Let's Stop Dying, OK?

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington have just published the most comprehensive study ever done about how diet, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors for chronic disease contribute to mortality in the U.S.

Want to know what they found?

Here are some of the highlights. Remember, these are the numbers of preventable-repeat preventable- deaths each year in the U.S. directly caused by the following individual risk factors.

Get ready to be stunned.

• Low intake of dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000 deaths
  

• Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000 deaths
  

• Alcohol use: 64,000 deaths. (Note: because moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, alcohol use actually prevented 26,000 deaths, but these deaths were outweighed by the 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic, violence, cancer and other diseases. Net loss, 64,000!)
  

• High intake of trans-fatty acids: 82,000
  

• Low intake of omega-3 fats: 84,000 (we'll be talking a lot more about this in the future!)
  

• High blood sugar: 190,000
  

• Sedentary lifestyle: 191,000
  

• Overweight/ obesity: 216,000
  

And the winner is...

Smoking: 467,000

These figures speak for themselves. I'm particularly stunned by the number of deaths specifically related to high blood sugar (!) and to lack of omega-3's, but all the numbers are sobering.

Now consider this: In another one of the largest ongoing studies of diet and health ever undertaken- the Nurses Health Study- it was found that five behaviors- five- could reduce the risk of heart disease by a whopping 83%. That percentage is higher than any drug has ever performed in the history of the world.

Ready for the five simple behaviors?

1. maintain a healthy weight
   
2. eat a Mediterranean diet (eat fish, omega-3's)
   
3. exercise every day
   
4. don't smoke
   
5. drink alcohol in moderation (if you drink it at all)
   

These same five behaviors will keep an awful lot of people from being swallowed up by the "health care" system, which is- let's be honest- really "sickness care"

Five simple behaviors.

It sure beats becoming a statistic.

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Dr. Jonny Recommends Q&A

In your opinion, what's the most overrated health food?

It's a tie between canola oil and agave nectar/syrup. Both are pretty much a triumph of marketing over facts. Starting with the former, the processing of commercial canola oil is like sausage making-the de-gumming, deodorizing and other hideous high heat procedures it undergoes in order to make it palatable make its reputation as a "health" oil pretty questionable. The only canola oil I consider even mildly acceptable is cold pressed and organic, and even then just as a salad oil, but there are much better ones. As for agave, it's funny to me that the same people who are outraged about the overuse of high fructose corn syrup are wild about this stuff. The composition of high fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose 45% glucose, while agave is between 55-90% fructose!

Thinking about the adage of breakfast being the most important meal (and we'll just call it "very important")-what foods go into yours?

Anything from a piece of wild salmon; to an egg, spinach, and apple scramble; to a raw food bonanza of berries, coconut flakes, nuts, and Greek yogurt sprinkled with probiotic powder.

So you're, er, "pro" probiotics, even in powder form?

Absolutely. Probiotic powders (or in some cases capsules) are on many nutritionists top ten-even top five-supplement lists. Health begins in the gut, where nutrients are absorbed, and if the gut is overrun with bad bacteria and has a limited amount of good bacteria, many systems are affected (including immunity). Probiotics have a nice research resume for being effective for many things-and we don't get enough of them because we don't eat enough fermented foods like yogurts, pickles, and kim chee.

What's your favorite new food find-anything you've just discovered and can't get enough of?

I'm a serial monogamist when it comes to food, and I've been in love with frozen cherries for a while now. Mixed with raw milk or yogurt they're my favorite edible nighttime treat. Cherries contain a whole family of beneficial plant chemicals called anthocyanins; some of which are particularly effective as anti-inflammatories. This is why cherries are so well known as a folk remedy for gout. Because frozen vegetables and fruits are picked and frozen at the height of ripeness, they're always a very good alternative when you can't get fresh.

How about a top health mistake people tend to make?

Believing high cholesterol causes heart disease. Fully half of the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol. And fully half of the people with "elevated" cholesterol have no cardiovascular disease. In my book that makes cholesterol a pretty lousy predictor for heart disease, even though lowering it produces 20 billion in revenue for the makers of Lipitor and Zocor combined.

Supplements. What's your take?

The standard party line from the dinosaurs at the American Dietetic Association is that you can get everything you need from food. Try getting a decent dose of COQ10 from food-or alpha lipoic acid, or saw palmetto, or even vitamin D. Those people are idiots. You can get all you need from food if by "all you need," you're talking about enough to prevent a severe vitamin deficiency disease. Supplements allow us to handcraft a program that provides nutritional support for a wide variety of conditions. You might be able to manage without supplements, but you can manage without indoor plumbing also. The question is why would you?

What are three amazing foods we should be eating more of-and why?

I like blueberries, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef. Blueberries, for all the reasons you've heard before. Wild (not farmed) salmon, for its omega-3s, the antioxidant astaxathin (which gives it that pink color), and the protein. And grass-fed beef because it has none of the problems associated with commercial supermarket meat-no antibiotics, steroids, hormones and other potential carcinogens-along with a higher omega-3 content, some CLA (conjugated linolenic acid, an anti-cancer anti-obesity fat), and it's humanely raised on top of it.

Many thanks to Camille and Sara at Svelte Gourmand for this interview.

Why Food Companies Fear Jonny Bowden - Dirty Nutrition Volume 2

Meathead Breakfast

Q: What's the perfect breakfast for the hardcore weight-training dude?

A: Call me old fashioned, but I still can't see how you can improve much on oatmeal mixed with eggs and protein powder.

That's what the old timers at Gold's in Venice used to eat and they weren't exactly 98-pound weaklings. They'd bring Tupperware bowls full of the stuff, which, by the way, travels really nicely when you make it up at home.

If you're into minimal cooking you can also try one of my favorite egg dishes: Warm up some butter or coconut oil in a frying pan, slice up an apple, and brown the slices in the mix. Add two or three scrambled eggs and a couple of fistfuls of spinach and continue to stir until the spinach softens and the eggs are cooked. Season with anti-inflammatory turmeric [a.k.a. curcumin] and some lemon pepper.

If you think the 18 grams or so of protein in three eggs isn't enough for you, add a protein drink. And if you need extra slow-burning carbs, have a small bowl of oatmeal on the side.

