The great food industry deception

8. September 2007 William Davis (1)
I'd forgotten what a powerful report Peter Jennings and ABC News produced about the enormous deception perpetrated by the food industry and its effects on health until Dr. Joe Mercola posted the YouTube clips from the report on Mercola.com.

(This is not meant to be an endorsement of everything Dr. Mercola has to say. He says lots of things; I agree with only a fraction of it. But this is a gem.)

Although made in 2004, the report remains every bit as relevant today as it was then. It concerns me deeply that, despite reports like this being broadcast to Americans, the obesity epidemic continues unabated. In fact, it's worse just in the short three years since then.

Be aware of what the food industry is up to. They intensively market high profit margin foods to us--and especially our children--to increase sales. As Jennings points out, the U.S. government (USDA) is, for a variety of reasons both good and bad, complicit with this massive deception. While many media reports continue to focus on lack of exercise as the root cause for the obesity epidemic, it is really the active and purposeful selling of processed junk foods to Americans that is principally to blame.

By the way, how many of these foods proudly boast the American Heart Association Check Mark of approval?



Part 1





Part 2




Part 3




Part 4




Part 5

Tags :

Comments (1) -

  • Ben

    9/13/2007 10:46:00 PM |

    Unlike heart disease that can creep up on a person without external symptoms, everyone (excluding a very, very small percent of anomalies) gets direct feedback from their diet. Blaming the government, or subsidies, or corn, or companies, or advertising, or genetics or whatever other rationalizations, indulges delusion.

    Blame could be placed on lack of education, however most everyone (including children) knows that there is a nutritional difference between a cookie and a carrot.

    Control of your body (and your children’s body) and what you choose to put in it begins with you, not from the executive branch of government on down.

Add comment

Loading
Synthroid, Armour Thyroid, and the battle for T3

Synthroid, Armour Thyroid, and the battle for T3

6. July 2008 William Davis (2)
In the last Heart Scan Blog post on thyroid issues, Is normal TSH too high?, the provocative findings of the the HUNT Study were discussed. The text of the study can be found at:

The association between TSH within the reference range and serum lipid concentrations in a population-based study. The HUNT Study

Hypothyroidism, or low thyroid that is signaled by high thyroid-stimulating hormone, TSH, is proving far more prevalent an issue than previously thought. While previous estimates put hypothyroidism as affecting only about 3% of younger populations, 10-20% of older populations (women more so), data like the HUNT Study suggest that, if lower and lower TSH levels (higher thyroid) are necessary for perfect heart health, then many more people stand to benefit than we used to think.

But another crucial issue in the world of hypothyroidism: Is T4 (thyroxine) enough? Or should we be supplementing T3 (triiodothyronine) along with T4?

Your friendly neighborhood primary care doctor or endocrinologist would likely argue vehemently that T4 (as Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, and others) is adequate and not subject to the impurities and contaminants of natural thyroid extracts. They would also argue that T4 is effectively converted to T3 at the tissue level, and exogenous supplementation is unnecessary.

Others--most of all thyroid patients themselves, along with thyroid advocates like Mary Shomon and Janie Bowthorpe, along with some physicians--argue that supplementing T3 along with T4 can be very important. They argue that people feel better, have more physical energy, lose weight more effectively, and more completely resolve many of the phenomena of hypothryoidism with T3 added. There are also some data that argue the same.

Adding T3 to the mix may address the presumed poor conversion of T4 to T3 that is peculiar to some people. It may overcome the "reverse T3" phenomenon, the production of a useless look-alike T3 that occurs in some people. It may also (anecdotally) exert greater effects on some lipid/lipoprotein parameters, such as Lp(a).

My experiences adding T3 to T4 have been mixed: Some feel better, others do not. Some show objective improvements, others do not.

Nonetheless, hypothyroidism, or incompletely corrected hypothryoidism by way of inadequate T3, is an issue to consider in your plaque-control program.

More on this somewhat complex issue, along with practical solutions to consider, can be found on the Special Report to be released this week on the Track Your Plaque website.
Tags :

Comments (2) -

  • Anonymous

    7/6/2008 7:51:00 PM |

    This is what I hate about medicine: one size fits all. Thyroid treatment should be based on symptom relief using labwork to make sure there isn't overtreatment. And all thyroid supplements should be available to the patient. Not just what the doctor gets paid (oops!) to use.

  • Anonymous

    7/7/2008 5:15:00 PM |

    Hi Dr. Davis,

    Check this link out...  The doctor at the link references your work.  Not sure if you're familiar with his.

    I've saved the link on two lines that need to be combined to paste into the browser.

    http://jeffreydach.com/2008/06/26/
    saving-tim-russert-and-george-carlin-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx

    The interesting thing about the article for me was this...

    I have previously noticed about 1/3 of my eyebrows had gotten thinner.  And I also have wondered about the puffiness around my eyelids.

    Sheesh...

    What do you think about that site?  If you don't answer here in comments perhaps you could address in your Special Report or at your blog?

    Thanks for all you do.

    wccaguy

Add comment

Loading