by being challenged. Not by being followed. @thegaryscience
If you think this is all completely ridiculous, then please circulate widely, and make as much noise as possible.
Dr. Malcolm Kendrick 
I cant even read it all – its such nonsense. 14 years ago I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and told that within months I’d have T2D – for a variety of unrelated reasons I went on the atkins diet – I lost my sugar cravings, I lost 6 stone, I lost my IBS, eczema and arthritis – I went back to my GP who couldnt believe my BS and a1c tests. I told him and he was concerned and sent me for a cholesterol test – this came back as low – in fact he was/is now concerned that my triglycerides were too low and that apparently is a marker for cancer!! You cant win. Anyway, this was 14 years ago and I’m still following low car high fat and feel 14 years younger than I did all of those years ago, I’m active, fit and healthy – Diabetes?? Ironically I am now an administrator and co-ordinator for a diabetes team, who think my diet is dangerous and listening to the nurses instructing patients on what they should eat…………… It was even suggested that I should eat properly, get T2, so that my BS could be measured properly!?
Dear Jo, you have apparently made yourself well by following ‘inappropriate’ advice. You are therefore of no use to the food, drug or health industries. Please resume a diet that will make you ill and dietitians happy.
Cynical doctors have pointed out that being found in possession of well-controlled diabetics may lead to investigation, not to find out how you did it in order to benefit other patients, but in view of disciplinary action for failing to follow NICE guidelines/PCT protocols.
“I had a recent notification, again from an anonymous dietitian, and have been investigated for ‘inappropriate’ reversal of someone’s Type 2 Diabetes”
case in point
Dieticians are equally incensed that the likes of Aseem Malhotra and Rangan Chatterjee have improved the health of patients live on TV. You couldn’t make this stuff up, unless perhaps you were John Brunner.
Yes the wheel turns, recommend the most profitable diet (HCLF based on wheat and industrially produced Omega 6 seed oils) then prescribe the most profitable drugs (statins, BP meds, PPIs, “diabetes” drugs,
I thought of an antidote – buy shares in drug companies then use the profits to buy grass-fed butter and cheese.
I’ve just listened to a spokesman for a diabetes support group on the radio. The host specifically asked him about the benefits of a LCHF diet. His reply (paraphrasing) was, “The most important thing is to lose the fat around your middle. You can do this on a high-carb or a high-fat diet, we don’t mind. When we say high fat we mean olive oil, that sort of thing. We don’t recommend butter or animal fat because everybody knows they give you heart attacks.” (my bold)
In other words, cardiologists are the cause of diabetes! ;o)
Interesting. People involved in cardiovascualr care or nutrition cannot change their views, the narcissic injury would be to painful.
What does “get T2,” mean by the way ?
Umberto,
T2 means type II diabetes, in this context. (Too much abbreviation and acronyms can be counterproductive.)
TJDP !
(Thanks JD Patten ! )
(in tono scherzoso , i.e. teengue in chonk)
I was horrified at this description of the fate of Gary Fettke. It is, I am afraid, a classic example of the arrogant and stupid behaviour of the medical establishment. They claim to know everything but despite their self-deification people continue to die from the official advice. Starbridge B. JAMA, July 26, 2000—Vol 284, No. 4
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=JAMA+2000+284%2C+4+483
put this point in hard facts, namely
• 12000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery
• 7000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals
• 20000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals
• 80000 deaths/year from nosocomial infections in hospitals
• 106000 deaths/year from non-error, adverse effects of medications
Total deaths = 225,000/year of which 106,000 were attributed to properly prescribed and properly used drugs
Pro-rata UK iatrogenic deaths 37500 p.a.
….The fundamental fact ‘is’ that you are not suitably trained or educated as a medical practitioner to be providing advice or recommendations on this topic as a medical practitioner
and
The central issue for my silencing has been that my primary medical degree …. are not satisfactory to give nutritional advice.
So why are doctors not trained in the most important aspect in good health? Are they only trained as identifiers of disease and direct “salespeople” for pharmaceuticals? In training as a vet many decades ago we were told “First you have to know good health” and then we spent a year learning about nutrition.
I will show respect to the medical profession
Given the attitude of a so-called medical institution to truth it raises the issue of why anyone, let alone doctors who have taken the Hippocratic oath, should respect the medical establishment that is so unscientific and opposed to scientific evidence and the discussion and debate of that evidence. This is clearly due to the domination of medicine by Big Pharma and other commercial organizations that have no interest in patients, only the promotion of their financial profits. One is reminded of the Dr Barry Marshall and his treatment by similar establishment figures over Helicobacter pylori and GI ulcers. This is just another example of the plain stupidity of the medical establishment.
AHPRA don’t govern nutritional advice in Australia.
And as doctors they too are not trained in nutrition so that it is highly questionable as to their own knowledge and competence (or ignorance) to make decisions on any nutritional questions.
All I can say is God help patients who are subject to medical “direction” based on this example of medical and nutritional knowledge and understanding of disease.
A recent Dr Zoe Harcombe’s blog gave the following reference (unfortunately behind a paywall)
Dietitians’ practice in giving carbohydrate advice in the management of type 2 diabetes: a mixed methods study P. D. McArdle, et al DOI: 10.1111/jhn.12436
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/jhn.12436/full
May be dietitians should also read the research available, rather than be governed by out-dated ideas. But again it just shows that medical understanding of actual research findings are controlled by financial interests, not patient welfare
” This is clearly due to the domination of medicine by Big Pharma and other commercial organizations that have no interest in patients, only the promotion of their financial profits. ”
====================
Not only this, IMHO.
I think among the strongest reasons why people won’t change their minds are :
– follow the crowds. Every body says so.
– narcissic injury when they’ve been acting along theory A that proves wrong.
– intellectual conflicts of interest: part of the above. But they will defend against anythingthat contradicts their bias. WE CONTRARIANS ARE ALSO prone to this by the way. Do we really examine any hint we might be wrong honestly ? I’m kind of peeved when shown something that “proves” Im wrong. Or not.
– humans are generally opposed to change of old habits. So are apes : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0344qRfAOtA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-PvBo75PDo I think the experiment never was conducted but it is so likely true !
– financial interest.
A few quotes in line with this I like (eminence based science) :
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it. Upton Sinclair (1878 – 1968)
Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. John Kenneth Galbraith
– So you will run away ?
– In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to run away.
TS Eliot
B.,
Yes. Well stated. And, it rather well explains some recent political decisions.
Professor Tim Noaks was NOT ‘dragged to court’ as you put it. He had to appear for a disciplinary hearing in front of the HPCSA, the Health Professional Council in South Africa. He is accused of unprofessional conduct for giving advice via Twitter on how to wean a baby. The hearing should be more about whether a short Tweet constitutes proper medical advice, but has now been altered into a crusade for high-fat low-carb followers.
Congratulations, you have twisted reality through 180 degrees. The low fat high carbohydrate establishment are the ones who started the entire thing. It only became a ‘crusade’ as you choose to define it, because this was clearly an attempt to silence anyone who dares challenge the dietary orthodoxy. The only reason I have not been silenced is because I am extremely careful not to give any individual advice on-line – or even anything that could be construed as such. They attack you wherever and however they can.
I am absolutely no friend of the HPCSA, and yes they have been found corrupt and incompetent. But factual reporting is important.
Then please tell me what you believe the facts in this case to be. I have watched the authorities attempt to crush criticism of the diet-heart/cholesterol hypothesis around the world.
I am rather boggled that advice on weaning a baby (in the absence of a significant medical condition) can be categorised as medical. If the sort of food environment advocated for by Noakes and Fetkke were to materialise, weaning would revert to being the instinctual and commonsense process that it ought to be.
(Perhaps I am a little biased though – having weaned a child with a medical condition onto the diet advised by the health professionals, suffered through its abject failure, and found the answer in a LCHF approach.)
Firstly Dr Kendrick please take care of yourself and thank you for all your efforts. Thank you for posting this information I live in Australia and what has occurred does not surprise me at all. The other thing that doesn’t surprise me was that I didn’t hear about it here. I was very excited when it was announced that the CSIRO had developed a new food pyramid and later a totally new framework for a diabetic diet. I even emailed them about this to say thank you. However I have not seen any of that information disseminated to the public since. I was under the impression due to a number of media interviews with our Health Minister over the last couple of years that the Federal Government had tasked the CSIRO with this as the health bill for the treatment of Type 11 Diabetes was now unsustainable, the human cost is hardly ever mentioned but, I recently lost a dear friend at age 53yrs due to kidney/heart failure from this disease she had a ulcer on her leg which never healed and had already suffered amputations of some toes so I have a personal interest in this subject. Here it seems anything that differs from the current accepted view however is met with vicious and ugly resistance, name calling and calls for them to be de-registered etc.. The interests of the sick seem to placed aside to support the interests of the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, political lobbyists and the medical fraternity who earn their living in the training and teaching of subjects at university etc. Everyone and everything comes under scrutiny we had the issue with Pete Evans and the bone broth when I was born 1946 we did not have the ‘benefit’ of commercially and chemically produced stock cubes and powders so my mother and millions of others made soup using meat bones and bone marrow they were clearly suffering from general ignorance imagine eating whole fresh food; and we all ate it from weaning onwards strangely the chronic diseases that plague us today in the rampant proportions that they do were not that evident. I only ever remember coming into contact as a child with two diabetics both type 1 and it was not until my middle age that I realised that nearly every third or fourth person now was suffering from a diabetic or pre diabetic condition which I found very puzzling. Since then it has only become worse but instead of looking at diet and lifestyle we keep pouring money into finding a ‘magic pill’. What used to be a disease of older persons is now claiming the health and probably the lives of ever and ever younger persons but we won’t even look at any dietary and lifestyle issues outside the current ‘approved standards’ as there is no money in that and anyone who does try at their own time and expense needs to be shut down immediately DO NOT ROCK THE BOAT This boat with it’s passengers of Diabetic Educators, Dieticians, Pharmacists and Doctors who have completed the current courses in diabetic management and their relevant trainers and teachers do not appear to have any intention of making any changes they like things as they are; think about it how dare a doctor not in their field reversing a patients diabetes by encouraging diet and lifestyle changes! How dare he his job is to amputate things: toes, feet, and eventually legs how dare he do anything to interrupt the natural order of things! Where will this end? it is the thin edge of the wedge where would we all be if even half of those with Type 11 Diabetes could be reversed without a ‘magic pill’ by inexpensively changing diet and lifestyle it does not bear thinking about SHUT HIM DOWN. What about our sponsors in big grocery and big soda? They seem to have lost any scientific curiosity and have lost humility and empathy for the people who need it the most the suffering sick and replaced this with self importance, love of money, position and power and for these things they have ceased themselves to be healers and worse prevent others from trying to heal or help. They have forsaken truthfulness and honesty and replaced it with half-truths and often with bullying, threats and legal force they are not ‘dignifying their honourable profession’ when I see these interviewed on the news and hear them spluttering and shouting I know they are only doing this because they have ceased to be seekers of truth! Fortunately I have an off button.
@topsygirl: Preach it, sister!
The HPCSA have been found to be corrupt by their own Government. They are incompetent, stupid and vindictive. Dumb South African dietitians tweet all the time and happily associate with junk food producers and the likes of David Katz. Dietitians wanted to shup Noakes up – pure and simple – and he has made them look like utter fools.
Don’t be so nice to the HPCSA, my own views on them are far more insulting.
I wonder how the Australian Aboriginal people weaned their babies without ‘proper advice’ from doctors and dietitians.
And now that Austalian Aboriginal women are getting advice on what foods to wean infants onto from the experts in tow with commercial food processing industry, look how well that is working out for them! We can now be proud of many generations of healthy, smart and thriving Aboriginal kids who excel in all spheres of learning, productive living and economic independence. We wish….
Weston Price observed in the 1930s that problems in peoples’ health was directly adversely affected by the influence of refined carbohydrates. One of the groups he studied was the Australian Aboriginals, As a dentist he was obviously commenting outside his field of qualification, and no doubt should be posthumously prohibited from commenting.
What I find disgusting in the case of Gary Fettke is that while being accused of failing to declare a vested interest, his industry backed opponemts are able to hide their implied vested interest.
Mathilde,
The Soviets used to imprison dissidents in mental asylums on the grounds that they must be ‘insane’.
Do you see an analogy?
‘Crusade’? What an emotive term, implying an invasion by religious zealots. What’s so wrong with people (even professionals – suspect they’re occasionally human too) promoting lifestyle choices based on empirical evidence? As a 24/7 carer for a diabetic spouse with complex co-morbidities who’s gone down your ‘conventional’ non-crusading route, I’ll refrain from recording my feelings on your use of that word. Now that his condition has put me in sole dietary care, I can only confirm that low-carb has a measurable (eg HP, BP, BM’s etc) effect FOR THE BETTER. But maybe making people better (and taking the strain off unpaid carers, not to mention cost to the NHS) isn’t really part of your non-crusading agenda?
Oh! What criminal acts are we LCHF adherents capable of?
I suggest he does you tube video about it….
The Belinda Fettke No Fructose Facebook page has 29,460 Likes, so far.
A question. Can Gary take this to the Australian courts for review? If the answer is yes then how about passing the hat around globally to fund his costs. Surely, not even Australia is so backward as to deny him a voice.
BTW Andy Harcombe gifted me a a copy of Doctoring Data whilst he was in Cape Town for the Tim Noakes hearing. Great read.
I would imagine the Australian courts would run away from making any such decisions.
No he has no right of reply and cannot take it to court under National Law (not sure where that one resides in the laws of this country) He is gagged for life. The biggest problem for the opposers is LCHF is the natural diet of man for thousands of years and due to some idiots skewing of research results and the junk food and drug companies getting on board we now have a health system overrun with idiots who can’t do their own research and find out the truth and also overrun with sick and dying people and a bill for it that the country can’t jump over. We just have to keep on keeping on. For those of us who follow this way of life we will be the winners. For Gary it’s a sad day when a countries laws prevent you from free speech and also prevent you from continuing to do research and study to gain extra qualifications. This of course is to stop him getting those qualifications and being able to give dietary advise to his patients. We really do not have much freedom of speech or in our lives in general
Probably, Dr.Gary can legally recommend his patients to read a book written by a registered dietitian, for example “The Low Carb Dietitian’s Guide to Health and Beauty” by Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator Franziska Spritzler. Legally it will be a referral to another specialist.
They will fall so hard, when time is due
Are bacteria the basis of aetherosclerosis
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/how-bacteria-sneak-into-your-blood-through-your-mouth/
The inside of the human body is a bacteria-free zone. Bacteria are certainly within you, but they exist only in areas that have a direct channel to the outside world, such as the mouth, intestines and the surface of the skin. These areas are well protected by a layer of cells (epithilial cells) which form a protective barrier to keep away the nasties of the outside world. That’s why there are healthy stomach bacteria, but no healthy liver bacteria. From a certain point of view your lungs and digestive tract still are the outside world, which is why bacteria can get in and live there, sometimes perfectly happily without causing any trouble at all.
Major problems start to happen, however, once bacteria get through that epithelial barrier and into the tissues of your body. Which is why the first bacteria of the new year is the oral bacteria Fusobacterium nucleatum, which has a trick to open up little doors in blood vessels. These aren’t massive holes, not big enough to cause bleeding but large enough to let it and other bacteria into the bloodstream.
Fusobacterium_novum
The bacteria in all their blobby glory! These are actually the related Fusobacterium novum. Image taken from the CDC Public Health Image Library (link below).
This is a big issue, because once the bacteria get into the blood-stream they can travel around anywhere within the body. It’s not just the blood-vessels in the mouth that the F. nucleatum can get into, it can also bypass a lot of other cellular barriers such as the blood-brain barrier that keeps bacteria out of your brain, and the placental barrier that guards the passage of substances between a pregnant mother and the foetus.
The bacteria works by releasing a chemical which is picked up by the cells that make up blood vessels (endothelial cells) and causes the cells to become more permeable. More technically the bacterial chemical (a FadA adhesin) binds to a protein on the cells (vascular endothelial cadherin) that helps to keep the endothelial cells joined together and causes it to migrate away from the cell-cell junction. This opens the junctions up slightly and makes the whole vessel more permeable.
FadA (the bacterial chemical) is an interesting little molecule, and while it’s highly conserved in F. nucleatum and related oral bacterial species, it has been lost in many closely related species which do not populate the human mouth. This is a protein with one specific purpose – to open blood vessels – and where that function is not needed the bacteria has no need for the protein. When it’s first made by the cell it exists in a form called pre-FabA which anchors to the bacterial membrane with the soluble part (the actual FabA) on the outside of the bacteria ready to be deployed.
To test whether the FabA and the cell cadherin could bind, the researchers carried out a whole range of different binding tests (more information in the reference below). First, they did a yeast-two-hybrid screen, a sort of sciency quick and dirty method to see if two proteins can bind each other. Then they took both proteins out of the cell to see if they could bind separately, by sticking one protein to a column and seeing if it could ‘catch’ the other as it was washed through. Finally they put both proteins back in the cell with coloured markers attached to see if the coloured markers appeared in the same places. All of these results, along with the actual structures of the two proteins, suggest very strongly that they bind.
One of the most interesting tests they did was to see whether the F. nucleatum was just opening the floodgates for itself, or whether other bacteria were sneaking in at the same time. They did this by making little wells with endothelial tissue between them. Sure enough, those cultures containing E. coli along with F. nucleatum showed that both bacteria could travel through the endothelium together, whereas in cultures containing only E. coli the bacteria remained on one side of the membrane.
The researchers don’t suggest any way to combat this, they’re more interested in the exciting science, but regularly and gently brushing your teeth can’t hurt! (I should point out here that non-gentle brushing of teeth can damage the gums and open blood vessels anyway, making the clever bacterial tricks somewhat redundant)
—
Credit for image 1.
Reference: Fardini, Y., Wang, X., Témoin, S., Nithianantham, S., Lee, D., Shoham, M., & Han, Y. (2011). Fusobacterium nucleatum adhesin FadA binds vascular endothelial cadherin and alters endothelial integrity Molecular Microbiology, 82 (6), 1468-1480 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07905.x
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Erret
An interesting book by Dr JR Kraft . Diabetes Epidemic & You shows the hyperinsulineamia is associated with arteriosclerosis and also with Type 3 diabetes (also called some cases of Alzheimer’s) Seneff has shown Eur J Intern Med
(2011), doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2010.12.017 that high carb intake is associated with AD
Nutrition is important but the medical establishments are too intent on flogging drugs (Big Pharma is their mentor) to think of anything else.
Regarding your chest infection, I have corresponded with you in the past about my belief that Vitamin D deficiency underlies a number of medical conditions. You might try the “Vitamin D hammer” as described in the following excerpt from a short article by Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg. I acknowledge that you probably don’t have influenza, but I have found Vitamin D to be helpful for other infections because it activates the immune system. By way of context, I started taking 5000 IU daily in December of 2010 and bumped it to 15,000 IU in October of 2012 and I have had no respiratory or other illness during that period. Before then I got colds like everybody else. I am 66 years old, normal weight.
Vitamin D for influenza
Gerry Schwalfenberg, MD CCFP FCFP
http://www.cfp.ca/content/61/6/507.long
excerpt:
The Institute of Medicine recommendation for adults younger than 70 years of age is 600 IU of vitamin D daily. We are told that this would achieve a level of 50 nmol/L in greater than 97.5% of individuals.6 Regrettably, a statistical error has resulted in erroneous recommendations by the Institute of Medicine leading to this conclusion and it might actually take 8800 IU of vitamin D to achieve this level in 97.5% of the population.7 This is a serious public health blunder.
A colleague of mine and I have introduced vitamin D at doses that have achieved greater than 100 nmol/L in most of our patients for the past number of years, and we now see very few patients in our clinics with the flu or influenzalike illness. In those patients who do have influenza, we have treated them with the vitamin D hammer, as coined by my colleague. This is a 1-time 50 000 IU dose of vitamin D3 or 10 000 IU 3 times daily for 2 to 3 days. The results are dramatic, with complete resolution of symptoms in 48 to 72 hours. One-time doses of vitamin D at this level have been used safely and have never been shown to be toxic.8 We urgently need a study of this intervention. The cost of vitamin D is about a penny for 1000 IU, so this treatment costs less than a dollar.
###
If you want to learn more about the IOM statistical blunder, see the following blog post:
http://blogs.creighton.edu/heaney/2015/02/13/the-iom-miscalculated-its-rda-for-vitamin-d/
Thanks for your concern. I am a great believer that vitamin D is very important for health.
Dr Kendrick, visit Australia. There is lots of free Vit D here at this time of year.
Which the authorities instruct you to avoid.
I just persuaded my GP to get mine tested. 95 WITHOUT any supplements.
“Oh, that’ll be the grass-fed butter and cheese” said I, which made her flinch visibly. Probably also what sunshine we have had this year. Coconut oil may also be of use in offing viruses and bacteria.
“By now” (over 11 years) “we would have expected you to be on at least two or three ‘diabetes drugs’. Yet she doesn’t really want to know how I achieved this, plus yet another drop in BP, plus what feels like a significant de-plaqueing of my leg arteries and probably others, all on an unprofitable 5 mg amlodipine and 20mg carbimazole. And she’s the liberal one. Pity . . .
is that bp meds you are taking for your blood pressure.
Circumstantial evidence is nothing, but this autumn I am beginning to doubt that plenty Vit. D will keep the doctor away.
All around me, people have been falling ill since middle of October with stomach bugs, colds, flu like infections. In my own family, we are through our second set of infections in just three weeks. I have been fighting a bug of the flu-like virus kind for more than two weeks, occasional stomach upsets, legs feeing heavy, temperature going up slightly beyond 38°C again and again. Had bloodwork done for a unrelated little accident, CRP of 0.2 mg/l (!), leucocytes 11k / µl, looks like the typical nasty and persistent little virus infection that I tend to get in the February / March time frame.
However, spent two weeks in Southern Italy in first half of September with my family, and on top of that we got plenty of sun well into October and we have no shortage of grass fed dairy and meat at our house. I should add that summer vacations extend until middle of September here, and plenty of my colleagues who have been getting all kinds of bugs since October also got plenty of sun in Italy, Croatia, Greece or France in September and came back with nice tans.
Can’t be lack of Vit.D, that’s for sure!
Unleash the whistle blowers on the “settled science” of what used to be called global warming! They changed the name when “warming” stopped, and spoiled their game. Climate has changed from the beginning of time, and blaming man for natural disasters has also been part of religion through the ages. Climate change disaster scenarios is the new religion, of course.
Gay Corran: I’ve been following an excellent blog, Climate, Etc., since someone on one of the heart disease posts provided a link to it. First-rate science. It is true that the Earth has been warming since the end of the last ice age, but is most certainly not warming in any catastrophic way, and it is likely that greenhouse gases have little to do with it. Ocean currents, solar variation, and a host of other factors are much more powerful climate-modifiers, and are likely the primary drivers of warming. Sea level rise over the 20th century has averaged 1.7 mm per year , 10.7 cm for the entire century, slow enough to easily plan for. Climate change is not a hoax, but catastrophic climate change most certainly is, and the UN response to it will probably do more harm than good. We simply don’t, and can’t know, what the future climate will look like with any certainty. We may be in for decades of cooling, which would be a serious problem for Europe, as the Little Ice Age was.
Thank you, Gary. What an excellent, succinct summing up of the climate position as it now faces us!
Replying to your comment above (“which the authorities advise you to avoid”)
My understanding of the common knowledge/”facts” regarding skin cancer in Australia are:
1) We have comparatively high rates of skin cancer
2) Some of this is due to a hole in the ozone layer (this was a big focus in the late 80’s/early 90s, though I haven’t heard much about this for many years)
3) We are very heavily instructed to cover up with both clothes and sunscreen
4) Only very recently have we seen any decrease in incidence of skin cancer, though campaigns such as slip, slop slap have been going for 30+ years.
5) There seems to be a greater incidence of skin cancer in Queensland
6) Vitamin D etc is vital and yet we are “taught” 10cm of exposure before 10am for 10 minutes.
I struggle to reconcile these “facts/beliefs”
I’d be VERY interested in yours (or others) thoughts and research (or a pointer to someone you respect) in these areas.
Joe: Watch the video of a presentation by a Scottish dermatologist who visited Australia. I saw it on the fat emperor blog. Think you would find it interesting.
Joe: the hole in the ozone layer might explain high rates of skin cancer in Australia. There is also some evidence that UV-A, previously considered harmless, may actually cause skin cancer in the absence of UV-B. Now, most building and car glass happens to filter UV-B but UV-A not so much. Go figure…
Dr Kendrick,
If you believe your infection is viral, you might try a proteolytic enzyme supplement which includes mucolase. I currently have bronchitis, and it has been helping me. It must be taken on an empty stomach, and I have a bit of trouble remembering to take it as often as one is supposed to. But I’m not nearly as sick as usual with bronchitis – don’t feel as if I’m suffocating, even while sitting up straight.
Hope you feel better soon.
Dear Dr Kendrick, I agree wholeheartedly with Ted and would like to urge you to test your 25-OH-D level, and bring it up to over 125 nmol/l. It is only at levels well over 100 nmol/l, that there is enough free vitamin D in the body to help the immune system. (below 100, it is all converted into 25-OH-D immediately).
A quote from this Grassrootshealth newsletter:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs187/1102722411090/archive/1121742525239.html
#2 – The Autocrine/Paracrine System – for autoimmune health
“What has not been appreciated until relatively recently is that in addition to being delivered to the liver for conversion to 25(OH)D, vitamin D is also delivered directly to all tissues of the body. Many of these tissues, such as breast, colon, prostate, and brain, can convert vitamin D to its active form within the tissue. It is through this process that vitamin D can help enable the cells to fight against infections, disease, and autoimmune disorders. Vitamin D has a half life in the autocrine system of roughly 24 hours, so in order for it to have a meaningful impact on cellular functions, you need a new supply of it every day. This new understanding means that frequency of dosing matters when testing for disease reduction and immune control – large monthly or quarterly doses that are effective for bone health will not show positive results for disease reduction. For disease prevention and treatment, daily dosing (food, sun, supplement) is very important!”
Get well soon!
How do you get tested in the uk. Do you take vk2 with vd.
jack: https://betteryou.com/vitamin-d-testing-service
I haven’t used it since I am not in the UK, but have used a similar test here (NL).
I do take vit K2 as MK4 (the science on vit K seems to be quite young, and how much to take and in which form (MK7 vs. MK4) is not quite clear yet I think). And magnesium.
Eric
Have you had your Vit D levels checked? If you have been following medical advice and slapping on the sun screen you could be deficient in Vit D. In these latitudes the sun is weak except at peak hours.
mikecawdery: I haven’t had vitamin D levels checked but I am confident they must be high after this beautiful summer and fall. I put on (mineral based, SPF 20 sunscreen) when I knew I would be in the sun for hours but conciously didn’t for shorter exposures, so I got plenty of exposure and a nice tan. I am sure I also get plenty through my food.
This is exactly my point. What I have been experiencing around me, in my family and on myself is what I can blame on low vitamin D levels if it occurs early in the year when it usually does, but not in October / November after a beautiful summer and autumn and with an extra visit in southern Italy.
I had two weeks of constant sun in August, then got this bug in September.
From an evolutionary perspective, our vitamin D used to be pretty constant (living near the equator, little clothing). The large fluctuations in 25-OH-D you get at higher latitudes between summer and winter are not a good thing. As soon as you get back from your sunny vacation your level starts to fall and people get sick, because they don’t get the daily vitamin D anymore. It is only the ‘fresh’ or free vitamin D that helps your immune system. The stored form of vitamin D may still be high, but that is used mainly for keeping your bones healthy. It cannot enter the cells directly. So we need supplements.
