17 February 2010

What a waste!

Supports pretty much all of Trick and Treat

This has got to be one of the best studies I have ever seen - as a demonstration of how to waste time and money. As well, no doubt, as providing 'evidence' to frighten the less knowledgeable of the populace into cutting down on saturated animal fats to prevent obesity and osteoporosis (NOTE: Corn oil is not an animal fat and is not saturated - but I doubt that will stop someone using it as 'evidence' against them.)

I have never been a fan of extrapolating animal dietary studies to Homo sapiens. We have quite different reactions to foods. As you can read, these 'scientists' obviously share my views. But, after admitting that animal studies like this don't mimic human conditions, these 'scientists' conduct a trial on mice which, they say, serves as a model for humans!

Can anyone, please, tell me:
1. In what way does it have any relevance to anything other than, perhaps, female C57Bl/6J mice?
2. Do female C57Bl/6J mice even suffer from osteoporsis?
3. Should we care??
4. How on earth they get this cr*p published??

The abstract is below (I've got a PDF of the whole paper if anyone would like it)

Barry

Ganesh V. Halade, M. Rahman, Paul J. Williams and Gabriel Fernandes. High fat diet-induced animal model of age-associated obesity and osteoporosis.The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry February 2010, [Article in Press, Corrected Proof]

Abstract
Osteoporosis and obesity remain a major public health concern through its associated fragility and fractures. Several animal models for the study of osteoporotic bone loss, such as ovariectomy (OVX) and denervation, require unique surgical skills and expensive set up. The challenging aspect of these age-associated diseases is that no single animal model exactly mimics the progression of these human-specific chronic conditions. Accordingly, to develop a simple and novel model of post menopausal bone loss with obesity, we fed either a high fat diet containing 10% corn oil (CO) or standard rodent lab chow (LC) to 12-month-old female C57Bl/6J mice for 6 months. As a result, CO fed mice exhibited increased body weight, total body fat mass, abdominal fat mass and reduced bone mineral density (BMD) in different skeletal sites measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. We also observed that decreased BMD with age in CO fed obese mice was accompanied by increased bone marrow adiposity, up-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, cathepsin k and increased proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor α) in bone marrow and splenocytes, when compared to that of LC fed mice. Therefore, this appears to be a simple, novel and convenient age-associated model of post menopausal bone loss, in conjunction with obesity, which can be used in pre-clinical drug discovery to screen new therapeutic drugs or dietary interventions for the treatment of obesity and osteoporosis in the human population. (Emphasis added)

Barry

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Barry

More of the "scientists'" usual rubbish then! (sigh)

What do you think of this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35058896/ns/health-heart_health// ?

I read it this morning while drinking my cocoa with double cream and trying to decide between bacon & eggs or a 3 egg cheesy omelette for breakfast!

Saw your posting on the FSA blog (how can they still trot out the same old stuff?) - keep up the good work.

Tanya

Barry Groves said...

Hi Tanya

I'm wondering how long before "they" tell us that we've got it all wrong, that cholesterol is not a problem, that they've always told us that, and they don't know where we got the idea that it wasn't from!

Barry

Matthew Shipton said...

Hey Barry,

Here's a link to an "article" I thought you would find interesting, and I linked to the most "interesting" page of it.

http://www.prevention.com/healthhearsays/7.html

This is apparently a "crazy health rumour." I don't know how they get away with posting this drivel and not getting sued for negligence!

- Matthew

Nightingale said...

Hi Dr Groves,

I found a naturopath with a PhD in Nutrition to help me with the whole breast cancer thing. He falls pretty much in line with what you've been saying.

The only fats he wants me using are butter, olive oil, and coconut oil...all organic of course. He said the liver recognizes these oils. He said to the liver, all the other bad oils are like opening your front door and seeing your in-laws!

He said not to worry about my 260mg/dl cholesterol. He said my cholesterol level is protective for me, especially against cancer; and my triglycerides and VLDL are perfect anyways.

He wants me to eat more red meat, grass-fed; no milk, not even organic; free-range eggs are great. He took me off my vitamin D supplement, and wants me to get more sun.

Sound familiar?

So glad you're online sharing your knowledge with the rest of us.

Nightingale

Barry Groves said...

Hi Matthew

What this website is preaching is the received wisdom. The fact that it has been shown to be harmful doesn't stop it being published. One of the great things about the Internet is that there is a vast wealth of useful evidence on it. The downside is that there is also a lot of dross. Anyone can write anything they like - including you and me. Then it's up to the reader to work out the good from the bad. It is for this reason that I reference everything I write. That way, the reader has a chance to check out the veracity of what I have written.

