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Intake of saturated fats and added sugars, two of the primary components of a modern Western diet, is linked with the development of Alzheimer's disease. There has been a global shift in dietary composition, from traditional diets high in starches and fiber, to what has been termed the Western diet, high in fat and sugar, low in whole, plant foods. What's so great about fruits and vegetables?
Plant-derived foods contain thousands of compounds with antioxidant properties, some of which can traverse the blood-brain barrier and may have neuroprotective effects by assisting with antioxidant defense. There's this concept of "brain rust," that neurodegenerative diseases arise from excess oxidative stress. But Nature has gifted humankind with a plethora of plants--fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and the diverse array of bioactive nutrients present in these natural products may play a pivotal role in prevention and one day, perhaps, even the cure of various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.
Accumulated evidence suggests that naturally occurring plant compounds may potentially hinder neurodegeneration, and even improve memory and cognitive function, as I've shared in my videos Preventing Alzheimer's Disease with Plants and How to Slow Brain Aging By Two Years) and treating Alzheimer's with spices such as saffron or turmeric (See Saffron for the Treatment of Alzheimer's and Treating Alzheimer's with Turmeric).
Vegetables may be particularly protective, in part because of certain compounds we eat that concentrate in the brain, found in dark green leafy vegetables, the consumption of which are associated with lower rates of age-related cognitive decline.
Yet when you look at systemic reviews on what we can do to prevent cognitive decline, you'll see conclusions like this: "The current literature does not provide adequate evidence to make recommendations for interventions." The same is said for Alzheimer's, "Currently, insufficient evidence exists to draw firm conclusions on the association of any modifiable factors with risk of Alzheimer's disease." Doctors cite the lack of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as the basis for their conclusions. RCTs are the gold standard used to test new medicines. This is where researchers randomize people into two groups, half get the drug and half don't, to control for confounding factors. The highest level of evidence is necessary because drugs may kill a hundred thousand Americans every year - not medication errors or illicit drugs, just regular, FDA-approved prescription drugs, making medication alone the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. So, you better make absolutely sure the benefits of new drugs outweigh the often life-threatening risks.
But we're talking about diet and exercise--the side effects are all good, so we don't need the same level of rigorous evidence to prescribe them.
A "modest proposal" was published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, an editorial calling for a longitudinal study of dementia prevention. They agreed that definitive evidence for the effectiveness of dementia prevention methods was lacking, so we need large-scaled randomized trials. They suggested we start with 10,000 healthy volunteers in their 20's and split them into five groups. There's evidence, for example, that traumatic brain injury is a risk factor for Alzheimer's, because people with head injuries appear more likely to get the disease, but it's never been put to the test. So, they say, let's take two thousand people and beat half of them in the head with baseball bats, and the other half we'll use Styrofoam bats as a control. Afterall, until we have randomized controls, how can't physicians recommend patients not get hit in the head? They go further saying we should probably chain a thousand people to a treadmill for 40 years, and a thousand people to a couch before recommending exercise. A thousand will be forced to do crossword puzzles; another thousand forced to watch Jerry Springer reruns, lots of meat and dairy or not prescribed for another group for the next 40 years, and we can hook a thousand folks on four packs a day just to be sure.
We help our patients to quit smoking despite the fact that there's not a single randomized controlled trial where they held people down and piped smoke into their lungs for a few decades. It is time to realize that the ultimate study in regard to lifestyle and cognitive health cannot be done. Yet the absence of definitive evidence should not restrict physicians from making reasonable recommendations based on the evidence that is available.
I've discussed how drug-centric approaches to evidence-based medicine may neglect some of the most convincing data: Evidence-Based Medicine or Evidence-Biased?
To see how and why I built NutritionFacts.org on evidence-based principles, see my recent introductory videos:
A sampling of some of my Alzheimer's videos:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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The average American spends most of their waking life sitting down, which is associated with an increased risk of death even among people who go to the gym after work and exercise regularly. Doing lots of sitting may double our risk of diabetes and heart disease while significantly shortening our lifespan, even at the highest levels of physical activity. Sitting six or more hours a day may increase mortality rates even among those running or swimming an hour a day, every day, seven days a week. Why though? I examine this in Turmeric Cucumin vs. Exercise for Artery Function.
One factor may be endothelial dysfunction, the inability of the inner lining of our blood vessels to relax our arteries normally in response to blood flow. Just like our muscles atrophy if we don't use them, when it comes to arterial function, it's 'use it or lose it' as well. Increased blood flow promotes a healthy endothelium. The cells lining our arteries can actually sense the sheer force of the blood flowing past. That flow is what maintains the stability and integrity of the inner lining of our arteries. Without that constant tugging flow, it may help set us up for heart disease.
We actually have some data now suggesting that treadmill desks may improve the health of office workers without affecting work performance, and walking may be preferable to standing in terms of clearing fat from our bloodstream, which can play a role in endothelial dysfunction.
What if our office can't accommodate a standing or walking desk? Within an hour of sitting, blood starts pooling and blood flow starts to stagnate, so the more we can take breaks the better. Preliminary evidence from observational and interventional studies suggests that regular interruptions in sitting time can be beneficial. And it doesn't have to be long. Breaks could be as short as one minute and not necessarily entail exercise, just something like taking out the trash during commercials may be beneficial.
I've talked about the effects of different diets on endothelial function (See Eggs and Arterial Function, Walnuts and Arterial Function, Vinegar and Artery Function, and Dark Chocolate and Artery Function) and how certain foods in particular--nuts and green tea--are beneficial for endothelial health. Recently, researchers tried out curcumin, the yellow pigment in the spice turmeric.
They showed that regular ingestion of curcumin or up to an hour a day of aerobic exercise training significantly improved endothelial function. And the magnitude of improvement in endothelial function was the same. So does that mean we can just be a couch potato as long as we eat curried potatoes? No, the combination of curcumin and exercise appears to work even better than either alone.
I'm on my third treadmill desk motor, after burning out two. The 2nd one lasted 7,000 miles, though. Could have walked back and forth across the country! I do about 17 miles a day. More on treadmill desks in Standing Up for Your Health.
Amazing how much beneficial just simple walking can be: Longer Life Within Walking Distance
More exercise versus diet comparisons in Is it the Diet, the Exercise, or Both? and How Much Exercise to Sustain Weight Loss.
For more on turmeric and exercise see Heart of Gold: Turmeric vs Exercise.
Who Shouldn't Consume Curcumin or Turmeric? See the video! :)
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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Ever since smoking was prohibited in night clubs, customers have increasingly noticed other unpleasant smells present in the club--like body odors. So, researchers in Europe thought they'd try to cover them up. The researchers measured the effects of peppermint, for example, on dancing activity and asked people to rate their energy level. They found that with peppermint scent, people felt more cheerful and danced more, and so, concluded the researchers, "environmental fragrancing may be expected to have a positive effects on club revenue." Innovative nightclubs are already inviting "aroma jockeys" to smell the places up.
The business community caught whiff of this and thought maybe peppermint smell would get their secretaries to type faster. And it worked! There was improved performance on clerical tasks associated with the administration of peppermint odor.
In an age where athletic competitions are frequently won or lost by mere hundredths of a second, athletes are continually looking for new ways to excel in their sport. Researchers threw some collegiate athletes onto a treadmill and piped different smell into their nostrils, and those on peppermint reported feeling less fatigued, more vigorous, less frustrated, and felt they performed better. But did they actually perform better? See my video, Enhancing Athletic Performance with Peppermint.
A different study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology measured actual performance, and participants were actually able to squeeze out one extra pushup before collapsing and cut almost two seconds off a quarter mile dash with an odorized adhesive strip stuck to their upper lip. Interestingly there was no significant difference in basketball free throws. The researchers think the reason is that free throws actually require some skill, and all the peppermint can do is really improve athlete's motivation.
Unfortunately follow-up studies were not able to replicate these results, showing no beneficial effect of smelling peppermint on athletic performance, so how about eating peppermint? Researchers measured the effects of peppermint on exercise performance before and after ten days of having subjects drink bottles of water with a single drop of peppermint essential oil in them. And all the subjects' performance parameters shot up, churning out 50 percent more work, 20 percent more power, and a 25 percent greater time to exhaustion. Improvements were found across the board in all those physiological parameters, indicating increased respiratory efficiency. They attribute these remarkable results to the peppermint opening up their airways, increasing ventilation and oxygen delivery.
