Seven Cutting Edge Low-Carb Diet And Health Science News Stories

You keep hearing me say this, but I sincerely believe the tide is turning in favor of the healthy low-carb lifestyle. It has been rumbling in the research realm for several years and is now FINALLY spilling over into the mainstream through various media outlets. It's not an overwhelming embracing of carbohydrate restriction for weight and health management, but is certainly one step closer to acceptance.

Today I have seven cutting edge low-carb diet and health science news stories to illustrate this point. If you support livin' la vida low-carb and strongly believe that this way of eating deserves recognition for the improvements it is making in the lives of real people, then be encouraged by these and spread the word! We ARE making a difference as more and more people begin understanding how low-carb living can improve their life forever.

Here are those seven stories:

1. The "Good Carbs" Debate Focuses On Glycemic Index

The editors of Prevention magazine actually extols the virtues of watching the kind of carbohydrates that diabetics should be consuming by looking at the glycemic index. A strong case is made for paying better attention to the GI in foods, although the glycemic LOAD is much more relevant in my opinion. Nevertheless, we see that there is a clear delineation about carbohydrates being made in an MSNBC story and that's a very good thing!

2. Traditional Diabetes Study Stopped After Too Many Deaths

This New York Times story should be shocking news to anyone using traditional measures for taking on their diabetes (that would be the high-carb, low-fat dietary recommendations along with lots of insulin shots that the American Diabetes Association promoted prior to their change of heart to also encourage low-carb diets that happened this year). It turns out that a diabetes study yielded HIGHER DEATH RATES among those participants who injected themselves with multiple shots of insulin (visa vi from eating too many carbohydrates and requiring the additional injections). Many of these were from heart attacks and the researchers conducting this study were floored. This sad incident merely adds to the argument that low-carb supporters have been stating for years that higher insulin levels in the body are the REAL culprit in heart disease and NOT dietary fat. The truth is there for anyone willing to see it.

3. Long-term Low-Carb Use Reduces Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

This is a continuation of a study published in the November 9, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that I actually first blogged about previously from Harvard researchers Thomas Halton and Dr. Frank Hu looking at the long-term health impact of livin' la vida low-carb on the general population. Now they have turned their attention to Type 2 diabetics to see if consuming a low-carb diet will help or hurt their disease over the years. The results of the study are encouraging: a high-fat, low-carb diet does NOT increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes in women and actually "may modestly reduce the risk of diabetes." YEAH BABY! This was published in the February 2008 issue of the journal American Society for Nutrition.

4. The "Unintended Consequences" Of The Low-Fat Diet

Cause and effect should always go into any decision that we or our government leaders make because the "unintended consequences" of taking certain actions can sometimes be worse than anyone expected. Such is the case with low-fat diets in this Medical News Today story. Echoing what reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Gil Wilshire stated in June 2006 when he called for a moratorium on the low-fat dietary recommendations until more LEVEL 1 scientific evidence can be presented in support of it, Dr. Paul R. Marantz, Elizabeth Bird, and Dr. Michael H. Alderman all from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine say that "these dietary guidelines might actually be endangering health...[as] currently developed and issued." WOW! You can say that again! The most telling quote from them about how low-fat diets have failed to produce weight and health improvements over the years was this: "When the prevailing message fails to achieve its intended aims or achieves the wrong ends, the solution is not to abandon the enterprise but to reshape the message to achieve desired outcomes." Yes--and that means promoting low-carb alongside low-fat diets so that people can decide which nutritional approach will work best for them. It's time to make this happen in the United States of America! Are you listening up there in the USDA office, Dr. Wansink?

5. "What's Cooking" features Rocco DiSpirito disdaining sugar

Anyone who watches the hit NBC-TV show "The Biggest Loser" on a regular basis like me knows that famous chef Rocco DiSpirito was a guest this week during one of the challenges for the contestants. They were to create a three-course meal using Rocco's recipes and making them even more "healthy." Of course, that's code word for low-fat, low-calorie, low-salt and the dishes were judged accordingly. But Rocco appeared on a CRN Digital Talk Radio show called "What's Cooking" this week just before low-carb cooking friend and author Judy Barnes Baker and said something remarkable about "The Biggest Loser" segment I wanted to share with you. He said the producers of the show made him cook with zero fat and zero salt because they wanted to see "maximum weight loss." However, he did say at the end of his interview that anyone who thinks that sugar doesn't matter needs to realize that it provokes insulin that will make your body store fat. EXCELLENT! And I know Judy loved that perfect lead-in! :D

