Traditional Diets and Dental Health (Switzerland)

After reading this article about the relative absence of tooth decay in hunter-gatherers, I immediately thought of the work of  Weston Price about dental health.

Does Calorie Counting Work?

Here is an interesting blog post by Dr Andreas Eenfeldt: Why Calorie Counters are Confused?

Vegetarians and Hunter-Gatherers

I would like to add a few things to my earlier posts about vegetarians and India.

Diseases of Civilization - A Few Important Names

The observation that western diseases appeared shortly after sugar and refined carbohydrates became part of a diet, is quite common. If it was an isolated case, I would say "OK, there must be something else going on". But it seems to be true all around the world.

Diseases of Civilization - Japan

Japan is often cited as a proof that a high carbohydrate diet is the solution to avoid chronic diseases. I think it is a misguided belief.

In the 1950s, Ancel Keys considered his hypothesis (dietary fat causes heart disease) confirmed by the example of Japan, where people ate a low-fat diet, had low cholesterol levels, and had very little incidence of heart disease. It is true. It is also true, that at that time, sugar consumption was also very low and carbohydrates (brown rice, millet, buckwheat, etc) were not processed. So, we could also say that the low incidence of heart disease was a result of the lack of sugar and refined carbohydrates in their diet. Of course, Keys paid no attention to sugar consumption.

Diet Trends

"It is incredible that in the twentieth-century America a conscientious physician should have his hard-won professional reputation placed on the line for daring to suggest that an obesity victim might have some relief by cutting out sugars and starches."
                                                                        - Robert Atkins

AGEs

With aging, our skin and other tissues (arteries and organs - heart, lungs, joints etc.) lose elasticity. In animals we can see clearly that the skin and muscle of old animals are stiffer that the tissues of the young ones.

Bad Science

Here is an interview with Gary Taubes explaining why we came to believe the current dogma that obesity is caused by eating more and exercising less.

Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Prevent Heart Disease - David Evans

David Evans compiled a great reference book - Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Prevent Heart Disease - about the relationship of Saturated fat in the diet and heart disease, showing that there is no correlation between these two elements. The book contains 101 scientific papers (with the name of the authors and the year it has been published) showing that:

Does Diet Coke make us Fat?

I have already written about the fattening properties of sugar. When we consume a sugary drink, our
blood glucose goes up, this induces insulin secretion from the pancreas, the insulin in turn will take the calories (glucose and fatty acid) from our bloodstream and store them in our fat tissues. The calories are not available anymore to fuel our daily activities, they are blocked by insulin. As a result, without adequate energy, we feel tired and hungry. We sit down in front of the TV and eat.