1. In 1937, Columbia University biochemists David Rittenberg &...

1. In 1937, Columbia University biochemists David Rittenberg & Rudolph
Schoenheimer demonstrated that dietary cholesterol had little or no influence on
blood cholesterol.

This scientific fact has never been refuted.

Why, then, do the
proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines limit dietary cholesterol to less than 300 mg per
day ? or 200 mg if you are diabetic?
2. Dietary cholesterol is poorly absorbed, 50 percent at best (Mary Enig,
PhD; Michael I. Gurr, PhD, lipid biochemists). According to these lipid biochemists,
the more cholesterol you eat, the less cholesterol you absorb. Since our bodies
must synthesize between 1200 and 1800 mg of cholesterol daily, why is there any
dietary limit?
3. ?Cholesterol in food has no affect on cholesterol in blood and we?ve known that
all along.? These are the words of Professor Ancel Keys, American Heart
Association board member and father of the low fat diet, who, in retirement,
recanted the idea that dietary cholesterol raises blood levels. His recant has been
greeted with silence.
4. All federal Dietary Guidelines since 1980 discuss cholesterol as something to
fear. Since cholesterol is found in every cell in our bodies and is a precursor to all
adrenal and sex hormones, why wouldn?t the 2010 Dietary Guidelines discuss the
essential nature of cholesterol instead?
5. Cholesterol is a single molecule. There is no such thing as "good cholesterol" or
"bad cholesterol." These descriptions were cooked up to sell statin cholesterollowering
drugs. Referred to as "bad," LDL is not bad and LDL is not cholesterol.
LDL is a lipoprotein that delivers cholesterol to the 70 trillion cells in our bodies.
(Only oxidized cholesterol is bad and elevated blood sugar and elevated
triglycerides oxidize LDL.)
7. Cholesterol, fat, and fat soluble nutrients are delivered to our cells in
lipoproteins, such as LDL. Also, there are lipoprotein subfactions (such as LDL,
subclass A and subclass B). Understanding lipoprotein subfractions is much more
important in preventing and reversing heart disease than measuring your total
cholesterol (TC). Ask your doctor to provide LDL subfractions and stop scaring you
about your total cholesterol number.
8. The statement ?saturated fat raises blood cholesterol? is a false and
misleading overgeneralization. There are many different types of saturated fat and
many reasons why blood cholesterol rises and falls. Saturated fat intake and blood
cholesterol levels are not in a teeter-totter relationship.
9. Fat in food is always a combination of saturated and unsaturated fat. As an
example, butter contains 12 different fatty acids, including 8 different saturated fats
(and 8 different chain lengths). Saturated stearic acid, as an example, does not
elevate blood cholesterol and, in fact, promotes higher levels of HDL, a lipoprotein
associated with protection from heart disease. (Michael I. Gurr, lipid biochemist; Dr.
Eric Rimm, Harvard University, member, 2010 DGAC).
10. Cholesterol is found in every cell in the body and is a precursor to vitamin D
(actually a hormone) and to our stress hormones. Stress has the potential to
temporarily elevate blood cholesterol. When the stress is over, cholesterol will
leave the blood and go back to the liver and tissues. Frequent fluctuations of blood
cholesterol due to fear, stress, weather, activity, and age represent normal body
functioning.
11. Recommending that Americans eat a variety of healthy fats is more helpful
nutritionally than labeling fats ?good or bad? depending on their degree of
saturation. Besides, ?saturated? means stable; nothing else. Saturated fat is a
stable fat and represents approximately 50 percent of the fat found in our cell
membranes.
12. During the first meeting of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Dr.
Eric Rimm from Harvard testified that he is concerned about "the artificial limit on
fat" in the Dietary Guidelines. He mentioned that ?there is some concern? about
excess carbohydrates elevating triglycerides because the ratio of TG to HDL is
emerging as one of the most reliable risk factors for heart disease.
13. Anything that promotes HDL (such as natural dietary fat) puts downward
pressure on triglycerides ? blood fats made in the liver from excess
carbohydrates. Elevated triglycerides are associated with increased risk of heart
disease. Saturated fats like stearic acid are heart-healthy in that they lower the
ratio of TG to HDL.
14. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines should say: Eating beef ? especially from the