Big Tobacco's New Buddy: Big Processed Food

Q: I heard recently that food manufacturers chemically alter some foods to make them more addictive, sort of like the cigarette companies have done with tobacco. Any truth to that or is it just a conspiracy theory?

A: I wish I could say it's a conspiracy theory just so I could get in a couple of tinfoil hat jokes, but unfortunately it's not.

Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, MD, goes into deep detail about exactly how this works in his new book, The End of Overeating (highly recommended, by the way) and it ain't pretty.

Kessler quotes research by Adam Drewnowski that shows it's the combination of sugar with fat that makes people go nuts. Give someone a packet of sugar and tell him to go to town and you won't get much enthusiasm. Ditto for a stick of butter. But combine the ingredients and watch out.

Drewnowski conducted a study where he added various amounts of sugar to five different dairy products from skim milk to heavy cream. People gave low marks to sweetened no-fat products like sweetened skim milk and low marks to unsweetened high-fat products like a heavy cream/vegetable oil blend. But any high-fat product that had sugar added, or any high-sugar product that had fat added, scored higher than the winner on American Idol.

This combo (sugar, fat, and/or salt) creates what Kessler calls "hyperpalatibility." Rats given a chance to eat such combinations will literally gorge themselves. Obviously, so do humans.

Sugar, fat, and salt is what makes food "compelling" according to dozens of food executives that Kessler interviewed. Take potato skins, for example. Typically, the potato is hollowed out and the skin is fried which provides a substantial surface area for "fat pick-up." Then some combination of bacon bits, sour cream, and cheese is added. The result is fat on fat on fat on fat, much of it loaded with salt.

Is this stuff addictive? You bet it is.

Sara Ward of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the willingness of animals to work for a food reward even when they're not hungry. She used Ensure, a particularly loathsome drink doctors give to older patients who aren't eating enough calories. The breaking point at which the animals would no longer work for the "reward" was just slightly lower than the breaking point for cocaine.

So it's not so much that manufacturers chemically alter the food as it is that they use lethal (to us, not to them) combos of ingredients to make them irresistible and to make us overeat them.

Then they cleverly pair those foods with an actual emotional or visual experience, which later become stored as pleasant associations to the food - i.e. a "Happy Meal" or a TV commercial with Megan Fox. Pretty soon, you've got a customer for life.

CLA: Anti-Cancer, Maybe Anti-Belly Fat

Q: What do you think of CLA as a supplement? Any way to get it in foods?

A: The most impressive thing I've ever seen about CLA - conjugated linolenic acid - were the before and after pictures of rats in a CLA experiment. One group got their regular rat food and the other got the same diet plus CLA. Then they sacrificed the rats and photographed their abdominal regions. It was pretty dramatic - the CLA rats had hardly any abdominal fat compared to the rats that hadn't been fed CLA.

Wish that it worked that clearly in humans. It's definitely possible to find studies in good peer-reviewed journals that show that CLA reduces abdominal fat in some populations. (1) And one study even showed that it reduced the amount of abdominal fat gained over the holidays.(2)

But other studies show no such thing. And to add to the confusion, there are two isomers (arrangements of molecules) in CLA - the t10 c12 and the t9 c 11, and they're said to have somewhat different effects.

The research just isn't conclusive. For example, at least two studies show that CLA plus chromium lowered both body weight and visceral fat mass in high-fat diet fed mice (3, 4), but another study showed it didn't do squat for overweight women.(5)

But CLA seems to have some nice anti-cancer effects, and those are better documented than the weight loss effects in humans. So it certainly can't hurt to try it, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about its effect on weight alone.

If you try it, the dose would be 3 grams per day. It's found in the meat and by-products (like butter) from cattle, but only from healthy grass-fed beef. Besides having a lot more omega-3's, grass-fed organic beef also has CLA, which is virtually missing from the meat of grain-fed, high omega-6 factory-farmed animals.

Sugar Alcohols: The Good and the Gaseous

Q: I try to eat low-sugar foods but it seems that many of these are jam-packed with sugar alcohols like sorbitol, maltitol, etc. Is that stuff bad for you?

A: They're not exactly bad for you, but if you eat a lot of them you won't be a welcome guest at parties due to increased flatulance. But some are clearly better than others.

My favorite sugar alcohol is xylitol, which you can use in hot beverages and which has a very low glycemic impact. It also has some anti-bacterial effect (preventing bacteria from adhesing to tissues) which is why it's in all the "healthy" chewing gums.

Another sugar alcohol to watch for is erythritol. It has a glycemic impact of exactly zero, and so far no one has reported anything remotely bad about it. You're starting to see it in health food stores and it's sold under the Truvia name in little packets. Way better than something like Equal.

The Food Pyramid, Bowden-Style

Q: If you were to redesign the old government food pyramid, what would it look like?

A: It would probably be more like a circle with about 70% of calories divided equally among protein, fat, and fibrous vegetables and fruits; another 10% for nuts, another 10% for beans, and an optional 10% for grains.

New Health Food: Sugar?

Q: Now that most people know that HFCS is bad news, many food makers are bragging about using raw cane sugar or even organic sugar. Is that a better way to go?

A: The new marketing of sugar as a "health food" is the biggest crock of nonsense I've seen in a while, and I've seen some real doozies.

Let's get something straight. Both table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup have the same two ingredients: glucose and fructose. The more damaging of the molecules is clearly fructose, but check the proportions: High-fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Plain old crappy garden-variety sugar, now being sold as the "healthy" alternative to HFCS, is 50/50.

The problem with HFCS wasn't so much the extra 5% fructose, but the fact that it's so cheap that manufacturers now use it in everything, including foods that were never even sweetened before. This deeply increases the fructose load on the body, not so much because of the little bit of extra fructose, but because we're consuming so much of the stuff.

It's hard to see how substituting the same amount of a 50/50 mix ("natural" sugar, give me a break!) helps address the problem, which is that we're eating too much sugar, whatever form it comes in!

And by the way, just to blow your mind, the new darling of the health food set, agave nectar, is more than 90% fructose. Some bargain.

Incidentally, in case this wasn't clear from previous articles, fructose in its natural setting - like in an actual apple - isn't the problem. It's when you extract it and use it as a sweetening agent, either as 55% of HFCS, 50% of sugar or 90% of agave nectar. Then it's a huge problem.

