Fascinating and funny. Thanks for the post. I'm glad I found your blog

Jeff Brailey
http://wordworks2001.blogspot.com

Check my blog and find out why I refused to have a quintuple coronary artery bypass in the spring of 2004 and am alive to tell about it almost three years later.

Dr. William Roberts, editor of the American Journal of Cardiology and cardiovascular pathologist, is a perennial source of clever ideas on heart disease.


He's also on the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) - an organization with a very clear agenda.

(2) The intestinal tract of carnivores is short (about 3 times body length); that of herbivores, long (about 12 times body length). (Since I am 6 feet tall my intestinal tract should be about 60 feet long. As a consequence, if I eat bovine muscle [steak], it could take 5 days to course through those 20 yards.)

I can't believe a physician thinks the human intestine is "about 60 feet long". At most, it's about 25 feet long.

Provocative thoughts, yes....

By way of full disclosure, the leadership and advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) includes:

PCRM Board of Directors: Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President; Roger Galvin, Esq., Secretary; Andrew Nicholson, M.D., Director.

PCRM’s advisory board includes 11 health care professionals from a broad range of specialties:

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. Cornell University
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. The Cleveland Clinic
Suzanne Havala Hobbs, Dr.PH., M.S., R.D. The Vegetarian Resource Group
Henry J. Heimlich, M.D., Sc.D. The Heimlich Institute
Lawrence Kushi, Sc.D. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente
Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D. Nutrition Matters, Inc.
John McDougall, M.D. McDougall Program, St. Helena Hospital
Milton Mills, M.D. Gilead Medical Group
Myriam Parham, R.D., L.D., C.D.E. East Pasco Medical Center
William Roberts, M.D. Baylor Cardiovascular Institute
Andrew Weil, M.D. University of Arizona

Clearly, as a comment mentioned, they have a viewpoint or agenda, however that doesn't mean they are wrong, anymore than carnivore-type programs may be right for everyone.

In my opinion, there's plenty of room for 'novel' thoughts in the field of preventive cardiology and I appreciate Dr. Davis bringing them forward.

And most clearly of all, there's plenty wrong with the conventional "standard American diet" no matter which end of the dietary spectrum one embraces.

Whatever WORKS to help with plaque reversal!

"However, modern livestock raising practices have substantially modified the composition of meats."

Is patient education difficult on such subject matter?  Curious; had to ask.

And how about the flesh of grass fed beef and wild game?  Is that good, better, more acceptable but still bad?  How about the folks who believe anthropologically we were meant to to eat a hunters and gatherers diet?

Polar bears have the longest intestine of all the bears. I'm like a polar bear.

Hi Dr. Davis,
Your favorite internet TYP promoter checking in. : )  Thought to mention a possible opportunity - a friend of mine mentioned that he printed out and passed on a copy of your latest blog posting, the Big Squeeze, to his friend, Congressman Jim Marshall.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marshall_%28U.S._politician%29
Don't know if much will come of it, but being an opportunity thought to bring to your attention.  
You might want to delete my mentioning of this.

Just found your blog and am enjoying it.

On this topic, I read such a comparison by a veterinarian who had cared for sheep, dogs and cows for 30 years.  Unfortunately I can't find it at the moment

His take was the opposite.  

Some things I remember were that humans, like carnivores, can swallow very large chunks of food that would kill a herbivore.

Humans don't have 4 stomachs and don't chew cud.

Human stereo vision is much more like all types of predators (eagles, cats, dogs, hawks, predatory fish) than almost any herbivore (eyes almost on the sides of the head)

If you look at human hands, they look a lot like the Bonobo monkey's hands and NOT at all like a gorilla's hands.  Bonobos eat a lot of meat - insects, rodents, birds, and gorillas eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.

That's basically what I remember.

I'll post a link later to the fill thing if I can find it.

Sam in Toronto

Another thing I remember - the intestine length argument goes both ways - some carnivores do have long intestines.

Something that does not go both ways - human intestines have the enzyme systems needed to degest lots of chemicals that ONLY exist in MEAT.

As far as I know, you cannot get these from plants, or from only 1 or 2 plants in the world  

Heme iron (not a big deal these days, but this was huge in the past, where every human, even kings, had dozens of blood-extracting parasites on the skin, in the hair and intestines)

creatine (vegetarians can be synthesize this out of plant methionine)

EPA/DHA (from fish oil - in ancient times, in meat - none in vegetables - there's no plant source for EPA, and only seaweed for DHA)

B12

also, as an efficiency measure over and above the efficiency of digesting individual amino acids, human digestion can grab large chunks of protein, many of which occur only in meat ( very, very large peptices -  but I forget what these are called - globulins or antigens)  

Sam in Toronto (that's me, the author, not a chemical that humans can digest and that does not occur in vegetables)

Robert's comment is interesting, it's also grossly in error.  

