Diseases

The Ketogenic diet slays the opposition? – not true

An article titled, How the Keto diet – even without exercise - slays the opposition, by Derek Beres was published on Think Big website on 11th December 2017.

The Gibas study quoted by the article claims that ketosis is a useful and valid tool to control metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity.
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2 March 2018
Robert Lustig and The Men Who Made Us Fat

Robert Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. He specializes in childhood obesity and studying the effects of sugar in the diet. He is the director of the UCSF Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program and a member of the Obesity Task Force of the Endocrine Society.

Unfortunately, much of what he says is simply wrong, which given the amount of media exposure that he receives, is deeply worrying.
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26 February 2018
Rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune condition

Autoimmune diseases are a group of sinister diseases where the immune system attacks the body that it was designed to protect.

Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects the smaller joints, such as those in the hands, feet and wrists, although larger joints such as the hips and knees can also be affected. According to the Health Direct website, the cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not known.

You may be surprised to know how much is known about the causes of rheumatoid arthritis.
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6 February 2018
The Pioppi Diet

The Pioppi Diet movie and book by Aseem Malhotra, a London cardiologist and Donal O’Neill, an Irish film-maker that receives a great deal of publicity. A review in the British Journal of General Practice quotes Professor Dame Sue Bailey, the Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, who describes the book as a “must have for every household and a must read for every medical student and doctor”.

Andy Burnham, current (2021) mayor of Greater Manchester and former UK Secretary of State for Health writes,

This book has the power to make millions of people healthier and happier.

Pioppi is a small village on the Tyrrhenian Sea which is located on the west coast of Italy. It is approximately 150 km (90 miles) south of Naples. Ancel and Margaret Keys resided here for over 25 years. Martii Karvonen of Finland and Jerimiah Stamler of the USA are other well-known medical researchers who resided in the village.

Malhotra is a keen high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet advocate and is desperately trying (unsuccessfully) to merge his opinion into a distorted view of the Mediterranean diet.
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3 October 2017
Do vegetarians live longer?

On 2nd February 2017, Melody Ding, a senior researcher from the University of Sydney published an article in The Conversation titled “Do vegetarians live longer? Probably, but not because they’re vegetarian”. Her preferences were revealed early in the article when she writes, “vegetarianism and its more austere cousin, veganism, are becoming increasingly popular”.

A person calling a vegan diet austere does not know how to cook.

There is overwhelming evidence that vegans (and particularly whole-food, plant-based vegans) live longer and healthier lives.
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13 September 2017
Worried about whether you should be eating eggs?

The Australian Heart Foundation has the following comment regarding eggs.

Worried about whether you should be eating eggs? They're really nutritious and it's fine to have them regularly as part of a healthy diet. Eggs contain good quality protein, 11 vitamins and minerals, and are a source of healthy fats including omega-3 fats. One egg has about 5 g of fat – but most of this is unsaturated, a fat that you need to be healthy. An egg contains only about 1.5 g of saturated fat and no trans fat. As part of a healthy balanced diet you can eat up to 6 eggs each week without increasing your risk of heart disease.

However, according to the Physicians' Health Study, doctors consuming 7 or more eggs per week had a 31% increase in all-cause mortality compared with those consuming less than 1 egg per week. With diabetic physicians, the association was much higher with the increase in mortality doubled.
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21 February 2016
What is a Heart Attack?

The consensus at the beginning of the 20th century was that heart disease is a normal part of aging. In 1913, a 28 year old pathologist, Nikolay Anitschkow (or Anichkov), working at the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, showed that by feeding rabbits cholesterol dissolved in sunflower oil induced vascular lesions closely resembling those of human atherosclerosis, both grossly and microscopically. Controls fed only the sunflower oil showed no lesions.

Another difficulty in understanding heart disease is that there are a number of factors involved. Researchers, practitioners and the public become attached to one aspect. Some argue passionately (or aggressively) regarding one aspect of heart disease and become blind to other factors.
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6 January 2014
Heart of the Matter – ABC Catalyst

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Catalyst program series produced a 2 part program collectively titled Heart of the Matter. The programs are titled Dietary Villains and Cholesterol Drug War. These programs were aired in October 2013.

The presenter and co-producer is Dr Maryanne Demasi. The medical experts interviewed include Dr Michael Eades, Dr Jonny Bowden and Dr Stephen Sinatra. Science and medical writer Gary Taubes was also interviewed.

The views presented are based on popular books stating that we has been following the expert medical advice for the past 20 years (or 30, 40 or 50 years) and we are unhealthy than ever. They claim that there is a conspiracy to hide the truth concerning health, fat and cholesterol. These popular views are based on myths, fabrications and a distortion of the facts.
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3 November 2013
To alkalise your body – what does it mean?

A number of books and websites tells us we need to alkalise our bodies for optimal health. What does this mean? Is alkaline water a scam or does it really have health benefits?
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2 October 2013
About Richard Harding

I have been a lecturer in nutrition in Newcastle, Australia at WEA Hunter and has been involved in the design of nutrition courses for degree and diploma qualifications in Health Sciences.

I worked in the IT industry since the 1970s as a computer programmer, system designer and project manager for companies such as CBC Bank, National Australia Bank, Burroughs Australia and Unisys working on projects for ANZ Bank, State Bank of NSW, Health Insurance Commission (Medicare), NRMA, Reserve Bank of Australia, City Bank, North Power, Chase Manhattan Bank and ACIRL (Australian Coal Industry Research Laboratories).

I worked as the system manager for a large pathology business that had a network of 10 pathology laboratories, from Coffs Harbour in northern NSW to Sydney - a distance of 500 km (300 miles) which operated online 24 hours a day for 6 days a week.

My website consists of over 140 webpages and with more than 120,000 words. Most are related to health and nutrition with others relating to the environment, agriculture, philosophy and psychology. Many issues that the ancient Greeks wrestled with are still relevant today.
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2 July 2013