This interview was originally published at Tmuscle.com. Read the uncensored interview with Jonny Bowden »

References

1. International Journal of Obesity



2. The role of conjugated linoleic acid in reducing body fat and preventing holiday weight gain



3. Conjugated linoleic acid and chromium lower body weight and visceral fat mass in high-fat-diet-fed mice



4. The combination of dietary conjugated linoleic acid and treadmill exercise lowers gain in body fat mass and enhances lean body mass in high fat-fed male Balb/C mice



5. Chromium picolinate and conjugated linoleic acid do not synergistically influence diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition and health indexes in overweight women

Why Coconut is a Health Food

Scroll down to see how you can get my fav coconut oil for free in October!

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What Exactly is a "Low-Carb" Diet Anyway?

Having just finished the revised and expanded edition of my 2004 best-seller Living Low Carb (out in January, in case you were interested!), I've been thinking a lot recently about low-carb diets.

Specifically, I've been thinking about definitions.

How exactly do we define low-carb, anyway?

For years, low-carb suffered from bad publicity. Atkins- a superb nutritionist and very smart guy- couldn't shake the stigma of recommending "pork rinds" (a recommendation that was taken out of context) and people who didn't know any better thought his diet forbade all carbohydrates (it most certainly doesn't).

Then there was the ketosis confusion. Ketosis- a harmless metabolic state that the body goes into when carbohydrate intake is very low- became identified with low-carb diets largely because early editions of Atkins' books stressed ketosis as a desirable goal for the first stage of the Atkins diet (which limited carbs to 20 grams a day).

But very few low-carb diets put the body into ketosis.

Then there was the American Dietetic Association and its spokespeople, who frequently have a questionable relationship with the truth. These folks even characterized Barry Sears' "The Zone" as a low-carb diet (even though the majority of calories on the Zone Diet come from carbs!)

So what exactly is a low-carb diet?

The American Dietetic Association designates "low carbohydrate diets" as less than 130 grams a day (or 26% of calories from a 2000 calorie diet). Though I hardly think this is "low", it seems to be a decent working definition, given that most Americans consume a whopping 300 grams of carbs a day! (Just for the record, carbohydrate consumption before the epidemic of obesity averaged 43%, just about what is recommended by Dr. Sears in "The Zone".)

According to Richard Feinman, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and head of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society (of which I am a proud member), 26%-45% of calories from carbs is a good range for what we might call "moderate" or "controlled" carbohydrate eating. According to Feinman, less than 30 grams a day should be referred to as a "very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet"; the term "ketogenic diet" should be reserved for the therapeutic approach to epilepsy, for which it works quite well.

Some low-carb diets for weight loss limit carbs strictly (20-30 grams) for the first couple of weeks (the Atkins Induction Phase), then add them back gradually. Many health professionals and weight loss experts believe that you can get most of the benefits of "controlled carb eating" with anywhere up to 100 grams a day. In a recent blog, I talked about a study in which they used a vegan version of Atkins that contained 130 grams of carbs a day and everyone still lost weight and had improvements in their risk factors for heart disease to boot.

Remember- hard as it is to believe- your body has no physiological requirement for carbohydrate. That's not to say you shouldn't eat carbs- you should!

But if you're looking to lose weight and improve your health, you should get the vast majority of them from vegetables and fruits.

Carbs from fruits and vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, fiber and other good stuff that your body thrives on. And you can eat more vegetables and berries than you can imagine and still stay in the range of 100-130 grams of carbs a day! Add to that about 100-120 grams of protein and about 60 grams of fat, and you've got a blueprint for health and weight management that will work for just about anyone.

7 Imposters: Healthy Foods That Aren't

You can't open a newspaper, website or iPhone app without reading about the dangers lurking on our dinner plate (OK I'm kidding about the iPhone app.) Trans-fats and high-fructose corn syrup are the demons d'jour and with the modern diet being what it is, the food police don't seem to be in any danger of running out of new material to warn us about.

Fair enough. But what about all the "health" foods we've been told are our nutritional salvation? Are they all they're cracked up to be?

There's no better place to start than with salmon, generally thought to be one of the best of the superfoods. And it is-- when it's wild. Farm raised salmon have up to 8 times the level of carcinogenic PCBs as wild salmon. Kept in crowded pens, they're fed grain and fishmeal and a ton of antibiotics. Wild salmon are a health food. Farmed salmon... not so much.

Then there's cereal, believed by many to be the center of a healthy breakfast because of its high-fiber content. But with few exceptions, most supermarket cereals are fiber lightweights. Most are loaded with sugar (contributing to mood swings and energy dips). Whole grains are better, but those who are sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations will have still have to be careful. The best cereals are old-fashioned oatmeal, and a few standouts like Fiber One and All-Bran. Look for those that pass the "5 and 5" rule: less than 5 grams of sugar, more than 5 grams of fiber. (You'll be surprised at how few make the cut.)

Granola bars are simply candy bars masquerading as a health food. Most are simply chewy versions of candy bars--they have very little fiber, lots of processed carbs, and a ton of sugar. You're better off "rolling your own" out of raw oats, chopped almonds, coconut flakes, raisins and a dollop of raw organic honey or molasses to hold it together.

Frozen yogurt is a prime example of the triumph of marketing over good sense. The only thing frozen yogurt has in common with real yogurt is that they're both white. Real yogurt- one of the healthiest foods on earth-- is loaded with live cultures which support your digestive health. The live culture content of most frozen yogurt is precisely zero. What's more, frozen yogurt is usually filled with chemicals, and the artificial sweeteners in the non-fat kind can cause cravings just like sugar. You're better off with real, creamy, organic ice cream. Just don't eat too much.

Though most of us have been led to believe canola oil is the bees knees, it actually isn't such a health bargain after all. The high temperatures needed to extract the oil from the rapeseed plant from which it comes make canola oil's highly touted omega-3's rancid and foul smelling, requiring them to be deodorized, a process which creates some trans-fatty acids. It also goes through caustic refining, bleaching and degumming. Unless it's cold-pressed and organic, stay away.

