Cholesterol gets a lot of bad publicity but the truth is that it is an essential part of all cells and so it is no real surprise that it is abundant in the human body. The prevailing theory is that cholesterol is the cause of modern diseases but how strong is the evidence to support this theory? and what, if anything …
Saturated fat: Why all the fuss?
I’m just finishing a text book I forgot to finish a year or so back and got to the chapter on heart disease. It reminded me why I get a little frustrated with current nutritional and health advice and why I think the public gets so confused and follows so many fashions. In my view it’s because so much of …
What you put into your body or how you get rid of it: What’s the most important?
Does any one know what we’re supposed to be eating any more? Seriously I really think it depends who you listen to. Everyone has a different answer. Think I’m crazy? well first it was low fat, then low saturated fat, then low carb, high protein. It goes on. Ok we’ve all heard that debate. Well what do the oldest people in …
The French Paradox: Having your cake and eating it
I mentioned to a friend recently about the French paradox. That is the idea that some things the French do go counter to current wisdom in health education yet they still have fantastic results in many of the health statistics that we compare nations by. In the same search I found that in some quarters the ‘French Paradox’ doesn’t hold up, …
Health Science: finding facts from correlations
One thing that does really bug me when science, particularly health science, is reported in the press is that correlations are so often consider evidence of fact. I just read an article titled ‘Vitamins in foods may protect brain‘. Now I do accept the concept that vitamins are likely to help with brain function but I’ object to the way …
Cholesterol improves memory and learning
Well here’s something new to me. The idea that cholesterol is important in brain function. I’m certainly reluctant at the moment to follow the many current dietary trends from low carb, to high carb, to paleolithic because I just don’t think all the results are in. This article gives a little insight into why obliterating cholesterol from your body may …
Can you reverse insulin resistance
I read an article Insulin resistance and pre diabetes and just had to report the findings of the major study they refer to. ‘lifestyle changes reduced the risk of diabetes by 58 percent’ The main recommendation is to be active and eat well. I just wanted to make the point that insulin resistance can be reversed. They also found that many people with …
What factors make us kick the bucket?
I hear so much about what risk factors there are to make us die sooner and all the things we should do or not do but because I like to research both sides of the story I always find things that contradict each other. I’m coming round to the view that the overall risk really depends on where we are …
Why are trans-fats so bad?
The answer is very simple really. Trans-fats get a bad name because they are linked to the increased rates of coronary heart disease and many related risk factors. Coronary heart disease is caused at a basic level by the pipes of the bodies blood transport system, the arteries, veins and capillaries becoming less elastic, and more prone to blockages as …