Here is dr. Bruce Hollis (vitamin D researcher) talking about daily dosing. He explains it a lot better than me.
Same with my relatives in northern Germany. Maybe we are experiencing a pandemic of a vitamin D resistant superbug that is very persistent but causes mainly low- to medium level illness?
(just joking, I think strange waves of people catching colds in falls have not been unknown to occur)
How old are you guys?
It all to often happens that the capacity to synthesize D from – yes – cholesterol diminishes with age.
Also, you can’t assume that you have enough D to make a difference if you haven’t been sunning or dosing with tablets DAILY.
The only way to gain the actual knowledge (That’s what we’re all here for, right?) is to get a 25(OH)D blood test.
TedL
I will try those 50 000 IU D3 now – I hate being in bed!
For the first time in seven years on my strict LCHF I was floored by a vicious flu a week ago which I attribute to a “slack” attitude towards carbs during the last month and an equally slack attitude to taking my daily 5 000 IU D3 and other supplements. Since I have been so healthy and so fine for so long I thought I might have been overdoing things.
I will be interested to know if it is helpful. I have coaxed most of my family to take 5000 IU per day with results similar to mine. Two winters ago my then 94-year-old mother came down with a mild case of pneumonia. I expressed my surprise given the vitamin D and she told me that she had stopped several weeks earlier because it didn’t seem to be making any difference. She resumed taking the 5000 IU daily dose and will celebrate her 97th birthday in a few weeks.
TedL,
Funny!
And interesting!
I think it is a mild form of pneumonia I have got. Could it be that you get used to the high levels of vitamin D and when not taking them for a while as I have done you get more vulnerable?
We’ll see. I took those 50 000 IU yesterday.
Goran, it could be your recent visit to Lappland. Apparently each region has its own distinct bacterial profile, caused by the bugs fighting it out among themselves and reaching a stable ecosystem. Your immune system gets used to your local bugs. But when you travel, you meet a different set of bugs your immune system might not be accustomed to. Result: ‘flu.
What about Vit C. Klenner in the 1940-70s demonstrated clinical benefit in many infectious conditions (bacterial and viral) with massive doses of vitamin C I/V. Orally he treated to tolerance (ie until diarrhoea). There is also oral Liposomal Vit C which is better absorbed.
It is also more effective than turning off life support.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Living-Proof-Vitamin-C—Miracle-Cure/tabid/371/articleID/171328/default.aspx
This is the story of a NZ farmer who was condemned to death by doctors but saved by family insisting on Vit C therapy
http://www.odt.co.nz/print/126632
Ted—-I also use Vit. D at 10,000 iu per day with K2 , Vit A and C—-and if I happen to feel like I may be developing a fever etc. I take that same dose two times a day until I feel better—–I haven’t had to do that since 2004—-my last test 25-Hydroxy was 108 ng/ml—–I’m 64—-
how much K2 , Vit A and C. any good for reducing bp
My serum level is 104 ng/ml. Vitamin K2 is one of several Vitamin D cofactors, Dr. John Cannell has a useful list of Vitamin D cofactors https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-and-other-vitamins-and-minerals/
Check out this book- Human Heart, Cosmic Heart by Thomas Cowan, MD. Martin
Sent from my iPhone
>
“The central issue for my silencing has been that my primary medical degree and my further qualifications as an Orthopaedic Surgeon are not satisfactory to give nutritional advice”.
How ironic, since many of those who DO have “satisfactory” qualifications consistently give harmful, even dangerous advice. I asked some clear thinkers from history, and this is what they had to say:
“If you attack stupidity you attack an entrenched interest with friends in government and every walk of public life, and you will make small progress against it”.
– “Samuel Marchbanks” (a fictional persona created by Robertson Davies)
“Being right too soon is socially unacceptable”.
– Robert A. Heinlein
“In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone”.
– John Kenneth Galbraith
“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong”.
– Voltaire
Tom Welsh
Every experts should be made to learn those quotations by heart. Many thanks for reminding me
“Premature Anti-Fascism”…
“This decision is non-appealable under National Law. The determination is life long and by its wording, does not allow me to even do research in the area or gain further qualification because that would involve me communicating in the area of nutrition. The only thing I have not clarified is if it affects international boundaries”.
This strikes me as extremely ironic, given the equally dogmatic and vindictive way in which Australian politicians have accused Russia of atrocities such as the shooting down of MH17.
Such people do not seem to have noticed that the Russia of 2016 is democratic, free-market capitalist, and deeply Christian. While Australia seems to have switched places with the USSR.
Russia is democratic and deeply Christian? What planet are you from?
Tom, doesn’t democracy require some at least some parts of the media to speak freely? This is a country that kills journalists and invades its neighbours. The Russian people are told nearly every day that we want to invade or destroy them.
Actually, Russia has a long history of being invaded by foreign powers. As well as attempts to dismember it. It’s not surprising that Russians are paranoid.
Sasha: You’re absolutely right. Russians experienced tremendous suffering during the 20th century, from without and from within. Without Russian sacrifices, the West would have had much more difficulty defeating Hitler; the eastern front was a critical turning point. We in the West owe them a debt of gratitude, just as the French are grateful for our role in freeing them from the Nazis. As awful as Putin is, he’s no fool, and is quite right to be wary of NATO.
Gary: I agree. I have friends who are no fans of Putin government. But to see the current Russia NATO situation as just an “evil vs good” problem is too simplistic. It also means that people don’t know history that stretches at least to the Crimean War in which the British Empire supported the Ottomans in their struggle against the Russian Empire. What were the British doing in Crimea, half way across the world from them?
And to bring it back to this blog: Campbell Soups recently had to end their operations in Russia because no self respecting Russian will ever eat soup out of a can! Maybe the West can learn something about what constitutes real food from those anti-NATO “savages”)))
Sasha: Bingo! I think it may be inherent to human nature to think we know better than other folks who are different. The settlers in North America wiped out the indigenous people, as did the settlers in Australia, without bothering to ask them how they maintained the forests and soils and themselves in such good health. Dr. Price found broad dental arches with a full set of teeth and zero cavities among the aboriginal mouths he looked into, and among the North American indigenous people, very few cavities and excellent health, unlike those eating the “displacing foods of modern commerce” promoted today by the authorities around the world in service to industry. They deserve to be thrown in jail. Bread and water for them. No sugar!
Like the US continued attempts and actions against whistle blowers, hackers and Wikileaks? Currently US media and Government seem to be on a par in terms in the realms of mis- and dis-information with Russia. Personally, I do not trust politicians and their shills of any shade or nationality.
mikecawdery: I couldn’t have said it better myself. The world has gone mad. In our recent presidential election we had a choice between the oligarch’s best friend and someone who never says the same thing two days in a row. In short, no choice at all. The best thing we all can do is take care of family, friends, and community, home and hearth, and keep our pitchforks sharp. We can live honorably despite the fact that our those in charge either forgot or never learned how. But I think we’re in in for a rough patch because globalism has made most of us poorer and more powerless, and this will accelerate.
You are not well-informed. There is a totalitarian government in Russia right now which is tightly knit with a Russian mafia. Everything is very corrupt including the head of Russian Christian church which was given privileges in exchange for the current government support.
That eminent people can demonstrate so clearly the benefits of LCHF on those who struggle to be healthy any other way speaks volumes. It is as obvious as the nose on your face that those losing out, financially or otherwise cannot allow this daring idea to take hold.
Dr Kendrick, sometimes can’t hurry nature, you will have to wait a little longer. Early to bed and cosset yourself.
You are right. I went off and played squash when feeling rubbish. I think this was not a good idea.
Really? I can strongly recommend whisky with a little sugar and hot water. Won’t cure anything, but goes down well!
Can’t help smiling – they do say doctors are the worst patients. Squash?!
I do hope you feel much better soon Dr Kendrick – you’ve had a rotten few weeks by the sound of it.
Dr Malcolm, I’ve had that cough too! Here is something that really helped – at bedtime, a slug of whisky, some freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus rind and a dollop of honey to taste, topped up with boiling water. Sip. Very soothing and slept all night.
Absolutely outrageous! But of course, reversing diabetes without drugs cannot possibly be allowed! Nor can we be allowed to survive without statins and blood pressure lowering drugs. And of course antidepressants are essential for survival these days as well. Take your medication, people, exercise every day, eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and pasta and pizza for dinner, and the pharmaceutical companies will survive…
Gay, Tom and all
My wife and I follow Prof Noakes (and Dr K, Dr Malhotra, Dr Fung, Dr Fettke#, and many others). My wife is diabetic – however through LCHF she no longer takes insulin injections, blood pressure meds, statins (all under local GP instructions), and has lost 30 Kg. Her BG is around 6. With we presume minimal Beta cells probably minimal natural insulin. So we say her diabetes is in remission. I have also had dramatic improvement in my health. It worked and works for us.
So i say to the AHPRA you are so so wrong. This is a polite blog, I am so angry I want to say it in far far stronger terms but Dr K would probably delete my post.
#Listened to Dr Fettke in Feb 2015 Health Conference in Cape Town – amazing story.
Thank you for being polite. There are times when it is tricky, I know. But it is important, I think.
how long was she on bp meds and how did it take to come off them. Was this just by going low carb. thanks.
Jack
on BP meds for a number of years (around 6 or more). After going LCHF AND losing weight her BP slowly came down – the combo is important – obesity in itself usually increases BP. So doc removed BP meds. Always use a LCHF friendly doc don’t do it on your own.
in my case when i got down to goal weight (BMI < 25) my BP on 1/2 dose BP Meds fell to 95/60. After dropping BP meds it has settled at 110/70.
hope that helps
Thanks. But where do you find that type of doc.
Cape Town
thanks to Prof Noakes – Banting (as LCHF is known locally) is well known but not well accepted – though this is grudgingly gradually changing. I think it has been through patient pressure such as “look at me it works” which cannot be easily dismissed.
Maybe something very good can come out of this and Noake’s case. That more people see the behind the scenes manipulations and farcical behavior of regulatory bodies, and take matters into their own hands, throwing out the low fat, high carb suggested way to disease.
Yes, ellifield, but it upsets me to see people’s personal and professional lives destroyed so unfairly, not to mention the power of vested interest flexing its muscles to silence them. Gary and Tim are but two of a number of people who have put their heads over the parapet for everyone and are taking the hits for us. It is horrible to see. I sincerely hope that good prevails and that these honourable and courageous people are publicly vindicated.
ellifeld
my experience with people and our LCHF journey to health is that there is an interested thinking minority who embrace (and benefit from) this lifestyle, a thinking majority who are in denial (and will only change, perhaps, when they are seriously diseased), some who pay lip-service to the concept (give up when it does not work), and the ignorant who abdicate their health to doctors prescribing ever increasing meds. I am reminded of the parable of the sower.
therefore, the question is: how is the message spread – your health is your own responsibility – be accountable to yourself and your family. Some/many could benefit from any of the many (generic) LCHF diets or, if you dont like this approach then consume real food and avoid sugar and manufactured / processed junk food.
This is as far-sighted as imprisoning Galileo was, and seems almost on a par with the treatment of political dissidents under totalitarian regimes!
However, it seems incumbent upon these people to tread very carefully if they rely on the establishment for their income, and if they want to stay in the position where they can do most good. But I cannot understand the vitriol and mudslinging from the opposition (they shouldn’t even be opposition, TBH). It seems they would rather that we all took meds and ate carbs, which is ridiculous. And who the hell are they to tell me what to eat and think?
Blood pressure appointment tomorrow, could be fun!
Sarah, it always reminds me of poor Ignaz Semmelweiss in Vienna who made doctors wash their hands after carrying out post-mortems and before going to deliver babies. Mothers were dying in droves until he made the change, but he was ridiculed because ‘bad air’ caused disease.
Galileo was declared a heretic and his work banned until 1822, but he’s remembered as a hero, whilst his critics are seen as ignorant fools.
What??
In 2010 I was diagnosed with “pre-diabetes”. My A1c was 5.8%. I knew enough to fear diabetes, but what was this pre thing?
(More about pre:
http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/pre-diabetes-prevention-too-soon/ )
My point main for our blog here is that six years ago, at my local Massachusetts hospital’s diabetes clinic, I was given the advice by the registered nurse in charge, to eat low carb. (Not much was said about fat, one way or the other.) I was given a rough print-out of low glycemic foods for a guide. Something makes us ahead of the game here??
Turns out the definitive low glycemic guide is – wait for it – . . . . Australian.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/
Lots of cognitive dissonance going on.
So many vested interests and ivory towers in Australia and no vocal opposition. We are a well-behaved mob of sheep. Even in my private life I keep my own counsel – too tiring to try to explain but I win as I know I look far upunger than I am! I refused to get on the scales for my doctor to weigh me ( I look healthy and slim do WTF). Zombie medicine !!!
On a related note – the Veterinarian Board in Australia has banned a pet owner from receiving any care for any current or future pets, because she had the audacity to critcize the care her pet received.
http://truthaboutpetfood.com/one-pet-owners-fight-in-australia/
Tim Noakes is being persecuted for saying too much sugar in any form is bad for you, thus threatening the profits of the companies producing hi carb products. Where is free speech. What is the difference between answering questions on a talk show or in the media and his tweet .He did nothing except give his opinion. Where in the world did these dieticians get their diets from, and then claim that only they are correct. There is no one correct diet for all of us. Egos have been built on fraud. Imagine the consequences to the egos built on fraud if they are proven wrong.That is why they will do anything to preserve the status quo ,and kill people. 1984 by George Orwell is here if highly qualified doctors are treated like this. Very scary indeed. The mind boggles that they(HPC) claim to be the only ones to posess ALL knowledge and are protected at all cost , even if wrong.
Leon
And here I was, thinking Australia might be one of the safe English speaking places to retreat to from this US Executive Branch development.
Oh no, your Orange hair success is bringing out the worst in our orange hair brigade (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Hanson). I was thinking that the US might actually be safer…
Couple orange hair with our staunch anti refugee policy and Mr Trump looks a little soft.
I agree with the parallel.
I am very relieved to have let my Veterinary registration lapse – I now feel free to point out the absolute lunacy of marketing products like Hills as anything other than junk food. There is a huge amount of literature to support this claim – however most vets will not see it, as they will not find it in the veterinary journals (which, with regards to small animal nutrition, are filled with junk science).
I have practising colleagues who suffer for their stance though. One was recently banned from attending a Continuing Education event (these are required to maintain your registration) because it was sponsored by Hills, and my colleague did not retail any Hills products from her clinic. The coordinators gave this explanation without a hint of comprehension regarding what an absolute bloody scandal that is.
Pets are our canary in the mine.
nnmlly, I’m so happy to hear your opinion of Hills products. I have a nephew who owns a grooming parlour and he’s very into natural food for dogs. He gets a local butcher to manufacture dog food according to his formula, a mixture of offal and veggies, which he sells commercially. I dog-sit his animals occasionally. His dog food looks like an utterly revolting mincemeat mush, but the dogs love it. They are well-behaved and energetic, with lovely soft fur that never smells; the picture of health, in fact.
My sister on the other hand has a little Maltese cross which is in and out of the vet. Currently it’s on cortisone for itchy skin and heart pills because it makes a sort of suppressed sneeze which is apparently due to a heart condition. It gets the best and most expensive Hills pellets to eat.
I tell her to give him our nephew’s natural dog food, not the pellet rubbish, but she won’t listen to me. She will always do what the vet says. She also does what the doctor says, which is why she’s on statins. For the sake of peace, I don’t don’t press the point. She knows what I think, but I don’t make an issue of it.
Holly
As a vet I deplore such attitudes. No doubt the pet food industry was involved. When training diabetes in dogs of the Type 2 variety was virtually unknown. Now, I fear that pet foods have a large carb content and diabetes and obese dogs are common. My dogs have been fed on sell-off meat products in supermarkets with limited biscuit. – often cheaper than tins. After all they are carnivores not herbivores.
A couple of years ago, my aging cat started to drink a lot of water and use her litter box a lot more. I thought, maybe she’s diabetic, so I went to the pet store, thinking I’d try a little low carb cat food for a change and see how she did. But the pet store refused to even sell it to me without a Rx from the vet.
Mike, I checked a friend’s supposedly expensive dog food and found it was full of wheat, corn and rice. It was mostly cheap carbohydrates. I tried to persuade my friend to get cheap, fatty waste meat from the butcher, but my friend says vets wouldn’t sell this food if it wasn’t good for dogs.
Yes clueful vets are aware of this. Also clueful livestock farmers may tell you they feed grains to their animals specifically to fatten them, and that overfeeding grains, especially wheat, makes them ill
Actually the authorities are right and I’m a bit shocked that they would openly admit that a medical degree does not qualify or confer upon doctors the right to dispense nutrition and dietary advice fro the simple fact that they do not study and are not trained in it and thus are NOT qualified.
A big part of the nutritional problem in the world is MD’s practicing nutrition and dietetics without the license, education and training by assuming the MD gives them that right when it does not.
It has never been officially sanctioned, and MD’s are usually never censured for it, but they are allowed to presume the right to dispense nutrition and dietary advice because it supports the financial interests of the government-medical-pharmaceutical practice of treatment of symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs.
There’s huge money to be made by managing but not curing or preventing disease, and the Australians have focused the spotlight on the problem. The simple solution for physicians other than Fettke is to go get the officially sanctioned nutrition and dietary education, training and the licence and then continue damning the nutritional and dietary status quo full speed ahead.
If all the dietary advice, in this area, is wrong (which I believe that it is), then all you will do is learn nonsense. The idea that you cannot question anything that you have not been ‘trained’ for is also nonsense. If this were true the experts and the status quo would never change, for change rarely – if ever – comes from within.
Yes I’ve read this from a number of people in the US and UK who dropped out of dietician training because they were expected to learn and regurgitate dogma and little else.
“Education teaches you what questions NOT to ask. The failures become scientists” (unattributed, anyone know who came up with this?)
Exactly. Fortunately for us history is littered with people who turned out to be pioneers in their field, and by that description, were untrained.
Chris
see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596240/
ABSTRACT
Science begins by asking questions and then seeking answers. Young children understand this intuitively as they explore and try to make sense of their surroundings. However, science education focuses upon the end game of “facts” rather than the exploratory root of the scientific process. Encouraging questioning helps to bring the true spirit of science into our educational system, and the art of asking good questions constitutes an important skill to foster for practicing scientists.
Maybe our (Australia’s) “health” disaster started in schools by not teaching science correctly?
robert lipp: You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head! I think the main reason the Scandinavian countries are always world leaders in educational achievement is that the 4-6 age-group, many of them, have school in the forest, under minimal supervision, doing not only independent discovery, but the sort of self-directed social interaction that fosters cognitive development. What do we do here in the U.S.? Shove them into a desk to memorize their alphabet and numbers practically as soon as they can walk! This is sheer knuckleheadedness, and the age of shoving continues to grow younger. We have academic programs on CD to be played to them in utero! It’s no wonder we keep electing idiots.
Thank you Dr Kendrick for that comment. It is absolutely true. As a vet researcher I have always worked in close contact with nutritionists, nutritional chemists in research nutritional institutes and even published on the nutritional effects of disease. Of course progress depends on lateral thinking and challenging current beliefs though sometimes novel ideas can go awry. As an example I give you BSE following the introduction of bovine/ovine meat meal to cattle. But scrapie in sheep has been around for centuries and until relatively recently sheep brains were a delicacy in human cuisine without problems in humans.
In research things can go wrong but dangerous results should not be hidden as is sometimes the case in pharmaceutical research in the interests of profit.
Robert Lipp, that’s an excellent paper.
My mother brought me up to be naturally curious, to the extent I always found it difficult to concentrate on just one subject Obviously she had more success with the kids in her classes, long after she retired people would come up to her in the street and say
“Didn’t you used to be Miss C?” then regale her with tales of how much they enjoyed her class and how much they learned.
I went to a stuffy old fashioned Grammar School where I learned that questioning Authority was seen as not showing Respect to your Betters. So I suspect did a lot of Top People, hence their total inability to run anything. I’ve met no end of managers and directors who have a sort of aggressive/arrogant incompetence. (I also met not a few who actually had very sharp minds, enough that I could tell the difference).
I see exactly the same thing in dietary and other research *cough*Kevin Hall *cough”Stephan Guyenet where dogma trumps science. Oops I said a bad word.
chris c and AH Notepad
Sorry long time coming to respond – have at last found some quotes that may fit…
Voltaire quotes:
Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. (How true for Noakes and Fettke and many others.)
The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom. (Global warming hoax and dear parentally abused greta.)
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. (Thank you Dr K; you are judged and found to be exceptional good at questioning – long may it continue.)
This all seems rather appropriate in a number of areas of modern discourse.
Climate Change – global warming hoax. Health science = LCHF (generic definition) attacks. anti-globalism protests by voters.
I find this all a lot of fun!
Strangely enough, when no one was ‘qualified’ in nutrition there was almost no obesity.
Dietitians views are wrong almost all of the time and you want to limit advice to these blinkered dimwits? If you think ‘qualified’ means knowledgeable in this field, you need to get out more.
I think dietitians add value in areas such as nutrition in intensive care, and specific medical conditions etc. However, in the area of type II diabetes/weight loss – they should be ignored. They have been taught nonsense, and they regurgitate nonsense.
Are the Australian medical boards telling us (in a very chilling manner) what’s in store for those of us who question their advice?
Australian pet owner banned from receiving any care from an licensed vet
http://truthaboutpetfood.com/one-pet-owners-fight-in-australia/
(do apologize if this is duplicate post … )
It is, but probably worth repeating.
These cases show how frightened the vested interests are, particularly dietitians and their junk-food sponsors. The longer they fight, the greater the eventual backlash. At some point, Garry Fettke will be seen as a public health hero. He already is to many people.
Is there a ‘profession’ more despised than ‘dietitian’? Of course, I exempt the few sane and brave ones who resist this official idiocy.
Stephen,
Second hand car salesmen?
Robert, it’s just possible that I might need a second-hand-car saleman, but I wouldn’t trust a nutritionist to tell me the time. I’d assume they were looking at their watch upside down, which is their approach to food.
Stephen T
Surely you mean dietitian. Nutritionists are frequently chemists or biochemists and in my experience very rigorous in their work though if they do not have chemistry training, would they not be better described as dietitians?
Stephen T
I have recommended the book by Feinman (The World Turned Upside Down: The Second Low-Carbohydrate Revolution). Feinman is a nutritional biochemist who has lectured to medics in training. He explains in chemical detail and processes why the high carb advice is simply wrong.
I would also like to recommend Dr James LeFanu’s book The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine. Well written and having lived through the time span that the book covers I believe it to be very much on target.
Mike, yes I mean dietitians. I’m well aware of Professor Feinman’s work and have watched his interviews with Ivor Cummings. Dr LeFanu’s book sounds good and I’ll add it to my list.
Pick up any book on LCHF/banting/paleo and you’ll find a wide variety of whole unprocessed foods, loads of vegetables, meat from ethically bred animals – they encourage us to prepare our own meals, which brings us closer to nature, local retailers – benefits reach further than our personal health – but at the same time we are told by health and other authorities that this not the way to go! That’s insane!
Very good
It is amazing that they admit that your basic, general medical training gives you no knowledge or authority to guide patients in nutrition! Crazy too that I could set up a website and start hiving advice without your knowledge of the human body and the interconnectedness of its systems and be untouchable by the medical board. Maybe you could gather studies as to whether a lchf diet works better for bone healing … The revolution is slow but steady. There is always a pushback against new ideas. I hope that Tim Noakes’ trial will prove the value of lchf. Meanwhile let’s just continue to reverse diabetes and high blood pressure and obesity while we wait. All the best to you. 💐
Dr. Gary Fettke, if you read this, I’m terribly sorry of the injustice you have received in your native country. Simple dietary advice shouldn’t cost one his medical license. If you should find yourself leaving for new lands I suspect you will receive a warm welcome in America. Work can be found for caring doctors.
We have our many faults here also in America with our medical system. Medical authorities can be just as vicious toward physicians and surgeons that go against the system. We do though have some of the top pariahs here. Dr. Andrew Wakefield works in America now. I have to admit I’m not sure what his work involves but recall seeing a mention on that. Professor Peter Duesberg works here. If you meet him he is likely to ask if you have a Carrera. And there are others in similar circumstances that fled their countries for better opportunities or have remained doing what can be done to protect themselves.
If you do have the opportunity to practice in America, I might suggest looking into some of the creative ways some doctors have gone to protect themselves. As an example, Dr. Kendrick here on the sight has mention on the similarities between religion and modern medical practices. In America some doctors have combined the two, religion and medicine. It isn’t done in a strange sermon way. We have freedom of religion laws. Some doctors have used those laws to their advantage.
You really should give up smoking Dr. Kendrick. Hope you feel better soon.
So what is going to happen to Dr. Troy Stapleton? He is practicing in Australia also and just trashed the DAA (Diabetics Association of Australia).
What an excellent report, thank you for that. Simple to understand for non medics, as is Dr Sarah Hallberg.
Can add
Reversing Type 2 diabetes starts with ignoring the guidelines | Sarah Hallberg | TEDxPurdueU
What has happened to empirical observation? It is no less valuable than so called gold standard double blind research. Ah, I forget, we must have faith, faith in the ‘truth’ of scientific researdh, and not in the heresy of clinical observation. God help those who dare to question the orthodoxy.
You can read further about Gary Fettke’s story and also provide practical support. He and his vision are totally worth it: https://twitter.com/fructoseno/status/797560892317663232. #IStandWithGaryFettke
Well, I guess vested interests must come first, and health a poor second. What a sad reflection on the society we live in.
A truly depressing censorship of Gary Fettke -someone desperately trying to reduce the amount of diabetic legs he saws off each week.
I would like to inject a ray of hope: Here in the UK the NHS may not be quite as blind as it may first appear. I was helped with my diabetes from within…. it was done with a nudge and a wink, but it is clear to me that the undercurrents are there. If you are interested here is my story : https://t.co/tSinm9GVAc Baloo the Fat Bear Gets Thin
More recently, I innocently asked my diabetes consultant (after receiving a HBA1C of 5.4% whilst on LCHF) “are the NHS still saying all diabetics’ meals should be based on starchy carbohydrates?” I was heartened to hear the consultant say ” ooh no its not as simple as that anymore”
I then asked her why this “Healthy Living” leaflet produced by Eli Liily and picked up by me in the diabetes waiting room states…. “Eat regular meals based on starchy carbohydrate foods (e.g. bread, pasta, chapatis, potatoes,rice and cereals)”
erm… long pause… ” i will ask the nurse to remove that”.
The leaflet was right next to Eli Lilly’s “Insulin” leaflet. I return in a few weeks, so i shall check out the leaflet stand with interest.
I am now talking to my local Doctor’s surgery, and along with another diabetic (also eating Low Carb), we have joined the Patient Participation Group and put it to them that we should have a Diabetes Self Help group. It was approved and we are now waiting to talk to the practice nurse and lead diabetes Doctor. I am hoping that we can entice them to help our local diabetics using the same method as the brilliant and NHS award winning GP Dr Unwin (and his wife Dr Unwin) from Liverpool, England.
Dr Unwin has offered his patients a choice between drugs and a low carb diet. He saved £45000 in one year just in diabetes medications alone… whats more he has found the part in the NICE guidelines that supports a Doctor in the UK to offer low carbohydrate advice:
The slide on page 13 of Dr Unwins presentation (linked below) is why the Gary Fetkke debacle should not happen in the UK.
