'Dogma Instead Of Data' Low-Fat Diet Recommendation Dogging Doctors

Pick a health ailment, any old one will do. Now think about what your family doctor would tell you about it in terms of your diet in order to help alleviate the symptoms of that condition. Whether it's diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension...you name it, the answer is always the same--EAT A LOW-FAT DIET!

Doesn't that just frustrate the heck out of you? Without any real evidence pointing to WHY the low-fat lie which has been such a miserable failure is so strongly recommended, doctors unfortunately take on a mob mentality and just do what everyone else in their profession does. They dutifully write out those prescriptions for Lipitor, promote eating grains and sugar to diabetics as long as you are taking your medicines and insulin, urge hearts patients to engage in hours upon hours of exercise which only make them hungrier, and then the granddaddy of them all--EAT A LOW-FAT DIET! UGH!!!

But is the low-fat diet recommendation actually based on any consequential long-term scientific data that has been proven to be highly effective for managing disease? Or has this dietary dogma been allowed to run rampant for decades without the necessary checks and balances that come from the results of actual data from real people who have actually survived living that way?

More and more people are beginning to see through this charade thanks in part to the September 2007 release of the book Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. But we're probably still at least a generation away from the practicality of overcoming this "dogma instead of data" mode of thinking we are currently in as you will see from the following e-mail I received from a concerned reader.

Here's what she wrote:

Hi Jimmy,

I've been a lurker for many years and I'm now signed up at your forum page. I did a quick search on Dr. Eades archives but couldn't find anything on this subject.

I have a very close friend who for over a year has had 3 tests come back with her Liver Enzymes being very high. She is only slightly overweight, but doesn't really follow a decent diet. However, her cholesterol numbers were all good.

She is not a heavy drinker, only occasionally, and doesn't take a lot of medications (in fact, she hardly ever takes ibuprofen or Tylenol). The tests they ran for hepatitis came back negative.

My concern and the reason I am e-mailing you is that they tell her the only way to solve the high Liver Enzyme problem is to eat a low fat diet--which of course gets my hackles up immediately!

Are there any studies you can point me to, or articles that I could print out and give her before she starts on this path and ends up wrecking the good cholesterol she already has? Thanks a bunch.

Although I have blogged a couple of times about the subject of a "fatty liver" this year with Dr. David Ludwig predicting it will be the next major health crisis and that this condition is made worse by a low-fat diet, there are some serious questions about what to do as my reader shared in her e-mail. This calls for some backup.

Since I am not a doctor, I decided to pose this reader's e-mail to a low-carb one who I personally know and trust--Dr. Mary C. Vernon from Lawrence, Kansas. I love the way Dr. Vernon looks at all the possibilities based on what she has seen in her own patients and then shares her thoughts in language that anyone can easily understand.

Here was her response:

Liver enzyme elevation, in my experience, can, of course be due to infections (Hepatitus C, etc.), drugs (alcohol, acetaminophen) and abnormal glucose metabolism (high insulin levels). In my simplistic brain, I think this is because the high levels of insulin cause the liver to make fat, but block the liver from moving the fat out as fast as it is made.

It is still important to consider all the other causes. Even though carbohydrate restriction causes almost miraculous improvement in many patients, one would not want to leave a treatable infection untreated. If the triglycerides are elevated or the HDL depressed--and the GGT is not elevated--then this is the picture most likely to respond to carbohydrate restriction.

Of course obvious glucose abnormalities such as Type 2 diabetes would be a clue, too. Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University did a study showing liver biopsy documented improvement in "fatty liver" after CHO restriction.

Finally, I don't really know what to say regarding the low-fat recommendation. Doctors (with the exception of a few renegades like myself) do what they are told and they don't actually look at the evidence behind the recommendation. This is a fine system if the recommendations are actually valid science and not just dogma.

However, when the recommendations are "faith based" rather than grounded in science--or as I say "dogma instead of data"--then you have the situation in which we find ourselves in today.

