Nobody Gets Out Alive: Sugary Beverages Increase Risk of Death

Posted on June 14, 2019 | Comments Off on Nobody Gets Out Alive: Sugary Beverages Increase Risk of Death

From JAMA Network:

Question:  Is the consumption of sugary beverages (ie, sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juices) associated with an increased mortality risk?

Findings:  In this cohort study of 13 440 black and white adults 45 years and older observed for a mean of 6.0 years, each additional 12-oz serving/d of sugary beverages was associated with an 11% higher all-cause mortality risk, and each additional 12-oz serving/d of fruit juice was associated with a 24% higher all-cause mortality risk. Similar associations were not observed for sugary beverage consumption and coronary heart disease mortality.

Meaning:  These results suggest higher consumption of sugary beverages, including fruit juice, is associated with increased mortality.

Source: Association of Sugary Beverage Consumption With Mortality Risk in US Adults: A Secondary Analysis of Data From the REGARDS Study | Cardiology | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods to Help With Weight Management

Posted on June 11, 2019 | Comments Off on Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods to Help With Weight Management

From Cell Metabolism:

We investigated whether ultra-processed foods affect energy intake in 20 weight-stable adults, aged (mean ± SE) 31.2 ± 1.6 years and BMI = 27 ± 1.5 kg/m2. Subjects were admitted to the NIH Clinical Center and randomized to receive either ultra-processed or unprocessed diets for 2 weeks immediately followed by the alternate diet for 2 weeks. Meals were designed to be matched for presented calories, energy density, macronutrients, sugar, sodium, and fiber. Subjects were instructed to consume as much or as little as desired. Energy intake was greater during the ultra-processed diet (508 ± 106 kcal/day; p = 0.0001), with increased consumption of carbohydrate (280 ± 54 kcal/day; p < 0.0001) and fat (230 ± 53 kcal/day; p = 0.0004), but not protein (−2 ± 12 kcal/day; p = 0.85). Weight changes were highly correlated with energy intake (r = 0.8, p < 0.0001), with participants gaining 0.9 ± 0.3 kg (p = 0.009) during the ultra-processed diet and losing 0.9 ± 0.3 kg (p = 0.007) during the unprocessed diet. Limiting consumption of ultra-processed foods may be an effective strategy for obesity prevention and treatment.

Source: Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake: Cell Metabolism

Steve Parker, M.D.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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Posted in Overweight & Obesity, Weight Loss, Weight Regain

Higher HemoblobinA1c Levels Linked to Cognitive Decline Over Time

Posted on June 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Higher HemoblobinA1c Levels Linked to Cognitive Decline Over Time

HgbA1c (hemoglobin A1c) is a blood test that reflects average blood sugar levels over the previous three months. From a 2018 study:

In this community-based population, we observed a significant trend for cognitive decline over a 10 year period among individuals aged ≥50 years with normoglycaemia, prediabetes or diabetes at baseline. Additionally, HbA1c levels were linearly associated with subsequent cognitive decline in memory and executive function (but not orientation) irrespective of diabetes status at baseline.

Source: HbA1c, diabetes and cognitive decline: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing | SpringerLink

h/t to Jan at The Low-Carb Diabetic

Steve Parker, M.D.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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Don’t Confuse MY Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet With Others

Posted on June 9, 2019 | 1 comment

I don’t know Dodie’s Doodles but she reviewed a competitor to my KMD: Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet at Amazon.com on May 30, 2018. She gave it two stars out of five. Here’s her review in toto:

This book, by Robert Santos-Prowse, a dietician, is not what you want. It’s a little over 180 pages, and the first 50 PAGES are how your digestive system works. Seriously, from the fact that your teeth chew your food all the way down your intestine, as if that’s why you bought the book. Yawn. No offense, but stick with the original by Dr. Steve Parker, who also has an acclaimed cookbook, and I recommend that. He’s the one you want and he has an author’s page here on Amazon.

The book Dodie reviewed is The Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet: A Low-Carb Approach to the Fresh-and-Delicious, Heart-Smart Healthy Lifestyle.

For a free taste of my Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet, click here. For the full monty and to support this blog, click the pic below.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Probably under $13 at Amazon.com in the U.S.

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Gum Disease May Cause or Promote Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on June 8, 2019 | Comments Off on Gum Disease May Cause or Promote Alzheimer’s Disease

From Medical Xpress:

“Researchers have determined that gum disease (gingivitis) plays a decisive role in whether a person develops Alzheimer´s or not.