Click to access Dr-David-Unwin-Dr-Jen-Unwin-Success-For-People-With-Diabetes-In-Primary-Care-And-Beyond.pdf
In Sweden when they were about to withdraw the license from Dr. Annika Dahlqvist 2008 for advocating LCHF diets to her diabetic and overweight patients she was finally cleared. Then it was also stated the health care system must support those patients who choose to follow LCHF instead of medication.
However it is a constant struggle and the dietitian association just “hates” us – wonder why?
Bribery and corruption. I suspect without bothering to look that they are sponsored by the same cartel of drug companies, carbohydrate processors and margarine manufacturers as in most other countries.
The whole thing about what is accepted ‘evidence-based’ medicine is a bit of a joke in this country. When my then 4 year old was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, we came out of hospital with a meal plan that consisted mainly of carbohydrate. When someone is allergic to peanuts, you don’t give them peanuts with an adrenaline infusion. As a GP, I questioned the dietician recommendations, but was told this was ‘best practise’.
I have no doubt that Gary Fetteke’s ideas, research and LCHF advice are going to,over time, become accepted and mainstream practise and we will eventually be told that the evidence now shows this. And no apologies will be made to those who were wronged in the process. Ridiculous! Especially that ADA recommendations clearly aren’t working for our society.
My advice to Australian readers is this – inevitably their GPs will still advise them to eat less saturated fat to lower cholesterol. Inevitably anserine medics will make the same claim in the media. Every time this happens, report them to the APRHA.
After all, Gary’s judgment was that even if his advice becomes mainstream medical dogma, he’s still not qualified to repeat it.
So this is true of all Aussie medics repeating the current dogma.
Bury these Nazis in their own bullshit.
Its a thought.
As a little anecdote, I have a friend who is a (recently trained – and in some areas rather rebellious (advocating for and going on strike over long working hours)) Australian GP. We caught up for dinner one night and one of the items on the menu was a salad with Duck as the main ingredient. Most of us thought it sounded delicious. Her (the GP) comment was – “I couldn’t have that – If I even look at animal meat, my cholesterol goes through the roof.”
I enjoyed the Duck, she looked on jealously whilst eating something vegetarian.
I think your comments are a little harsh – I don’t think there is intent of misleading – just that with the little training (misguided) the receive and the working conditions they are under, they try to do the best they can.
Hi Malcolm, I’ve been reading quite a bit recently about the potato diet or hack. It would seem from the reports that I’ve read that some good results have been obtained in weight reduction, blood sugar control and blood pressure reduction. Do you know much about it and if so your thoughts? John
I have heard of it, don’t know much about it. My first impression is that is seems unlikely, but I shall look into it more thoroughly at some point.
Thank you
This is scarier than just about anything else I’ve ever read!
In my eyes the whole medical field is totally corrupt and criminal which perhaps is about the same thing.
If you as I have realized that all those stenting and by-pass operations will not prolong the life of all those millions of CVD patients subjected to these procedures you wonder if you are in a Kafka world, that the diabetes care where they feed the patients carbs that make them thick and sicker and sicker it is just insane, that the nutritional advise they give to us with or without CVD works to clog our arteries, and with the psychiatric “care” which is just contra-productive then you wonder if it is any end to the insanity in our health care system.
I doesn’t help to cry but I don’t know what to do but just cry.
You don’t need to give advice to be a target. Unlike Gary and Tim, I have never given individual medical advice on diet, yet I have been the subject of multiple investigations and false accusations by the Medical Board for blogging about how my low carb diet has resulted in greater success managing T1 diabetes and Addison’s than anyone else in the world my age is reporting.
http://t1diabetesafter55.blogspot.com.au
Does this mean all GPs in Australia (Gary is also a GP I presume), cannot offer any dietary advice to their patients, regardless if it’s LCHF or not?
That is the logical conclusion. However, I am certain you will be able to offer ‘accepted’ medical advice without the slightest fear of sanction.
This is quite depressing reading. If it was a novel it would make a sinister story, but as Richard Littlejohn (British journalist) says : “you couldn’t make it up”.
The Medical Board accused me of self prescribing prednisolone. I was forced to make a statement through lawyers listing every pharmacy and evey doctor I had visited in the previous year. Yes, they have such coercive powers. Evidence that my endocrinologist had prescribed every dose of prednisolone that I have ever taken was ignored. And prednisolone self prescribing is not even illegal here! This is pure harrassment. Unlike Gary and Tim, I have not been notified by a dietitian. My public comments that I did not follow standard medical procedure in managing my T1 diabetes was considered a “self-notification” and a reason to investigate my fitness to practise medicine.
Last I heard, the investigation was ongoing.
http://t1diabetesafter55.blogspot.com.au
” ‘inappropriate’ reversal of someone’s Type 2 Diabetes”?!!! Good Grief.
That is insane nonsense. It is the voice of stupid, myopic, self-serving, and completely amoral arrogance.
The point of actual medicine is to alleviate suffering, not prolong it. Suffering has been alleviated, the method works without harm, so… Dr. Fetteke is being told to violate his Hippocratic oath.
Crazy-making. These people are clearly showing by their actions that they don’t give a flying fig about peoples welfare.
1984, indeed. Take to the Internet, folks – there IS a lot of good science out there. Learn to find it, read it, and evaluate it. Just do what works for you. Ignore the idiots, even if you have to lie. You don’t need permission.
Good places to start:
“The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living” – Volek & Phinney
“Protein Power/Protein Power LifePlan” -Eades & Eades
“Death by Food Pyramid” – Denise Minger
My condolences to the good Doctor, and all those like him, who are bravely trying to do the right and good thing.
Time to leave AUSTRALIA!
Outrageous. Seems Australia is heading down the road to medical fascism, with no recourse. It may seem bizarre to those outside the U.S. that we elected such a dreadful person as our next president, but part of the reason for this was a public rebellion against government overreach and government policy not unlike this. Another reason being that his opponent is so mistrusted (they both are mistrusted by about 60% of the public, a record for a U.S. election) and the Clintons are famously and shamelessly corrupt. So it is probably something for the good that we elected the lesser of two evils. There will be pushback by our new president against the increasing government control of our lives (I hope). Thank God we have a bill of rights in our constitution, and the very first right delineated is that of freedom of speech, along with religion, peaceable assembly, and the right to petition for redress of grievances. Nobody can be silenced without recourse in court. Apparently Australia allows no such fundamental rights to their citizenry.
Australia does seem rather disappointing when it comes to this area. Not sure why they are so draconian – anyone have any ideasl.
When you see what our Government does to so called illegal immigrants – those who arrive on refugee boats (one could argue most of us are) you will understand what we Aussies go through. There is a veil of secrecy around what goes on in off shore detetion centers such that even journalists risk being prosecuted for reporting about it. On so many fronts our Government is letting us down…this once great country is going to the dogs. There really is no such thing as free speech….unless you subscribe to the mainstream view…we need to keep plugging away on social media to turn the tide…they haven’t managed to ban the Internet yet!
My observation is that colonies (past and present) generally try to either ace the homeland ( We’re just as good, if not better!!!), or reject it altogether (Don’t tell us who to be!!!), and sometimes some weird mix of both (We can do it all!!!). My experience with you Brits is that you are pretty hierarchic and tradition-bound. The Aussies, for all their American-style vulgarity, have paradoxically opted to outdo their forebears in the matter of professional status (modern upper class).
I suspect an exaggerated compensation for their history as a penal colony (Authority RULES!!!).
Feel free to argue the points.
PS: I enjoy your blog. A lot.
I agree with the comments below another issue is that while we would not admit it bullying is almost a national past-time here it is considered by many that if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen. So we see it in sport areas of Government, employment and having read the survey taken by our Health Department definitely Medicine. Unquestioning compliance is encouraged commenting on Stephen T’s last line that the internet has not been banned yet there have been some public comments from the AMA that it has come to their attention that many Australians are going online to answer health queries when they should be following the accepted and proven practices of their association which have been approved by all the relevant bodies here in Australia. This is very foolish and as a medical body we discourage this. More bullying quiet but still overbearing. This last week a Coroner’s Inquest is being heard regarding a lady who completed the necessary forms which we have been assured (I work in the health sector) are absolutely a safe way to ensure our decent care and respect for our final wishes it is not finished as yet however the Coroner has been scathing over the treatment this lady received when admitted for final care for her terminal disease instead of kind end of life care the treating doctor had her sectioned her under the Mental Health Act and proceeded against her NFR request which the Coroner acknowledged that both she and her family had been caused distress and been denied the treatment she had requested and that she had every right to expect. I found the link for the CSIRO’s (Australia’s Peak Scientific Body) info on their ground-breaking (their words) research apparently they discovered while running their Government sponsored Clinical Trial that a higher fat and lower carb diet was really good in reducing medication and some cases they no longer needed to be medicated at all perhaps they should be disciplined by the Medical Board too!
Dear Dr. Gary Fettke,
My sympathies to Australian public, LCHF community , and your good self for the recent unfortunate turn of events as a result of action by AHPRA. The statement issued by AHPRA is inconsistent and illogical. It means your basic MBBS doesn’t qualify you for the study and practice of nutrition. A medical doctor can give and practice nutrition as part of medicine but a dietician and nutritionist is not suitably qualify to practice nutritional medicine or the use of a diet regiment as a therapeutic intervention in diseased individuals because a nutritionist is not trained to elicit signs and symptoms of diseases, trained in pharmacology and monitor side effects and efficacies of any medical interventions including dietary interventions. Just as there may exist a superficial similarity between a psychologist and psychiatrist , the psychiatrist can prescribe drugs and psychotherapy but the psychologist may not use the whole repertoire of modern medicine to treat. Just as psychology is a subset of psychiatry, dietetics or nutritional therapy or interventions is a subset of the practice of medicine. Your qualification as a Bachelor of medicine and Surgery confer on you the rights and privileges of practising dietetics and nutritional therapy if you so wishes to enable yourself with the knowledge and updates in nutritional medicine. A dietician or nutritionist is qualified to give dietary advice to nondisease patients but only a medical doctor with a recognised MBBS having gone through the required housemanship or internship in approved hospitals has the right to treat diseases after registration by the medical act. It is erosion of the rights and privileges of a medical doctor. It is also an erosion of your fundamental right of a fair open hearing in the court of law of a democratic country by preventing you from challenging the AHPRA ruling through the normal due process. You have my support in your endeavour to put things right for the health and welfare of the Australian public and world community at large.
Dr. Leong WK
Malaysia
Sorry, but this sentence bends all possible logic: “‘inappropriate’ reversal of someone’s Type 2 Diabetes”… They dare accuse you of reversing Type 2 diabetes??? And what does ‘inappropriate’ exactly mean to them? Have any of these ignorant people ever come close to reversing diabetes? If so, please let them present their data! We will listen… But they have different agendas apparently…All they care about is throwing bricks at people that are trying to make a better world..People are dying of their guidelines, but they don’t care as long as money from the big pharma and Pepsi end up in their pockets…
I thought the same thing! Is there an “appropriate” way to reverse T2?
“Those fat lazy bastards DESERVE to be ill!”
I noticed in the recent panics about the cost of diabetes in the UK they are still pushing the gluttony and sloth argument, and countering it with drugs and surgery. It’s blatantly obvious that either obesity or diabetes or both result from current dietary policy being routed in different directions, probably by genetics.
When my mother was young there WERE no “epidemics” of obesity or diabetes or most other “diseases of civilisation”. “Everyone knew” if you wanted to lose weight you cut back on starches, and that diabetics ate a low carb diet.
During her teaching career from the thirties to the seventies there may have been one or two “fat kids” per class, and at most one Type 1 diabetic and a couple of children with asthma or allergies in the whole school. Obesity was often blamed on “glands” (ie. endocrine system) which is ironic.
I can recall the same at school, at college and when I started work – the obesity only started to take off around the eighties when the Food Pyramid/Healthy Eating was imposed on us.
It struck me recently that when my generation dies out there will be no-one left to remember a time when there were NOT these epidemics. Already a lot of doctors and most dieticians are too young to have personal experience of such times. They are convinced that “diabetes is always progressive” EVEN when they become diabetic themselves, and when they find a patient who controls the disease and fails to progress they come up with dire warnings about “cranks on the internet”
Present company and a few others excepted of course.
People are dying because of guidelines (flawed), and a few blog posts ago I received a few thumbs down for daring to suggest that the authorities may be using their questionable approach as a possible way of correcting the runaway population growth we have now. No doubt I will get more disapproval for raising the point.
AH Notepad: You’re on to something here. Population control is in fact UN policy. The Catholic bishops in Kenya raised the alarm during a mass tetanus vaccination program targeting only women of child-bearing age. They discovered a hormone-disrupting ingredient which prevents the attachment of the ovum to the uterine wall, and for many it is a permanent condition. This vaccine has been used elsewhere, too. Of course, humans have practiced population control from the beginning of our species because food resources are finite, but when it comes from outside the community in a stealth-like manner unknown to the recipients it is outrageous.
No I think you are right. The WHO (sponsored by Unilever) have decreed that the future world population shall eat a high carb low fat grain based veg(etari)an diet. The only way to achieve this is eugenics. If unsuitably unprofitable people die young it’s a multiple whammy. Make them obese and they will eat more profitable manufactured foodlike substances. Make them diabetic and don’t tell them how to control it and they will need increasing quantities of profitable medications for the rest of their life. If they die young there is less “drain” on the Pension Industry and the Healthcare Industry so the money saved can go to shareholders and the gainful employment of more managers telling us to “eat less and move more”
Interesting that a medical specialist is assumed to have knowledge about everything that pertains to their specialism — the drugs that affect it positively or negatively, the exercises, surgery, etc. — but not quite everything…. Not the nutrition that affects it positively or negatively. Ingested substances that are not listed as drugs must be assumed to play no part in the patient outcome and so the specialist must not have an opinion or seek knowledge on how these substances affect their specialty. Oh, and the specialist must also never spot any links between a patient’s overall health and the problems pertaining to their specialty, particularly if the substances the patient is ingesting play a part in this. Incredible. Reminds me of toddler hide-and-seek, where you cover your eyes and believe that no one can see you.
Has anyone else come across that unbelievable list of recommended foods that UK dieticians are giving out in NHS hospitals? I know two people who in recent weeks have been given, in an outpatient dietician appointment, a list of processed, high-carb foods compiled to treat (I’d say ‘mask’ or ‘compound’) gastrointestinal problems. Muffins and all other kinds of white-flour products and refined, sugary breakfast cereals. It seems this is the ‘professional’ approach to nutrition.
Hi Caroline. It is the exact same here in SA. They handed my aunt a list for her 21 year old daughter who was just diagnosed T2, and it is all the things are stuff that spike insulin. She is now investigating what her recourse can be since she feels the hospital does not have her n=best interest at heart, which is against the Oath.
When I was in hospital two years ago with a ruptured appendix, it was very difficult, as a coeliac T2 diabetic to eat any of the food offered. The doctors looking after me were complimentary about my “excellent diabetic control”. Both conditions are managed entirely by a LCHF way of eating, no drugs. Fortunately, a kind chef made me scrambled egg for breakfast and for the rest I subsisted on salad, (which gives me indigestion). Dieticians need re-educating: had I spent more time in hospital I would have lost my diabetic control, as all meals were high carb, and there was little that was edible for coeliacs, and what was offered was manufactured dry carbs, like eating sawdust or polystyrene packing pellets.
Hi. Gary, I suggest you move to another country. They can’t silence you here in SA. They only drag you through public trials that help to promote LCHF, and make the accusers seem like petulant children trying to bully the geek at school for being smart. We will welcome your forward thinking. The poor HPCSA has learnt a hard lesson about trying to suppress LCHF, and have so much egg on their faces, they can no longer see through the murky windscreen of their latest model merc provided by Kelloggs, Nestle and Coke. So come here to us and continue the Real Meal Revolution that will take over the world 🙂 When the medical instistutions in Aussy finally catch on, they’ll beg you to come back.
I don’t think that this kind of ‘silencing’ is just related to dietary matters. There are absolute parallels for thyroid sufferers. The approved guidance says that you have to have a TSH of over 10 here in the UK to qualify for any medication. Those who speak out against the ludicrousness of this and who look at he whole patient, test for FT3 & FT4 and consider optimal vitamin levels and think that you can by hypothyroid with a TSH of a lot less than 10 also get hounded out of the medical profession too. The late Dr Skinner & Dr Peatfield being two such examples. It is currently acceptable for doctors to see patients riddled with symptoms of hypothyroidism, but whose TSH does not quite meet the criteria, to send those patients away to continue suffering failing health. Makes me so angry. What has gone wrong with medicine?
Evidence Based Medicine is what has gone wrong with medicine. The problem being that the evidence is often created by those who do not necessarily have the patient’s best interests at heart.
Evidence-based medicine … I spit on evidence-based medicine. It was used to nearly kill me.
I had a GI bleed. The maroon-coloured blood could be easily seen and I was even producing clots every so often. I was told by a hospital consultant to provide a single stool sample in a pot for a faecal occult blood test (not six samples as would be the case for bowel cancer screening), and told that the result was negative and I was discharged (still bleeding) without treatment.
I couldn’t understand the result, it made no sense at all. But after doing some research I found out how inaccurate a single test is considered to be, and how taking vitamin C supplements could give a false negative. (There are other reasons for false negatives. False positives can also occur.) I was taking high dose vitamin C. It took another eighteen months for me to be referred to another hospital and given a colonoscopy where a bleeding 4cm polyp was found and removed. By the time this happened I was suffering from appalling fatigue, severe chest pain, and tachycardia. I have never fully recovered since then, and still struggle with brain fog and fatigue, despite fixing my nutrient levels.
The NHS pushes screening for bowel cancer for the over 60s, and my husband recently qualified. I discovered that there was no explanation provided with the screening kit on how to avoid false negatives or false positives. How can all that money be spent on screening without making sure that any results are as accurate as possible? No doubt the NHS decided it would be “too confusing” for patients, and losing a few along the way is worth the saving in paper and ink and printing costs.
GIGO.
Agreed re: Evidence Based Medicine (EBM).
Heard of Real World Evidence (RWE)? It’s the new new ie. PCSK9 to be studied for actually meaningful clinical endpoints such as death or MI while the drug is being used in the ‘real world’ post FDA approval. RWE using big data analysis will overcome the shoddy/lack of study design and rigor supposedly and yield ‘evidence’ that pharma, payors, and hospitals/integrated delivery networks plus Govt hospitals will try to say is adequate for utilization management.
Funny thing happened at my cardiologists office…third time he tried to convince me that I should allow him to try to get authorization for a PCSK9 (despite no real outcomes data to show). Oh, and by the way…I will need to also take a STATIN since they don’t really know if the PCSK9 drug will actually help.
No thank you to STATINs which I have failed twice due to side effects and surprisingly I have lived. 😉 No thank you to an unproven drug that we do know will knock your cholesterol levels down so far it becomes your shoe size.
A very sad state of affairs and I wish Mr Fettke success in his battle with the head in the sand drug company minions.
I know from my interactions with British medical personnel doing anything other than taking your statins and eating a high carb low fat diet is viewed with horror and disbelief. The attempts (however well intentioned ) are continued and intensive.
Thank you Dr Kendrick and all the increasing number of people like you that are showing the way forward.
Regards
Roy Butler
I ask doctors or nurses to show me the research supporting the low-fat diet. It then goes very quiet. I break the silence by pointing out Zoe Harcombe’s research on ‘Open ‘Heart’ that shows there never was a scientific basis for this nonsense. Of course, the NHS blunders on regardless, but one or two nurses have shown some interest. I leant one Nina Teicholz’s ‘The Big Fat Surprise’.
One or two seem to be less dogmatic here since the PCT went away and was replaced by a CCG, and the Practice Manager went away to be replaced by a human.
Questions to ask –
If saturated fat is so instantly lethal why didn’t we become extinct millennia ago, why did it wait until the 20th Century to reveal itself?
If saturated fat is so lethal why do we convert excess food – including excess carbs – into saturated fat for storage?
Following on from that, why doesn’t everyone who loses weight instantly keel over? They may not be eating saturated fat but they’re sure as hell metabolising it.
Expect your doctor to talk about the weather, or your dietician to lock herself in a cupboard and consider calling for the men in white coats.
Noticed how the science changed in the past 20 years talking about nutrition and diets. Yesterday I was a normal person and today I am a fat one. They just move a digit! C’mon!
They have been moving digits with blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and BMI for years. Always down, so more and more people needed treated with expensive new drugs.
Whats the best way to reduce bp naturally without meds. Does alcohol raise bp.
Yoga, exercise, HFLC, weight loss. Yes.
I must say I am ashamed to be Australian…what with the ‘Heart of the matter’ Catalyst debacle a few years back…then Jennifer the Dietician getting struck off for recommending LCHF to patients and now this. If I do get heart disease it’ll be due to the stress I endure trying to fathom how these things could happen in my country. Doctors in this country are always giving nutritional advice. When my so-called cholesterol level hit 6.3 my doctor gave me sheet with all the foods I should avoid. I promptly went home and made a four egg cheese omelette with a side of bacon. There is such a misunderstanding of basic biochemistry in the world….and the field of nutrition is a joke for the most part. What gets me is that unless you have letters against your name no-one listens to you. But…as many commenters on this blog well know…there are many of us that can read, research and go through the robust studies to find the truth. I applaud Dr K, Gary, Tim and others with high profiles for continuing to fight and I condemn those in the establishment who stand behind lines like ‘there is ample evidence…’ without actually citing any. I shall alight from my soapbox.
Very good to hear from you again, but please get well soon.
One of your loyal readers
Fiona
Since money is likely to be at the root of so many evil behaviors, I think that money should be used to bring down the AHPRA. I think that a diabetic who has suffered amputations and/or other significant problems should file a class action law suit on behalf of all injured diabetics in Australia against the AHPRA claiming serious injury due to following the advice given or supported by this organization. Perhaps several legal professionals might come forward to pursue this action, since there could be significant reward for winning, even if it is only some fame. It is time that people take action to question the medical advice they are given and to sue those who give it if it results in harm. Fight money with money. There is a lot of it around.
Your chest: I lost the half the summer and much of autumn to that infection. Our dentist calls it the “ninety day cough”. For obvious reasons, dentists are keenly interested in chest infections.
First, get well!!
Second, I just a got a friendly reminder from my doctor that I had not visited the office in more than a year. They are concerned that I am not getting the tests that I need to maintain my health. Actually, I have not been sick and see no reason to go in, get the tests and then be told that I “need” certain medications to continue in good health. I say rubbish!
Judy, well done. I used to believe in preventative medicine, but I now see that belief as naive. I decline all routine checks and screening, which are work and drug generation schemes. Staying away from medicine is the best thing for health.
Agreed. I call the preventive guidelines “the doctors’ and radiologists’ full employment act”.
Then I ignore them.
This disgusting, petty bullying behaviour is widespread. (Even I have suffered from it as a qualified speech and language therapist/pathologist who dared to challenge the status quo.) I sympathize with everyone going through such turmoil. Please be comforted by all the decent people’s support here.
John, a diabetic victim would be taking on Government, pharma and the health system and they could spend as much of our money as they want defending a case. However, I’m still slightly surprised that it hasn’t been tried, particularly in the U.S.
The harm done to the public dwarfs that committed by the tobacco industry. I wish I had a few million to spare.
Stephen, yes I agree. I also thought the same thing after posting my comment. It should be done in the US, the world center of litigation and no shortage of funds. And you are right to say that the harm done perhaps dwarfs the harm from tobacco. However, the big difference between tobacco and bad diet advice is that tobacco use was quite voluntary, even knowing that it was not recommended. I think that some of the fault with the tobacco industry was related to addictive action, while with diabetes and carbs it is just plain malicious deception.
you would probably need a $billion as the other side has billions to defend their trillions
I am not so sure that it is the government who would be defending. Once this goes to trial, and the digging into the funding of such agencies starts, the government might just let the agencies hang out to dry and wash their hands of this dirty business. Follow the money, as they say.
I do wonder if the election of Donald Trump may help a bit. On the face of it, that isn’t obvious, but he intends to close down most of the money for ‘Climate Research’ and to switch back to fossil fuels. That may mean that a whole load of people who are in the know, may decide to whistle-blow about the whole sordid inside story.
Once people get the message that science can become utterly corrupt and contrary, that could shake things up (I hope).
David Bailey: Read Dr. Judith Curry’s two most recent posts about this issue. Hopefully, she will be able to advise him of the best course to take.
Trump is taking a statin….
There are increasing and credible reports of statins causing neuropsychiatric disturbances in a number of patients… stir that unknown into Trump’s seemingly severely narcissistic persona, and you get… what? Little good, I suspect.
That explains a lot….😋
Meanwhile….
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/new-guidelines-broaden-statin-recommendations-n683631
“New Guidelines Broaden Statin Recommendations
by REUTERS
If you are middle-aged and have even one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, you might need statins to prevent a future stroke or heart attack, according to new recommendations from the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
Brian Wadsworth: The same rubbish we’ve been hearing all along. The late, great Spacedoc’s website has been, and will continue publishing statin-damage horror stories. Wonder how many of these clowns are taking them themselves? Probably as many as the number of vaccine-pushers who are up-to-date on their vaccines (the U.S. actually has an adult vaccination schedule, if you can believe that!).
My own points are reference are Uffe Ravnskov and Dr. Kendrick.
I see the new guidelines start at 40.While I imagine more men than women will be given statins, we are clearly reaching the time when we will learn what statins do to a human foetus. I can’t imagine that will be a pleasant experiment.
So sorry, I just left a climate change reply meant to support David Bailey’s post on Eric’s post. Apologies.
The American Heart Association vs health reporters: who is right? Carbs vs fats.
http://cardiobrief.org/2016/11/14/is-the-american-heart-association-trying-to-kill-health-reporters/
JDPatten, you make it sound like there is some doubt. I can understand that the author is trying to make his story interesting by bringing up surreptitious cream smuggling, etc. but what is important is the science. The folks at AHA may all be fine people, helpful, and kind, but let’s not lose sense of what is key. There is NO, ZERO, NADA, evidence that LDL or any other lipoprotein is causal in creating harm in our bodies. There should not be any doubt about this. One could have suspicions, and form hypotheses for testing, etc. but to promote and take action on a nationwide scale as if LDL is BAD is totally unscientific. We know this stance is driven by nefarious motives, unrelated to science. So let’s not waffle about what is right. Saturated fat by extension should be treated as good stuff, especially since it has been eaten by our ancestors for ages without negative consequences. I just don’t want to give the author any leeway here. He should be clear. And if this sounds “categorical” Dr. Goran, it is, because it must be. Sometimes “categorical” is necessary.
John U
You can argue about the meanings of words but categorically to me means without exceptions.
When it comes to LCHF this is a rather broad concept (e.g., whatever is below the official 60% carbs could be seen as LC while from my strict perspective we are talking less then 5 %) and I often find in our community exceptions to categorical claims of large health benefits.
I guess at my present downfall I might have been at 30 %.
Anyway – no-one knows!
But again, why not try to see if it works for you?
John,
Glad to have enabled your comment. 🙂
I simply thought it was amusing that the reporter should understand more than the Association.
Malcolm
I am so sorry to hear you have been unwell.
