There is a show that I watch from time to time called Man vs Wild.  It is OK entertainment, and most importantly, my nephews enjoy the show.  It gives us something to talk about.  If you haven't seen it, the program is about a former British military specialist named Bear that goes out into different wild locations to show how to survive.  He eats gushy bugs and wild vegetables for food, builds forts to sleep in, etc.  

I happened to stumble onto an article about Bear a # of months ago.  It said that he has a condition that predisposes him to have high cholesterol.  His father died from a heart attack so as of last year he says he is now eating an all vegetable, whole grain, starchy, diet when at home.  He also mentions his new diet on his web sight in which he quotes from the World Health Organization for what that organization believes to be proper food to eat to be healthy.  http://www.beargrylls.com/health.html    

(I hope kids are not following his blog eating suggestions.)  

I mention this because my nephews and I have noticed that it looks like Bear has grown a little tube around the belly for this newer season.  I think Bear would be better off eating the Paleo diet that he does in the Man vs Wild show than his starchy WHO approved diet.  I wrote him a message to that effect and mentioned if he wanted to prevent heart disease, there was no better place to learn from than the TYP web sight.      

Talking about the good and the bad of corporations spreading the word about good nutrients, I heard a rumor that a larger German health food/ drug company is working on or coming out with a "unique" vitamin D.  I used to work in the health food industry several years ago and know the main researcher doing the work.  He seems like an honest guy.  When we worked together he was in charge of researching polycosanols.  The company had a patent on them and wanted to come out with a unique product.  I remember he tested the polys but he never found them to work at lowering cholesterol.  The company did not like the results, but he stuck with what he found and the company never did sell polycosanols. So when it comes to any new Ds hitting the market I doubt this company will be coming out with another no flush niacin.  It will be something that works is my guess, but will the newly marketed D be better than what is already about there......

Off topic, had lunch with the owner of one of the larger independent health food testing labs in US last week.  He lives in the same town as I.  I told him that I was now taking D3 and he said he was receiving many many orders for testing this.  D3 testing is popular this year.  He then volunteered that many companies are now testing for vitamin K2-7 also.  Good to see your word along with others on the importance of these nutrients is getting out.

We (my son & I) watched Man Vs. Wild just last night.  He ate raw yak liver, blood, & eyeballs in frigid Siberia, near the border of Mongolia, as well as blood sausage with the local people in their yurt.  His paleo nutrition is usually quite accurate.  I'm really surprised he fell for the WHO advice, since he sees how indigenous people often live quite well on traditional foods.  

On the other hand, we prefer the Survivorman series, which has a similar premise, but less "sensational".  Unlike Man vs. Wild, Survivorman goes it alone, without a camera crew.  He has to carry his own gear (minimal for himself) and set up his own camera shots and footage.  Unlike Bear, he downplays the "ugh, look what I have to eat to survive" attitude.

I am a dietitian that works with heart patients, and I do NOT recommend the AHA guidelines.  I actually have to spend a large amount of my time re-teaching them what their cardiologists and other health care professionals have been spouting off.  Just letting you know that not all dietitians are mindless AHA and ADA believers.

Dear dietitian--

That's great!

I am thrilled that you have the courage to speak out and express what you believe to be true, not what you're told to believe.

Keep it up!

Except Fanatic Cook lives on wheat and grains.  Little disconnect there.

Hi, Ivan--

Uh, oh. We should talk to her about that.

Yeah, I dropped Fanatic Cook from my reading list some time ago.  Little new or useful to learn there after she went a bit overboard on the "whole grains are good thing".  She moved into vegetarianism and veganism as an attempt to prevent cancer, and for the most part, provides some really weak support for that position.  I could say more, but I think I'll leave it at that.

Nice to hear she is seeing the AHA clearly, though.

Dr. Davis:
doctors including most in your specialty use statins as their first line of defense in treating heart disease. Perhaps because it is easy; perhaps because of the drug company sponsored tests.  In any event, it may be that it makes sense in some cases, only we the public do not know when they should be prescribed.  Perhaps you can enlighten us on when and for what reasons you would prescribe statins, if at all.
Excellent post.

Why didn't you tell her that it's now been proven that no woman should ever be on statins (and very few men should be.)

My mom now has to walk with a cane after six months on statins, at her idiot doctor's insistence.

At least I'm sure her doc enjoyed his free lunches (paid for by hot, nubile drug reps, just a year or two out of the sorority.)

Sometimes this country makes me want to VOMIT!

Dr. Eades keeps repeating it's never been proven that statins do any good to women of any age - what do you think about it, maybe that patient should just stop taking statins and increase fish oil?

http://www.lipidworld.com/content/pdf/1476-511x-7-37.pdf
In this paper Das proposes that a rational combination of -3 and -6 fatty acids and the co-factors that are necessary for their appropriate action/metabolism is as beneficial as that of the combined use of a statin, thiazide,a  blocker, and an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, folic acid, and aspirin.
Furthermore, appropriate  combination of -3 and -6 fatty acids may even show additional
benefits in the form of protection from depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and enhances cognitive function; and serve as endogenous anti-inflammatory molecules; and could be administered from childhood for life long.

But I suspect that such an approach would not be as profitable as the use of a polypill.

RCT's have demonstrated that Omega 3 fatty acid supplements can reduce
cardiac events like death,non fatal MI and non fatal stroke.

I like Omega3 fatty acid supplement from Neurovi.It has many benefits related with Heart disease.Check out the website of Neurovi.

www.neurovi.com

There's a relatively new (rat) study on krill oil.

If you're interested, you can access the abstract here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18755044?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Is this true? If someone takes a statin drug, like Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor (simvastatin), pravachol, or lovastatin, they don't need to take anything else because the statin drug is so powerful that it eliminates risk?

We must first gather some informations bbelieving that when we take statin, we should not take any other like fish oil.

We must first gather some informations before believing that when we take statin, we should not take any other like fish oil.