Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
My dream is to write a book on health that will sell millions of copies. I’ll introduce a great new dietary solution. I already have a strategic plan. Firstly, I am going to select a target group. Obviously, it has to be a large group of people.
I’m going to write exactly what my target audience wants to hear. I’m pretty sure what it is. I am going to refer to the scientific literature (when it suits me). This will be expected of a doctor. However, I’ll only cite papers that support my dietary solution. Otherwise, I might confuse my readers.
I’ll definitively challenge mainstream medicine and public health guidelines because I know my readers will love that.
My target will probably be Paleo and low carb enthusiasts, mainly because this is a huge and rapidly growing group. Furthermore, these people are often very interested in nutrition and how to improve health. I know that for a fact because I often consider myself to be among them.
There are certain issues I know my readers will love to hear. I’ll tell them that many of the things government and official guidelines say about nutrition is wrong. I’ll tell them that eating lots of fat is good and will protect them from getting dreadful diseases like heart disease, depression, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. I’ll tell them that if they eat carbs, grains in particular and even fruit, their brains will get sick. I’ll tell them that gluten is dreadful. I’ll tell them that cholesterol is good and that statins (cholesterol-lowering pills) are bad.
Carbs and Brain Disease
Carbohydrate restriction has now been accepted as an effective method to lose weight among obese individuals. A year ago I wrote a blog article pointing out several health benefits of such a diet. In my dream book, I will take this a step further. I will suggest that eating lots of fats and very few carbs will protect your brain. Although there are no studies available to confirm this, I will be able to create an angle to prove my point.
It’s a scientific fact that diabetes is a risk factor for getting Alzheimer’s disease. More interestingly, a recent publication in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine suggests that higher blood sugar levels may be a risk factor for dementia, even among persons without diabetes. Furthermore, a study published last year suggested that a dietary pattern with relatively high caloric intake from carbohydrates and low caloric intake from fat and proteins may increase the risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia in elderly persons.
In one study, subjects with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia had a high predilection for sugar and sweet foods. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a dietary pattern with a high percent fat was associated with better processing speed, learning, and memory; in contrast high percent carbohydrate was associated with poor processing speed.
This is all highly interesting. Having diabetes and high blood sugar is a risk factor for dementia. So possibly, eating less sugar and more healthy fats might cut the risk of dementia. It’s certainly a hypothesis that deserves to be tested. However, I will need some real stuff for my book. Something more provoking. Nobody wants to read about an unproven hypothesis. If I could claim that all carbs are bad for the brain I might get noticed.
So, I will claim that avoiding all grains and eating lots of fat will protect your brain. I will provide citations to support my case. I’ll not make any distinction between refined grains and whole grains. My readers will accept that. It’s all sugar molecules anyway. I’ll tell my readers that sugar and carbs cause inflammation. Inflammation is an essential part of dementia and many other neurological disorders.
I know whole grains are rich in fiber, B-vitamins, Vitamin E, and often omega-3 fatty acids. They are important sources of minerals. Whole grains are one of our most important source of magnesium. Magnesium consumption has been associated with less inflammation in post-menopausal women. However, I will not confuse the readers of my book with this information.
Diets with a relatively high glycemic index (GI), were found to be associated with inflammation in a large group of women participating in the Harvard Women’s Health Study.
Fiber consumption was associated with less inflammation in seven different studies. Although the mechanisms underlying the associations between GI and inflammation are not fully clear, some data shows that rapid changes in blood sugar levels may increase free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to inflammation.
In general, whole grains are associated with less inflammation than refined grains. This may be due to one or many of the active constituents of whole grain which may include dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals. Again, I will not include this information in my book because I want my message crystal clear.
The health effects of the Mediterranean diet have been intensively studied. This diet contains fruit and whole grains. A recently published systematic review of eleven published papers addressing cognitive function and dementia found that greater adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with slower cognitive decline and lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
However, I will probably not mention this in my book. If I decide to do it I will tell my readers that my diet solution is indeed quite similar to the Mediterranean diet. Of course this will be a bit misleading, but I guess the end justifies the means.
