The world according to the Wheat Foods Council and the Whole Grains Council

23. April 2010 William Davis (26)

You might get a kick out of what the Wheat Foods Council and the Whole Grains Council recommend for a sample meal plan:

Breakfast: Whole grain raisin toast
Lunch: Sandwich on whole grain
Snack: Rye bread crackers
Dinner: Whole grain pasta with your favorite sauce

Breakfast: Whole grain waffles 
Lunch: Hamburger on whole grain bun
Snack: Graham crackers
Dinner: Whole grain homemade pizza on whole grain pita crust

Remember Morgon Spurlock's documentary movie, Super Size Me? (If you haven't already seen it, Super Size Me is viewable for free on Hulu.) Spurlock conducts a self-inflicted 30-day experiment of eating at McDonald's fast food restaurants every day. In short, the results on Spurlock's weight and health are disastrous. 

How about Wheat Belly: The Movie? We would chronicle our star through a 30-day course of meals served up by the Wheat Foods and Whole Grains Councils, all featuring wonderful wheat products in every meal. We could measure blood sugar, triglycerides, LDL, small LDL, weight, etc.


Any predictions?

Why bananas increase cholesterol

21. April 2010 William Davis (0)
Anything that increases postprandial (after-eating) blood sugar will increase the number of LDL particles in the blood.

An increase in LDL particles is an important factor in causing heart disease: The greater the number of LDL particles, the more opportunity they have to interact with the walls of arteries, contributing to atherosclerosis.

Carbohydrates increase small LDL, especially if postprandial sugar is increased. Here's another way carbohydrates increase LDL particles: The duration of time LDL particles hang around in the blood stream is doubled.

When blood sugar increases, such as after the 30 grams carbohydrates in a medium-sized banana, glycation of LDL particles occurs. This means that a gglucose (sugar) molecule reacts with a lysine residue in the apoprotein B of the LDL particle. This induces a change in conformation that makes it less readily recognized by the LDL receptor. Thus, the glycated LDL particle persists for a longer period of time in the blood stream.

LDL particles are therefore cleared less efficiently, numbers of LDL particles increase.

Plant-based or animal-based?

19. April 2010 William Davis (78)
The ideal diet for heart and overall health restricts carbohydrate intake. I say this because carbohydrates:

Make you fat--Carbohydrates increase visceral fat, in particular.
Increase triglycerides
Reduce HDL
Increase small LDL particles
Increase glycation of LDL
Increase blood pressure
Increase c-reactive protein

Reducing carbohydrates reverses all the above.

But here's a common mistake many people make when following a low-carbohydrate diet: Converting to a low-carb, high-animal product diet.

It accounts for a breakfast of a 3-egg omelette with cheese and butter, 4 strips of bacon, 2 sausages, cream in coffee. Low-carb? It certainly is. But it is a purely high-animal product, no-plant-based meal.

I believe a strong argument can be made that a low-carbohydrate but plant-based diet with animal products as the side dish is a better way to go.

Consider that:

1) Animal products have little to no fiber, while plant-based products like spinach, avocado, and walnuts and other raw nuts have substantial quantities.

2) Plant products are a source of polyphenols and flavonoids--This encompasses a large universe of nutrients, from epigallocatechins in tea, polymeric procyanidins from cocoa, to hydroxytyrosol from olives, and anthocyanins from red wine and eggplant. The inflow of these beneficial compounds needs to be frequent and generous, not piddly amounts taken infrequently.

3) Vitamin C--While it's easy to obtain, the fact that you and I need to obtain vitamin C from frequent ingestion of plant sources suggests that humans were meant to eat lots of plants. While it may require a few months of deficiency before your teeth fall out, imagine what low-grade deficiency can do over a long period.

4) Vitamin K1--Rich in green vegetables, vitamin K1 is virtually absent in animal products.

5) Tocotrienols--I've been watching the data on this fascinating family of powerful oil-soluble antioxidants unfold for 20 years. Tocotrienols come only from plants. (I recently had an extended conversation with the brilliant biochemist, Dr. Barrie Tan, who is incredibly knowledgeable about tocotrienols, having developed several methods of extraction from plants, including his discovery of the highly concentrated source, annatto. Be sure to watch for future conversations about tocotrienols.)