Now, you can overdose on the stuff, but a few drops shouldn't be toxic. Why not get the best of both worls by blending fresh mint leaves in water rather than use the oil?
Sometimes aromatherapy alone may actually help, though:
Beet juice can also enhance athletic performance. See the dozen or so videos in the series starting with Doping With Beet Juice. Other ways healthy food can synergize with exercise:
I use peppermint in my Pink Juice with Green Foam recipe and talk about using the dried in Antioxidants in a Pinch. It can also help reduce IBS symptoms, as seen in Peppermint Oil for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Some other tea caveats, though:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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A hundred years ago, the New York Times reported on a rather sophisticated study for the time: 4,600 cases of cancer appearing over a seven year period, suggesting that the increased consumption of animal foods was to blame. A century later, the latest review on the subjects concluded that mortality from all causes put together, ischemic heart disease, circulatory, and cerebrovascular diseases was significantly lower in those eating meat-free diets, in addition to less cancer and diabetes.
I'm surprised they found such significant results given that people in these studies typically didn't stop eating meat until late in life. For example, in the largest study done up until recently, up to a third of subjects ate vegetarian for less than five years, yet they still ended up with lower rates of heart disease whether they were under 60 or over 60, normal weight or overweight, used to smoke or never smoked; those that had stopped eating meat had lower risk, suggesting that decades of higher risk dietary behavior could be reversed within just years of eating healthier.
If you look at countries that switched from eating traditional, more plant-based diets to more Westernized diets, it may take 20 years for cancer rates to shoot up. It takes decades for most tumors to grow. For example, if you look at Asia, their dietary shift was accompanied by a remarkable increase in mortality rates of breast, colon, and prostate cancers. The same thing can be shown with migration studies. Men moving from rural China to the U.S. experience a dramatic increase in cancer risk, but tumors take time to grow.
So it's remarkable to me that after most of a lifetime eating the standard Western diet, one can turn it around and reverse chronic disease risk with a healthier diet, even late in the game... as discussed in my video, Never Too Late to Start Eating Healthier.
So, "should we all start eating vegetarian?" asked an editorial that accompanied the results from the largest study ever published on Americans eating plant-based diets, which found vegetarian diets to be associated with lower all-cause mortality, meaning those who started eating vegetarian live, on average, longer lives. This analysis included so-called semi-vegetarians, who ate meat at least once a month (but no more than once a week), so it's not yet clear how harmful eating meat a few times a month is. What we can all agree on, though, is that we should limit our intake of junk food and animal fat, and eat more fruits and vegetables. Most authorities will also agree that diets should include whole grains, beans, and nuts. Instead of fighting over whose diet is the best, it's time to acknowledge these common features of diets associated with less disease, and instead focus our attention on helping patients avoid the intense commercial pressures to eat otherwise.
How amazing the human body is if we just treat it right! For more on lifestyle medicine, see:
So please don't allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. Any movement we can make towards improving our diet can help. Though the earlier the better: See Heart Disease Starts in Childhood and Back in Circulation: Sciatica and Cholesterol.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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Raisins, like all fruits, have a variety of health benefits, but dried fruit is higher in calories per serving than fresh, so might they contribute to weight gain? A study done by the University of Connecticut helped set people's minds at ease. Men and women were assigned to consume a cup of raisins a day for six weeks and were able to successfully offset the consumption of other foods in their diets such that they experienced no significant change in weight or waist circumference. What about in kids? I explore that in the video, Are Raisins Good Snacks for Kids?.
Leave it to the California Raisin Marketing Board to dream up a study titled, "An after-school snack of raisins lowers cumulative food intake in young children." Sounds good, right? They compared raisins to potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. They gave kids raisins, grapes, chips or cookies and said they could eat as much as they wanted and surprise surprise kids ate less fruit and more junk, but I guess naming the paper "Kids Prefer Cookies" would not have garnered the same kind of sponsor approval.
This reminds me of another study they did showing that regular consumption of raisins may reduce blood sugar levels... compared to fudge cookies and Oreos. Another study showed raisins caused less of a blood sugar spike than Coca-cola and candy bars. Though you can tell it was not funded by Big Raisin by their conclusion, "whether the general public should be advised to snack on fruit rather than on candy bars requires further debate and investigation."
Comparing raisins to chips and cookies was similarly unhelpful. Luckily, a less biased study was published by researchers at the University of Toronto. Nine to eleven year old boys and girls were told to eat all the grapes or raisins they wanted 30 minutes before a meal in which they could eat all the pizza they wanted. If you just gave them the meal, no snack, they ate 837 calories worth of pizza. If you gave them all-you-can-eat grapes before the meal, they ate 128 calories of grapes, but that seemed to fill them up a bit, so they ended up eating less pizza. But because they ate the snack and the meal they ended up getting more calories over all. Still, grape calories are better than pizza calories, but when given raisins instead, they ate even more snack calories, but the raisins were evidently so satiating that they ate so much less pizza that they ate fewer calories over all.
Now I know as parents there's a concern that if our kids eat snacks it might spoil their dinner, but when the snacks are fruit and the meal is a pepperoni and three cheese pizza, the more we can ruin their appetite, the better.
Raisin marketers aren't the only one's trying game the scientific method. Check out:
How to help get our kids to eat their fruits and veggies:
More dried fruit studies (my fave is dried mango):
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.]]>
As you can see in my video, Plant-Based Diets and Diabetes, we've known for decades that a plant-based diet may be protective against diabetes. Studies going back half a century found that those eating meat one or more days a week had significantly higher rates of diabetes, and the more frequently meat was eaten, the more frequent the disease. And this is after controlling for weight, so even at the same weight, those eating more plant-based had but a fraction of the diabetes rates. If anything, vegetarians should have had more diabetes just because they appear to live so much longer, so they had more time to develop these kinds of chronic diseases; but no, apparently lower rates of death and disease.
Fast forward 50 years to the Adventist-2 study, looking at 89,000 people, and we see a stepwise drop in the rates of diabetes as one eats more and more plant-based, down to a 78% lower prevalence among those eating strictly plant-based. Protection building incrementally as one moved from eating meat daily, to eating meat weekly, to just fish, to no meat, and then to no eggs and dairy either. Followed over time, vegetarian diets were associated with a substantially lower incidence of diabetes, indicating the potential of these diets to stem the current diabetes epidemic.
We see the same step-wise drop in rates of another leading killer, high blood pressure. The greater the proportion of plant foods, the lower the rates of hypertension, and the same with excess body fat. The only dietary group not on average overweight were those eating diets composed exclusively of plant foods, but again there was the same incremental drop with fewer and fewer animal products. This suggests that it's not black and white, not all or nothing, any steps we can make along this spectrum of eating healthier may accrue significant benefits.
What about eating a really healthy diet with just a little meat? Is it better to eat none at all? We have new insight last year from Taiwan. Asian diets in general tend to be lower in meat and higher in plant foods compared with Western diet, but whether a diet completely avoiding meat and fish would further extend the protective effect of a plant-based diet wasn't known, until now.
Traditionally, Asian populations have had low rates of diabetes, but a diabetes epidemic has since emerged, and appears to coincide with increased meat, animal protein, and animal fat consumption, but the Westernization of Asian diets also brought along a lot of fast food and junk, and so these researchers at the national university didn't want to just compare those eating vegetarian to typical meateaters. So, they compared Bhuddist vegetarians to Bhuddist non-vegetarians, eating traditional Asian diets. Even the omnivores were eating a predominantly plant-based diet, consuming little meat and fish, with the women eating the equivalent of about a single serving a week, and men eating a serving every few days. That's just 8% of the meat intake in the U.S., 3% for the women. The question: is it better to eat 3% or 0%?
Again, both groups were eating healthy; zero soda consumption, for example, in any group. Despite the similarities in their diet, and after controlling for weight, family history, exercise, and smoking, the men eating vegetarian had just half the rates of diabetes, and the vegetarian women just a quarter of the rates. So even in a population consuming a really plant-based diet with little meat and fish, true vegetarians who completely avoided animal flesh, while eating more healthy plant foods, have lower odds for prediabetes and diabetes after accounting for other risk factors. They wanted to break it up into vegan versus ovo-lacto like in the Adventist-2 study, but they couldn't because there were no cases at all of diabetes found within the vegan group.