And what could possibly be healthier than an egg-white omelet? Give up? Whole eggs! While an egg-white omlette isn't exactly unhealthy, it's hardly as good as the real thing. The yolk contains the superstars of eye nutrition, utein and xeazanthin which need fat to be absorbed properly. Egg yolks are an important source phosphatidylcholine an important nutrient for brain health.

Apples- healthy. Apple juice- maybe not. One cup of apple juice has zero grams of fiber, 117 calories, and 29 grams of carbs of which 27 are sugar (and your typical serving is a lot more than a cup). Sorry, but that's not a health drink, it's sugar water with apple flavoring. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Wish I could say the same about apple juice, but I can't.

So what's the take home? Simple: eat real food. Food your grandmother would have recognized as food. Food you could hunt, fish, gather or pluck. Food as close to its natural form as possible. Food without a bar code. Whole fruit (not the fruit juice). Whole eggs (not the egg whites). Meat, eggs and milk from healthy, grass-fed cows and chickens that roam around pecking at worms (free-range). Any vegetable in the world.

Even if you don't hit the "bulls eye" 100 percent of the time, you'll still be way ahead of the game.

Berries Protect Your Brain

Strawberries are good for your brain, according to breaking news out of the 2009 Berry Health Symposium. Several of the latest studies, conducted by world-renowned researchers, consistently showed that strawberry consumption is a simple way to improve cognitive function.

For example, one study presented by researchers from the Chicago Healthy Aging Project (CHAP) showed that older adults who consume strawberries at least once per month have less cognitive decline. More specifically, women who consumed more than one serving of strawberries per month had a 16.2% slower rate of cognitive decline versus those who consumed less.

With increasing age, brain function diminishes. This has been conclusively shown in laboratory studies, by Drs. James Joseph and Barbara Shukitt-Hale of USDA Agricultural Research Service at Tufts University. Their latest research at the conference demonstrated that aging results in deficits in learning, memory and motor function, such as balance and walking speed - and concluded that strawberries and other berries improved both memory and motor function.

Berries Can Preserve Brain Function

So what is it about berries that seem to protect the brain?

Researchers from the 2009 Berry Health Symposium took a stab at answering that very question. Most disease processes in the body are believed to begin through inflammation and oxidation, two of the very processes I focus on in my forthcoming book "The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer". Both inflammation and oxidation damage cells. Healthy nerve cell membranes promote optimal communication within the brain and nervous system so preventing membrane damage from inflammation and oxidation is essential.

Since berries- and other fruits and vegetables- contain a ton of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, it's easy to connect the dots and see why they might preserve brain function.

Prevention of Dementia in an Aging Population

Dementia is the loss of cognitive function of sufficient severity to interfere with everyday tasks. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. It is estimated that one in eight persons, aged 65 and older have Alzheimer's. There is no cure for the disease and treatments are ineffective.

According to recently released census estimates, the world's 65-and-older population will triple by 2050 to make up 1 in 6 people. The number of senior citizens has already increased 23 percent since 2000 to 516 million, more than double the growth rate for the general population. As a result, the incidence of dementia is likely to rise.

The frequent consumption of berries is emerging as a potential simple dietary factor for prevention.

California strawberries are grown and available year-round in supermarkets across the country. Do remember- the Environmental Working Group lists strawberries as one of their "Dirty Dozen" (i.e. most contaminated crops). So when you do buy strawberries from the supermarket, be sure to get organic!

More information and the research abstracts from the 2009 Health Benefits Symposium can be found at www.berryhealth.org.

Cornflakes a Great Breakfast? Think again!

If any of you out there still think cornflakes are a great, wholesome breakfast, read on.

A landmark research study by Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center, with collaboration of the Endocrinology Institute, shows exactly how high carbohydrate foods increase the risk for heart problems.

Researchers looked at four groups of volunteers who were given different breakfasts:

• cornflake mush mixed with milk- not unlike the typical American breakfast
  
• a pure sugar mixture
  
• bran flakes
  
• a placebo (water).
  

Over four weeks, Dr. Shechter applied a test that allows researchers to visualize how the arteries are functioning. It's called "brachial reactive testing" and it uses a cuff on the arm, like those used to measure blood pressure, which can visualize arterial function in real time.

The results were dramatic. Before any of the patients ate, arterial function was essentially the same. After eating, except for the placebo group (who drank water), all had reduced functioning. Enormous peaks indicating arterial stress were found in the high glycemic index groups: the cornflakes and sugar group.

"We knew high glycemic foods were bad for the heart. Now we have a mechanism that shows how," says Dr. Shechter. "Foods like cornflakes, white bread, French fries, and sweetened soda all put undue stress on our arteries. We've explained for the first time how high glycemic carbs can affect the progression of heart disease."

During the consumption of foods high in sugar, there appears to be a temporary and sudden dysfunction in the endothelial walls of the arteries.

Endothelial health can be traced back to almost every disorder and disease in the body. It is "the riskiest of the risk factors," says Dr. Shechter.

Dr. Shechter recommends sticking to foods like oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts, which have a low glycemic index. Exercising every day for at least 30 minutes, he adds, is an extra heart-smart action to take.

Weight Loss Myth #1: It's All About the Fat

This is a 3-minute excerpt from my DVD The Truth About Weight Loss which was filmed live at T. Harv Eker's Extreme Health event in Southern California. Normally $39.95, you can get it for just $24.95 in August when you use coupon code TRUTH25 during checkout. Watch more video clips »

Feed Your Brain With Walnuts

Watch this video to find out why Walnuts are one of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Walnuts contain more Omega-3s than any other nut. They are also good source of protein, calcium, magnesium, and manganese.

"Calorie Restriction" Extends Life

Reducing calories by just 25-30% can not only help you lose weight but it can also extend your life.

We've known for a while that "calorie restriction" extends the life of every species studied in the lab, from yeast cells to worms to mice. But up to now, there's been some question as to whether those results apply to "higher" species like primates.

Twenty years ago, researchers began a study of rhesus monkeys to see if they would respond to a reduced calorie diet in the same way as mice and other species do. The first of those studies was published in the journal Science suggests that calorie restriction works just as well for primates as it does for mice. The hope is that it might work for humans as well.

The researchers allowed half of the monkeys to eat as much as they wanted, while the other half ate a nutrient-rich diet with about 30% less calories. Sixty-three percent of the animals eating the calorie restricted diet are still alive, compared to 45% of the "eat all you want" group. The unlimited calorie group died at about three times the rate of those on the lower calorie diet.