6) Meats and dairy yield a net acid load--While plant foods are net basic. At the very least, this yields risk for osteoporosis, since acids are ultimately buffered by basic calcium salts from the bones. Tissue and blood pH is a tightly regulated system; veering off just a teensy-weensy bit from the normal pH of 7.4 to an acidic pH of, say, 7.2, leads to . . . death. In short, pH control is very important. A net acid challenge from animal products is a lot like drinking carbonated soda, a huge acid challenge that leads to osteoporosis and other health issues.

Conversely, a pure plant-based diet has its own set of problems. Eating a pure plant-based diet can lead to deficiencies of vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids (no, linolenic acid from flaxseed will NOT cut it), vitamin K2, carnitine, and coenzyme Q10.

So, rather than a breakfast of 3-egg omelet with bacon, sausage, cream, and cheese, how about a handful of pecans, some blueberries, and a 2-egg omelet made with basil-olive oil pesto? Or a spinach salad with walnuts, feta cheese, and lots of olive oil?

Fat is not the demon

16. April 2010 William Davis (36)
So my patient, Dane, generously volunteered to be on the Dr. Oz show, as I discussed previously.

What we didn't know, nor did the producer who contacted us mention, that Dane would be counseled by low-fat guru Dr. Dean Ornish on a strict low-fat diet. The teaser introduction essentially tells the entire story.

Ironically, that is the exact opposite of the dietary program that I advocate. I rejected the 10% fat diet long ago after I became a type II diabetic, gained 30 lbs, and suffered miserable deterioration of my cholesterol values on this diet. I also witnessed similar results in many hundreds of people, all following a strict low-fat diet. In fact, elimination of wheat--whole, white, or otherwise--along with limitation or elimination of all other grains has been among the most powerful health strategies I have ever witnessed.

I now regret having subjected my patient to this theatrical misinformation. Dane is a smart cookie--That's probably why he was not allowed more than a "yes" or "no" during Dr. Oz's monologue, else Dane might have pitched in about some ideas that would have tripped Oz and Ornish up.

In their defense, if we took 100 Americans all following a typical 21st century diet of fast food, white bread buns, Coca Cola and other soft drinks, chips, barbecue sauce, and French fries, converting to a plant-based, high-carbohydrate, grain-rich diet is indeed an improvement. People will, at first, lose weight and enjoy an initial response. (The occasional person with the Apo E4 genetic pattern, heterozygote or homozygote, may even enjoy long-term benefits, a topic for another day.)

But the majority of people, in my experience, after an initial positive response to an Ornish-like low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet will either plateau (stay overweight, have low HDL, high triglycerides, plenty of small LDL, and high blood sugars) or deteriorate, much as I did.

Thankfully, Dane has been a good sport about this, understanding that this is essentially show business. I believe he understands that the information was all well-intended and, after all, we are all working towards the same goal: reduction of heart disease risk.

By the way, regardless of which diet you follow, it is, in my view, absurd to believe that diet alone will do it. What about vitamin D normalization, thyroid normalization (thyroid disease is incredibly common), omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil, identification of hidden sources of risk (something that is unlikely in Ornish, since small LDL particles skyrocket on a low-fat diet), postprandial glucoses, etc., all the pieces we focus on to gain control over coronary plaque? Eating green peppers and barley soup alone is not going to do it.

Near-fatal brush with nattokinase

14. April 2010 William Davis (0)
Here is precisely why I have spoken out against nattokinase: People may put faith in this "supplement" when there are virtually no data to support its use in such dangerous conditions as pulmonary embolism.

Pulmonary embolism occurs when a large volume of blood clots in the veins of the pelvis, abdomen, and into the legs. A clot breaks off and lodges in the pulmonary arteries of the lungs. This can be fatal within minutes to hours, the victim struggling to breathe, since oxygen is not transferred to the blood and it causes terrible pain in the chest.

The treatments are fairly obnoxious: intravenous anticoagulants (blood thinners), followed by oral blood thinners like warfarin. While they carry risk of bleeding and other long-term risks, it's better than dying.

Would you bet that a "nutritional supplement" manufacturer's vague claims and lack of data are sufficient proof to treat a life-threatening condition? You're a fool if you are.