More on preventing and treating this terrible disease:
The reason I keep going back to that Adventist-2 study is that it's not only the biggest study of those eating plant based diets in North America, but the largest such study anywhere anytime. We owe those investigators a great debt (not to mention the 96,741 participants!). One thing I'm happy my tax dollars are going towards (via the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health). More from the Adventists in Caloric Restriction vs. Animal Protein Restriction.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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In public health school, you learn there are three levels of preventive medicine. Primary prevention would be like trying to prevent someone at risk for heart disease from getting his or her first heart attack. Secondary prevention is when you already have the disease and are trying to prevent your second heart attack, and tertiary prevention is like cardiac rehab, where you're just trying to reduce the complication rates. A fourth level was suggested in 2000, quaternary prevention, trying to reduce the damage from all the drugs and surgery from the first three levels. But people seem to forget about a fifth concept, introduced by the World Health Organization back in 1978, termed primordial prevention, which is being embraced by the American Heart Association's 2020 strategic impact goals.
Primordial prevention was conceived as a strategy to prevent whole societies from experiencing epidemics of the risk factors. The corresponding strategy at the individual level is to prevent the development of risk factors. Instead of trying to prevent someone with high cholesterol from getting a heart attack, why not prevent them from getting high cholesterol in the first place?
So the American Heart Association came up with the simple seven, featured in my video, How Many Meet the Simple Seven?. These health behaviors or factors include not smoking, not being overweight, being "very active" (defined as walking at least 22 minutes a day), eating a few fruits and veggies, having below average cholesterol, normal blood pressure, and normal blood sugars.
Their goal was to reduce heart disease deaths by 20% by 2020. Why so modest an aim? An improvement of 25% was deemed "unrealistic," and 15% was considered insufficient, so they decided on 20. If 90% of risk can be thrown out the window by engaging in simple lifestyle modifications, why is just 25% considered unrealistic? To understand, one must realize just how bad our diets have gotten.
The most common reason patients give for not complying with a cholesterol-lowering diet may be the presumption that they're already eating healthy and so don't need to change. But if you look at the status of cardiovascular health in U.S. adults, only about 1% of Americans have a bare minimum of healthy eating behaviors, such as five-a-day fruits and veggies, eating beans, whole grains, drinking less than three cans of soda a week, etc. What percentage of Americans hit all seven of the simple seven? 14,000 men and women were surveyed, and most had two or three, but hardly any had all seven simple health components. Just how low a prevalence was having seven out of seven? Only about 1 out of 2,000 Americans had all seen factors intact. And the one they were missing the most was diet.
Unfortunately unhealthy behaviors extend into the medical profession. Just like smoking doctors are less likely to tell their patients to stop smoking, and couch potato docs are less likely to push exercise, or things like more fruits and vegetables; we need to role-model healthy behavior. This greatly enhances our credibility and effectiveness. Gone are the days of traditional authority when the fat physician, dropping cigarette ash down his gravy-stained vest, could credibly prescribe a change in behavior.
So What Diet Should Physicians Recommend? Watch the video!
Lifestyle medicine, the use of diet and lifestyle changes to prevent and treat disease, cannot only be cheaper and safer, but also more effective. See, for example:
I've previously noted just how sad the Standard American Diet is in Nation's Diet in Crisis. See how you compare: Calculate Your Healthy Eating Score.
In health,
-Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.]]>
Where do the international consensus guidelines to dramatically lower saturated fat consumption come from? (I show the list in my video, The Saturated Fat Studies: Buttering Up the Public). They came from literally hundreds of metabolic ward experiments, which means you don't just ask people to change their diets, you essentially lock them in a room--for weeks if necessary--and have total control over their diet. You can then experimentally change the level of saturated fat consumed by subjects however you want to, and see the corresponding change in their cholesterol levels. And the results are so consistent that you can create an equation, the famous Hegsted Equation, where you can predict how much their cholesterol will go up based on how much saturated fat you give them. So if you want your LDL cholesterol to go up 50 points, all you have to do is eat something like 30% of your calories in saturated fat. When you plug the numbers in, the change in cholesterol shoots up as predicted. The experiments match the predictions. You can do it at home with one of those home cholesterol testing kits, eat a stick of butter every day, and watch your cholesterol climb.
These ward experiments were done in 1965; meaning we've known for 50 years that even if you keep calorie intake the same, increases in saturated fat intake are associated with highly significant increases in LDL bad cholesterol. Your good cholesterol goes up a bit too, but that increase is smaller than the increase in bad, which would translate into increased heart disease risk.
So if you feed vegetarians meat even just once a day, their cholesterol jumps nearly 20% within a month. To prevent heart disease, we need a total cholesterol under 150, which these vegetarians were, but then even just eating meat once a day, and their cholesterol shot up 19%. The good news is that within just two weeks of returning to their meat-free diet, their cholesterol dropped back down into the safe range. Note that their HDL good cholesterol hardly moved at all, so their ratio went from low risk of heart attack to high risk in a matter of weeks with just one meat-containing meal a day. And indeed randomized clinical trials show that dietary saturated fat reduction doesn't just appear to reduce cholesterol levels, but also reduces the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events like heart attacks.
So we have randomized clinical trials, controlled interventional experiments--our most robust forms of evidence--no wonder there's a scientific consensus to decrease saturated fat intake! You'll note, though, that the Y-axis in these studies seen in my video The Saturated Fat Studies: Set Up to Fail is not cholesterol, but change in cholesterol. That's because everyone's set-point is different. Two people eating the same diet with the same amount of saturated fat can have very different cholesterol levels. One person can eat ten chicken nuggets a day and have an LDL cholesterol of 90; another person eating ten a day could start out with an LDL of 120. It depends on your genes. But while our genetics may be different, our biology is the same, meaning the rise and drop in cholesterol is the same for everyone. So if both folks cut out the nuggets, the 90 might drop to 85, whereas the 120 would drop to 115. Wherever we start, we can lower our cholesterol by eating less saturated fat, but if I just know your saturated fat intake--how many nuggets you eat, I can't tell you what your starting cholesterol is. All I can say with certainty is that if you eat less, your cholesterol will likely improve.
But because of this extreme "interindividual variation"--this wide variability in baseline cholesterol levels for any given saturated fat intake--if you take a cross-section of the population, you can find no statistical correlation between saturated fat intake and cholesterol levels, because it's not like everyone who eats a certain set amount of saturated fat is going to have over a certain cholesterol. So there are three ways you could study diet and cholesterol levels: controlled feeding experiments, free-living dietary change experiments, or cross-sectional observations of large populations. As we know, there is a clear and strong relationship between change in diet and change in serum cholesterol in the interventional designs, but because of that individual variability, in cross-sectional designs, you can get zero correlation. In fact, if you do the math, that's what you'd expect you'd get. In statistical parlance, one would say that a cross-sectional study doesn't have the power for detecting such a relationship. Thus because of that variability, these kinds of observational studies would seem an inappropriate method to study this particular relationship. So since diet and serum cholesterol have a zero correlation cross-sectionally, an observational study of the relationship between diet and coronary heart disease incidence will suffer from the same difficulties. So again, if you do the math, observational studies would unavoidably show nearly no correlation between saturated fat and heart disease. These prospective studies can be valuable for other diseases, but the appropriate design demonstrating or refuting the role of diet and coronary heart disease is a dietary change experiment.
And those dietary change experiments have been done; they implicate saturated fat, hence the lower saturated guidelines from basically every major medical authority. In fact, if we lower saturated fat enough, we may be able to reverse heart disease, opening up arteries without drugs or surgery. So with this knowledge, how would the meat and dairy industry prove otherwise? They use the observational studies that mathematically would be unable to show any correlation.
All they need now is a friendly researcher, such as Ronald M. Krauss, who has been funded by the National Dairy Council since 1989, also the National Cattleman's Beef Association, as well as the Atkins Foundation. Then they just combine all the observational studies that don't have the power to provide significant evidence, and not surprisingly, as published in their 2010 meta-analysis, no significant evidence was found.
