Caustic Commentary, Winter 2011

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Sally Fallon Morell takes on the Diet Dictocrats

CAUSES OF DELIQUENCY

An alert chapter leader sent us this fascinating 1948 cartoon of “Joe Deliquent.” The top two causes of deliquency listed are malnutrition and physical defects—note the boy’s narrow face in the cartoon. Today, the role of nutrition in shaping behavior and character is largely ignored. The Wikipedia article on delinquency includes “[low] intelligence, impulsiveness or the inability to delay gratification, aggression, lack of empathy, and restlessness.” All of these behavior patterns can be linked to a combination of nutrient deficiencies, gut dysbiosis, ingredients in processed food and even toxins used in dentistry. Of course environment and parental example also play roles in shaping character but no real solution can be attained without including poor nutrition in the equation.

In September, Denmark became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax on all foods that contain saturated fat, including butter, bacon and cheese. Hungary has also passed a fat tax and the UK, Sweden and Norway are considering similar measures. The tax is billed as an attempt to convince Danes to eat “healthier” but it is hard not to suspect the long arm of the vegetable oil industry behind the measure. The tax is a complex one, in which rates will correspond with the percentage of fat in a product. The value of the tax is about three dollars for every kilogram of saturated fat. For example, a burger will increase in price by about fifteen cents, and a small package of butter could cost around forty cents more under the new plan. The tax was approved by a large parliamentary majority as a move to help increase the average life expectancy of Danes—which has fallen below the international average of seventy-nine years—by three years over the next ten years. Time will tell whether the measure brings the predicted benefits, but in the meantime the government expects to collect over two hundred sixty million dollars per year from the tax, so it’s unlikely to be rescinded even if no health improvements ensue. What the tax is sure to do is put a nail in the coffin of Denmark’s major agricultural industries—the production of butter, bacon and cheese. Something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark.

NOT SCIENTIFIC

One thing for sure, the rationale for taxing saturated fat is not based on science. Numerous studies have found no correlation between saturated fat consumption and proneness to heart disease, including a recent one published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (July 2010 92(1):194- 202). And a new study exonerates dairy fats. Researchers at the Uppsala University in Finland measured blood levels of two biomarkers of milk fat in a group of heart attack patients and a group of healthy controls. The substances, pentadecanoic acid and heptadecanoic acid, indicate how much dairy fat a person has been eating. They found that people with the highest levels of milk fat biomarkers, suggesting that they consumed the most dairy fat, were actually at lower risk of heart attack. For women, the risk was 26 percent lower while for men the risk was 9 percent lower.

LANDMARK DECISION

On behalf of several Maine residents, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) has ruled that it is an unjust and unreasonable practice for Central Maine Power Company (CMP) to refuse to allow residential and small commercial customers to opt-out of CMP’s smart meter program. A smart meter is an electrical meter that records consumption of electric energy and communicates that information wirelessly to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes. The plaintiffs expressed concern about the health effects of the meters, as well as privacy and cyber security issues. CMP argued vigorously that customers—some of whom experience severe health problems in the presence of smart meters—should not be allowed to opt out, and the MPUC found that position to be unjust and unreasonable. The Portland Press Herald described the decision as a “landmark” case which will serve as precedent for others in the determination of how to resolve what has become a growing debate about customer choice and smart meters (www.pressherald.com/news/PUCapproves-smart-meter-opt-out-options.html). The devices are currently banned in Marin County, California and subject to a moratorium in Santa Cruz, California.

SALT REDUCTION NO BENEFIT

A systematic review published by The Cochrane Library, designed to assess whether advice to cut salt intake altered the risk of death or cardiovascular disease, found no strong evidence to support the idea that salt reduction does any good. According to Professor Rod Taylor, lead author, “Intensive support and encouragement to reduce salt intake did lead to a reduction in salt eaten and a small reduction in blood pressure after more than six months. . . [However] there was not enough information to understand the effect of these changes in salt intake on deaths or cardiovascular disease.” An earlier Cochrane review, published in 2004, found the same thing: depriving yourself of salt will not add any years to the human carcass. Naturally, the low-salt promoters are whining. Katherine Jenner, campaign director of the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) declared the message “very disappointing.” While Taylor calls for more studies, Jenner stated that “there is no sense in waiting for further trials before progressing with an international salt reduction programme, which will immediately save many thousands of lives.” Jenner proposed “reformulation by the food industry, rather than individual dietary advice” as the most cost-effective strategy for salt reduction in developed countries (www.foodnavigator. com, July 6, 2011).