Anyone reading these pages knows that I am a vigorous supporter of nutritional supplements. I even consult for the nutritonal supplement industry. But I am also an advocate of TRUTH, not BS.

Here is a woman from England who inquired whether she should stop her husband's warfarin in favor of nattokinase. This is precisely the sort of thing that can happen because of the campaign of misinformation behind nattokinase.


Dr. Davis,

Thank you for your very interesting blogs, which I came across searching for natural alternative treatments to warfarin.

My husband has been following the low carb, high fat, real food regime over the past few years. He got off all the blood pressure and cholesterol drugs and never felt better. He even got his blood sugar down from a recorded high that we are aware of 13 nmol/L (234 mg/dol) to 6.1 nmol/L 109.8 mg/dl).

We were on holiday in the Caribbean. Just before our return home, we did a trip to a neighbouring island that included non-alcoholic fruit punches. They tasted great, but were very sweet. I broke my normal refusal to drink these things, but only had a couple of glasses. (After all, we were on holiday!) My husband believes he consumed around 1.5 litres of the stuff and now realises he was feeding his body a very toxic product – fructose. That night, he had an incredible toxic response and we only got him onto the plane with a visit to the hospital and a pain killer injection.

The symptoms of pulmonary embolism only showed 2 weeks later . . . and warfarin treatment was started. We would both like to use an alternative therapy if we can find someone with experience to provide the support.Do you know of any studies that support alternative options?

Do you know of any practitioners in the England who support a non-drug approach with an understanding of nutrition who we may be able to receive advice and support?

FB
York, England

Glucophobia: The Novel

13. April 2010 William Davis (25)
Just kidding: No novel here. However, there is indeed a story to tell that should scare the pants off you.

If you haven't yet gathered that carbohydrates are a macronutrient nightmare, let me recount the list:


Carbohydrates increase small LDL particles
Or, in the cholesterol-speak most people understand, "carbohydrates increase cholesterol." It's counterintuitive, but carbohydrates increase LDL substantially, far more than any fat.


Carbohydrates increase blood sugar
Eggs don't increase blood sugar, nor do chicken, raw almonds, onions or green peppers. But a bowl of oatmeal will send your blood sugar skywards.


Carbohydrates make you fat
Carbohydrates, whether in the form of wheat flour in your whole wheat bread, sucrose in your ice cream, fructose in your "organic Agave nectar," or high-fructose corn syrup in your dill pickles. They all provoke de novo lipogenesis, or fat formation. They also stimulate insulin, the hormone of fat storage.


Carbohydrates cause glycation
High blood sugar, like the kind that develops after a bowl of oatmeal, triggers glycation, or modification of proteins by glucose (blood sugar). This is how cataracts, kidney disease, and atherosclerotic plaque develop. Small LDL is 8-fold more glycation prone than large LDL, providing a carbohydrate double-whammy.


Your glucose meter remains the single best tool to gauge the quality of your diet. Many people have horror stories of the shocking experiences they've had when they finally get around to checking their postprandial glucose.

Drama with the Dr. Oz Show

11. April 2010 William Davis (27)
A producer from the Dr. Oz show recently contacted my office. They asked whether we could supply them with a volunteer patient from either my practice or the Track Your Plaque program who would be willing to appear on the show and discuss heart disease prevention. They needed someone to commit within 24 hours.

Despite the short notice, we identified a volunteer. He flew to New York the following week where he was interviewed along with several other men and women, all of whom had heart disease (heart attacks, stents, etc.). However, as this young man is very slender and follows most of the Track Your Plaque principles (e.g., vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation; no wheat, cornstarch, or sugars, no restriction of fat, etc.), he apparently received less attention than the overweight, I-know-nothing-about-diet interviewees.

Then there was an odd turn of events: Dr. Dean Ornish, apparently a friend of Dr. Oz, will be providing the dietary counseling. The producer had made no mention of Dr. Ornish.

Now that's an odd collision of philosophies: Our Track Your Plaque version of low-carb with the guru of low-fat, Dr. Ornish.

The following week, Dr. Ornish called me and graciously asked whether I was okay with this. I'm not sure just how much he knew about the philosophy I advocate, nor how much I have bashed his program as a destructive approach to diet, nor whether he knew that I gained 30 lbs on the Ornish diet, along with a drop in HDL to 27 mg/dl, increased triglycerides to 350 mg/dl, and type II diabetes that I've talked about on this blog and the Track Your Plaque book and website. I suspect he knew little to none of this.

