Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis has been in the news recently both here in the UK and in America, and the warnings are dire.

In a Daily Mail article we read:

Jeremy Miller is the last person you might expect to suffer from the bone disease osteoporosis. He is a sporty, youthful-looking 46-year-old male, so he hardly fits the stereotype for the condition.

Also known as brittle-bone disease, it is characterised by fragile bones prone to breakages and is widely perceived to primarily affect post-menopausal women, most famously the Duchess of Cornwall.

"Also known as brittle-bone disease ..." Really?? Since when?

Brittle-bone disease is osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a rare genetic disorder usually resulting from abnormalities of the genes that control the production of a protein called collagen; which is the main protein in bone and essential for its strength.

Osteoporosis can develop throughout life, and while all sufferers of OI can have osteoporosis, those who develop osteoporosis cannot develop OI.

However, the Daily Mail article does conclude with some half-heartedly good advice:

According to Sarah Leyland, senior nurse for the National Osteoporosis Society, preventative measures include 'regular weight-bearing exercise, a reasonable amount of calcium in the diet and reasonable exposure to Vitamin D through sunlight.'

But in our northern climes - and especially in our dreadful summers - we cannot get enough Vitamin D from sunlight.

Meanwhile, in the States, lies, damned lies and statistics have been utilised to blame a claimed increase in osteoporosis on the sufferers themselves. This is covered in an excellent blog from Sandy Szwarc, over at Junk Food Science

So here in the UK how much Vitamin D do we need, and does it matter what type it is? Yes, it certainly matters, and Dr John Briffa has written several blog entries on that very topic. His latest details evidence showing that even ten times the current recommended dose of Vitamin D3 is still too low.

For the last few months I have been taking 6,000 IU of Vitamin D3 per day. It's difficult to know whether I'm healthier for doing so, but the proof will come when my family start bringing colds into the house. Normally I catch them within days, and they last for many weeks, turning to bronchitis.

If I manage to get through the coming autumn and winter without succombing, or with only minor sniffles, I will have a better idea of the efficacy of Vitamin D3.

At last the EU comes good!

According to today's Times newspaper the EU is cracking down on the claims made by food manufacturers, and not before time.

The full article can be read on the Times online website, but one quote stands out, neatly summing up all the spurious claims:

Kellogg’s, which admits making a “five-figure” donation to Heart UK, accepts there is no published scientific evidence to show that eating a daily bowl of Optivita lowers cholesterol.

A spokesman said: “We do have evidence of our own to show it reduces cholesterol, but we have not published it as it is proprietary and confidential. All our claims are backed by good science.”

Well of course! We believe you ... honest injun!

Wonderful coconut oil

Following my liver transplant I was seriously ill, and hospitalised for over two weeks, with CMV - cytomegalovirus - a member of the herpes family. As a consequence I have suffered from recurring episodes ever since, and this is usually controlled by acyclovir medication, but unfortunately I forgot to take these for a couple of weeks in July.

Two weeks ago I took ill with ulcers inside my mouth, on my tongue, with a red-raw throat, and I lost my voice completely. I had blood tests done but I was terrified of being hospitalised again because of CMV, so didn't wait for the results.

I began dosing myself with two tablespoons of coconut oil, four times a day, with the odd extra one thrown in for good measure. It took almost a week, but eventually the ulcers healed and I began to feel more human again.

Why did I use coconut oil? Because it is said to be anti-viral [and CMV is a virus] as well as being anti-bacterial.

Now, it could be that I would have got better without the coconut oil, but from my previous experience I don't believe CMV works like that.

I'll never be without coconut oil in the house in future.

"Skin cancer has quadrupled since the 1970s"

That was the first item I saw on BBC News when I switched on my television this morning, and it set me thinking.

If the experts are to be believed, this is caused by spending too much time in the sun, or on sunbeds, without the protection of sunscreen.

According to scientists, humans have lived on earth for at least 276,000 years. For most of that period clothing was scant, limited to animal skins slung around the body at best, and solid housing was non-existant.

In the 1940s the first effective sunscreen was invented. However, sunscreens were not widely recommended - except for advertising - until the late 1960s. And most sunscreens block the UVB rays that promote Vitamin D3, but not the melanoma-causing UVA rays.

Stephan wrote a very instructive blog about this last year.

My parents' generation - born almost a century ago - spent many hours out of doors thoughout their lives, without sunscreen. They swam in the sea and lakes, walked in the countryside for miles, gardened [my dad was a professional gardener/groundsman], played tennis and cricket for hours on end, all without sunscreen. I don't know of a single one of their relatives/friends/acquaintances who developed skin cancer.

