My Big Fat Diet

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a fantastic conference put on by the Nutrition and Metabolism Society called "Saturated Fat and Heart Disease: What is the Evidence?"

The bottom line: The "evidence" is pretty darn slim.

I know that flies in the face of everything we've heard for the past couple of decades, but the fact remains that the only thing we know for sure about saturated fat is that it tends to raise cholesterol. And if you believe that high cholesterol is a perfect marker for heart disease, then you might have a case for completely eliminating saturated fat.

Only problem is, cholesterol is a lousy stand in for heart disease. And while saturated fat has gotten an awful lot of (perhaps undeserved) attention as a risk factor for heart disease, truth be told we should be looking at some much more potent and dangerous risk factors- like sugar, for example.

At the conference, Dr. Jay Wortman showed a fantastic documentary called "My Big Fat Diet". Wortman and his colleagues did a year long study of the residents of Alert Bay, a Canadian town in which the vast majority of the people are overweight and diabetes is rampant. Wortman- along with such respected researchers as Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University, Dr. Mary Vernon and Dr. Stephen Finney- put 100 volunteers on a low carb diet consisting of their traditional foods- fish, fat and vegetables- basically an Atkins diet. No sugar, no starch, no cereal, no nothing.

A year later, the headline of the British Columbia newspapers told the story: "The Town That Lost 1200 Pounds". BBC filmmaker Mary Bissell made an extraordinary documentary of the whole experiment, which was funded by Health Canada and the University of British Columbia. The research was subsequently presented at a conference, and the resultant documentary- My Big Fat Diet- is inspiring and entertaining.

I particularly loved the taped interviews with a local "expert" (a dietitian, not surprisingly) who continued to express the establishment view that this kind of diet just "couldn't" be healthy- no matter that the participants continued to lose weight, raised their HDL cholesterol, lowered their triglycerides, and lowered their hemoglobin A1C. Many were able to get off diabetic medications completely.

A perfect example of "don't confuse me with the facts", an attitude all too often found among "health experts" who've already made up their mind that low-carb can't possibly be good and are remarkably creative in their ability to rationalize and dismiss the evidence when it doesn't support their preconceived notions.

As always, let me know what you think!

This Month's Special Offer- Vitamin D: The Underrated Vitamin

This month, I'm offering everyone who orders $79 or more from the vitamin store a complimentary bottle of high quality vitamin D. Here's why:

Many nutritionists, including me, think that vitamin D is one of the most underrated vitamins in the world. Our recommended daily allowances have been around 400 mg a day, but that's a piddling amount, and you'll probably see the RDAs changed pretty soon to at least 1000mg. Most of us could probably use 2,000 IU's.

Among it's other many functions, D is responsible for telling your body to absorb calcium from your diet more efficiently and to make sure that your blood calcium is normal and that you have healthy bones. In fact, without enough activated vitamin D, you can take all the calcium supplements in the world and it won't do you all that much good.

Besides absolutely necessary for strong bones, Vitamin D actually helps control cell growth, which is why scientists now believe that vitamin D may protect against breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer. They've known for a while that people who live in the higher altitudes are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and are also more prone to developing common cancers and dying of them, especially prostate colon and breast cancer. Your skin is literally a pharmaceutical factory for this incredible vitamin, but to work, it has to be turned on by sunlight.

Many nutritionists think there's a literal epidemic of vitamin D deficiency in this country. One study found that 76% of pregnant mothers were severly vitamin D deficient and 81% of their infants were as well. The Center for Disease Control reported that 42% of African American women during their child bearing years, were vitamin D deficient , especially at the end of winter time.

Vitamin D is stored in your body fat- so if you've got enough of it in your cellular bank account, you can always release it when you need it like in the winter time. But here's the thing- in obese people vitamin D gets sucked into the fat cells and it can't get out. Dr. Michale Holick has done research that suggests that overweight people are much more prone to vitamin D deficiency- that vitamin D bank account system just doesn't work as well. So if you are overweight, that's all the more reason why you should be supplementing with an even higher dose of vitamin D if you want to get all these great, anti-cancer fighting benefits of this vitamin.

And by the way- it's virtually impossible to get enough vitamin D from your diet alone. Very few foods contain vitamin D- mostly it's oily fish like salmon and mackerel and you'd have to eat that 3-5 times a week to get your vitamin D requirement. Cod liver oil is another good source, but let's face it, most people aren't going to run out and buy cod liver oil, let alone start taking it every day!