Reducing calories not only slowed aging in the monkeys but it also delayed cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and brain atrophy.

You can see what the monkeys looked like here.

The conventional wisdom has always held that losing weight is simply a matter of reducing calories. While there's certainly truth in this, the fact is that staying on a reduced calorie diet is often difficult, especially when that diet is low in fat and high in carbs. High-sugar diets- even when calories are low- create their own cravings and make sticking to them very difficult, as anyone knows who ever tried to eat just one chocolate chip cookie.

While you can certainly lose weight (and hopefully extend life) by gritting your teeth and counting calories, proponents of lower carb diets- like me- have long argued that it's easier to stay on a diet higher in fat and protein and somewhat lower in carbohydrates. It's also a lot easier to get all your nutrition from less calories when your main source of carbs is vegetables and fruits, and it's a lot easier to stave off cravings when you're eating enough protein and fat.

That's the principle behind the Diet Boot Camp Program. Even though calories clearly count, you don't count calories on Diet Boot Camp. You simply knock out the foods that are highest in junk carbs, leading to an automatic reduction in calories (and sugar!) and a healthier diet all around.

Plus you lose weight!

The Okinawans have a saying called "hara hatchi bu" which means 'Eat until you're 80% full". Since they're among the longest lived (and healthiest) people on the planet, it might be a good idea to learn from their playbook.

You're less likely to have to worry about calories if you limit your food to what I call "the Jonny Bowden Four Food Groups": Food you could have hunted, gathered, fished for or plucked.

That's not only the foundation of the Diet Boot Camp eating plan, but it's also the best natural fuel for a healthy body!

Secret Superfood: Chia Seeds!

One ounce of this super seed contains 11g of fiber, 4g of protein, 5 g Omega 3 fatty acids, and contains more antioxidants than flax seeds.

Pomegranate Juice May Slow Prostate Cancer

Pomegranate juice may slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to long-term research results recently presented at the 104^th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association.

One of the screening tests used for finding prostate cancer early is the PSA test. PSA stands for prostate-specific antigen, a protein that's produced by the prostate gland. Normally, men have a low level of PSA in their blood, but prostate cancer (as well as relatively benign conditions like benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatitis) can increase the levels substantially. Researchers frequently track the increase in PSA as an indicator of how quickly a cancer may be growing. "A very long doubling time is a good thing", explained Christopher Amling, MD, a spokesman for the American Urological Assocation. "A very rapid doubling time is a surrogate marker for mestatizing. The shorter the doubling time, the more rapidly the cancer is growing".

In this study, researchers studied men who had been treated for prostate cancer with either surgery or radiation and monitored the "success" of the treatment by watching how long it took for their PSA's to double. They studied 48 men who had an average "doubling time" of 15 months at the beginning of the study. The men were given 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily.

The study began in 2003 and is now in its sixth year. When researchers recently compared men who dropped out of the study with men who are still participating, they found that the active patients now had an average doubling time of 54 months. An earlier paper (in Clinical Cancer Research, 2006(1)) showed that about 1/3 of the men treated with pomegranate juice actually experienced a decline in their PSA, while 83% of the men showed a lengthening of their PSA doubling time, indicating that the growth of the cancer had significantly slowed. The current paper presented at the Urological Society is an update of the ongoing research, and confirms the positive results. "The average doubling time is now closer to 60 months", Dr. Amling told me.

The researchers don't know exactly what compounds found in pomegranate juice are responsible for the results. "We think it's the polyphenol antioxidants", Dr. Amling told me, "but we haven't tried to isolate any one compound". He told me that while some researchers are trying to isolate the active ingredients, the individual ingredients themselves don't seem to work as well as the actual juice which contains dozens of plant based chemicals that may have a synergistic effect.

Does this mean that pomegranate juice can prevent prostate cancer? That's a claim no responsible researcher is willing to make- yet- though it certainly appears to have anti-cancer activity. "Pomegranate juice looks very promising as a non-toxic strategy for slowing the progression of prostate cancer", Dr. Amling said. "For a significant number of people, the benefits are enormous and durable".

The study used Pom Wonderful, a widely available brand of Pomegranate Juice.

REFERENCES

1. Pantuck, et al "Phase ll Study of Pomegranate Juice for Men with Rising Prostate-Specific Antigen following Surgery or Radiation for Prostate Cancer", Clin Cancer Res 2006 Jul 1: 12 (13): 4018-26
   
2. 104^th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Assocation, April 25-30, Chicago Ill (http://www.medscape.com/viewcollection/30211)
   

Asparagus: ATasty Weight Loss Treat

This article is written by my colleague Dr. Leo Galland, author of The Fat Resistance Diet - Jonny

Delicious young asparagus has arrived at farm stands and local markets. Now is the time to enjoy them while the stalks are tender. Asparagus are a good source of fiber and contains important nutrients. They have Vitamin K, which is good for your bones. Asparagus are also a source of beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are anti-inflammatory and help support weight loss.

I like to soak the asparagus several times to remove the sand. Then trim the tough ends of the asparagus. You may like your long stems and others may favor the Asian style perhaps cutting more of the stem into an angled piece which is very appealing if you have never tried this style before. This size can be tossed into a salad or a stir-fry.

Steam asparagus for a few minutes in very little water. Steam until brilliant green and fork tender. Watch them and be careful not to overcook.

A bowl of cooked asparagus on the kitchen counter will simply disappear as a delicious snack. Having only 40 calories per cup makes this an allowable treat. A squeeze of lime or lemon and perhaps a dash of salt and pepper completes your dish. Enjoy!

To receive a free one day meal plan with recipes visit www.fatresistancediet.com.

Cinnamon Can Lower Blood Sugar

Cinnamon contains phytochemicals which can mimic insulin's ability to increase uptake of sugar by the cells. You can start seeing results by taking just 1g of cinnamon.

Pomegranate: Superstar of the Food Kingdom

Researchers have found that pomegranate juice contains more antioxidants than any other juice or drink (including red wine and green tea). Test subjects also exhibited increased blood flood to the heart when they drink this "natural Viagra."

My New Daily Drink!