The 2010 meta-analysis was basically just repackaged for 2014, using the same and similar studies. As the Chair of Harvard's nutrition department put it, their conclusions regarding the type of fat being unimportant are seriously misleading and should be disregarded, going as far as suggesting the paper be retracted, even after the authors corrected a half dozen different errors.
It's not as though they falsified or fabricated data--they didn't have to. They knew beforehand the limitations of observational studies, they knew they'd get the "right" result and so they published it, helping to "neutralize the negative impact of milk and meat fat by regulators and medical professionals." And it's working, according to the dairy industry, as perceptions about saturated fat in the scientific community are changing. They even go so far to say this is a welcome message to consumers, who may be tired of hearing what they shouldn't eat. They don't need to convince consumers, just confuse them. Confusion can easily be misused by the food industry to promote their interests.
It's like that infamous tobacco industry memo that read, "Doubt is our product since it's the best means of competing with the body of fact that exist in the mind of the general public." They don't have to convince the public that smoking is healthy to get people to keep consuming their products. They just need to establish a controversy. Conflicting messages in nutrition cause people to become so frustrated and confused they may just throw their hands up in the air and eat whatever is put in front of them, which is exactly what saturated fat suppliers want, but at what cost to the public's health?
If that "Doubt is our product" memo sounded familiar, I also featured it in my Food Industry Funded Research Bias video. More on how industries can design deceptive studies in BOLD Indeed: Beef Lowers Cholesterol? and How the Egg Board Designs Misleading Studies.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
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Time magazine's cover exhorting people to eat butter could be viewed as a desperate attempt to revive dwindling print sales, but they claimed to be reporting on real science--a systematic review and meta-analysis published in a prestigious journal that concluded that current evidence does not clearly support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage cutting down on saturated fat, like the kind found in meat and dairy products like butter.
No wonder it got so much press, since reducing saturated fat intake is a major focus of most dietary recommendations worldwide, aiming to prevent chronic diseases including coronary heart disease. So, to quote the Center for Science in the Public Interest, "What gives? Evidently, shaky science...and a mission by the global dairy industry to boost sales."
They interviewed an academic insider, who noted that some researchers are intent on showing saturated fat does not cause heart disease, which can be seen in my video The Saturated Fat Studies: Buttering Up the Public. In 2008, the global dairy industry held a meeting where they decided that one of their main priorities was to "neutralize the negative impact of milk fat by regulators and medical professionals." And when they want to do something, they get it done. So they set up a major, well-funded campaign to come up with proof that saturated fat does not cause heart disease. They assembled scientists who were sympathetic to the dairy industry, provided them with funding, encouraged them to put out statements on milk fat and heart disease, and arranged to have them speak at scientific meetings. And the scientific publications we've seen emerging since the Mexico meeting have done just what they set out to do.
During this meeting, the dairy industry discussed what is the key barrier to increasing worldwide demand for dairy. There's global warming issues and other milks competing out there, but number one on the list is the "Negative messages and intense pressure to reduce saturated fats by governments and non- governmental organizations." In short, the negative messages are outweighing the positive, so indeed, their number one priority is to neutralize the negative image of milk fat among regulators and health professionals as related to heart disease.
So if we are the dairy industry, how are we going to do it? Imagine we work for Big Butter. We've got quite the challenge ahead of us. If we look at recommendations from around the globe, there is a global scientific consensus to limit saturated fat intake with most authoritative bodies recommending getting saturated fat at least under 10% of calories, with the prestigious U.S. Institute of Medicine and the European Food Safety Authority recommending to push saturated fat consumption down as low as possible.
The latest guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recommend reducing trans fat intake, giving it their strongest A-grade level of evidence. And they say the same same for reducing saturated fat intake. Since saturated and trans fats are found in the same place, meat and dairy, cutting down on foods with saturated fat will have the additional benefit of lowering trans fat intake. They recommend pushing saturated fat intake down to 5 or 6%. People don't realize how small that is. One KFC chicken breast could take us over the top. Or, two pats of butter and two cubes of cheese and we're done for the day--no more dairy, meat, or eggs. That'd be about 200 calories, so they are in effect saying 90% of our diet should be free of saturated fat-containing foods. That's like the American Heart Association saying, "two meals a week can be packed with meat, dairy, and junk, but the entire rest of the week should be unprocessed plant-foods." That's how stringent the new recommendations are.
So this poses a problem for Big Cheese and Chicken. The top contributors of cholesterol-raising saturated fat is cheese, ice cream, chicken, non-ice cream desserts like cake and pie, and then pork. So what are these industries to do? See The Saturated Fat Studies: Set Up to Fail.
For those unfamiliar with Trans Fat in Meat and Dairy (and refined vegetable oils), that's why I made a video about it.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine "as low as possible" position, echoed by the European Food Safety Authority, is described in my video: Trans Fat, Saturated Fat, and Cholesterol: Tolerable Upper Intake of Zero.
What happened when a country tried to put the lower saturated fat guidance into practice? See the remarkable results in Dietary Guidelines: From Dairies to Berries.
Don't think the dietary guidelines process could be undermined by underhanded corporate tactics? Sad but true:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: Johnathan Nightingale / Flickr]]>
One of my favorite cancer-specific charities, the American Institute for Cancer Research, lauds the China Study and the documentary Forks Over Knives, with which they share the same bottom-line message: The healthiest diets are those that revolve around whole plant foods.
They then translate that advice into their Ten Recommendations for Cancer Prevention, featured in my video Which Dietary Factors Affect Breast Cancer Most? We now have evidence that those who follow such advice are actually protected against cancer. Breast cancer risk was reduced by 60% in women who met at least five recommendations compared with those who met none. The most important dietary advice was to be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight, eat mostly foods of plant origin, and limit alcoholic drinks.
What about other cancers? Greater adherence to the AICR dietary guidelines was also associated with significantly less endometrial, colorectal, lung, kidney, stomach, oral, liver, and esophageal cancer. In other words, adherence to dietary recommendations for cancer prevention may lower the risk of developing most types of cancer. The drop in bladder cancer did not reach statistical significance, but a larger follow-up study following 469,000 people for 11 years (the largest to date) found that just a 3% increase in the consumption of animal protein calories was associated with a 15% higher risk of bladder cancer, whereas just a 2% increase in plant protein was associated with a 23% lower risk.
AICR recommendation number ten is that cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention. The same diet that can help prevent cancer in the first place can be used to help save our life after diagnosis. Adherence to the guidelines for cancer prevention was found to be associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors, or breast cancer and other cancers in general.
A cancer diagnosis is considered a teachable moment to get people eating and living healthier. Oncologists revel at the growth in the number of cancer survivors in this country, now ten million strong and growing. It's great that those with cancer are living longer, but even better to prevent it in the first place so we can all live longer. Not only does adherence to the guidelines lower cancer risk, but extends our lifespan because the guidelines are also significantly associated with a lower hazard of dying from heart disease and respiratory disease, suggesting that following the recommendations could "significantly increase longevity."
Just like eating to prevent cancer helps to prevent heart disease, eating to protect our heart helps prevent cancer. It sounds self-evident, but adherence to a healthy lifestyle is therefore associated with a lower risk of mortality overall. And the more healthy behaviors we have, the longer we get to live. Such factors included not smoking, walking every day, or eating green leafy vegetables almost daily.
To help differentiate the effects of diet from other lifestyle behaviors like smoking and drinking on cancer incidence, Adventists were recently compared to Baptists. Both discourage alcohol and tobacco, but the Adventists go further, encouraging a reduction of meat. In general, the Adventists had lower cancer hazard rates than the Baptists, and within Adventist populations, the vegetarians did even better, and those eating the most plants, did the best.
Why do plant-based diets appear to lower the risk of cancer? A number of fascinating mechanisms:
Specific to breast cancer:
Though plant-based beverages may be harmful: Breast Cancer and Alcohol: How Much Is Safe?
In terms of foods associated with breast cancer survival, see:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: MesserWoland
Image Credit: [Lev Kropotov] © 123RF.com]]>
When my daughter Angela came to visit me, we wanted to spend a lot of relaxed time together. We had not seen each other in over a year, and there are many beautiful places to hang out near my Oregon home.
