Tide Turning Against Cholesterol Fears?

[dualstow]

Atkins and low-carb diets have been around for a long time now. But now we're really starting to see mainstream attacks on Dr Keys, the guy who made eating steak less fun from 1961 to 2002.

Our distrust of saturated fat can be traced back to the 1950s, to a man named Ancel Benjamin Keys, a scientist at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Keys was formidably persuasive and, through sheer force of will, rose to the top of the nutrition world—even gracing the cover of Time magazine—for relentlessly championing the idea that saturated fats raise cholesterol and, as a result, cause heart attacks.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 0760481486

[Mountaineer]

WooHoo! 

Bacon, eggs, steak and fries cooked in lard followed by some Ben and Jerry's for me.  Bring it on and pass the pork rinds.

... Mountaineer

[dualstow]

Now you're speaking my language! 
I guess cholesterol may still be an issue. I should have said "..Against Sat-Fat Fears."

[Ad Orientem]

I think people should be careful about what they eat and how much. I think people should exercise regularly. And I also think people should not be obsessive about these things. I don't know what the best diet is. Opinions on that seem to change more frequently than the weather forecast. But I am fairly sure of one thing. Irrespective of whether you had bacon with your breakfast this morning, or you skipped it, 100 years from now everyone commenting on this thread will be fertilizing a lawn somewhere. Life is short. Don't forget to live it.

[Benko]

It is nice to see more mainstream articles along these lines, but it will be a long time before the cholesterol demon is dead.

1.  Conventional medicine.  I have asked several highly competent cardiologists their opinion of medical articles casting doubt on the choleterol demon and they were skeptical.

2.  The vegetarian mafia as well as all the plant based diet folks.

3. People still hung up on the TMAO study that came out relatively recently. 

Happened to catch 2 min of Dr. Oz, who had some really good books out ages ago and still has some good info.  He quoted the TMAO study and suggested red meat only once per week.  FOrtunately his other new recommendations were better and included:

--Omega 7 fatty acids (anchovies, macademia nuts)
--in addition to eating cruciferous veggies and garlic, onion, etc, he recommended foods which contain apigenin which can help prevent cancer and include: parsley, celery, artichoke.
--not sitting for prolonged periods.  HIs take is standing every 15 min and 10 min walk every 2 hours, but the details are less important than getting up regularly.

[dualstow]

Bad news for truckers, eh?

[dualstow]

I know you meant snake oil, but look at sanke: http://is.gd/6HyCRT
Beautiful! I wonder if they have good oil.

[Reub]

It is nice to see more mainstream articles along these lines, but it will be a long time before the cholesterol demon is dead.

1.  Conventional medicine.  I have asked several highly competent cardiologists their opinion of medical articles casting doubt on the choleterol demon and they were skeptical.

2.  The vegetarian mafia as well as all the plant based diet folks.

3. People still hung up on the TMAO study that came out relatively recently. 

Happened to catch 2 min of Dr. Oz, who had some really good books out ages ago and still has some good info.  He quoted the TMAO study and suggested red meat only once per week.  FOrtunately his other new recommendations were better and included:

--Omega 7 fatty acids (anchovies, macademia nuts)
--in addition to eating cruciferous veggies and garlic, onion, etc, he recommended foods which contain apigenin which can help prevent cancer and include: parsley, celery, artichoke.
--not sitting for prolonged periods.  HIs take is standing every 15 min and 10 min walk every 2 hours, but the details are less important than getting up regularly.

Seriously? Dr. Oz? That guy is a snake oil shill. Like with all media, sensationalism sells, so he takes some poorly studied data and then twists it and oversells it as the next miracle cure for whatever ails you.

edit: fixed typo: sanke -> snake

Dr. Oz is far from a snake oil shill. His credentials are excellent. I think that he is trying to market healthier living and holistic medicine to the masses and that is why he sometimes comes off as pedestrian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz

[dualstow]

{ooh, hard to get through again today. More server problems, I guess}

Dr. Oz is far from a snake oil shill. His credentials are excellent. I think that he is trying to market healthier living and holistic medicine to the masses and that is why he sometimes comes off as pedestrian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz

I think Dr Oz's stuff is part helpful advice and part mumbo jumbo. He had some useful tips in Esquire magazine, like eating pasta sauce once in a while if you don't have access to fresh tomatoes. The alternative medicine...not so much. It's alternative for a reason.