Diet, Cholesterol and Health
I am going to put a lot of weight on the cholesterol issue. I have to convince my readers that cholesterol does not cause disease. In fact, I want to tell them that cholesterol is good. My arguments will be based on the important role cholesterol plays in our bodies. My main conclusion will be that eating fats, including cholesterol, will prevent brain disease.
We recently learned that statins increase the risk of diabetes by approximately 9 percent. Here, I can cite recent studies and more importantly, I can have an attack on the pharmaceutical industry which my readers will love.
I’ll explain how diet affects our cholesterol levels. When we measure blood cholesterol it is important to understand that 75-80 percent of the cholesterol measured is manufactured by our body, primarily by the liver. In fact, foods that are high in cholesterol tend to decrease the body’s own production of cholesterol. However, despite the body’s great capacity to produce cholesterol, I am going to convince my readers that our body prefers that we “spoon feed” our cholesterol from the foods we eat. Then we don’t have to unnecessary strain our liver. Of course I don’t have to provide any scientific citations here. My readers will know I know what I’m talking about.
I am going to explain what happens if you restrict your cholesterol intake. Then the body sends out an alarm to indicate crisis. The liver starts to use carbohydrates from our diet to produce an excess supply of cholesterol. In a recently published book (Perlmutter D, Grain Brain, p.99) this was called a Molotov cocktail in the works. When you consume high amounts of carbs, and avoid eating cholesterol, you force the liver to over-produce cholesterol, which is really bad. Okay, I’m suggesting that cholesterol is bad for the body if you don’t eat it, but good for your body when you consume lots of it. So cholesterol is good and bad….. ough…
Of course this does not make sense, but the only solution to stop this terrible and uncontrolled overproduction of cholesterol is to back of the carbs and eat more cholesterol (Perlmutter D, Grain brain, p.99). Obviously, I am not going to cite any scientific studies in relation to these magical explanations.
Depression
Studies have indicated that there is an inverse relationship between blood levels of total cholesterol and depression. This implies that people with depression generally have lower cholesterol levels than those without depression. I will use this to convince my readers that low cholesterol causes depression. Of course they will know that correlation does not imply causation, but I believe they will accept my claims because it fits into our general concept.
Of course, I will not confuse my readers by telling them that there are several non-mutually exclusive explanations for the negative association between depression and total cholesterol. Depression is known to impair appetite in some individuals. In addition, depression is associated with cytokine activation, which can impair cholesterol synthesis.
A review of randomized clinical trials concluded that we do not have sufficient evidence that cholesterol-lowering therapies increase the risk of depression and suicide. Clinical trials with cholesterol-lowering drugs have not found any mood decrements. However, I will stick with the explanation that fits my picture and my claim that low cholesterol causes depression
Impotence
One of the most effective ways to apply to male readers is to touch on the problem of impotence, how to avoid it and how to improve sexual performance.
I will devote a chapter to the issue. I’ll write that one of the most common reasons for impotence is “abysmally low cholesterol levels” (Perlmutter D, Grain Brain, p. 101). Low testosterone levels may prevent both women and men from having a hot sex life. Testosterone is made from cholesterol, so obviously higher cholesterol is better than lower when it comes to sexual performance. This is a logical assumption and easy to understand so I don’t have to refer to any scientific studies. I’ll point out that decreased libido is common among individuals taking statins. I am not going to mention that this might in many cases be due to underlying vascular disease. I will assume the problem is due to low cholesterol. I might actually provide a couple of references to support my view.
I will definitively not refer to a paper from 2012 which is a critical summary of current evidence on cholesterol, statins and impotence. The authors of this paper point out that epidemiological studies have shown that elevated cholesterol and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk of erectile dysfunction (ED). They highlight that although it appears that statins may sometimes cause ED, other studies have demonstrated that statins can lead to an improvement of erectile function.
