Such is the title of a thread recently begun over at ImmInst.org. Sometime soon, I’ll describe what I understand about ImmInst.org. I like it a lot. Very interesting stuff going on there. You’ll notice it is on my very short blogroll list.
This morning I made a post to that thread that I think might be interesting to readers of this blog. To understand the full context of this post, you’ll need to refer to the ImmInst.org thread. But I think even without taking a peek there, most of what I write should be clear.
A few disclaimers
- I’m not saying that eating a lot of bacon is a good thing. I am saying that, at this point, it seems to me that the suggestion that we ought to eat a lot of bacon is MORE helpful than saying the dietary guidelines of the American Heart Association should be followed.
- Yesterday I wrote about having a feeling of loss and regret. Well, at this moment, I’m a bit more than a little pissed off. So, if my writing appears provocative then I have succeeded in my objective to try to provoke discussion and debate. Presented with scientific evidence and therapies that will work for me, I’m open and willing to change my mind.
In that ImmInst.org thread, a person named velopismo writes favorably about the new Gary Taubes book Good Calories Bad Calories and quotes Taubes as follows:
4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
Without further introduction or comment, my post to that ImmInst.org thread follows the jump…
To speak to this point 4 that Taubes makes and velopismo quotes, let’s ask ourselves a question:
Why is it that some people with low BMIs who exercise and eat a “healthy” low fat diet drop dead suddenly of a heart attack? This happens much more frequently than we imagine it might. What are the drivers of this phenomenon?
Upthread, I provided a reference to a recent study showing that a low carb diet resulted in less inflamation than a high carb diet.
High “Small dense LDL-P” (Small Dense LDL particle number) and low Large HDL-P (HDL particle number) are extremely important risk factors for coronary artery disease.
I don’t have time at the moment to put up scientific literature references at the moment but direct your attention to the work of Dr. Davis who discusses this point extensively. His recommendation to both low and high BMI individuals with high LDL-P and low HDL-P? It’s simple: get the carb intake number down, including all wheat.
Just a reminder about Davis: He has recently been writing about CAD and other topics for LEF magazine and is audicious in his claim that meeting the lipoprotein subfraction targets he has described elsewhere and I posted somewhere here at ImmInst.org “essentially eliminates [cardiac] events.”
High Lipoprotein(a) (aka Lp(a)) has for two decades been known to be a significant independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Lp(a) was THE risk factor at the center of the Pauling/Rath theory of CAD. What little evidence exists about dietary impact on Lp(a) levels?
Sally McCormick, one of a handful of the top Lp(a) researchers in the world, wrote this about diet in her 2004 article entitled Lipoprotein(a): Biology and clinical importance.
Lp(a) levels are generally very resistant to changes in diet, although there is evidence that dietary fat lowers Lp(a) levels. Hornstra et al. documented a lowering of plasma Lp(a) levels in individuals placed on diets rich in saturated fat. In keeping with this, Ginsberg et al. reported an increase in Lp(a) levels in individuals after they reduced their saturated fat intake. Monosaturated fats also seem to reduce Lp(a) levels, as shown by a recent study that reported a significant decrease in Lp(a) levels in individuals whose diets were supplemented with almonds.
As the title of this thread [at ImmInst.org] puts the issue, should some of us with increased carbohydrate sensitivity be saying “That’s right baby, give me some bacon?” Could the best answer, for some of us, really be: “Yes, but hold the whole-grained bread.”
As Taubes put the question in 2002: What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?
Let’s not confuse the issue by pointing to the apparent harm done by fast food. Those hamburgers are sandwiched between high carb bread and those french fries carry an enormous carb load. About the salt on the french fries and the impact on blood pressure? Taubes attempts to make the case that hypertension also is caused by excess carb consumption.
I’m not saying I’m an expert on these issues and can carry the low-carb/higher fat side of the debate. I’m not and I can’t. But I do know that I personally have extreme carb sensitivity and carry all the most harmful lipoprotein subfraction patterns mentioned above. I lost 5 years trying to do a modified Ornish style low fat diet and got nowhere. And yet, here is a brief summary of what has occured over 3 months on Dr. Davis’ Track Your Plaque program, including an Atkins style low carb, higher fat diet.
My most recent numbers don’t look half bad huh? When I met with my primary care physician last week he said “aside from raising your HDL a bit, you are well into the ranges that reduce your risk of a future cardiac event.”
Well, it turns out that he’s wrong because, underneath those numbers, I’ve got raging high Small Dense LDL-P (LDL particle number) and extremely low Large HDL-P (HDL particle number) and high Lp(a). How do I address those issues? The answer, apparently, is that I must cut the carbs and increase the fat.
Again, why do some low BMI, highly fit individuals keel over and suddenly die of a cardiac event? It is extremely likely because of one of those 3 reasons mentioned in the paragraph above.
Do you know what your numbers are for those 3 lipoprotein variables?
How about we insist that proponents of the “Pauling Therapy” for CAD, for which there is little or no scientific evidence vis-a-vis reducing Lp(a)–including the multi-tier marketing company that has created A LOT of different web sites for the same product and floods google searches about CAD–haul themselves out of a too simple model of the causes of CAD and get with the latest scientific findings about Coronary Artery Calcium Heart Scanning and lipoprotein subfraction blood testing.
I put it to you that this issue of a low fat vs. a low carb diet is THE diet question of the decade and that this Nutrition category at the ImmInst.org forum is something close to an ideal venue for discussion and debate about this issue.
What if it’s all been a big fat lie?
December 8th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I have very similar conditions, and at a much younger age and a stent. My LP(a) numbers are high, though the LDL particle number ( indirectly Apoprotein B) and HDL particle number ( indirectly ApoA-I) are reasonable.
I found some articles/studies connecting ApoA-I to genes, and the HDL amounts connected to the amount of ApoA1.
There is this interesting study, which claims ApoA-I levels are reduced by Vitamin D3. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16236546)
Are you on vitamin D3, have you checked your ApoA-I levels?
By no means, I’m an expert, but the study is interesting, given all the other advantages of vitamin D3.
December 8th, 2007 at 3:29 am
A friend of mine just forwarded me this. It is about increasing ApoAI, by signalling the body it produce more (I don’t know how it works). It sounds exciting, but we will have to take it with a pinch of salt, as it is from the manufacturer.
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2007/12/resverlogix_nexvas_plaque_removal_technology.html