INDUSTRY REFORMULATIONS

The anti-salt crowd is calling on industry to reduce salt in their products because our taste for salt is so strong, consumers are unlikely to do so voluntarily. (Current salt consumption in the West is about nine grams per day, down from twice that amount before the days of refrigeration, when salt was used as a preservative. The anti-salt crowd wants a further reduction of 50-85 percent.) Food scientists have found a salt substitute that can make reduced-salt products more palatable; it’s called calcium di-glutamate (CDG), one of five glutamate salts internationally accepted as food flavor enhancers—think monosodium glutamate but with calcium instead of sodium. A study carried out by the School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle used thirty-four volunteers to taste chicken broth containing different concentrations of salt and CDG. Soups with slightly reduced salt and the addition of CDG rated as more “pleasant.” The study did not ask the participants about subsequent side effects, such as headaches, brain fog and dry mouth (www.foodnavigator. com, June 6, 2011).

BIG AG ATTACK

Stung by criticism of its animal-raising techniques and unhealthy food, especially as publicized in the documentary Farmageddon big U.S. farming groups are joining forces in a multimillion dollar marketing campaign. The effort also coincides with increased pressure to contain pathogen outbreaks in meat. As part of the push, the new organization, called the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, will hold the first of several town hall meetings in September. With fifty affiliates, the group plans to spend as much as thirty million dollars a year on the campaign. According to Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, “the industry has been unfairly vilified since films, such as Food Inc. and Farmageddon, have depicted the industry as using genetically modified seeds, pumping animals full of hormones and antibiotics to fatten them and confining them in cages with no light.” He argues that activist groups want the farmers to return to days when small family farms served local communities (www.ft.com, August 16, 2011). We’d say he is accurate on both counts—the depiction of industrial agriculture (except that they do have light in those chicken cages) and the description of what food activists want.

NO MAJOR OUTBREAKS!

Flood waters in Thailand have turned Bangkok streets into floating landfills. Plastic bags overflowing with waste and rotten food cling to boats, cars, motorbikes and people. Raw sewage and animal carcasses can be seen bobbing in waters ripe for disease. . . but no major outbreaks have occurred. Residents lack basic sanitation, garbage men walk through chest-high waters and children still swim in the muddy mess. Many cases of athlete’s foot have been reported, as well as bouts of diarrhea and respiratory infections, but no outbreaks of dengue fever or other waterborne diseases. Health officials credit high vaccination rates and the use of plastic gloves by trash collectors for protection against disease but could it possibly be something else. . . like the high amounts of antimicrobial coconut oil consumed by the entire Thai population?

SHIGA TOXIN

Shiga toxin is produced by the pathogen E. coli O157:H7. The bacteria colonize the small intestine and the colon, where the toxin initiates serious illness including hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) which can result in kidney failure. A new study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2010 58, 9281-9286), shows that the toxin causes its detrimental effects on its own, in the absence of the bacteria, resulting in severe pathological changes in kidneys, spleen and thymus. In these days of focus on food safety, with the philosophy that every morsel of food needs to be pasteurized or zapped, the authors’ conclusion should give food safety regulators pause: “The results are clinically relevant for food safety because we also found that heat treatments (pasteurization) that destroy bacteria did not inactivate the heat-resistant toxin produced and secreted by the bacteria.” Perhaps we should focus on building natural immunity using foods rich in vitamin A and immune stimulating properties—like butter and raw milk.

PCRM CANCER PROGRAM

As the dangers of soy foods, particularly soy isoflavones, continue to emerge, vegetarian groups are promoting them with renewed vengeance. The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) continues to push a cancer diet program called The Cancer Project (www.cancerproject. org). The diet is lowfat, vegetarian and full of soy. “Tips for Increasing Isoflavones in Your Diet” include using soynuts instead of peanuts; putting soymilk instead of milk on breakfast cereal; replacing one-quarter of the regular flour in baked goods with soy flour; using textured soy protein instead of meat; eating more tofu and tempeh; and making smoothies with soy milk. The project also recommends the diet to young people. “Encourage your young daughters, granddaughters and nieces to eat soy products, as isoflavones may have the most influence on preventing breast cancer early in life.” We suggest that the promoters check themselves into a prison in Illinois, where they can eat that way day after day after day.