6. "Healthy" Foods That Aren't So Healthy

We are very fortunate to have some strong voices on behalf of low-carb living out there in the mainstream sharing their philosophy regarding diet and health with the masses. Take Adam Campbell and Cassandra Forsythe, for example. Adam writes for Men's Health magazine and recently released a fantastic book with low-carb research giant Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut called The TNT Diet. Interestingly, Dr. Volek is Cassandra's boss as she works in the research lab pursuing her doctorate at UConn. Adam and Cassandra teamed up for a column for Men's Health again on the MSNBC site looking at the so-called "health" foods that are out there and put them in their proper place. If you've ever been on a diet before, then no doubt you have eaten at least half of the food on this list! Find out why it didn't do you a lick of good (if you didn't already know!).

7. An Atkins-Styled Low-Carb Diet Controls Seizures

Finally, we have more research confirming that livin' la vida low-carb is an excellent way to manage epileptic seizures as I've blogged about previously here and here. Johns Hopkins researchers are convinced that adults suffering from this condition should follow an Atkins-styled low-carb diet to best control their disease. The story said about a third of the participants couldn't stay on the diet because it was "too tough to do." I don't know about you, but if I could control my seizures by eating a high-fat, low-carb diet then I would probably FORCE myself to eat that way even if it wasn't as pleasurable as it is. That's just crazy to me! Thankfully, those patients who did try it and stay on it saw remarkable results. And the doctors encouraged them to stay on it for many years to come--a virtual admission that livin' la vida low-carb over the long-term ain't so unhealthy after all! Hmmmm...but we knew that already!

Got some low-carb news to share with me? Send it on anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

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.

It's Drive-By Low-Carb Blogging Time Again!

Continuing with the theme I started yesterday of catching up on some much-needed blogging that I haven't had time to do lately, here are a few more items of interest for fans of livin' la vida low-carb!

READER SHARES HIS UNPLEASANT ENCOUNTER WITH MALTITOL

Ever since I first started warning people about the sugar alcohol maltitol found in so many sugar-free, low-carb products, there have been some wang dang doozy stories that are both hilarious and horrendous all at the same time. Remember "Farting" Fred and "Sharted" Sarah. Now we have "Maltitol Macaroon" Mike. ENJOY!

I have a maltitol story to share with you that I'll never forget. I was driving out of town one day and I happened by a health food store. So I stopped in to see what they had. There was a package of little macaroon cookies with all kinds of good numbers, low fat, low sugar, etc. What could be wrong with that? Especially since I LOVE macaroons.

So I bought a bag and headed off to my appointment, snacking on the little macaroons as I drove. Before you knew it, I had eaten the whole package. The next day, I found out the principal adverse effect of maltitol--tropical strength diarrhea. I figured I simply had a bad reaction because I ate too much, so later I tried two pieces of candy made with maltitol, and that also gave me diarrhea.

Take if from me, DON'T EVER EAT ANYTHING WITH MALTITOL IN IT.

GOOD ADVICE, Mike! That why I shared in this recent YouTube video that people should avoid it if they possibly can. It's just not worth the trouble (or pain), is it?

HOOD'S CALORIE COUNTDOWN LOW-CARB MILK BEING DISCONTINUED?

Low-carbers who want an excellent milk substitute have been pleased to use a product called Calorie Countdown from a company named Hood. The milk comes in chocolate (my personal FAVE!) and white and contains just 4g net carbs per serving. This product used to be called Carb Countdown and had the Atkins logo on it before they changed the name to appease the health-conscious consumer last year.

Well, it appears this lone low-carb milk may be on its way out, but I'm still trying to confirm that with Hood. However, one of my readers said she visited her local grocery store to pick up a carton and was told by the manager that Hood Calorie Countdown was being discontinued. If I hear back from Hood about this, then I'll let you know what they say. We may be back to using cream again for milk.

