Source: PCRM: Dr Neal Barnard’s Blog 7/6/2011
Last month, the National Institutes of Health stopped a clinical trial a year and a half early because the drug under study—an extended-release form of niacin—proved ineffective for preventing heart attacks and strokes. Marketed as Niaspan, the drug increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good” cholesterol). However, it showed no benefit at all in the $52.7 million AIM-HIGH study, which included 3,414 individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease, so the study was stopped.
In response, research leaders began wringing their hands, wondering what could be done. The Washington Post quoted Susan B. Shurin, acting director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study, saying, “This sends us a bit back to the drawing board.” Ralph Sacco, president of the American Heart Association, lamented, “We are always looking for new, more effective ways to reduce cardiovascular risks. It’s disappointing.”
The answer is to close the medicine cabinet and open the kitchen cabinet. More than 20 years ago, Dr. Dean Ornish showed that a vegetarian diet, along with other healthful lifestyle factors could reverse heart disease and dramatically cut the long-term risk of attacks and other cardiovascular problems. Other research teams have shown similar results. An entirely plant-based diet has no animal fat and no cholesterol, and is rich in soluble fiber that helps reduce cholesterol.
Niacin is often used in hopes of raising the ratio of “good” cholesterol to “bad” cholesterol, that is boosting HDL and reducing LDL. However, a healthy diet accomplishes much the same. A plant-based diet typically reduces LDL so much that the ratio improves. Studies have also shown that exercise can boost HDL.
So rather than hope for more and better drugs to combat a disease that is largely caused by diet and lifestyle, it is time to address the causes directly. By prying ourselves away from animal-derived food products and building our menu from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes, we will go a long way toward eliminating heart disease.
US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH stops clinical trial on combination cholesterol treatment. NIH News. National Institutes of Health. May 26, 2011.
Check out this page from Meat and Egg Free for great ideas on helping your food budget.
Fish Oil Does Not Benefit Baby’s Cognition or Mom’s Depression
Consumption of fish oil during pregnancy does not benefit babies’ cognitive development or mothers’ mood, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Pregnant women who consumed 800 mg of a DHA-rich fish oil supplement each day during pregnancy showed no benefits for depression, and their babies did not differ cognitively from children born from women who consumed a vegetable oil (rapeseed, sunflower, and palm) supplement. A team of researchers in Australia evaluated depression in 2,320 women six months postpartum and cognitive scores including memory, problem solving, and language for 694 children at 18 months.
Makrides M, Gibson RA, McPhee AJ, et al. Effect of DHA Supplementation During Pregnancy on Maternal Depression and Neurodevelopment of Young Children. JAMA. 2010;304:1675-1683.
For information about nutrition and health, please visit PCRM
Researchers caution that consuming eggs is not as harmless as some reports claim. The authors of a new publication in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology explain that the cholesterol in one egg exceeds the maximum amount recommended by the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program. Both recommend less than 200 milligrams per day for people at risk for cardiovascular disease. Authors go on to caution that stopping egg consumption after a heart attack would be “a necessary act, but late.”
A recent report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reiterated the recommendation to reduce dietary cholesterol to less than 200 milligrams per day for persons with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.
Spence JD, Jenkins DJA, Davignon J. Dietary cholesterol and egg yolks: not for patients at risk of vascular disease. Can J Cardiol. 2010;26:e336-e339.
Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. Available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/DGAC/Report/D-3-FattyAcidsCholesterol.pdf
For information about nutrition and health, please visit PCRM
Renowned Cleveland Clinic researcher Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D., highlights the need to change standard approaches to heart disease in an article to be published next week in the American Journal of Cardiology. Dr. Esselstyn explains why common methods of treating heart disease, such as stent and bypass surgeries, may have their place among a minority of patients, but for the vast majority, they are not as effective as low-fat, plant-based diets. The author acknowledges that physicians’ time constraints can limit the ability to provide information to patients. But ultimately, educated patients experience weight loss, blood pressure normalization, and improved or resolved diabetes, angina, and heart disease.
Source: www.pcrm.org
With 840 calories, 37 grams of fat, and about as much sodium as a child should consume in an entire day, McDonald’s Mighty Kids Meal has topped a list of the five most unhealthful fast-food meals marketed to children. The list, based on analysis by PCRM dietitians, also includes meals from Wendy’s, KFC, and A&W, as well as Burger King’s just-released BK Kids Breakfast Meal. All five of these worst fast-food kids meals are high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. None would meet the nutritional standards for healthful children’s lunches set forward last year by the prestigious Institute of Medicine. Fast-food kids meals are heavily marketed: Children now see more fast-food ads on television than ever before, according to a recent University of Illinois study. “Kids shouldn’t have to dodge cholesterol bombs packaged in colorful, toy-filled boxes,” says PCRM nutrition education director Susan Levin, M.S., R.D. “We’re losing the war against childhood obesity, but fast-food chains are still making obscene profits by targeting children with high-fat meals.” The report received coverage on dozens of TV stations around the country, including outlets in Boston, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. The report was also tweeted by Deanna Daughtry, spouse of Chris Daughtry, the former American Idol finalist who formed the band Daughtry. Here are the five most unhealthful kids meals, ranked from worst to least bad:
A report this month from researchers at the College of William & Mary found that children who live near or attend schools close to fast-food restaurants are more likely to be obese. In a trend driven by the obesity epidemic, an estimated one in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes in his or her lifetime, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To read the complete report, visit PCRM.org/Health. |
5 July 2010
In their letter to the President of the National Assembly, Yves Cochet (Green), Geneviève Gaillard et Gérard Bapt (PS) and François Grosdidier (UMP) ask Bernard Accoyer to lead the way by launching a meatless day per week as soon as possible.
In May these deputies had already voiced their concern about excessive meat over-consumption and its impact on health and the environment, thus endorsing the campaigns by the ex-Beatle Paul Mc Cartney and the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Pachauri.
Meat consumption increases the risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting. Researchers studied the diets of 884 participants with bladder cancer and 878 controls and found that those who ate the most meat were up to 58 percent more likely to develop bladder cancer. Eating well-done meat was linked to an almost twofold increased risk of bladder cancer. Cooking meat at high temperatures produces carcinogens called heterocyclic amines. Study participants who consumed the most bacon, pork chops, fried chicken, and fried fish also had a higher risk.
Lin J, Wang JM, Grossman BH, et al. Red meat and heterocyclic amine intake, metabolic pathway genes, and bladder cancer risk. Report presented at: American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting; April 17, 2010: Washington DC.
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