Hi Nightingal

Sounds as if you have found a good doctor. Hang on to him - they are few and far between.

Barry

Andrew Karpinski said...

Hi Barry

They are idiots or long term vegetarians ;)

I would like to take my occasion (is it ok to do this here?) and say something regarding to your great article “The Exercise Myth”.

Generally I will agree with article but one thing should be clarified.

There are some tribes who can hunt animal by running it down.

They will run after animal for around 8 hours or even more.

It is run non-stop and it's called "persistence hunting". Native American Indians used similar hunting technique.

Of course not every member of tribe can do that, they have specially trained hunters for those occasions.

You can find short youtube movie by typing "persistence hunting" in search box. Movie was made by Sir David Attenborough.

Best regards

Barry Groves said...

Hi Andrew

The exercise blog might have been a better place, but not to worry.

Yes, I have heard of African hunters following an animal they have wounded for miles until it tires to point where they could kill it. But, on the whole, four-legged animals run much more quickly than two-legged humans.

From the multitude of fossilised bones found below cliffs, it is hypothesised that Palaeolithic Man, unable to catch their prey by running, drove animals over those cliffs to kill them thus saving their energy.

And, in Nature, no animal uses any more energy than it needs to expend in order to survive. The only times herbivores run is when they are threatened by a predator; the only time predators run is when they are hunting. And even then, they often give up when they realise that they are expending more energy than the prey is worth.

Just one other thought: that persistence running would only really be viable on a high-fat diet. Anyone relying on glucose would soon run out of steam.

Barry

Andrew Karpinski said...

Oh yes, of course you are right Barry.

"Persistence Hunting" may be done only on high fat diets.

And yes "persistence haunting" wasn’t the most popular idea.

I thought is just worth to say about it because it clearly shows our amazing psychical capabilities.
Andrew
P.S Sorry I didn’t notice sport related discussion elsewhere.
P.S Great Web site and Blog ;)

Emma said...

It was my inderstanding that carrying some extra fat is protective of osteoporosis in women, due to the increased 'weight-bearing' effect of being a higher weight and the ability of adipose tissue to synthesise oestrogen after menopause.
Aside from the fact that mice have nothing in common with humans, could the type of fat be the issue here? I hear many horror stories about corn oil.

Anonymous said...

Collecting the evidence!

Barry, I don't know where else to post this question.

When you have some spare time, could you please make a list of all the scientific, peer reviewed papers that you quote?

This would make it so much easier for those of us who work in science to be able to quote the relevant papers.

My experience is that as soon as I give a reference to a paper, all opposition dries up pdq! It would be nice to have that 'ammunition' ready to use at all times!

Keep up the good work!

Steve, Ispra, Italy

Barry Groves said...

Wow, Steve, that would run to several thousand.

Trick and Treat has over 1,100 references on 54 pages. And an Appendix gives readers a URL where they can be checked.

All the articles on my websites are referenced - the references are with the articles, either at the end of the article or, if the article is broken up on several pages, each page may be referenced.

What more I do?

Barry

Luddite said...

An article from the Daily Mail stating that eating too much fruit can make you fat and rot your teeth:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1256509/Eating-fruit-make-fat.html

Watching them squirm around the 5-a-day message is quite entertaining.

Dissertation Writing service said...
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Anonymous said...

I agree holehartedly Barry,

My aged mother had 3 weeks diahorrea on Statins. It stopped days after stopping them. Losing water and nutrients took their toll emotionally on all the family.

Regarding the Mice, I seem to remember that they can synthesize Vitamin C internally whereas we cannot. I'm sure this would affect metabolism as well as CHD etc.

regards,

Steve

Anonymous said...

Earlier this evening I saw an advert on TV for a breakfast cereal. 'Made with nourishing, healthy whole grains'! When will someone realise these claims are lies, and report the advertisers to the Advertising Standards Agency!

It disgusts me, when I see the weight falling off me, yet I hear people complain that they can't lose weight, even though they 'eat healthily.' I try to put them right, but they have been brainwashed I fear.
Sad...

John

Anonymous said...

From am article in the Daily Mail...

When we eat sugar, our body releases the hormone insulin, which tells the brain we've had enough to eat, explains dietician Ursula Arens of the British Dietetic Association.
'High insulin levels dampen the appetite, but fructose doesn't trigger this insulin response, so the brain doesn't get the message that you are full,' she says.

Is this woman really a dietician?