Seniors, why healthful living matters the most

The rate of adult obesity is over 50%[1], cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths over 60%, and dementia 47% of those over 84 years, diabetes among seniors over 26%. Something is very wrong. It started with the FDA low fat--thus higher carbs & sugars—diet.

table of frequently used abbreviations

AS Atherosclerosis		N6 Omega 6 fatty acids
CVD Cardiovascular disease		MeS Metabolic syndrome
IR Insulin resistance		NALFD Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
KOL Key opinion leader		T2D Type 2 Diabetes
N3 Omega 3 fatty acids

A Message for Seniors on Supplements & Diet

http://healthfully.org/rc/id21.html 7/13/15

Benefits of supplements, with embedded links to medical journal articles.

A supplement is a chemical that is identical to one found in the body which is taken based upon claims of benefits; distinguished from a drug that is not natural to your body or diet. As you get older your tissues and organs have diminished functions, thus the risk for age-related diseases increases. Because the body’s reserves are less, the benefits of exercise, healthful diet, and healthful supplements yield both a greater improvement in health and a reduction in risk for age-related chronic and acute conditions. For example a person who starts jogging at 60 for 10 years will on an average benefit more than a person age 40 year for reduction in the risk of heart attack, caner, and type-2 diabetes. The same logic applies to supplements and diet. One well-constructed study of senior male runners found that the runners as a group postponed disability by 8.7 years and “the control group had a 3.3 times higher rate of death” (81 versus 26 for the runners).

Big, bad pharma essential controls the production of information for their financial benefit, thus they through their KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) teach doctors through required continuing education class that they fund and in medical textbooks written by KOLs that supplements do not work, and they do tobacco studies to “prove” it. Bad pharma “proves” that aspirin and sex hormones are dangerous. Thus you must put out of mind what is commonly said by the corporate media and doctors on the healthful choices listed. I have carefully sorted through the journal articles (ignoring pharma’s tobacco science) for the best of the supplements. For each article (link below) I have spent over 300 hours—the embedded links provide the journal evidence. Though my search is incomplete, the short list of supplements is sufficient. Little additional benefit would be gained by adding more supplements. The current list: natural sex hormones estradiol with progesterone for women, for men testosterone, CoQ10, vitamin C, fish oil as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and glutathione--in that order for benefits. If you have a weight problem or markers for cardiovascular disease (other than elevated cholesterol) than a very low carbohydrate diet will allow the body to heal. Like trans fats which are artery clogging, a similar effect comes from polyunsaturated fats which are subject to rancidification in the body. Saturated and monounsaturated fats are the best source of energy. To the positive list added exercise that pushes you near to your cardio limit, and also weight training. The only drug of major benefit is aspirin at the 325 mg dose, or more. It prevents cancer, atherosclerosis, and increase cancer and heart attack survival. Our corporate system follows tobacco ethics; the amount of harm pharma does is tragic. Watch the documentaries that expose their perversion of medicine and nutrition. The healthfully site is dedicated to exposing the tobacco science and to recommending superior alternatives. As risk goes up and health declines, the benefits from the recommendations increase.

What has gone wrong: We have gone the paleo diet condition where ischemic events[1], CVD/atherosclerosis, T2D, MeS, obesity, NAFLD were rare, to being common, thanks to the Western diet. The list of causes according to significance: high fructose É high carbs É high trans and polyunsaturated fats É cigarettes[2] É polypharmacy. These cause the prevalence of conditions rare among the elderly on a paleo diet: ischemic events, carcinoma, neurodegenerative diseases, join-bone degenerative diseases, intestinal disorders, macular degeneration et al. The process starts with a high fructose consumption which when in excess is converted in the liver into fat and stored there. Up from 64 lbs. in 1950,[3] the US averages 151 lbs. of sweetener per year of which half of it consists of the sugar fructose. The liver plays key indirect role in the regulation of insulin. When the liver is damaged through the accumulation of fat in hepatocytes, metabolic regulation is affected in ways that increase the incidence of the above listed conditions. The Department of Agriculture recommended in 1978 a 25% reduction in calories from fats, and this resulted in them being replaced by carbs including sugars. This dietary switch exacerbated the processes leading to the listed pathologies. This was made worse because of the marketing of the much cheaper plant derived polyunsaturated fats which undergo in the body oxidation (rancidification). Like trans-fats (which are derived by hydrogenation from polyunsaturated fats), they promote atherosclerosis which is the main causal factor for heart attacks and strokes. To promote the sales of processed foods, we were warned that the expensive animal derived saturated fats caused CVD—they don’t.