Statins improve the function of the endothelium (the innermost layer of the artery) and restore endothelium-dependent relaxation which may improve blood flow and ED. Furthermore, the authors also point out that studies on the relationship between statins and testosterone production in males show contrasting results.
A randomized study of men with ED published earlier this year showed no clinically significant change in erectile function as a result of statin treatment compared with placebo. However, simvastatin significantly improved the sexual health related quality of life.
So, the association between cholesterol, statins, and impotence is complicated and not entirely clear. However, I will make it easy for my readers: low cholesterol causes low testosterone which causes impotence. Simple and very easily sold and bought.
My Dream Book
At the end of the day, I realize that my dream book will not be published. I have two unsolved problems. Firstly, somebody came up with the idea before I did. And secondly, I didn’t really enjoy that particular product, mainly because it is plagued with information bias. So I’ll have to live with the fact that my best seller will never hit the shelves.
A great way to illustrate a point. But, it leads me to a bit of despair. It’s a wonder any of us can find the truth about statins and heart disease if there are people out there willing to distort it to this magnitude just to make a buck. This leads me to the next logical, inevitable question (please don’t read undue emotion into this): Are you distorting the truth for personal gain?
Thanks Randall. That’s an honest and important question. If you believe I’m distorting the truth anywhere on my blog, please let me know where. My blog is mainly a hobby. I enjoy it a lot. I guess that’s a personal gain in itself. I’m not selling or promoting anything in particular.
So far my blog hasn’t brought me any financial gain. There are a few google advertisements on the site that partly help me cover the costs. My main purpose is to provide up-to date information and opinion on different health issues, mainly in relation to heart disease which is my specialty.
Bravo, Doctor Axel; very entertaining 🙂
Yes, it’s very important to get more and more extreme in order to stand out from the herd of authors appealing to trendies. Maybe next, one will head north and live for a year in an igloo made of pure cholesterol. That would be really “cool”.
One new internet trend to hook into: getting furious over the phrase “everything in moderation”. Tantrums are attention-getting. That’s showbiz.
Thanks KV. You’re right about the “moderation” thing. Don´t dare mention “everything in moderation” on the internet.
So between now and when all the double blind tests are complete and analyzed what do we do about diet and statins? I am 63 trying to take care of myself despite known obstacles. You did not touch on Giladin or the change of chromosome in wheat, any any opinion?
Jerry. Some great books on health have been written by doctors. Many of those have not become best sellers. If you are wondering about diet and statins, have a look at “The Truth About Statins – Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol Lowering Drugs”, written by Dr. Barbara H. Roberts. That is a good example of a book written by a doctor who has a point to make but never allows information bias to take charge.
I will get her book. However, the question remains for an admitted non scientist how you manage information, your cardiologist desire to drive cholesterol and blood pressure as low as possible, your desire to be proactive on your health and all news. Do I have CHD or not?
I have read Grain Brain and Wheat Belly. I find Wheat Belly to be far superior and found Grain Brain a me too for the brain vs the heart.
I enjoy your work and appreciate your replies. Thanks.
I think….this was a great way to provide a lot of information in a way any “Joe Blow” could understand the many complexities of the subject. I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks.
Seriously, if you want to understand what causes the inflammatory response, I suggest you read “The Modern Nutritional Diseases” by Fred and Alice Ottoboni. Besides being incredible thorough, these two retired, PhD public health scientists are masters of explanation.
In Chapter 9 the authors explain how both high insulin and high omega-6 intake affect the cascade of chemical events that result in the release of inflammatory eicosanoids. In other words, excessive glucose and excessive omega-6 produce the same effect in this particular chemical cascade having to do with the metabolism of essential fatty acids.