To my delight, Angela has evolved into an accomplished chef who puts together splendid meals that are both quick to prepare and center on fresh ingredients. We took advantage of the local goodies from the farmers market, with most of the produce we used coming from within half an hour of my house, and harvested within a day or two of when we ate it.
Here are the three top dinners that Angela cooked for us, with recipes below so you can try them yourself. None contains extracted oils. Prepare for intense gourmet flavors without all the work of gourmet cooking:
Click here to get these three oil-free, flavorful vegan recipes
Ciguatera is one of the most common forms of food poisoning, which occurs after the consumption of fish contaminated with neurotoxins produced by certain microalgae that build up the food chain. Just a few bites can be sufficient to induce the condition. Disturbingly, affected fish looks, smells, and tastes normal, and ciguatoxins are resistant to all forms of cooking. So, there is no straightforward method to predict whether a seafood meal can turn into a ciguatera nightmare.
It literally can cause nightmares; about one in six may experience signs of hallucinatory poisoning: lack of coordination, hallucinations, depression, and nightmares. Most suffer some kind of neurological symptoms such as tingling, numbness, and a burning cold sensation. Sometimes a reversal of temperature sensation occurs, where cold objects feel hot and vice versa. For instance, ciguatera sufferers have reported that a refreshing dive in the ocean actually caused burning pain, or that drinking cool beer felt like too hot coffee.
The toxin may also be apparently sexually transmitted, or as one of my favorite public health bloggers put it, "when hot sex turns cold and painful, blame it on dinner."
As seen in my video Ciguatera Poisoning & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the symptoms can persist for months or even years. Ongoing research has shown that people with chronic fatigue syndrome may actually be suffering the long-term effects of this fish food poisoning or a condition called polymyositis, which causes diffuse muscle aches, pains, and inflammation. Some individuals intoxicated by fish consumption 25 years previously experience a recurrence of the main neurological disturbances during periods of overwork, fatigue, or stress. You can still find the toxins stuck in your body decades later.
Recent outbreaks in New York City have drawn attention to the problem. For example, a man ate grouper at a Manhattan restaurant and went from swimming two miles a day to having difficulty walking that lasted for months. But these aren't just rare anecdotes. Ciguatera fish poisoning affects an estimated 15,000 Americans every year, causing hundreds of hospitalizations and even a few deaths. Because the toxins are colorless, odorless, tasteless, and not destroyed by cooking, CDC scientists suggest "education aimed at the prevention of seafood intoxication by avoidance of high-risk fish altogether."
The AMA put out a similar advisory, suggesting that the only way to prevent it is to avoid eating fish like red snapper or grouper, but the problem is that a third of fish sold in the United States is mislabeled, so we don't know what we're getting. Some suggest first feeding a portion of the fish meal to a cat, treating them like a court tester, and if they're okay six hours later, we can dig in -- but this was considered inhumane. But if it's inhumane to feed it to your cat, how is it not inhumane to feed it to other members of the family?
Many more are killed by more conventional food poisoning bugs (Chicken Salmonella Thanks to Meat Industry Lawsuit), but how scary that you can get these toxins stuck in you and ruin your life? Reminds me of my Amnesic Seafood Poisoning video.
Other neurotoxin videos include Preventing Parkinson's Disease With Diet and Essential Tremor and Diet.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: Pen Waggener / Flickr]]>
Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects more than a million Americans. It is an inflammatory bowel disease in which the body attacks the intestines. There is currently no known cure for Crohn's disease; current research focuses on controlling symptoms. There is no definitive medical or surgical therapy. The best we have is a plant-based diet, which has afforded the best relapse prevention to date.
Researchers got the idea to try a plant-based diet because diets rich in animal protein and animal fat have been found to cause a decrease in beneficial bacteria in the intestine. So, researchers designed a semi-vegetarian diet to counter that, and 100 percent of subjects stayed in remission the first year and 92 percent the second year. These results are far better than those obtained by current drugs, including new "biological agents" that can cost $40,000 a year, and can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a disabling and deadly brain disease. And a healthy diet appears to work better.
But what about preventing Crohn's disease in the first place? A systematic review of the scientific literature on dietary intake and the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease found that a high intake of fats and meat was associated with an increased risk of Crohn's disease as well as ulcerative colitis, whereas high fiber and fruit intakes were associated with decreased risk of Crohn's.
These results were supported more recently by the Harvard Nurse's Health Study. Data revealed that long-term intake of dietary fiber, particularly from fruit, was associated with lower risk of Crohn's disease. Women who fell into in the highest long-term fiber consumption group had a 40 percent reduced risk, leading the accompanying editorial to conclude, "advocating for a high-fiber diet may ultimately reduce the incidence of Crohn's disease."
The irony is that the highest fiber group wasn't even eating the official recommended daily minimum of fiber intake. Apparently, even just being less fiber deficient has a wide range of benefits, including a significant reduction in the risk of developing Crohn's disease, but why? The authors suggest it's because "fiber plays a vital role in the maintenance of our intestinal barrier function."
Our skin keeps the outside world outside, and so does the lining of our gut, but in Crohn's disease, this barrier function is impaired. You can see this under an electron microscope as shown in my video Preventing Crohn's Disease With Diet. The tight junctions between the intestinal cells have all sorts of little holes and breaks. The thought is that the increase in prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases may be that dietary changes lead to the breakdown of our intestinal barrier, potentially allowing the penetration of bacteria into our gut wall, which our body then attacks, triggering the inflammation.
We know fiber acts as a prebiotic in our colon (large intestine), feeding our good bacteria, but what does fiber do in our small intestine where Crohn's often starts? We didn't know, until a landmark study was published. Researchers wanted to find out what could stop Crohn's associated invasive bacteria from tunneling into the gut wall. They found the invasion is inhibited by the presence of certain soluble plant fibers, such as from plantains and broccoli at the kinds of concentrations one might expect after eating them. They wondered if that may explain why plantain-loving populations have lower levels of inflammatory bowel disease. But, the researchers also found that there was something in processed foods that facilitated the invasion of the bacteria. Polysorbate 80 was one of them, found predominantly in ice cream, but also found in Crisco, Cool Whip, condiments, cottage cheese--you just have to read the labels.
What about maltodextrin, which is found in artificial sweeteners like Splenda, snack foods, salad dressings, and fiber supplements? Maltodextrin markedly enhanced the ability of the bacteria to glob onto our intestinal cells, though other additives. Carboxy-methyl cellulose and xanthan gum appeared to have no adverse effects.
This may all help solve the mystery of the increasing prevalence of Crohn's disease in developed nations, where we're eating less fiber-containing whole plant foods and more processed foods. What we need now are interventional studies to see if boosting fiber intake and avoiding these food additives can be effective in preventing and treating Crohn's disease. But until then, what do we tell people? The available evidence points to a diet low in animal fat, with lots of soluble fiber containing plant foods, and avoiding processed fatty foods that contain these emulsifiers. We also want to make sure we're not ingesting traces of dishwashing detergent, which could have the same effect, so make sure to rinse your dishes well. Researchers found that some people wash dishes and then just leave them to dry without rinsing, which is probably not a good idea. We don't currently have studies that show that avoiding polysorbate 80 and rinsing dishes well actually helps. Nevertheless, advice based on 'best available evidence' is better than no advice at all.
Here's a video about using a more plant-based diet to reduce the risk of relapses: Dietary Treatment of Crohn's Disease.
I get a lot of questions about additives like polysorbate 80. I'm glad I was finally able to do a blog about it. Here are some videos on some others:
If you, like me, used to think all fiber was good for was helping with bowel regularity you'll be amazed! See for example, Dr. Burkitt's F-Word Diet.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: Graphic Stock]]>
Foods of animal origin in general naturally contain hormones, but cow's milk may be of particular concern. The hormones naturally found even in organic cow's milk may have played a role in studies that found a relationship between dairy products and human illnesses, such as acne, certain cancers and male reproductive disorders. Milk consumption has also been associated with an increased risk of early puberty and endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women, but "hormonal levels in food could be particularly dangerous in the case of vulnerable populations, such as young children or pregnant women. To this critical population, even a small hormonal intake could lead to major changes in the metabolism."
