Page 11 - Winter2008

Caustic Commentary

STATINS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN? health and normal reproduction—don’t even show up in the

TOO HORRIBLE TO BE TRUE ONQI list—butter, organ meats, fish eggs, cod liver oil, and
FDA lists statins in category X for pregnancy, along with whole raw dairy products from grass-fed cows. It would be
thalidomide and accutane, meaning that they should never interesting to feed one group of laboratory rats a diet of high-
be taken by pregnant women (http://healthlink.mcw.edu/ar- rated foods such as broccoli, radishes and nonfat milk, and
ticle/1031002752.html0). They are teratogens, with the poten- another group of rats a diet of low-rated foods such as fried
tial to cause horrible birth defects. For this reason the March eggs, salami and bacon, and compare the results. Meanwhile,
of Dimes opposed over-the-counter statin sales because of expect to see the new ratings posted on various grocery store
birth defect risks. But researchers at New York’s Hospital for foods very soon. The scale system “will allow busy parents and
Special Surgery have pregnant women in their sights. They others who care about nutrition a quick, at-a-glance way to see
tested statins on mice with a condition called antiphospholipid what food item is ultimately the healthiest without having to
syndrome (APS), which can cause miscarriages, and found read every label” (CalorieLab Calorie Counter News, January
that biochemical markers indicative of better pregnancy out- 28, 2008). An ominous statement! Can we expect to see the
come improved. Now they are claiming that statins should be ONQI replace food labels sometime in the future?
given to women with APS-induced pregnancy complications.
Guillermina Girardi, PhD, lead author of the study, claims that MORE NEWS ABOUT VITAMIN D
statins are perfectly safe for pregnant women and that a trial Vitamin D is in the news these days as more and more stud-
involving pregnant women is needed. A trial like this can only ies show the benefits of the “sunshine vitamin.” Vitamin
get approval from the hospital’s human safety review board if D protects against bone loss, diabetes, nervous disorders
all the board members are on Lipitor themselves. like MS, cancer and heart disease. A new study, published
in the Archives of Internal Medicine, indicates that people
NEW FOOD RANKING SYSTEM with low vitamin D levels have a significantly higher risk
An example of how reductionist tunnel vision can lead to of death than those with higher levels. The study involved
ludicrous conclusions is the new Overall Nutritional Quality over 13,000 people in their forties whose blood was tested
Index (ONQI), developed by a “panel of twelve of the nation’s for vitamin D levels and who were followed for about nine
foremost experts on nutrition” at Yale University’s Griffin years. The participants were divided into four groups based
Prevention Research Center. Using a complex mathematical on their vitamin D levels. Those in the bottom quarter, whose
formula that looks at selected nutrients in a particular food, as vitamin D was less than 17.8 nanograms per milliliter had a
well as the amount of fat, sugar, sodium, cholesterol, calories, 26 percent greater risk of dying from any cause than those
glycemic load and other factors, the august experts have rated in the top quarter (Vol. 168 No. 15, Aug 11/25, 2008). It is
commonly consumed foods on a scale of one to one hundred, studies like these that have shamed the American Academy of
with one hundred being the “healthiest.” The top rated food Pediatriacs into issuing “new” guidelines for vitamin D intake
under the ONQI system? Broccoli! All but one of the foods in children, raising the recommended dose from 200 to 400
rating 90 and above are fruits and vegetables—radish gets a IU. Actually, these guidelines are not new, but rather the old
99—the exception being nonfat milk with a 91. Meats and sea- AAP recommended guidelines, in place from 1963 to 2003.
food range from the twenties to the eighties in this system, with In 2003, the AAP reduced the recommended dose to 200 IU,
the lower numbers assigned to fatty cuts of meat such as baby justifying this decision with a short paper containing absolutely
back ribs and chicken wings. Obviously non-nutritious foods no discussion of the scientific data and arguing that breast
such as popsicles, cheese puffs and sodas get ratings below milk was an inferior source of vitamin D to formula (which
20, along with nutrient-dense traditional foods like fried eggs, is true if breast-feeding moms are avoiding food sources of
salami and bacon (www.onqi.org). The sacred foods—prized vitamin D). The fact that vitamin D is found in foods that are
by traditional cultures as absolutely necessary for optimal conspicuously absent from the USDA official food guidelines

WINTER 2008 Wise Traditions 11