We're not rabbits or dogs, we're humans, and we're omnivores.

The anthropological record is quite clear at this point.  We evolved large brains to hunt prey, and the fat of that prey allowed our brain to get larger, making us better hunters.  We sweat because we could outrun our herbivorous prey, using our naked skin as a superior cooing mechanism.  We have smaller teeth because we've been cooking our food for 1.5 million years, or so.

We do seem to need some vegetable matter in our diets.  Even the Eskimos eat some.  But we do fine on a primarily animal diet.  A cow would not.

It'd be nice if a physician was a little more familiar with the species he's treating.  A veterinarian couldn't get away with this degree of ignorance.

Hi Dr. Davis:

Are you familiar with Dr. Wolfgang Lutz from Austria.  He has a book entitled "Life Without Bread."  He has been treating patients with a low carbohydrates diet for over 40 years and he has seen improvements in the same conditions in his patients.  In his book he presents data from his patients over the last 40 years and it's very impressive.  Here is the amazon.com link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Without-Bread-Low-Carbohydrate-Diet/dp/0658001701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253192708&sr=8-1

Thanks so much for writing this blog.

I absolutely agree with what you're saying here--for the most part, I do not eat wheat, but I must tell you, the desire for any wheat product never leaves (in my case, anyway) and is frequently craved--but what a punishment for indulging, even once in a great while:
A few days ago, whilst enjoying a delicious mostly protein and fat dinner at Outback, my wheat devil got the best of me, and I took a mere slice of that delicious bread they put on the table, with a generous pat of butter.  Within 5-10 minutes, I literally felt my nose and sinuses swelling up on me.  Not fair, but reality.
Hmmph.

Oh this is so true! I love myself when I stop eating wheat and a lot of sugars - can't get enough sex och have much more energy!

But from time to time I fall back and just crave that pasta... and every time I do, I regret it; Stomach cramps is always what will be served for dessert!

Dairy and lots of sugar.
But wheat might be the worst.

Two years ago, my knees hurt so badly that I avoided sitting in low chairs (I couldn't get out of them) and I was "one-footing" stairs. Then I went on a low-carb diet and the pain cleared up. I failed to put two and two together until a trip to France where I "allowed" myself small amounts of bread and suddenly it became important to know if a metro stop had an escalator. Now I know that eating wheat will result in knee pain 48 hours later.

Fast forward to this summer when my 24-year-old daughter was having stomach pain--it was after meals, but sometimes the pain woke her in the night. "Heartburn," said her physician, maybe related to stress, and put her on Nexium for a month to see if it cleared up. It did, but returned when her prescription was over. Having read about the side effects of PPI use, I suggested to my daughter that she consider eliminating gluten and/or milk products for a while to see if that helped. She did (although she whimpered a bit about giving up beer). The pain disappeared almost immediately, and a bit of experimentation showed that it was wheat and only wheat that caused the pain (cheers).

When my daughter described the pain, I realized that I had the same symptom when I was her age, but I didn't have it looked into because it never lasted long enough to bother with (I'm one of those doctors' kids who avoid doctors).

So my question is, in light of all of the signs that point to wheat intolerance as a cause of gastrointestinal distress and joint pain and a whole lot of other things, why is eliminating wheat not the first course of action?

By the way, I found the recent article in Scientific American on celiac disease, leaky gut and automimmune disease to be very interesting.

Does wheat elimination include eliminating beer, particularly, wheat beer?

It's the only wheat--or grain for that matter--in my regular diet.

"after someone eliminates wheat for several months, re-exposure of an errant cracker or sandwich results in cramping and diarrhea in about 30% of people."

I gave up wheat a long time ago when I found it triggered acid reflux. And I found just the opposite.

As long as I didn't eat wheat regularly, I could have the occasional wheat with no problems.

Does anyone know if Ezekial 100% sprouted whole grain bread (yes contains some sprouted wheat + many other grains) is still considered "wheat" as I want to have a zero wheat diet.  Hmmm  think I just answered by own question.  thanks!

Hi, Chris--

Beer is clearly the least desirable of all alcoholic beverages, partly because of its wheat origin. However, perhaps because of fermentation or some other modification, it doesn't seem to exert all the adverse effects of other products, though celiacs will still react to the gluten.