READER DROPS 74 POUNDS IN 2007 AFTER FINDING MY BLOG

You know, when I started this blog I had no idea the impact it was going to have on the lives of real people who were just like me nearly four years ago looking for a glimmer of hope in this weight loss journey. But they're out there watching, reading, learning, and changing their lives forever for the better! I never get tired of hearing stories of low-carb weight loss success like this:

Jimmy,

You've inspired me to lose over 70 pounds in 9 months! I woke up at 41 weighing 270+. I got the "wake-up" call while tying to keep up with my two grade school aged boys. I got on a bicycle and tried to keep up with my nine-year-old and six-year-old. They cleaned my clock! I was so winded I felt as though I'd just ran 10 miles.

I took a long look in the mirror and said to myself, "Man, you're one fat, out-of-shape piece of *^&%!". Well, I decided to do something about it. I did all the stuff the "experts" advise. I went on that dreadful low-fat, low-calorie diet and started to exercise. Well, I had some marginal success, but the hunger was unbearable.

One day I remembered how I used to get to weight during my high school wrestling days. The coach would tell us to avoid all the "White Stuff". He gave us permission to eat two pieces of fruit a day with all the meat, cheese, & garden veggies (excluding potatoes) we wanted, but bread, rice, corn, & sugar were "no nos."

I pulled out an old photo and saw just how lean I was (talkin' about a six-pack!). I contemplated going back on the diet, but was worried about the health risks. I was obviously brainwashed by what I was being told on TV and by my Doctor.

I then started doing a little research to find out how I could do the old diet without the problems. I then stumbled upon your "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog. You had it all laid out! I read the stuff you posted and checked out the studies for myself.

I got Dr. Atkins' book and started my journey. Since January I've went from
about 272 pounds down to 198 pounds. I was wearing size 46" waist pants in January and now I'm wearing 34". I'm the thinnest I've been since I got out of the Army 19 years ago. My bodyfat level is now at 14% and I haven't felt this good in years!

Keep up the good work! I appreciate your efforts--way to go!

Man, I NEVER get tired of these kinds of stories. Feel free to share how this blog has motivated you in your low-carb journey by e-mailing me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

NUTRITION ANSWERS WEB SITE GIVE CARB COUNTS, GLYCEMIC INDEX OF FOODS

There's a brand new tool that I'm thrilled to be able to share with you for people who are confused about how many carbohydrates are in various foods. Or perhaps you are following the low-glycemic index diet (GI) and want to know what the numbers are for the foods you are eating. Let me introduce you to Nutrition Answers which was created by an Australian Type 1 diabetic named Derek Miller. This program is still in beta, but I happen to think it is absolutely FANTASTIC! When you get to the web site, click on "Sample Questions" and you will see a list of invaluable links to give you the answers to the carb counts for your low-carb lifestyle. Use this tool early and often to stay on track with your healthy low-carb food choices.

ONCE YOU LOW-CARB FOR A WHILE, DO CARBS ACT CRAZY IN YOUR BODY?

I've heard all kinds of stories from people about what has happened to them since they started livin' la vida low-carb and most of the time it is good. There is an occasional strange symptom or two like what this person shared right after I started this blog. We're all different and not everything is tied to our low-carb diet. With that said, though, there may be a connection sometimes like in the case of this woman who wrote to me:

Hi, Jimmy –

I started the low-carb lifestyle this past summer, on July 4, and am happy to report that I’ve already lost 35 pounds and am down 3 or 4 dress sizes! And I feel absolutely great. In fact, I used to have heartburn fairly regularly on my old “normal American” diet, with the sugar and starches – and had to take a Zantac or Tums or two almost every night – but a week or so after starting low-carbing, the heartburn simply went away and never came back!

I never want to go off this way of eating. I was not pre-diabetic and there’s no history of diabetes in my family – but I had read Dr. Atkins’ books and Protein Power by the Drs. Eades and it all made good sense to me. And I’m so glad I tried it and have taken up the low-carb way of life!

But I have a question for you – on the very rare occasions when I have “slipped” in the past few months and eaten something high-carb (like a couple of mini-Milky Way bars…arrgh, pure sugar! Don’t ask me why I did it – I just did it once!) or some bread-y thing (once or twice, just to be “polite” when it was served) my body has had a bad reaction. Not long after eating the sugar and/or starch, I feel my heart start to pound, sometimes my head will start to ache, and I just overall feel quite bad.

