Fwd: Cholesstewrong

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Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:29:20 -0500

WC Douglass

Cholesstewrong

 

Daily Dose

 

December 23, 2003

 

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How low can you go - before you're dead, or crazy?

 

If I had any hair left, I'd be pulling it out in little tufts

right now.

 

I suppose I shouldn't be this worked up, seeing as how every day

of my life, I report on the misconceptions (or just plain

deceptions) that conventional medicine foists upon us. But every

once in a while, something I read in mainstream sources just

makes me want to scream - because I know that real people out

there are making life-and-death health choices based on this

same hogwash.

 

So what's got my goat this time? The mainstream's latest

wrong-headed conclusions regarding " safe " levels of LDL

cholesterol. Presented at a recent meeting of the American Heart

Association (and reported by just about every major news outlet,

including CNN), the basic gist of their " findings " is this:

 

There's no such thing as 'too low' for LDL cholesterol in the

blood.

 

What wishy-washy wimps - they won't even commit to a " safe "

number, for Pete's sake! This, in the wake of their absolutely

preposterous recently revised guidelines regarding " high " blood

pressure (Daily Dose, 8/8/2003) that make anyone who's not a

marathoner a candidate for hypertension medications. But I

digress - we were taking about cholesterol...

 

Never mind the fact that we NEED cholesterol (yes, even the LDL

variety) to survive, and that our body makes it on its own.

Forget about the research linking drug-induced cholesterol

lowering with mental impairment (Daily Dose, 3/28/2003). And

even if you can overlook the evidence that links low levels of

blood cholesterol to depression, mood swings, and the risk of

stroke...

 

There's still the issue of the potentially fatal side effects of

the mainstream's cholesterol drugs! (Remember Baycol - pulled by

the FDA after being blamed for more than fifty deaths?) To say

that levels of LDL cholesterol can't get too low is medically

irresponsible, in my opinion. Clearly, the " powers that be " in

conventional medicine don't understand what it is or how it

works if they're suggesting that anything lower than a combined

score of 300 is remotely in need of adjustment.

 

And all this while the REAL heart-stoppers like homocysteine get

barely a notice.

 

Oh well - it's only another lie, right? What's one more on top

of the pile?

 

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Nationwide, bread's not rising anymore...

 

At last, some good news: It looks like the low-carb message is

finally sinking in.

 

How do I know? Because recently, the Associated Press ran a

story - which was picked up by several major news outlets across

the country - about recent plummeting profits in the baking and

bread-making industries nationwide. Like the AP, I attribute

this drop to the dramatic increase in the popularity of Atkins

and other low-carbohydrate nutritional plans.

 

While I do feel for the hardship this must be creating in all

those small corner bakeries, I can't help but be heartened by

the news. It means that despite the media's (and the medical

mainstream's) continual vilification of us carnivores, somehow

the message is getting out. Maybe it has to do with all the

slimmer waistlines out there among those who've embraced the

low-carb approach. After all, nothing sells like results.

 

I hope this trend keeps up, regardless of the bottom-line impact

to the nation's baking industry. More than tasty pastries, we

need to reverse the national epidemic of obesity - along with

all the disease and death that goes with it.

 

If only my old friend Dr. Atkins were still alive. I know he'd

be so happy to see the lifesaving groundswell his life's work is

finally spurring.

 

 

Spending my dough on beef, not bread,

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

 

 

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