Nikki Bowman Mills
A MAN ON A MISSION
After years of advocacy by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, WVU Medicine Jefferson Medical Center removes all sugary drinks from its vending machines and cafeteria and introduces a low carb meal option, proving that hospitals can be beacons of health.
Chris Kresser
Unfortunately, cardiovascular disease is one of the most misdiagnosed and mistreated conditions in medicine. We’ve learned a tremendous amount about what causes heart disease over the past decade, but the medical establishment is still operating on outdated science from 40-50 years ago.
Aseem Malhotra, Rita F Redberg, Pascal Meier
Coronary artery disease pathogenesis and treatment urgently requires a paradigm shift. Despite popular belief among doctors and the public, the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong.
Georgia Ede, MD
Interest in low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets continues to rise as people discover their potential to help with stubborn physical health problems such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes—but could this same strategy help with mental health problems as well?
David Diamond
On July 30, David Dimond shared a podcast on the “People’s Pharmacy” with Dr. Steven Nissen, in which they discussed research on diet, heart disease, cholesterol and statins. There has been a firestorm of controversy in response to his remarks on the program, including accusations by Dr. Navar in an op-ed and by Dr. Wachter at the podcast website that he made “dangerous claims about cholesterol and heart disease” and that the “misinformation” he conveyed to patients “will increase their chances of having a heart attack or stroke”. Here is his amazing rebuttal to those claims.
Georgia Ede, MD
I have been fortunate to participate in many wonderful nutrition conferences across the country in recent years, each of which has been meaningful and special in its own way, but Low Carb Indonesia—which took place last month in the bustling megalopolis of Jakarta—left me at a loss for words. Well, at least temporarily . . .
Maryanne Demasi PhD
Statins are the most widely prescribed, cholesterol-lowering drugs in the world. Despite the expiration of their patents, revenue for statins is expected to rise, with total sales on track to reach an estimated US$1 trillion by 2020. A bitter dispute has erupted among doctors over suggestions that statins should be prescribed to millions of healthy people at low risk of heart disease. There are concerns that the benefits have been exaggerated and the risks have been underplayed. Also, the raw data on the efficacy and safety of statins are being kept secret and have not been subjected to scrutiny by other scientists. This lack of transparency has led to an erosion of public confidence. Doctors and patients are being misled about the true benefits and harms of statins, and it is now a matter of urgency that the raw data from the clinical trials are released.
Georgia Ede, MD
A stubborn nutrition myth stokes fear of friendly Omega-6 fatty acid, Arachidonic Acid (ARA).
Georgia Ede, MD
An important new study about global nutrition was published this week that deserves everyone’s full attention: “Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems.” [Don’t let the title intimidate you: You need to know what’s inside.] This paper was commissioned and published by The Lancet — one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals — and penned by an international group of 37 scientists led by Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University.
Georgia Ede, MD
Do you need to worry about that new study claiming that LOW-protein, HIGH-carbohydrate diets are better for brain health? Have some fun peeking behind the curtain to see what these scientists actually did and decide for yourself whether it’s going to be meat or muffins for you…
Georgia Ede, MD
In today’s post our fructose journey comes to a sweet conclusion, with answers to the questions that really matter:
Georgia Ede, MD
If you don’t know, you’re not alone. This is perhaps the single most important question any of us can ask about our physical and mental health—yet most patients, and even many doctors, don’t know how to answer it.
McMaster Optimal Aging Team
The many positive health impacts of vitamin D have dominated the supplement world in recent years. Similarly, the growing worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes has also been in the spotlight – with an estimated 400 million people affected currently, and this number expected to be 642 million by 2040. As type 2 diabetes rates continue to soar, there is an urgent need to find effective ways to tackle this disease. Vitamin D supplementation has emerged as a possible solution. But how effective is it really?
Michael J Gonzalez; Thomas Seyfried; Garth L Nicolson; Barry J Barclay; Jamie Matta; Alex Vasquez; Dominic D’Agostino; Jose Olalde; Jorge Duconage; Ronald Hunninghake; Miguel J Berdiel; Amanda Cintrón
Cancer and other degenerative diseases are increasing to epidemic proportions in all industrialized countries. Many of these degenerative diseases show some familial association, thus a genetic basis has been assumed. Yet, the nature and frequency of genetic variants in the human population has not changed significantly in the past 50 years, even though the incidence of these diseases has climbed continuously (Wallace, 2005). Therefore, because the increased and increasing incidence of cancer cannot be attributed to population-wide genetic change during this short timeframe, the cause must be external to the genome, in the “environment”, which with relation to diet and chemical exposures, has altered radically in the past few decades.