As you know my PHCuk (www.PHCuk.org) colleagues and I have been individually promoting a low carb, high healthy fat diet in the UK for several years( eg 2+ years- me and 4 years Dr David Unwin). We have done this largely without censure and we have been separately commended for our work by the Royal College of GPs. We are appalled that our colleagues in Australia and South Africa have been called to account for advising people to eat food that is real. For that is all LCHF is- real food that has not been through a processing plant. Real unprocessed food automatically contains less sugar and more fat than artificially produced equivalents. It is the food our ancestors ate for millions of years. Everyone knows sugar consumption should be reduced. How ridiculous that anyone should be barred from saying so, let alone a doctor. The people who have censured Dr Fettke should themselves be called to account.
Joanne McCormack
http://www.healthylivingsite.me
________________________________
Hear, hear, Dr McCormack!
Just to let everyone know that this blog post has been visited by more than 25,000 people. It will be also have been sent on to many more. So, there is traction building.
Dr McCormack, congratulation on your award. You are doing marvellous work and your patients are fortunate.
Does NICE now recognise the stupidity of a high carbohydrate diet for diabetics? If so, they should be screaming it from the roof tops. How bad does it have to get? How many diabetic patients did a doctor see in, say, 1960? I’ve read that they were so rare, doctors saw them as curiosities.
No-one will ever admit to getting this wrong. There will be a crabwise movement over about ten years until, all of a sudden, you will find there is no no-one in authority who ever promoted a high carb diet for diabetics. Four legs good, two legs better. Those in charge will still be in charge. The king is dead, slight pause…. long live the king.
We are so lucky to have people such as you Dr MCormack and many others who have crossed this line, not to mention this fantastic blog of Dr Kendrick’s. Thanks a million to you all.
To understand the depth of the problem take a look at this Australian dietitians’ Facebook page, whose primary purpose seems to be attacking Dr Fettke and the low-carbohydrate way of eating. According to these third-rate mediocrities, diabetes is progressive and can’t be reversed. They seemingly haven’t heard of Dr David Unwin, Dr Sarah Hallberg, Prof. Wendy Pogozelski and so many more. Even the DAA’s guidelines reference, but ignore, science showing a low-carb approach as being the first approach for diabetics.
These fools wages are paid by the taxpayer. It’s time to abolish this joke ‘profession’ that harms the public and submits anonymous complaints about better qualified critics who try to help the public.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=blocked%20by%20pete%20evans
http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00332-3/fulltext
Stephen, what an awful page. Thanks for the link.
I think somebody’s cage is rattled. The facebook page is now blocked. Hmmm, I wonder why……..
‘Blocked’ is part of its name. They’re still busy posting low-fat this and that.
Oops, shows what I know about facebook. I’ve now seen the page and agree with John U’s description. “Awful”.
At the end of the comments section of the previous blog post of last week, I posted a comment which may have lost it’s impact and I did not see anyone else post this event in this series. However Dr. McCormack deserves mention, so forgive me for posting it again.
Bravo Dr. McCormack, serious, serious congratulations for being recognized for your accomplishments.
http://diabetestimes.co.uk/gp-wins-prize-for-low-carb-diabetes-work/?utm_content=buffer32cd2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Just needed to set the post & comments notification.
My Great Dane pup is on a low carb diet . He is one year old now and 70 kg of pure muscle and in fantastic condition. He has one meal per day at night. His meals consist of pellets soaked in boiling water and raw meat , what is left after the butchers cut their meat on the saw . About 60/40 pellets meat ratio. Coconut oil daily and a raw egg every third day. Dogs must eat raw meat. The vet shop tried to sell me Hills but I refused and bought a local good quality brand at 40% of the price . I have seen dogs fed a high carb ( Rice ) diet and they are fat and suffer from skin problems. 25 kgs of dog food lasts 5 weeks. Dogs in the wild never lived on rice and bread etc. but on raw meat. No other problems and he does not want to eat except his one meal. I must add that he also gets a treat of nice bones. And, yes, he loves avocados ,they are very good for dogs. Forget the garbage on the net about avos. Dogs eat them when they fall on the ground here.
Leon
What you say about avocados is interesting. My understanding is it’s the “stone” that’s toxic and dogs “in the know” – dogs who are brought up to scavenge on avocados – only eat the flesh.
Ray
“They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority.”
― Gerald Massey
Steve,
The quote, taken at face value, expresses a fine sentiment.
The actual quote is a bit different. Massey was an Egyptologist trying to make sense of Christ as opposed to a historical Jesus through his studies. This was his rebuttal, having been called to task on a linguistic fine point. See no. 6.
http://gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/epr_09_a_retort.htm
His sense of the meaning of Truth (be careful when you find such capitalizations!) is likely quite different from what we’re after here on the good Dr’s blog.
Thank you JD Patten, I enjoyed that, a great read. Yes, a very different context to the Australian dieticians who follow the authorities guidelines as gospel and would have Gary burnt at the stake for his heretical high-fat ways.
“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!”, especially in Australia! Dufus , numpties is about as polite as I can be about the powers that be Down Under.
Dogs do it naturally here and as far as I know it can effect other animals but not dogs .
Headline in the Daily Mail TODAY:
“Why statins DO work: Cholesterol-lowering drugs cut the risk of a heart attack by 36% and experts say they have no harmful side effects”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3937988/Why-statins-work-Cholesterol-lowering-drugs-cut-risk-heart-attack-36.html
“Lead researcher Roger Chou, from Oregon Health & Science University said: ‘We found that all groups studied experienced a decrease in risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or death, and those at highest risk benefited the most from cholesterol-lowering drugs.'”
It’s like they live in a parallel universe. One where up is really down and left is really right. This is going to be a long, hard slog. 😦
Our friend had a total cholesterol level of 3. He had a heart attack. Now he takes a statin “to keep his cholesterol low”.
To quote Dr. Mike Eades: “Jesus wept…”
I noted that the article received a lot of negative comments and a lot of “upgrades” for these comments. The comment section has been closed – what, only 3 days? What a crappy news source.
I often note that the comments following an article in the Guardian usually defend Conventional Wisdom and veg(etari)anism, while the commenters in the Daily Mail often show more clue than the original journalist
My 52 year old husband is a Type 1 Diabetic- fit, BMI of 27 . Prior to changing to a Low Carb diet, he experienced very frequent ” sugar lows” or ” hypo’s”….. some advancing to him becomming unconcious and in a coma and one bad episode when he had a Diabetic seizure- we were frequently calling our local paramedics to administer intravenous Dextrose to revive him. He has always kept his sugar levels very strictly controlled- too controlled!
Almost 3 years ago , after consulting an endocrinologist he was referred to a Diabetic Clinic where the dietitian reccommended that he change to a Low Carb, higher protein, yet still low fat diet.
Daily meal plan example: Breakfast – Allbran flakes with Oatbran and fat-free milk; 1 Granny Smith apple; Snack: 1 small Gero yoghurt ( lowest carb) with 4 strawberries and 12 almonds; Lunch: Sandwich with 2 slices Low Gi Bread with lettuce, rocket, peppadew, lean chicken/ ham/ beef and yoghurt dressing ( no butter/marg) and 10 Olives ; afternoon snack: 1 small Gero yoghurt with 6 blueberries, 40g lean beef biltong ( jerky) ; Dinner: Salad -rocket, cucumber, tomato, red cabbage, green red yellow peppers, little feta, seed mix, balsamic dressing with grilled chicken breast ; Bedtime snack: 2 Banting crackers with peanut butter.
No Alcohol.
Within the past 3 years on this mealplan, my husband has only had 2 very minor ” sugar-lows”, both caused by extensive physical exertion without adding extra ” snacks”. No comas, no diabetic seizures, no calling out paramedics, no stress for me wondering if he was OK.
He has also reduced the amount of insulin he takes by about 40% . Obviously, there is no cure for Type 1 Diabetes ( my husband’s pancreas does not produce any insulin) and it is very important to distinguish between the two forms of diabetes.
I have, myself, lost 14Kg on a low carb -only salad, non-starchy veg and fruit- love my fruit too much to give it up- but try to keep to 4 per day, mainly berries; high protein- lean meat and chicken; little dairy-low fat yoghurt and feta cheese; and low fat eating plan over the past 3 years. Feel really healthy, never sick……
I just signed a petition to support Gary Fettke.
Here is where you can add your name.
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.change.org%2Fp%2Fdr-andrew-mulcahy-chair-stop-ahpra-from-gagging-gary-fettke%3Frecruiter%3D66413789%26utm_source%3Dshare_petition%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook%26utm_campaign%3Dshare_facebook_responsive%26utm_term%3Ddes-lg-share_petition-custom_msg&h=4AQE30qdZ
Thanks, Dr. Goran. I just signed. It gave me great pleasure.
Likewise. Worth a try.
Goran
Signed – thanks for the alert
The petition is now just short of 4000. There is the opportunity to contribute to the “change” distribution funds too so many more people will see it.
Yes I signed also. I am glad this is happening.
Now over 5000 signatures.
I have just now signed that petition.
From Science Daily
Nerve growth protein controls blood sugar, research shows
Posted: 14 Nov 2016 07:39 AM PST
Biologists demonstrate the workings of a biochemical pathway that helps control glucose in the bloodstream, a development that could potentially lead to treatments for diabetes.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114103909.htm
How to sell more meds for more money – when real food, healthy fats, no sugar, low carbs, no junk food (=LCHF) does the trick. There will be exceptions who cannot LCHF, for them this may be a winner.
My story as an example. I had tachycardia, so my GP prescribed bisoprolol fumarate, a beta blocker as I understand it. Brought down my heart rate, but with a prospect of life long consumption, I could do without it. As it happens a couple of years later I started changing diet. Cut out wheat and most other carbohydrates, and increased fat intake. I now eat a couple of eggs for breakfast, and often that means nigh on 1/2lb of eggs. They are big!! 6oz of cheese for lunch, and something of a more usual meal for the evening, but including fruit (I know, carbs) but with a large helping of cream. A balanced diet? I doubt it, but I am surviving and am much more alert than I used to be, and resting heart rate bumps along around 70/min, and NO MORE PILLS. I suppose I had better let my GP know.
Have I got high cholesterol? Who cares, I’ll have to go sometime and if I’ve got it wrong, at least I feel better.
AH
I think you may benefit from investigating Omega 3, magnesium (Slow Mag), and vitamin D, and Intermittent Fasting. It gave me really good improvement in my Atrial Fibrillation.
AH—-I think I have the same basic attitude that you expressed—-I feel good—low body fat percentage—a lot of muscle for my age—excellent energy—-no prescription drug use—- BP 117/74—-and I eat mostly Sat. Fat and protein—-4-to-6 eggs every day—-cream—basically FAT!!!! Rarely hungry—-and like you said—-if I’ve got it wrong—at least I feel great now—-@64
Slightly unrelated:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/16/billion-people-have-high-blood-pressure-mostly-in-poorer-countries
UK hat lowest rates of high blood pressure, US and Canada lowest rates overall. Surely, this can only be due to aggressive intervention?
It is obvious that doctors have been reduced ( under threat ) to writers of prescriptions for expensive medicine and not to heal people. Some only too happy to comply. Step out of line and you will be severely punished. A doctors who prescribes an anti diabetic drug to an obese 350 pound lazy person that consumes 20 cans of soda a day ,is a good doctor . He will be a very bad doctor if he advises the patient to cut back on his sugar and drink water instead of soda fizzy drinks , and excercise . Simple , he knows nothing about nutrition , he is only qualified to treat the symptom. The fact that he has observed the damage caused for years during his career is not relevant . Madness rules in the medical world.
Why not have a vending machine with a credit card function , put your symptons in ,and get your drugs for life . That will be much more convenient , and profitable for the pharmaceutical companies .The downside is that it will generate a lot of unemployment. It is obvious that the medical councils’ primary function is to there to remove any doctor or health professional that is a threat to the status quo ( Profits and funding for fraudelent research ).
Please do not stereotype obese people as lazy. They may drink lots of soda, but that is no worse than following an official diabetic diet, loaded as it is with carbohydrates. There is a subtle link to obesity, but (and I can expect to be corrected here) it is not so much the case that people get fat because they over eat, but more they overeat because they are fat. It is much more effort to move larger weights than small ones, and obese people may expend 2 to 3 or more times the energy of a slim person just to get around. The drive to eat I think is triggered by blood sugar levels, when it is low the eat trigger is released. As well as this it will be more likely the diet that is the problem rather than the amount. Except in extreme cases (athletes etc) no normal person can ever exercise enough to lose weight. One pound of fat contains one hell of a lot of energy, and to exercise enough to lose it will be nearly impossible. Gary Taubes’ book, Good Calories Bad Calories explains that calories are not all the same, so doing a simple calorie count is not helpful.
I eat loads of calories but don’t get fat, because most of the calories come from fat, not carbohydrates, which I avoid for the most part.
AH:
“Please do not stereotype obese people as lazy.”
Technically, you have a point. But obese people are rarely able, or even willing, to expend energy or to work. So I can understand Leon’s use of the word. It’s rarely their own fault, however. Because, as you yourself state, “it is not so much the case that people get fat because they over eat, but more they overeat because they are fat,” which is precisely the problem in a nutshell. Obesity is an INSULIN problem. And until people understand that, obesity and diabetes trends will continue their upward trend. Visit the ADA’s website and look at the foods and meal plans they recommend that diabetics eat. It’s chock full of carbohydrates like bread, potatoes, pasta, fruit, etc. And almost devoid of fat. Diabetes, like obesity, is REVERSIBLE, but not if people keep listening to the “experts” at the ADA.
For ten bucks they can learn how:
The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss, by Dr. Jason Fung
Or they can continue taking more and more drugs, lose limbs, organs, their sight, and even their lives.
AH, I agree that obese people are often on the sugar and insulin rollercoaster that makes them regularly hungry. And they won’t get any benefit from the official advice to move more and eat less. However, I do wonder why obese people, when they get two or three stones overweight, don’t think something’s going very wrong here. I think I understand why people get overweight, but to move from that to collosally obese is more difficult to understand. It does usually involve eating a lot of junk that no one recommends, except the manufacturers.
As Joe says, obesity is an insulin problem. And insulin is, to an extent, an advertising problem.
Influence of external and covert food stimuli on insulin secretion in obese and normal persons.
Johnson WG, Wildman HE.
Abstract: Exposure to food produces an increase in insulin secretion that is more pronounced in obese than in normal persons. We sought to replicate this finding as well as to determine whether insulin secretion could be influenced by thoughts about food and eating. Normal and obese subjects were presented in counterbalanced order with an external food stimulus or instructions to think about food and eating. Levels of insulin, salivary output, and hunger ratings were obtained prior to and immediately following stimulus presentation. All subjects displayed higher insulin levels following stimulus presentation, with the values for the obese higher than for normals. Although the insulin secretion of the obese was greater in response to the covert as opposed to the external stimulus, the difference was not significant. Salivary output following stimulus presentation was higher for the obese than normals, with hunger ratings increasing in both groups. These data support an expanded role of insulin as an appetite-inducing mechanism. — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6360189
I agree on most what you say on food for dogs (and I hypothesise that the very many cancers and other ailments seen in pets are caused by those stupidly conceived pellets. Dogs and wolves essentially eat other animals including small ones with fur and bines and stomach content.
But “A doctors who prescribes an anti diabetic drug to an obese 350 pound lazy person that consumes 20 cans of soda a day ,is a good doctor .” is a steereotype.
If you read Lustig’s book “fat chance”, you might convene that it is likely the overweight and insulin that drives people into “couch potatoes”. It is extremely difficult to overturn an addiction, that for sweet , and the insulin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lustig
Those people interested in the Dr Waney Squiers story of disqualification and reinstatement might want to know that there was a two page interview in today’s Times.
Doubts about our understanding of the development of CVD is supported by Subbotin’s paper—-
Click to access 2016+Vladimir+Subbotin+Paper+-+ATHERO+.pdf
This was not meant to insult fat people. I understand there are factors at play other than what was stated. It was meant as some black humour about the bizzare events concerning the medical profession and Dr. Fettke and Professor Noakes and others that dared to defy and state what they considered the truth. I am shocked , as a retired professional pilot that has flown Boeings and big helicopters in many parts of the world that this can even happen in a suposedly highly professional field. The mere fact that an orthopedic surgeon can be treated like doctor Fettke for stating that a hch diet is bad, by other supposedly professional people is bizzare in the least . Unlike aviation medicine is an inexact science with too many variables. I can only say it boggles the mind .I am sure you have been following the trial of Professor Noakes as well. That suposedly professional doctors can even haul him before the council speaks for itself. He was found guilty , they then retractracted it and stated it was a mistake and the verdict will be announced in April , Mistake ! It shows how unprofessional they are .A doctor friend told me he has to carefully watch what he says or he will also be hauled before the council. Enough evidence has been presented on this blog by numerous people .I stand by my blog.
I took your comment in the spirit in which, I believe, it was intended.
Gary Taubes has called nutrition a pseudo-science and I agree. If an engineer was wrong 10% of the time he’d be sacked. Dietitians are wrong about nearly everything, but nothing is done.
But, in their defence (very weakly), they studied nutrition from books written by “experts” who had it wrong in the first place, and taught by professors who did not do their own homework. Doctors today are still taught junk science in their 3 hours of nutrition training in 4 years of medical school. OK maybe it was a bit more, but if you have doubts about how little training future doctors receive in Canada, just read this letter from a graduate doctor who just finished med school. It probably also represents what other med schools do.
http://www.weightymatters.ca/2013/04/guest-post-do-medical-schools-teach.html
“The bridge fell down”
“Don’t worry, just build another one to exactly the same specification and it will stay up next time”
Do the training and qualifications of cardiologists give them sufficient expertise to offer advice on diet? Do they get some training in nutrition that orthopedic surgeons do not?
If you follow the decision of the Australian Health authorities to its conclusion, madness lies there.
My granddaugher is 12 and is overweight. She would love to be a normal weight and hates her condition. She does a fair bit of running about, and I have tried to get over to members of the family they need to curb the carbohydrates she eats, and eat a more “primitive” or old fashioned diet. Well, her mother would allow sugar and sweets, reasoning that if she didn’t get it at home, she would get it when she was out. Then she visited the dietician at the local hospital…………… Well you can guess the advice given. “She’ll lose the excess weight in the next few years, and carry on with the diet as children need carbohydrates for energy”.
If only there were more Gary Fettkes about (and others) there may be a chance for people like my granddaughter, but with the current system, the chances are non-existent.
AH
This is a part of the general problem.
When you like me have arrived at seeing the madness in different medical areas (just now I wonder if there is any area devoid of madness) and try to adress individual people suffering in those areas you more often than not facing a stubborn resistance to listening.
It is a question of authority and trust. The idea of having being profoundly fooled by our medical authorities is a bitter pill to swallow.
On the other hand when people has turned interested they may open their ears. A former colleague of mine who do understand told me that many in his department were interested in the LCHF-idea and he wanted me to give a talk before going to the Christmas table. I think that is a good timing for a LCHF-lecture: “LCHF – For your health”
Yes Dr. G., you touch again on a very common problem, authority, trust, and truth. To me also it is incredible how may people just blindly accept the words that come from authority and position, even when presented with enough reason to doubt their “truth”. We do receive some consolation from the few who do actually listen and are curious enough to try something different. Recently I was speaking to a 76 year old French speaking acquaintance from the tennis courts who told me that he recently suffered an mild heart attack and received a stent. I did my usual routine and asked a few questions regarding what medication he was given and suggested to him that a LCHF diet might be better for him, and promised to give him some information. That same evening I sent him an email with a link to a YouTube video produce by ARTE TV (don’t know who they are), which happened to be done in French and dealt with Statins and Saturated fats, etc. This gentleman was prescribed 20 mg tablets of Lipitor by his doctor who said to him that his cholesterol was not really high, but he should take this tablets “just in case”. Well, after listening to the YouTube presentation, he told me the next day that he was immediately stopping the statin. Some people can be influenced in a good way, and I am glad for that, because otherwise I would have stopped trying to influence anyone.
AH, I’ve told my daughter about the utter failure of the low-fat diet and the need to get away from sugar and refined carbohydrates. She’s slim and not too bothered at the moment, but the seed is planted for when it’s needed. It must be awful to watch your granddaughter hating being overweight. I think her mum is misguided.
We teach our children by setting an example that they might follow now, or choose to follow later. When my children were very young, they didn’t know what sweets were and they were never given them. I avoided everything with added sugar. I was thinking about their teeth, but it also helped to develop eating tastes that didn’t include sugar and junk. You can only keep trying and I hope you succeed.
When I was a young boy, recovering from polio in one leg, my mother made the bold decision to refuse an “iron leg” (as it was known then) to help me walk better. She was concerned that I would no longer be able to grow up like other kids – developing physically, as they do.
I think that as a result, I am hardly troubled by my leg (except while I took statins!) – even though it is still extremely weak – my body has somehow compensated – and I am enormously grateful that she took that decision.
My point is, that you should perhaps persuade your children to try a more traditional diet with your grandchild for a few weeks, weighing her before and after – that way, they might realise that doctors really can be wrong, and she herself might realise that this was the answer to her concerns!
Thought this might be of interest. Each link leads to the references on the adverse reactions in each class
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/cracking-cholesterol-myth-how-statins-harm-body-and-mind
http://kellybroganmd.com/cracking-cholesterol-myth-statins-harm-body-mind/
Muscle damage (myotoxicity): view 80 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=44387.
Nerve damage (neurotoxicity): view 54 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35335.
Liver damage (hepatoxocity): view 32 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35669.
Endocrine disruption: view 16 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35562.
Cancer-promoting: view 9 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35415.
Diabetes-promoting: view 8 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=37045.
Cardiovascular-damaging: view 15 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35779.
Birth defect causing (teratogenic): view 11 studies http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs?ed=35663.
This adds up to one massive indictment indictment of statin therapy. The system that promotes and allows the use of these drugs is obviously totally corrupt including those government bodies that were set up to “protect” the general public
I wonder if Collins cited any of these papers?
Too busy collecting £millions from pharmaceuticals I suspect.
In my comment above I should have said sea level rise in the twentieth century has amounted to 17.0 cm, rather than 10.7 cm. Accuracy matters; don’t want to sound like an idiot, like those who rule over us. We use both the English and metric systems here, our measuring tools have both, and both are quite useful; woodworkers, at least, use more than one measuring system.
Dr. William Davis – Diabetes, Inc. – For Big Pharma and others who profit from human disease, type 2 diabetes is the gift that keeps on giving. Approaching one trillion dollars in worldwide costs, type 2 diabetes is largely a man-made condition. is created by: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2016/11/diabetes-inc/ Quote – silly notions, such as statin drugs – and the use of common blood pressure-reducing and antidepressant drugs that raise blood sugar.
Can anyone confirm the claim that The Aerospace Medical Association guidelines insist they use natural remedies for blood pressure. That’s right: NASA has effectively banned common high blood pressure drugs in favor of natural remedies.
https://freshpickeddeals.com/thealternativedaily.com/why-nasa-has-banned-blood-pressure-drugs-for-all-the-astronauts-587179
All I can find on this in http://www.asams.org/guidelines.htm is tp quote:
Lifestyle modifications, which are listed in Table II, are often effective at treating HTN and associated with improvement in a patient’s other major CVD risk factors and should always be considered as first-line treatment.
Mike,
Ya hafta cinsider yer sources.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20000084330
Interesting reading.
Isn’t most of this “hypertension” hype just mumbo jumbo ? I mean if you have a value of say 190 ii is for sure an issue but at 130 it is just Big Pharma touting.
In my eyes it seems more like a medieval scholastic enterprise which fits well into the view of medicine as a religious art rather than a solid science.
I just checked the recommended natural remedies for astronauts, and besides obvious “loose weight and do more exercise,” found recommendation for low-sodium foods,a low-fat diet, eating more fruits and vegetables. I hoped to find the advice to get some magnesium supplements at least, but no. I guess, if astronaut develops a high-blood pressure high enough to require a real pharmacy product, it marks the end of his/her career.
JD Patten
I agree – hence my query.
But the report at http://www.asams.org/guidelines.htm is far more recent than the 2000 report; and while it does not “ban” it clearly supports “lifestyle” changes for HTN before drugs though some of the “lifestyle” changes described are a little dubious like salt.
Furthermore, there are “natural” remedies that have been shown to be as effective as pharmaceuticals in HTN.
In my own experience ramipril seems to cause AF and in a letter from the MHRA, lisinopril is recognized as associated with AF.
The ALLHAT study (JAMA, December 18, 2002—Vol 288, No. 23 2981) Table 3
Achieved Blood Pressure Goal of 140/90 mm Hg, No. (%) was less than 70% for all three drugs involved after 5 years follow-up.
And there is Prof Post’s article Port S, et al Flawed Systolic blood pressure and mortality based on Framingham data..Lancet. 2000 Jan 15;355(9199):175-80. which rather confuses the whole concept of the blood pressure paradigm as currently advised.
Does that mean they don’t ban meds for high blood pressure. Which there were natural ways of reducing by. Tried numerous things, low carb, various supplements. Nothing works. Still on meds. Would love to stop
Mike,
I find your statements on ramipril and lisinopril intriguing. My reading on the subject has only suggested – with admonitions for further research! – that modulators of RAAS tend to subdue AF. Can you give more details? I’m a martyr to AF. Three ablations and still occasional chest conga.
Research on my current med, valsartan, an ARB, is as confusing. There are warnings that it will raise blood sugar levels. And, there is touting that it reduces risk of diabetes.
??
JDPatten
Lisinopril
Click to access dap_19529666406173256.pdf
Ramipril
Click to access dap_19529667255819032.pdf
I keep clear of the word “fibrillation” because it immediately precipitates a lecture on the umpteen different types. In the case of the MHRA DAPs for both drugs adverse events are broken down into as many “categories” as possible to divert attention to the fact that they cause a “wobble” (my word for the BP measuring devices I have used). In my case, the occasional “wobble” as reported by the BP meter was clearly associated to (and significantly so)
1) low heart rate and
2) low SBP.
According to the MHRA many ACE-inhibitors vary considerably in their tendency to cause arrythmias from less than 1 in 10 to less than 1 in 10,000. The problem of course is that in the UK, drug adverse events are not reported in QOF (Quality of Outcome Framework) and most doctors do not report adverse reaction through the excellent MHRA yellow card system (I say this as an ex-QP-pharmacovigilance veterinary). I understand that it not mandatory and busy GPs just do not have time. As one GP said to me, “If I reported all the adverse events that patients tell me about, I would not have time to see any patients”.
This drug adverse events area and drug efficacy is so subject to data selection and data manipulation and general astroturfing/agnotology is so confusing and subject to money and status that unless the raw numbers and other data are available, I assume the worse. Where there is an ad hoc presumption that a drug reduces risk of some condition I suspect it is simply a plug for further research grants.
In relation to your comment on source – if the individual has an MD are not his comments not as valid as another MD? I can think of many whose views are dictated by money and status and who are totally unbelievable.
Mike,
BTW, this list of medications is from your cited article:
“Aeromedical Disposition (military): The aviator whose blood pressure is controlled by diet or exercise is no longer considered to be hypertensive for surveillance purposes, and a waiver is not required. However, any aviator initially found to have a three-day blood pressure > 140/90 that responded to life-style intervention should have blood pressure rechecks every three months during the first year following discovery, and at least every six months thereafter. Pharmacologic treatment needs to be instituted if the blood pressure is still elevated after the six-month period of observation. The three classes of anti-hypertensive agents available to military aviators, diuretics, ACEi agents and ARB agents are the commonest and probably most useful drugs for blood pressure reduction. Use of beta-blockers is not recommended for high performance aircraft due to its effect on heart rate. Centrally acting medications are not presently permitted in military aviation, specifically, methyldopa, reserpine, guanethidine, guanabenz and guanadrel.
