Artificially Sweetened Beverages and the Risk of Stroke and Dementia

I’m often asked which is worse for health, sugar- or artificially sweetened beverages. My most common response is to recommend skipping both and choose water. In the era of fructose phobia and the apparent association between high fructose consumption and the risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes, many tend to prefer artificially sweetened beverages (1,2). … Read more

Low-Carb Diet to Treat Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease – Does It Make Sense?

Approximately 30 percent of people in the United States have a disease that is characterized by abnormal deposits of fat in the liver. The disease is not contagious, and unlike many other disorders of the liver, it is not caused by overconsumption of alcohol. It is called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and has become the leading cause of chronic liver disease … Read more

Diet and Heart Health – The Dawn of a New Era

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are due to be published later this year. The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) released February 23 this year suggested that we may see important changes of direction in certain areas. Since the publication of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines important scientific data has emerged … Read more

Does Sugar Cause Heart Disease?

Growing up and living with the diet-heart hypothesis through my professional career has been a remarkable experience. I was lucky. My mentors were great. I went to all the big cardiology conferences. I read the best books and I learned from the great masters. Early on, I was taught the fairly well established relationship between blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease. … Read more

Dietary Fat, Carbohydrates and Metabolic Syndrome

Time makes us fat. It’s not a myth, it’s a biologic fact. When we get old we get fat. In December 1863, William Banting, an English undertaker who went to great lengths to treat his own obesity, wrote in his now famous Letter on Corpulence: … For I have been generally informed that corpulence is one of the natural results of … Read more