College students and healthy lifestyle. On the one hand it seems like the ultimate contradiction. Pizza boxes, Red Bull cans, Doritos bags, beer bottles, Captain Crunch at every cafeteria meal. They’re as much a cultural vision of college as John Belushi’s sweatshirt. If there were a Primal no man’s land, you’d think the residential campus [...]
Anyone reading DrBG will by now be aware that Loren Cordain might well be coming in from the cold on the saturated fat front, as a middle author of this nice perspective paper which I've yet to slog through in its entirety. This can only be good.
As always, occasional papers bring to mind studies that need discussing. The introduction to the above paper cites Marmot in this paper and this paper. I've been interested in these two papers ever since I read Dr Ravnskov's "The Cholesterol Myths" back when I found I had a TC of about 7.2mmol/l (gasp) in 2003. It's interesting for the aspects which don't get a mention, in particular the superior health benefits of the SAD compared to the traditional Japanese diet. That's right, the SAD wins.
So here's a paper request. Anyone have the two Marmot papers as pdfs?
The main conclusions are purported to be that Japanese in Japan have low levels of coronary disease. On emigration to Hawaii the incidence increases and in California it is higher still, especially in those who adopted an American lifestyle and values. However, in this later group, there is a subdivision who adopted everything American EXCEPT the diet.
On the traditional Japanese diet, with an American lifestyle, you are twice as likely to suffer heart disease than if you live the American way AND you eat at Burger King (OK, on the SAD of the 1970s).
Needless to say, I'd love to check this out, with the greatest of respect to Dr Ravnskov. Stuff this amusing just has to be seen in the bare pdf form. Copies of the two Marmot papers would be very much appreciated...
Peter
Normal Human Occlusion
Korean short ribs have an irresistible combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavors. Traditionally, the sweetness comes from sugar or corn syrup, usually half a cup or more. Thanks to Christian Chun, who submitted a fruit-based marinade for Korean-style short ribs to the Primal Blueprint Cookbook Contest, you can lose the processed sugar without losing [...]
A new Cochrane review of studies of the impact of Chinese herbal medicines on preventing prediabetes. It concludes that,
Meta-analysis of eight trials showed that those receiving Chinese herbal medicines combined with lifestyle modification were more than twice as likely to have their fasting plasma glucose levels return to normal levels (i.e. fasting plasma glucose <7.8 mmol/L and 2hr blood glucose <11.1 mmol/L) compared to lifestyle modification alone (RR 2.07; 95% confidence intervall (CI) 1.52 to 2.82). Those receiving Chinese herbs were less likely to progress to diabetes over the duration of the trial (RR 0.33; 95% CI 0.19 to 0.58)You can find the abstract, here:
I just got back my own results from the Gene Smart laboratory reporting my omega-3 index and omega-6:omega-3 ratio.
A military-funded study conducted by researchers at the University of North Dakota discovered that pilots who ate the most fatty foods, such as butter or gravy, had the quickest response times in mental tests and made fewer mistakes when flying in tricky conditions. Forty-five student pilots were tracked to test their performance on flight simulators while eating four different diets: high-fat, high-carbohydrate, high-protein, and a control diet.
It’s the question every Primal adherent faces: how does alcohol fit into a low carb lifestyle? Maybe you’re out with friends, bravely resisting the assorted chips and fried concoctions in the center of the table. You don’t mind waiting patiently for the steak and salad you conscientiously selected, but must you be relegated to the [...]
So you take a few fish oil capsules every day and eat fish once or twice a week. What is the blood and tissue level of omega-3 fatty acids generated by your habits?
The latest fad diets promise to reduce the fat in your liver. This is a noble aim--the amount of fat in your liver correlates closely to cardiovascular risk. Liver fat also appears to increase insulin resistance, though it is interesting to note that very recent research has found that pancreatic fat has a strong relationship to the development of Type 2 diabetes and may in fact be more important than liver fat.
The Nature of the Problem