FAT FREE MILK IN DAY CARE CENTERS

A member whose son is in the Dickerson College Children’s Center (DCCC), a daycare center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, received the following letter: “Dear DCCC Families: On October 3, 2011, in order to meet the recommendations of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines of Americans, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is requiring its Centers to serve fat-free milk to children ages two and up. Because we participate in this program for morning and afternoon snack, in order for our snacks to be reimbursed by the CACFP, we will be required to make the change from 2% to fat-free milk.” The member wisely sends raw whole milk with her child to daycare, but most of the other children will be subjected to this genocidal diet. Many years in the future we will look back on this benighted age as one professing to love the child while ensuring that children are as unhappy as they can be.

 

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SIDEBARS

FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT: NEW FUNCTIONAL FOODS AND INGREDIENTS
Functional milk containing omega-3 fatty acids, Cargill’s plant sterols and added vitamin D has been launched under the Smart Balance brand. These plant sterols are extracted from the waste products of the paper industry and have gender bending effects on fish.

New soy proteins from Solbar for meat, fish and poultry applications that can “improve mouth feel and overall product quality through their low viscosity and strong gelling properties.” The new product, for hams, chicken and turkey, is “an upgrade of an existing isolated soy protein line, which allows smoother injection machine entry.”

Polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) is a “yellowish, viscous liquid comprised of polyglycerol esters of polycondensed fatty acids from castor oil or soybean oil.” The anti-freeze-like slime has largely replaced cocoa butter in Hershey’s candy bars. Meanwhile, Hershey’s is buying up small high-end chocolate producers, like Scharffenberger and Joseph Schmidt chocolates, and changing these formulations by adding corn syrup.

In order to produce a “healthier” ice cream, in which polyunsaturated oils replace saturated fats, food formulators find that the addition of glycerol monooleate keeps a creamy texture in the product. Food engineers are working hard to produce a “multifunctional” ice cream that contains fiber, probiotic bacteria and antioxidants.

The grand prize for food formulation madness goes to scientists at Maastricht University in the Netherlands who are working on producing artificial meat “grown” from pig stem cells fed with fetal horse serum.

HEALTHIER IF UNVACCINATED
A comprehensive survey initiated by the German site impfshaden.info and its counterpart vaccineinjury.info aims to compare the health of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children. While the project is ongoing, over seventy-five hundred surveys have been filled out so far, with the preliminary results already published. Here are the remarkable numbers:

• Less than 10 percent of unvaccinated children suffer from allergies of any kind. This compares with 40 percent of children in the U.S. ages three to seventeen reporting an allergy or at least one allergen and 22.9 percent with an allergic disease.
• Only .2 percent of unvaccinated children suffer from asthma. This compares with 14-15 percent of vaccinated children with asthma in Australia, 4.7 percent in Germany, and 6 percent in the USA.
• Only 1.5 percent of unvaccinated children suffer from hayfever. This compares with 10.7 percent in Germany.
• Just 2 percent of unvaccinated children had neurodermatitis. This auto-immune disorder affects over 13 percent of children in Germany.
• ADHD was present in only 1-2 percent of the unvaccinated children. This compares with nearly 8 percent of children in Germany with ADHD and another 5.9 percent borderline cases.
• Middle ear infections are very rare in unvaccinated children (less than .5 percent). In Germany, 11 percent of children suffer from this problem.
• Less than 1 percent of unvaccinated children had experienced sinusitis. This compares with over 32 percent of children in Germany.
• Only four unvaccinated children out of more than seventy-five hundred surveyed reported severe autism. In all four cases, however, the mother tested very high for mercury. In the USA, approximately one in one hundred children suffer this neurological illness and one in every thirty-eight boys in the UK.

Many thanks to Sarah Pope and her Healthy Home Economist blog for publicizing this information, which should make it easier for parents to just say no to vaccinations. Much better to protect your children with raw milk and cod liver oil rather than a jab filled with mercury and other neuro-poisons.

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