The vitamin D product I'm going to carry in my store- and that I'm going to send you free this month with any order of $79. or more- uses the best form of vitamin D (cholecalciferol, or vitamin D3), and has the added advantage of blending it with 200mcg of vitamin K, an extremely important and underrated vitamin necessary for bone health. I hope you'll enjoy it as my gift to you and a way of saying thanks for your continued support.

What If a Vitamin Supplement Killed 30 People?

Imagine if you will, that there was a vitamin supplement sold in your local mall. And imagine that there were 30 documented cases of death resulting from taking that supplement. No if's ands or buts, no question about cause, this supplement caused 30 deaths.

Now go one better with me.

All thirty deaths were children.

Can you imagine, even for a moment, the uproar that would ensue? Can you even fathom the outrage? Thirty kids- dead. Sure it's a tiny number when compared to the population at large, but that's cold comfort if you're one of the parents.

Well, guess what. It happened. Only it wasn't a supplement.

It was Ritalin.

Over 2 and a 1/2 million kids in the US have used Ritalin, so 30 deaths might be considered "acceptable" risk, although I think you'd have a hard time convincing the parents of the kids who died.

Now, the American Heart association, for the first time ever, is recommending a thorough heart work-up- including an electrocardiogram- before taking stimulants like Ritalin, the first time a medical-guidelines body has recommended widespread use of an electrocardiogram.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not, across the board, against Ritalin, though I think we give it out like candy, and often inappropriately. I'm more interested here in pointing out the utter and shameless hypocrisy that exists concerning drugs and natural supplements. If this number of deaths happened due to a vitamin supplement, you can be sure that there would be a media circus over the lack of regulation of the vitamin industry.

I'd like to point out that there has never been a documented case of an overdose from a vitamin or mineral, at least not in the last ten years. But well over 100,000 people a year die from the use of properly prescribed prescription medications, taken as directed. There's good reason to think that number is much higher, but that's the number that's been documented.

Despite stunningly effective marketing on the part of the pharmaceutical industry, many of their products we could easily do without. If there are natural alternatives- from vitamins, minerals, herbs or lifestyle adjustments- try those first.

Drugs aren't necessarily bad- they clearly sometimes save lives, and I'm glad we have them. But as I said in "The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth" , when it comes to pharmaceuticals, the less you take, the better off you'll be.

Just as this newsletter was going to press, a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that an entire class of diabetes meds- thiazolidinediones- is associated with increase risk of fracture and have a negative effect on bones. And in a twist of irony, an osteoporosis drug used to prevent fractures- alendronate- was found to increase the risk of arterial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm.

So when it comes to drugs, the best advice is this: go with the absolute minimum necessary, and be sure that they are in fact necessary.

You'd be surprised at how often they're not.

Are 7 Eggs a Week Dangerous?

Don't be freaked out by new reports that men who ate seven eggs a week or more had higher mortality rates than those who didn't. To explain all the statistical problems with this study and all the "if's, but's and when's" would take more time and more detail than a newsletter article could possibly cover. The important thing to know is that it's pretty much junk science.

Here are a few things to consider:

One, this wasn't an experiment, it was an "association" study. The researchers didn't investigate what else the egg eaters were eating.

Two, the eggs did not increase either cardiovascular disease or stroke. That means the men who died at a higher rate were dying of something else which was not identified in the study.

Three, most of the egg eaters also happened to be overweight and not terribly healthy. And no record was kept of what else they were eating, nor do we know if they were eating Egg McMuffins with fries and no vegetables.

Even with all that, consumption of up to six eggs a week also wasn't found to be associated with a higher risk of death from all causes.

There are tons of problems with this study, and it flies in the face of an awful lot of research showing the health benefits of eggs. I know reports like this make people crazy (are eggs good? Are they bad?) but let's all take a deep breath.

Eggs have been in the human diet for as long as we've had domesticated farm animals. They're one of natures most perfect foods. They're are a source of minerals, folate, B vitamins, protein and monounsaturated fats -- all of which have the potential to lower overall risk for a number of conditions, plus they contain the brain nutrient choline and the eye nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin.

It doesn"t pass the smell test that folks are dropping dead because they ate a half dozen eggs a week, independent of any other factors.

As a famous presenter at a medical conference I recently attended said, "Saturated fat didn't evolve to kill middle aged men".

Something else is going on here. It's easy to "blame" it on the eggs. My suggestion: don't go there.