Anon--

Likewise with Ezekiel. I believe it's better, though not necessarily perfect. It still trigers carbohydrate responses.

Hi, Olga--

Amazing how we are re-learning many lessons learned previously before drugs and fancy hospital procedures.

Another factor in the increased libido may be a reversal of very early nerve damage from high glucose levels. Peripheral neuropathy starts at blood glucose levels that are not really very high at all -- around 140mg/dL, which a person may be seeing after meals for YEARS before they hit the diabetic diagnostic criteria of 180mg/dL after meals or 126mg/dL fasting (and very many diabetics do have measurable neuropathy at diagnosis, for exactly this reason). People worry about their feet when they're considering diabetic neuropathy, but ALL the nerves are adversely affected by being bathed in excessive glucose, and those in the sexual organs are among the most sensitive; I think it's a reasonable theory that one would see a decrease of sensation there even before you have measurable effects in the hands and feet. Fortunately, if neuropathy isn't very advanced, it can be reversed by getting blood glucose under control, and of course that would improve sensation and increase the enjoyability of sexual activity, which would naturally factor into the desire for same. I'm sure there's more to the story, including some or all of the factors you've named, but I think this is probably part of it too.

How do the various grains compare: wheat, rye, barley, corn, rice etc.?

It's called wheat allergy, look it up.  Different antibodies to celiac, different symptoms, but same cause and same cure.

There are gluten free beers available, based on sorgum.  Budweiser makes one called Red Bridge, but there are others on the market.    My sister has active celiac and so I eat an anti-inflamatory gluten-free diet.  Last year at my highschool reunion I had pizza and beer with the boys.  I had bloody stools for several days after!  I believe that most of us are gluten intolerant, that is we cannot really digest the gluten molecule. Many of us develop "leaky gut" from the gluten and then go on to antibody production against the gluten-gliadin molecule.  This protein has several key amino acid sequences in common with tissue proteins in many various organ systems (thyroid, pancreas, adrenal,gut, skin, uterus, placenta  etc) and autoimmune disease begins.  Which organ system is affected depends on your genetic make up.   The persistance of GI docs in refusing to diagnose gluten enteropathy without a small bowel biopsy is amazing to me.  see enterolab.com

A lifelong depression lifted when I went wheat and gluten free 6 yrs ago. I am 66 years old and I wake up with no joint pain. Peripheral neuropathy is better, but not perfect. I have a long list of health improvements.

As far as my heart, dropping wheat and gluten totally relieved my pitting leg edema and shortness of breath. I had cardiac bypass over 9 years ago, but I did not start to heal until I went gluten free. I am sure that gluten contributed to my CAD.

I have no idea what would happen if I were to eat a wheat cracker or a slice of wheat bread. I never want to feel that sick again so I have not been tempted to try even one bite. An accidental crumb is enough to cause my brain to fog and my energy level to bottom out.

This past year I dropped sugars and all grains in order to level out my blood glucose - this has worked well.

I have heard the celiac experts say that no one is able to digest wheat well.

Dr. Davis,
A majority of beer recipes are based on Barley, not wheat. Sure it could contain wheat as an ingredient and most "summer" beers often contain a malted barley/malted wheat mix with the latter as a minor component. Beer (at least other than the generic mass market brews like coors, bud etc) contain substantial polyphenols from hops which I would assume have antioxidant value.

I don't buy this obsession approach that everything that might contain a grain is probably bad. H1N1 is called the "swine flu" so what has happened; people have stopped eating pork.......  I am grateful for the discussion on this site but just sometimes I get a little disheartened with the  generalizations.
Trevor

Dr. Davis, my diabetic friend just announced to me today that her Triglycerides dropped from 400 to 200, her total cholesterol dropped to 178 and all other blood values are now within normal range just by changing her diet and eliminating all starchy foods (white and brown rice, all wheat products, etc.). Her wheat-free diet truly gave her some unexpected effects. Josephine

Dr. Davis
I'm 66 years and was diagnosed with migrene from 20. At 62 I startet to eat lowcarb and high fat. My migrene was gone after 14 days. I thougt that sugar was the worst, but I have come to understand that wheat and barley trigger my headaches more than sugar does.
Other pleasant side effects are no more anal- itching and nearly no more nightly peeing.

