Archive for the ‘Lipids’ Category
Sugar: The Bitter Truth
Leave a CommentAnother bombshell. It’s 89 minutes of metabolic truth-telling by Dr. Robert Lustig who is a Professor of Pediatrics (Endocrinology division) of the University of California at San Francisco. His primary focus is on explaining the crucial difference between the way fructose and glucose are metabolized. His central premise could be stated as ‘It’s the fructose, stupid.’ In brief:
[Dr. Lustig] explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin
I’m always keen to get complete agreement from another perspective. The major item that makes this talk unique is that he explains the biochemistry in, perhaps to some, excruciating detail, but it’s necessary to make the point.
To watch the original in its entirety, go to the University of California Television site: Sugar: The Bitter Truth. is also available on YouTube in full form, and is available in nine YouTube-sized bites courtesy of our decidedly eccentric (and I say that in the fondest way possible) Dr. Joseph Mercola.
Dr. Dwight Lundell and Healthy Humans Foundation
Came across a fascinating site from retired cardiac surgeon Dr. Dwight Lundell. He retired from his cardiology practice with a flurry. In his scathing mea culpa, he basically says the entire cholesterol hypothesis in connection with heart disease is a croc. Here are a few choice excerpts:
I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labeled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.
The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.
It Is Not Working!
These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.
Recommend reading the entire article.
While he doesn’t appear to continue to actively blog (most recent blog entry from February 2009 at this writing), take a look at the last blog entry referencing a recent report released by the American Heart Journal. The study reported on the lipid levels in connection with over 230,000 hospitalizations from over 500 hospitals where patients presented with heart attacks. Readers of this blog won’t find the results shocking, but the conventional wisdom folks might:
- 75% of those patients had LDL-cholesterol levels below the current guidelines of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) of 130 milligrams.
- 50% had LDL-cholesterol levels below 100 milligrams.
- 17% had LDL-cholesterol levels below 70 milligrams, which is the new, more stringent guidelines.
In the face of these numbers, instead of questioning the lipid hypothesis altogether, the authors of the study put forward this amazing conclusion:
These findings may provide further support for recent guideline revisions with even lower LDL goals and for developing effective treatments to raise HDL.
However, Dr. Lundell asks the indelicate question:
How Much Lower Must We Go Before Admitting There Is No Correlation Between Lowering Cholesterol And Heart Attack Risk?
Maybe we just need to have –0- LDL in order to be healthy. Oops, wait, we need cholesterol to survive. Can’t do that.
Prime example of how little science survives in a world where there is a central dogma (i.e. cholesterol level/heart disease correlation) standing in the way.