It's not too often I get excited about the addition of a new product to the vitamin store, but this one is worth getting excited about.

Innate Response has come out with one of the best tasting drink mixes I've ever sampled, but the real news is what's in it. Each 100 calorie serving contains:

• 15 grams of fiber (in an almost unheard of perfect mix of 8 grams soluble and 7 grams insoluble)
  
• 5 grams of protein
  
• 3 billion probiotics
  
• over a gram of plant-based omegas.
  
• Not only that, it's only 100 calories.
  

Here are some of the reasons why I'm so excited about Clinical Metacore:

Number 1: Most of us don't get nearly enough fiber. The average American gets between 4-11 grams a day and every major health organization recommends between 25-38 grams. Our Paleolithic ancestors got at least 50 or more. In virtually every study, high fiber diets are associated with better health outcomes. Fiber helps control blood sugar, makes you feel full so you don't overeat, and helps protect against colon cancer. Clinical Metacore offers a remarkably easy (and tasty!) way to get a whopping 15 grams of healthy fiber into your diet on a daily basis.

Number 2: More and more nutritionists are putting "probiotics" on their short list of the most important health-promoting supplements you can take. Probiotics help support a healthy gut, contributing to better digestion, assimilation of nutrients, and a stronger immune system. Clinical Metacore contains a whopping 3 billion probiotics from the important families of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium.

Number 3:
Clinical Metacore also contains over a gram of plant-based omegas, not to mention 5 grams of protein. And because of all the fiber, it's as low glycemic as you can get. Plus it only has 100 calories.

Number 4: Best of all Clinical Metacore tastes great. It comes in four flavors. The cacao bean and cinnamon chai are out of this world. And while I'm personally not a huge fan of the berry vanilla, thers love it. (I'm looking forward to trying the vanilla bean as well- I'll let you know what I think.)

You can try these in single serving sizes, which are also terrific for travel. Try a few and see which you like best then get the large size of that flavor. Or trust me- you can't go wrong with the Chai or the Cacao!

Along with Barlean's Greens, this is my new "daily drink." When you try it, you'll see why."

Try Clinical Metacore »

Royal Vegetable Decreases Cancers

Cabbage contains compounds that have been found to decrease incident of breast and other cancers.

Is Milk Healthy for Humans?

Is Brain Starving?

After reading this fantastic article by my good friend and colleague Dr. Al Sears I asked him for permission to "reprint" it for my readers. Here you go! - Dr Jonny

Is Your Brain Starving?

Do you find yourself forgetting where you left your car keys... or just feel like your brain is in a fog sometimes?

Contrary to popular belief, forgetfulness is not just a normal part of growing older. As you age, your brain loses critical nutrients that it needs to fire on all cylinders.

If your mental spark plugs aren't firing like they used to, don't worry. I'll show you how to get your brain's engine back to running as smooth as a Rolls Royce. You just need to know what's missing and how to get it.

Your Brain is Begging for Nutrients

Your brain uses chemicals called neurotransmitters to transmit messages in the brain. There are millions of these messages happening every second. Neurotransmitters are conductors of these messages, allowing them to fire from one part of your brain to another.

One important neurotransmitter is acetylcholine (ACh). Your body uses ACh to help regulate your heart, breathing, and sleep. Your body even uses it to control your muscles and keep you fired up for the bedroom.

Here's the thing... your brain needs you to supply certain nutrients to make neurotransmitters.

But there's a key nutrient it uses to make ACh that is probably missing from your diet. It's called choline, and if you don't get enough, you're headed for trouble. Choline is a necessary nutrient for overall brain health and functioning and it is important to avoid nutritional deficiencies to keep your brain sharp and healthy.¹ When you don't give the body enough choline, the brain is forced to get it from other parts of your brain. It starts eating itself alive to get what it needs for vital functions like heart and lung regulation.

I'll show you ways to get the choline your brain needs in a second, but first let me introduce you to choline's partner - DMAE. DMAE (Dimethylaminoethanol) works with choline to create ACh. In fact, it does such a good job, the FDA almost approved it as a drug. The only reason it didn't happen is that the manufacturer couldn't pay the expenses to get it classified as one.

But it is the main ingredient in a commonly prescribed drug in Europe. Called Centrophenoxine, it has been shown to boost cognitive functions.² Unlike Ritalin® and other brain substances, proper doses of DMAE are a safe and side-effect-free solution to support brain health and reduce age-related mental decline and mood/behavioral problems.³

Add These Critical Brain Saving Nutrients To Your Diet

To get the nutrition your brain needs to stay sharp and clear, you may need to combine food and supplementation. Here's how to get your ACh cranking:

DMAE - You need at least 35 mg of DMAE a day. Fish is a good food source, especially sardines and anchovies.

Choline - You need at least 425 mg a day as a woman, 550 mg if you're a man. The richest food sources of choline are (per 100 g of food):

• Whole cooked eggs - 272mg. Make sure you get free-range eggs without antibiotics or hormones. They'll help fuel your muscles as well as give you much-needed choline.
  
• Raw egg yolks - 682mg. Go ahead and crack open a couple eggs into your protein shake. It's only an urban legend that there's danger in eating them raw.
  
• Chicken liver - 290mg. Though some people get turned off by organ meats, they're a potent source of high-powered nutrition. And it's an old wives tale that they store toxins – they don't.
  
• Turkey liver - 220mg. Another great source of nutrition. Just like any liver, it also provides vitamin A, CoQ10 and iron.
  
• Pork - 130mg. Just like beef, you want to eat organic, grass-fed animals only for the proper balance of fats and zero hormones and antibiotics.

Choline is easy to replace and will help to promote a healthy mind into your golden years. If you're older, you may need more choline - as much as 1500 mg a day. That may require supplementation of this critical nutrient.

My Accidental Discovery in the Amazon Rainforest

Last year while hiking in the rainforest of Peru I was shown an herb the Indians of the Amazon River Basin have been using since before recorded history to prevent fatigue and increase physical endurance. I realized that by combining this ancient herb with choline and DMAE I could create a powerful new "anti-aging" formula for increased physical and mental stamina.

Read the rest of the story»

Dr. Sears, M.D. is a board certified clinical nutrition specialist, is a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and is Board Certified in Anti-Aging Medicine. He has written over 500 articles and 7 books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation.