Aeromedical Disposition (NASA): Astronaut certification follows closely the military experience. Well-controlled hypertension with no signs of end organ damage is waiverable for all crew positions.”
Back to sources and interpretation. One MD versus a “conflicted???” guideline/DIRECTIVE.
I am a convinced skeptic – too many examples where politics/confliction and money and status are involved and truth gets bent. I am afraid that medical research has, in some areas, been diverted from the truth. Gotszche (Deadly medicines….) and Kendrick (Doctoring Data), Marcia Angell and others are examples
Good cholesterol is well associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk, but just raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels have produced disappointing results in recent clinical trials. A study published November 17 in Cell Metabolism may explain why: HDL actually increases the inflammatory response of immune cells called macrophages, potentially counteracting its well-established anti-inflammatory effect in various other cell types.
“A main take-home message of our study is that HDL’s functions are not as simple as initially thought, and appear to critically depend on the target tissue and cell type,” says senior study author Marjo Donners of Maastricht University. “In the end, it is the balance between its pro- and anti-inflammatory effects that determines clinical outcome.”
Based on decades of research in humans and animals, HDL has gained its now well-established reputation as the “good cholesterol.” High HDL levels have been associated with a lower risk of atherosclerosis — an inflammatory disease that causes plaque to build up inside of arteries. In contrast to low-density lipoprotein, which is responsible for depositing cholesterol in vessel walls, HDL removes cholesterol and transports it toward the liver for degradation. Specifically, HDL protects against atherosclerosis by inhibiting inflammation in two important vascular wall cells: endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells.
However, macrophages are key immune cells contributing to the inflammation that characterizes atherosclerosis. Surprisingly, the effect of HDL on the inflammatory response in macrophages has not been clear. In the new study, Donners and first co-author Emiel van der Vorst of Maastricht University set out to address this question. Unexpectedly, they found that HDL treatment enhanced inflammation in macrophages, in contrast to its effects in other cell types. Similarly, macrophages taken from mice with elevated HDL levels showed clear signs of inflammation.
This pro-inflammatory effect induced by HDL had at least one benefit: enhanced pathogen protection. Lung macrophages ingested disease-causing bacteria upon exposure to HDL. On the other hand, mice with low HDL levels were impaired at clearing these bacteria from the lungs. The results demonstrate that HDL’s pro-inflammatory activity supports the proper functioning of macrophage immune responses. According to Donners, these findings suggest that patients with persistent infections or specific immune disorders might benefit from HDL-raising therapies.
However, several study limitations complicate clinical interpretations. For one, the study focused on acute inflammatory responses rather than the chronic inflammatory conditions that characterize cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, the researchers did not examine macrophages specifically in atherosclerotic tissue. “Whether HDL exerts beneficial or detrimental effects on the macrophage in a complex micro-environment, such as the atherosclerotic plaque, remains to be determined,” Donners says.
The answer to this question may depend on disease stage and the net effect on all vascular wall cells. “For instance, in early atherosclerosis, a proper macrophage response could result in more effective scavenging and elimination of lipids and cellular debris, which may alleviate disease, whereas at later stages, such exaggerated responses may be detrimental because they destabilize the plaque,” she says. “Moreover, the overt anti-inflammatory effects in other cell types should be taken into account, and it is the balance between these opposite effects of HDL that will determine clinical outcome for cardiovascular disease patients.”
In the end, this research could lead to the development of cell-specific therapies that exploit the benefits of HDL-targeted therapies while avoiding the side effects. “Future studies will have to evaluate the delicate balance of HDL’s cell-specific effects in humans and in various pathologies to get more insights and to develop and improve therapeutic strategies,” Donners says.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Emiel P.C. van der Vorst, Kosta Theodorou, Yongzheng Wu, Marten A. Hoeksema, Pieter Goossens, Christina A. Bursill, Taghi Aliyev, Leonie F.A. Huitema, Sander W. Tas, Ine M.J. Wolfs, Marijke J.E. Kuijpers, Marion J. Gijbels, Casper G. Schalkwijk, Debby P.Y. Koonen, Shahla Abdollahi-Roodsaz, Kimberly McDaniels, Chih-Chieh Wang, Michael Leitges, Toby Lawrence, Jogchum Plat, Miranda Van Eck, Kerry-Anne Rye, Lhousseine Touqui, Menno P.J. de Winther, Erik A.L. Biessen, Marjo M.P.C. Donners. High-Density Lipoproteins Exert Pro-inflammatory Effects on Macrophages via Passive Cholesterol Depletion and PKC-NF-κB/STAT1-IRF1 Signaling. Cell Metabolism, 2016; DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.10.013
“Good cholesterol is well associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk, but just raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels have produced disappointing results in recent clinical trials”
Surely the most parsimonious explanation for that result, is that HDL is merely correlated with good cardiovascular health in a non-causal way!
No, no! What it means is that there is good bad cholesterol and now there is bad good cholesterol. To find out what you have we are about to produce a suitably expensive blood test . . .
. . . sarcasm apart yes I tend to agree. Maybe if you have high HDL from eating healthy saturated fats with a side order of Omega 3s it is good good cholesterol but if you eat loads of Omega 6s it is bad good cholesterol. Or something like that.
Of course the sky blue pink purple spotted cholesterol is the REAL killer.
Interesting and thanks for the hint. Tried pubmed but did find is on:
cdn.healthy-holistic-living.com or
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-4131(16)30544-7.pdf
I have got a very unpleasant feeling that this whole business with blood pressure lowering drugs is a scam in the same order of magnitude as the cholesterol lowering drugs if not a bigger scam. I have just seen one very convincing randomized trail carried ot many years ago which showed that it is a very good idea to treat patients with blood pressure around 200 with drugs.
The big business is however with people with very moderately elevated pressures. Anyone who knows any independent paper strongly indicating benefits? Or do we talk about Big Pharma studies which emphatically typically state that. “With our drug xx taken for twenty years millions of lives will be saved.”
At what point do you think high bp should be treated. Mine was 160/90. Went to see a cardiologist who said from an ecg he could tell that high bp was already evident from this. Was a bit shocked and didn’t ask what. Now on two meds but trying to come off them. What can an ecg exactly tell you.
ECGs can, exactly, tell you almost nothing. They can give you some information that needs to be checked with other tests. I imagine the ECG suggested that you have a large left ventricle (left ventricular hypertrophy LVF). However, when I have an ECG is says I have LVF and bradycardia (my heart rate is 45/min). This is what is seen in those who do a lot of sport, and can suggest perfect health. Maybe I am about to die, maybe all top athletes (not that I am one) are about to die. Maybe you have to interpret tests in association with other information.
He didn’t follow it up with anything else. Said my heart was ok. Should I be worried. Not sure what to do about the meds.
Phil,
A healthy person’s blood pressure will vary considerably according to circumstances. I suggest you get yourself a home BP testing kit to see what it is in non stressful conditions. You might also request a 14 hour monitor from your doc to see what your actual pressure is under varying conditions through the day. Many people get over medicated because of stress at the dr’s office – “white coat syndrome”.
Thanks. I do take it at home. It varies between 120/80 up to 150/90 on the meds. If I stop the meds now it can go up to 170/90
phil: Read eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/eh/21/20/1635.full.pdf
Also by the same author (Port S) the Lancet 355:T175-180 (sorry, don’t know how to find the link). At what point BP should be treated depends on your age and a lot of other factors. I suspect it is often over-treated. I’m treating mine to high-quality LCHF food, strenuous exercise, and joy in living.
Dr, Goran: I think you’re on to something here. My decision to wean from my last remaining BP drug (lisinopril) last May has led to a cascade of positive changes in my health. After a few weeks I noticed I was sleeping better and longer. Then I noticed most nights I don’t have to get up to pee. Strength training is going better, and I’m building muscle mass faster. Nor do I feel wiped out on the two intense workout days, but, after my normal midday rest, have energy enough for whatever tasks I wish. I’m satisfied with a single glass of wine, rather than having two or three in the evening. I just feel better all the way around. What is my BP? I don’t know, and I don’t give a damn. I won’t be checking it at home. At the doctor’s office it ranged in recent years, with the drug, around 130/145 over 76/78, but was never taken properly. I’m in one of those claustrophobic little rooms, sitting on one of those examination tables, way up in the air, with my feet dangling, after shooting the breeze with the nurse, so naturally it’s going to be elevated from the resting state. I simply don’t know what my resting BP is, and I don’t care. I have excellent health because I’m in charge of it, and I use my God-given intelligence and the blessing of the internet to sift all the evidence I can find. To hell with all drugs. In any case, 80% of the pharmaceuticals used in the U.S. (according to our FDA) are made in China. 4,000 factories, thirteen inspectors. I wouldn’t eat any food produced in China, and certainly wouldn’t take any of their drugs.
Gary,
Great reading!
“To hell with all the drugs!” That’s my melody.
Reminds me of my last (?) visit with the cardiologist a couple of years ago. He hated me from the beginning and he couldn’t hide it. “Refusing the offered by-pass, 15 years ago, AND all of our wonderful pharmaceutics!”
When measuring the BP he worked hard to insult me ; “I note that you are irritated on me!” So he was able to rise my BP to 140 and then didn’t have a problem prescribing BP lowering drugs. He was not the least interested in my own measurements at rest at home always showing pressures 110/60.
What kind of people are those medical “experts”?
Well I must admit that with my present pneumonia I am happy with my antibiotics. Without those I wonder if I had been able to communicate at all today.
Let’s say.
“To hell with all the drugs except antibiotics!”
Dr. Goran: Drugs only when we need them, as opposed to whenever the doctor says we need them. Yes, we need them sometimes, usually on a temporary basis. Since I began the process of changing my diet eleven years ago I haven’t been sick once. I think my high cholesterol is protecting me. Last time it was 239, which I think is somewhere around 6.3, if I’m doing the math right.
Goran
Check out the following:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Living-Proof-Vitamin-C—Miracle-Cure/tabid/371/articleID/171328/default.aspx
This is the story of a NZ farmer who was condemned to death by doctors but saved by family insisting on Vit C therapy
http://www.odt.co.nz/print/126632
headed and ignored by medics is interesting.
But if you want this treatment you will probably have to to court.
Goran et al
Sorry it seems that the two links have been taken down – why is it that contradictory medical events/results seem to disappear,
The following is on Youtube valid as of now
Mike,
Life is a constant struggle. On my strict LCHF diet (less than 5% carbs) for seven years I have been in an excellent health condition – not a single cold.
However about a month ago I was hit by a flu which seemed to pass over in a week but then turned into a pneumonia and I wonder why. The only thing I could come up with is that I had started to get more liberal towards the carbs (I was feeling so well) and also with my vitamin supplements.
I am well aware of this intravenous vitamin C issue, not only this “unbelievable” case from Australia but also through Linus Pauling.
Anyway I am slowly recovering and I note that my soar throat immediately experience relief whenever I am sipping on my vitamin C drink – 10 grams in a glass of water. Instead of the usual 6 gram I am today up at about 20 grams a day.
Re the objections to Vit C as not being effective and causing adverse reactions I checked the MHRA DAP for ascorbic acid at:
Click to access dap_19529664939373152.pdf
Since 1965 the total number of adverse reports from ascorbic acid on its own was 73 with 2 deaths; one from infections and one from respiratory disorders.
In the literature kidney stones are the most cited adverse event but in this DAP under “renal and urinary disorders” only two events are reported when used on its own.
Given the 50 year span of this report and the widespread use of vitamin C this level of adverse responses is far less than most modern pharmaceuticals that are widely promoted as “safe”.
I suspect the medical antipathy to Vitamin C is based on a “bruised ego” than on any real evidence. The US Registry of adverse reactions has no listed fatalities for vitamins over the last 20 years. There is also a US Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) but so far I have been unable to access its details. The attitude of the experts who denied benefit reminds me of the initial expert response to Dr Barry Marshall and his hypothesis of infectious GI ulcers and H. pylori.
Perhaps the bigger issue is whether it is largely a myth that small increases in blood pressure later in life reduce longevity? Read this paper for an argument that has yet to surface into broad recognition.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12291079_There_is_a_non-linear_relationship_between_mortality_and_blood_pressure
Brian,
Thank you for the link, I think I have seen it before somewhere.
It just confirms that we are talking of a gigantic scam also when it comes to blood pressure medication.
Oh! What a world!
Goran
You are right. The fact is that the log linear model based on the Framingham data is flawed and statistically so BUT IT SELLS DRUGS.
Lancet. 2000 Jan 15;355(9199):175-80.
Port S, et al Flawed Systolic blood pressure and mortality based on Framingham data..Lancet. 2000 Jan 15;355(9199):175-80.
Port S1, Demer L, Jennrich R, Walter D, Garfinkel A.
Against the predictions of the linear logistic model, neither all-cause nor cardiovascular deaths depended on systolic blood pressure in a strictly increasing manner. The linear logistic model was rejected by the Framingham data. Instead, risk was independent of systolic blood pressure for all pressures lower than a threshold at the 70th percentile for a person of a given age and sex. Risk sharply increased with pressure higher than the 80th percentile. Since systolic blood pressure steadily increases with age, the threshold increases with age, but more rapidly in women than in men.
INTERPRETATION:
The Framingham data contradict the concept that lower pressures imply lower risk and the idea that 140 mm Hg is a useful cut-off value for hypertension for all adults. There is an age-dependent and sex-dependent threshold for hypertension. A substantial proportion of the population who would currently be thought to be at increased risk are, therefore, at no increased risk.
BP used to be considered acceptable if it was 100 + your age. I’ve also read studies that suggest the difference between systolic and diastolic may have more value than the absolute numbers, a greater difference may suggest more flexible arteries with less damage/calcification.
Chris,
The difference between SBP and DBP is apparently called “pulse pressure” and should be equal to 40. I have never been able to elucidate what relationship differences has on CHD. May be some can help on this.
Ah yes, pulse pressure, thank you! What I stated about the difference indicating more flexible arteries I read on the internet, so it may or may not be true. Currently I’m 138/80 so in the right zone BUT since the hyperthyroid did a number on my leg arteries I suspect a totally different story if you checked at my ankles. I’m working on it though, walked a couple of miles again today until the arctic breeze blew me back to the car and am shortly to take a large dose of Vacheron d’Or, a seasonal and very runny cheese undoubtedly full of vitamin K2, CLA and other good things, and best of all it tastes good
Dr Goran,
I’d like to think it was a scam and feel good about dumping my valsartan, but I’m faced with the cardiologist and the electrophysiologist and their citing of all sorts of research (Dependable research? I’m in no position to know) that “inform” me that the PRIME risk factor for atrial fibrillation (My continuing burden) is hypertension.
Provide me a rationale for dumping this stuff.
Yes? Anyone?
JDPatten: Does the drug reduce your blood pressure? Are the side effects tolerable? If so, you may not have a good reason to chuck it. I had the confidence to stop mine because I have excellent health with no diseases, but you may very well get a benefit from continuing.
JD
A rational?
You can turn the question around.
These “guys” are cheating us all the time – you can make a long list. This whole field stinks to me. What indicates that they are not cheating again? So if you don’t have convincing proofs that they are not doing this – why believe them?
Usually, when they have convincing proofs these are often lucid while with an hidden agenda they are just blurred by elaborate statistics for the purpose of business. For me this immorality is unbelievable.
high bp is my burden as well. without the meds it goes high. how high is yours
JD
Citing an article is one thing. They have to provide the raw data. Many docs are not very conversant with statistics and take as gospel the manipulations achieved with mathematics. see below
High blood pressure causes atrial fibrillation!?
OK, here’s THEIR rationale:
Extended periods of heavy labor/exercise produces extended periods of higher blood pressures. (Weight lifters can go above 300 systolic. Pressure accommodates need for the activity.) Over-extending these elevated periods can cause stretch, or dilation of the left atrium. That, in turn, causes fibrosis, or scarring which, in its turn, interrupts normal electrical pathways in the atrium and its incoming pulmonary arteries. Atrial fibrillation.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27432835?dopt=Abstract
Seems logical on the face of it. Could be a chicken vs egg situation, but what would cause atrial stretch if not high BP?
Alternative ideas??
It’s tough to do good RCTs on this sort of thing, so Science has no definitive answers to agree or disagree with.
My left atrium is enlarged, therefore I take a BP medication. Makes me feel tired. Keeps BP low when relaxed. Who knows what it does when I’m chopping firewood or building stone walls?
One shortcoming of ANY ideas about BP is the ridiculous way it’s measured. The simple act of strangling your arm if bound to confound any measurement.
I’ve been going through a two year farce with my BP which has resulted with me developing a totally stupid phobia of BP monitors, even the one in my own home.
Maybe something to do with being constantly bombarded with the message that high BP is “the silent killer” – a message I’m just not brave enough to ignore.
My GP admitted that for the time being anyway, we won’t know what my BP actually is. How daft is that.
Phil
My experience of 1: I had moderately elevated BP and was on meds therefor. Nearly 3 years ago i switched to LCHF. Long story short, my BP (S) came down below 100. I was taken off BP and other meds. My BP has now settled around 115/75. Which seems to please everybody.
So, if you are not on LCHF give it a try. It worked for me in many health ways.
Thanks Robert. I do low carb but it hasn’t made that much difference to me. Lost weight. How many carbs do you each a day.
Goran:
It wasn’t long too ago that your blood pressure was considered normal if it was within your age plus 100 pts. E.g., a 70 year old man with a BP of 170/90 would have been considered normal.
Vitamin D:
How old are you guys? Part II
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/314195.php
from this study:
“The clinical trial, the first to examine vitamin D’s impact on respiratory infections in nursing home residents, looked at 107 patients with an average age of 84 over a 12 month period. Of those, 55 received high doses of vitamin D or 100,000 units monthly (averaging 3,300-4,300 units daily). And 52 received lower doses averaging between 400-1,000 units daily. Those with higher doses saw ARIs cut nearly in half. They also had over double the incidence of falls, the study said.
“This finding requires a confirmatory trial, including whether high daily doses of vitamin D, rather than high monthly doses, makes patients less likely to fall,” Ginde said.”
Wonder whether they got single doses of that size and felt dizzy afterwards…
By the way, just over half that age, no thick skin yet…
JDPatten
Thanks for the link. Personally I take 5,000 IU a day. My blood Vit D is around 100-110 mmol/L which is way over the 50 mmol/L recommended by the official advice but OK by the VitaminDcouncil.com. A years supply costs in the region of £15-20 on Amazon. In contrast the monthly injection of 100,000 IU will cost a lot more (Big Pharma trying to get in on the act)
I also take Vit C 1-2 g/day and at the hint of a sniffle I chew Vit C 1 g tablets like sweeties. Result, neither my wife or myself have had a cold or flu (ie with temperature) in the last 5 years.
I’m coming up on 12 years LCHF soon. One of the most spectacular things was that I spent the first 50 years of my life catching every cold and flu, and more than my share of squits and constipation, and minor but chronic skin, eye, sinus, gum and fungal infections and outbreaks of thrush.
Undoubtedly stopping my blood glucose from whanging up to 8 – 10 or more and then down to 4 or less was a large part of the improvement. I was supplementing with D3 but only about 1000iu but stopped when I ran out, it’s still 95 which I presumably get from food and sunshine.
In the last twelve years or so the most I get is a feeling that I’m going to get a cold soon, followed by a feeling that I just had a cold for a few days – without actually having the cold. Only two exceptions – I DID get a cold a couple of years back, and this current one has given me several attacks of snuffling and coughing which have worn off then returned several times but are not nearly as bad as most people, including Malcolm, are reporting, so this is a BAD virus.
Giving up wheat and severely avoiding Omega 6s may also be factors, as may be exchanging such things for nutrition.
Mike, Chris
I usually tell the same seven years story but I am today rather confused about why I was hit so hard four weeks ago; first one week flu followed by pneumonia now on it’s fourth week.
My idea is that the seven years on strict LCHF has made me more sensitive towards the carbs, and vulnerable for pathogen attacks so to speak.
Some pathogens are so vicious that you can’t avoid succumbing whatever you do to deal with the weaker ones.
Streptococcus evolved to become weaker and cause less symptoms and thus avoid being blatted with antibiotics. At the same time staphylococcus developed into MRSA. I have to wonder if the excessive use of antivirals is doing the same to viruses.
JD
You may be interested in this:
.
https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2016/11/21/is-your-medicine-triggering-scary-atrial-fibrillation-afib/?ct=t(This_Week_11_22_16)&mc_cid=b83930c0cf&mc_eid=dd7a65b962
Is Your Medicine Triggering Scary Atrial Fibrillation
Your query on age – I am 83 in my 84th year.
If you like playing around with interactive graphs, there’s an informative website that shows Cause of Death at various ages for various groups.
I was interested to see that cancer is the big killer, particularly for women, until your late 70s when circulatory diseases take over. And from your teens to your early 30s, “other” (presumably car crashes, bar-room brawls, and faulty bungee jump cords) is more likely to finish you off.
Only last week the CSO (i think) announced on the news that Alzheimers (AD) was now the leading cause of death in the UK. It is not on the list. Only “nervous” a small percentage.
Cancer Is a killer but can be caused by statins according to some. I am convinced that statins are also associated with AD. Solomon Neurology. 2007 Mar 6;68(10):751-6.
A moderate decrease in serum TC from midlife to late life (0.5 to 2 mmol/L) was significantly associated with the risk of a more impaired late-life cognitive status, even after adjusting for age, follow-up time, sex, years of formal education, midlife cholesterol, changes in body mass index, APOE epsilon4 genotype, history of myocardial infarction/stroke/diabetes, and lipid-lowering treatment.
also
but decreasing serum TC after midlife may reflect ongoing disease processes and may represent a risk marker for late-life cognitive impairment.
and
Solomon Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2009;28:75–80
Tables 2-4 Change row titles to US official guideline recommendation. Then >239 mg/dl become statin treated and increased AD incidence.
Odds Ratio Confidence Interval Calculation For 2×2 Contingency Table
Solomon A. et al report Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2009;28:75–80
Comparing AD numbers between 239 mg/dl (ie not treated v. treated)
Result
Relative rate 1.4035
Real Difference = 1.60% increased incidence from statin treatment
Odds Ratio 1.43 = 43% increased incidence from statin treatment
95% confidence interval from 1.12 to 1.83
Odds Ratio Inflation = 25.22 or 25-fold
Chi-square with Yates correction
Chi squared equals 7.775 with 1 degrees of freedom.
The two-tailed P value equals 0.0053
The association between rows (groups) and columns (outcomes) is considered to be very statistically significant.
AD/PD 2009 – Are We Experiencing an Alzheimer’s Epidemic? Incidence Has Soared Enormously
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/590106
The world may be experiencing an epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease (AD ) that is not entirely attributable to an aging population, new research suggests.
the number for AD and other dementias rose exponentially: 1274 citations from 1966 through 1970; 1733 from 1971 through 1975; 5465 from 1981 through 1985; 16 204 from 1991 through 1995; and 21 569 from 1996 through 2000. This dramatic spike over 40 or so years, he said, cannot be accounted for by an aging population,
“because what we were looking at was incidence, not prevalence.”
The incidence within age groups has increased, thus some factor other than age is operating.
Is there any data on the number of Alzheimer’s patients who were taking statins.
http://www.tuitnutrition.com/p/alzheimers_13.html
Good stuff there, increasing numbers of clueful people are calling it Type 3 diabetes, it does appear to be tracking the “epidemics” of obesity and diabetes but with an extended time lag.
Having seen the results I’m for a quick fatal heart attack, much more fun.
Its unbelievable what is happening to Gary and Tim Noakes.
Does dehydration cause strokes? Various research shows [just try googling] that some 50% of strike victims admitted to hospital are dehydrated and that stroke outcome is worsened relative to the degree of dehydration. My personal experience is that I spent a week skiing at altitude in the Rockies, flew back overnight to London on Saturday morning and began to experience stroke symptoms on Sunday. The hard exercise and flight would have dehydrated me and I foolishly contributed to the poor levels of fluid by drinking wine on the flight. I was finally admitted on Thursday and diagnosed with an Ischaemic stroke [right pons]. I am aged 67, fit, don’t smoke, slim, no diabetes, and not on any medication [e.g. statins]. Examination [CT scans, MRI, heart monitor etc ] disclosed nothing untoward except some arterial calcification relevant to my age.
Dehydration clearly worsens stroke outcomes, but could it be causal? We are advised to keep hydrated, but I’ve never seen any special reason given. Why is this information not heavily publicised?
Dehydration may be a cause of strokes but it certainly is a common cause of confusion in the elderly.
I have cared for numerous old people, mainly women, who were admitted to hospital, absolutely loopy. A few hours and a couple of litres of IV fluids later the majority would be sitting up, having a cup of tea, conversing perfectly lucidly, and going home the following day..
The cause was often voluntary fluid restriction, because having a pee often meant going up steep, narrow stairs to the toilet. We always reckoned the sex difference was because many men chose to pee down the kitchen sink! A toilet on the same level just outside the back door would, we felt, have prevented many hospital admissions.
This is like the second of the Star Wars movies – The Empire Strikes Back.
That there is no right of reply with science based argument and that this ban offers no way to rectify one’s position is against all natural justice; it just reinforces the fact that it is politics and not science or concern with human health. How can it be that what happened to John Yudkin decades ago should continue in even more extreme form?
I did listen to talks by Gary Fettke on YouTube sometime in the last two years and thought them excellent. What fascinates me is that just as with global warming, the evidence is there and will become ever more pressing and undeniable. For myself, at 76, since going LCHF several years ago I feel hugely well and rarely feel tired over a busy day, just sleepy by the end of the day with sometimes a short nap late afternoon.
Thanks once again, for a very interesting article (I do pass these on).I just wanted to wish you well and hope you get better soon!Warmest wishes.
The law of unintended consequences is about to hit. AHPRA has now said, without realizing it, that NO GP can talk about diet when dealing with diabetics or people with high cholesterol. Well done, AHPRA!!! This is what happens when absolute power is unleashed without any controls placed on it. Incredible.
In the end, this is all about control of doctors to ensure that only the ‘correct’ mediation, aka eminence proclaimed drugs are prescribed. If the LCHF diet gets traction, many drugs won’t be needed and that would be a disaster… Hit the doctors with restrictions, deprive them of income, drive them out. We all know where the power and the corruption lie…
Dr Willcourt,
Congratulations. Two irrefutable statements. I call the so-called “guidelines” DIRECTIVES because that is what they are. While protecting the authors (only guidelines) it provides the GMC (UK) and the AMA(US) with the power to enforce “approved” therapies on threat of conviction. The UK QOF provides further empowerment. I have commented thus on the BMJ rapid responses on more than one occasion.
mikecawdery: Always appreciate your comments, but a minor correction here: The AMA in the US is a trade group with an ever-dwindling membership among physicians (last figure I read was 17%), and no direct enforcement power. They can, and do, make mischief for the health of the public, but the iron hand of conformity to guidelines and standards of practice falls to the medical board of each state. Our political system and media here are so corrupted by industry influence that it is impossible to know what is true without doing a great deal of independent research and using the power of logic and reasoning. One of the reasons for our recent political upheaval is that trust in our institutions is at an all-time low. Thank our lucky stars for the internet! This is why the social-media titans are talking about censoring information on line. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!”
Gary,
For the man in the street almost everything in the main stream media is corporate bullshit one way or another and everyone knows it.
When some CEO, like Svanberg for BP after the Gulf catastrophy some years ago, claims that his corporation cares for the everyday man there is a big laughter in the press room.
