Atherosclerosis is an Ancient Problem

There are some who attribute modern degenerative diseases to the modern lifestyle. Some argue that cancer and heart disease were virtually non-existent in the good ol' days. This recent study (full text at link) found that 1/3 of all mummies examined had evidence of atherosclerosis. You can read the Australian ABC news release here. 

Nuts May Help Prevent Diabetes Type 2 Complications

This link from Science Daily highlights the value of moderate consumption of nuts. Previously spurned because of their high fat content, recent research is finding that nuts are an excellent addition to our diet. Of particular interest note the finding in March claiming that walnuts are the best overall nut for consumption. Walnuts contain good quantities of gamma tocopherol, a much better form of vitamin E than that commonly found in tablets which typically contain alpha tocopherol. In fact high consumption of alpha tocopherol appears to impede the absorption of the better forms of vitamin E. So nuts to you.

The Good News on Saturated Fat

Must be that time of year when all the long held myths concerning health and nutrition are held up for scrutiny. About time, many people believe that saturated fat is bad. That is bollocks. You need saturated fat. This obsession with the terror of saturated fat is what drove many people to avoid eggs and dairy products. This in spite of good literature showing that eggs are an excellent food and FULL FAT dairy is good for you, albeit keeping in mind total fat intake and the balance of fatty acid intake.

Thus, from the news article ...

A recent meta-analysis of epidemiological and intervention studies of milk fat conducted by Peter Elwood, DSc, MD, FRCP, FFPHM, DUniv, Hon DSc, Honorary Professor at the School of Medicine, Cardiff University, found that milk and dairy consumption actually was associated with a decrease in CVD risk.

The above has been known for years. What many people don't realise is that dairy products contain a very beneficial fatty acid - conjugated linoleic acid.

Can Diet Reverse Alzheimers?

Hope springs eternal, except when you're dead. (With no Arrow of Time is one eternally dead or eternally alive? Or am I in a box and if God happens to look inside will my fate then be decided? God, don't look!) On the internet there is a cure and conspiracy for everything. Such is the nature of human cognition, a ramshackle attack on reality that through brute force manages to get enough things right amidst the a multitude of errors and disasters. I read Camus in another life and I really must try to start forgetting him.

If the only significant history of human thought were to be written, it would have to be the history of its successive regrets and its impotences.

The Myth of Sisyphus, page 24

I seriously doubt there can ever be a cure of Alzheimers. (At the end of this post though I do suggest one idea that is worthy of serious consideration.) By the time diagnosis is made the damage tends to be extensive. Take Parkinsons Disease as an example, the individual can lose up to 60% of the neurons in the substantia nigra before symptoms arise. In dementias generally, by time of diagnosis a vicious physiological cycle of destruction has become established and at present there is no obvious solution to that problem. There is an increasingly detailed understanding of these processes and in time it will be possible for individuals to institute strategies that can seriously arrest the progression of even advanced dementia; though at that stage of dementia I'd rather take a bullet than pills. Such treatment expectations however are for another generation.

In our time, studies like this point to strategies that *may* help us. All things considered, it will not be a matter of single strategies or golden elixirs, but rather a lifestyle that incorporates a variety of strategies to minimise the risk of dementia.

Eat Watermelon and save your heart

Watermelon is good for the heart? Yes, and it is also is being touted by some as a "natural viagra". These two issues are inter-related and will be addressed later in the post. This post was prompted by a news item on the BBC website which found that low fat, low carb, and mediterranean diets can reduce the size of plaques in our arteries. The effect was small, only a 5% volume reduction and probably of little value to those with serious coronary plague, at least in the short term. Keep in mind that over the long term that ongoing 5% reduction, if sustained over many years, could be critical in preventing a heart attack.

Have a look at the image on the left. It shows how plague can build up to such high levels it can block the artery and induce occlusive strokes or a heart attack. The typical advice we receive is that we must be carefully control our diet, exercise regularly, and eat heart healthy foods. What is not often mentioned directly relates to benefits of watermelon and other foods that provide a substrate which is essential to maintaining cardiovascular health.

Eat slowly, eat well, with friends and\or family

In our fast paced world eating has taken on a utilitarian aspect that is not doing us any good at all. We read the labels for nutrients, we pop pills for health, we eat on the run, we avoid unhealthy foods, we have turned eating into a chore when it should be a pleasure.

Even supermarkets are now selling various supplements, foods are fortified with this and that, purportedly claiming superior health from eating these fortified foods. The evidence for this is scant. What epidemiological studies show is that you don't need a "scientifically" determined eating plan but rather observing some simple rules for eating healthily.

The French Paradox remains unresolved. Basically it goes like this: the French eat a great many unhealthy foods yet have markedly lower rates of the types of diseases that pervade many Western countries. The French enjoy their food, eat as a social event not as an intrusion on a busy life. They take time to enjoy their food, eat much more slowly than us, and enjoy their meals.

Now consider how many of us eat: we agonise of the right balance of foods to optimise health, we eat lunch quickly so that we have more time to enjoy our lunch break before going back to the grind, we get home from work and are so tired we slap dash something together and gulp it down while watching TV or on the internet instead of using meal time as a chance to socialise and unwind.

This latest study from the BMJ highlights a problem with our eating style. It found that eating quickly and until we are full is a risk factor for obesity. No surprises there. The feeling of being full arises when food reaches the stomach, hormones are released which signal that we have had enough to eat. However if we eat quickly the hormonal message doesn't begin to function until we have over eating. This is because it takes time for food to reach the stomach. The other problem with eating quickly is that we tend to insufficiently chew our food. This prevents nutrient absorption.

We need to change our eating habits. We need to return to the habits of enjoying eating rather than treating it as a scientific exercise. We need to eat with others, take our time, enjoy our meals, and stop obsessing about food and nutrients.