Weight Loss, Cancer-Fighting and Anti-Bacterial: More on Green Tea!

Tea is probably the healthiest beverage on the planet. All tea has terrific stuff in it- but one particular compound in green tea- known as EGCG (short for epigallocatechingallate) keeps getting the lion's share of attention. Three new back to back studies show why.

In one study, EGCG given to mice significantly reduced the growth of breast cancer tumor cells. One group of mice was fed water mixed with EGCG for five weeks, while another group got only the water. Then all the mice were injected with breast cancer cells. The EGCG sipping mice had significantly less tumor growth. The researchers, from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, theorize that EGCG directly targets both tumor cells of breast cancer and their blood vessels, suppressing new blood vessel formulation in breast tumors and working against the proliferation of breast cancer cells.

In a second study, Egyptian researchers found that green tea can boost the potential of antibiotics to battle superbugs and other bacterial strains and even make previously antibiotic-resistant bacteria susceptible to treatment. "In every case, green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics", said Dr. Mervat Kassem, lead researcher on the study.

Finally, in another animal study, mice with the "obesity gene" gained less weight and less fat when they ate chow laced with ECGC. They also had less sign of "fatty liver disease" and also lowered their triglyceride levels!

Cancer fighting? Weight reducing? Metabolic enhancing? Pretty impressive resume, wouldn't you say?

The weight control study fits nicely with a lot of other research showing the metabolic benefits of green tea. Some reports say that five cups a day is the magic number to help keep excess weight at bay. If you can't drink the real stuff on a regular basis, consider the supplement. High grade EGCG is a terrific addition to any weight loss regime, especially when combined with a low-sugar, high fiber, moderate calorie diet.

The ECGC in supplement form that I recommend is here. It contains 250 mg of green tea extract standardized to 50% EGCG. Standard dose is one to two capsules a day.

Please Disregard the Recent Selenium Scare

Recently two cheap multiple vitamins called "Total Body Formula" and "Total Body Mega Formula" were found to contain hazardous levels of the mineral selenium. The US Food and Drug Administration received 43 reports of adverse effects, and advised consumers to stop using both products. Meanwhile the sole US distributor of "Total Body Formula" and "Total Body Mega Formula" has voluntarily recalled both products.

So what do we learn from this?

I hope not the wrong lesson.

Selenium is quite simply one of the most powerful minerals on the planet for human health. It's been found to be associated with lower rates of cancer, especially prostate cancer. Published research has shown that the progress of HIV-AID's patients is strongly correlated with their selenium levels- those with the lowest levels do worse, those with higher levels do much better. Selenium also chelates to toxic metals like mercury making it easier for the body to detoxify them.

So please- please- don't be scared off of selenium. I consider it one of the most important supplements you can take, either alone or in a multiple vitamin. Most of us do not get enough for optimal health and protection.

I recommend at least 100-200 mcg of selenium a day, and use 400 mcg in my hepatitis C protocol, based on the recommendations of Bert Berkson, MD, PhD, who calls selenium "birth control for the virus". (I wrote about the hepatitis C protocol in "The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth". )


The amount of selenium found in the products that were recalled was 40,800 mcg. Did you get that? 40,800 mcg. That's roughly between twenty and forty thousand times the amount found in most supplements such as the ones in our website store.

The lesson here is not that selenium is a dangerous nutrient. The lesson here is that it makes sense to buy high quality vitamins with enormous quality control made in small batches by reputable companies, like the ones available through health providers. I can guarantee you there will never be a scare like the "Total Body" product with any of the companies I recommend and link to on my website store. It just ain't gonna happen. Ever.

The anti-vitamin brigade will probably jump on this as an excuse to trash the "unregulated" vitamin industry. Consider the source. More medicines have been recalled or taken off the market for life-threatening side effects in the last couple of years than there have been vitamin "scares" in the last two decades! (The symptoms of selenium toxicity are a garlicy breath, brittle fingernails and fatigue, none of them life threatening. They clear up once you reduce the dose, which you'll never have to do at the doses nutritionists like me recommend.) You have absolutely nothing to fear from supplements with selenium, especially if you buy from the top companies.

Just For Fun- Some Popular Myths Exploded

I'm frequently amazed at how misinformed even "experts" can be when it comes to nutrition and health. Health and nutrition myths are perpetuated by magazines, health writers, spokespeople from the American Dietetic Association, and many "official" health organizations, many of whom have a vested interest in keeping things as they are. (Remember, statin drugs bring in over 20 billion dollars a year to their makers.) I'm reminded of the famous quote by Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it".