Anyway, I tried to diplomatically explain that my patient's cause for coronary plaque was small LDL particles that he expressed despite his very slender build, likely from excessive carbohydrates, controlled with carbohydrate restriction. Dr. Ornish maintained his usual arguments: Grains are good, provided they are whole grains, heart disease is "reversed" with his diet program, etc. (I didn't want to challenge him in a phone call and tell him that he never actually reversed coronary plaque, but just reversed endothelial dysfunction. But, as Dr. Ornish is not a cardiologist, I wasn't sure how far his understanding of these issues went.)

We agreed to disagree. This leaves my poor patient in an odd position: Being asked by Dr. Ornish and the Dr. Oz show to follow a low-fat program for the sake of entertainment, or adhering to the advice we follow that has so far served him well, given his small LDL particle size tendencies.

We'll see where this little drama leads.

Response from Nature Made

10. April 2010 William Davis (31)
Here's the response from Nature Made when I emailed them about my concern that there appears to be no vitamin D in their vitamin D gelcaps.

It is the usually CYA corporate-speak that says nothing. The grammatical errors make it clear that this was a "canned" response.



Date: April 9, 2010
From: Marissa Reyes, Consumer Affairs Department
Subject: Reference #346236

Dear William Davis, MD:

We recently received your e-mail regarding Nature Made products. We regret to
hear that the quality standards of our company. [?]

Our company is called Pharmavite, and we manufacture Nature Made nutritional
supplements. We have been in business since 1971. We are committed to quality
control, and have very high quality standards. Our Quality Control personnel
sample and test all raw materials as they enter our plant, and again assay the
finished product, before final packaging.

Dietary Supplements are regulated under the FDA through DSHEA (Dietary
Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994). The United States Pharmacopoeia
(USP) establishes standards for the composition of drugs and nutritional
supplements. This voluntary non governmental organization was set up in 1820
and has officially been recognized by federal law since 1906. Standards
established by USP for products are legally enforceable by the FDA. At
Pharmavite we participate in the USP Dietary Supplement Verification Program
(DSVP). Many of our products have earned the DSVP seal and additional products
are currently being evaluated. Our DSVP certified products will have the DSVP
seal on the product label.

Our Nature Made Vitamin D 400 IU tablets have been reviewed by the USP and bears
the DSVP symbol on the label. Although the USP has not reviewed all of the
Nature Made Vitamin D supplements, all of our products go through the same
rigorous quality testing at Pharmavite. The products which have earned the seal
help us to demonstrate the high quality of our products.

We would like to look into the product(s) your patients have been using. If you
could provide the UPC and lot numbers of the product(s), we will be happy to
review our records. In addition, if you would like us to test the product(s)
that you currently have, we will be pleased to send a prepaid postage mailer so
you may return the product(s) to us so that our Quality Control Department can
examine it. Please let us know if you would like us to send you the prepaid
postage mailer.

We thank you for contacting us and hope that you will continue to use and enjoy
Nature Made products with complete confidence.

Sincerely,
Marissa Reyes
Consumer Affairs Coordinator
Pharmavite, LLC
MR:346236-10


Patients who come to the office do not provide me with the bottles nor lot numbers. In past, when I've gone to the trouble of doing this (with other companies, not Nature Made), it has come to nothing helpful. The information gets passed on to the company and we hear nothing and never learn if there was a problem, or receive some more corporate-speak letter saying everything was fine. This is obviously a liability-avoidance tactic: Admitting that something was wrong would open them up to legal risk. So, frankly, I can't be bothered.

So we are left with the unsatisfying experience of relying on street-level experiences.

For now, my advice: Avoid Nature Made vitamin D. Too many people have had blood tests demonstrating that they are not obtaining any vitamin D.

By the way, the Nature Made brand of fish oil is among the very few problem brands of fish oil we've encountered. Fish oil should be only mildly fish in smell and generally should not cause stomach upset and excessive belching if properly purified. Nature Made is excessively fishy when you smell it, suggesting oxidation. We've had repeated (dozens) of patients who have experienced difficulties with this brand. Rather than dealing with the frustrating gobbledy-gook of this company, just avoid their products.

