Low-carb news and health headlines for June 2009

July 1, 7:28 PMLow-Carb Lifestyle ExaminerJimmy Moore

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All the latest and greatest early summer low-carb health headlines

Summertime is in full swing now and the wealth of information about carbohydrate restriction and healthy living hasn’t slowed down a lick. I’ve been letting it pile up for several weeks and now I’m loaded for bear today with a boatload of low-carb news and health headlines for June 2009. As always, feel free to send me any new and notable links to interesting low-carb diet and health stories anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

IS A “FATTY DIET” TO BLAME FOR PANCREATIC CANCER?

A new study published in the June 26, 2009 issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute makes the case that those of us who consume an animal-based, high-fat diet are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer. The specific food groups identified by the researchers as the culprits were meat and dairy products according to self-reported surveys filled out by the half million study participants regarding their diet over the previous year.

Since they blamed the fat consumption on the resulting cancer of the pancreas, one would assume their intake would exceed a majority–over 50 percent–of the total caloric intake. It was not even close. Dietary fat only comprised 20-40 percent of total calories and protein was less than 20 percent. That left upwards of 60 percent of total calories coming from carbohydrates, which this previous research out of Sweden in November 2006 found is directly tied to the development of pancreatic cancer, not dietary fat. Plus, the actual number of cases of pancreatic cancer in this study of a half million adults (1337) is just one-fourth of one percent of the entire study participants. It’s not like this is some sudden epidemic brought on by eating animal fat as the news headlines and the researchers would have you to believe.

Like I said, they can’t accurately pinpoint that these pancreatic cancer diagnoses were caused by the study participants’ “fatty diet”–they’re just assuming that’s what it was. But the evidence more accurately points to the carbohydrate intake instead. Lower their carbs, INCREASE their fat, and keep protein at a moderate level of 20 percent of calories and the pancreatic cancer will remain at bay. I wish these researchers would stop taking such a leap of faith about what they “believe” regarding dietary fat and take into consideration all the evidence.

WHAT ARE AMERICANS AFRAID OF MORE–CANCER OR DIABETES?

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Jacqueline A. Eberstein, R.N., then you owe it to yourself to check out her Controlled Carbohydrate Nutrition web site. She worked directly with the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins for 30 years and is arguably the foremost authority on the Atkins diet today. For people just starting out on a carbohydrate-restricted diet, she has a wonderful resource page page about the Atkins Lifestyle I highly recommend to get started livin’ la vida low-carb on the right foot. She also writes regular columns like her newest one entitled “What Are Americans Afraid Of?” Eberstein notes that only 5% of people are afraid of illness and nearly half of those fear cancer while just 3% were scared of diabetes which is much more prevalent in our society. What’s wrong with this picture? She echoes my call for more personal responsibility by the individual and all the interests involved to come up with viable solutions to skyrocketing healthcare costs rather than cowtowing to the financial interests of pharmaceutical and food companies. I’d love to know what you think!

WHAT IF LOW-CARB IS WRONG AND CALORIES REALLY MATTER?

One of my favorite things to do is to get people to think about what they believe and why they believe it as it relates to diet, health, and nutrition. If we simply rely on others to tell us what is true about low-carb living without ever doing the necessary follow-up on it to confirm the findings, then we are bound to fall into the trap that so many in our society do buying into conventional wisdom hook, line, and sinker. That’s why so many people are scared to death of eating fat, but don’t have a care in the world about gobbling up carbohydrates like they’re going out of style.

My fellow low-carb advocate Josef Brandenburg wrote an excellent column entitled“What If Low-Carb Is Wrong? Does ASP Prove That Insulin Doesn’t Matter And That It’s Calories That Really Count?” that warrants your attention. It seems some anti-low-carb forum readers believe that acylation stimulating protein (ASP) is a much more powerful fat-storing mechanism than excessive insulin levels as Gary Taubes and low-carbers assert. Josef does a brilliant job answering these claims and even brings in a quote from Taubes to round out the discussion. CHECK IT OUT!