The sun is no hotter now, so what has changed since the 1970s?

Take food consumption:

• Animal fats down dramatically
• Lean poultry up
• Fatty beef down
• Full-cream milk down by about 75%
• Butter down by more than 50%
• Polyunsaturated vegetable oils more than doubled
• Sugars almost doubled
• Grain up by more than 50%

And all the time we have got fatter and sicker. We have more heart disease, more diabetes, more allergies, and more cancers.

Are we eating ourselves to death?

We will remember them ... 65 years on

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.
'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon.

Fifteen years ago this morning I was in France with my dad. We needed to get to Caen for the 50th anniversary celebrations, but when we reached the motorway we found the access closed and guarded by a gendarme. He explained that the motorway was closed as the President and Prince Charles would be using it to reach Caen.

In my schoolgirl French I explained that was where we were going as my dad was part of the celebrations. The gendarme leaned into the car, saw my dad proudly wearing his Para beret, tie and medals, and saluted. He then said in French, "For you, sir, the motorway is open," and lifted the barrier and again saluted us on our way.

The previous day we had been shopping in Deauville, and when we got back to our car, complete with GB sticker, there were four youths lounging on a bench next to it. They looked just the sort to cause trouble here in Britain, so I braced myself as I opened the car doors.

One of the youths said, rather accusingly, "You English?"

I answered "Non, je suis Ecossaise!" (Scottish), which is usually a smart move in France!

Then he asked if we were there for the celebrations, so I explained my dad had been a Para, who was one of the first to jump into France just after midnight on D-Day.

At that the youths leapt to their feet and saluted my dad. They all shook him by the hand, and said that they would not have been there if it hadn't been for him.

It was such a moving contrast to the attitude of so many British people today.

One thing we found really interesting was that the veterans and families regarded the anniversary as a 'commemoration', while the French call it a 'celebration', and celebrate they did!

Every day - and we were there for five days - we were invited to a different village. Once there, the old Paras would parade behind either the Regimental band, or the band of the SNCF [the French railways], to the village or town's memorial.

At the memorial the mayor of the town would address everyone, thanking the Paras for the town's liberation, and remembering those killed, then on to a celebration.

These ranged from Kir and Calvados [LOTS of it] and dancing to the SNCF band in a farmer's barn that had been specially cleared for the occasion, to a full-scale banquet for the Paras and the whole town in a huge marqee, from where we watched the midnight fireworks at Pegasus bridge.

On a country lane near their DZ [Drop Zone] the Paras were paraded and presented with Normandy medals specially struck by the French Government, and I was very honoured to receive one on behalf of a batallion member who had become too ill to attend.

Another day we attended a very splendid ceremony in, I think, l'Abbaye aux Dames, in Caen, built by the wife of William the Conqueror. There my husband received a medal on behalf of his cousin, now living in Australia, who had been a glider pilot on D-Day.

And it was there that we ended up chatting to a charming American lady, and her son - who later turned out to be a CIA agent!

On another occasion we visited one country cemetery - not one of the massive war cemeteries that stretch across northern France. My dad wanted to find the grave of one of his batallion friends - a Jew - who had been shot and killed while he was still hanging from his parachute during landing. As we were about to leave the cemetery a large BMW with German plates drew up behind our car, and two men got out. They came into the small cemetery, and we all eyed each other suspiciously. Then my dad and one of the men stepped forward, and they shook hands. Nobody said a word, and we turned and left, leaving the Germans to find the grave of their compatriot.

Although my dad is no longer with us, the memories of that time we spent with him in Normandy, meeting his friends, seeing the Normandy countryside through his eyes, and understanding just how much we owe to people like him, will remain with me for ever.

Mendacious medics and devious doctors.

This week I was told by a friend that I’m wasting my time eating a low-carb diet as “It’s been proven beyond any doubt that it’s calories that count.” When I asked for his source he pointed me to Volume 360:859-873 of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Here I found an impressive line-up of six MDs, eight PhDs, two MAs, and a BA who have published results of a two-year study involving 881 people. The Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (otherwise known as POUNDS LOST) tested diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fibre.

Its stated aim was to “compare the effects of three principal dietary macronutrients”. and in order to do so the authors state that the diets were “low or high in fat, average or high in protein, or low or high in carbohydrates”.

Their conclusion?

“Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize”.

In other words, it doesn’t matter what diet you follow, you will lose weight if you reduce your calories, and that was the message picked up by my friend.

However, the devil, as they say, is in the detail.

The study’s press release gives an indication of the extremely poor results:

“On average, participants lost 13 pounds at six months and maintained a 9 pound loss at two years.”