Gary Thanks very much for the correction and comments. Very Much like the UK’s GMC but without the ultimate power to depose
Dr. Chatterjee—-a very persuasive man—last 18mins.
http://www.thefatemperor.com/blog/2016/11/20/ted-talk-from-dr-rangan-chatterjee-putting-insulin-resistance-centre-stage
Look up JAMA this week
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2564564
Lowering the Bar on the Low-Fat Diet
David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD1
About the incentive to eat a low cat diet :
“The recent revelation that the sugar industry attempted
to manipulate science in the 1960s1 has once
again focused attention on the quality of the scientific
evidence in the field of nutrition and how best to prevent
diet-related chronic disease.
Beginning in the 1970s, the US government and
major professional nutrition organizations recommended
that individuals in the United States eat a
low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet, launching arguably the
largest public health experiment in history. Throughout
the ensuing 40 years, the prevalence of obesity and
diabetes increased several-fold, even as the proportion
of fat in the US diet decreased by 25%.”
“a comprehensive examination of this massive
public health failure has not been conducted.
“a comprehensive examination of this massive
public health failure has not been conducted.”
“result of these efforts, dietary fat decreased to
near the recommended limit of 30% total energy. But
contrary toprediction, total calorie intake increased substantially,
the prevalence of obesity tripled, the incidence
of type 2 diabetes increased many-fold, and the
decades-long decrease in cardiovascular disease plateaued
andmay reverse, despite greater use of preventive
drugs and surgical procedures.”
“Recent research suggests that the focus on dietary
fat reduction has directly contributed to this growing
burden of chronic disease.2,6-9 In contrast to older,
cross-sectional designs, high-quality prospective observational
studies consistently show that total fat intake
does not predict change in body fat, after controlling
for confounding and reverse causation. Some foods
previously relegated to the top of the pyramid because
of high fat content (nuts, full-fat yogurt) are associated
with lower rates of weight gain than common highcarbohydrate
foods (processed grains, potato products,
sugary beverages).9”
“Lessons Unlearned
The focus on replacing dietary fat with carbohydrate did not achieve
intended public health goals and arguablyproduced harm, but these
adverse outcomes have not been clearly and consistently acknowledged.
Consequently, many people in the United States still actively
avoid eating fat. Indeed, national nutrition policy continues
to promote fat reduction in schools (eg, by banning whole milk and
allowing sugar-sweetened nonfat chocolate milk),”
Umberto Ucelli
Yes I have seen that but as usual the full paper is behind a paywall. But the low-fat supporters are still at it.
http://www.cebm.net/evidence-really-not-support-introduction-low-fat-dietary-guidance-1983/
and
CCBYNC Open access
Research
Intake of individual saturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease in US men and women: two prospective longitudinal cohort studies
BMJ 2016; 355 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5796 (Published 23 November 2016)
Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i5796
The authors are all from Harvard, the source institution of the original flawed sugar study.
The problem with much of current Big Pharma supported medical research (directly or through “independent” institutions) is based on “the perceived profit” concept of pharmaceutical patented drugs. The concept of patient benefit (other than minimal inflated by RRs ORs and HRs) and patient harms (hidden) are not primary factors of concern.
There was a time (until relatively recently) when Ethics Committees would blanket ban all research into other than high carb diets, so much of the stuff on the “dangers of saturated fat” was actually about the dangers of saturated fat added to a high carb diet, Plus trans fats were another obvious confounding factor. On the other side of the coin many people including especially Willett & Co at Harvard like to conflate Omega 6s and Omega 3s despite their differing metabolic effects. (Richard Feinman came up with a zinger – “Willett may look like Wyatt Earp, but he’s no straight shooter!”)
There’s not a little evidence that adding more carbs to a high carb diet isn’t very good for most people either.
Vit E has 8 forms. Which ones to take? I found a very good write-up by one of the world’s experts on E. Some excerpts – tocotrienol “dials down” cholesterol synthesis without consequences, and statins “shut down” cholesterol synthesis with major consequences – Taking statins depletes the isoprenoid pool – 1992 Bristol-Myers Squibb study that discovered tocotrienol’s cholesterol-lowering properties – We have found that delta- and gamma-tocotrienol in small dosages (75–100 mg) reduced total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides by 15–20%, while cardiovascular risk (TC/HDL) and metabolic syndrome ratios (TG/HDL) dropped by 15–20% and 20–30%, respectively. – An early step of atherogenesis is fatty streak formation in arteries, which begins with the adherence of circulating monocytes tethering onto the endothelium. Previously, Dr. Theriault of the University of Hawaii/Manoa showed that tocotrienols reduce cellular adhesion molecule expression and monocytic cell adherence. http://www.drpasswater.com/nutrition_library/tan_1.html
An early step of atherogenesis is fatty streak formation in arteries, which begins with the adherence of circulating monocytes tethering onto the endothelium.
This is the kind of statement that freaks me out. It sounds entirely logical. A fatty streak starts as something sticking to the inside lining of an artery, much like a gob of fat sticking to the inside of a sewer pipe (something I’m familiar with as a civil engineer).
Yet we are also told that the process starts with a fatty build-up between the inner and outer layers of the artery, and it is the tiny blood vessels on the outside of the artery that feed the fatty stuff in, it doesn’t come from the main bloodstream.
So what is really happening? I’m trying to understand, but there’s so much conflicting information I find it impossible to develop a coherent picture.
Martin – I always presume that everone on this Blog has read Dr. K’s books but if you haven’t, read The Great Cholesterol Con. It really helps to understand the mechanics of what is going on in our arteries and is very enlightening in regards to why cholesterol is not the culprit. I keep wanting to tell my heart doc to take down those misleading posters in all the patient rooms that allude to things sticking to the sides of your arteries.
There is a very good book by Dr JR Kraft Diabetes Epidemic & You
To quote
……the endothelium of arterial vessels damaged by hyperinsulinemia leading to athero-arteriosclerosis.
This book provides a useful insight into insulin levels in the diagnosis of diabetes and the many consequences of hyperinsulinaemia
what I do is read lots of studies paying particular attention to the authors
High levels of insulin?
Here’s a logical argument for a low carb high fat diet I haven’t seen made before.
Assume you need to lose weight. You must have a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, but you need to maintain good nutrition to keep healthy.
Imagine all the food and drink you consume during the day spread out on a long table. Try and arrange it so the most important foods containing the most valuable vitamins and minerals are at one end, through the medium important stuff, to the empty calories at the other end.
So you might have meat and fresh veg down one end, rice and potatoes in the middle, and pure sugar down at the other.
Now start pushing stuff off the table until you are left with the required number of calories. What are you going to push off first? Obviously the most nutritionally empty stuff. So no sweets or added sugar. No cool drinks containing sugar or sugar-like substances. No sweet baked goods like cupcakes, buns, or biscuits.
Those are the easy ones. Now you’re into the bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta. Decide for yourself what to cut or eliminate. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Personally, I believe my home-baked wholewheat sourdough bread, brown rice pre-soaked in acid water, and boiled potatoes, are perfectly healthy. Just cut down a bit on the quantity.
In any event, the net result will tend to a LCHF diet.
If you’re healthy and at a good weight, stick with what you’re doing.
If you’re unhealthy but at a good weight, you’re probably lacking in vitamins and minerals. Take empty calories off the table and add more nutritious food to replace the calories. So again, you will tend to a LCHF diet.
If our plane were to crash in a jungle or a forest, and we’d survive for a few months before we are rescued, would we have a LCHF diet? i am just wondering. I think humans in general are opportunist eaters, and will eat what is easily available with the least effort.
If you are presented with an emergency situation, then you might eat whatever is available, including your fellow travellers. As for humans in general being opportunist and grabbing whatever is easily available, can I suggest you read “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston Price? That is if you haven’t already done so. Stable healthy populations that did not rely on treatment to cure their ills, but ate to stay healthy in the first place, went to a great deal of trouble to ensure they were getting proper nutrients. It is an enjoyable book and gives an insight how much “primitive” peoples knew about how to stay healthy, and how little we modern halfwits don’t know. Not surprising since we have had 50 years of “educating” into what to eat, and almost all of it has been absolute rubbish that benefitted commercial interests.
Gaetan, your thought experiment requires some assumptions. If one had easy access to plant food, then clearly he/she would eat lots of plant food. If one has weapons and can hunt animals for food, then animal food would serve nicely. If we had neither easy access to plant or animal food, and nutrition was not abundant, we would survive off of our fat reserves and protein. If one had abundant fat reserves, then he would be essentially on a starvation diet and would be living off of fat mainly. That would be a very low carb diet. Many North America native tribes of hundreds of years ago would migrate North and South each year and some would carry Pemmican as their main food source. This was lean thin cuts of Buffalo meat saturated and encased in animal fat and stored in skin bags. No refrigeration obviously, but this food would sustain the tribe for months very well. That would be very low carb.
That doesn’t mean that those tribes didn’t eat carbs when they had access to them. All traditional cultures all over the world eat all three food groups: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
Of course, we wouldn’t. And neither did anyone else throughout history. LCHF as a lifestyle is only possible in rich societies and even there only for a small subset of the population. And for me the verdict is still out whether it confers greater health benefits than diet that incorporates everything: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. I don’t think it does.
Sasha: Off topic, but I thought of you when I received my December Harper’s magazine. It has an Andrew Cockburn article called “The New Red Scare.” Also a review of two new books; one on the Romanovs, and the other on Rasputin. Good reading all, if you’re a history buff.
Gary: Thank you! I will check it out))
Yeah, the new red scare… Too bad, both cultures have a lot in common and can learn a lot from each other. Including in the area of medicine.
Gary: thanks for the Harpers article. When I first came to the United States I was surprised how genuinely terrified some people were of the Soviet Union. I don’t remember ever feeling that way towards the States when I was growing up. Probably because Soviet propaganda was never as good as Amercan one.
Seems like the medical industry sometimes uses similar tactics to those of the military industrial complex – create imaginary threat and then offer “solutions”.
Sasha: Wasn’t that good! I reread it, as so much was new to me. We used to dive under our desks at school when the air-raid siren went off, a mournful, frightening wail, as if a nuke would have any respect for the desktop! There is still one standing not far from my house, but they haven’t used them since the Kennedy administration. Nor has the U.S. mainland ever experienced an air raid in all its history. I had to laugh when you said we had better propaganda than the Soviets. At least our bumbling government does something well!
Gary: Yes, I think the propaganda machine in the West works very well))). In my opinion, it is superior to what the Soviet Union had or what Russia has now. It’s hard to convince people of your point of view when store shelves are empty…
Sometimes it works to Russians’ advantage. In “Risk Savvy” Prof. Getzinger mentions that of all European countries surveyed, Russians are least likely to overestimate benefits of mammograms and PSA testing. The numbers are still shockingly high even for them: 82% for women and 77% of men, or thereabouts.
Sasha: Perhaps Russians are more realistic because of the real suffering recent generations have experienced. Americans, except those sent to combat zones, have not experienced anything like this in six generations. And if all the media during Soviet times was state-owned, they learned not to trust it. Here it is much more subtle. While the press is free and independent, both government policy and corporate interests dominate the message people receive from it. Education is the art of questioning (I’m a retired teacher), but it seems in recent decades Americans have been trained not to question. Political correctness is a glaring symptom of this. And Americans have very comfortable lives. Even the poor here have far more stable lives, including free, good quality medical care, than the poor in developing countries. But this election year showed us to be capable of questioning, as trust in the press is now quite low.
Gary: I agree, it’s easier to convince people when their basic needs have been taken care of. That is why Soviet Union was failing in its propaganda. Modern Russia is more successful, to some extent because the standard of living is now higher.
And you are right, the educational system rewards regurgitation, nowhere is it more apparent than in pre-med and (I assume) medical schools.
I forget where I read it, possibly the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, but after WWII when Europe was in a state of famine, the US authorities were trying to determine the minimum standards of nutrition required in terms of fats, oils, proteins, calories etc. What they found was below a certain minimum (1500 calories?), any food would do. The body needs a certain number of calories just to keep alive, and only after than minimum is met does it start to matter what the macronutrient balance is.
It was Ancel Keys who did this work, and the minimum was 1,000Kcal, if memory serves.
Sasha, you should get Weston Price’s book I referred to earlier. LCHF was not “a lifestyle” for the well off.
AH Notepad: The people Dr. Price studied had excellent health, but ate a wide variety of foods. The Gaelic of the Isle of Harris, for example, ate primarily oats and seafood; this would not be considered LCHF, yet they enjoyed good health. The Swiss of the Loetschental Valley made and ate rye bread as a main staple. It seems the healthiest of all that he studied, in East Africa, ate a high proportion of animal foods, including organs, compared to plant foods. One might conclude that food which doesn’t come from a factory is protective of health, and that nutrient-dense foods, i.e., from animals, is more protective than those from plants, particularly grains.
Gary: Excellent point and something I have been trying to say all along even though not as well as you. More on this a bit later, gotta go for a run…
Gary: I agree completely. In my opinion, that’s what proponents of LCHF who refer to “traditional” diets don’t account for. For much of our history food was scarce for majority of people. Thus, no one could afford to ignore nutritional value of carbs. Traditional cultures always ate them, be that taro, maze, rice, potatoes or whatever else they could get their hands on.
Not to mention Greek and Roman civilization flour-ished on bread as a main component of their meals.
To say “all” is misleading I feel. What did the Innuit do for carbs? and other arctic dwelling peoples? If they had any at all, it would have been a very limited amount. And was food really as scarce? To compare the amounts to today in western cultures, we have far more han is necessary, and they may have had a lot less, but would it have come into the “scarce” bracket?
Ok, not all, most. We can drop the Arctic dwelling people. And, yes, I think food scarcity, or occasional food scarcity, was very much a reality for many people for most of our existence. I grew up in the Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s and still remember what it could feel like, even though I grew up in the upper middle class family. No one in their right mind would eliminate carbs in the Soviet Union of my time simply because no one could afford to do so nutritionally. Or almost no one. The same applies to UK or US at the beginning of the 20th century, I think.
AH: I got the book recently, I haven’t read it yet. I look forward to reading it. My main point was: all traditional cultures ate all food groups available to them, including carbs. That doesn’t fit LCHF theory unless I misunderstand it…
Consider it this way…yams, greens, root vegetables of many varieties with little exposure to edible sugars or ‘sweets’ combined with protein and fat sources versus an overabundance of
processed carbohydrates that are either sugars or can be converted to sugar in one or a few steps (this latter description being the western world and the food stuffs they tend to offer in trade/export to developing countries. The result is the obvious…elevated blood sugar levels on a chronic basis, empty calories for many who consume the sugars or near sugars in abundance, and the ‘displacement’ from one’s diet of adequate, healthy proteins and fats.
I do not advocate processed sugars. However, all traditional cultures eat carbs: Okinawans – sweet potatoes, Chinese – rice, Hawaiians – taro, South American natives – corn, etc. This is not LCHF.
Nice logic and very true although I’m a bit like Goren in that I seem to be very sensitive to carbs. Doesn’t take much to make me gain weight and if I eat sugar, especially more than a small amount, I really feel it the next day. Almost like a hangover. It is so much about what we eat and not so much the quanity. Sounds like your home baked bread, brown rice, etc is fine – not processed like all the other stuff out there. If we could all just get back to the basics – whole, real, natural foods, we’d be ok.
Yes! If she deigns to reply to my last post elsewhere I’m about to ask Catherine Collins precisely what I should eliminate from my diet in order to squeeze in those all-important starches. Pretty much everything I eat has far more nutrition.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from Princeton University on the accuracy of cholesterol measurements.
The most important source of variability in the reported cholesterol level is, however, the clinical laboratory … substantial variation occurs even among laboratories using the same method [there are three basic methods]. The College of American Pathologists sent a sample specimen whose cholesterol concentration was determined by CDC to be 262.6 mg/dl to 5,000 clinical laboratories. The cholesterol values reported by the surveyed laboratories ranged from 101 to 524 mg/dl. — https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1989/8911/891106.PDF
So the true figure could be 50% less or 260% more than your test says! That’s really scary. Moral: Be very cautious about accepting recommendations based on cholesterol tests.
Mon dieu, but people are expected to believe every piece of medical information their GP tells them. EEK!!!
Does cholesterol measurement have value?
No useful value at all! ( See Ivor Cummins for a detailed low-down on the metrics for cholesterol).
Martin Back: That’s fascinating! And astonishing. Once again the Wizard’s advice is validated: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” What a colossal waste of precious resources, all the cholesterol tests.
Good grief! One thing I DID find interesting, the labs my GP used to use actually measured LDL – mine fell neatly between the values calculated by Friedwald and the Iranian Equation, not surprising as I now have low trigs.
Now she uses a different lab where the LDL is only calculated by Friedwald so probably overestimated. Increasing numbers of people can no longer have trigs measured at all, probably due to a cheaper piece of lab equipment.
I suspected inter-lab variation with many test results, I just had no idea it could be this much.
Martin,
The research you quote is from twenty eight years ago. Might we not assume that they have since refined their misguided approach?
Martin, that is interesting but also inflammatory. Most likely labs are pretty good at what they do. To be well informed we would need to know what the “bell curve” of all the data looked like. There are always outliers, but if 95% of the data was centered around the correct amount +or – say 5 mg, that would not be alarming. That is what the CDC should report – we can skip the outliers.
@John, I take the point that the expected deviation among laboratory test results is much less than +260%, -50%. Later, it says the CDC aims at a ±3% deviation.
The WHO MONICA project (year 2000 approx) required laboratories to meet the standard: For the control pools, the bias had to be within ±5% for total cholesterol and ±7.5% for HDL cholesterol.
http://www.thl.fi/publications/ehrm/product1/section5.htm
These were presumably top-level labs, not some clinic’s money-making sideline path lab where lowest-cost rather than highest-accuracy is the standard. Note also that the blood sample is subject to strict protocols regarding time, temperature etc prior to testing, which may or may not be adhered to.
Then there are variations in an individual’s cholesterol: Several studies have shown that total cholesterol levels are increased in winter… The difference in total cholesterol levels between June and December has been reported to be around 0.19 mmol/l, and The effect of time of day is estimated to be about 2.5% (coefficient of variation) on total cholesterol and 4.5% on HDL cholesterol … For triglyceride concentration the maximum daily rhythmic variation could reach 63%
Also, Total cholesterol level is not significantly influenced by fasting, but HDL cholesterol level decreases transiently postprandially… 12-14 hours fasting is often recommended for HDL cholesterol measurements (same ref.)
What this means, I think, is that for people with borderline risky cholesterol, more than one test is needed before making a clinical decision. Personally, I have been put on statins (but never taken them) on the basis of a single cholesterol test. I plan on never having another test. Then the doctor isn’t compelled to follow the guidelines and put me on statins.
I actually got into the accuracy of testing by accident. I was looking for a simple layman’s explanation of how they test for cholesterol in the laboratory, but I can’t find one. As far as I can tell they centrifuge the blood sample then precipitate out the HDL from the clear liquid with reagents and measure that, then calculate the rest, but I would prefer an explanation from a professional. Perhaps Dr. Kendrick would oblige?
I have always been extremely dubious about the accuracy of lipid measurement. Here is a reasonable article explaining some of the difficulties – mainly in kidney failure, but the issues are true for all populations http://clinchem.aaccjnls.org/content/43/11/2183
Going back to the original subject, I had a Profound Thought while walking on the beach.
Many doctors nowadays are basically mechanics. They see a symptom or increasingly a test result and prescribe a drug, see another symptom and prescribe another drug, and eventually prescribe more drugs for the side effects from the first lot, AKA polypharmacy. Such doctors (we have one) may be excellent diagnosticians and may be good with acute illnesses, but chronic conditions not so much.
Malcolm and other sensible doctors are engineers, they look at the SYSTEM to see what might be behind all or most of the symptoms. They may take into account dietary and other factors, after all drugs work in milligram or even microgram doses while food is measured in grams or even hundreds of grams and only a fool would believe this can have no medical effect.
Dieticians are like mechanics with only one tool – a lump hammer (HCLF). If the engine fails to start when they hit it, they hit it harder until they crack the block. Then they exclaim “There! The block was cracked all along, there’s your problem!”
Is this not a function of medical school? It is my impression that the core of the curriculum is anatomy and disease recognition for the purposes of treatment and not longevity and disease prevention. Which might explain why nutrition science is so thinly populated with the best and brightest.
To take that metaphor a little further, the worst kind of repair technicians work something like this:
They start with a computer that is working (or a person entering a wellness clinic with no obvious symptoms), and they do some tests (draw some blood, and send it off for tests). Then they decide that it might help to run some software to clean the registry (give the patient statins). After a while the computer owner returns, and complains that certain programs don’t work any more (patient complains of severe leg pains). The engineer (doctor) assures his client that the new problem just happened to follow close on the heels of the registry problem (high cholesterol) and recommends the user downloads the latest version of the program (takes a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) to solve the new problem. The engineer (doctor) also points out that his computer (body) is getting on a bit, and these sort of things do happen due to natural ageing!
The user returns, because his computer is behaving erratically (gets acid reflux from the NSAID’s), and the new version of the program doesn’t work as well as the old version did (the NSAIDS help a bit, but the muscle cramps are still spoiling his life).
Since the registry clean-up can’t possibly be causing the new problems, further tests are made (since statin side effects turn up within a few weeks, the patient’s new problems must be due to something else – so draw more blood, and perform more tests!).
The new tests suggest that the motherboard might be defective (tests show very low B12 levels, so injections of B12 will be needed for the rest of the patient’s life!)
User decides to try a better computer repair man (patient discovers Dr Kendrick’s website) and goes away with a properly functioning machine (patient can walk properly again, with no pain, and doesn’t need any of the extra medicines he has been taking).
Hehe, yes you got it!
Brian is spot on too, treatment not prevention.
A dietician’s job is to recommend the most profitable diet – HCLF based on wheat and industrially produced Omega 6 seed oils (until recently with a side order of trans fats).
A doctor’s job is to prescribe the most profitable drugs to counteract the effects of the diet – statins, BP meds, PPIs, “diabetes drugs”.
Eating Real Food in anatomically correct quantities, who’s going to profit from that? Your local farmer, gamekeeper, butcher, greengrocer, no-one has shares in them.
I had a further Big Thought. If Gary Fettke invented a new way of amputating diabetic feet in half the time he would be feted as a hero. If Aseem Malhotra stopped trying to improve health and came up with an innovative new surgical technique they’d get off his back too.
HDL not important? The findings suggest that levels of HDL cholesterol may not be as important as how well it functions to remove cholesterol from the body. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/when-hdl-cholesterol-doesnt-protect-against-heart-disease
When a trusted authority is used – or consents to be used – as a trojan horse, the power extended as trust is usurped by a regulatory usurpation of trust on the basis of protecting from the ills that it secretly effects in protecting and imposing.
So the “War on [sickness]” operates the redirecting of life energy to fear-agenda of masked or trojan intent that itself is corrupted or ‘sick’.
This pattern of usurpation, operates the imposition of self-concept and self-image over an actual willingness and transparency of relational communication – and is a major part of our socialisation and ‘education’ adaptation by which to participate in such specifically defined social constructs of ‘reality acceptance’.
Narrative control operates the belief in and use of mind as the definer, predictor and controller or manipulator of a reality that such ‘mind’ is divorced from and in conflicted opposition to. In this sense it is operating a ‘virtual reality’ upon a living current of Communication – that is apparently in opposition to and yet actually wholly dependent upon. And the breakdown of Communication is fundamental to such a virtual world – believed and lived true. Hence mind as limiter, censor, in-validator and judge.
In simple terms, a lie demands more lies to support it – and more lies to support them – such that whatever the original urge to HIDE in or hide FROM – the result is a complex psychological defence that no one can begin to untangle but find more entanglement.
In terms of diet – it seems insane (and is) that sickness is protected and actually being prescribed. But in terms of the World Economy – as believed and accepted true – the disclosure of fakery is no less dangerous to revealing the ‘naked emperor’ than almost any other sanity. For sanity must be outlawed to support an insane system that is deemed Too Big To Fail! – whether that be medical or financial – or many other kinds of fraud. For this insanity is pervasive – being a false foundation built upon.
The core issue may be seen in terms of fear of loss of control (power) – as if such a notion of control is the only power which blinds to true relational communication – which it is true power. However the FEAR associated with loss of power is itself feared and denied in ramping up a sense of ‘power’ that reveals its lack of foundation or worthiness for allegiance. The extremely desperate attempts to cling on to ‘false power’ are symptomatic of the intensity of such dis-ease.
In self-fulfilling prophecy the hatred of being betrayed, lied to and denied – rises against identity in ‘control’ as a re-enactment of the original trauma or psychic emotional overwhelm – and triggers the same denials.
Relational communication is not only information influx and exchange but emotional and psychic perspective and meaning. Aligning in our being, rather than conforming to a mind that seemed true or necessary in its time – is a reintegration to our true nature – rather than an invalidation and substitution by masked or false sense of oppositional but conflicting ‘power’.
Nothing is ‘too big to fail’ and no matter what we have invested- when seen as a futility of misery – one cannot WANT to persist in sacrificing life to lie now that it is no longer seen as power or protector.
Regrettably I can cope only with plain English. Did you really write this, or is there a spambot in the house?
Not just me then.
I have seen waffle like that used to try to mess up other controversial discussion groups on the internet. Perhaps you should consider using a little of your “trusted authority” to stop it!
it has been stopped. One of my rules is that, if I cannot understand what is being said, I block comments.
To me this input has the definite flavor of “postmodernism” which today corrupts universities and the clear messages from the natural sciences I am used to.
Why do you have to blur your message if it is not necessary?
Just because you think that you can get away with it?
I stood at the door and knocked – and I may add – in a great appreciation of Dr Kendrick and the shared community here.
If I have offended – it was not in my mind.
Medical science is a trusted ‘authority’ through which a trojan or hidden agenda works. Some of you are becoming aware of some of this agenda. I wrote to the ideas that are embodied. If nothing I say resonates – why is it attacked? perhaps because the fear of trolls attacks anything it does not ‘understand’ – but where then is evolutionary development – if only what is already understood is ‘allowed’?
I dont think it was attacked, just that no-one could understand you.
Good point, binra)))
I let this comment go up, because it didn’t seem insulting or sinister. But it is, I believe, complete nonsense. So, unless you write some stuff that can be understood, nothing else goes up.
Maybe it’s poetry??
I have wondered if the virtual disappearance of LC bloggers such as Eades, Briffa and Brody could be explained by this silencing tactic….
They have probably knocked themselves unconscious from banging their heads repeatedly against a brick wall. I know the feeling.
Malcolm,
Should we understand this as you being an extremely “hardheaded” man 🙂
I saw this and laughed. I will not render myself unconscious in failing to make communication where it is not welcome or fitting the need or desire of the scope being held in focus.
Communication that is marketised or weaponized is not communication – and yet that is the currency that everyone ‘understands’.
I’ll go now Dr Malcolm. But regardless this failure to ‘communicate’ – my appreciation of your willingness on behalf of truth and in service of life is deeply felt and gratefully so.
I think they just wear out after a while. See also, Jay Wortman, J Stanton, G Taubes and not a few others who posted good stuff until they ran out. Some are on this modern stuff I don’t understand like Twitter and Facebook. Once Usenet was a valuable source of information, now it’s mostly spam and trolls.
Facebook is just another medium, not difficult to master. Not the same as twitter which is really just chatter and noise. I use Facebook under the name John Anthony where I post (public) a lot of information for my friends and anyone else who happens to check. FB is not a replacement for blog pages like this one, but it does reach an enormous amount of people who would not stumble across this blog, and it provides an avenue to guide people to good blog pages. Also, because FB pages are immediately shared by anyone who so chooses to do, the spread could be like wild fire – millions could be informed in hours. So don’t be repelled by FB – check it out. You just have to open an account and start searching for accounts which may interest you, such as low carb.
