Interesting News from the Low Carb Blogosphere

The Pepsi Challenge
Apparently, so-called "healthy whole grain" products have the same effect on your blood glucose levels as a 12-ounce can of sugared Pepsi. Also read Tom Naughton's take on the same data source, as it relates to that infamous article by Hope Warshaw.

The War on Salt
In salt news, a meta analysis of 6,250 subjects found little evidence to support the claim that limiting salt will reduce your risk of a heart attack. Limiting salt will lead to blander tasting foods, however. In fact, the less salt subjects consumed, the greater their risk of heart disease. The authors call for an end on the unsubstantiated war on salt. I have written about the lack of evidence condemning salt before and agree with the suggestion to end the war on salt.

Obesity
The only state in the nation with fewer than 20% of the population classified as obese is Colorado. More than a dozen states have 33% or more classified as obese, and Mississippi is the most obese state in the country. Interestingly, the mainstream may be recognizing that starches and sugars are causing weight gain.

Pro Low Carb Message in the LA Times
Wow, a positive story in a mainstream newspaper about the low carb lifestyle. Miracles never cease.

More on Salt Consumption

A new study from Europe sheds more light on the hazards of not consuming enough salt. An eight year study came up with this conclusion: "the less salt the participants ate, the more likely they would die from heart disease." That certainly goes against the advice of the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Apparently, low salt users have a 56% greater risk of heart disease than heavy salt users. So, all the fuss over excess salt consumption is just another load of CWOPO.

So we now know that a lowered salt intake is positively associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease mortality, as well as insulin resistance.

Low Salt Intake and Insulin Resistance

A new study shows that a low salt diet is associated with insulin resistance. So far from being benign, cutting back on salt may actually be harmful. We have learned before that low salt intake was associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, and this may be the mechanism behind that finding.

So the advice to lower salt intake is just another load of CWOPO.

CWOPO

Conventional Wisdom or Prevailing Opinion (CWOPO) has really let me down in recent months.  I have learned that salt restriction may actually be dangerous, contrary to what we have always been told.  The idea that cholesterol causes heart disease has been debunked for years now, but the USDA still issues food guidelines that assume it is true.

Soy is supposed to be the new health super food (and it's in everything we eat that is processed--just read the labels).  Yet I am discovering that soy is a very dangerous food, and that giving soy formula to infants is like giving them birth control pills.

We are told to do cardiovascular exercise, and then learn that it may actually cause heart disease.

My daughter has educated me about natural child birth and the benefits of using a nurse midwife (see the movie, The Business of Being Born on Netflix or Amazon Prime).  Naturally, this movie upset the AMA.

We are told to have regular physical exams, then we are told that annual physicals don't do much for us.

The American Diabetes Association approved diet is heavy on carbs, yet these same carbs are causing blood sugar spikes.  Don't these so-called professionals know this?  Dr. Bernstein takes the ADA to task for its 2008 guidelines that are problematic for diabetics.

Last year, I had a scare with rheumatoid arthritis (fortunately for me, it was merely reactive arthritis), and all the conventional treatments are pretty scary, not to mention expensive.  Yet there is a simple, safe, inexpensive, medically proven alternative to the other expensive and dangerous rheumatoid arthritis treatments.  And this treatment is shunned by rheumatologists and the medical establishment.

I am now starting to question a lot of what I have been told to do by medical authorities.  CWOPO is often seriously flawed and out of date, in my opinion.  I have discovered that evidence based medicine is not usually practiced, though it should be.  CWOPO is what is practiced, and it is very hard to change, despite empirical evidence to the contrary.

I am learning that if it is my health problem, I must take ownership of the problem and do the research about what to do.  This is what I have done with the type II diabetes, what I did when I thought I had rheumatoid arthritis, and what I have done with my weight loss strategy.  I will not merely passively accept what an M.D. tells me in the future.

Salt Intake and Cardiovascular Health

Everything I thought I knew about nutrition and health is being turned on its head.  Now two recent studies conclude that lowering salt intake is a risk factor in cardiovascular disease.  Haven't we been told to limit our intake of salt?

The first study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that lower salt intake was associated with higher cardiovascular disease mortality.

The second study concluded that a low salt diet increased insulin resistance in healthy subjects.  Insulin resistance is a risk factor for developing type II diabetes, which is a risk factor for heart disease.