What to do: Eat a low insulin diet (very low in carbs until desired weight is obtained). Avoid manufactured foods (commonly called “processed foods”). I call them manufactured because their production is guided by the maximization of profits. Manufactured foods are high in unhealthful sugars and the unhealthful trans and polyunsaturated fats. Note: the “0 trans-fats” on the nutrient table on the products is a pseudo fix. Eat a healthful diet, take the supplements recommended above, avoid polypharmacy, and to increase motivation watch repeatedly the documentaries and lectures listed on the video page.

[1] Lack of oxygen, an acute event, often affecting the heart or brain, which damage tissue through the restriction of the flow of blood brought on by a thrombosis (clot) most of which result from the leaking of young unstable plaque associated with atherosclerosis.

[2] Cigarettes are low because the Japanese who smoke more than those in the US have a much lower incidence of ischemic events. Thought they eat a high carb diet, they eat a very low fructose diet (14 g vs 75 US average). For those on a Western diet, once endothelia dysfunction occurs through IR and glycation by fructose, the risk for ischemic goes up.

[3] For the average person Prof. Robert Lustig estimates that 40 g of fructose will NOT damage the liver through fat accumulation, and thus muck up metabolic functions. Above that amount the risk for developing a fatty liver increases—susceptibility depends on a variety of factors such as caloric requirements, insulin resistance, and genetics.

3. How Did We Get Here

The prima facie evidence is that the low fat, low cholesterol diet adopted in the 1977 by our government and in the next decade by governments around the world along with the advertising campaign of processed food campaign produced the global health disaster. A government congressional committee ignored the critics and based on weak evidence decided that high serum cholesterol and triglycerides (3-fat molecules joined) caused CVD and that lowering them in diet was heart health. This resulted in replacing fat with carbs. Pharma wanted to treat high cholesterol with drugs; food manufactures wanted cheap hydrogenated vegetable oils, and tobacco wanted not to be blamed for CVD. The Senate panel (McGovern Commission) of experts investigating the rise in CVD missed cigarettes, which at a pack-a-day cause atherosclerosis and doubles the risk of death by heart attack—the FDA had warned only about lung cancer. Over twice as many deaths are caused by tobacco induced CVD and strokes than from lung cancer. In 1965, 42% of the adult population smoked, and smoking a pack a day doubles deaths from heart attacks. Without controlling for cigarette use, their population studies were flawed. Dr. Kellogg, of cereal fame, published in 1922 a 171 page concise compendium of research on tobacco’s known health consequences, including the destructive action on blood vessels, at. The government’s half-century of inaction & media silence are two examples of the power of a perverse corporate system in our pseudo-democracy. That is how the science behind healthy diet can get turned upside down by big money. Our government ignoring the evidence and fails to warn about sugar and refined carbs.

4. LOW INSULIN DIET http://graemethomasonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Insulin-Index.pdf

Each portion of food contained 240 calories—score relative white bread which was set at 100

Peanuts 20	Fish 59	Grapes 82
Eggs 31	Oranges 69	Crackers 87
All bran 32	Potato chips 61	Ice cream 89
Porridge 40	Brown rice 62	Cookies 92
Brown Pasta 40	Special K 66	Whole Bread 96
White Pasta 40	Honey smacks 67	White Bread 100
Cheese 45	Coco Pops 71	Yogurt 115
Granola plain 46	French Fries 74	Baked Beans 120
Beef 51	Corn Flakes 75	Potatoes 121
Popcorn 54	Croissants 79	Mars Bar 122
Grain bread 56	White Rice 79	Jelly Beans 160
Lentils 58	Bananas 81
Apples 59	Cake 82