But the thing of it is, it's not just nutrition and health where popular myths continue to live well past what should be their expiration date. So in the spirit of looking outside our immediate area of interest, I compiled a short list of 10 of my favorite examples of "groupthink" that need to be reexamined. Some have to do with nutrition and health but most don't.

See what you think!

1. "Al Gore Said He Invented The Internet"

Despite the fact that "everyone knows" he said this, he never did-- nor did he even say anything that could reasonably be interpreted as meaning that. The roots of what we now know as the internet began with the military's use of interconnected computers in remote locations. Gore was instrumental in creating programs that extended that practice to civilian use and was instrumental- in an economic and legislative sense- for fostering the development of the technology. He never said or implied that he "invented" the internet, merely that he was one of the sponsors of legislation and policies that helped create what we now know as the web.

2. "The Bible Says Money Is The Root Of All Evil"

It actually doesn't. It says "the "...love of money is the root of all evil" (Timothy 6:10), which is quite different. Either way, it's only partially true. An awful lot of evil is perpetrated for reasons that have little to do with money- beheadings, torture, genocide, honor killings come immediately to mind but the list is pretty long and sad. People are willing to do an awful lot of evil things just to prove they're "right" about something.

3. You Fall Asleep On Thanksgiving Because Of The Tryptophan In Turkey

Complete urban legend. There's a very low amount of tryptophan in turkey (about 1/3 of a gram or 300 mg per 240 calorie portion). You fall asleep after Thanksgiving dinner because you ate too much. Huge meals take a lot of energy to digest, the blood goes to your stomach and gut and you're ready to snooze. Probably doesn't help that most Thanksgiving meals also include a ton of sugar which drops your blood sugar soon after eating it, adding to the brain fog and tiredness.

4. To Lose Weight, Exercise In The Fat Burning Zone

I've written more than one article on the ridiculousness of this myth, usually under the heading of "Urban Legend". You "burn" fat (technically you beta-oxidize fatty acids) at every level of activity, from sleep to running a 4 minute mile. You burn a higher percentage of fat at lower levels of activity, but it's a higher percentage of a lower number. You're better off burning 40% fat when you're burning 10 calories a minute than 70% percent fat when you're burning 1 calorie a minute! And if you're trying to "burn" fat off your body, high intensity exercise is the way to go, not long slow easy aerobics in some mythical "zone".

5. You Can Get All The B12 You Need From Plants

Nice try on the part of our respected and beloved vegan friends but it's wholly untrue. You simply can't get adequate B-12 from plant sources. That's not just my opinion, but the opinion of the prestigious group of researchers at the National Institutes of Health who say "Because B12 is only found in animal source foods, strict vegetarianism has long been associated with a greater risk of deficiency of this vitamin".

6. Muscle Weighs More Than Fat

Which weighs more, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? 'Nuff said. Muscle and fat weigh exactly the same, but muscle is denser than fat: therefore, a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.

7. Anyone Can Edit Wikipedia -- It's Highly Inaccurate

As a longtime supporter of Wikipedia, this one continues to irritate me. While it's true that technically "anyone" can contribute to Wikipedia, the entries are vetted by a fanatically conscientious group of editors and experts who check and double check the accuracy of every reference, remove every inaccuracy or anything that could even remotely be considered "opinion", and generally keep the information state of the art. Yes, there was one famous case of a malevolent hacker getting in and altering someone's bio, but it was remarkable in that this has happened so infrequently considering Wiki has 1.2 million entries. The people who continue to lambast Wikipedia for "inaccuracies" never point out that the "inaccuracies" are things like the spelling of the name of one of Dostoeyevsky's nineteen brothers. I've random checked some entries on Wiki for subjects on which I know a lot and have been extremely impressed with their accuracy. It's a great resource.

8. America Is A Leader When It Comes To Science And Math

Not even close. The most recent assessment by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) a Paris- based agency that conducts regular education evaluations in the world's most industrialized nations, found that American 15 year olds rank 24th out of 29 countries in mathematical literacy! Only Portugal, Italy, Greece Turkey and Mexico score lower. In science we're "merely" mediocre, ranking fourteenth among 25 nations studied. Percentages and fractions are especially problematical for American students, which explains why so few Americans are able to correctly interpret science reporting and fall victim to biased reporting in the newsmedia. Come to think of it, it also explains why things like the "fat burning zone" (based on a misunderstanding of percentages) continues to predominate among aerobics teachers!