“We discovered DNA-based proof that the bacteria causing gingivitis can move from the mouth to the brain,” says researcher Piotr Mydel at Broegelmanns Research Laboratory, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen (UiB).

The bacteria produces a protein that destroys nerve cells in the brain, which in turn leads to loss of memory and ultimately, Alzheimer’s.”

Source: Brush your teeth—postpone Alzheimer’s

I take this with a large grain of salt. Click for detailed info on the theory and the Porphyromonas gingivalis bacterium. This organism is the most common bacterium found in the arteries of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

Click the pic to purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S.

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Posted in Coronary Heart Disease, Dementia, Heart Disease

How Can You Weight-Train Your Legs If You Have Bad Knees?

Posted on June 8, 2019 | Comments Off on How Can You Weight-Train Your Legs If You Have Bad Knees?

I’m not sure. Consider working with a physical therapist or sports medicine specialist. I know nothing about Jeff Cavaliere, but here’s a video with his recommendations:

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Avoiding overweight and obesity helps protect against knee arthritis. Losing excess weight will take some of the strain off already bad knees.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

Click the pic to purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S.

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World Health Organization releases guidelines to reduce risk of dementia

Posted on June 7, 2019 | Comments Off on World Health Organization releases guidelines to reduce risk of dementia

Two excerpts:

In guidelines released Tuesday, WHO issued its first recommendations to reduce the risk of dementia globally. They include regular physical exercise, not using tobacco, drinking less alcohol, maintaining healthy blood pressure and eating a healthy diet—particularly a Mediterranean one.

***

“The Mediterranean diet is the most extensively studied dietary approach, in general as well as in relation to cognitive function,” the report said. “Several systematic reviews of observational studies have concluded that high adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease, but modest adherence is not.”

Source: New global guidelines to reduce risk of dementia released

Steve Parker, M.D.

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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QOTD: Mark Steyn on D-Day and Pine Coffins

Posted on June 6, 2019 | Comments Off on QOTD: Mark Steyn on D-Day and Pine Coffins

…simple pine coffins are what soldiers get buried in.

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QOTD: Paul Craig Roberts on Slavery

Posted on June 4, 2019 | 1 comment

A slave is a person who does not own his own labor. Therefore, the product of his labor, or some portion of it, is not his. For medieval serfs the maximum tax rate was 30%. Given the technology of the time, a higher tax rate so dispossessed serfs that the population could not reproduce, and the sefts would revolt.

19th century slaves worked with better technology, and their higher productivity meant that 50% of their work product could be taken by their owners. This was not all profit as owners had to pay handsomely for the labor, but instead of paying the laborer, the slave owner paid the slave merchant who paid the black African king of Dahomey who captured the black slaves. 

In contrast, prior to the 1981 Reagan tax rate reduction, the maximum tax rate on investment income was 70% and the maximum tax rate on wage and salary income was 50 percent.

Today every Western taxpayer is a slave in the same economic sense as slaves in prior times. Today the Western citizen does not own his own labor. He owns only a part of it. The rest belongs to the slave master, that is, the government. The enslavement of the entire working population of the United States occured in 1913 with the enactment of the income tax. This enslavement is color blind.

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Kim Du Toit: The Problem With Bread

Posted on June 4, 2019 | 2 comments

Garlic Naan, a type of flat bread

All my life, I’ve loved bread.  As a kid I ate bread with every meal, mostly the commercial white- or brown loaves (called “government bread” in South Africa because the price was kept low by a combination of both subsidy and quota production).  The nearest equivalent today would be the Wonderbread/ Hostess/ generic breads found in supermarkets (U.K. equivalent:  Hovis/ Warburtons/ store brands).

Gradually as I got older and my taste buds matured, I discovered bakery breads, my taste for which became exacerbated by visits to Europe and exposure to wares of the boulangerie  and bäckerei… oy, my mouth waters just thinking  about the Viennese brötchen  I’d gobble down with my morning coffee.

All went well, until my doctor told me that I needed to change my diet (his exact words:  “If you don’t lose weight, you’re going to die, you fat bastard”).  There were other words related to my extreme paucity of exercise (“Get up off your fat ass and start exercising, too.”)

I know that diets don’t work;  only permanent changes in lifestyle and eating habits do.  And the only change that seems to work without being too much work is getting rid of the bad things which cause you to gain weight, chief offenders being starches (grains) and sugars.

Source: The Problem With Bread – Splendid Isolation

Steve Parker MD, Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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Posted in Weight Loss