My question is – is this the way I was feeling all the time before I started low-carbing, and I just never noticed it?? Or is my ability to handle carbs somehow weaker than it was? Or has my body just adjusted itself to the low-carb way of life, and now it’s just warning me not to go back? What exactly is that shaky, achy, lousy feeling I get when I, rarely, eat sugar or starch? Is that normal to have that happen?

At any rate, it is a truly effective deterrent. I don’t want to feel lousy again; therefore when I want something sweet, I stick to Splenda or maybe some sugar-free Jello or a few berries.

Thanks so much; love your blog!

It's always interesting to hear how people respond when they reintroduce carbs after they started livin' la vida low-carb. It's an great object lesson to remind us that we are making a LIFESTYLE CHANGE that is permanently altering the way we eat forever. That's something I attempted to convey in my response:

THANKS for writing and congrats on your success.

Think about sugar/carbs like you would crack cocaine. It is addictive and your body goes through withdrawals when you try to stop consuming it. When you get "clean" from the addiction and try to reintroduce it to your body, it is TOXIC and the body rejects it.

That's what happens with carbs after you have been livin' la vida low-carb for a while. Your body no longer relies on them and treats them as foreign entities when they are consumed. You've learned your lesson and won't be doing that again soon. :D

THANK YOU again for your e-mail!

Something tells me she'll be on strict low-carb for a while. As she should.

That's all the time I have for now, but I'm happy to be catching up on some much-needed blogging! More coming soon! In the meantime, Celebrate Gary Taubes Week!

9-26-07 UPDATE: After one of my readers was concerned the Hood Calorie Countdown low-carb milk was being discontinued, I contacted them to find out the scoop. According to a customer service representative, it's still available:

"We appreciate your interest in Calorie Countdown Dairy Beverages. In answer to your question, we have not discontinued these. If you are unable to locate a particular product, we suggest you speak with the store or dairy manager and ask if it can be ordered in."

So, if it's not on your grocer's shelf, ASK FOR IT!!! And be sure to let Hood know how much you appreciate their products that cater to your low-carb lifestyle by sharing your product experience.

Briffa: High-Carb Diet Making 'Career Dieters' Out Of People

Dr. John Briffa says we should return to the "primal" diet of our ancestors

Sometimes it feels like we're all alone in this battle to share with others about healthy living. Sure, there are LOTS of voices out there purporting to be about good nutrition and health principles, but many of these fall well short of the mark by simply regurgitating the same old tired low-fat, low-calorie, portion-controlled diets which have by now been proven to be absolutely, positively useless for both health and weight management.

That's why I enjoy highlighting those diamonds in the rough who actually "get it" when it comes to this subject and today I have a gentleman from UK who fits the bill. His name is Dr. John Briffa and I think you're gonna like what he has to say regarding diet, health, and nutrition in the modern era. He doesn't toe the line of the so-called "experts" and you gotta love that!

Dr. Briffa first caught my eye early on when I first began this blog when he highlighted a study showing a high-protein, low-carb diet is good for bone health. WHOA! Who is this guy? At that time, I just KNEW I wanted to find out more about this Dr. John Briffa and I'm pleased he agreed to be interviewed by me for my blog today.

Read and soak it all in. This is someone you'll want to hear more from.

1. Today we have with us a man who is a highly-respected, award-winning diet and health writer and nutritional expert named Dr. John Briffa and he hails from London, England. For more than 15 years, Dr. Briffa has shared his recipe for healthy living with his patients as well as the entire British population through his thought-provoking articles and columns for more than 70 publications including the Daily Mail and the Observer.

Welcome, Dr. Briffa, and thank you for spending a few moments with me and my readers today. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got involved in this sometimes wild and crazy world of diet and nutrition.

As far as nutrition is concerned, I was a bit of a late developer. As a medical student, for instance, I subsisted on a diet comprised mainly of pizzas, kebabs, canteen food and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Despite a dire diet, my brain function was not so impaired that I could not see that a career in conventional medicine was not for me.

I plotted my escape during my time at college, and despite being what my tutors generally regarded as a ‘poor student’, I graduated (with honors).

While contemplating my future I met an elderly male patient who unwittingly turned me on to nutrition. He was very robust for his age, something he put largely down to his diet. I was struggling with a few health issues of my own (I was overweight, suffered from persistent eczema and often felt like I was drained of energy).