pasture ? and enjoying some dark chocolate ? from the rain forest ? provides
saturated stearic acid and monounsaturated oleic acid ? fats that protect you from
heart disease.
15. The primary dietary cause of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart
disease is the excess carbohydrates in our diet, especially sugar, high fructose
corn syrup, and the easily-digested carbohydrates found in grain and grain
products.
16. Most dry boxed commercial breakfast cereals raise blood sugar rapidly; they
are high glycemic. There is no warning about blood-sugar-raising foods in the
proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Since blood sugar has a very narrow healthy
range (and cholesterol in blood has a wide normal range), why is blood sugar not
mentioned in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines?
17. Only carbohydrates raise blood sugar and insulin levels. Why, then is the role
of excess carbs in promoting obesity and diabetes not being addressed in the 2010
Dietary Guidelines?
18. By weight, all children?s breakfast cereals are 30 to 50 percent sugar. If the
DGAC is concerned about reducing the incidence of chronic disease in America,
isn?t there a scientific justification for warning parents and Americans about bloodsugar-
raising foods, especially those that are being marketed to children?
19. The particularly harmful carbohydrates - sugar and high fructose corn syrup
(HFCS) - are not singled out in the proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Dr. Joanne
Slavin defended the use of HFCS by saying ?a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.? She
chairs the Carbohydrate Committee and her testimony (Meeting 1) suggests she is
not concerned about excess sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the American
diet. She works for the University of Minnesota, and the U of M receives substantial
financial support from Cargill (and General Mills). Was her recommendation not to
single out high fructose corn syrup a serious conflict of interest?
20. Metabolic Syndrome - hyperinsulinism, weight gain, elevated blood pressure -
is associated with high carbohydrate diets. It is estimated that 25 percent or more
of us are sensitive to carbohydrates, even to the highly touted whole grains. Why
isn't Metabolic Syndrome specifically discussed in the 2010 Dietary
Guidelines? (Dr. Gereald Reaven, Stanford University Medical School, author
ofSyndrome X)
21. A high carbohydrate diet is associated with elevated triglycerides (TG), which,
in turn, is associated with depressed levels of HDL. Depressed HDL is a potent risk
factor for diabetes and coronary heart disease. A Harvard study verified that people
with the highest TG and the lowest HDL (top quartile) were 16 times more likely to
die of heart disease than people with the lowest TG and highest HDL (lowest
quartile).
22. Blood-sugar-raising carbohydrates have a direct and immediate effect on blood
sugar and insulin levels and, in the words of science writer Gary Taubes, "on
the disruption of the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body.?
23. The simple explanation for why Americans have
fattened: hyperinsulinism. Insulin is the fat storage hormone. When insulin levels
are elevated ? either chronically or after a meal ? we make and store fat and then
lock it up in adipose tissue. When fat is locked up, it is not available as a fuel to the
trillions of cells in the body. Hunger is the result. By stimulating insulin levels,
carbohydrates make us hungry and fat. High circulating insulin - in response to
excess dietary carbohydrates - is the root cause of weight gain and obesity and
all chronic disease associated with elevated blood sugar and insulin levels.
24. Excess carbohydrates - especially sugar, HFCS, and rapidly-digested grain
products, lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease - which leads to slow,
suffocating heart failure and premature death.
25. Heart failure is the #1 Medicare expenditure. The incidence of heart failure has
doubled since 1990. According to the CDC in Atlanta, 1 in 3 children born today will
become diabetics. According to the American Heart Association, eighty percent
(80%) of diabetics die of heart disease. We have both an expanding population and
a steadily increasing incidence of chronic disease. Americans need relief. It's time
to end the confusion about fat and cholesterol. How bad do things have to get
before we revise the U.S. Dietary Guidelines in favor of a higher fat whole
foods carbohydrate-restricted diet?
For more information and videos about the failed 2010 Dietary Guidelines, please
go to dietheartpublishing.com