Low carbohydrate	Avoid fructose	Fiber is the only good carbohydrate
Small meals	Frequent snacks, best have protein & fiber for satiety	Fats, fiber, and protein slow stomach clearance—lower insulin response
Physical exertion lower serum glucose	Saturated fats are best source of energy, monounsaturated 2^nd best	SELECT FOODS ACCORDING TO INSULIN INDEX TABLE--below

5. Setting the Record Straight on points relevant to diet-- (trashing corporate marketing science)

High plasma cholesterol causes CVD. TRUTH: High plasma cholesterol has not been demonstrated to be a cause of plaque formation. CVD’s main cause is infective agents within artery walls which damage LDL with toxins and cause an immune response by macrophages that cause atherogenesis. The cholesterol deposits in the artery walls are a byproduct of the immune response, as too are calcium crystals, foam cells, triglycerides, and lymphocytes. Cholesterol is a bystander not a cause; thus lowering its production with drugs does not prevent AS or heart attack. Autopsy studies found no relationship between plasma cholesterol and degree of AS in those died violent deaths, see.
Avoid saturated fats because they cause CVD by raising the plasma level of small-dense LDL which is associated with CVD. TRUTH: Saturated fats don’t raise cholesterol levels or small-dense LDL. LDL level is not associated with CVD (see #1). A meta-analysis of 21 studies on saturated fats, “failed to find an association with CVD, Wiki and also Wiki. This extends to all types of fats when “increased from 30 to 50% of total energy,” 2004.
Vegetable oils are preferred to animal fats. TRUTH: Vegetable oils are associated with diseases because they are high in polyunsaturated fats and become rancid in the body and on the shelf--1945 and. Some of their oxidation products are harmful. Second, they are high in omega-6 fatty acid which blocks conversion of omega 3 oils to an anti-inflammatory agent. Our Paleolithic ancestor averaged 2 parts omega-6 to 1 omega-3; today it’s 16 to 1. Many people wisely take a fish-oil supplement to improve the ratio of omega-3. Because of its effect on the immune system and rancidification vegetable oils promote the diseases involving inflammation, including CVD, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. The more expensive animal fats are the best source of fat followed by the palm kernel, coconut, and olive oils which are high in monounsaturated fats.
Sugar (the disaccharide sucrose, fructose and glucose), fruit sugar (fructose), and starches (long chains of glucose) are merely empty calories without nutritive value; viz. harmless sources of energy. A calorie is a calorie. TRUTH: sugars and starches (pure glucose) damage tissues. Fructose and glucose randomly bind to proteins (in a process called “glycation”) to damages proteins in your cells. Thus glycation promotes the degenerative conditions associated with old age: CVD, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, et al. Fructose (fruit sugar) has a glycation rate of 7-10 times that of glucose. Fructose is converted in the liver to fat which can causes liver dysfunction that progresses to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and that affects the plasma-glucose regulatory function of the liver to cause IR. Fructose also by minimal affecting insulin, bypasses the appetite regulating system involving leptin & ghrelin, which causes weight gain. Fructose stimulates the addiction center of the brain (see #6 below) to promote sugar addiction. Clearly, sugars are not harmless empty calories, nor are starches with high insulin index.