DR. ROBERT SU VIDEO ABOUT “CARBOHYDRATES CAN KILL”

Back in May 2009, I introduced to you my podcast interview with Dr. Robert K. Su to discuss his brand new book Carbohydrates Can Kill. After years of self-experimentation using low-carb for himself, Dr. Su is now convinced this is a topic that the general public needs to know more about which is why he decided to write his book. Here’s a new video slide presentation featuring Dr. Su demonstrating how carbohydrates can endanger our health:

I’m so excited about sharing my new book coming out in August 2009 called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb because one of the chapters will deal with the issue of cholesterol tests and why the traditional way of measuring cholesterol is pretty much bogus. In the meantime, I was pleased to read this blog post from “Free The Animal” blogger Richard Nikoley for a clear explanation about why LDL cholesterol in people who are livin’ la vida low-carb with triglycerides below 100 needs to be calculated differently than those people with triglycerides above 100 who are probably not on a low-carb diet. If you fall into the former category and want to see what your true calculated LDL cholesterol number is, then run the equation and see how far off it is from what your doctor’s lipid report shows. For Richard, it was a full 29 points lower than the 104 his physician said it was and wanted to put him on a statin drug to lower. EEEEK! Dang these medical professionals are trigger happy with the drugs! DON’T DO IT! Be sure to check out this blog post from June 2008 about my own cholesterol results from a specialized particle size test I talked about in this YouTube videorecently. And don’t miss what Dr. Mike Eades recently wrote about the low-carb diets increase LDL myth.

“F AS IN FAT 2009: HOW OBESITY POLICIES ARE FAILING IN AMERICA”

A non-profit, non-partisan organization called Trust for America’s Health has released their latest report on obesity rates in America and the results aren’t pretty. Mississippi is #1 in the nation for the fifth consecutive year at 32.5 percent obesity followed closely by Alabama (31.2), West Virginia (31.2) and Tennessee (30.2). My home state of South Carolina just barely squeaked below 30 percent coming in fifth place at 29.7 percent. Read this report carefully because it has some very interesting analysis about how there doesn’t seem to be an end coming to the rising obesity rates because of the recession and the related financial stress many are facing. See how your state is doing with the interactive state map–it’s not a pretty picture. Colorado had the lowest rates of obesity at 18.9 percent.

OBESITY RATES NEARLY QUADRUPLE IN INDONESIAN CAPITAL SINCE 1997

The stereotype of people living in Asian countries is that they tend to be slimmer while eating a so-called high-carb diet chock full of foods like rice. But the reality is the rates of obesity especially in the big cities is even faster than what’s happening in the United States. Young people seem to be driving the increases with their “unbalanced diet” and a “lack of exercise.” One college student quoted in the story says she loves her fast food and she likes to “eat too many sweet and fatty foods.” Well, if you ditch the sugar and carb-laden foods and eat MORE fat, then you’ll find a plan for success you can be proud of. So much for Americans trying to mimic the Asian diet, huh?

COOKING TLC LETS YOU “TEST YOUR CARB IQ”

My friend and fellow low-carber Karen Rysavy has created a nifty 8-question Carb IQ Test that will see how much you really know about livin’ la vida low-carb. I got all eight questions exactly right, although one of them was pretty hard and I had to guess. Even if you get an answer wrong, Karen does an excellent job explaining the reasoning behind the correct answers. So, go ahead and “Test Your Carb IQ!”

ODE MAGAZINE COVER STORY “FAT IS WHERE IT’S AT”

It can seem discouraging whenever you read a news account in a magazine or newspaper article about “healthy” living and they tell people to cut the fat and calories. But there’s a new trend beginning to happen in the media that is starting to pay attention to the overwhelming evidence that fat is not as bad as once thought. ThisOde Magazine column highlights the work of a couple of names that might be familiar to you: Gary Taubes who wrote Good Calories, Bad Calories, Brian Wansink author ofMindless Eating (I’ll feature a podcast interview with him coming August 13, 2009), and Jennifer McLagan who penned a cookbook that won the 2009 James Beard award entitled Fat, An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes. Special THANKS to Janet Paskin for writing such a FANTASTIC column on the healthy benefits of consuming fat.

VITAMIN D, FISH OIL TO BE FEATURED IN LARGE GOVERNMENT STUDY

Two of the rising stars in the crowded supplement world right now are Vitamin D andfish oil because of the incredible health benefits both have shown to provide the people who take them in proper doses. I rose my Vitamin D levels from 42 ng/mL in September 2008 to 68 ng/mL in February 2009 simply by supplementing my diet with 10,000 IU Vitamin D3 gel caps from Sam’s Club for six months. I’ve since backed down to around 4,000-5,000 IU daily to maintain my levels where they are. We’re working on getting Christine’s D3 levels up from a dismal 9 ng/mL reading she saw in January 2009. As for fish oil, I have taken this just about every single day since I started livin’ la vida low-carb in January 2004 and I know it has helped improve my cardiovascular health immensely. The government is expected to spend $20 million to rigorously test these essential supplements for your healthy low-carb lifestyle on 20,000 people 60 and older with no history of major diseases and I can’t wait to see the changes in health the participants in the study will experience. They’ll be taking 2,000 IU of D3 or 1g of fish oil during the study along with a control group taking neither and another group taking both. Should be very interesting!

