Free Republic

A study from Tufts University found that daily consumption of pistachios can enhance eye health by increasing macular pigment optical density (MPOD), which helps protect against blue light and age-related eye damage. This benefit is attributed to pistachios’ unique content of lutein, a plant pigment essential for eye health and potentially useful in preventing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Daily pistachios boost eye health by raising lutein, protecting against age-related damage, and supporting brain function. A recent study by researchers at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy suggests that eating pistachios daily may greatly benefit eye health. This...

Warnings against saturated fat on heart health need to be revisited as flaws were revealed in the seminal 1950s studies on which these warnings were based, according to research. In 1953, spurred by an apparent surge in heart disease in the US, physiologist Ancel Keys published a study that introduced the "lipid-heart hypothesis." He claimed without evidence that high saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet raise cholesterol levels in the blood and contribute to heart disease. Newport and Dayrit pointed out that Keys erroneously conflated the saturated fats found in meat and dairy with the harmful industrial trans-fats commonly...

After five decades of inaction, the Food and Drug Administration revoked the authorization of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food on July 3, 2024. The additive bromine, used to stabilize fruit flavorings in beverages and sodas, has toxic effects and has already been banned in many places, including California, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. What was the agency’s excuse for its 50 years in limbo? The FDA insisted it was “waiting for more safety data.” Right. Consumer advocates called the FDA’s ban on brominated vegetable oil in food “a victory for public health.” Still, digging deeper, it is indisputable...

A new study found that when we eat significantly impacts our energy expenditure, appetite, and molecular pathways in adipose tissue. "In this study, we asked, 'Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?'" said Nina Vujović, Ph.D. "And we found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat." Vujović studied 16 patients with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range. Each participant completed two laboratory protocols: one with a strictly scheduled early...

Video. Fats Putin Sings The Hits

Fats Domino, one of most influential rock and roll performers of the 1950s and 60s, has died aged 89. The American rock and roll artist was best known for his songs Ain't That A Shame and Blueberry Hill. The New Orleans singer sold more than 65 million records, outselling every 1950s rock and roll act except Elvis Presley. His million-selling debut single, The Fat Man, is credited by some as the first ever rock and roll record.

Fats Domino, who sang such hits as "Ain't That A Shame" and "Blueberry Hill," died Tuesday, the coroner's office said. He was 89. At least in appearance, Domino was no Elvis Presley. He stood 5-feet-5 and weighed more than 200 pounds (91 kilograms), with a wide, boyish smile and a haircut as flat as an album cover.

The sugar industry began funding research that cast doubt on sugar’s role in heart disease — in part by pointing the finger at fat — as early as the 1960s, according to an analysis of newly uncovered documents. The analysis published Monday is based on correspondence between a sugar trade group and researchers at Harvard University, and is the latest example showing how food and beverage makers attempt to shape public understanding of nutrition. In 1964, the group now known as the Sugar Association internally discussed a campaign to address “negative attitudes toward sugar” after studies began emerging linking sugar...

Natural health physician and Mercola.com founder Dr. Joseph Mercola interviews Dr. Richard Johnson a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado about the fat switch.

Nina Teicholz, Author, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet Ronald M. Krauss, M.D., Senior Scientist and Director, Atherosclerosis Research, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute; Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine, UCSF and Department of Nutritional Sciences, U.C. Berkeley - Moderator Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz spent nine years deeply researching the effect that fats have on our bodies. She found the unthinkable: everything we thought we knew about dietary fats is wrong. For decades, we have been told that the best possible diet involves cutting back on fat, especially saturated fat, and that if...

The Oiling of America by Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon In 1954 a young researcher from Russia named David Kritchevsky published a paper describing the effects of feeding cholesterol to rabbits.1 Cholesterol added to vegetarian rabbit chow caused the formation of atheromas—plaques that block arteries and contribute to heart disease. Cholesterol is a heavy weight molecule—an alcohol or a sterol—found only in animal foods such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs and butter. In the same year, according to the American Oil Chemists Society, Kritchevsky published a paper describing the beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids for lowering cholesterol levels.2...

Dr. Miller is professor of surgery, cardiothoracic division, Univ. Washington, and writes frequently for http://www.Lewrockwell.com.

Is dietary fat bad for us? How did we become so fat phobic and what are the implications for health? Saturated fat phobia and toxic vegetable oils.

People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have fewer cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows. The findings are unlikely to be the final salvo in what has been a long and often contentious debate about what foods are best to eat for weight loss and overall health. The notion that dietary fat is harmful, particularly saturated fat, arose decades ago from comparisons of disease rates among large national populations. But more recent clinical studies in which...

TORONTO — A single junk-food meal rich in saturated fat is detrimental to the health of the arteries, researchers in Canada said. Dr. Anil Nigam and colleagues at the University of Montreal-affiliated EPIC Center of the Montreal Heart Institute compared the effects of a junk-food meal and a typical Mediterranean meal on the vascular endothelium, the inner lining of the blood vessels. Endothelial function is closely linked to the long-term risk of developing coronary artery disease.

Scientists say they have found a way to turn body fat into a better type of fat that burns off calories and weight. The US Johns Hopkins team made the breakthrough in rats but believe the same could be done in humans, offering the hope of a new way to treat obesity. Modifying the expression of a protein linked to appetite not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat composition. "Bad" white fat became "good" brown fat, Cell Metabolism journal reports. Brown fat is abundant in babies, which they use as a power source...

CLEVELAND - Contrary to what we’ve been told, eliminating or severely limiting fats from the diet may not be beneficial to cardiac function in patients suffering from heart failure, a study at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports. Results from biological model studies conducted by assistant professor of physiology and biophysics Margaret Chandler, PhD, and other researchers, demonstrate that a high-fat diet improved overall mechanical function, in other words, the heart’s ability to pump, and was accompanied by cardiac insulin resistance. “Does that mean I can go out and eat my Big Mac after I have a heart...

When it comes to heart health, virgin olive oil may have an edge over other vegetable fats, new research suggests. Reporting in the Annals of Internal Medicine, European researchers say virgin olive oil may be particularly effective at lowering heart disease risk because of its high level of antioxidant plant compounds. In a study of 200 healthy men, the researchers found that virgin olive oil -- rich in antioxidants called polyphenols -- showed stronger heart-health effects than the more extensively processed "non-virgin" variety. The findings suggest that virgin olive oil has more going for it than its supply of heart-healthy...

WASHINGTON — How fast you can throw a ball or run or swerve a steering wheel depends on how speedily brain cells fire off commands to muscles. Fast firing depends on good insulation for your brain’s wiring.Now research suggests that in middle age, even healthy people begin to lose some of that insulation in a motor-control part of the brain — at the same rate that their speed subtly slows.And while that may sound depressing, keep reading. The research points to yet another reason to stay physically and mentally active: An exercised brain may spot fraying insulation quicker and signal...

It's more than just achy joints and arthritis, researchers sayDuring this year's baseball playoffs, Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., 38, threw a picture-perfect strike from center field to home plate to stop an opposing player from scoring. The White Sox ultimately won the game by a single run and clinched the division title. Had Griffey been 40, it could be argued, he might not have made the throw in time. That's because in middle age, we begin to lose myelin — the fatty sheath of "insulation" that coats our nerve axons and allows for fast signaling bursts in...