¹Ferris SH, Sathananthan G, Gershon S, Clark C.. J Am Geriatr Soc 1977; 25:241-4.

²Mosharrof, A.H., et al., Effects of meclofenoxate on learning and memory--dependence on the experimental conditions. Acta Physiol Pharmacol Bulg, 1986. 12(3): p. 7-14.


³ Caille E.-J, Study concerning the bisorcate demanol effects upon quantified EEG, cortical vigilance and mood. Comparative double-blind, cross-over balanced design versus pirisudanol. Psychol Med.1986;18:2069-2086.

The Latest Nutrition Lies from the American Dietetic Association

I have a love / hate relationship with the New York Times.

On the one hand, there's David Brooks and Gail Collins.

On the other hand, there's Jane Brody.

Jane Brody never met an establishment position she didn't like and embrace. She's continued to parrot the low-fat idiocy years past its expiration date, and has acted as a de facto shill for the American Dietetic Associations' brain-dead positions on every nutritional issue she writes about. Her latest piece on Eating Well on a Downsized Budget tells us how wonderful potatoes are and recommends "100 percent fruit juice blends" as a beverage.

In fairness, this is mixed with a generally good message about eating real foods on a budget, albeit, of course, the "low-fat" variety. But the comment that prompted this column was her astonishing statement that canned vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh.

This statement is particularly frustrating because she mixes fact with fiction, lumping frozen and canned vegetables together as if they are the same thing: "One myth to dispel is that fruits and vegetables must be fresh to be nutritious" she starts out, reasonably enough. "Not only do canned and frozen versions usually cost less and require less preparation, but nutrient value is as good or better and less food is wasted".

Note the collapse of "frozen and canned". Frozen vegetables indeed are a great option, and are usually picked and frozen at the height of their ripeness. Canned vegetables are complete junk, boiled beyond recognition and canned with a ton of sodium. Ever try canned string beans? Let me know if you can even recognize them as anything that was once alive.

I might have a love / hate relationship with the New York Times, but I have no such ambiguity about the American Dietetic Association, which is apparently the source of all information about nutrition for Times writers like Brody and Gina Kolata. (Not so for Tara Parker Pope who appears to at least question the press releases from the ADA that Brody apparently uses as source material.)

The American Dietetic Association at this point has no useful purpose on the planet except to protect its union members and shill for its flat-liner positions which are now running about two decades behind their sell-by date.

The American Dietetic Association's latest foray into politics- one of many you never hear about- is to bombard state representatives in Wisconsin to pass a bill licensing who can provide nutrition advice. "While at first it may sound like a noble objective under the premise of "consumer protection" what it actually does is make it a crime for practicing naturopaths, nutritionists, nutrition consultants, Ayurvedic practitioners, and others to offer nutrition advice" writes my friend Wisconsin nutritionist Bernard Rosen, PhD.

The American Dietetic Association has tried this before in other states. Their goal has been to keep anyone without their "Registered Dietitian" credential from being a recognized expert in the field of eating and nutrition. That would eliminate PhD's, MDs with a nutritional background, NDs, CNS's and CCNs. (By the way- I'd love to see the average RD pass the CNS exam. Typical CNS exam question: "The product of enterokinase reactions is:......". Typical RD exam question: "What are the ingredients in a lemon meringue pie?")

Yes, the folks who gave you hospital food (white bread and jello as the perfect recovery meal), who think you can "get all you need from food" and don't need supplements, who think that a diet of 70% carbs is ideal, should be the only ones who are considered responsible sources of nutrition advice.

You may think it's all pretty silly, but virtually every magazine editor in America still thinks that the only way to get the "real" story when it comes to nutrition information is to interview an "official spokesperson from the American Dietetic Association".

That's like getting the "real" story on the Iraq war from the Taliban.

The American Dietetic Association's corporate sponsors include PepsiCo, Coca Cola, General Foods, Kellogs, and the National Dairy Council. The full list of ADA sponsors will show you just how ridiculous this organization really is.

The Silver Lining in the Economic Downturn

If you've ever listened to any inspirational speaker you've heard talk of finding opportunity when the universe presents a challenge. In fact the "opportunity in a challenge" theme runs through just about every inspirational talk I've ever heard. It's the meaning of popular comforting sayings ranging from "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" to "The Universe Never Closes One Door Without Opening Another", not to mention the classic phrase by Nietzsche, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger".

That stuff is all "easy to say" but hard to remember (let alone apply!) when times get really tough. Yet the truth is that the economic downturn really has presented itself with some opportunities, and we'd all do well to spend a few minutes thinking about them.

There'll be no shortage of commentators on how to learn from this mess on a personal and financial level, so let me concentrate on the opportunities in the areas of health and nutrition.

First- If you can't eat out as much, consider counting that as a blessing. We eat out way too much anyway. Use this period of belt tightening as an excuse to start eating home more. Every study over the last several decades has confirmed that the more meals you eat out the more likely you are to be overweight. Prepare some of your own food, and learn to put mindfulness into it.

Two- Since most folks have less dollars to spend frivolously, spend your food dollars wisely. Make coffee at home a few days (or more) a week and skip the $4 lattes. (You can buy an awful lot of fruits and vegetables on a Starbucks budget.)

Three- Since there's less money for gas, not to mention going out and "doing stuff", use that as an opportunity to rediscover the home (and the people who live there with you). I know it's a really "retro" concept, but what about meals together as a family? There are studies on that as well, and every one of them shows better performance in school, better well-being and better mental and physical health in kids who eat at least one meal a day with their family.

Four- If you're cutting back on expenses, cut back smartly. If you eat meat, for example, continue to eat the expensive grass-fed kind but eat much less of it. (As Michael Pollan put it, "spend more, eat less".) I'd rather have one grass-fed burger a week than 7 Happy Meals. Believe me your body will thank you for that choice.

Five- Rediscover your own ability to amuse yourself. Those of us who grew up a few decades ago know well that it's actually possible- amazing as it sounds- to survive without constant texting, iPods, messaging, social networking, YouTube and even Google. I'm not suggesting you turn everything off, but you might use this extra "stay-at-home" time to discover how interesting actual old fashioned conversation can be when you do it with people you like (or love). Not to mention really old-fashioned entertainments- like reading!