The cause of obesity is a sedentary lifestyle & gluttony. TRUTH: a high carbohydrate Western diet with its 180 grams of sugars daily that causes liver damage and IR. Its high serum insulin increases fat storage. When IR develops the biological system which controls weight is reset. The common diet yo-yo effect for the obese is a result of this regulatory system which reduces the rate of metabolism and increases fat storage. This system is found in all mammals.
Hormone replacement will not promote weight loss. TRUTH: during and following menopause women experience a precipitous drop in estradiol (the most healthful and active of the 4 natural estrogens). This drop in estradiol increases LPL which regulates weight, distribution of fat and physical activity. “Natural HRT [NHRT, estradiol plus progesterone] reduces insulin resistance and fasting glucose in women with diabetes” at. Numerous studies have found similar benefit for men on testosterone due to its androgen effect which increases metabolism.
HRT for men and women poses major health risks which outweigh their benefits. TRUTH: natural hormones lower risk for breast and prostate cancers. Men in the highest group for testosterone, have the lowest rate of prostate cancer. Estradiol moderately lowers the rate of breast cancer. In sufficient dose NHRT will reset the biological clock to a younger age and thereby significantly reduce the risk of most age-related chronic diseases. Estradiol with progesterone lowers CVD risk. Testosterone decreases the risk of heart attack. Current wisdom is based on pharma’s junk science & tobacco ethics. Read the section on the WHI study which exposes NIH’s use of Prempro.
Two lies about type 2-diabetes: that it is caused by high plasma sugar therefore drugs are given to lower sugar, and that it is a life-long condition; viz. it can’t be cured. Truth: IR is the problem which is cured by either bariatric surgery or by Dr. Janson Fung’s dietary treatment of low-insulin diet with alternate day fasting, or low carb high fat.
Pharma is highly regulated by the FD A to protect the public from the tobacco ethics used by corporations to fulfill their fiduciary duties. Truth: that there is a revolving door between the FDA and pharma, and that at the highest levels the FDA is ran by executives from pharma and their KOLs. For a summation of the ways in which the evidence base has been broken—link, or YouTube Dr. Angell. Our corporatist government enacted the Prescription Drug User Fee Act of 1992 to make the FDA dependent upon pharma for over half of its budget. Congress wants the FDA to serve the pharmaceutical industry. Link to Consumer Report on the FDA. Read Prof. Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma.
Doctors know what is best for patients. Truth: the education and sources of for doctors’ information has been manipulated by pharma so as to turn them into drug pushers. Pharma runs and owns the results of clinical trials, thus positive bias is the norm—32%. The information foundation is distorted. Pharma is very good at marketing and doctors have become their pawns. For an insightful explanation of how this has occurred click on link—you need to know. Pharma and food manufacturers through junk tobacco science, corporate media, and misinformed doctors who are taught by KOLs, all this produces in the masses and doctors cognitive dissonance which results in a failure to respond to the critical evidence. Pharma has framed the discussion to produce profitable results.

