Page 15 - Spring2018

Caustic Commentary

soybeans.” The truth is that we are not going to make any oil can hasten the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Two
progress in dietary science until we call out the American groups of mice, selected for a tendency to Alzheimer’s but
Heart Association for what it really is—the marketing arm without any symptoms, were give either a normal diet or
of the industrial seed oil industry—and reveal the likes of the normal diet plus two tablespoons of canola oil each day.
Jane Brody as a mouthpiece for commercial interests, not a Six months later maze tests revealed the mice on the canola
legitimate journalist. diet showed a decline in their working memory capacities
compared to the other group. The canola oil group had also
UNNECESSARY HARM? gained more weight. The canola oil mice had an increase in
As the lipid hypothesis continues to unravel, we detect a note amyloid plaques in the brain, a substance which decreases
of panic in the medical journals. Recently a program blasting the number of contacts between neurons. By contrast a
the use of statins called “The Big Bluff” aired on Franco- similar study using olive oil showed a reduction in amyloid
German public television and the response came in the form plaque. The results are surprising because canola oil con-
of an article published in the European Heart Journal (Feb tains, in principle, omega-3 fatty acids, said to be important
2018;39(5):335-336). Authors François Schiele and Steen D. for neurological function. But of course, high temperature
Kristensen wrote that the program “encouraged physicians processing damages omega-3 fatty acids, creating breakdown
and patients to interrupt lipid-lowering treatments and avoid substances that could be very detrimental to brain health
blood lipid assessments.” The broadcast, they said, “was (Nature Scientific Reports 2017;7:article17134).
dangerously irresponsible. After antibiotics, statins may have
contributed more to prolonging life expectancy than any DENTAL EMERGENCIES
other type of medication. . . It’s time to set the record straight We tend to think of dental emergencies as something only
because the repercussions for the misinformed are potentally encountered in the Third World, not something that happens
catastrophic.” So how catastrophic would it be if the public in the West where we enjoy the latest in dental care. But
stopped taking statins? The truth is that statin drugs have in the U.S., the number of root abscesses increased by 41
never been shown to prolong lives, and their benefits even percent from 2000 to 2008 (the U.S. population rose only 8
for those who have had a heart attack are minimal. Statin percent during the period) and emergency room dental visits
use is associated with increased risk of cancer, neurological rose by 50 percent from 2005 to 2011. The truth is that many
disorders and muscle degeneration, and study after study Americans lack dental care and suffer from embarassment
confirms the fact that high cholesterol is associated with a and even unimaginable pain. We need more dentists, for sure,
longer life, especially in the elderly. As one researcher stated, but what’s needed most of all is education about the tragic
“Statins do not have a proven net health benefit in primary effects of sugary foods and lowfat diets on our teeth (New
prevention populations, and they when used in that setting York Times, May 23, 2017).
do not represent good use of scarce health care resources”
(Therapeutics Letter 77/March-April 2010). In fact, a 2015
paper published in Expert Reviews in Clinical Pharmacology
(2015 Mar;8(2):189-99) proposed that statins actually cause FOR SCIENTISTS AND LAY READERS
atherosclerosis and heart failure. Meanwhile, new National Please note that the mission of the Weston A. Price
Health Service guidelines in the U.K. recommend giving Foundation is to provide important information about diet
statins to children “who have inherited the risk of high and health to both scientists and the lay public. For this rea-
son, some of the articles in Wise Traditions are necessarily
cholesterol” (The Telegraph Science, November 2, 2017). technical. It is very important for us to describe the science
that supports the legitimacy of our dietary principles. In
NOT SO GOOD FOR THE BRAIN articles aimed at scientists and practitioners, we provide a
Canola oil is touted as heart-healthy because it can reduce summary of the main points and also put the most techni-
your levels of LDL-cholesterol (the kind that carries nour- cal information in sidebars. These articles are balanced by
ishment to your cells), but a new study suggests that the others that provide practical advice to our lay readers.

SPRING 2018 Wise Traditions 13