Wondered if you’d seen this? http://retractionwatch.com/2016/12/02/bmj-wont-retract-controversial-dietary-guidelines-article-issues-lengthy-correction/
Can the average doctor realistically recommend a high fat, low carb diet to the average patient? Most patients would rather eat their bread and pasta and be on medication, and doctors know it. It’s socially acceptable to be on medication while there is a social price to pay for no longer eating pie, french pies, and hot rolls. Also, the average patient is content having learned that butter and animal fat are bad for you. They’re proud of possessing that knowledge, along with the knowledge that low fat is good and so is multi-grain. And anything with the word nutra in it. They’re not gonna reverse or upset their knowledge. Nor are they going to destroy their social network. Statin culture is here to stay.
Hopefully not
I am sitting in the airport in Milan. Italians eat tons of carbs and there’s not one overweight person around. And food tastes like food. Go figure…
Sasha, stop with the nonense!
The information below is easily found and provided by the WHO. Enough with the anecdotal nonense.
Italy obesity information
This survey in Italy was conducted during 2008-2012. The survey found that:
24.9 percent of women (aged 35-79) were obese
31.8 percent of women (aged 35-79) were overweight
Reference
World Obesity made the above conclusions based on data from the survey. So please quote World Obesity when citing this information. References for the survey itself are here:
The Cardiovascular Epidemiological Observatory (OEC) Survey. http://www.cuore.iss.it/fattori/progetto.asp
Survey details
National/Subnational National
Sample size 8710
Measured/Self Report Measured
Not in Milan, they aren’t. There’s no way that 25% of women in Milan are obese. WHO stats are confounded by Southern Italy, probably. I will take anecdotal “nonsense” over WHO chart any time of day. That’s where common sense comes from, in my opinion.
I’m not really sure whether this post is attempting to garner sympathy or support for the Doctor, but I must say I agree with the AHPRA decision. Doctors are not trained in Nutritional Science, and therefore cannot give specialised Nutritional Advice. While they are Medical Doctors with a degree in medical science, they are not as specialised as a Dietician.
I certainly wouldn’t trust a Doctor of Literature to cross over into Medicine without adequate training.
Demonstrates how much power we give to MD’s, where perhaps it is not deserved.
Gary Fettke Is an orthopaedic surgeon who, amongst other things, has to amputate the legs of diabetics. We can reasonably assume the advice he gave to reduce carbohydrates was probably to reduce the chance of a patient needing amputation. I see a lot of nutritional “science” as evidence free mantras. I doubt many people would trust a doctor of literature to cross from literature to medicine without training, but people seem to “trust” a greedy “busniessman” to cross over into world politics. To even bring this literature/medicine link into the conversation shows a weakness of argument in the extreme. It would be worth looking at the “health” authorities’ decisions where maany whistleblowers of world class standing have been removed from their posts merely for pointing out the deficiencies in their work places. Removed for political reasons while the health requirements can go hang.
When there are no honourable people left in the system, I trust you will be happy to be treated by the mediocre yes men/women who just toe the line.
I have yet to understand why a dietician gives advice based on “evidence free mantras”, but once the doctor gives the advice it becomes sound medical advice?
Granted, a lot of nutritional science at this point IS just guess work. Low Carb Diets HAVE been effective in managing diabetes, and that is not what I am questioning.
I will trust a team of trained professionals, who all specialise in different fields to collaborate in order to “treat me”. I will not trust a single, although trained professional, to do so, no.
I wouldn’t necessarily believe a doctor either. Nowadays many are “bought” either directly or indirectly by parmaceutical companies, eg a certain Mr C who likes statins.
You seem to agree that “a lot of nutritional science” is not science, the point many posters here have been making.
Society tells us lots of things, but they are often driven by a profit motive where “health” is concerned. I agree some in the medical world have huge egos and like to present themselves as all knowing, but most of their colleagues probably know the limits. The problem for doctors is they take great risks when giving advice outside the “conventional” “wisdom” consequently we have the situation where diabetes are advised to eat LFHC diets as they risk heart attacks if they eat saturated fats.
There are some in the medical world, (who run blogs like this for example), who I think know A LOT!! and probably more than some of the specialists in the cardio world, who are more interested in money and, er, money.
AH notes, I apologise if I have come across as saying that nutritional science is not science, in fact, by its very definition, it is science. I would agree that there is are many pseudoscientific studies out there, with Nutrition being no exception. All I meant to say is that there are often limited studies on nutrition, therefore conclusions are drawn from a smaller number of studies and that professionals have to weigh up the limitations of the studies and make educated generalisations. Much of the way the human body works is not studied, particularly the way we absorb nutrients and the different effects these have on the body.
I would certainly agree, and don’t think all doctors put themselves on pedestals at all! I think as a society we need to learn to work together more, so much of what we do today is individualised and not working with, nor respecting others expertise!
Thank you for your thoughts on the topic, I appreciate having had this discussion with you!
I suppose one would ask what is a doctor allowed to advise on? Is there a list somewhere? I am not trained in cardiology, yet I write a blog focused primarily on cardiology. Perhaps I should cease and desist forthwith as I do not have a certificate from an authority allowing me to do so.
Dr. Malcom Kendrick; I am sure that if you wanted to find the list of what a doctor was allowed to advise on, there would be one within your reach :).
All I was attempting to say was that society tells us doctors are all knowing, but the truth is, is that no-one could know everything about any topic, let alone everything about every topic (and nor should they be expected to). As a doctor, is it not important to rely on other, educated persons who perhaps have specialised in different fields in order to provide the most comprehensive and sound advice to a patient?
I fail to understand in what a dietician is suposedly specialised in . They cannot prove any of their claims while there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. Adapt or die is very applicable here.
I want to see doctors way better educated and required to keep themselves continuously updated in the evolving field of nutrition. They should re-claim this space as nutrition is health and medicine. And unless dietitians can let go of their industry friendly brainwashed dogma and kick out the dodgy science, there is no requirement for them at all. Many of them are hurting people.
Thank you to the wonderful doctors and dietitians who have gone the extra hundred miles and educated themselves on nutrition for disease prevention and therapeutic management. They are the champions here.
People with medical degrees are more than qualified to educate themselves in nutrition. They are able to study the literature and data, read the material, listen to the arguments and examine clinical applications and outcomes. And think critically.
To suggest that only dietitians can understand and apply this field of health knowledge – and to exclude doctors from it – is utterly ridiculous.
A dietician specialises in human nutrition.
Dieticians do not make “health claims”. Dieticians are there to consult and make recommendations.
As with anything with the human body, research MUST be done in order to further understand it. We do not have advances in science and science technology to the point where we can conclusively say if you follow X diet, you will see Y results. But nor do many doctors have conclusive long-term answers about the drugs they prescribe; which is why, this year we have seen new evidence of the links between the contraceptive pill and depression in women.
“this year we have seen new evidence of the links between the contraceptive pill and depression in women.”
Just shows how rediculous science is! Woman on the pill could have TOLD you thee things even in the seventies – the pill makes you DEPRESSED, FAT and you lose your LIBIDO. That was fifty years ago for goodness sakes. That science has just “proved” it now shows how ignoring anecdotal evidence is not wise.
Also a low carbohydrate diet for controlling diabetes was known in Victorian times, yet “science” is still arguing about it today.
What would you say the problem with “science” is?
It isn’t a people problem, it’s a science deficiency.
Any errors here are caused by my mobile phone whilst I am feeling passionate!
All my thoughts to you. I am however glad to see the spreading public awareness of doctors defending human health & sanity… and viability, at last, and helping the few who refuse to be pushed into disease. Even more glad to see the connections these voices make with each other and with us common mortals.
It is not just medicine gone mad but also the new academic ‘science’. They have “Inadequate Ideas” (models) as Spinoza called mental representations.
The general topologic properties of these systems that have become auto-reinforced include that their “productive” effects (useful for short term survival) necessarily come with hidden “counter”-productive effects for viability or system integrity (e.g. autoimmunity). Like many other systems (eg global business, urban housing…), they are ungrounded self-serving entities rather than serving humans or animals/planet. They view the ‘basic’ (in any domain) as a threat to ‘Advancement’ (in any domain), to ‘rising’ power… of SURvival of ‘the world’ (large numbers World of Organised Human Society; or their own little personal-financial world).
To ‘refuse the push’ involves going back to basics: e.g. improving vegetative functions rather than push reactions & brain; a simpler life for more phsical living & better food.
It also involves the child-like un-selfish helping each other’s viability (both physical and societal) rather than fighting collective revolutions. (e.g. reverting one diabetes 2 as opposed to fighting institutions, or sharing knowledge & medical skill freely rather than writing papers or books the many can’t afford to buy).
My ‘helping’ is a general modelling method that applies in msny domauns. It can show pre-“early warning signs” of viability loss in any system (in daily parlance, signs of falling apart or sickness), including the compensated adaptive state we call “health” and its decompensated ‘natural ageing’, but also societal systems such as “Medicine” and “The Health System”. One mathematician wrote (in words) that advanced complex-adaptive systems are subject to ‘vulnerability’ to catastrophe (mathematical) but gave no modelling of how this occurs or how -in practice- it can be averted (by un-deploying the ‘advancements’… instead he advocated more advancing knowledge.)
Seeing the general patterns qnd properties in all these could help people connect to implement together the ‘Basic Options’ that our ‘leaders’ keep ignoring and repressing, despite them, using the innate human genius at ‘knowing what to do’.
[context that will probably make you reject this approach:]
The geometric modelling method i offer, i devised in my mature-age PhD on diffuse acute-chronic female syndromes – “not well understood” say the medical papers. They work the same as anything not ‘established’ or ‘stabilised’ that has near-catastrophy episodes. The method was refused scientific publication and evaluation-discussion because it uses animated geometric imaging (a topology), not words or numbers or societal stats. It was silenced too, and i was denied connection to ground-breaking researchers, further access to the literature, career income, and even the most basic means to health: a place to live and grow my own food to escape the sugar-laced and “sweet” fruit agriculture… So i continue my work ss field work, and share what i found out about sugars and survival, bioidentical hormones, mictlro-minerals, food and physical activity with women i meet in national parks, with young men heading the way of syndromes, and on internet.
In 8 years of applying this model, i have not found its understanding to fail and it has saved the life of my body.
I can’t make head or tail of this, Marika bouchon. Bouchon means cork. We have a saying in the UK: “put a cork in it”…
I think Marika might be a friend of binra. They talk nearly the same language.
I had the same thought, AH Notes.
If dieticians do not make health claims , then why even have them.
Gary Fettke and Tim Noakes have NOT been silenced. If they really believe what they preach they can resign from their employment and say whatever they want. No one will stop them. The reason that they claim to have been silenced is that they want to continue to state their low carb ideas and at the same time live off public money. If they taught that alien medicine was superior to human medicine, or that magnets and feathers can cure cancer, or that eating ants fix heart disease they would quite rightly be told by their medical associations to either shut up or to find alternative employment. A high saturated fat diet is rejected by virtually the entire global medical profession as being very dangerous to human health and the medical associations have decided that it is vital to the public good that they are not seen to endorse such nonsense as is proposed by Fattke and Noakes.
It is the same as if a biology teacher in the US taught that living species were created in six days by God or that a geology professor at Harvard University taught that sedimentary rock was a result of Noah’s flood, or a history teacher taught that the holocaust never happened. They would be told to either stop talking rubbish or to find another job.
I understand that you low carbers think that some of the trials support your hypothesis. I understand that some of you lost weight on that diet and some of you don’t feel hunger as we normal people do. I lost a lot of weight on a low carb diet, but it seriously damaged my lipid profile and exposed me to a greatly increased risk of CVD. My wife lost 12 Kg on low carb while her cholesterol and LDL went through the roof. The trade-off in weight loss is not worth the risk. Or at least it is only worth it for a few months until you reach your ideal weight and then abandon low carb and hope that your weight stabilises.
All this crap about your LDL improving on low carb is wishful thinking. Your hero lipidologist Dr. Thomas Dayspring now says that all LDL particles can be atherogenic. The small ones crash the artery wall and then the larger ones follow behind them entering the lesions made by the small ones. High LDL can eventually kill you and high fat diets raise your LDL. That’s why Dayspring now advocates statin therapy, because that is the only way that he knows to prevent LCHF sending your lipid profile into the stratosphere. Why maim and kill yourself with statins because LCHF has raised your cholesterol?
That’s why Atkins died hugely overweight and with a sick heart (after killing himself because of a fall) and his wife refused an autopsy because she was scared of what they would find in his arteries. That’s why Ancel Keys lived over a hundred years and his wife died at the age of ninety eight, both with fit hearts and arteries.
I have studied LCHF in detail. I have read ALL of the LCHF books, watched ALL of the LCHF videos and consulted with Dr Zeeshan Arain at his surgery when I was a believer in LCHF. But after two years of LCHF I came to the conclusion that the whole thing is a serious mistake and is dangerous to public health.
I have read Ancel Keys in depth and I think that got it right. He was quite correct to draw a diagonal straight line on his six countries studies graph and he did the correct thing rejecting the other sixteen countries data as being incompatible and not comparable to his US data. If he had used all of the twenty two countries data he would have ended up with so much junk data that his study would have been labeled a farce by statisticians. He DID NOT cherry pick his data. He explains in great detail in his paper why the rejected data of the other sixteen countries and lists them all by name in his paper.
His later seven countries study (most low carbers think that there was only one study) was a masterful piece of work and is the best study available to prove that on an international scale CVD increases proportional to the consumption of saturate fat.
He DID NOT claim that increased cholesterol consumption increased the risk of CVD and even wrote that humans can eat as much cholesterol as they want without harm; which is true.
Gary Taubes is wrong, wrong, wrong. In my opinion his books are confused, illogical, irrational, naïve, incoherent, vacuous and self-contradictory.
The ultimate expert on Ketosis is arguably Lyle McDonald who wrote the Bible on Ketosis: ‘The Ketogenic Diet: A complete guide for the Dieter and Practitioner.’ I don’t agree with any of it, but nevertheless in one of his later works he wrote that if you seriously want to lose weight fast you have to cut down on the saturated fat because it is too high in calories. – So why eat saturated fat in the first place if it hinders weight loss?
Take a look at the LCHF videos and see how overweight all their presenters are. Look how fat Dr. Thomas Dayspring is these days. With all respect to Dr Zeeshan Arain, who is a lovely guy, I was sitting in his office two years ago thinking to myself “Why are you so overweight?”
In my opinion it is the saturated fat that is making the LCHF people overweight. It is more than twice as calorie dense as carbs. It is also driving up their cholesterol and slowly killing them.
Meat does not provoke insulin response like carbs eh? Another LCHF myth. Look at the research charts. Many meats provoke insulin more than some common carbs.
Fat promotes satiety eh? Another LCHF myth. Try it for yourself. Eat a breakfast of boiled potatoes and you will want to skip lunch. Carbs are so poor in calories that you have to fill your stomach with them to get enough energy to live, and a full stomach does not want to eat. Fill your stomach with meat and fat and you will have consumed 225% the amount of calories as the same amount of carbs and you will soon become as fat as the LCHF presenters.
We evolved to eat carbs, not meat and fat. Seven million years ago we diverged from the ape common ancestor with the chimp. Apes eat carbs. Chimps eat carbs. Our long digestive tract evolved to digest carbs. Your pet dog has a short digestive tract because the wolf evolved to consume meat and fat and did not require a long digestive tract. The Paleo cavemen remains that we have found have long digestive tracts and carbs between their teeth and flat molars to crush carbs because that was 95% or more of their diet. They killed animals for the skin to make clothes and the bones to make tools. The flesh rotted within days in the heat and could not be consumed, so they never had the chance to eat much meat. Our canine teeth are short because we did not evolve to eat meat and fat.
I am an Ex-LCHF and my lipid profile has returned to normal without drugs on a diet of very low saturated fat/medium carbs/medium protein.
If Gary Fettke and Tim Noakes have the courage of their own convictions they should resign, get another job and preach the LCHF message. No one will silence them. But they should not be allowed to earn fantastic incomes belonging to medical associations that are convinced that what they are saying risks increasing the mortality and morbidity of their listeners. The public have to be protected from health quacks and I admire the doctors who sprang to the defence of the population that they serve.
Thank you for posting here. I don’t want this blog to be an echo chamber. You may, perhaps, be interested to know that Tim Noakes has retired. Gary Fettke works as an orthopaedic surgeon – so I am not entirely sure why he should retire from this job, because he happens to believe that LCHF is beneficial. As you say, you and your wife did lose weight on LCHF, so your later argument that saturated fat (which contains the same calories are any other sort of fat per gram) makes you put on weight – because it contains more calories, appears contradicted by your own experience. Perhaps you would care to comment on this?
Thank you for your comments Dr. Kendrick and hi from a fellow Scotsman living in Australia.
My thinking about saturated fat and LCHF evolved as follows:
At first I was impressed with your own work and that of the other LCHF presenters and authors. I read the books, especially Gary Taubes and it seemed to me to all make sense. My only problem was that I thought that Gary did not satisfactorily explain the need for high saturated fat.
I thought that low carb/moderate protein/ moderate or even low fat should work just as well or better. Nevertheless I followed the LCHF theory and ate the butter, bacon, cream and all of the other HF parts of LCHF. I slashed my carbs to the point that I went into ketosis and I purchased an electronic monitor to give me an accurate measure of my ketones.
I read the Lyle MacDonald Bible on the Ketogenic Diet and I thought that it was great; but again I was searching for the reason why LF was part of the diet and lifestyle. It seemed to me that if a person wanted to lose weight fast, the high calories in saturated fat would only slow the weight loss effect.
I consulted a nutritionist who agreed with my Ketogenic diet, but told me that the HF part was stupid, dangerous and unnecessary. She thought that the LC part was sufficient to lose the weight and advised me to substantially lower the saturated fat to lose weight more quickly and to protect my arteries against the raised LDL caused by a Ketogenic LCHF diet..
Then I purchased Lyle MacDonald’s book ‘Rapid weight loss handbook’ and was stunned to read him saying the same thing. To get the maximum effect of a Ketogenic diet you have to cut out the saturated fat as well as the carbs and go low carbs/low fat/medium protein to lose weight at the fastest possible rate.
My wife and I had lost some weight on LCHF, but when we cut out the saturated fat the weight loss was incredibly fast. Following the advice of Lyle MacDonald and my nutritionist (one of the very best in Australia) when I reached my target weight (65kg) after losing 8kg in eight weeks, I started to gradually re-introduce the carbs to stop my rapid weight loss, but I used high quality carbs, not junk carbs.
My problem then was that I could not stop losing weight. I was plunging down towards 60 kgs and my face was looking shallow as I lost the fat out of my cheeks.
I knew that increasing my protein intake would be foolish, but I also could not see the sense in increasing my very low saturated fat intake, because by then I had realised that Ancel Keys was right after all and that saturated fat raised LDL and total cholesterol. It does this not by converting increased saturated fat into cholesterol, but instead by slowing the uptake of LDL into the liver by reducing the number and efficiency of the liver’s LDL receptors.
After reading Ancel Keys in depth I realised that the Seven Countries study was a brilliant piece of work and not the cherry picked deceit that the LCHF people were accusing him of. I studied statistics at college and I fully understood why he rejected the sixteen countries data in his previous Six Countries trial and why he selected the seven countries in the Seven Countries trial. He lays it all out in his papers. He needed data that was comparable to the United States data. Anything else was useless to him and would have given an erroneous result to the trial.
For example West Germany in 1956 had a population of forty million people pus eleven million refugees from all over Europe. Their data was useless because it included all of those refugees who were not Germans and who all ate different diets with different amounts of saturated fat. How could Keys possibly use mixed up data like that to compare with the United States? Other countries recorded their deaths differently to the US and did not differentiate between the different types of heart disease. Ancel needed data on deaths from CVD and many of those countries did not have data on their own CVD deaths. How could he use misleading data from those countries? His trial would have been nonsense.
Keys was right. High saturated fat intake correlates with increased CVD on a global scale. High saturated fat kills humans. Dr. Thomas Dayspring has explained to us how LDL crashes the artery walls and that raised numbers of LDL particles serve to greatly increase the risk of CVD. Basic medical school human physiology teaches us how saturated fat increases the number of LDL particles by slowing their elimination from blood serum back into the liver. Even if we had no trial data at all we could work out that raised saturated fat would increase LDL and that would cause increased CVD by mechanisms that 100% of the medical profession agree with and understand.
But to get back to my story: I did not dare increase my saturated fat because I feared for my life for the above reasons. My nutritionist told me to keep increasing high quality carbs until my weight loss stopped and then increase the carbs even further to raise my weight back up to 65 kgs, then to cut back on the carbs and to adjust the amount of carbs up and down to fine tune my weight to 65 kgs. This worked perfectly and two years later I am still 65 kgs with a height of 5 feet nine inches and an age of 65 years. A perfect weight. I control my weight by adjusting my carbs up or down and my lipid profile is much better than when I was eating the high saturated fat. I look better than virtually all of the LCHF presenters and I am in excellent health.
I do find the carbs to be more filling and satiating than all that meat and fat that I was previously eating. I don’t eat cheese and I have fully skimmed milk in my coffee. I only eat whole foods and I don’t purchase any food that displays a food label. I eat lean chicken, turkey and fish, but not red meats. I don’t eat eggs. I eat a wonderful variety of steamed vegetables with very low fat margarine melted over them. I never eat butter. I never eat sugar or any food containing sugar.
So you see that I am in favour of low carb for weight loss, but the carbs have to be used as a control once an ideal weight has been achieved. Use top quality carbs like potatoes, Basmati rice, pasta, whole-wheat bread, fresh veggies and fruit.
To keep your arteries clean you need to keep your LDL low and that cannot be achieved if saturated fats are slowing the drain of LDL out of your serum back into your liver.
The new PCSK9 inhibitor drugs are fantastic at upregulating the LDL receptors on the outside of your liver and pulling extra LDL out of the blood. They can slash LDL so fast that people have to reduce the dose to raise their LDL back up again! – Why do the opposite and use high saturated fat to downregulate those same LDL receptors and leave high levels of dangerous LDL to blast into your artery walls?
Why is Dr. Thomas Dayspring using dangerous statin therapy to slow LDL production to protect the arteries of his patients and at the same time using high saturated fat to prevent LDL from leaving the blood? He is like a car driver pressing both the brake and the accelerator at the same time!
I would suggest you read the update of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment (MCE), done by Ancel Keys in the 1960s/70s. Here, he replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat. Cholesterol levels fell, and CVD deaths went up. He never published this work. It was only rediscovered recently, and published in the BMJ (I have blogged about this). My view of Keys is that he was absolutely certain that he was right, and this caused him to distort his research. For example with the Seven countries study (whatever reasons he gave) he knew which countries fitted his hypothesis, and which did not e.g. France. He used countries that already fitted his saturated fat hypothesis, not including such countries as France, and then studied them. Well, he was only going to get one result from an observational study such as this where he already knew which countries had high rates of CVD and which countries has higher saturated fat consumption (as you know observational studies are only hypothesis generating – rarely can they prove anything). When he attempted a large scale intervention study to confirm his hypothesis, the MCE, it totally contradicted his observational study. Then he didn’t publish the results.
P.S. I don’t care what happens to LDL levels. Small and dense, or light and fluffy, or any other shape size or emotive adjectives attached. LDL has nothing to do with CVD (as proven, incidentally by Keys in the MCE)
John, I doubt you have read ALL of the LCHF books, or watched ALL the videos. What is an “improved” LDL? Do you mean lower is better? Why is it better?. Many people now eat relatively high carbohydrate and low saturated fat diets, and many are seriously overweight and have insulin resistance and even diabetes. If LCHF means a greater risk of CVD and, conversly their HCLF diet means a lower risk of CVD, that may, or may not, be correct but they will suffer and probably die from diabetes associated maladies.
Yes, lower LDL is better. LCHF lipidologist and friend of Gary Taubes Dr. Thomas Dayspring says the same thing; so I don’t see how any low carber like yourself could disagree with that statement. Dayspring also says that LCHF raises LDL and total Cholesterol.
– That’s the LCHF trap. The ‘HF’ part screws with your lipid profile and sends you to an early death. There is no escaping that problem. We have to evolve the LCHF theory to get the same great lipid profiles that the Vegans enjoy. They have us beat when it comes to LDL and they are outliving us. They get the high fibre from their veggies that sorts out their cholesterol and LDL and they don’t damage their liver LDL receptors with saturated fats.
But we have the Vegans beat when it comes to losing weight fast. They can lose weight slowly, but not at the blazing speed that we can achieve, especially if you do it the Lyle MacDonald way and cut out the saturated fat.
Therefore I propose that we evolve the LCHF theory into a two stage theory: Low carbs/medium protein/low saturated fat (LCMPLF) to lose weight at a phenomenal rate. Then variable carbs/medium protein/high fibre/low saturated fat (VCMPHFLF) when people get down to their ideal weight and they use the variable carbohydrates to fine tune their weight for the rest of their lives.
My new two part diet fixes the LCHF problem of our early deaths from screwed lipid profiles, gives us even faster weight loss than normal LCHF by cutting out more calories, allows us to fine tune our new lower weight, (which the Vegans can’t do, which is why they are mostly underweight and sickly), borrows the high fibre advantage from the Vegans because we can consume more carbohydrates than under our previous LCHF regime and saves us money because carbs are cheaper than meat!
It’s a no-brainer. We all made a mistake listening to Gary Taubes tell us that high fat was good for us, when our cholesterol blood tests showed that he was wrong.
As for your diabetes concern, that has nothing to do with eating carbs. There was no type 2 diabetes until cheap slave labour in America crashed the price of sugar in Europe and we all got sick. The fibre in mixed carbohydrate meals slows the absorption of the sugar derived from the carbs and attenuates the insulin surge.
Did you know that pasta provokes a substantially lower insulin surge than cheese and beef? Grain bread (Rye) only provokes very tiny increase in insulin levels over beef. So why eat beef and reject bread? Eat a beef sandwich and you will receive approximately the same insulin surge as if you ate the same weight of beef alone. The bread will contain less than half the calories of the beef by weight and it will give you plenty of fibre to help your lipid profile, which will be damaged by the beef! – You would do far better to throw away the beef, eat more bread and live an extra twenty years of life!!!!! It is a myth that carbs provoke insulin more than meat. If you are concerned about insulin, consult an insulin index and only eat the carbs that keep your insulin levels low. Look what meat does to your insulin levels and you will turn white with fright.
No, lower LDL is not better. People with higher LDL live longer than people with lower LDL. That, is a fact. One outlined in this paper http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010401 of which I was a co-author.
John,
LDL is usually estimated by the Friedewald equation rather than measured directly.
LDL = Total cholesterol – HDL – TGL/5
But the equation only holds for a certain range of triglycerides. Below 100 mg/dL it tends to over-estimate the LDL, and TGLs of 40 – 90 mg/dL are fairly typical in long-term low-carbers, per Mike Eades. So maybe you are getting worried about nothing.
https://proteinpower.com/drmike/2009/06/22/low-carbohydrate-diets-increase-ldl-debunking-the-myth/
I don’t believe in LCHF because I think a balanced diet should include all three food groups but I still have a question: How is excluding data from the other 16 countries NOT cherry picking. If their numbers don’t fit a hypothesis, to me that means the hypothesis is wrong.