If you check out my video Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins, you can see that children are highly sensitive to sex steroids. Because their levels of sex steroids are very low, even a small variation would account for a major change in the total activity of the involved hormone. Because no lower threshold for estrogenic action has been established, caution should be taken to avoid unnecessary exposure of fetuses and children to exogenous sex steroids, even at very low levels.
In the AMA's Pediatrics Journal, the Chair of Boston Children's Hospital's Obesity Prevention Center along with the chair of Harvard's nutrition department questioned dairy industry recommendations that children should drink three glasses of milk a day. Dairy milk evolved to promote the growth of grazing animals at high risk for predation when small, so they needed to put on a few hundred pounds quickly in the first few months of life.
The consequences of lifetime human exposure to the growth factors in milk have not been well studied. "Milk consumption increases serum concentrations of insulin-like growth factor 1, which is linked to prostate and other cancers. In addition, modern industrial methods maintain dairy cows in active milk production throughout their pregnancies, resulting in a milk supply with high levels of reproductive hormones."
Pregnant cows excrete significantly higher levels of sex steroids into their milk than non-pregnant cows. The subsequent consumption of such dairy products from pregnancy results in additional consumer exposure. And it's not just dairy. Although dairy products are an important source of hormones, other products of animal origin must be considered as well. All edible tissues of animal origin contain estrogen. This may explain why, in a study of over a thousand women eating plant-based diets, vegan women have a twinning rate that is one fifth that of vegetarians and omnivores.
Twin pregnancies are risky pregnancies, with much higher complication rates. Many parents and physicians underestimate the negative consequences of multiple pregnancy, but "women with a multiple pregnancy face greater risks for themselves and their infants." Twin babies may be ten times more likely to die at birth. To avoid these complications, the research team writes, "women attempting conception should avoid milk and dairy products."
Minimizing dairy, our nation's #1 source of saturated fat may be a good idea for dads too: Dairy Estrogen and Male Fertility.
What about the endocrine-disrupting xenoestrogens--how do they compare with the natural hormones in our food supply? That was the topic of my video Estrogen in Meat, Dairy, and Eggs.
Then once they're born, best to stick to human milk:
Then as young children, dairy can sometimes cause another problem: Childhood Constipation and Cow's Milk
Here's a selection of other pregnancy-related videos:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: LivingLandscapeArchitecture / Flickr]]>
Estrogen hormones can be thousands of times more estrogenic than typical endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Dietary exposure to natural sex steroids (in meat, dairy, and eggs) is "therefore highly relevant in the discussion of the impact of estrogens on human development and health." And chicken estrogen is identical to human estrogen--they're identical molecules. So it doesn't matter if it ends up in our drinking supply from women taking birth control pills excreting it in their urine, or cows excreting it into their milk. The source doesn't matter; the quantity does.
If you check out my video Estrogen in Meat, Dairy, and Eggs, you can see that a child's exposure to estrogens in drinking water is about 150 times lower than exposure from cow's milk, so our day-to-day estrogen exposure levels are more likely determined by whether or not we happen to eat dairy products that day.
Human urine is "often cited as the main source of natural and synthetic estrogens in the aquatic environment," but the level of estrogen even in the urine of heavy meat-eaters, who have significantly higher levels, pales in comparison to the estrogen excreted by the farm animals themselves. Pig, sheep, cattle, and chickens produce literally tons of estrogen every year.
Women may excrete 16 mg every day, but farm animals may release ten times more, or in the case of pregnant cows, thousands of times more. Animal waste may contribute an estimated 90% of total estrogens in the environment. Five gallons of runoff water contaminated with chicken manure may contain a birth control pill's worth of estrogen.
Estrogen levels in poultry litter are so high that when farmers feed chicken manure to their animals to save on feed costs, it may trigger premature development. Poultry manure has among the highest hormone content, quadruple the total estrogens, and nine times more 17-beta estradiol, the most potent estrogen and a "complete" carcinogen, as it exerts both tumor initiating and tumor promoting effects.
From a human health standpoint, do we really care about feminized fish, or the appearance of "intersex roaches"? The problem is that the hormones get into the food supply. Endogenous steroid hormones in food of animal origin are unavoidable as they occur naturally in these products. It's not a matter of injected hormones, which are banned in places like Europe in order to protect consumers' health. Sex steroid hormones are part of animal metabolism, and so all foodstuffs of animal origin contain these hormones, which have been connected with several human health problems. (See Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins?)
What effects might these female hormones have on men? See Dairy Estrogen and Male Fertility.
The implications of this relatively new practice of milking cows even when they're pregnant is further explored in:
More on xenoestrogens in:
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations--2013: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food, 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Image Credit: BruceBlaus
Image Credit: [Nakhorn Yuangkratoke] © 123RF.com]]>


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West Tisbury, a town which has only qualified for housing rehabilitation and child care funds every three years, is now eligible every year. But in neighboring Chilmark, it's a different story.
The health of the historic resort community is not in doubt. But a streetscape master plan project begun in January wants to identify parts of the downtown that can be improved. And planners want more public opinion.
Five of the six Island towns are applying for Community Development Block Grants for the 2011 fiscal year, with more applications than ever expected this year from needy residents. At their meeting Tuesday, Aquinnah selectmen praised the block grant program, which this year includes funds for rehabilitating homes and child care assistance for income-eligible residents. Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are all applying for grants.
Over the past eight years the Massachusetts Community Development Block Grant program has funneled more than $14 million toward vital housing needs of Martha's Vineyard residents. Thanks to concerted last minute lobbying by Island leaders over recent weeks, it will continue to do so.
But it was a close-run thing.
Edgartown selectmen voted Monday to reapply for a housing rehabilitation program under the federal Community Development Block Grant that allows eligible homeowners to borrow up to $35,000 for critical home repairs.
Under the grant, homeowners who make 80 per cent or less of median income are eligible for the no-interest loans, which are forgivable over a period of 15 years.
A proposed change in the guidelines for the state Community Development Block Grant program could spell a doubly whammy for the Vineyard, which has already lost out on $2 million in block grant money this year due to a clerical error.
The guideline change, which is still proposed and has not been adopted, would restrict communities who receive grant funding from applying for the program the following federal fiscal year.
After a clerical error in this year's community development block grant application saw the Island miss out on $2 million in money for child care assistance and housing rehabilitation, Oak Bluffs residents in need will still get some relief from an overlooked program account.
Ralph Gross stood in his brand new living room one afternoon this week, the freshly painted yellow walls and new furniture a far cry from the room that once held two bunk beds for his five sisters and mother.
"We washed the clothes over there," Mr. Gross, 74, said pointing to the new red bathroom, once a washroom and now a full bath and handicap accessible.
"It's pretty much the same, but so much better," he said with a warm smile.
© 2016 Vineyard Gazette


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Sometimes there are really great musicians we tend to not think about because they did nothing to "define" a style--they just played great.
Sometimes there are really great musicians we tend to not think about because they did nothing to "define" a style--they just played great.
Mendez definitely defined a style!
When the hell does he breathe!?
[edit] Is that circular breathing?
Last edited by Brad-K; 01-24-2012 at 04:36 PM.
He just took one really big breath before he started!
Live Long and Prosper
The black is the notes, the white is the page.....play the black!!
'When you're sleeping, someone else is practicing.'"-Herb Alpert
he's circular breathing throughout the piece.... He is tonguing the whole time though, which adds difficulty compared to slurring like Wynton. Both versions are great, just different.
This was intended as a sort of commentary on sentiments expressed in the "Chris Botti Is Awful" thread. Mendez was simply a great player--I think one of if not the greatest player ever. His technical mastery is second to none--he had range, but he seldom displayed it; he could play jazz, but he seldom played. His artistry was, and is his command of the instrument--he "defined" mastery of the horn, not a particular genre.
And yes, that is circular breathing; but he does a single breath rendition of Mexican Hat Dance that will knock your socks off. I'll just include the link--starts after Flight of the Bumblebee about (2:30). Rafael Mendez - Flight of the Bumble Bee & Mexican Hat Dance - YouTube
There is nothing "easier" about slurring this piece. Just try it and you will know what I mean. Slur that stuff - especially in the upper register.
I gave up after 6 months or so. Not enough talent. I can play most of it tongued, but there are sections that I probably would need a lifetime for. I find slurred MUCH harder.
