Tag: blood pressure

• Is It Healthy? What are we Comparing

  When we ask the question Is it Healthy?, we need to consider is it healthy compared to what.

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  1 January 2022

• The PURE Study Myths

  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.

  Muecke believes that we should be eating more eggs, cheese, meat and dark chocolate to minimise diabetes, its associated blindness (diabetic retinopathy) and diabetic neuropathy. Peripheral diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage of the limbs that is caused by diabetes. 50% of adults with type 2 diabetes have peripheral neuropathy. It can result in pain, numbness and an increase in sensitivity. Diabetes account for more than 80% of amputations.

  Muecke cites the PURE Study to justify his low-carbohydrate, high-fat, animal-based diet.

  The PURE Study is an observational study in 27 countries that examined 225,000 people. The study period is 20 years.

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  3 September 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

• Harvard Researchers Paid to Support Sugar

  A recent story that has been appearing on the internet is that Harvard Researchers Paid to Support Sugar and this is the reason why sugar and carbohydrates have been exonerated in their role of causing heart disease. Fats and saturated fats have unfairly blamed for the obesity and heart disease epidemic.

  The article states that, "Early warning signals of the coronary heart disease (CHD) risk of sugar (sucrose) emerged in the 1950s."

  "By the 1960s, 2 prominent physiologists were championing divergent causal hypotheses of CHD: John Yudkin identified added sugars as the primary agent, while Ancel Keys identified total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol. However, by the 1980s, few scientists believed that added sugars played a significant role in CHD, and the first 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans [4] focused on reducing total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol for CHD prevention."

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  6 March 2020

• Rural Indian Regional Diets

  Despite India's reputation for a healthy, vegetarian cuisine, it is not justified. Only 1.6% of Indians are vegan, 24% are lacto-vegetarian. 3% add eggs to their lacto-vegetarian diet which leaves 72% consuming meat.

  The Indian population has the highest prevalence of diabetes worldwide and exhibits high-risk metabolic profiles at younger ages and lower body mass index than their Western counterparts. There are significant regional variations to this observation.

  The reasons why Asian populations exhibit diabetes at a lower threshold than western populations are not known.

  According to WHO mortality statistics, India is ranked 17 for Low Birth Rate, 37 for Diarrhoeal Diseases, 40 for Tuberculosis, 60 for Malnutrition and 62 for Influenza & Pneumonia out of 183 countries.

  Given the current increase in consumption of meat and oils and a decrease in grains, the prevalence of obesity and diabetes is likely to continue.

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  29 February 2020

• Global Burden of Disease 2010

  The Global Burden of Disease Study commenced in 1990 as a World Bank-commissioned that measured the health impact of disease and injuries. It introduced the term disability-adjusted life year (DALY) as a new measure to quantify the burden of diseases and injuries.

  It is managed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington with the purpose "understanding the current state of population health and the strategies necessary to improve it."

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  27 April 2019

• The Evidence Against Eric Westman and William Yancy

  Eric Westman and William Yancy are medical doctors associated with Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina, where they are associate professors.

  They are prolific authors associated with ketogenic and high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets. They have both received funding from Robert C. Atkins Foundation which supports research into low-carbohydrate nutrition.

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  22 November 2018

• How do Your Genes Affect Obesity and Diabetes

  The purpose of the DIETFITS Trial was "to determine the effect of a healthy low-fat (HLF) diet vs a healthy low-carbohydrate (HLC) diet on weight change and if genotype pattern or insulin secretion are related to the dietary effects on weight loss".

  It a popular area of research to determine if there are genetic causes of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, depression and any other illness or condition that is plaguing our society.

  This area of research ignores the fact that often our genetics does not determine health outcomes.  Ignoring this will not solve the problems of our society's rapidly failing health.

  The conclusions of this paper are:

  In the 12-month study, there was NO significant difference in weight change between a healthy low-fat diet compared with a healthy low-carbohydrate diet.

  Neither of the 2 hypothesized predisposing factors [genotypes] was helpful in identifying which diet was better for whom.

  Frequently the problem is not that complicated.

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  7 November 2018

• Letter to Diggers – October 2018

  In the Spring 2018 edition of Diggers, Bel P claims that What The Health has been “expertly torn to pieces”. No effort has been made to justify this claim. What The Health web site has listed approximately 300 references for the movie with the elapsed time that the information was presented.

  In the absence of a valid critique of What The Health, I will present some evidence presented by the movie for the health benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet. All references provided are from primary sources for which I have the paper or electronic copy.

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  29 October 2018

• Foundations of Naturopathic Nutrition by Fay Paxton – a text book

  Fay Paxton (PhD) is an Australian-based naturopath and nutritionist. She has taught nutrition at the Southern School of Natural Therapies and has worked as a consultant for dietary and herbal supplement manufacturers.

  She is an author of a popular text book, Foundations of Naturopathic Nutrition.

  Unfortunately, she is an advocate for low-carbohydrate diets and paleo diets.

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  14 June 2018