6. Some great supplements

Besides diet, exercise, and physical activity contribute to adjusting the weight-appetite system and to promote cardiovascular health, there are supplements and drugs that prevent damage to LDL, inflammation & oxidative damage. Best are aspirin 325 mg, CoQ10, vitamin C, & omega-3 fatty acids fish oil—in that order. All 4 reduce very significantly the risk for CVD & other chronic conditions. Natural hormone replacement therapy (NHRT) for women and elderly men testosterone in sufficient dose is highly recommended; they are heart healthy, and dramatically reduce the risk of osteoporosis, some cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, muscle weakness. These hormones promote weight control and the motivation to exercise. Go to their links above for the best usage and their many benefits; and you will understand why pharma has with junk science opposed their usage. For more info on statins, cholesterol myth, CVD, carbs, fats, and a video library click on links. The video page has documentaries and books confirm my claims. Click on Junk treatments to find out why the medical industry functions like tobacco, and how pharma accomplished this. For a longer version of this paper with several additional topics click on link. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

An appealing theory is often shot down by the details. In their theory, lower serum levels of LDL would result in less glycation and oxidation and thus lower CVD, but for reasons too complex to develop here, lowering LDL doesn’t work—see Statins. But ineffective drugs didn’t stop pharma from promoting sales through the dyslipidemia model (high cholesterol) for CVD. Pharma wasn’t interested prevention of atherosclerosis--the cause of CVD--but to sell drugs to modestly lower cholesterol and triglycerides, back then. Pharma and food manufacturers supported the low-fat, low-cholesterol diet; and so our government reversed its position on carbs and fats, and thus ignored 60 years of research. Dietary percentage of fats fell 25% and thus carbs rose by 50% to fill the energy gap (a gram of fat has 9 calories, carb 4). To make matters worse saturated fats were held heart unhealthy, thus food manufacturers replaced them with the “safer” unsaturated fats and hydrogenated trans-fats from vegetable oils—more expensive lard was out. They erred: hydrogenated trans-fats promote CVD as does the high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (see #3 above). Saturated fats traps the flavors in foods, so food manufacturers to improve palatability increased the sugar content. The combination of high sugar and carbs and low fiber along with unhealthful fats brought caused our spike in the incidence of CVD, obesity, and diabetes.

Note, it isn’t cholesterol that causes CVD, but inflammation caused by viruses and bacteria colonies within the artery walls. Pharma is not in the prevent business when it can reap billions lowering cholesterol. Pharma following tobacco ethics is very good at marketing. It wasn’t bad food science, for much of this was known by the 1930s (read Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat, 2009), but rather the influence of corporations upon decisions and information. Corporations have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. I call this tobacco ethics. A perverse system produces perverse results.

So what is to be done? Turn the clock back five decades: avoid sugars, cut way back on refined carbs, and processed foods; greatly increase saturated fats as the source of energy (follow the table on page 1). For weight loss, heavily restrict carbs & replace with fats, it works. In the well-constructed international A to Z Weight Loss Study of 3 different diets. Adkins Diet: very low carbs, high fat and proteins, & no limit on calories. Adkins diet had an average weight loss after 1 year of 18.26 lb. for adherents. The adherents to the Zone & Ornish diets loss 14.3 and 8.14 lb. respectively. The Zone Diet is low carbs and high protein, mono-saturated fats, and vegetables. The Ornish diet, exercise, fresh organic foods, and avoid meats and processed foods. These result for the high-fat protein diet is consistent with what most nutritionists and food scientists once recommended—see for example the health guru Carlton Frederick PhD, Low Blood Sugar and You, 1969) and Taubes supra. The old wisdom is having a rebirth, but in our business–first world changes won’t occur from the top down. The billions spent on food advertising insure that the wrong message will prevail and obesity epidemic will remain a mystery.

Review of Life without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life –On Aamazon.com. Some months ago I decided to get rid of the excess weight. As I had read something about a "low carb diet" on the net, and the idea of starvation wasn`t appealing, I decided to go for the "fat/ protein" solution. I ordered a lot of books on the subject, and read a lot on the net. After four months on primarily fat and proteins, I have lost about 20- 25 kg. It really is an incredible effective way to reduce weight!!! This book is an excellent description of the diet. It even explains how the body converts food to energy; which the body transfer and uses wherever necessary. This is something the other books left out completely. I highly recommend this book! [High protein, saturated fats, and very low carbs are the key to weight loss].

For those with insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes, or non-alcohol fatty liver disease: the fix is simple, an extremely low carbohydrate diet. The cure is not pharma’s drugs to manage sugar, but rather to manage insulin, and this is accomplished through avoiding the mechanism which causes the pancreas to produce insulin, which is to avoid carbohydrates. Click on the links and watch Dr. Janson Fung explain the issues: his method, on insulin and diabetes. He recommends fasting, however, the extremely low diet such as Atkins and Medifast also work for most. The object is to keep the insulin level very low. This entails not only eating foods with a very low insulin index and glycemic index, but also eat small meals, lots of snacks, and physical excursion, because this will keep your insulin level low. Follow this routine or that of alternate day fasting as Dr. Fung recommends, because this will permit the liver to heal and the biological mechanism which controls weight and insulin to reset. Type-2 diabetes is a progressive disease that starts with insulin resistance. The drugs pharma offers do not stop its progress; a progression that shortens life an average of 7 years. Once convinced, changing diet is doable.

[1] “A 2010 meta-analysis of 21 studies examined the effects of dietary saturated fat intake and found that ″there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD” Wiki.