What to Eat: The diet is defined by small LDL

9. April 2010 William Davis (15)
I approach diet from the perspective of small LDL particles.

Small LDL particles have exploded in frequency and severity in Americans. It is not at all uncommon to see 70% or more small LDL particles (i.e., 70% of total LDL particle number or Apo B) on lipoprotein testing. (I saw two people today who began with over 95% small LDL.)

Small LDL particles are:
--More likely to persist in the bloodstream longer than large LDL particles.
--More likely to adhere to components of atherosclerotic plaque.
--More likely to gain entry to plaque.
--More likely to be taken up by inflammatory white blood cells which, in turn, become the mast cells that fill coronary plaque.
--More likely to be oxidized.
--More likely to be glycated (8-fold more likely than large)

To add insult to injury, foods that trigger small LDL formation--i.e., carbohydrates--also cause high postprandial blood sugars. High postprandial blood sugars, in turn, glycate small LDL. That combination of events accelerates 1) plaque growth, 2) plaque instability, and 3) aging.

So carbohydrates trigger this sequence, carbohydrates of all stripes and colors. Not just "white" carbohydrates, but ALL carbohydrates. It's all a matter of degree and quantity. So, yes, even quinoa, bulghur, and sorghum trigger this process. I've only recently appreciated just how bad oats and oatmeal are in this regard--really bad.

Foods that trigger small LDL also trigger higher blood sugars; foods that trigger higher blood sugars also trigger small LDL. Small LDL and blood sugar are two different things, but they track each other very closely.

So, in the Track Your Plaque approach to diet, we craft diet based on these simple principles:

1) Eliminate wheat, cornstarch, and sugars--These are the most flagrant triggers of small LDL, blood sugar, and, therefore, LDL glycation.
2) The inclusion of other carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, quinoa, rye, etc. depends on individual sensitivity. Individual sensitivity is best gauged by assessing one-hour postprandial glucose.

Stay tuned for more in this series. Also, Track Your Plaque Members: We will be having an in-depth webinar detailing more on thees principles in the next couple of weeks.

Is it or isn't it vitamin D?

7. April 2010 William Davis (63)
Jackie takes 10,000 units of vitamin D(3) per day as a gelcap.

Her starting 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level was 18.1 ng/ml. Severe deficiency, no surprise.

On her 10,000 units per day, Vitamin Shoppe brand, her 25-hydroxy vitamin D level was 76.2 ng/ml--perfect. It stayed in this range for about two years.

She then changed to the Nature Made brand gelcaps she picked up at Walgreen's. Repeat 25-hydroxy vitamin D level: 23 ng/ml.

This has now happened with five different people, all taking the Nature Made brand.

If you are taking this brand of vitamin D, please be on the alert. You might consider a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level to be sure it actually has the vitamin D it's supposed to have.

Or, change brands.
Track Your Plaque makes Consumer Reports!

Track Your Plaque makes Consumer Reports!

8. August 2011 William Davis (27)
. . . but not in a good way.

The September, 2011 issue of Consumer Reports showcases their Protect Your Heart discussion. Third paragraph: "The website Track Your Plaque warns, 'The old tests for heart disease were wrong--dead wrong.' It says heart scans are 'the most important health test you can get.'"

They go on to expose the overuse of heart procedures like angioplasty and stent implantation and offer their advice on how to manage heart disease risk: lower BP, reduce LDL cholesterol, lose weight, stop smoking, take aspirin. They quote Dr. Paul Ridker who declares heart scans are not useful because the "deposits cardiologists worry about are the less stable plaques that CT scans routinely miss."

I thought I'd been transported back to 1995. Not only is it clear that the Consumer Report writers never looked beyond the homepage of Track Your Plaque, but somehow saw our heart disease prevention and reversal program as promoting heart procedures. Incredible.

Of course, the Track Your Plaque program does the exact opposite: Advocates an approach that virtually eliminates the need for procedures and returns control over heart disease to the participant. That's a critical difference.