In our (admittedly very small and informal) group of forum members, those who had followed a low-carbohydrate diet for up to six months had lost an average of 31.5 lb, with the highest loss of 56 lb. Those who had been following it for one year had lost an average of 38 and 58 lb respectively. After eighteen months, it was 59 and 84 lb respectively.

Naturally I was especially interested in this study’s take on a low-carbohydrate diet, having reviewed the RISCK study. Once again I was disappointed to find that a group of so-called experts had embarked on a major study with no attempt to discover the truth about low-carb diets, despite that being a stated aim.

Incredibly, the sample 2000 calorie menu provides a massive 157g net of carbohydrates. That is eight times more than advised for weight loss and four times more than required for maintenance following weight loss.



Of the nineteen food items on the sample menu, ten – more than half – are unsuitable for a low-carb diet.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, as the lead researcher, Dr Frank Sacks, has long been a vocal opponent of the Atkins diet; obviously America's answer to Britain's Dr Susan Jebb.

So how long did your diet last?

In 2006 Nimble bread was fifty years old, and to celebrate they commissioned a survey to discover how long people were able to stick to their diet. These were the results:

Scotland: nearly half of dieters surveyed give up dieting after three weeks, and 13% last only two days, and 6% are permanently dieting.

North West: around 65% give up after three weeks, 21% in two days, and 4% permanent.

North East: nearly 55% in three weeks; 20% in two days; nearly 10% permanent.

Yorkshire & The Humber: 50% give up within a week; 16% in two days; 16% permanent.

Wales: nearly 70% in three weeks; 20% two days, and 10% permanent.

West Midlands: 48% in three weeks; 8% two days; and 10% permanent.

East Midlands: 54% in three weeks; 19% in two days; 7% permanent.

East Anglia: 50% give up after a couple of days.

South West: more than 60% in three weeks; 23% in two days; 5% permanent.

South East: more than 55% in three weeks; 20% in two days; 15% permanent.

Northern Ireland: nearly 90% give up within three weeks.

In fact, 95 per cent of dieters have regained all the weight they lost after three years.

Six years ago a briefing at the Royal Institution was organised to express academic concern about the Atkins diet, prompted by studies that proved it was successful, but experts concluded that "high-protein low-carbohydrate fare does not work, any apparent success being all in the mind." This statement is an admirable demonstration of experts not bothering to actually study the diet before condemning it. As all low-carb diets know, Atkins is not a high-protein diet, but a high-fat diet.

At the meeting, Dr Susan Jebb said

"There is not a shred of evidence that Atkins works".

and

"At the moment it is not even a safe experiment, as nobody is following what is happening to the millions of people who are following the Atkins Diet. It is an unknown risk."

and

"To recommend this as a strategy, we need serious, long-term trials."

Unfortunately for Dr Jebb her recent RISCK study has proved that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is healthier than the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet she is currently advocating.

Given the reluctance of Dr Jebb and her colleagues to do "serious, long-term trials" into low-carb dieting, it will have to be a DIY project. We have made a start with a Diet and Health Survey, and if you haven't already completed it, we'd be most grateful if you would do so.

I also asked for help on a low-carb forum in order to gather data on the length of time members have been low-carb dieting, and how much weight they have lost. The forum has only been in existence since January 2007, and a few of the respondents have reached goal weight and are maintaining.

These are the prelimary results.

Total number of participants: 62

Low-carbing for less than 13 weeks: 18
Average weight loss: 17 lb
Highest weight loss: 26 lb

Low-carbing for up to 26 weeks: 8
Average weight loss 31.5 lb
Highest weight loss: 56 lb

Low-carbing for up to 39 weeks: 13
Average weight loss: 50.7 lb
Highest weight loss: 99 lb

Low-carbing for up to 52 weeks: 7
Average weight loss: 39 lb
Highest weight loss: 58 lb

Low-carbing for 65 weeks: 11
Average weight loss: 42 lb
Highest weight loss: 79 lb

Low-carbing for 78 weeks: 2
Average weight loss: 59 lb
Highest weight loss: 84 lb

Low-carbing for 96 weeks: 1
Weight loss: 84 lb

Low-carbing for 113 weeks: 1
Weight loss: 80 lb

Is it all in the mind? Try telling that to the forum members! The diet which most of them follow is based on the Atkins diet. So here, Dr Jebb, is your evidence that low-carb diets, such as Atkins, work.

When the Diet and Health Survey is completed and analysed, we expect to have evidence that it is also healthier than that currently advised by you, Government, nutritionists and dietitians.