Two Words, One Answer.
deadly disease
 The First Deadly Sin $9.98 I think Frank Sinatra was a fine actor, better than he was given credit for. But here he just looks plain tired, and sleepwalks his way through the part. Not that it matters - the script is dreadful, silly, and boring. Don't waste your time.  Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late $14.95 I have been very impressed by this book. If only it had been the superb book it could have been. The authors, Drs Sinatra and Roberts, have been converted to a new way of doing cardiology. PREVENTION of heart troubles and treatment with nutritional supplements are not often practised by cardiologists. And Drs Sinatra and Roberts are humble enough to admit that they have learned much from their patients. If only other doctors would be prepared to listen to their patients instead of acting as if they know everything. If only Drs Sinatra and Roberts had taken notice of some much earlier research about the causes of heart disease. Here I will quote Dr Mark Starr, who in his book "Hypothyroidism Type 2: the Epidemic" refers to the work of Dr Broda Barnes: "Dr Barnes realized quite early in his career that hypothyroidism was pervasive and a majority of those afflicted were not being diagnosed or properly treated. By 1950, he also recognized that his patients had not suffered any heart attacks while their incidence was exploding in the rest of America. In 1950 ... Dr Barnes began a long-term study to determine if proper treatment of hypothyroidism would prevent heart attacks ... Dr Barnes intended for his study to parallel the Framingham study. In 1972, after 22 years of his ongoing study, Dr Barnes published the results of his work in a book, 'Heart Attack Rareness in Thyroid-Treated Patients' ... The Framingham Study would have predicted that 72 of Dr Barnes' patients should have suffered heart attacks. Only four occurred. In addition, at least 30 patients who quit the study and discontinued thyroid hormones suffered fatal heart attacks within six years of stopping their thyroid [treatment]. Many of these patients had moved. Their new doctors declined to continue thyroid treatment. Blood tests often showed the patients did not need thyroid hormones ... Dr Barnes purposely did not attempt to control cholesterol, smoking, exercise or other variables. He wanted the only variable between his patients and those from the Framingham study to be the use of thyroid hormones. In 1976, four years after his book, 'Heart Attack Rareness in Thyroid Treated Patients' was published, Dr Barnes published another groundbreaking book, 'Solved: the Riddle of Heart Attacks'. Despite the publication of eight editions through 1999, mainstream medicine continues to dismiss his irrefutable work." There is much more about this in the 'heart attack' chapter of Dr Starr's book! In the whole of "Reverse Heart Disease Now" Drs Sinatra and Roberts acknowledge the thyroid connection in only two brief sentences: "We look at hormone levels, particularly estrogen, testosterone and thyroid. Even a slight hypothyroid status increases the risk of CVD because the body needs thyroid hormone to metabolize cholesterol efficiently." I do not know how they "look at" thyroid hormone levels, but if they look for blood test levels outside what is considered the normal range, they will miss most cases of hypothyroidism. This is one of the serious points made by Dr Starr and of course by Dr Barnes. Hypothyroidism is not diagnosed properly, because of concentration on blood tests and so-called normal ranges, leaving many sick people to get sicker and to potentially suffer heart attacks! And those who do manage to get a diagnosis are often under-treated. If only the diagnosis was made by careful observation of the patient and careful listening to his story (as in the olden days!) and treatment given at a level that is effective for the patient, not just to make the numbers look good. If only Drs Sinatra and Roberts had true knowledge of dietary matters! This is the second major flaw in their book. While some parts of their dietary advice are correct, others are not. For instance, they advise against refined carbohydrates, and that is good advice. But then they define refined carbohydrates as "highly processed foods loaded with sugar". They then go on to advocate GRAINS, which even as "whole grains" start turning into sugar as soon as they arrive in the mouth, and prunes, which are loaded with sugar. They are thoroughly confused about saturated fats, and still believe the outdated notion that meat, poultry and full-fat dairy products create a risk for CVD. So, "more fish, less beef and dairy", they advise. This is quite wrong. The entire lipid hypothesis, covering saturated fats, cholesterol etc, has been proved false. Many books demonstrate this, eg Ravnskov "The Cholesterol Myths: exposing the fallacy that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease", Colpo "The Great Cholesterol Con: why everything you've been told about cholesterol, diet and heart disease is wrong", Kendrick " The Great Cholesterol Con: the truth about what really causes heart disease and how to avoid it", Taubes "Good Calories, Bad Calories" -- also known as "The Diet Delusion" -- and Ravnskov's latest book, "Fat and Cholesterol are GOOD for You!" Also look for "7 reasons to eat more saturated fat" and "Diet and fat: a severe case of mistaken consensus" and "The skinny on fats" (google them). The real villain among fats is TRANS fat, which should definitely be avoided, along with polyunsaturated oils. The big problem is to get all those doctors, nutritionists, dietitians and diet gurus to acknowledge their mistake about saturated fats, swallow their pride and eat humble pie. If only they would! I could go on with criticism of the Sinatra/Roberts diet advice, for instance their advice to eat less salt (only SOME people need to have a low-salt diet, everybody else NEEDS salt, though not as processed foods) and their advocacy of soy products, which are toxic and act as endocrine disruptors. But I think I have given enough information to justify the 4 star rating instead of a 5.  The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases $27.50 The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases The simplest way to understand what PRIONs are all about and how it all begun... This is a MUST READ book, in plain language... |
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