WANNA BE CAST FOR “THE BIGGEST LOSER” 9?

The hit NBC television weight loss reality show “The Biggest Loser” is currently conducting open calls for Season 9 of the hit series featuring obese contestants vying against one another to win $250,000. They are specifically looking for family members in teams of two who will be at least 18 by September 21, 2009 and both need to lose at least 100 pounds. Parent/child, siblings, married couples, cousins, in-laws, whatever–if you’re related, you’re eligible! It helps to have a great personality, too, as well as the WANT, DESIRE and COMPETITIVE EDGE to vie for this once in a lifetime opportunity to change your lives forever and possibly win a pile of cash.

My buddy Pete Thomas from WinningMan.com who was the at-home $100,000 winner from Season 2 of the show gives some incredible tips for getting on the show for anyone who is seriously interested in being on the show. Send in your 10-minute videotape ASAP and visit THEBIGGESTLOSERCASTING.COM for more information. Questions? You can e-mail them directly at jaxcasting@gmail.com. Open calls will be taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, New York City, and San Antonio on July 11th, Dallas, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona on July 18th, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Des Moines, Iowa on July 25th and wrapping up in Los Angeles on August 1st. The first 500 people in line will be evaluated and considered for the show. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

STUDY: HIGH-CARB FOODS RAISE RISK FOR HEART HEALTH PROBLEMS

This will come as no surprise to most of my regular readers who have been paying attention to all the glut of scientific data that has come out in recent years, but a new Israeli study published in the March 25, 2009 issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology explains why high-carb foods lead to cardiovascular disease. High glycemic index foods tend to “aggravate” the arteries for hours after they are consumed by creating “a temporary and sudden dysfunction in the endothelial walls of the arteries” and this sustained stress over a period of time can expand the arterial wall which reduces the elasticity that protects you from heart disease and even death. This is the first such study in the history of medicine that used cutting-edge technology to demonstrate what happens to the arteries before, during and after a high-carb meal. I’ll be looking for even more scientific uses of this new procedure for seeing what happens to the arterial walls in future studies and it’s certainly an exciting development for discovering what exactly is happening inside the arteries in response to the foods consumed.

NEW ZEALAND MAN SHEDS 165 POUNDS ON “HUNTER-GATHERER” DIET

I just LOVE finding evidence of the healthy low-carb way of eating working for people by producing incredible weight loss success. That’s exactly what happened to 40-year old New Zealand man Rob Stoutley who went on a diet consisting of lean protein and non-starchy vegetables to lose the weight he put on following a serious lung infection in 2004. The “hunter-gather” Maori diet consisted mainly of “birds and fish with herbs and root crops” along with walking a half-hour daily. Dr. Loren Cordain would be so proud. WAY TO GO, ROB!

GARY TAUBES’ “ADIPOSITY 101″ LECTURE WITH SLIDES

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Gary Taubes speak in person a couple of times over the past year at obesity conferences in Reno, Nevada in 2008 and in Charleston, South Carolina in 2009. Expanding upon the concepts in his monumental 2007 book release Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes has an incredible presentation with some extraordinary slides that go along with his lecture. But prior to now you haven’t been able to see the slides online while he gives his talk. Yet, thanks to Dartmouth-Hitchcock we get to not just hear but also see the one-hour lecture entitled “Adiposity 101 and the Alternative Hypothesis of Obesity” with all the accompanying slides presented by Taubes on June 5, 2009. This is a real treat if you have never watched it from start to finish. ENJOY!

“FOOD, INC.” MOVIE TOUTS REAL WHOLE FOODS

Finally, with all the same old boring movies coming out of Hollywood these days, I’m pleased to tell you about a brand new feature film that’s both entertaining and has an incredible message for those of us who care about encouraging people to eat real foods. As Christine and I shared in this recent YouTube video, healthy whole foods like grass-fed beef, local free-range eggs, real raw milk, and locally-grown organic veggies are some of the best foods you can be eating on your low-carb lifestyle. Food, Inc.shows you why you want to be choosing these foods over the ones that are served in your local grocery store. I’ve attempted to get a podcast interview with the filmmaker, but he has not responded to my e-mails. But here’s a trailer of the film for you to watch and see if it is playing in your area:

That’s all for now, but we’ll have plenty more low-carb news and health headlines coming up for you again soon!