Egg on Their Faces - Government dietary advice often proves disastrous.

City Journal ^ | Summer 2010 | Steven Malanga

[Scythian]

Good article, heart disease is the result of magnesium definciency. Many folks who have heart attacks have no block, no blocked veins, they die from the lack of Mag, such a shame, I use CALM Magnesium, love the stuff.

Great article, thanks for posting ...

[Scythian]

Oh, one more thing, the drastic increase in skin cancer is the result of sun block which until 2 years ago only block UVB’s but not UVA’s. This meant you were getting the harmful rays and blocking the good ones that build Vitamin D (UVB’s). In fact, it’s better to go without sun block and just limit the sun, but a good color is healthy. Another recommendation that causes the death of 100’s of thousands ...

[Niuhuru]

A huge fundamental problem is that it’s all about experimentation, no proof of long term benefit. Now the idiots in the government are looking to the entertainment industry for ideas on how to ‘better’ our lives.

As if following the advice of those headcases has ever been a good idea.

[Repeat Offender]

For later reading.

[gidget7]

Correct, on both posts. I have worked in healthcare. In every facility I have ever seen, there is a nutritionist and recommended diets and menus. You would think the workers and residents (where there are residents) would be fit and trim. Not so, the majority of both are obese after a year or two.

Milk also, we have been told for years to drink skim or lowfat (1%, 2%) The result? Calcium and vitamin d deficiencies, both of which cause major problems. We have a population of middle aged and elderly people with osteoporosis and brittle bones.

Like MO, these people do not know what they are talking about.

[thulldud]

A huge fundamental problem is that it’s all about experimentation, no proof of long term benefit. Now the idiots in the government are looking to the entertainment industry for ideas on how to ‘better’ our lives.

The "benefit" in all these cases is for those very idiots in government, because whichever way the cat jumps, they get more power and a cushy, no-fail job out of it.

[stayathomemom]

Perhaps one should eat what one craves, in moderation, of course.

[gidget7]

The problems from milk is that without the fat, there is a mal-absobtion created of both calcium and vitamin d.

[Niuhuru]

It’s the Mandarin class that destroyed China and it’s our bureaucrats who are going to destroy the US.

[A_perfect_lady]

What’s this about magnesium?

[Snake65]

The French Paradox.

I’ve been taking cooking classes and learning some French dishes. Tons of butter, eggs, cheese, cream — and salt. The French are big meat eaters and love their sauces. I’ve been eating smaller portions of rich, wonderful, satisfying food, and I’ve lost just under twenty pounds and had my blood pressure go down. Last time BP was this low I was in my early 30s. I sure enjoy my veggies more when they’ve got some garlic butter on them. Go figure.

We’ll see what happens with my cholesterol next blood test.

[sergeantdave]

I love these threads.

sergeantdave’s food pyramid:

1) steaks

2) potato chips

3) bourbon

4) gooey chocolate fudge to attract the ladies

5) beer

6) more beer when No. 5 is depleted

7) chocolate chip cookies to keep the ladies around when No. 4 runs out

8) cigars

9) Wine for the ladies when No. 7 runs out

10) a seeing eye dog to find our way to the outhouse

[neverdem]

heart disease is the result of magnesium definciency.

Source please?

[Minn]

Another recommendation that causes the death of 100’s of thousands ...

I don't know. Aren't the vast majority of skin cancer deaths due to melanoma, where sun exposure isn't a big factor? Many skin cancers are downright benign (I know, sort of a contradiction).

I had a suspicious thing on my arm that I visited the doctor about. He said it could well be on of those two types with the funny names. He recommended I don't take any more than a year see if it goes a way, and that most sun related skin cancers take around seven years to metastasize.

[Razzz42]

Only people who own cows and/or milking machines want you to drink milk.

Sun block creams interfere with your creating Vitamin D when sun interacts on your skin. The D used by the body in calcium absorption to create strong bones.

No way companies that cater to breakfast are going to allow that meal to be skipped (the body works quite efficiently on an empty stomach as blood flow is free from the confines of digestion).

