Low - Carb Diet Doesn't Raise Heart Risk

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 9, 2006
Eating a low-carb, high-fat diet for years doesn't raise the risk of heart disease, a long-term study suggests, easing fears that the popular Atkins diet and similar regimens might set people up for eventual heart attacks.

The study of thousands of women over two decades found that those who got lots of their carbohydrates from refined sugars and highly processed foods nearly doubled their risk of heart disease.

At the same time, those who ate a low-carb diet but got more of their protein and fat from vegetables rather than animal sources cut their heart disease risk by 30 percent on average, compared with those who ate more animal fats.

The findings came from researchers at Harvard University's schools of medicine and public health who reviewed records of 82,802 women in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study over 20 years. The women were not dieting to lose weight. In fact, on average they were slightly overweight and increased their body-mass index roughly 10 percent during the study.

Conventional wisdom says risk of heart disease should increase for those eating the lowest-carb, highest-fat diet, said lead author Thomas Halton.

''It didn't, which was a little eye-opening,'' he said.

Halton said that may be because the women eating the fewest carbs were compared directly to the group eating the highest-carb, lowest-fat diet.

''Neither diet is ideal,'' he said. ''You need to take the best of both.''

The findings, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, came from an analysis of food questionnaires the nurses filled out every two to four years starting in 1980. The nurses also reported their use of aspirin, vitamins and hormones for menopause symptoms, and on any history of smoking and heart problems.

The researchers calculated the percentage of calories coming from carbohydrates and animal and vegetable fats and proteins, then divided the nurses into 10 groups, from the lowest to the highest calorie percentage from carbs.

The lowest-carb group ate carbohydrate amounts similar to the maintenance program of the Atkins diet, less extreme than the early phase of the diet, said dietitian Geri Brewster, former nutrition director at the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine in Manhattan.

Still, she said most women in this study ate fewer carbohydrates than traditional diets recommend. While she thinks the Atkins diet allows too much animal fat, Brewster said reducing carbohydrates works because it forces the body to convert stored fat into an energy source and can curb appetite.

American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Susan Moores, a dietitian in St. Paul, Minn., said that because the study only included women, many going through menopause and taking hormones, it is unclear how it applies to men.

For Moores, the key finding was that women reduced heart disease risk by eating more protein and fat from vegetable sources.

''That was the biggest, ''Aha!''' she said.

Dr. Robert Eckel, immediate past president of the American Heart Association, said the study was well done, but noted that the nurses' recall of what they ate likely isn't perfect.

Eckel, an endocrinologist at University of Colorado School of Medicine, said many studies have shown heart disease risk is cut by eating less fat and more whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables -- the approach of the government's food pyramid. He said medical guidelines won't be changed by the new study, although it raises questions about the role of refined sugar.

The Vitamin D Newsletter

I want to alert readers to this month's groundbreaking study about atherosclerosis and vitamin D. Atherosclerosis is the disease process that leads to heart attacks and strokes. Dr. Targher and his group in Italy measured the amount of atherosclerotic plaque (carotid artery intimal thickness) and the vitamin D levels of 390 diabetic patients. The authors found low vitamin D blood levels were an independent and strong predicator of atherosclerosis. Professor Robert Scragg of the University of Auckland was right 16 years ago, when he discovered that low vitamin D levels are associated with heart attacks.
Targher G, et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentrations and carotid artery intima-media thickness among type 2 diabetic patients. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2006 Nov;65(5):593-597.
Scragg R, et al. Myocardial infarction is inversely associated with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels: a community-based study. Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Sep;19(3):559-63.

Nature printed an article this week about our paper, Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D. (You can obtain a free complete copy of our paper half way down the home page of the Vitamin D Council website.) I recommend that you take enough vitamin D this winter to keep your vitamin D level [25(OH)D] between 50 - 70 ngs/ml. For many people that means 5,000 IU per day in the winter. If you do, our hypothesis predicts that you will not be as likely to get viral respiratory infections, and if you do get sick, it will not be as severe. The vitamin D theory of influenza has two important strengths. It is parsimonious, that is, it explains many observations with a single mechanism. Most importantly, if our theory is false, it can easily be disproved.
Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, Giovannucci E. Epidemic influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Dec;134(6):1129-40.

Kidney Cancer Study: Too Much Bread and Pasta?

Yet Another reason why I eliminate most grains and sugars from my diet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using questionnaires, Italian researchers have found some evidence of an association between kidney cancer and the consumption of large amounts of bread, although the significance of the finding remains unclear.

The scientists used the responses to determine the eating habits of 767 men and women with kidney cancer who had been admitted to hospitals in Italy. They compared them to 1,534 people free of the disease who were admitted for other reasons. The subjects ranged in age from 24 to 79, with an average age of 62. The report appears online in The International Journal of Cancer.

The researchers found that the one-fifth of patients who consumed the most bread — 12 ounces or more a day — were almost twice as likely to suffer from kidney cancer as those who consumed 31/2 ounces or less.

Those who ate the most pasta (18 ounces or more) were almost one-third more likely to have kidney cancer than those who ate 8 ounces or less.

“This is only one study,” said Dr. Cristina Bosetti, a co-author of the paper and an epidemiologist at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, “and it has to be confirmed by other investigations.”

The authors also acknowledged that people diagnosed with cancer may recall their dietary habits differently from other people and that the interviewers knew which patients had kidney cancer and which did not.