And, as I've had to remind my colleagues time and time again, what we are really after is an index of total coronary atherosclerotic plaque. Even in 2011, that index remains the simple coronary calcium score, a gauge of total plaque, not just of "hard," stable plaque. Perhaps in 10 years we will be using a better tool to gauge progression and regression of all the components of coronary atherosclerotic plaque, but today it remains the simple, accessible, mammogram-like coronary calcium score.

Consumer Reports does for the idea of heart disease prevention what food manufacturers do for health and weight loss: Echo conventional wisdom of the sort that generally makes us fatter, more diabetic, leads us to more heart procedures and needless deaths. I might use Consumer Reports to rate MP-3 devices or toasters, but I certainly would not rely on them for insightful health advice.
Tags :

Comments (27) -

  • Carl

    8/8/2011 1:37:53 PM |

    Actually, I have been unhappy with the some of the consumer products they recommend. Their tests are not as objective as they seem to believe. For example, I bought an inferior, yet expensive, air cleaner which happened to win their blessings just because its lowest fan speed was higher than the lowest fan speed of the competition. Air cleaned to noise ratio would have been the better metric.

  • Frankie

    8/8/2011 2:04:15 PM |

    I am sorry this happened to you and your excellent program. I expected more from Consumer Reports.

  • Dee

    8/8/2011 2:59:16 PM |

    My Dr is worried about the amount of radiation that I would be gettin from a heart scan.  I am 72 and get mammo's every year.  Plus other mri's and x-rays.  He feels they would add up to to much radiation.

    Dee

  • Princess Dieter

    8/8/2011 3:16:46 PM |

    Thanks for the heads up. I bought this CR yesterday, and have been reading some parts of it (smart phones, heart issue).

    I never smoked. I was obese for decades, but am no longer as of Friday, hah! I can't take aspirin due to sensitivity (flares up my asthma). I got my blood pressure normal (off meds), and my sugar is great (finally), but my LDL is up. I gave up wheat/gluten and cut way down on starches, mostly gave up convenience/fast foods and eat fresher, better. HDL is very very good. Triglycerides great. But LDL went up. Lipoproteins are the fluffier kind. I'm a regular exerciser now.

    So, I'm doing a lot to improve things, but obviously, I have some to go. I 've never done this test you recommend, so that goes on the list to ask doc for. Whether she approves it or not, don't know, but it's on my list to request. I just had a bone mineral density (great) and some x-rays (suspected arthritis hip, sacrum/coccyx). So, I don't want to be exposed to more anytime soon....I do mammos every 2 years, not years, due to radiation concerns, but I do want to know what that coronary calcium score says for my heart.  I suppose I can consider it as my "non-mammo year" test. Thank you...

  • chuck

    8/8/2011 4:07:14 PM |

    based on this half assed research on the part on CR, can you trust their reports on simpler things such as toasters and TVs???

  • Gene K

    8/8/2011 5:33:19 PM |

    The next day I received this issue of CR, I sent them a comment saying that I found the way they mentioned trackyourplaque.com uninformed and out of context and an explanation why I thought so. Maybe my comment or somebody else's will appear in the next issue's Letters to the Editor section.

  • Gene K

    8/8/2011 5:40:39 PM |

    The kind of advice CR gives people on health made me discontinue my subscription to CR on Health. Either you read CR on Health, WebMD, etc. or you listen to Dr Davis, Dr Eades, Dr Kruse. Combining both kinds of sources makes no sense to me.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/8/2011 5:57:40 PM |

    You need either to educate your doctor or get a new doctor.
    A standard CT heart scan yields the equivalent of 2 mammograms. He is confusing a heart scan to generate a coronary calcium score with a CT coronary angiogram, which can expose you to plenty more.
    Sorry, but your doctor is confused.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/8/2011 10:06:09 PM |

    I'm wondering the same thing. I do believe that, with this analysis, they bit off more than they can chew.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/8/2011 10:07:31 PM |

    Hi, Princess--
    I think that would be a very good compromise, especially in view of the fact that heart disease afflicts far more women than breast cancer.

  • Terrence

    8/8/2011 11:00:27 PM |

    I am not at all surprised that CR gave Dr Davis such an uniformed, silly "review/comment". I used to read them all the time. But they slowly (early 1990's on) became politically correct, and published more and more uninformed nonsense - not reviews, simply uninformed opinion pieces.