[Will88]

Government and the medical profession will both be very slow to admit past bad advice, and government will probably be especially slow, or glacial, since a truly healthy diet rich in protein, eggs dairy, and fresh fruits and vegetables will not fit their new green revolution goals. The rich carbohydrates, sugar, wheat, rice, corn, etc., just aren’t good for us as a major part of our diets.

[beckysueb]

My husband underwent triple bypass surgery last September. Of course they put him on a strict heart healthy diet. The food was so bad, I wouldn’t feed it to my dog. But anyway when he went back for checkups, his chlolesteral levels were good. Then he just refused to stay on the diet. Went back to smoking, eating whatever he wanted and drinking whole milk and tons of sodas and his chlolesteral levels haven’t changed a bit. I eat whatever I please and never gain weight and I am very healthy. I think they are full of fecal matter.

[radiohead]

It ain’t the carbs. It’s the processed foods that are the basis of the US diet. High sugar, high fructose corn syrup in every damn thing, and highly refined flours are not good for you and not what our forefathers ate.

Personally, I don’t eat meat, but there is a big difference between 4 oz of meat a day and the tons of meat, cheese, and dairy that so many people eat daily. Keeping it down to 8 oz a week, would be even better.

I’m not a big fan of wholesale prescribing of statins either. I’m not sure the jury is in one that one yet. And not everyone can take them, they make my blood sugars go sky high, but they sure are prescribed for everybody without much thought.

[PA Engineer]

The government medicine food pyramid was pushed through by George McGovern during the Carter Administration. The onset of epidemic obesity and young to mid-life type II diabetes tracks well to this act. Metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance are the result of both a high glycemic and carbohydrate based diet.

There was an uproar by cardiologists at the time about the recommendation. They were ignored for what could be considered the greatest enactment by government of an ideological diet in US history over that of sound science.

The majority of government studies (including the NIH) conducted research to support the fat is bad mantra. What we got was bad science that failed to control for carbohydrate intake.

One of the other areas of negative health effects of a carbohydrate diet is triglyceride (TAG) levels. These increase to unhealthy levels in tandem with insulin resistance. A low carbohydrate diet will immediately lower TAG counts independent of BMI. A low carbohydrate diet supplemented with niacin is the safest way to lower and control high TAG levels. Other pharmaceutical options are very unsafe.

TAG levels have been ignored for their role in cardiac disease until recently. TAG levels are now being considered healthy under 100. From Wikipedia:

In the human body, high levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream have been linked to atherosclerosis, and, by extension, the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, the relative negative impact of raised levels of triglycerides compared to that of LDL:HDL ratios is as yet unknown. The risk can be partly accounted for by a strong inverse relationship between triglyceride level and HDL-cholesterol level.

This raises even more questions about government medicine. The food pyramid is now being recognized as the primary culprit in the increase in obesity, metabolically induced heart disease and type II diabetes. If TAG is the primary culprit in VLDL cholesterol, what is the effect of reducing VLDL with pharmaceuticals?

There were two schools of thought prior to cholesterol levels becoming government medicines enemy #1. The first and very vocal was the need to lower cholesterol levels at all cost. There was however an equally large school of physicians that felt that lowering cholesterol would not improve cardiac care and may have other deleterious effects. They compared attacking cholesterol levels with the same outcome as firemen going to a fire to put out the smoke.

Some in this same group felt that any small diameter lipoprotein (either high or low) was dangerous. Almost all felt that the total cholesterol score was meaningless without the breakdowns into the primary cholesterol types. There protests until recently have been ignored.

Like many other aspects of society, government medicine has been shown to be both dangerous in both recommendations and acceptance to conventional wisdom. There has been a trust of "government" resulting in an "Obedience to Authority" on the part of Americans to every pronouncement in Washington. We are seeing now how dangerous this unquestioning acceptance can be. From "global warming", the ban on DDT, Cap and Trade, cafe standards resulting in needless traffic deaths, Metabolic Disease and an emerging awareness of virus based cancer disease, the Federal Government has 100 percent culpability.

Needless suffering has resulted from a government who have overturned the constitution. If our Federal Government had constrained to those powers enumerated by law all of this needless suffering and deaths could have been avoided. Sadly it is only going to get worse.