My personal favorite:
And here is Hora Legato by Maurice André
Last edited by rowuk; 01-24-2012 at 06:03 PM.
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
I read somewhere that mendez only took 1 take to make that recording. What a monster.
What a jerk that Mendez...he's clearly had some sort of cheater mouthpiece and his breathing control was gifted to him by ET's...
Mr. Mendez's sons have acknowledged their father could and did play this impossible piece without stopping.
However, due to the incredible endurance needed and mind numbing technical demands, for the recording Mr. Mendez elected to place 4 edits in the piece. Where you hear a triangle, you have an edit. Keep in mind that there were other pieces to record that day.
For more accurate information on Mendez, Dave Hickman is the moderator of the Mendez Forum at Trumpet Herald. Many things about Mendez's life and performances are there for the reading.
Want to see the actual music as played by Mendez? Go here. Welcome to the website of Erik Veldkamp Look under sheet music and then concerto and etudes.
I have heard violin soloists play it slower than Mr. Mendez.
Last edited by richtom; 01-24-2012 at 06:45 PM.
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text:
"Not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple. And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero impact on the content of my character."
excellent personal testimony by apple juice is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


text:
16th – 18th September 2016
Fabulous Art Deco girls from the 1920's striking exotic poses will be an eye-catching attraction when they go on show at The Tatton Park Antiques, Decorative & Art Fair from 16th – 18th September 2016.
Candice Horley, who trades as Twentieth Century Glamour, will be assembling a fine collection of European porcelain featuring the highly collectable figures from the famous German porcelain companies Rosenthal and Hutschenreuther.
Both companies have enjoyed long and illustrious histories and shared many lines of production. In addition to the fabulous dancing figures, they also produced animal models that are equally popular today.
The Tatton Park Antiques, Decorative & Art Fair is a popular three-day event that heralds the start of the antiques season in the North of England and provides the ideal opportunity to view and buy a wide range of fine quality antiques, decorative period pieces, collectors' items and original art, all at prices from less than £50 to more than £20,000.
The fair offers everything for the home decorator and interior specialist, from original Victorian and early 20th century furniture to Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, fine silver, ceramics, glass, jewellery and Modern British and Contemporary art.
Forty specialist exhibitors from across the Midlands and North of England take part, each showing a range of items, with prices to suit every pocket, from £20 for a glass paperweight to more than £20,000 to an original drawing by L.S.Lowry.
Among the many highlights will be superb collections of antique furniture from specialist dealers Mark Buckley Antiques from Yorkshire and Melody Antiques from Chester. Mike Melody, who is well known for his frequent TV appearances, returns with ……..
For the full press release click here – The Tatton Park Antiques, Decorative & Art Fair 16th – 18th September Fair 2016.


text:
I've been mostly happy with the Lumia 830 after installing Window 10 Mobile preview. Things are moving along, and I think that it is good enough as a daily driver. I've already said goodbye to Windows Phone 8.1 and will be using Windows 10 Mobile from now on. Here's what I have on my Start screen.
Shop: Xbox One S Bundles | NEW Dell XPS 13" | Lenovo Sale | Surface Book


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Scrapbook MAX! Digital Scrapbooking Software
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We have moved the forums over to a new server and great new software!
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Designer---Fiona Storey~Angelwithin Designs
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This is my gorgeous Daughter Robyn..I made this from a kit I have made using sbm. I will upload this to 4shared free if there is any interest in it....
Inspired by my Daughters hat in the pic. Made by me on sbm.
Sorry I'm not here very often, but I keep popping in! I uploaded...
If you like the elements within this layout, keep checking over at my Blog as I will be uploading them in a FREEBIE PACK...
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Kit: Rhapsody by Carena's Designs
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Got some news to share - NEW KIT: Rhapsody by Carena's Designs
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realmagick.com The shrine of knowledge.
Agra Population
A selection of articles related to agra population.
Original articles from our library related to the Agra Population. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Agra Population.
- The Earthmind Material
- Part 1 | Part 2 Author's Note All references made in the first person(s) herein, are grammatical conveniences created for the sake of the reader. Such words as "I", "OUR", and "I/WE" are therefore not meant to be taken as literal...
Mind >> World Mind
- Bringing it Down to Earth: A Fractal Approach
- 'Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.' B. Mandelbrot W e want to think about the future - it's our nature. Unlike other creatures, humans possess an...
Mystic Sciences >> Astrology
- Who can use hypnosis effectively?
- Nearly anyone can make use of hypnosis in some sense. However, there are distinct differences in how easily people can respond to suggestion in a way that seems involuntary or effortless. This is in important aspect of induction. The most dramatic and...
Parapsychology >> Hypnosis
- History of Voodoo
- The notoriously perceived notion of Voodoo as practiced in the western world is that of grotesquely molded wax dolls with pins sticking out of them. Let's look deeper than that!
Parapsychology >> Spirits
Agra Population is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Agra Population books and related discussion.
Suggested News Resources
- Monkey Sterilisation Project in Agra
- NEW DELHI: Aiming to tackle the "exploding" monkey population in Agra, a Delhi-based wildlife body has launched a monkey sterilisation and vaccination project in the Taj city in collaboration with Agra Development Authority (ADA).
- The world's 20 fastest growing cities
- These are the world's 20 fastest growing cities (in terms of population) with at least five million residents, according to the United Nations 2010-2020 rates (data supplied by demographia.com).
- Will e-way, Metro help CM ride back to power?
- Lucknow: Completion of the nation's longest expressway from Agra to Lucknow, the Lucknow metro rail and revival of the polluted Gomti river are projects on whose steam chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's prospects of winning 2017 assembly election rest.
- The new idea of India
- It is, of course, par for the course that BJP leaders, in the recent instance in Agra, including a minister of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, should stir the communal pot, with elections in Uttar Pradesh looming on the horizon. ...
- Diversity Drives a Mega Market
- When I first learned of the opportunity to study abroad in India, my immediate thought was, "What better way to experience the country!
Great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. Elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick.com library and third-party sources. We appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site.
Agra Population Topics
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realmagick.com The shrine of knowledge.
Canadian Beer
A selection of articles related to canadian beer.
Original articles from our library related to the Canadian Beer. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Canadian Beer.
- Sekhmet
- Goddess of war and battles, consort of Ptah. Hathor took Sekhmet's shape when she made war on men. Sekhmet is usually portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness, sometimes brandishing a knife in an upraised hand. Her name means the powerful. Sekhmet's...
Deities & Heros >> Egyptian
- A Couple Ghost Stories
- I don't know many Cambridge ghosts but perhaps readers might enlighten me as to how many we have in the area. As a matter of fact, the Cambridge Archives would be pleased to have a collection of stories for the files. If you care to write up a story related...
Ghosts >> Ghost Stories
- Story of the Celts: The Ancient Celts
- The Ancient Celts [ 8 ] What is surprising to most modern readers is just how widespread across Europe the Celts once were. The Celts have been called the "Fathers of Europe," that is north of the Greco-Roman Mediterranean. Long before the Germanic...
History & Anthropology >> Celtic & Irish
- Celtic Gods and Heroes: The Gods of Ancient Ireland
- Celtic peoples established themselves in Ireland about 2,500 years ago. But humans had inhabited the island long before that, as evidenced by the monument site at Newgrange dating to 3000 B.C., as well as the prehistoric megaliths at Carrowmore in Sligo, and...
Deities & Heros >> Celtic, Welsh, Irish & Brittish
- Select Cross-Cultural and Historical Personifications of Death
- This extensive introduction includes some of the more well known, along with some lesser known Death "incarnations", and I use that term loosely, as in many cultures, the Angel of Death can be quite an adept shapeshifter. We have tried to cull...
Mystic Sciences >> Necromantic Studies
- Children of the Gods
- Muslim stood with Jew, Pagan with Christian, Hindu with atheist, all protesting injustice, all making a stand as one people against hate. Downtown Denver was alive with a multi-hued tapestry of people, joined together in tragedy, and hope. A Denver police...
Paganism & Wicca >> Daily Life
Canadian Beer is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Canadian Beer books and related discussion.
Suggested News Resources
- Small Canadian brewer to brew Eagles of Death Metal beer
- Manantler and the Eagles announced on Thursday that they are partnering up on a new brew — dubbed "Boots Electric IPA" in honour of frontman Jesse Hughes' chosen nom de rock — that will see $1 from each bottle sold funneled to families of the 130 ...