  • Gene K

    8/9/2011 2:52:44 AM |

    Dr Davis,

    I suggest that you comment on the CR article. They always publish these comments with disagreements. Go to http://custhelp.consumerreports.org/cgi-bin/consumerreports.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php, select Consumer Reports Magazine from their product list and choose Comment on a Report or Letter to the Editor. The more people will see it, the more people will visit your site.

  • Gene K

    8/9/2011 2:56:48 AM |

    I still trust their reports on physical goods, because they actually test them instead of just publishing an opinion. They have never lost a lawsuit filed by a manufacturer, according to what they say.

  • Ed Terry

    8/9/2011 2:01:01 PM |

    Most of the health and nutrition information provided by Consumer Reports parrots the information from the AHA and the ADA.  In other words, it's just plain wrong.

    I can sum it up best by relaying the conversation I had with my latest cardiologist (I fired my first one.)  When he saw that my calcium score had decreased since my initial scan, he was puzzled.  I then explained my diet, and all he could say was "That's not what we were taught in school."  My response was "I understand."

    Keep up the good work.

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/9/2011 7:35:29 PM |

    Hi Renfrew,
    Was "SERVER" blocked responding in previous post, so trying here:
    It is not my place to make dietary suggestions on anyone's blog. The reason I just wrote out that specific data of a Japanese report was to indicate that individual fatty acids can have different affects. There is a link above  which goes to one Drs. discussion of Arachidonic Acid (AA) and how although  many think AA is only pro-inflammatory that AA also performs worthwhile functions. I find it interesting that although insulin increases the synthesis of AA from other n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids the Japanese find AA itself does not worsen insulin resistance; but again tissue specifics are complex.


    Let's look at the vascular role of AA in tissue cell lipid membranes as it responds with cascades of both pro & aniti-inflammatory responses by  AA converting into prostaglandins . When AA from the lipid membrane  interacts with the notorious COX1 & COX2 cyclo-oxygenase enzymes found in blood vessels Prostanoid series 2 can form (prostanoids = both prostacyclin and prostaglandin molecules). Normally the 1/2 life of prostanoids is just a duration of minutes.  
    What is important to grasp is that when prostanoid 2 is at work in vascular tissue  it can  prolong any local inflammation reaction. AA (with COX catalysis)  generated pro-inflammatory prostanoid 2s are what  lets the circulating leucocytes (neutorophils) drifting across blood vessels previously irritated by cytokines  (ex: TNF alpha the tumor necrosis factor also now called cadexin). Prostaglandin 2 is part of the immune response loop and also has it's own receptor inside of the leukocyte itself; this becomes involved in signalling that makes a risk laden leukocyte physically reorganize it's own actin cyto-skeleton enough so that it (the leucocyte) can move across the endothelium layer of a vessel into the inside of a vascular tissue cell made permiable due to cytokine inflammation.

    The poly-unsaturated fatty acid EPA  generates it's own prostaglandin, the Prostaglandin  D3, which blocks  a lot of the relatively short lived risky Prostaglandin D2s. EPA in people is not always in high enough concentration to counteract the pro-inflammatory reaction, and in that case a person's AA level may be so high that it negates the helpful level of  prostaglandin D3 being put out (by EPA). The trick is to get high EPA levels which can  use the COX enzymatic pathway to make prostaglandin D3 and  allay prostaglandin 2 signal ; for if there is sparse prostaglandin 2 then it isn't binding to it's receptor inside a leukocyte , and  thus no leukocyte tarries long enough to be tethered by an adhesion molecule to the wall of that blood vessel. Without EPA supplementation blood levels of EPA average +/- 1 uM and with supplementation can average +/- 5 uM, while the levels of AA  needing off setting in terms of vascular risk will vary greatly depending on which substrate PUFA n-6 fats are ingested.

  • Sifter

    8/9/2011 11:01:28 PM |

    I have that copy of CR. My 93 year old mother is suffering from CHF, and its a terrible thing to see, oxygen, Oxyfast, Adavan (sp) Seems like some days are fairly well, than others are just frightful. I think CR has slipped quite a bit over the past decade. They generally take a mainstream approach, while pretending to find 'hidden truths' that mainstreamers won't disclose. Utter nonsense. Separately, I've found them to be rather biased towards any Toyota vs American made vehicles as well. I find this blog to be an excellent source of info and constructive applications to better heart health. Thank you.