They also explain why it is a mistake to blame saturated fatty acids for inflammation. Excerpt from page 181:
“It is important to note here that there is a report in the scientific literature that dietary saturated fatty acids inhibit D6D and, thus, disrupt a healthful eicosanoid balance by interfering with the flow of LA and ALA to GLA and SA, respectively. This finding was published as an hypothesis over thirty years ago (13), and despite a lack of scientific corroboration since that time, the claim that saturated fatty acids inhibit D6D is reported as fact in some well-respected diet books. However, recent biochemical studies using radioisotopes demonstrated that diets high in saturated fatty acids do not inhibit but greatly enhance conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA(14)”
References
13) Horrobin, D.F et. al. Medical Hypothesis. 1979; 5: 969-985
14) Disease Prevention and Treatment Protocols. 2nd Ed (1998). Life Extension Foundation. Published by Life Extension Media, Hollywood, FL.
Too bad for you Dave that the abovementioned is (yet again) cherry-picking, true to your style. A diet relatively higher in safa does indeed result in somewhat increased conversion of ALA from vegetable sources to EPA and DHA compared to a diet containing n-6 fatty acids in abundance. However,
1) no one’s arguing for a diet containing n-6 fatty acids in excession
2) diets richer in safa haven’t been shown to be healthy
3) the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA isn’t the only thing relevant to fat intake / PUFA intake / inflammation
And safa has indeed been shown to be pro-inflammatory:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22133051
Your point about D6D is a red herring, plain and simple.
Mie you criticize Dave for “cherry-picking” but then you cite a review which cherry-picked studies claiming saturated fat is pro-inflammatory. Only 1 study they cited is relevant and it found that there was no significant difference between the safa meals and carbohydrate meal with respect to all inflammatory markers. The only meal which was significantly lower than the safa meals was the oleic for IL-6 and E-selectin but not CRP.
I did my own non-cherry picked review and put everything in context – https://diettrialclaims.blogspot.com/2013/08/saturated-fat-and-inflammation.html
Go down to “Saturated Fat and Inflammation”.
My dear Z.M.
Before you accuse anyone of cherry-picking, you’d better understand the meaning of the term.
First of all, if you accuse the review of cherry-picking, this implies that the authors didn’t consider ALL the relevant studies in the field. If this is the case, please do show which studies were left out of discussion and why they should be included. The burden of proof is yours.
Second of all, if the end results are indeed that IL-6 values increased in some of the studies mentioned whereas others found no significant results in either direction (that is, safa DID NOT IMPROVE these markers in any of the studies), I would indeed conclude that evidence suggests safa is somewhat pro-inflammatory. Compare these findings to e.g. EPA which decreased low-grade inflammation with CRP, IL-6 and V/ICAM-1. Not in all, no, but I would argue that this indicates n-3 fatty acids being anti-inflammatory. You, of course, wouldn’t?
Thirdly, your point about carbs is … nonsensical. I merely pointed out Dave’s tendency to cherry-pick. I didn’t mention carbs since Dave didn’t talk about carbs. If you read the abovementioned review, you surely noticed that it shows that observational studies indicate a strong connection between GI/GL and inflammation.
All in all, the effects of fatty acids (especially in meals not overtly rich in fat) in low-grade inflammation are of course relatively small. However, let me repeat once more: diet higher in safa (relative amounts) does not improve inflammation markers in observational evidence. Nor in trial evidence, as you kindly pointed out in your list of studies in your blog. There is some evidence pointing to the opposite direction, that of safa being pro-inflammatory.
Now, are we going to hear more conflicting remarks from you in the vein of the classic “I’m not advocating meals high in safa / Replacement of safa brings no benefits” you blurted out in our previous conversation? 🙂
Mie: “First of all, if you accuse the review of cherry-picking, this implies that the authors didn’t consider ALL the relevant studies in the field. If this is the case, please do show which studies were left out of discussion and why they should be included. The burden of proof is yours.”
Nice try. The burden is on you and the authors to show that saturated fat is inflammatory. Both of you fall far short. Going down to the “SFA” section they only cited one relevant study i.e. a controlled study where the subjects actually consumed safa and measured markers of inflammation. My carb and oleic reference is relevant because these are some of the meals that are compared to safa in the study they cited – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15159225
IL-6 is mentioned numerous times in my review which I don’t think you have read.
Mie: “Now, are we going to hear more conflicting remarks from you in the vein of the classic ”
Only conflicting in your mind.