Inspired by this elderly gent, I started reading about nutrition and ended up applying some healthy eating principles in my own life. In quick time I found this ‘cured’ my ills, and I wondered why they didn’t teach this stuff at medical school. Anyway, buoyed by my personal success I became a rapid convert to the area!

2. I love the approach you have taken to help educate others about health at your excellent web site--DrBriffa.com--as well as through your books, newsletter, blog, and podcast. You use the phrase "A Good Look At Good Health" to describe what you do. What does that motto mean to you and what do you hope people come away with when they encounter your work?

While I think there’s a lot of good information on health around, there’s no denying that there’s a lot of suspect stuff too. A lot of health advice, particularly regarding diet, does seem to be born out of a concern not for public health, but profit. My aim with DrBriffa.com is to give readers the truth, and expose health myths and misinformation where that seems appropriate.

Sometimes this means delving into food and health politics. And sometimes, it means digging a bit deeper and not taking any ‘facts’ for granted. Hence, ‘A good look at good health’. My aim is for individuals to come away from the site feeling they have read something balanced and truthful, and perhaps a little wiser about how to attain or maintain good health.

3. We are living in some rather strange times nowadays with the never ending barrage of good news/bad news about what we should and shouldn't be doing to get healthy. How do you respond to those people who are justifiably frustrated by the seemingly endless array of contradictory dietary research that comes out? Is there any way to discern what the truth really is or does it even matter?

I feel the plight of those confused by often-contradictory messages out there, as I felt just the same when I first became interested in health (as opposed to disease). With such a lot of contradictory information and advice around, it’s sometimes difficult to know who or what to believe.

I do think, however, that for those who are genuinely interested in optimizing their health and wellbeing that it’s important to discern fact from fiction. As a starting point, I tend to encourage individuals to think about diet a fundamental way: the best diet for us is going to be based on the foods that we’ve eaten the longest in terms of our evolution.

After all, these are the foods that we’re best adapted to on a genetic, biochemical, physiological and metabolic perspective. Having this basic principle in mind is one simple way individuals can make healthy food choices and keep themselves out of a lot of trouble!

4. Your life's work is about getting people to turn to natural health remedies to fight their obesity and diseases. Share with us a few of the most basic changes that people can and should be making in order to live a much healthier life.

Firstly, eat a ‘primal’ diet that is mainly made up of natural, unprocessed foods such as meat, fish, seafood, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and water.

Secondly, keep active. Generally, I recommend a mix of aerobic and resistance exercise here, though none of it needs to be particularly time-consuming or arduous.

Thirdly, I recommend getting enough sleep, not just in terms of length but also depth. Getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier is one strategy that seems to work well for most people in this respect.

I also advise that individuals get plenty of sun exposure whenever possible. Sunburn is to be avoided, of course, but that said, there’s mounting evidence linking sunlight exposure with a reduced risk of many conditions including depression, multiple sclerosis and many different forms of cancer including those of the breast, colon and prostate.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun whenever possible! Being healthy, in my opinion, need not be an austere and joyless experience.

5. Earlier this year you released a brand new book in the UK with many of your dietary concepts called "The True You Diet" which attempt to "make diets history." As someone who was able to lose nearly 200 pounds naturally through simple changes in my diet, I'm all for promoting the concept of lifestyle change to the masses. Is that also your philosophy or is there more to attaining the "true you" than that?

I do think that there are certain nutritional principles that apply to ‘the masses’, so to speak. Eating a low-glycemic index/load diet is one such principle. In addition, though, studies show that the ideal ‘fuel’ for the body varies from individual to individual.

For instance, some people are quite efficient metabolizers of fat, while others are better metabolizers of carbohydrate. In The True You Diet, I explore this concept in depth, and link the presence of different ‘types’ of individuals to our evolutionary past. The book is fully scientifically-referenced, with some 350 studies are specifically cited in the text.

For ease of understanding, in the book I have classified individuals into ‘hunters’ (efficient metabolizers of fat), ‘gatherers’ (efficient metabolizers of carb) and ‘hunter-gatherers’ (somewhere in between). The book contains a comprehensive questionnaire which allows individuals to find out which ‘type’ they are, and also offers advice on foods, meals and recipes that are specific to each type.

