Instead of Celebrating the Ludicrous Meteorological Belief that a Small Furry Creature’s Behavior Determines Future Weather Patterns, Let Us Turn Attention to the Ludicrous Medical Beliefs that Are Still Rampant In Mainstream Medicine in 2017. These Strongly Affect Current and Future Health, and the Effect Is Primarily Negative.

Coffee causes heart arrhythmias.

Java lovers are going to love this. While there is a prevalent Medical Myth that coffee consumption causes arrhythmias, it turns out that no only is this not the case, see recent research here, but that moderate coffee consumption is protective,, as it is associated with less heart disease. Moderate means 2-5 cups a day, Recent research on this can be found here.

Saturated Fat Is Bad for You

Saturated fat has been the bad guy since the 60s, but to make the charge stick, they had to lump it in with processed meats and trans-fat. Numerous studies—here’s a recent one—involving clean saturated fat have fully exonerated it, and in several, it has been shown to be beneficial. At the molecular biological level, it seems that saturated fat is the cell’s preferred type of fat. Butter is especially beneficial as it can also be utilized by the brain. We could also note the endless workings of evolution have evolved an optimal diet for babies: mother’s milk, which is especially high in saturated fat.

Statins Are Good For You

This seems to continue without end. Study after study shows no overall benefit (i.e. reduction ion all-cause mortality) from statins for practically any group. There may be mild benefit for people that have already had a heart attack, but for others, there is no net benefit. Any mild reduction in heart attack is offset by deaths from other causes. No benefit found here for even the high risk group.

And statins cause adult onset diabetes, severe muscle problems in many, and may turn out to be involved in the dementia epidemic. Statins will also thwart the benefits of exercise, a “pill” that will sharply reduce all-cause mortality, heart disease, cancer, adult onset diabetes, dementia, and numbers other issues.

People Should Eat Less Salt

Excess salt may cause a very small rise in blood pressure, like 3 mg-Hg. This is tiny. However, too low a level of salt is highly dangerous, and many end up in that area out of fear of salt. There is almost no research showing any significant correlation between salt and heart disease.

Foods High in Cholesterol Should Be Avoided

This is pure poppycock and always was. The body tightly controls cholesterol levels. It will use cholesterol from the food you eat, but if you eat none, it will manufacture cholesterol from scratch in the liver., and the internal circulating level will be unaffected. This has caused legions of people to forego nutritious superfoods like eggs in favor of some useless junk-in-a-box.

LDL Cholesterol Must be Lowered at all Cost.

If cholesterol is regulated within the body, it must be for a reason. Which do you want to trust: two million years of evolution or modern medicine? Statins Lower LDL cholesterol (also called “bad” cholesterol) but do several other things as well. Even so, they are a break-even proposition at best. Other drugs that lower cholesterol do explicit harm. The message couldn’t be clearer: Don’t mess with cholesterol. Recently there has been research on low cholesterol being associated with dementia, increased cancer, and, amazingly, given the current set of beliefs, heart disease itself. Recent research here.

Running Your Heart to its Maximum Is Dangerous

It is well established that intense but brief exercise it far more beneficial that sustained mild exercise. Yet almost all doctors will preach the latter. The risk of dying from a heart attack is reduced by at least half by those regularly practicing interval exercise. This is a huge number. But there is a belief that such extreme exercise will cause a heart attack. The statistics on this clearly show that it is rare. Yet for the practitioners of intense exercise, thousands of cardiac deaths are prevent every year if not millions.

There are cases where intense exercise should be avoided. Some are listed here. A doctor should be consulted first, but insist that the doctor have a hard reason for any proposed limitations.

Several Whole Grain Servings Should Be Eaten Daily

Grains are grains are grains. They are seen by the body as sugar and have exactly the same harmful effects on heart disease, cancer, dementias, adult onset diabetes, etc. . Grains, even whole grains, have very little food value. The “whole” part, i.e. the husk (fiber), is indigestible and reduces colon cancer slightly when compared to refined grain. Most likely, complete abstention from grain would reduce all cancers, colon cancer included, even more. This research never seems to get funded, but the China Study (the actual data, not the book) strongly supports this.

Sugar is OK if it Comes from Fruit

Sugar is OK if you can metabolize it. True also of starch. However, most people lose their ability to do so with age, and it eventually becomes a toxin regardless of where it came from.

The other stuff in most fruits is helpful, but generally speaking can be gotten from vegetables. Among fruits, the berries are probably the healthiest, and the sweet tropical fruits are the worst.

Well that’s enough for now. Most of these topic are covered in Quantitative Medicine and elsewhere on the blog. Happy Ground Hog Day.