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July 30th, 2010
Salt this away for the future
The Canadian government is going on a campaign to limit your access to salt – sort of.
In typical Canadian fashion, a federal expert panel has come up with a “carefully designed” plan (aren’t they all?) for the food industry that will be – here’s the real Canadian bit – voluntary and that will reduce the salt content of many foods that are manufactured or served in restaurants.
And what if the industry and the restaurant business do what most people and organizations do with voluntary restriction plans, especially those that limit profit?
Well, if they don’t limit salt content on their own, then after 3 years of monitoring, “should additional measures become necessary, there is always that option”.
Well, this is a panel of experts, after all, so that’s how experts speak.
So here’s the thing: we eat too much salt, yes, but the reason is that it makes everything taste better (I once read a terrific article on the secrets of great chefs, and the main secret, indeed, the only one, I think, is that they add way more salt to their dishes than you or I do when we cook on our own).
So using the never-yet-wrong Law of Unintended Consequences, I’m willing to bet that what will happen is that the food industry will either not limit salt intake (sales would drop precipitously and instantly of many foods: think unsalted chips, unsalted cookies, and on and on and on) and fight this bill for years and years to postpone the “additional measures”, or the industry will find either new salt-like products (that do exactly the same damage as does salt) or something perhaps even worse than salt to replace the lost salt.
The most effective way, I believe, to get people to cut their salt intake is to educate the public on the risks of too much salt (and there is still a lot of controversy about the levels of salt intake that constitute a “risk” for the average individual) and wait patiently for the public to make the necessary change in diet.
I’m Dr Art Hister
July 28th, 2010
A hopeful report about celiac disease
I just can’t believe how much interest there is in celiac disease.
For example, when I mentioned this next report on one of my daily news bits on Global TV, I got more email on this than on any other topic I had ever dealt with: clearly, a great many people either are – or think they are – celiacs.
So here’s the report: researchers from Australia report finding the 3 protein fragments in gluten that are most toxic to people with celiac disease, a work that was like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack, since gluten is known to contain at least 2700 protein fragments.
But, according to these researchers, these 3 fragments account for the majority of immune reactions that occurs in CD (although they actually found 90 fragments that could produce immune responses, but these 3 were most prevalent), and the reason that’s such terrific news, if it’s true, is that this could lead to several important advances.
First, it should be pretty easy to develop a good test for reaction to these fragments, which could then be used as a screening test, and likely a much better screening test than the one currently in use.
Second, and even more important, I think, especially to long-term celiacs like me, is that research can now speed ahead on ways to try to desensitize celiac to these particular fragments, that is, it could be that one day not too long away, a celiac who got desensitization treatment might be able to eat some gluten-rich pastries or bread or even drink some regular beer (made with barley hops, and not with yuck! Rice).
I’m Dr Art Hister
July 27th, 2010
B vitamins do not prevent heart disease
Taking vitamin supplements will never replace eating a healthy diet: part 98
Many decades ago, researchers noticed that people with high blood levels of the protein, homocysteine, have higher rates of heart attacks and strokes than people with lower homocysteine levels.
It was subsequently discovered that homocysteine levels can be lowered with higher intake of some B vitamins, predominantly folic acid and B12.
Ergo, according to the mob that likes to jump to conclusions before the data is all in: give people at risk for a heart attack high doses of vitamin B 12 and folic acid, and you will significantly reduce their risk of suffering a heart attack.
Sounds good, but it doesn’t work.
It hasn’t worked in several large studies, and it didn’t work at all in the latest large 12,000 person study that was just published in JAMA.
And the thing that should finally put the last nail in this coffin is that this study 1) was carried out in a really high-risk group, that is, people who’d already had a heart attack and presumably would be most sensitive to any positive vitamin intervention, and 2) they used pretty good doses of both folic acid (2 gm/day) and vitamin B 12 (1 gm/day), so you can’t really criticize this study (as is done to so many studies) on the basis of inadequate dosages.
As is so often the case in medicine, the theory works, the practice doesn’t, so the bottom line is: B vitamin supplementation does not reduce anyone’s risk of suffering a heart attack; only eating a good diet can do that.
I’m Dr Art Hister
July 19th, 2010
Testosterone
As I’ve always said, testosterone is a dangerous hormone: too much, and you want to march off to invade Poland, or fight that bigger dude in the bar who’s got it coming (although it shouldn’t come from you), or, according to a recent study presented at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, you die of heart disease.
In this study of just under 700 older men, the higher a man’s testosterone level, the more likely he was to die of heart disease.
Why?
No one knows, of course, but in some animal studies, testosterone promoted atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, although to be fair, other studies on real-live honest-to-goodness men have found that low levels of testosterone lead to a greater risk of heart disease.
Really, the inescapable bottom line is that we just don’t know the full effects of testosterone on men, and most important, whether there are subsets of men (seniors, for example) in whom extra doses of this hormone might be dangerous so for now, this bandwagon of giving testosterone replacement to any aging guy who has few vague complaints should really be slowed, if not stopped entirely.
I’m Dr Art Hister
July 16th, 2010
Does alcohol prevent arthritis?
A study involving 7000 Dutch adults (and which was presented at EULAR, the wonderfully-named European League Against Rheumatism – it sounds like something Matt Damon would be trying to close down) found that those who reported drinking moderate amounts of alcohol had a significantly lower risk of developing any form of arthritis – rheumatoid, osteo, psoriatic, others – than did teetotalers or heavy drinkers.
Ergo: alcohol lowers the risk of arthritis, not just specific forms, but all forms.
Maybe, but maybe not.
In fact, since it was self-reporting, I think that it’s a pretty risky conclusion to draw because (as even the lead researcher commented), people who believe they’re getting sick, or who are indeed actually developing an illness, will often cut down on their alcohol intake, often on the advice of doctors, and although this may be unwise advise, nonetheless, it’s very likely that in this survey, people who were developing arthritis reduced their alcohol intake, and that’s really why there are so many non-drinkers on the arthritis side of the ledger.
The lesson from this report: it’s rather easy to mis-read results from studies, and to jump to inappropriate preliminary conclusions.
That said, l’chaim.
I’m Dr Art Hister
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