WDDTY E-news broadcast 5 April 2007 No.348

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News content

 

 

TRANS FATS: They triple your chances of heart disease

CONSTIPATION: It could be caused by a food allergy MILK: How much

longer will Monsanto be allowed to put growth hormone into America's

dairy products?

BREAST IS BEST: It even protects babies against HIV infection

FISH OILS: They're just as good as statins at reducing heart disease

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TRANS FATS: They triple your chances of heart disease

 

 

You don't need us to tell you that trans fats – the partially

hydrogenated vegetable oils found in fast foods such as chips (or

French Fries) and baked fare – are bad for your health, and

especially your heart.

 

But researchers have now put a figure on it. They reckon trans fats

triple your chances of heart disease.

 

The new study, from the Harvard School of Public Health, is the first

to measure the risk from blood samples. Earlier studies based their

findings on food diaries, which participants completed when they had

time. Diaries are notoriously inaccurate, because people don't

always like to reveal their bad eating habits, even in an anonymous

study.

 

As the researchers explain, trans fats not only increase the levels

of `bad' LDL cholesterol levels, they also decrease the levels of

HDL, or `good', cholesterol.

 

The message is not lost on the fast food restaurant chains, such as

MacDonalds, which are busy changing their cooking oils to a healthier

mix.

 

(Source: Circulation, published online, March 26, 2007).

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONSTIPATION: It could be caused by a food allergy

 

 

Constipated? It could be because you have an unsuspected food

allergy. That certainly was the case for four women who had tried

everything from laxatives to fibre supplements.

 

But the moment they switched to an oligoantigenic diet – that's one

that avoids all foods suspected of causing an allergic reaction –

their constipation cleared in 10 days.

 

And when they switched back to their usual diet, which included

wheat, cow's milk, and egg, their constipation also returned.

 

While they were constipated, all four women reported chronic anal

itching, which cleared up while on the elimination diet.

 

(Source: Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2006; 41: 498-

504).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MILK: How much longer will Monsanto be allowed to put growth hormone

into America's dairy products?

 

 

The tide is finally turning against chemical giant Monsanto and its

right to use a growth hormone in every dairy herd in the USA.

 

The hormone – Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) – is designed

to increase a cow's milk output, but protestors are worried about the

health effects it may have on humans.

 

The hormone has already been banned in Europe and Canada, and

individual states are being pressured by worried consumers to do the

same.

 

Some dairies are already stepping out of line, and are producing rBGH-

free milk – even though it is illegal to market the fact. But some

commentators reckon Monsanto will fight the campaigners to the bitter

end as it's investing its future in genetically-modified products,

and rBGH was one of the first it launched.

 

(Source: Townsend Letter, 2007; 285: 60-2).

 

 

 

 

THE DANGERS OF MILK

The real dangers of milk – and especially low-fat milk – are explored

in the very latest issue of `What Doctors Don't Tell You'. And if

you are addicted to milk, it also points you in the direction of raw

milk suppliers. To start your subscription, and so receive the

special `Safe As Milk' report, please

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREAST IS BEST: It even protects babies against HIV infection

 

Another piece of bad news for our friends at Nestle, who are keen to

move African babies off the breast and onto their excellent milk

substitutes.

 

A new study has found that African babies who are exclusively

breastfed are far less likely to develop HIV-1 infection.

 

This new discovery is at odds with earlier findings, which had

suggested that breast milk was one of the main ways that the

infection is transmitted, but it appears that those babies were also

eating solids along with breast milk.

 

When researchers looked at babies who were being exclusively

breastfed, they found they were developing a natural immunity. In

fact, babies who were breastfed and being fed solids were almost

twice as likely to die from infection than those who were exclusively

breastfed.

 

(Source: Lancet, 2007; 369: 1065-6).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FISH OILS: They're just as good as statins at reducing heart disease

 

 

Fish oil supplements may not prevent a fatal heart attack, but they

will dramatically reduce your chances of developing heart problems, a

new Japanese study has found.

 

And they were just as effective as statin drugs, and offered a

similar level of protection.

 

The study – the Japan EPA Lipid Intervention Study (JELIS) – is

interesting on several counts. It exclusively involves Japanese

people, whose fish intake is on average far higher than that in the

West, and the researchers were testing at far higher levels of

supplementation than have ever before been monitored.

 

They found that those who ate around two servings a week of fish were

getting all the protection they needed against fatal heart attack.

In fact, taking extra supplementation on top didn't offer up any more

benefits.

 

But those who were also supplementing with 900 mg of EPA and DHA

daily reduced their chances of developing non-fatal heart problems by

around 19 per cent.

 

The study, which involved 18,645 participants with high cholesterol

levels who were randomly given either a supplement or a statin, is

the first to confirm that high dosages have a protective effect

against heart disease. Earlier studies from the West were unable to

find any benefit because they were testing at far lower levels.

 

(Source: Lancet, 2007; 369: 1090-

 

 

 

 

 

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