“Going down to the “SFA” section they only cited one relevant study i.e. a controlled study where the subjects actually consumed safa and measured markers of inflammation.”
If you choose to limit the observation to trials, yes. Apart from that: once again, go read a Wikipedia entry on “cherry-picking”. Then come back and show WHICH STUDIES the authors left out but which should have been included. Because that is what is required if you indeed wish to prove that the review cherry-picked studies.
And since the majority of observational studies (listed in table 13) didn’t observe any benefits nor meaningful detrimental effects in this case – meaning that the authors evidently DIDN’T cherry-pick the evidence to support their supposed agenda – this kinda makes me further doubt that you know even remotely what you mean.
“My carb and oleic reference is relevant because these are some of the meals that are compared to safa in the study they cited –”
And this makes me doubt you understand plain written English. Did you not read what I wrote about carbs and inflammation in my previous message? Do you not understand that the discussion here is about FATTY ACIDS?
“Only conflicting in your mind.”
Of but yes of course. Never admit to being wrong. Embarrassment exists only if you allow it to. 🙂
Mie: “Then come back and show WHICH STUDIES the authors left out but which should have been included.”
Funny Mie. I’m not going to cite them here when I’ve already done the work and cited them on my blog.
I’m not going to fall into your trap of trying to shift the burden. It is you who made the blanket statement that “safa has indeed been shown to be pro-inflammatory”. To support such a statement you absolutely have to cherry-pick.
You don’t get it, do you? You need to show that the list of studies you mention in your blog SHOULD have been included in the review.
Thanks for the link to the article entitled “Dietary factors and low-grade inflammation in relation to overweight and obesity.”
I wasn’t aware that trans-MUFAs are inflammatory. I wonder how that works. I’ll have to ask the Ottobonis about that.
As for the inflammatory effects of saturated fats, I’ve looked at the research. Inflammatory effects only occur when serum palmitic acid reaches inordinately high levels. Other chain lengths of saturated fatty acid have no effect. In truth, high intake of saturated fat (either percentage-wise or in absolute terms) does not translate into high serum levels of palmitic acid. However, eating saturated fats along with sugar will get the job done. https://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/saturated-fat-on-your-plate-or-in-your-blood/
Mie: “You don’t get it, do you? You need to show that the list of studies you mention in your blog SHOULD have been included in the review.”
It should be obvious that they should have been included in the review — they are controlled trials measuring inflammatory markers in response to saturated fat meals.
Nice tongue in cheek.
Isn’t the main problem with “whole grains” the lectin WGA (wheat germ agglutinin) and its unpleasant effects?
See, for example Pusztai et al. (1993), Antinutritive effects of whear-germ agglutinin and other N-acetylglucosamine-specific lectins (PMID: 8399111).
+ Dalla Pellegrina et al. (2209) Effects of wheat germ agglutinin on human gastrointestinal epithelium… (PMID: 19332085)
+ a useful WGA overview and compendium of links at https://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/wheat-germ-agglutinin-wga
Once again, the existence of mechanism doesn’t mean its relevant in real life.
You say: “A recent meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials found that treatment with statins and other cholesterol-lowering medications was not associated with subsequent increases in rate of suicide. ” but the linked study said “whereas a trend toward increased deaths from suicide and violence was observed in trials of dietary interventions and non-statin drugs”.
Graeme. Thanks for reading so thoroughly. I mixed two citations. I’ve put in the correct ones now. I refer to the above study in the next sentence.
You may recall that the first studies on cholesterol lowering drugs (non-statins) indicated that they might be associated with an increased risk of violent death including suicide. However, similar findings have not been reported in the statin trials.
There may very well be a relationship between cholesterol and depression. I’m not saying there isn’t. But the association is complex and we don’t have any proof that lowering cholesterol will increase someone’s risk of depression. We don’t have any studies either showing that eating lots of fats and cholesterol will lessen the risk for depression.
Interestingly, studies in primates have found that consumption of low fat and low cholesterol diets potentiates aggressive behaviour and decreases social affiliation.