We truly need more people like Dr. Mary C. Vernon, the current President of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP), who are willing to buck the trend and choose to look at the data rather than adhering to the dogma as 99.99% of the doctors in the United States have chosen to do. We could blame it on them for not knowing any better, but they are merely doing what they've been taught over the years. The Taubes book can help educate them, but we need examples like Dr. Vernon to continue to SHOW what can be done when low-fat is NOT the answer to everything.

What can be done to change the hearts and minds of those medical professionals who care about their patients but don't know about the amazing weight and health benefits of livin' la vida low-carb? Will we EVER begin to see even an incremental change in their philosophy in light of decades upon decades of dismal failure with the low-fat diet? Share what YOU think should be done to turn the tide so that doctors and patients will at least have a choice between a low-fat or a low-carb nutritional approach.

The 'Dangerous Epidemic' Of A 'Fatty Liver' Next Big Health Crisis, Researcher Warns

Dr. David Ludwig warns of health dangers from consuming starchy carbs

I just love it when the research finally catches up to what we already know regarding the negative impact of carbohydrates on our health. Whether we are talking about brain diseases, diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, and even cancer, the body of evidence is growing and growing and growing. If it isn't already obvious by now, then someday soon it will be impossible to ignore the "weight of the evidence" as my fellow low-carb blogger Regina Wilshire would say.

Case in point is this blog post I wrote in April 2007 about a condition known as a "fatty liver" getting worse on a high-carb, low-fat diet. I cited several research studies in response to one of my readers who was worried her low-carb diet was going to cause this condition to get worse. I assured her it was the carbs, not the fat that makes this happen from the elevated insulin levels.

And, sure enough, the latest research proves that exact thing!

This BBC News story highlights a new study that concludes foods like potatoes, white flour and rice are the culprit behind a "fatty liver" because of their high-glycemic index.

Lead researcher Dr. David Ludwig, from the Boston, MA-based Children's Hospital and author of the book Ending The Food Fight (an OUTSTANDING book, by the way, about the importance of implementing a low-carb diet to help combat childhood obesity!), and his fellow researchers fed mice a varying diet consisting of either "rapidly absorbed carbohydrates" (RAC), a high-carb diet, or "slowly absorbed carbohydrates" (SAC), a low-carb diet, over a period of 25 weeks to see how it would impact the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

The results were not surprising--although total body weight remained statistically the same between both the RAC and the SAC groups, the amount of fat accumulated on the body, blood, and liver of the RAC group was TWICE as much as the SAC group. In other words, NAFLD developed on the high-carb diet consumed by the mice. WOW!

This study was published in the September 2007 issue of the scientific journal Obesity.

Dr. Ludwig said that as many as half of all overweight American children have already developed a "fatty liver" because of what he calls this "fast food/fake food world" we live in.

"This is a silent but dangerous epidemic," he contended. "Just as type 2 diabetes exploded into our consciousness in the 1990s, so we think fatty liver will in the coming decade."

If I've learned anything since I started livin' la vida low-carb four years ago, then it would have to be that carbohydrates lead to the production of insulin which then leads to the deterioration and destruction of so many bodily functions. It's such a shame that people have so marginalized low-carb diets that they don't even realize it's EXACTLY how we should be eating to live long and healthy lives.

Too often low-carb living is simply about weight loss for people. But there's so much more to livin' la vida low-carb than simple weight loss. It's about eating healthy and warding off diseases before they can even have a chance to impact your body. I'm not worried about "all that fat" because I'm not combining it with "all those carbs."

I don't know about you, but the idea of having a "fatty liver" just doesn't sound like something I want to have to deal with. And thanks to my healthy low-carb lifestyle, I won't EVER have to worry about it! :D

Now, if we can just get those darn health "experts" to agree...SOMEDAY!

You can e-mail Dr. David Ludwig to thank him for his research at david.ludwig@childrens.harvard.edu. And be sure to pick up a copy of his fantastic book Ending The Food Fight about feeding your children a delicious low-carb diet so they'll grow up to be fit and healthy adults.