  • PHK

    8/10/2011 1:28:09 AM |

    I subscribed Consumer Report's monthly health letter in late 90's.
    it was the same old stuff, not much different from what mainstream (TV/AHA/ADA).
    so i did not renew.
    regards,

  • Cardiac Test

    8/10/2011 9:28:10 AM |

    The best part about this program is that it ddvocates an approach that virtually eliminates the need for procedures and returns control over heart disease to the participant.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/11/2011 12:25:49 AM |

    Wow, Ed. You manage to reverse an important marker of heart disease that most of my colleagues regard as impossible and all your doctor can say is "That's not what we were taught in school?" "Good riddens!" was the right response! You are better off without this sort of incredible ignorance and disinterest.

  • indium

    8/11/2011 5:44:51 AM |

    me too, what can  i do

  • Dee

    8/11/2011 3:11:50 PM |

    I looked up the 64 slice CT scan and indeed you are right.  My Doc is very open to suggestion and I'm sure he will go along with that.  He is a primary care Dr and would have to send me to a Cardio dr.
    Thanks for your reply.  Dee

  • Doug

    8/23/2011 2:59:41 AM |

    Dr. Davis,

    I used to work as a researcher for a consumer products company testing automatic dish washing machine detergents.  Consumer Reports once reported on one of my products in a comparison study with our major competitors.  I do not know how they achieved their results, but their results were virtually the opposite of the ones I got when I ran the very same tests every day.  

    In  our tests, our main product was so good, that we used it as the reference to a perfect 10 in our grading scale, yet to CR, we were mid range. The product ranked #1 by CR usually was graded a 6 in our tests,  but somehow it was ranked the best in their whacky experiment.

    Since that time, I have learned not to trust Consumer Reports' ratings.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/23/2011 11:55:10 AM |

    Hi, Doug--
    That's priceless! Thanks for the insight.

  • Barkeater

    8/30/2011 1:35:06 PM |

    I am a long-time TYP member and have read the CR article.  I would stress these points:  

    (1)  As Dr. D says, the article takes a swipe at coronary artery calcium score CT scans if used as a tool for selling interventions that are not beneficial.  It is true that CAC  scans have been used like this, but absolutely false that TYP does this.  Most TYP members want nothing more than to avoid bypass, angioplasty and stents, recognizing (as did the CR article) that, except in acute circumstances, there is a better approach to managing heart disease and heart disease risk.

    (2)  The CR article confuses CT angiography and CT CAC scans.  In CT angiography, the patient has a dye injected, but not in CT CAC scans.  The dose of radiation from CT angiography is very high, vs. a very low dose from CT CAC scans.  Supposely, CT angiography identifies soft plaque as well as calcified plaque, but the information is not too useful to measure the effects of preventative steps on plaque.  The CAC scan gives a measurement of the calcified portion of plaque.  It is not a perfect measure of plaque, but it is very informative.  The TYP program looks in particular at the rate of progression of the calcified plaque (or, we hope, regression), so it shows whether preventative measures are working.  People with stable or regressing calcified plaque are very safe from heart attack.

    (3)  One of the conventional wisdom complaints about CT CAC testing is this:  If it were recommended for the population at large, it would not identify a lot of people at risk or change the recommendations as to what to do about the risk, as compared to existing tests and guidelines.  While this is highly debatable (I don't buy it), it is irrelevant to any motivated individual.   Whenever testing is dismissed by experts, you need to assess whether they are saying the test is useless to me as an individual or whether the test would not be helpful if given to the population at large.  The latter point is irrelevant to any person who wants to seize control of his or her health.  I grant that many people are passive about their health, and their doctors have very limited knowledge of how to reduce heart risk in any event.  If you are in control of your health, then CT scans can be massively informative (with little radiation exposure), and a program like TYP can save you from heart disease and invasive procedures.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/30/2011 6:32:31 PM |

    Wow, Bark. Elegantly said!

    I find it odd that the conventional answer tries to pigeonhole a fairly detailed preventive approach like Track Your Plaque and compare it to, say, advertising for bypass surgery. Despite the years that have passed with people like you and me fighting this battle to get the real truth out, we still have incredibly silly comments like those in Consumer Reports.

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