6. You are on the cutting edge of nutritional science and have built up quite a reputation with your weekly newsletters and other alternative means of communications like your blog and podcasts. What can people expect to receive from these various new media resources and have you seen a greater response to your message since launching them?

My DrBriffa.com blog is updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and almost always features a topical, recent health or research-related story. I often write about nutrition, but will cover just about anything that I think may be of value or interest to readers including food or health politics, activity and exercise, sleep, yoga and meditation, and sunlight.

On Fridays, I send out a newsletter that summarizes that week’s blogs with live links back to the original posts for those who want to read more. I am planning to start regular podcasting and perhaps videocasting later this year.

I am constantly spurred on by the positive feedback I get from my readers. I honestly do really appreciate this! I love blogging partly because it’s so much more immediate than print media, and it allows a more intimate relationship with readers too. And there’s no editorial control! Needless to say, I’m committed to continuing my online work.

7. The food and drug industries have obviously had a field day promoting the obesity epidemic and some would say they deliberately overemphasize the severity of it simply to turn a huge profit. What are your thoughts about this and do you believe money is at the root of the dietary recommendations and reliance on prescription medications for every health ailment we face today?

There is quite a lot of evidence which suggests that the standard measure of body weight (the body mass index – BMI) is pretty useless as a marker of health. Plus, plenty of evidence links being ‘overweight’ with health outcomes as good if not better than those in the ‘healthy’ category. In short, I do agree that the severity and consequences of ‘excess’ weight have been somewhat overstated.

Sorry if this seems like I’m laboring the point, but my belief is that a lot of health messages and recommendations are driven by commercial concern. This not only creates potential markets for, say, pharmaceutical and food companies, but also allows these companies to sell us solutions in the form of medications, and frankly quite unhealthy (though profitable) foodstuffs such as margarine and artificial sweeteners.

8. Is there anything inherently wrong with a low-fat, low-calorie, high-carb diet for the general population? Also, is there a specific way of eating that can assist those people who are diabetic?

Is this a trick question?! Where do I start?! First of all, a high-carb diet can upset blood sugar and insulin balance that can lead to symptoms such as sweet cravings, fuzzy thinking, fatigue and waking in the night in the short term, and problems such as weight gain, type 2 diabetes and heart disease in the long term.

Plus, high-carb diets often fail to really satisfy the appetite, making them quite unsustainable. It is just this sort of diet than can make ‘career dieters’ out of people. And these diets can be lacking in key nutrients, so that individuals can end up overweight and malnourished, all at the same time. Hardly ideal!

As far as diabetes is concerned, I think a lot of conventional nutritional advice is woefully lacking. Often, diabetics are encouraged to include starchy carbs at each meal. We know that these foods tend to disrupt blood sugar levels, and we know that diabetes is a fundamentally a problem with blood sugar control. So why are diabetics given the advice to eat the very food they have a problem dealing with?!

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to most of your readers that I advise carb-control for diabetics. Actually, this was the very diet used to treat diabetics before the advent of insulin. And it still works to this day! It’s not just common sense that supports this approach, but science too: several studies show that diets lower in carbohydrate can improve measures of glycemic control including blood sugar levels, insulin levels and levels of HbA1C (which is a measure of glycemic control over the preceding 2-3 months).

9. You have spoken out against using medications like statin drugs to artificially lower cholesterol levels by a mere 10 percent because there are no actual benefits experienced by such modest reductions. What would you say to someone who is worried about their "high" cholesterol and being told to take a drug to lower it for heart health? What are some all-natural ways people can ward off heart disease?

My issue with statin drugs is mainly two-fold: their benefits have been overstated, and their hazards have been understated. The great majority of people who take these drugs have no history of ‘cardiovascular’ disease (e.g. heart disease, heart attack or stroke). In such individuals, meta-analyses (where the results of several similar studies are grouped together) have found the statins do not save lives.

Statins do seem to save lives, however, when used to treat individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease. However, it is not assured that is because of cholesterol reduction, because statins also have other effects that could explain this benefit including an anti-inflammatory effect and some ability to ‘thin’ the blood. All-in-all, I think far too much is made of the supposed ‘perils’ of cholesterol. And it is well-recognized that statins can deplete the body of the nutrient coenzyme Q10, which can lead to symptoms such as fatigue and muscle pain.

