Food

The Traditional Diet of Inuit (or Eskimo) Peoples

The traditional diet of the Inuit people was first examined comprehensively by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1906. He visited the Copper Inuits during a number of expeditions. Their diet was virtually plant-free, dominated by seal and caribou meat, supplemented by large salmon-like fish and occasional whale meat. However, Stefansson found that cooking was the nightly norm.
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6 July 2022
Vitamin B12, Homocysteine and Methylmalonic Acid

B12 (cobalamin) is a group of cobalt-containing vitamins. Hydroxocobalamin and cyanocobalamin are synthetic forms of vitamin B12. The two forms of vitamin B12 naturally occurring in foods are methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. These forms are biologically equivalent.

B12 is produced by a number of different species of bacteria which is found in the soil, on the surface of some plants and some red and green algae.

Lack of vitamin B12 can have serious consequences as does high levels of homocysteine. Determining the status of vitamin B12 and homocysteine can be difficult and can be determined by measuring serum vitamin B12, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid (MMA).

A number of products contain riboflavin, pyridoxine, folate, B12 and methionine way in excess of dietary requirements in an attempt to resolve B12 metabolism problems.

Many magnesium supplements contain pyridoxine which is usually unnecessary and possibly detrimental.
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5 August 2021
Changes to our Health Indicators

Many of our health indicators have become worse over the past few decades (2000-2020). There has been a decrease in the United States in life expectancy. Below are some of the indicators that have been reduced, resulting in a society that is becoming increasing unhealthy and is placing an unsustainable burden on the families and health care facilities.
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27 May 2021
Effect of Single High Fat Meal on Blood Flow

MARS Center for Cocoa Health Science is based at University of California – Davis Campus (which is near Sacramento). Ronald Krauss, one of the authors of Astrup’s 2019 paper WHO draft guidelines on dietary saturated and trans fatty acids: time for a new approach? is based at University of California – San Francisco campus.

MARS has contributed $40 million to fund the institute.

Between 2000 and 2021, the MARS institute has produced 157 articles extolling the benefits of chocolate and cocoa.

“Everyone knows” that chocolate is really healthy and good for you based on research such as this.
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24 March 2021
Dr James Muecke Australian of the Year in 2020

Dr. James Muecke is the Australian of the Year in 2020 which was awarded for his work as an eye- surgeon and his work in preventing blindness.

He is trying to convince Australians to eat more meat, eggs and dairy. Australia is ranked number 2 in meat consumption, just behind United States but in front of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and New Zealand.

Dr. Muecke has declared that we need to “Declare war on type 2 diabetes and cut back on sugar” in order to reduce the incidence of blindness.

He believes that it is the introduction of sugary drinks and highly processed foods are the cause of diabetes – not a high-fat, high-protein diet as shown by numerous papers dating back to 1927.
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11 November 2020
The French Paradox – The Myths

“Everyone knows” about the French Paradox – that is, the French consume lots of saturated fat in the form of meat, butter, cheese and eggs and yet have a low risk of heart disease. This proves that the health advice regarding the role of fats and saturated fats in causing heart disease is wrong.

The French Paradox has only been with us for a short period of time but it quickly resonated with the general population – we no longer need to be concerned about the amount of meat, butter, cheese and eggs that we consume.
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1 October 2020
Japanese Diet, Cuisine and Health

Japan is at the top of the list for life expectancy and health. There are strong regional variations although the diet in recent decades has become more westernised and the variations in diet are becoming less distinct throughout Japan.

A wide variety of dipping sauces accompany most meals. Udon is a thick wheat flour noodle and yakisoba is a buckwheat noodle. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat.

Despite the increase in dairy, egg and meat consumption in recent decades, Japan (according to the National Health and Nutrition Surveys) still consumes a predominately plant-based diet.

Hookaido had the lowest percentage of plant-based foods at 74.5% in 1980 and 82.2% in 2012. In 1980, Kanto II had the highest percentage at 78.2% with Hokuriku topping the list in 2012 with 84.5%.

Australia and the US consume approximately 30% of their diet from plant-based sources.
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18 August 2020