'Fatty Liver' Made Worse By A Low-Fat, Not Low-Carb Diet

A "fatty liver" like this not caused by fat, but rather carb intake

I just love bringing up common myths about livin' la vida low-carb and shooting them down with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If we are ever going to convince people that this way of eating is indeed the healthy nutritional approach that we claim it is, then educating them over and over again with solid evidence until it finally sinks in should be our life's mission. It's my distinct pleasure to do just that on a daily basis!

Such is the case today with an issue I've never really addressed before in the more than 1700 blog posts I have written over the past two years. But a recent e-mail from a reader has given me the perfect opportunity to address this issue directly and provide some useful information for you, a friend, or family member who may have similar concerns.

Here's what my reader wrote to me in her e-mail:

I am concerned about my "fatty liver" problem. I've contacted several people about this, but I haven't gotten a response. Can you help me? My doctor tells me it's not a big deal, but my liver function tests keep coming back elevated. Of course, his recommendation is for me to go on a low-fat diet. Now I'm very confused. I do best on the low-carb lifestyle, but I'm scared that I will damage my liver eating this way. With all the people you know, has anyone ever talked about a "fatty liver" being a side effect of low-carbing?

The dreaded "fatty liver" issue certainly deserves some quality space here at my blog and I'm happy to share what I know about this very serious medical condition.

For those of you who are not familiar with what this is, a "fatty liver" is known in medical circles as Non-Alcoholic Steatosis, aka non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can then lead to a much more serious medical problem called cirrhosis which is the precursor to liver failure. If your liver shuts down, then you need a transplant ASAP or you will die.

Currently, nearly one-fourth of Americans are believed to have a "fatty liver" and it occurs most often in males who are obese and/or diabetic. It is estimated that by the year 2020 non-alcoholic liver failure will be the #1 reason for liver transplants in the United States. But the sad part is liver donations are in short supply which makes them very expensive to obtain. Plus there may not be enough to meet the rising demand.

This possible life-threatening health issue needs to be taken more seriously if we are going to prevent certain catastrophe from happening in a little more than a decade from now. What's amazing is the fact that a "fatty liver" is actually made worse not by the consumption of the much-vilified saturated fat (no, contrary to popular belief, a "fatty liver" is not created by fat consumption), but rather with something even more devious and dangerous to your health--CARBOHYDRATES!

Specifically, I'm referring to those starchy high-carb foods like those cereals being touted for weight loss and other such crazy whole grain products that have been heavily marketed to the public as "healthy." Even the popular and convenient cereal bars are destructive to your health no matter what their manufacturers tell you is good about them in their advertising.

Interestingly, a study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that the traditional high-carb, low-fat diet recommendation for obese patients suffering from a "fatty liver" actually INCREASES their risk of liver inflammation SEVEN-FOLD compared to the obese patients placed on a low-carb, high-fat diets which were actually found to be "protective" and even reversed the progression of the "fatty liver." WHOA, that's a major finding!

These "fatty" deposits on the liver can indeed be improved by simply lowering the insulin levels in the body. How do you do that? By lowering your consumption of refined carbohydrates like you do when you are livin' la vida low-carb. Cut out the sugar, refined carbohydrates, and bleached flour from your diet. In fact, any foods containing added sugars and even those so-called healthy whole grains should be removed from your diet. Don't get fooled into thinking you can have them just because they are promoted as "healthy." Clearly, they are NOT!

It's a good idea to do this recommendation regardless of why you are livin' la vida low-carb, but make sure to eat protein with every meal you consume throughout the day. Consult with your physician or dietitian about what amount would be best for you in treating your "fatty liver."

For more info, check out these studies on low-carb diets and a "fatty liver":

- The Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Pilot Study
- The fat-derived hormone adiponectin alleviates alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases in mice
- Dietary Composition and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
- Metabolic Syndrome in Patients With NAFLD
- The effect of a low-carbohydrate diet on the nonalcoholic fatty liver in morbidly obese patients before bariatric surgery

So, to my reader who was concerned about causing damage to her liver with a low-carb diet because she has a "fatty liver," I think the better question she and others with NAFLD should be asking themselves is how much damage is that high-carb, low-fat diet recommended by her doctor to treat this condition harming her, hmmm? There's some food for thought!