What I would say to someone with high cholesterol or keen to ward off heart disease is not to focus on the cholesterol, but on health. If they want to make any changes at all, then I suggest on incorporating lifestyle changes that support vibrant health and wellbeing. A good starting point would be those things I outlined in my answer to question 4 of this interview.

10. THANK YOU again for sharing a few moments with us here at the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog today, Dr. Briffa. Your zeal for naturally healthy living is contagious and I can only hope to follow your outstanding example in my own work. Are there any final words of encouragement and hope you would like to share with my readers before you go?

Firstly, and I do mean this very genuinely, I think your site is doing an outstanding job of assisting individuals in educating themselves about important (possibly life-saving) principles. It’s an example of how the Internet has provided a portal for motivated individuals to share information and knowledge. And knowledge is power, after all.

The ability for individuals to self-educate in this way means that industry is less and less able to control what people believe. It’s like the genie is out of the bottle – and now that it is, it’s going to be hard to get it back in!

I believe we live in a time where there is unprecedented opportunity for individuals to discover the truth, and to use that to their advantage. There is a real feeling that growing numbers of individuals are seizing that opportunity with both hands, and I see this as a hugely positive thing for us all. Thank you Jimmy for the opportunity to ‘spread the word’ about healthy living!

THANK YOU, Dr. Briffa! It was a pleasure getting to know you better and I'm glad my readers were able to discover who YOU are today. Sign up for Dr. John Briffa's weekly health newsletter and be sure to drop him an e-mail anytime at john@drbriffa.com.

Study: High-Carb Diet Leads To Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Possible Blindness

Dr. Allen Taylor found AMD speeds up rapidly on a high-carb diet

It's not looking good for the highly-recommended, government-approved high-carb diet. We already know from previous research that such a diet leads to acne, increased blood pressure, an inability to lose weight in people with hyperinsulinemia, lower HDL "good" cholesterol and much higher triglycerides, the development of esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, and other forms of cancer, the development of Type 2 diabetes, and negligible weight loss, among a variety of other health-related concerns.

Now we can add to that ever-growing list of ailments something else--an increase in the risk of developing advanced age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, according to this Food Navigator story.

Dr. Allen Taylor, Senior Scientist and Director in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA HNRCA at Tufts University in Boston, MA, and his fellow researchers observed nearly 4,100 nondiabetic senior citizens between the ages of 55-80 years old (average age for men was 79.3, for women was 77.9) in a nationwide study called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) to determine the impact of their diet on AMD, a very serious eye condition that has become the #1 reason for blindness in people 50 and over.

What the researchers found was those study participants who consumed a higher-carb diet than the average for their age experience a 49 PERCENT INCREASE in the risk of developing advanced AMD. Dr. Taylor said the more carbs that were consumed, the greater the risk.

"Men and women who consumed diets with a higher glycemic index than average for their gender and age-group were at greater risk of developing advanced AMD," he said. "The severity of AMD increased with increasing dietary glycemic index."

Interestingly, the kind and amount of carbs was not even a factor in this study originally, but it quickly became one once the researchers noticed the correlation between carbohydrates consumed and the advancement of AMD.

"Although carbohydrate quality was not the main focus in the AREDS, we were fortunate that the investigators had collected the dietary carbohydrate information we needed to do our analyses," Dr. Taylor revealed.

The results of this study found that 1 in 5 cases of advanced AMD would likely have been PREVENTED entirely by consuming a lower-carb diet.

As those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb know, the higher the glycemic index in the foods you eat the greater the impact on blood sugar which spike insulin levels causing all sorts of health problems. Eating a true low-G.I. diet (and I mean a REAL one, not the one being promoted by Rick Gallop!) which will be naturally low in carbs can help avert many of these issues.

The connection has now been made between the level of carbohydrate and AMD, too.

"Our results support our hypothesis that dietary glycemic index, which has been related to the risk of diabetes, is also associated with the risk and severity of AMD," Dr. Taylor noted.

He likens the damage to the eye tissue caused by a high-carb diet to that of a diabetic. Low-carb is now being considered as a possible simple resolution to these conditions, but Dr. Taylor said there will need to be further studies to confirm this as a recommended treatment for preventing AMD.

The results of this study appear in the July 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

You can e-mail Dr. Allen Taylor about his study at allen.taylor@tufts.edu.