The text below is from a Medscape article written 2011 by Sarah T. Melton, PharmD. Actually Dr. Perlmutter refers to this paper in his book Grain Brain to support his notion that low cholesterol increases the risk of depression and suicide.
Sarah T. Melton writes: “The literature supports a relationship between cholesterol levels and affective symptoms in patients with mood disorders, including bipolar disorder. However, the findings are inconsistent and suggest that the relationship between mood, cholesterol levels, and neurotransmitter function is very complex. Lower cholesterol levels are associated with increased risk for suicide and future manic symptomatology. However, bipolar patients are also at risk for metabolic abnormalities including obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, which affect clinical presentation, course, and response to treatment. Patients should be carefully monitored during treatment because many medications used to treat bipolar disorder can worsen metabolic abnormalities. More studies are needed to clearly identify the correlation of cholesterol levels with mood, risk for suicide, and the biochemistry of serotonin.”
Great stuff, Axel!
Of course, the best possible parody of the nonsensical crap that the so-called “diet gurus” come up with is unintentional: I’m talking about their own writings, of course. You just can’t top that baloney, no matter how hard you try. 🙂
Thanks Doc,
my favourite article of yours, and the first one I am going to definitely share to a neo-libertarian climate-change skeptic of mine to demonstrate the futility of blog science.
There are several strong scientific leads that speak against the alleged dangers of low cholesterol concentrations in the serum. I cover briefly few of them.
First, the average of LDL of 19 different free-ranging mammalian specimen is just 42mg/dl. These animals do just fine, some of them are aggressive but many of them are not. Second, de Langen. An army of cholesterol bloggers pretend that the Dutch MD who worked in East-Indian colonies during the 1920s, de Langen, never existed. De Langen was the father of expirimental cholesterol research on humans. De Langen did systematical observations, rigorously controlled feeding studies in metabolic ward and covered over 5000 hospital records on ethnic Javanese. De Langen observed that chronic disease was near absent among ethnic Javanese consuming a diet very low in lipids and low in foods of animal origin. The Dutch military personal in Indonesia, including the ethnic Javanese who worked as stewards in Dutch navy fleet, consumed a diet high in organic eggs, grass fed butter and beef and showed very high levels of angina pectoris, MI, etc. But, hey, maybe it was the few slices of bread that was consumed during the meals. It would be fool to believe that innocent cholesterol elevating foods such as butter had anything but positive effects of health…ahem. The mean TC cholesterol of ethnic Javanese on a traditional diet was 127mg/dl. Although, the prime interest of de Langen was MI and atherosclerosis, he did not report any increased tendencies of aggresion, violence, schizophrenia. If such conditions existed en massé among Javanese he probably would have informed us. After all, de Langen taught in a local med school and shared a profound interest in the health etnic Javanese. The observations made in several “China Studies” add further confidence to the observations made by Langen. As noted by Snapper:
“In 1940, I confirmed De Langen’s results… by the observation that in North China, coronary disease, cholesterol [gall]stones and thrombosis were practically nonexistent among the poorer classes. They lived on a cereal-vegetable diet consisting of bread baked from yellow corn, millet, soybean flour and vegetables sautéed in peanut and sesame oil. Since cholesterol is present only in animal food, their serum cholesterol content was often in the range of 100 mg. per cent. These findings paralleled the observation of De Langen that coronary artery disease was frequent among Chinese who had emigrated to the Dutch East Indies and followed the high fat diet of the European colonists (Snapper 1964)”
In addition, I’d like comment on the link between low cholesterol and depression and schizophrenia in Western population. There are several genetic polymorphism that are linked to the aforemention medical conditions. Given right environmental stimuli these polymorphism may causally influence the risk of these conditions among the host. Moreover, these polymorphisms may also be linked to low cholesterol concentrations. Thus, we may have two things that happen the same time. This should not be difficult to grasp for low-carbers who ought to be aware that hot summer days are linked to deaths from drowning.