John,
Just as you distinguish between saturated fat and other types of fat for your argument, sometimes it is incorrect to lump all types of carbs together.
You say “Carbs are so poor in calories that you have to fill your stomach with them to get enough energy to live, and a full stomach does not want to eat.”
That very much depends on the type of carbs you are consuming. I know for myself I can polish off a 200 g packet of plain coconut biscuits with my afternoon tea as a snack, and go on to have supper later. The label tells me I have consumed 950 calories, and I hardly noticed it.
I personally distinguish between “dry” carbs and “wet” carbs. Biscuits would be dry carbs. Wet carbs would be e.g. cooked rice or boiled potatoes. The equivalent of 950 Calories would be four cups of rice or four boiled potatoes, approx. No way could I eat either as a main meal, let alone as a snack.
In terms of saturated fat, 950 Calories equates to 128 g of butter, just over a quarter of a 500 g slab. I took a block of butter out of the fridge and eyeballed a quarter of it. No way. I’ve eaten a teaspoon or two of butter on its own, but any more pure saturated fat is uneatable.
In terms of meat, 950 calories equates to 19 slices of roast beef, which is of course protein plus saturated fat. Again, no way could I eat that amount.
“Fat promotes satiety eh? Another LCHF myth. Try it for yourself.”
I tried it for myself. It’s not a myth, it’s true. Fat promotes satiety. But junky, highly-processed carbs don’t seem to be registered by the body as food or promote satiety, and are therefore easy to over-eat.
Regarding your lipid profile, I think the operative saying is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In short, if you’re looking good and feeling good and eating healthy food and exercising a bit, who cares what the numbers say? Listen to your body. Personally, I will never have another cholesterol test unless I suspect that something is wrong with me. Doctors are too quick to find fault and prescribe medication and further tests ‘just to be sure”.
Yeah, that’s the motto of the LCHF movement: “I will never have another cholesterol test.”
– That’s like driving a car and never looking at the fuel gauge to see if you are running on empty. 🙂
I have explained why Ancel Keys was correct to reject the delinquent sixteen countries’ data in one of my comments above. But note that he DID NOT exclude that data from those sixteen countries. It is all there in the six countries trial paper. He explains why it was junk data and why it would have been unscientific and misleading to have plotted that data on his chart. Read the six countries trial paper for yourself and you will soon realise that if you were plotting that chart, you would also have refused to include those sixteen countries on the chart.
But don’t confuse the Six Countries paper and the Seven Countries trial. The six countries paper had the chart that you mentioned, but it was it was not a trial. Keys was using other people’s data which is why he threw most of it into the trash. It was crap data. The Seven Countries trial was a massive trial that cost many millions of dollars and lasted over twenty years. That is the trial that conclusively proved the link between saturated fat and CVD. The chart that you mentioned has nothing to do with the Seven Countries trial. The Six Countries paper and chart was Keys suggesting an hypothesis. The Seven Countries trial conclusively proved that hypothesis. The Seven Countries trial exposes LCHF as a lethal diet for humans.
The seven countries trial was an observational study. It did not look at the LCHF diet, as it did not exist then. How, exactly, did Ancel Keys know that the data he threw out was trash, and the data he kept was accurate, without going to the countries to check it out? Anyway, you have not even chosen to acknowledge the MCE interventional study – which Keys chose not to publish… why not? Observational studies can only be hypothesis generating, they can never conclusively prove anything – a fact accepted by all statisticians that I have ever read, or spoken to. Perhaps you know something different in this regard?
i will play the devil’s advocate and say, after Death Rates for Cardiovascular Disease peaked in the late 60s, it went on a steady decline up until now (2017). So if we are gonna take our diet as a culprit, should not we say that the grain diet was the safest for the heart?
Or the real culprit is more smoking and pollution? what have diminished in our habits since the late 60s? smoking and pollution, isn’t it?
The reason we are all struggling is there is no conclusive link between saturated fat and CVD. If there was such a link we would not have all these discussions. You can tell, no doubt, I do not work in any medical field, but I can detect flaws in peoples arguments.
Gaetan: To answer your question, yes, smoking and pollution have reduced since the 1960s. But the low cholesterol/low saturated fat message has been increasingly heeded by food manufacturers and by the general populous since the 1960s thanks to the pioneering work of Ancel Keys. Look at the shelves of your local supermarket and they will be crammed with low saturated fat and low cholesterol products. Those products are only there because they sell fast and huge numbers of people are now eating low fat/low cholesterol. This must be a major factor in the steady decline in CVD in the Western World. We are slowly winning the war against high cholesterol and millions of humans are gaining precious extra years of life. As a result, life expectancy is rapidly lengthening. Keys not only extended the one hundred years lifespan of himself and his wife, but also the lifespans of millions of fortunate people.
All of my life (except for eighteen wasted months experimenting with LCHF) I have eaten a low fat diet and after a recent scan of my heart with a dye injected into my blood to make it visible on the computer screen I was told that my arteries are clean and pumping blood strongly without any impediment. No CVD in me at my current age of sixty five years. My lipid profile is perfect.
Go to: https://plus.google.com/photos/photo/106561670923869035858/5878508154360498610?icm=false to see a picture of me and see how great you could look at my age (65) if you abandoned your LCHF diet and instead listened to modern science for a change.
I have another thirty five years to live before I can equal Ancel Keys’ age at death, but I think that should be an easy target to achieve and I will try my best to beat him by a further couple of decades.
In fifty years time I will return to this website and tell you all how great I feel on my low fat/low cholesterol diet.
– Oh no, I forgot. You low carb/high fat people will all be pushing up the daisies by then and this website will be displaying “Page not found!” 🙂
If you indoctrinate the people that saturated fats cause heart attacks, or MCI, or CVD or any other frightening term, then present them with a supposedly “safe” “heart healthy” alternative then of course they are likely to eat what you tell them. Don’t be misguided (and misguiding) that all this was people led, this was advertising led. So now there is all the low fat healthy food largely consisting of grains, particularly wheat, and to a lesser extent maize (corn). The wheat at one time was genetically less of a problem than the modern triticum wheats, and it was often processed by fermenting. Fermin ting takes too long, so now faster processes are used. These faster processes do not partially digest (as does fermenting) and leaves it in a form that can directly and indirectly damage the consumer. As an example or two, gluten directly damages the villi in the small intestine, and the gliadin can affect the nervous system which includes the brain.
John, I’m not surprised that your early LCHF success later caused problems for you if you changed to low carb and low fat with moderate protein. With little fuel supply , poor health was almost inevitable. Your n=2 is real, but please realise that there are countless thousands of us thriving on a low carb HIGH fat diet. Believe what you will, but please climb down from your rather smug, self satisfied position. Hopefully all of us ( including yourself) will thrive and survive for years to come.
I am in Australia so it is late at night now and I have to go to bed. I will answer Dr. Kendrick tomorrow our time, which will be when he is fast asleep in his bed on the other side of the Earth!
– This is going to be a very difficult exchange of views between us. He is going to be asleep when I am writing to him and I will be asleep when he replies to me! 🙂
Nevertheless I propose to add approximately twenty years to his lifespan, so I will patiently work through all of the trial data with him and explain why he needs to lie awake at night on the other side of the Earth, worrying about his elevated LDL level which has been caused by consuming too much saturated fat and haggis. 🙂
Dr. Kendrick has referred me to a paper that he co-authored with four who had previously written books criticising the diet/cholesterol hypothesis and nine who are members “The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics.”
This LCHF inspired paper concluded:
“Our review provides the first comprehensive analysis of the literature about the association between LDL-C and mortality IN THE ELDERLY. Our review has shown either a lack of an association or an inverse association between LDL-C and both all-cause and CV mortality.”
But Dr. Kendrick’s conclusion on the same paper is a quantum leap in an altogether different direction. He wrote to me on this blog:
“People with higher LDL live longer than people with lower LDL. That is a fact. One outlined in this paper.”
How did a paper about “elderly people” change into a paper about “people” in general? No one below the age of fifty was included in the analysis and the average age was sixty!
CVD can commence in children. Their first lipid test is recommended at age seven and again at age twelve. CVD takes many decades to develop as LDL particles force their way into the artery walls and commence the life-long process of hardening the arteries and building plaque.
For Dr. Kendrick’s paper to have any meaning we would need to have lists of the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol scores of his geriatric cohort going back for the previous half century to the time that they were kids.
We need to know what “people” should eat, or not eat, to avoid CVD from age seven years onwards, not at an average age of sixty years when the damage has been done and cannot be reversed.
Raised LDL and total cholesterol IS protective against all cause mortality in us elderly. I agree. We have known for decades that cholesterol is increased in the elderly. We need it to handle the increased load of morbidity caused by inflammation and the many other degenerative diseases that we (I am aged 65) suffer.
My total cholesterol eight weeks ago was 5.3 mmol/L and my LDL cholesterol was 3.1 mmol/L. If it goes any lower I will go back onto LCHF to boost it back to where it is now. I want it to be slightly high to extend my life and to help me heal the diseases of the elderly that will be heading my way.
But when I was on LCHF for two years my total cholesterol hit 7.5 mmol/L and my wife went over 9 mmol/L. I forget my LDL cholesterol number, but I know that it was way too high.
We elderly want our cholesterol on the high side, but we are not going to go asking for trouble by letting LCHF put a rocket under it.
The Scandinavian study that formed the basis of your study concluded:
“This study indicates that high total, HDL-, or LDL-cholesterol in those aged 50 + years free from (symptoms of) CVD or diabetes at baseline are associated with lower all-cause mortality.”
That is the correct conclusion to draw from your study of their study. I agree with their conclusion.
An independent and not-biased group of Swedish scientists spent 2 years reviewing a scientific data and cleared a LCHF diet advice. “Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment, dropped a bombshell. After a two-year long inquiry, reviewing 16,000 studies, the report “Dietary Treatment for Obesity” upends the conventional dietary guidelines for obese or diabetic people.
For a long time, the health care system has given the public advice to avoid fat, saturated fat in particular, and calories. A low-carb diet (LCHF – Low Carb High Fat, is actually a Swedish “invention”) has been dismissed as harmful, a humbug and as being a fad diet lacking any scientific basis.” https://healthimpactnews.com/2013/sweden-becomes-first-western-nation-to-reject-low-fat-diet-dogma-in-favor-of-low-carb-high-fat-nutrition/
I have shortened my last comment and tidied it up. It came over as a bit harsh on you which was not my intention. Please do not publish my long comment, or this one, and instead upload my revised comment that begins:
“Dr. Kendrick has referred me to a paper that he co-authored with four …..”
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, or LCHF theory for that matter, but I do believe in logic (and lack of it). Your long post may conform to your religion of having long posts but it’s full of logical fallacies, chief among them ad hominems and appeals to authority. Once you strip those out, your post is left with a whole lot of nothing.
Since you fall in the category of people discussed in the paper, you should be more worried about falling LDL, not rising. Instead, a couple of years ago you chose a surrogate end point and decided to worry about it.
Claiming that eating saturated fats by 7 year olds will predispose them to dropping dead of CVD before the age of 50 (after which time that marker will magically reverse and become protective) doesn’t make any sense, at least to me.
In your original post you stated “The medical profession’s universally agreed position?” It is not UNIVERSALLY agreed, otherwise these discussions would not take place. Or could it be it is the medical industry’s wish to have it perceived as the medical profession’s position on what is otherwise an inconvenient embarrasment?
John might have descended from apes as he believes , I did not . No medical council can claim to posess all knowledge . There is enough research to the contrary. Freedom of speech is the right of man. Please stop this monkeying around
This provides a lovely counterpoint to the nonsense that has been going on:
https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Health/CSIRO-diets/CSIRO-Low-Carb-Diet-Book
I am sure that we would all be gratified if Dr Fettke’s legal team were to deliver copies of this book as suppositories to every member of the AHPRA team responsible for this decision– and then post the video on You Tube. I do hope this post falls within the bounds of acceptable comment.
Of course.
Have I picked the wrong end of the stick? Looking at the sample plan on the link, I see cereal for breakfast, rape seed oil for dinner, tinned tuna for lunch and skimmed milk for supper, all of which fit nicely into my “avoid” box. They could fit into AHPRA team of course.
What oil do you cook with.
Butter!!
Mmmmmmm………:)
AH Notepad: Butter burns so easily, but clarified butter is lovely. I’ve taken to using red palm oil for the a-tocotreinol content, and it tastes good! Lard sometimes.
The CSIRO is, after all Australia’s premier research institution.
My downfall is cauliflower cheese. How do you make a good a cheese sauce without using flour.
Gram (chick pea) flour works well.
Janet: Another thing cauliflower is good for: Pizza crust. Steam or boil it, food process into small grain-like pieces, mix with grated hard cheese, spread on a baking sheet and pre-bake before adding the toppings for the final bake. Yummy.
I grate cheddar into half and half hotmilk/cream, and heat through, stirring.
reducing coconut milk and adding cheese is almost like an alfredo sauce, nice.
Janet: Oh my. Cauliflower (and broccoli) must have cheese sauce! I suggest you use unmodified potato starch. A wonderful thickener, it has no gluten, and is indigestible by you, but makes your gut bacteria very happy. It has fermentable fiber, which is their food, and they help you by producing the healthful short-chain fatty acid butyrate after digesting it.
Janet, simply grate MOUNTAINS of several cheeses into a pan. Warm gently, adding some double cream as you stir the mixture gently. Once melted, pour over your cooked cauli and pop in the oven for 15- 20 mins until browned. Simple and delicious.
Easy peasy! Grate LOTS of cheese, at least 3 varieties of your choice, place in a saucepan . Warm gently while adding loads of double cream. Stir until smooth. Pour over part- boiled cauliflower florets. Place dish in oven. Bake for about 30 mins at about 150* C. Voila!
Can someone help? I can’t recall if it is in this blog, and 466 replies is a lot to go through.
I came across a video by Robert McDougall, https://youtu.be/UgE2IdL6tMw. At around 1hr (+ or – a bit), he presents some graphs showing that eating carbohydrates lowers blood sugar and eating saturated fats raise blood sugar. So we should eat more carbohydrates, lower blood sugar, and get out of the category of “diabetic”.
Is this a case of measuring the wrong thing? Should we be measuring insulin instead?
I eat a low carbohydrate diet, 2 or 3 eggs for breakfast, 6oz cheese for lunch (sometimes I skip this altogether if I am busy, occasional nuts, and some meat and veg in the evening followed by a plate of fruit with loads of cream. I now don’t feel hungry, so I presume my blood glucose is adequate.
How does this “eat more carbohydrates to lower blood sugar” work, without causing other problems?
It doesn’t! MacDougall et al have a blinkered view of food ‘science’. Don’t let (unbiased) research results get in the way of a strongly held belief! Unless one is very insulin sensitive, carbohydrates to any great level will raise insulin levels in one’s bloodstream. Most of us are more insulin resistant than sensitive, so carbs make us fat and unhealthy.
Malcolm,
the problem here is that AHPRA have set a very dangerous precedent, which encourages an extraordinarily narrow definition of scope of practice. Now I do not think it unreasonable that any surgeon doing complex procedures with a high risk of failure ( amputation or joint replacement in a diabetic patient) should take an intense interest in any approach which will minimise the risk of failure of the operation. LCHF diet is clearly one such intervention– and here we have the CSIRO book on this diet: https://www.amazon.com/CSIRO-Low-Carb-Diet-Grant-Brinkworth-ebook/dp/B01MR7MDUR/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492261311&sr=1-1&keywords=csiro+low+carb+diet
The CSIRO is regarded as pretty much THE premier research institution in Australia- however this book is selling so fast they cant keep up with the demand for reprints.
Now the problem of “scope of practice” is a substantial one in Australia, and there are a number of doctors who, with utterly no sense of irony, call themselves the “Friends of Science in Medicine”. These semi qualified hillbillies feel confident to pronounce on all kinds of areas in which they have no qualification at all. Recently we were exposed to the unedifying spectacle of a pain specialist advising parents that they were not qualified to do their own research on vaccines, because “his people” had it all in hand.
If you think about it- he has breached exactly the same “scope of practice” ruling that Dr Fettke did– so if the ruling against Dr Fettke is to stand, AHPRA will find having to defend some of its closest allies against similar complaints. They have set a precedent here and it is up to the people to ensure that they protect their precedents with consistency and honesty.
I am sure that they will not, but the relevant legal figures and journalists are already being recruited ready for a stinging riposte. It is time for a serious clean out of the leadership in Australian medicine.
👍👏👏
Hi Dr Kendrick, I have read a lot about Ivor Cummins aka The Fat Engineer. He sadly is allowed to spread his pseudoscience quackery, and fails to acknowledge the science behind how the Cells get their energy; and claims carbohydrates are not required, and that fat and protein is all we require.
I hope that a law is introduced prohibiting those who are not medical professionals, or Dietitians to write books on, or to make a living out of Dietary advice.
Can I ask your angle on the whole ketogenic/LCHF hysteria? I am just a layman.
Many thanks,
David Jackson.
Carbohydrates, in the diet, are not required. That is basic physiology/metabolism. Of course, if you eat fat, you will also get some glucose from the glycerol molecules in triglycerides, so you cannot be carbohydrate free. In addition, glucose can be synthesised from protein. If we look at hibernating bears, they live entirely off fat/protein stores for six months, proving, if you will, that carbohydrate is not required. It cannot be required, because after a few days there will be none left in storage.
Should we completely avoid eating carbohydrates. No, there is no need to go that far. Should we reduce carbohydrate consumption. If you are obese and/or have problems with blood sugar levels. Yes.
I would not support your statement that only medical professionals or dietitians should be able to write about diet. Medical professionals know almost nothing about nutrition, and other people are perfectly capable of understanding the science. I would agree that many people take extreme positions that are not based on science.
“I would not support your statement that only medical professionals or dietitians should be able to write about diet. Medical professionals know almost nothing about nutrition, and other people are perfectly capable of understanding the science.”
BAM! A brilliant remark, sir!
As layman to layman I can only advise you to watch some youtube presentations by Dr. Eric Westman and Dr. Jason Fung, and there are others, and you’ll find out that until now you have been misinformed about the need for carbohydrates.
What I understood from them is that the only part of your body that needs glucose as a fuel is your brain, but then still only 20% of *its* energy requirements, which can easily be obtained from glucose from neoglucogenesis out of proteins in your food and or body.
The remaining energy needs will be supplied by the ketones that are produced out of fat in the absence of carbohydrates intake. This conversion takes a few weeks, as I have experienced, and I felt quite well with it, and lost 10% of my weight.
During the XMas and Years-End I stopped in order to enjoy life together with my family, but in a few days I will return to the regime.
Harry de Boer: I think red blood cells require glucose as well, but as you say, gluconeogenesis is ready, willing, and able to spring into action. Restricting carbohydrate intake has worked wonders for me, too.
Hi David
If I may respond.
My wife and I (now in our 70’s) have struggled with excess weight for many many years. We have suffered some of the standard Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (CNCD) for which we were prescribed meds. Then we heard about a book “The Real Meal Revolution” written by Prof Tim Noakes and others. It is science based. I have read a number of other books including “Why we Get Fat” by Gary Taubes; “Big Fat Surprise” by Nina Teicholz; “The Great Cholesterol Con” by Dr Kendrick – all good informative and interesting reads which are very science evidence based. We were able to reduce our Metabolic markers considerably; our GP has reduced our meds considerably. So, our health is considerably improved. This was over 4 years ago and still going strong. I strongly suggest you start by reading the Dr Kendrick (43) blog series on “What causes heart disease”
another posting by Dr Kendrick is What happens to the carbs:
For us the Low Carbs High (Healthy) Fat (+Intermittent Fasting) lifestyle really worked!
For everybody by just removing nutrient poor “junk food” particularly sugar in all its many (hidden) forms and artificial manufactured fake food oils like sunflower oil (etc.) should provide a major health improvement. For the many who are Insulin Resistant and possibly suffering from CNCD (obesity, diabetes (T2DM and T3DM), autoimmune diseases, many cancers, CVD) reducing carb consumption and increasing Healthy fat consumption shows significant health improvements – such as we achieved. There is lots of science in support of this. Low Carbs High Fat lifestyle comes in many forms: LCHF, Paleo, New Atkins, and more. We are all different with different health histories so find the lifestyle that works for you.
Ivor Cummins (The Fat Emperor not engineer) You Tube presentations are solid science based. There is no “pseudoscience quackery” you do the man a dis-service – please look up the science he references. Science is clear, protein and (healthy real) fats are essential macro nutrients while carbohydrate (which is basically nutrient free sugar + fibre + many micronutrients) is not an essential nutrient. Ask the original Inuit, Sami, and Masai who thrived for centuries on a “carb free” high “real” fat diet. You can live without carbs you cannot survive without protein and (healthy) fats. That does not mean we must not consume carbs. What it means is that those who are diseased (CNCD and Metabolic markers) may need to consume a much stricter diet ( < 25gm net carbs) to correct past excess and poor dietary habits. When weight and health is restored consuming a more moderate diet (perhaps Mediterranean diet on which the French seem to thrive).
If you analyse what Ivor is saying and what Dr Kendrick is writing you will find the evidence base used is the same.
"… Cells get their energy …" is interesting. I think you need to research the Warburg Principle – Dr Otto Warburg Nobel Laurette. Dr Thomas Seyfried, Dr Richard Feinman (and others) who have lots of very informative and interesting science to impart.
Scientists (including medical doctors and researchers) are challenging mainstream shibboleths. Science should always be challenged; nothing in science is cast is stone. It is just people who do not want to give up on their highly remunerative/profitable failing /failed past memories.
Do your own research, you will be surprised at what you find, I did and was amazed.
David, hope to hear back from you soon.
Hi David
More on cell energy – in connection with cancer
Part 1: Cancer cells are very different from normal cells. They grow independently, ignoring the anti-growth signals and death cues that would normally keep healthy cells from getting out of control. Cancer cells create their own blood supply and can divide forever. Cancer cells lose many of the physical features of their mother cells; they are usually smaller, and may be disfigured or even shapeless. Sometimes they fuse with each other or with neighbouring cells, creating strange hybrids. The most aggressive types of cancer cells invade local tissues and/or break loose and travel in the bloodstream to distant parts of the body (metastasize).
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/what-causes-cancer/
Part 2: In the first article in this series there is a list of differences between normal cells and cancer cells. But I left out one key difference because it would have been confusing to mention it too early.
The most important fundamental difference between normal cells and cancer cells is how they make energy.
Normal cells use the sophisticated process of respiration to efficiently turn any kind of nutrient (fat, carbohydrate, or protein) into high amounts of energy. This process requires oxygen and breaks food down completely into harmless carbon dioxide and water. Cancer cells use a primitive process called “fermentation” to inefficiently turn either glucose (primarily from carbohydrates) or the amino acid glutamine (from protein) into small quantities of energy. [Note that fats cannot be fermented. This will be important later on.] This process does not require oxygen, and only partially breaks down food molecules into lactic acid and ammonia, which are toxic waste products.
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/what-causes-cancer-part-ii/
Part 3: To add to the potential for despair, there is tremendous confusion around the simple question of what people with cancer are supposed to eat. The people in my life who have cancer are told they should eat lots of cancer-fighting, antioxidant-rich vegetables, low-fat protein sources, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and colourful fresh fruits. Many people believe that a low-fat vegan diet is the healthiest diet for cancer. However, as soon as chemotherapy starts causing scary, rapid weight loss, people are told to eat whatever they can to keep to keep up their calorie intake and maintain their strength—everything from sweetened energy drinks and smoothies to carbohydrate-rich comfort foods. Some patients are even fed high-sugar solutions through I.V.’s or G-tubes. Given everything I know about nutrition and everything I have learned from Dr. Seyfried’s extensive work, nothing could be worse for you if you have cancer.
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/dietary-treatment-of-cancer/
Part 4: DER (dietary energy restriction) triggers cancer cell death via apoptosis(programmed cell suicide), which is a natural, non-inflammatory process that happens from within the cell, causing no collateral damage. Conventional treatments kill cancer cells via necrosis, an inflammatory process that happens from the outside and is locally destructive. Tumour cells that are being fed glucose/glutamine are resistant to apoptosis, but under ketogenic conditions, they become better able to undergo apoptosis again.
DER and chemotherapy can both cause weight loss. However, the weight loss associated with DER is healthy and does not weaken people, whereas chemotherapy-induced weight loss is unhealthy and weakens people.
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/cancer-hope/
Thanks for those links Robert. I have read the first 3 parts. Fasinating information. I think I will buy the book, far cheaper than needing medical attention, even if the attention is zero cost.
I recall a doctor telling me a story about a lecture he attended as a medical student: The lecturer was a pathologist who was talking about appearing in court as an expert witness. His expertise was apparently queried by the defendant’s barrister. His reply was in words like: ‘Sir, I am an expert of the human skin, and everything inside it’. Somehow, in Dr Fettke’s case, that definition does not appear to include the metabolism of what goes on inside the human body from an outside source i.e.food. These turf wars are pathetic and in the case of the DAA I allege are vexatious. APHRA can decide whether a complaint is vexatious or not. I allege that APHRA seems to have devolved from a process where lawyers were on their panels, defendants had legal support and proper legal processes were followed to a state where natural justice has been stamped out as a contagion and corruptive power has filled the resultant vacuum. Where is the oversight to prevent this? How can a National Law be allowed without right of appeal? This is nuts!!
And why has not DAA been indicted for lack of declaration of interest and its own stance on diet been thoroughly debated, including input by truly independent experts? We all know the answer. Just as we know how statins are staining our health. Big Food,Big Pharma, shareholders, religious involvement – the spider’s web. The other very sad thing is that the people in Australia who have suffered the most from illnesses like diabetes and heart disease are the land’s first people, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. They are bereft of the traditional diets that gave them health and prosperity. The word ‘Sorry’ and reparations are due to them from the Government and that is realised, but also from those who have contributed to ruining their health and taking advantage thereby and the same who have punished those who in their own way have tried to help our first people and others. Big Food, the religious movement behind it, Big Pharma, shareholders, DAA, APHRA, try saying Sorry to the custodians of this land of Australia and undo the spiteful attacks and punishments of the Elliotts, Fettke’s and others of this land. And where are the Aussie politicians with the guts to make it happen???
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Hi Tim,
I have followed the case against you from time to time.
It is outrageous!
Surely it’s a doctors duty of care to offer simple, preventative dietary advise.
It NEVER ceases to amaze me that doctors do very minimal nutritional education during their medical degree! Negligent, as far as I’m concerned.
I am a registered cosmetic nurse injector and am also passionate about preventative health and nutrition..
Also to let you know that I have been subjected to 2 long and stressful investigations by AHPRA!
I had 2 false, vexatious complaints against over a period of 8 years.
The first one I was cleared, no case to answer.
The second one (same group of accusing doctors) I was given a warning, which I am not allowed to contest! It is on my file!
Like all the others before us, we are guilty and have to prove our innocents.
Such an unfair system.
During Nick Zenophon’s (spelling?) senate enquiry, I submitted the details of my 2 investigations.
In my summary to the senate enquiry,I asked
for one thing….. & that was that the person submitting the allegations to AHPRA has to sign a stat.dec. stating that they have told the truth.
This one request has not been implemented!
Why am I surprised!
I have a long and successful career & have not had patient adverse event during my career (theatre nurse,then last 20 years an injector), and it is very upsetting that towards end of my career I have had to go through the gruelling time consuming investigations.
Anyway I believe in karma..😅
Please keep going with your endeavour to help people prevent or reverse disease.
Hippocrates would be turning in his grave! 😩
Kind regards