My concern about the sprouted grain breads is the inclusion of soy.  I am not sure that the sprouting process eliminates all the toxins from soy (phytic acid, estrogen, goiterogens, protease inhibitors etc. ). Traditional cultures often soaked grains, sprouted them, and then used lactofermentation (sourdough)  methods to prepare their breads or porridges.  This reduced many of the toxic portions of the grains, but soy is much more resistant.  Traditional Asian cultures often fermented soy for months before using as food.

Before the phrase "wheat-belly" was phrased, there was the phrase "beer-belly." Personally, I don't care if it's made from barley or wheat, beer poses a clear danger either way.

I suffered from IBS for years, and discovered the "cure" when I went on Atkins in 1999.  I'm afraid, though that in my case, eliminating wheat alone isn't sufficient, I seem to have problems with any grain that is high in fiber. One or two amaranth based cookies was enough to trigger IBS symptoms for a whole weekend.

Gluten >> Allergy ? > InTolerance ? > Celiac ?

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Celiac Information:

> Serology ( Blood testing ) as well as Biopsy requires the presence of antibodies to gluten.

> A gluten-free diet reduces circulating antibodies thus compromising a proper diagnosis.  There are no clear guidelines for a proper gluten challenge to ensure sufficient circulating antibodies for a positive result; some individuals requires 1 month, other years.  

> Key Take HOME Message !

With 1 in 100 being affected,
Rule out Celiac Disease > Before going Gluten-Free
Regardless of Rationale.

Susan,
couple weeks ago, I had to take a trip and drove for 8 hours right after my hard work out at gym. didnt have time to eat at my regular time. that night i had stomich spasm, so bad that it almost made me cry. (now i am completely wheat free for more than 10 months now). only thing that helped me immediate,was powdered Magnesium. the pain would start around 2am and stay on until I take liquid magnesium. the pain wouldnt go away for week or so. funny thing is that in the morning i would go to gym and workout hard with no pain at all. 4 days ago I had to see my doctor and he put me on on Nexium. That was the first night that there was no pain how ever the side effects of Nexium were sharp headache and stomach spasm for 5 minutes. I think that when body is firing on all cylinders, it is important to eat regularly, small meals, more often.

Dr. Davis,

I have seen the mention of eliminating wheat from the diet in many of your articles. Does that mean something like rice is not as bad as wheat namely is wheat is the worst among the grains rice, barley, corn etc ?

Thanks!

-Suresh

Sara,

I found your comments extremely interesting and would like to know more about your research, especially relative to this:
"those in the sexual organs are among the most sensitive"  Do you have reference I can follow?

I've been reading about periperhal neuropathy and autonomic neuropathy and this article was particularly interesting:

Unlike PN, AN is often asymptomatic. Among symptomatic patients (55%), erectile dysfunction seems to be the sole symptom, in line with the higher degree of parasympathetic damage.  

pns.ucsd.edu/JPNS/Ravaglia.accepted.06.16.04.pdf

An improvement in his ED was definitely an unexpected results of a gluten free diet (wheat free was not enough), but my spouse saw further improvements without dairy and soy.

William,
Your comment on the fermentation of soy in Asian cultures appears to imply that this is important to render "safe" food from Soy.  So do you make the same generalization about cow's milk.....? IE it should be cheese and yoghurt before consumption?

Donny,
what is the scientific relation between "wheat belly" and "beer belly" ? none, I would argue. Other than both are not desirable and result from over indulgence.

There are a surprising number of people who are sensitive to specific foods.  I love sushi.  My wife is allergic to raw seafood yet she can down a piece of wheat gluten (seitan) with no affects. I have friends who can't go near gluten without severe cramps. My wife can also eat beef yet it gives me terrible gas. On the other hand, beans have absolutely no impact to my gas productivity.  I write this to highlight that many many people have issues with certain foods while other remain unaffected. YMMV as the saying goes, so lets celebrate those who find relief in changing their diets but lets not claim panacea
Trevor

Suresh--

Yes, wheat stands out as a uniquely destructive grain. While other grains can also increase blood sugar and trigger adverse patterns, wheat is undoubtedly the worst. I know of no other grain than wheat that is accompanied by addictive behavior, also.

Re: beer and barley

Barley also contains gluten, so if you're avoiding wheat because of the gluten, you'll need to avoid barley (and rye) as well.

Re: rice

The data that the idiotic "China Study" book is allegedly based on suggest that rice is the best grain to eat if you're going to eat grain. The highest rate of heart disease in China is found in the province where wheat is a dietary staple and little meat is consumed.

1:100 may have celiac disease, but estimates of those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity range from 10-40% of the population.