Still, “it’s probably useful to reduce consumption of refined cereals,” Dr. Bosetti said, adding: “They tend to increase the quantities of sugar in the blood, and consequently the production of insulin, and insulin growth factors can be related to the development of cancer. But I would be quite cautious about giving advice about diet.”

Next Article in Health (9 of 13) »

Surprise in the paper...

Cholesterol and optimal health

Debunking the Myths About Cholesterol
The idea that cholesterol is the cause of heart disease has been repeated so many times over the last half-century that most people assume it to be true without a second thought.

Now that statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs, have begun to bring in a bonanza of profits for pharmaceutical companies, any new disease that can be pinned on cholesterol represents a chance to broaden the scope of profits ever more wide.

Alzheimer's disease
is now being blamed on cholesterol. Does the scientific evidence back it up? Or is it just another "cholesterol myth?"

Dr. Ravnskov and The Cholesterol Myths

Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, coined the term "cholesterol myth" in his 2000 book
The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease.

Dr. Ravnksov's website on the cholesterol myths
details his credentials and summarizes his fascinating exposure of how nine myths about saturated fat, cholesterol, and heart disease came to be established orthodoxy without solid scientific evidence to back them up.

Despite Dr. Ravnskov's credentials, his meticulous research, and iron-clad arguments, his book has been so provocative, that it was literally set on fire on national TV in Finland!

Researchers Question the Cholesterol Myths
Dr. Ravnskov's ninth cholesterol myth is that all scientists support the position that dietary saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. As Dr. Ravnskov shows, there have always been dissenters within the scientific community. One can take a principled stand against the idea that cholesterol causes heart disease and be in good scientific standing and in the company of many qualified researchers.

Some of the many medical doctors and researcher who question the relationship between cholesterol and heart disease and the general negative bias against cholesterol can be found at the website of
THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics.

Vitamin D and cancer

Vitamin D is an extrememly important aspect in scoliosis correction and cancer prevention.

Studies discuss protective effects of Vitamin D and Cancer.

A study out of Albert Einstein College of Medicine suggests the potential protective effects of calcium and vitamin D on breast cancer. The report included:

1) serum, plasma, and/or blood levels of vitamin D metabolites have been inversely associated with breast cancer risk in some studies;
2) high sunlight exposure, presumably reflecting vitamin D synthesis in the skin, has been associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer;
3) vitamin D and calcium intakes have been inversely related to breast density, an intermediate end point for breast cancer;
4) calcium has been associated with a reduced risk of benign proliferative epithelial disorders of the breast, putative precursors of breast cancer;

"Convection"

One Single Adjustment Benefits Neck Pain

A recent study performed in Spain has shown an immediate benefit from one adjustment in subjects with mechanical neck pain. A group of 70 patients with neck pain (25 males and 45 females, ages 20-55 years) participated in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into either an experimental group, which received an adjustment, or a control group, which received manual mobilization. The adjustment group showed a significant improvement in neck pain at rest and mobility after application of the manipulation. The control group also showed a significant improvement in neck pain at rest, flexion, extension, and both lateral flexions, but not in rotation. Results suggest that a single cervical HVLA manipulation is more effective in reducing neck pain at rest, and in increasing active cervical range of motion, than a control mobilization procedure in subjects suffering from mechanical neck pain.

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2006;29(7):511-517.

A Little Sun a Day Keeps Vitamin D Deficiency Away

Sunshine, aside from being good for your soul, adds a very important element into your life - vitamin D. The sun works with the skin to produce vitamin D in your body. Although other forms of vitamin D are in some of the foods we eat, they still need to be processed to gain the benefits.

A study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood evaluated a group of adolescent girls in an inner city school in the United Kingdom for vitamin D deficiency. Fifty-one girls between the ages of 14 and 16 were chosen to participate in the study. After measuring weight, height and body mass, the researchers distributed a questionnaire that evaluated the girls' daily intake of vitamin D, calcium and sunlight.

Thirty-seven of the girls (73 percent) were found to be vitamin D deficient, while nine (17 percent) of the students were considered severely deficient.. The results indicated that the vitamin D deficiency was due to underexposure to sunlight.

Of course, too much sun can be a bad thing, particularly in terms of skin damage, so be careful. But a little a day can go a long way toward ensuring adequate intake of vitamin D.

Archives of Disease in Childhood, July 2006;91(7):569-572.

Calcium for Kids

Also published on September 15th, but in the British Medical Journal, was an article indicating that getting children to supplement with calcium made no difference in bone density later in life. In summary, the study concluded, "Given the small treatment effects seen with calcium supplementation, however, it may be appropriate to explore possible alternative nutritional interventions, such as increasing vitamin D concentrations and intake of fruit and vegetables."

While a surprise to the researchers involved, in the study, this is hardly a surprise to those in the alternative health community who understand the true nature of bone density.

Perhaps in the next study, the researchers can analyze the effects of:

Increasing weight bearing exercise. (Lack of sufficient weight bearing exercise accelerates bone loss. Thus, increasing exercise helps reverse it.)
Insufficient boron and vitamin D3 contribute to bone loss.
Insufficient magnesium in the diet is probably more of a factor than insufficient calcium. A study in the Journal of Nutritional Medicine, 1991; 2:165-178, for example, showed that after nine months, women on magnesium supplements increased bone density by some 11%.
Increasing the amount of gamma linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid in the diet helps increase bone density.
Avoiding fluoride in your drinking water is vital. Fluoride collects in the bones, and although it "technically" increases bone mass and density, the evidence is very strong that fluoride intake can actually double the incidence of hip fractures.
Using a natural progesterone creme (either men's or women's) can help.