Finally, consider this post that I found on one of the financial message boards the other day that really inspired me. We had just had one of the worst days in the market, and people were discussing what to do with their diminishing portfolios. There was a clear mood of panic all over the place. Here's the post that caught my eye:

"What's the worst that could happen? That we'd lose all our money? This has just gotten me to focus on the important things we do have- our health, our family, our kids, our dog. If we lose it all, so be it. We can rebuild. As long as we have our health and our love, we'll survive this. It's only money."

What a great time to reassess your life and focus on what's really valuable and be thankful for what you do have.

Alli- what's the story?

So guess what. There's a new over-the-counter weight loss pill just approved by the FDA.

It's called Alli, it's made by GlaxoSmithKline, and early reports are that it's flying off the shelves.

So what's the deal?

Alli is actually Orlistat, which is actually Xenical. Xenical has been around for a while, didn't work very well, and has now been given a face lift; they took it off prescription-only status and repackaged it as Alli.

This is not the first time the clever marketers at Big Pharma have done this. Not too long ago, Eli Lilly took Prozac, dressed it up in nice pink and purple colors and rechristened it "Sarafem" for PMS.

But I digress.

So what do we know about Xenical (oh, excuse, me, Alli)..

Well let's start with this: it didn't work very well in the first place when it was known as Xenical. I'm not sure why changing the name and making the dosage smaller would fix the problem, but hey, what do I know?

Alli is a member of a category of weight loss drugs that might be called "digestive inhibitors". It blocks some of the fat that you eat from being digested and assimilated, and it does this by blocking the digestive enzyme lipase- which breaks down fat. The result? As much as 30 percent of the fat you eat doesn't go to your hips. Questions, anyone?

How 'bout this one: "What does it do to the fat that's already on your hips?"

Answer: Zip-i-dee-doo-dah.

People lose weight on Xenical- 'scuse me, Alli- because it essentially lowers caloric intake automatically. If you, for example, were eating a nice hefty 2500 calories a day and 30 percent of them happened to come from fat, you would normally be taking in 750 fat calories. By taking Xenical with a fatty meal, about one third of those fat calories aren't absorbed, so the 750 calories becomes, theoretically, 500 calories. You've "saved" 250 calories while eating the same meal (note the operative word theoretically). Stick to that plan for a week and you've "saved" 250 times 7 calories or a grand total of 1750 calories or... let's see... ummm... one half pound?

Yup.

And that's theoretically.

Nowlet's go to the videotape.

The first big study to put Xenical on the map was a two-year European study which showed that patients on Xenical lost between 2 and 3 percent more weight than those on a placebo. A second two year European trial put obese patients on a reduced-calorie diet and gave them 120 mg of Xenical 3 times a day. At the end of the year they had lost about 9 pounds more than the placebo group. Read that carefully. Nine pounds a year which translates to 3/4 pound a month.
A similar study in the US produced 1/2 pound per month for Xenical users.

So is Alli the answer? Hardly. Unless maybe if you're a stockholder in Glaxo.

Can it help if you're already doing all the right stuff, like eating well, eating clean, exercising, and taking care of yourself in a profoundly nurturing way? Maybe so. Maybe it can add a little tiny extra that could be meaningful to some people.

But unless you use it in conjunction with all that other good stuff- that so many people seem to want to bypass- it's just not going to do diddly squat.

autism- what's the story?

For years people have been battling over whether or not childhood vaccines cause autism. It's hard to think of a better example of opposing views fueled by (understandable) passion, each bolstered by statistics which- like all statistics- lend themselves to multiple interpretations depending on whose side you're on. It has the usual cast of characters - activists (usually parents) feeling betrayed and ignored and lied to, apologists maintaining steadfastly that the protesters are delusional and the science doesn't support their views.

Sound familiar? Hint: silicone breast implants.

Now this week for the first time, the case is going to court. Sort of. A special court will pit scientists against activists in the debate over whether vaccines cause autism. There's a test case involving a 12 year old Michelle Cedillo of Arizona and more than 4,800 cases are pending, filed by parents who believe the vaccines caused their kids autism. They're seeking payment under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The US Court of Federal Claims has set up an omnibus hearing in Washington and the first case is expected to last three weeks.

The nay-sayers say the issue is settled and that vaccines are not linked to the disorder. And there's good science- meaning statistical correlations- to support their case.

Now hold that thought for a moment.

Recently there was a terrific study done on diet and weight loss out of Children's Hospital in Boston (I'll blog about it in more detail this week). They wanted to test whether low-glycemic diets do better than standard low-calorie diets for weight loss, blood lipids, all the usual stuff. They divided everyone into two groups, gave one group the low-cal diet, one group the low-glycemic diet.

No difference.

But wait, there's more.

The researchers tested everyone in the study with a glucose tolerance test. This basically shows how your body responds to sugar- some people secrete a ton of insulin, some.. not so much. Then, with this info in hand, they re-analyzed the data. And found that when you looked at the sub-group of people who were "high insulin secretors", there was indeed a huge, significant difference in how the two diets worked. High insulin secretors lost way more weight and did much better in general on the low-glycemic diet. But in the larger picture, this sub-group was "lost" in the general statistics, and there was no significant difference between the two overall groups.

Back to autism.

I'm absolutely, unequivocably convinced that there is a subgroup of kids who can't detox the mercury in vaccines. This subgroup is "lost" in the overall statistics allowing apologists to say, "hey, vaccines don't cause autism". But if you were to somehow isolate this subgroup and analyze the stats on them, you'd find a big correlation between the vaccine and the onset of autism. I can't prove this but I'm sure of it.

Think about it. Our liver puts out enzymes called the cytochrome P-450 enzymes, that are involved in two distinct phases of detoxifcation. It's a complex process. Among individuals there are huge variations in the amount of these enzymes, their effectiveness, their activity. It's no doubt true that when you look at the statistics on autism and vaccination on millions of people, a correlation doesn't show up, much like it didn't on the low-glycemic and low-calorie diet study. But if you were to somehow identify a sub-population who had less than optimal cytochrome P-450 enzyme activity, and then analyzed just that population, I'm pretty sure you'd see the mercury- autism connection boldly and clearly. It's just masked when this subgroup is folded into the overall population.