Nobody promotes ancient superstitions as if they were enlightenment insights like Oprah Winfrey and her medical mandarin Dr. Mehmet Oz. This time the pair promotes ancient Chinese superstitions about energy healing. (According to Wikipedia, Oz is married to an energy healer, a practitioner of Reiki.) Oz, the product of a modern medical school (the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine), confidently proclaims that "acupuncture has been around for 2,500 years in China" and "there are a billion people in another part of the world who use these therapies." He could say the same about belief in ghosts and a number of other Chinese superstitions that have been around for thousands of years. I wonder what Dr. Oz would say about this list of forty Chinese superstitions. A billion people believe that some numbers are lucky and some are unlucky. They believe the same about colors. They've had these  beliefs and many others like them for thousands of years. So what?

http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia5.html

[Benko]

1. Chris Kresser is my reference standard for sanity, honesty, and keeping up on latest stuff in the nutritional world.    Yes, Jaminet is good also.

2. I had a coupla books by Dr. Oz written a decade or probably two ago and they were pretty good as I recall.  I am in New Zealand and happend to catch a coupla minutes of his program just by turning the tv on.  I have no idea if most of his recommendations are good or not these days. 

As I stated, the TMAO I don't agree with.  If you haven't heard the info that sitting for long periods is likely not good for you, you haven't been paying attention as it has received a fair amount of publicity.  The apigenin for cancer prevention I had run across and have been eating more parsley because of it.  The omage 7 thing I had run across in one other place and even if it does not pan out, I love macademia nuts and there are enough other reasons to eat them. 

[Benko]

and  http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia5.html and placeslike that turn their nose up at any place even slightly unconventional.  They are the equivalent of places that tell you you are crazy for holding any gold. 

[MachineGhost]

The cholesterol "problem" is that of the LDL membrane being oxidized, not elevated, largely from excess Omega-6 in the diet (> 4% of calories).  The pro-statin propaganda is so thick, it will take some really widespread media and mainstream attention that cholesterol is B.S. for drug-pushing specialists to wake up to the crackpipe they've been smoking.  Hell hath no more fury than a well-meaning good intentionist scorned.

BTW, obesity is one of the common side effects of taking statins.  I realized earlier today that isn't it interesting that the rise of obesity started at the same time statins were pushed?  Has this been looking into with any seriousness?

[dualstow]

and  http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia5.html and placeslike that turn their nose up at any place even slightly unconventional.  They are the equivalent of places that tell you you are crazy for holding any gold.

The forum's been down so long that I can't remember how I was going to respond to this! I don't know Carroll's views on gold, but I would say that he turns his nose up at anything which avoids the scientific method. The permanent portfolio is scientific.

BTW, obesity is one of the common side effects of taking statins.  I realized earlier today that isn't it interesting that the rise of obesity started at the same time statins were pushed?  Has this been looking into with any seriousness?

Interesting. I recently learned that oyster mushrooms have a natural statin-like component. I eat those every week, so hopefully some good will come out of it besides the wonderful flavor.

[MachineGhost]

The forum's been down so long that I can't remember how I was going to respond to this! I don't know Carroll's views on gold, but I would say that he turns his nose up at anything which avoids the scientific method. The permanent portfolio is scientific.

Skeptics all say that, but when presented with non-orthodox science that goes against the orthodoxy (which is typically based on shoddy, flawed or poor "science"), why is it they can't believe it?  It reminds me of the old debates about marijuana legalization back in the early 90's.  Skeptics were a real ass-hat on the issue back then.  Yet, here we are with Colorado and Washington legalizing it and tons of other states considering it.  I guess its true you can only hold the truth down for so long.

BTW, obesity is one of the common side effects of taking statins.  I realized earlier today that isn't it Interesting. I recently learned that oyster mushrooms have a natural statin-like component. I eat those every week, so hopefully some good will come out of it besides the wonderful flavor.

The only documented positive effect of taking statins or statin-like analogues that I'm aware of, is the reduction of inflammation along the COX-2 or 5-LOX pathway or CRP, so it reduces prostate or colon cancer a wee little bit.  But the long list of negative and scary side effects outweigh that minor positive.  Sort of like with aspirin.  And lets not forget it doesn't even do the job its specifically sold for!  What a racket.

[Reub]

I just heard that Dr. Oz is pushing snake oil as the next miracle health supplement.

(As long as it's purified)