It is true, if you want to be tested for celiac disease(villous atrophy), then you do need to keep eating gluten until the testing is completed. If the tests come out negative it does not mean that you have no problem with gluten. You may still have latent celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, wheat allergy or wheat intolerance. I am beginning to see more journal articles about gluten sensitivity. Dr. Green recently wrote in the JAMA that more attention needs to be given to gluten sensitivity.

I did not go through blood a biopsy testing as my doctors refused to run these tests. I used Enterolab to confirm I have antibodies to gluten. This was enough proof for me. Enterolab cannot diagnose celiac disease, but it can tell you if you are reacting to gluten and you can be wheat/gluten free for up to 2 years for this test.

There is nothing dangerous about a gluten free or wheat free diet and, luckily, we don't need a doctor's prescription to change our diet. A gluten free diet can be as healthy or as unhealthy as one wants to make it. Along with gluten free, I follow Dr. Davis' recommendation of a low sugar diet to keep my blood glucose in check.

Ouch! much sugar? Damn! diabetes is you will get.

Dr. Davis,

Okay... wheat is BAD.  But... does this include wheat bran, often used as a source of fiber in the diet?  I mean the bran only, NOT wheat germ, or whole wheat, or wheat flours.

Thanks for all you do!

madcook

Hi, Mad--

No, wheat bran is essentially inert. It does not interact with anything and so does not exert any adverse effects. It's like eating wood.

I disagree with wheat bran being inert.  It is a source of phytic acid which has mineral binding properties.  Also, reading sites like FiberMenace.com, bran fiber is certainly not benign.

@Anonymous (before me)

I agree with your statement. Its a fact, try read health book.

I have to mention one more benefit to your list, that I noticed:

- hugely improved dental health and self-healing (sealing) of damaged teeth.

We know that wheat's agglutins (WGA) affect and reduce D3 transport, I have a suspicion that wheat may be also interfering with K2 (thus teeth) but haven't seen much esearch on this yet.

Stan (Heretic)

Re FiberMenace author Konstantin Monastyrsky
Perhaps those wishing to make a value judgement out this website might first want to checkout Jimmy Moore's blog
Jimmy's interview with Konstantin Monastyrsky
and then compare/contrast it with this one in which a certain Dr Davis is interviewed

TedHutchinson, there are many other sources that agree that fiber is not beneficial and is indeed harmful if you don't care for the one referenced.

Nevertheless, Dr. Davis is incorrect about bran being inert.  It does contain phytic acid which interferes with mineral absorption.  Another reason wheat avoidance helps teeth and bones.

@taemo

haha. you're right.. control use of sugar to avoid diabetes.

@Thomas

it has different nutrition level and most of all, its taste.

I have a question: after spending a year in France, I realized that yes, French people are typically lean and thin, however, they eat so much wheat! Pastries, white pastas, cereals...
Do French people display the same numbers when it comes to celiacs disease and wheat intolerance? I am curious to know. Or might it have more to do with volume or the fact that their breads are more often homemade? Thoughts?

I went gluten free for nearly two years and then have been dabbling back into spelt and wheat. My primary reasons for trying the elimination were skin-related (itch, chronic eczema). Sad to say, it don't help much, though I did feel pretty healthy. I just ate a croissant the other day from an organic bakery that stone mills. It was heavan. I didn't feel foggy or anything, so perhaps the key is moderation?
Anyway, great site, very informative. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on those skinny french people.
PS-I don't have a weight problem and ironically I didn't lose weight when I went gluten free. Ended up eating more meat (allergic to nuts)...

Interesting that inflammation would appear to be a component of nearly all these symptoms which wheat elimination "cures".

My depression and mood swings appear to be closely correlated with blood glucose swings, which may be why that also improves.

I'm another one for whom wheat bran is not inert: it generates BG spikes, although not to the degree of whole wheat. Lectins, phytic acid or wheat germ agglutinin?

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-toxic-is-wheat-well-first-point-is.html

Ted,
Thanks for the link to the livin lavida low carb site interview with Dr. Davis.  Your links are always informative.
In my opinion, all newbies visiting this web site should be directed to this reference for a great summary of what is important in taking care of your heart via diet changes. v.cool, thanks
Trevor

I've just found your blog via Feed the Animal, and I'm so happy I did!  Thank you so much for you posts, I'll be reading often.  