Belinda Fettke
A fascinating look at the ideology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and their subsequent influence on nutrition ‘science’ and dietary guidelines, world-wide. Most of us only look back as far as Ancel Keys to determine where it all went wrong, but few look back further to see what or who influenced him and others to passionately push the dogma that grains are good and fat is bad!
Chris Kresser
Beyond just being loaded with “artery-clogging saturated fat” and sodium, bacon has been long considered unhealthy due to the use of nitrates and nitrites in the curing process. Many conventional doctors, and well-meaning friends and relatives, will say you’re basically asking for a heart attack or cancer. Chris Kresser debunks this Myth and, if you have the time, the comments thread is a hilarious read.
Doug Reynolds
When Dr. Paul Mason made the statement during his talk at Low Carb Down Under this year that “Fibre is NOT a necessity for a healthy diet!” there was a discernible unrest amongst the crowd. How could this be true? Fibre is essential to avoid constipation, right? Apparently this is not the case and Dr. Mason debunks the myths during a fantastic talk.
Georgia Ede, MD
In October, twenty-two scientists from ten countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, to evaluate the link between processed and red meat and cancer. The result was a highly-publicized press release by the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans” and red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Dr. Ede went over the WHO report with a fine tooth comb and can confidently reassure you that there is absolutely no proof that meat of any kind causes cancer in humans or animals. In the spirit of this joyous holiday season, a poem inspired by the beloved story “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by the incomparable Dr. Seuss. Her complete analysis of the report can be found here.
Georgia Ede, MD
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a two-page report entitled Carcinogenicity of Consumption of Red and Processed Meat, warning the planet that processed meat definitely causes colorectal cancer in humans, and that red meat “probably” causes colorectal cancer in humans. The report listed a total of 20 scientific references. WHO’s frightening anti-meat proclamation made headlines worldwide and had a major impact on how people think about meat and health………I read the report and all of the experimental studies cited in the report. I found no scientific evidence to support the WHO’s anti-meat cries, and I think it is important to set the record straight.
Georgia Ede, MD
The holiday table would look dull, lifeless, and naked without an intensely colorful, jellied, saucy, free-form, or cylindrical cranberry side dish. We believe in the festive and medicinal properties of these sour little berries, so let’s take a closer look and see whether they are truly the crimson crusaders of our dreams.
Georgia Ede, MD
A few days ago, a brand new study by Dr. Stanley Hazen’s group at the Cleveland Clinic was published, incriminating an unfamiliar ingredient within red meat as the cause of heart disease. The New York Times trumpeted: “CULPRIT IN HEART DISEASE GOES BEYOND MEAT’S FAT“. This article received a lot of attention, so I was asked by readers and friends to comment on it. This new study is actually a conglomeration of mouse experiments, human clinical studies, and human epidemiological studies, which the authors then weave together to make their case against red meat. Straightforward it is NOT. It is a many-headed beast, armed with tentacles and suckers, but is smart, elegant in many ways, and deserving of detailed scrutiny.
Georgia Ede, MD
A study was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology and is entitled “High fat diet-induced metabolic disorders impairs serotonergic function and anxiety-like behaviours in mice.” We have been (wrongly) told for decades by public health officials that dietary fat is unhealthy, so we tend to take articles that support this belief at face value, without question. But before you clear your cupboards of all fatty foods, hoping for eternal happiness and tranquility, let me tell you why the results of this MOUSE study need not cause you any additional depression and anxiety.
Georgia Ede, MD
The Times of London published an article entitled “Eat Yourself Smarter? Try dark chocolate, green salad — and gum“
Articles like this one always get my goat (maybe that’s why I haven’t seen my goat in such a long time). Create a hopeful headline, toss in a bunch of studies that support your headline (without references so I have to dig my way through PubMed to find them), interview an expert researcher or two for some quick enticing quotes, and then take a wildly irresponsible leap into making specific and appealing recommendations about what people should eat/drink to be smarter. Often, including in this case, these prescriptions for brain health are not only wrong, they are dangerously wrong.
Georgia Ede, MD
We’ve been told for decades that saturated fat is public health enemy number one. It’s been easy for us to buy this argument because it sounds so simple, obvious and logical: eating fat should make us fat. Since we know that obesity is associated with all kinds of other serious health conditions, it has been tempting for researchers and the general public to blame saturated fat for all of the diseases we fear most.
Dr. Georgia Ede exposes this headline seeking, sad excuse for a paper for what it really is: At best it’s sloppy and biased, at worst it’s scientific malpractice.
Georgia Ede, MD
If you take psychiatric medications and are thinking about trying a low-carb or ketogenic diet for mental health reasons, please read this article first.
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