- Canadian Beer Spot Steals All Your Old Slogans, Eh
- Toronto's Bensimon Byrne was recently tasked with promoting client Amsterdam Brewery's Boneshaker IPA but couldn't quite decide on a tagline…so the shop went with all of 'em, Katie.
- Ad of the Day: Canadian Beer Sees How Many Absurd Slogans It Can Fit in a
- Tired of Miller Time? Too busy to respond to life's beckon? Found other uses for your right arm?
- Obama and Trudeau joke about beer, hockey during White House welcoming
- Speaking to a crowd on the White House lawn Thursday, Obama welcomed the young Liberal leader and his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, and noted this was the first visit by a Canadian prime minister in almost 20 years, throwing in a few Canadianisms, ...
- Scion of a wealthy Canadian beer family gets life for killing father
- The scion of a wealthy Canadian beer family was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for murdering his father, following a long and sensational trial in New Brunswick province. But he may seek parole after 10 years behind bars.
Great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. Elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick.com library and third-party sources. We appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site.
Canadian Beer Topics
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DoubleTree by Hilton Bethesda - Washington DC - Bethesda
You will be spoilt for choice in terms of dining at this hotel as there are 3 restaurants serving breakfast, lunch and dinner where you will find great menu choices and a nice spot to eat during the day. Relax in the seasonal outdoor pool during your stay. Guests wishing to enjoy a drink will surely want to visit the bar/lounge.
The leisure facilities include a fitness center. Free WiFi is provided so you can check your in-box whenever you like.
DoubleTree by Hilton Bethesda - Washington DC - Bethesda
Hotel Info: 855-239-9478from $109
- Suite, Accessible, Non Smoking
- Suite, 1 Bedroom, Non Smoking, Kitchen
- Two Double Beds, Non-Smoking, Accessible
- Junior Suite, One King Bed, Non-Smoking
- Room, Accessible, Non Smoking
- Room, Accessible, Non Smoking
- Room, Accessible, Non Smoking
- Suite, Accessible, Non Smoking
- Non Smoking Two Dbls Dlx Guestroom
- King Pure Allergy
- Suite, 1 King Bed, Non Smoking
- Non Smoking Dlx King Guestroom
- 2 Doubles Pure Allergy
- Two Doubles nonsmoking
- Room, Accessible, Non Smoking
- King nonsmoking
Also popular with travelers from the USA
At a glance
Key facts
Hotel size
- This hotel has 270 rooms
- This hotel is arranged over 16 floors
- 24-hour check-in
- Check-out time is noon
- Express check-in/out
Required at check in
- Credit card or cash deposit required
- Government-issued photo ID required
- Minimum check-in age is 21
Travelling with others
- Pets not allowed
- Free WiFi in public areas
- Free WiFi and wired Internet access in rooms
- Valet parking *
- Free area shuttle within 3.0 mi
Other information
- Smoke-free property
In the hotel
- Full breakfast daily (surcharge)
- 3 restaurants
- Bar/lounge
- Coffee shop/café
- Room service (during limited hours)
- Free reception
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Outdoor pool
- Fitness facilities
- Golfing nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- 24-hour business center
- Meeting rooms 11
- Conference space size (feet) - 13000
- Conference space size (meters) - 1208
- Conference center
- 24-hour front desk
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Luggage storage
- Wedding services
- Multilingual staff
- Porter/bellhop
- Elevator/lift
- ATM/banking
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Television in common areas
- Accessible bathroom
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
In the room
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Air conditioning
- Coffee/tea maker
- Iron/ironing board
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Premium bedding
- Pillowtop mattress
- Private bathroom
- Bathtub or shower
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Premium TV channels
- MP3 docking station
- Desk
- Free WiFi
- Phone
- Daily housekeeping
- In-room safe
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
Special features
DiningThe OZ - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A children's menu is available.
The Cup - This coffee shop serves breakfast and lunch.
The Wine Bar - This bistro serves dinner only. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
DoubleTree by Hilton Bethesda - Washington DC - Bethesda's small print
Also known as
- DoubleTree Hilton Bethesda Washington DC
- DoubleTree Hilton Washington Hotel Bethesda DC
- DoubleTree Hilton Bethesda Washington DC Hotel
The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.
Parking height restrictions apply.
Optional extras
Valet parking costs USD 23.00 per night with in/out privileges
Microwaves are available for USD 10.00 per night
Refrigerators are available for USD 10.00 per night
Rollaway beds are available for USD 10 per night
Breakfast costs between USD 5 and USD 20 for adults, and USD 5 and USD 20 for children (approximately)
We have included all charges provided to us by this hotel. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.


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realmagick.com The shrine of knowledge.
Shamanic Herbalism
A selection of articles related to shamanic herbalism.
Original articles from our library related to the Shamanic Herbalism. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Shamanic Herbalism.
- What is Shamanic Healing?
- "Shamans heals themselves. By working through their pain, they learn to help others." -Wounded Healin' "But the primitive magician, the medicine man, or the shaman is not only a sick man; he is, above all, a sick man who has been cured, who has...
Religions >> Native American, Shamanism
- Shamanic Death
- What is a Shaman's death, and who's likely to have one? The death itself is a suspension between worlds. States of consciousness. The individual today, who is likely to have a "Shamanic Death" is chasing extinction itself. Through that process the...
Religions >> Native American, Shamanism
- An Overview of Core Shamanism
- Core shamanism developed out of research done by Dr. Michael Harner. He discovered that all over the world, while the overall approaches to shamanism may be different, there were key elements in common. Dr. Harner then set about synthesizing these elements so...
Religions >> Native American, Shamanism
- Angelica: The Herb of Angels
- Angelica, from seed your beauty weaves, Strong stems and healing leaves. I ask your blessings to bestow, As I nurse and watch you grow. From morning's dew through afternoon, To ray of stars and midnight's moon. Michael comes upon this day, To watch you grow...
Herbalism >> Herbs dictionary A
- Meditation and Kaballah II
- Meditation is one of the most vital elements of occult and esoteric practices, especially in the study of the Kaballah. I've heard it said that prayer is talking to the Divine and meditation is listening for the answers. I've also heard that the answers come...
Mind >> Meditation
- Laguz/Laukaz
- This rune, the fifth rune of the third aett and twenty-first of the Elder Futhark, has two names. Kenaz/Kaunaz is the other rune with two names. Laguz is the best-known name of today's rune. It means "lake." Laukaz is the alternative name and means "leek," a...
Divination >> Rune Stones
Shamanic Herbalism is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Shamanic Herbalism books and related discussion.
Suggested News Resources
- I Went to A Transformational Festival In the Costa Rican Jungle In Search of a
- I heard about a woman's experience attending a retreat on yoga, shamanism, and permaculture while sitting on a bench that she herself had built. While at a fire ceremony at 5 AM, ...
- Naturopathic doctor details floral remedies to relieve emotional trauma
- While leading an herb walk through Crotona Park in the Bronx, considered one of the most dangerous parks in New York City, I discovered it was filled with the flower known as Star of Bethlehem.
- 'The clock was ticking, and I didn't realise that it had probably stopped for
- In the grip of 'baby mania', she visited nutritionists, herbalists, even a shaman. 'I might just as well have walked around London putting £50 notes randomly through people's letterboxes,' she says drily.
- "Etrian Odyssey V" to Bring More Dungeon Crawling to 3DS
- The latest issue of Famitsu magazine served up the official reveal of Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth.
Great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. Elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick.com library and third-party sources. We appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site.
Shamanic Herbalism Topics
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text: Pensión Altair is located in San Sebastián's Gros district, 821 feet from Zurriola Beach and the Kursaal Convention Centre. It offers free Wi-Fi and a flat-screen TV in each room. All rooms at the Altair Pensión have central heating, a private bathroom and a work desk. Some rooms have large windows with Gothic arches. San Sebastián is well-known for its food and there is a variety of excellent tapas restaurants in the old town, which is 10 minutes' walk away from Pensión Altair. The Altair is just 985 feet from the Church of San Ignacio. Mount Urgull, with its 40 feet statue of Jesus Christ, can be reached in 15 minutes on foot.