9. Pit Bulls Are Dangerous Dogs

The "natural" temperament of pit bulls is so affectionate and loving that the breed standard warns owners not to get them as guard dogs because they're just too darn friendly. The American Temperament Test Society (which tests dogs for temperament) found that 84% of pit bulls passed, about the same as Boston Terriers and Golden Retreivers and Standard Poodles (and better than Wheaten Terriers!) Their tolerance for children is so great that they used to be called the "nanny dogs". (Remember Petey, from "Our Gang"?) Problem is that dangerous people tend to be attracted to this wonderful breed, and the things they do to them to train them to be "vicious" is beyond unconscionable. (Think Michael Vick.) I know this is hard to believe when you see pictures of snarling fighting dogs, but remember, pit bulls were bred originally to be dog aggressive. Since they had to be "handled" in the ring by strangers, it was considered a breed defect for them to be "human aggressive". Sure, they're hyper dogs (they are after all terriers) and they can tend towards dog aggression if not socialized properly, but you have absolutely nothing to fear from a pit bull who's been raised by a caring, gentle and experienced owner.


10. High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease

Fully half of all heart attacks happen to people with normal cholesterol levels and half of all people who have elevated cholesterol don't have coronary heart disease. The recent scandalous failure of new cholesterol lowering drugs to reduce plaque or prevent heart disease even though they lowered cholesterol levels just fine should alert us to the fact that we're barking up the wrong tree. You can lower the risk for heart disease by high double digits just by eating fish, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a ton of fruits and vegetables and not smoking. Compared to what you can do with those five behaviors, lowering cholesterol is insignificant.

Want To Improve Your Kids Academic Performance?

Most people reading this newsletter are aware of the fact that children and teens eat horribly. Kids nutrition is a disaster area. That's hardly news. And we're seeing the epidemiological results of it all around us. Type ll Diabetes used to be called "Adult Onset" diabetes because it never showed up until late adulthood. Not any more. Now we're seeing it in kids younger than 13. And if you happened to have traveled to Disneyworld recently, or eaten at a Las Vegas buffet, I don't have to tell you about the obesity epidemic in kids.

But while everyone seems to understand intuitively the health problems associated with a diet of Happy Meals and McMystery Nuggets, less has been said about the effect on your kids brain. No parent I've ever met doesn't care deeply about how their kid does in school. You want the best for him or her, and you understand profoundly that not getting an education- or not making the best of the one your children are getting- puts them at a deep disadvantage, one from which some kids will never recover.

There's a ton of research showing a consistent low level of omega-3's in kids with behavioral problems, as well as kids with ADHD, and issues with aggression, attention, cognition and the like. It's one of the many, many reasons I'm so passionate about recommending that every pregnant woman in America supplement with fish oil- the brain is made up of about 60 percent fat, much of it a particular fatty acid called DHA which is only found in fish and fish oil. Fish (and fish oil) truly are brain food.

But that's just the beginning of the connection between nutrition and performance. A bunch of research has shown that you can get significant improvements in behavior and grades just by changing what's eaten for breakfast, (or in some cases, just by making sure breakfast is eaten in the first place). Now a new study, published in the Journal of School Health, builds on that existing knowledge by identifying specific dietary factors that contribute to the association between a kids nutrition and his academic performance.

Bottom line: Kids eating the most fruits and vegetables were significantly less likely to fail literacy assessment tests.

This is so not a big surprise. Vegetables and fruits contain a ton of antioxidants and anti-infalmmatories. Kids who eat a lot of them may also be eating somewhat less calories and are definitely eating more fiber. Their blood sugar is more balanced. Their nutrient levels are higher. Though this study didn't investigate it, my guess is that they'd also be less tired.

We've been hearing "fruits and vegetables" so much that the phrase has become a meaningless cliche, with no more power to instruct or demand attention than any other platitude. But although it's not sexy or new, it's important to remember how vital the advice to eat more of the foods that contain major anti-oxidants and anti-inflamatories is. Along with plenty of protein, fat and fiber, vegetables and fruits- and the things found in them- are your kids best protection against obesity and diabetes, and, as it's turning out, one of the best ways you can assure that they don't fall behind in school and are able to fully realize the potential you know they have.

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