This letter is exactly what has been going on in my own brain! I can’t decipher exactly how to help my husband (CAD, recent heart attack, high LDL & blood pressure, and family history of heart disease) because I can find arguments for both sides of everything!!! I feel paralyzed.
Dr. Sigurdsson, I read your post on ‘Grain Brain’ last week. Neat way to critique a book by another MD! -Entertaining and informative. (As much of your blog is).
You are correct of course, on most of these counts.
If I may provide an alternate view, let me tell you what I think of ‘Grain Brain’.
I am a retired RN after working full time for 35 years in many areas; I spent the most years in psychiatry and cardiology. My last hospital primarily provided cardiac interventions in the cath lab and the operating suites. Loved that job. That was from the 80′ through the 90’s.
I’ve had a 17 year absence from hospital work and of course have missed out on updates in procedures, diagnostics, although I try to keep up on the net through medical articles and blogs.
When I picked up ‘Grain Brain’ and read it I was intrigued. He offered a lot of physiology that I had never learned. And the chapter concerning statins was astounding. My husband had been on Lipitor for 12 years with no cardiac symptoms, just higher than standard TC, LDL, TG and normal HDL. He also had horrible exhaustion which his cardiologist worked up but could find no reason.
I had tried for years to get my husband to stop eating so much sugar and carbs. He refused. Probably couldn’t give up his substance.
In Nov. 2013 he was planning for cataract surgery. I told him he had a pre-diabetes FBS this year and he should really consider strict control of his carbs to lower his BS for the surgery to avoid any infection. He agreed. We started a very low carb diet with adequate protein and saturated fats to maintain satiety. His blood sugar dropped from the low 100’s to 90. He immediately lost 16 pounds.
He began this new life style on Lipitor, Losartan, the equivalent of Nexium, an allergy med (both OTC), and a very potent corticosteriod skin medication for psoriasis or eczema. Also, a script for enlarged prostate.
His appetite waned. He continued to lose weight. To today, he has gone from 218 pounds to 175 pounds. His blood pressure without medication runs 120’s/70’s. He has stopped taking all drugs. I think the corticosteroid skin med was the reason for his higher than normal lipid panel in May. He has also stopped this drug.
He no longer has heartburn, high blood pressure. His skin problem is slowly going away! The lesion on the back of his knees he has had for about 40-50 years and those lesions are totally gone. Still some patches that wax and wane. Allergies come and go. Not at all as bad as they had been. We are waiting for the next cardiology visit to get the labs done again and we expect much better results.
We are both 68. I had psoriasis which is totally gone.
If it hadn’t been for this book, we probably wouldn’t have started the plan. We avoid gluten and keep carb at 30-60 mg/day. Protien is specific for our frames, age and activity. His is 90 gms, mine is 70 gms. We eat only saturated fats and omega 3’s, keeping them within 1:1-1:3 ration with Omega 6’s. We both fell so much better.
I know Dr. Perlmutter’s personal experiences with some of his patients were used to prove his assertions. But a lot of what he said made sense to me. And he used some research studies, I believe. (I’ve read 7 more books on these subjects since and htey run together in subject matter.)
So, I agree he was out to write a best-seller. But his book has brought us to a much healther status.
Thanks for allowing this lengthy account.
Keep writing! I really enjoy reading your blog posts.
@ tannngl
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate your interest and your kind words about my blog.
Exactly like your husband, many people feel better and improve their health by cutting carbs and sugar and increasing fat intake. However, that doesn’t imply there is less risk for Alzheimer’s disease, depression etc. There are certainly studies showing a correlation between blood sugar and the risk of dementia. But it has never been proved that switching to low carb/high fat will prevent these diseases like Dr Perlmutter claims.
Grain Brain illustrates a problem that is very common among many health books written today. It is plagued by bias. Perlmutter only picks studies that support his claims and decides to ignore contradictory evidence. However, it is possible that he may be right about many things. The problem is that so many of his claims have yet to be tested by scientific studies. That’s the main reason I have been critical about his book.
Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Loved to read the story about your husband and how he improved his health by changing his diet 🙂