You have a few comments here, but I figured I'd add to your collection of anecdotal evidence:  I'd gone paleo for about a month when I took one 24 hour period off (dinner to dinner).  3/4 of a medium pizza, a snickers bar, 1/2 can pringles, and a dozen chocolate coated gingerbread cookies ended up on the menu.  Within 30 minutes of eating the pizza my heartburn had returned, withing hours of eating bits of the rest I was in PAIN.  Why I kept eating this junk for the next day, I have no idea.  The more of it I ate the worse my stomache got.  Severe upset stomache, badly sufuric burps, bowel discomfort, you name it!  And after that 24 hours I finally reached a level of toxicity where my body literally rejected the food.  So toxic was this junk that use to be "normal" food, that my body threw it up in self defense.  

Needless to say I'm totally commited to the paleo eating now!

What element in wheat are you referring to? everyone needs fiber which is a major component of wheat, people can't be allergic to fiber as their digestive system would pack up if you didn't have any.

Does abstaining from wheat include staying away from spelt and kammut and Emmer wheat as well..or is it the GMO wheat that is the problem?
Some doctors believe spelt is more digestable than regular wheat.

Jenny,

Not true at all. I eat very little fiber and am more regular and have less digestive issues than I ever have. As long as one eats enough fat, there is no need for fiber.

You can get Gluten-Free beer.  One brand is called Red Bridge.  There's another, but I forget the name.  I drink the Red Bridge.  Not bad.

Besides, you can get your "roughage" from raw veggies and salad.  I've been low-carb for about 6 wks. now; haven't had any bread, rice, pasta, wheat, etc.  I've never felt better and have more energy.  My brain is functioning better, too.  Also, have lost 4 lbs.

Beverly

Hi Dr Davis,
Thanks for a great blog.
I just wanted to share my experience of wheat free (I actually went paleo so fully grain and legume free)
No more swelling knees. Probably mild auto-immune, mother has it also.
Large - I mean large and multiple bumps - ganglion cyst that I had for 10 years shrank and disappeared.
PMS with horrid breast pain - gone.
Menstrual pain - less with fish oil, gone with paleo.
Constipation - gone
Pre-menopausal spotting the week prior to menstruation, had this for 10 years - gone.
Lost weight - that last 3 pounds that make me look my best.

I wrote about it here, I for one want to spread the news as a nutritionist.
http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/my-nutrition-journey/

Is whole grain wheat also harmful?

Thank your very much for all your information.

So people just give up having

1. bread and butter with meals or crusty bread with pasta
2. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna fish sandwiches etc.
3. pancakes

That seems hard to give up.

As an experiment and in an attempt to lose weight, I put my whole family on a low-carb diet. Cutting out wheat was part of it.
My husband has suffered from a mild type of colitis for the last 15 years. One year ago an awful smell developed with the colitis. Whenever he went to the toilet or passed wind an obnoxious, sour smell like old cheese/rotten eggs lingered a long time after. It caused me to move out of our bedroom, as the smell would cause me to wake up repeatedly. 3 weeks on the wheat-free diet the smell was suddenly gone. It was nothing short of a miracle. It was not something I had expected from the diet, but a very welcome side-effect indeed, as I hate bad smells. By the way - can anyone tell me what generates that particular sour, rotten smell?

legend 018 said:
So people just give up having

1. bread and butter with meals or crusty bread with pasta
2. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna fish sandwiches etc.
3. pancakes

That seems hard to give up.



Yes. They are addictive, aren't they? Isn't that the point? Wheat is addictive.

A criticism, then a question:
Any food you give up for months will cause diarrhea and cramping when you come back to it, because you've lost the bacteria that help you digest it.  I've experienced this with dairy, meat, and potatoes.  I am skeptical that wheat is any different than other foods in that regard.
I have family members who have experienced benefits from gluten free diets, but don't want to give it up altogether, for various reasons.  Does cutting back-- say, not eating bread but not actively eliminating gluten from all your food choices-- have lesser but similar effects?

Thank you so much Dr. Davis.  You have confirmed our worst fears that seemingly "healthy" wheat is actually a form of subtle malnutrition.  Please mention that it is the gluten that causes the problems.  Not in the allergic sense, but by blocking the important nutrients from fruits and veggies to vitamins and minerals.  Gluten forms a mucoid plaque which covers the small intestine thus causing subtle malnutrition and is therefore responsible for dozens of illnesses.

I have given up wheat because of its effects on myself including acid reflux, rapid heart beat, irritated hemmoroids.  

All of the effects you have mentioned have been documented as far back as 1995.  This is especially true of RA. I remember articles in the nutrition press stating that wheat was one of the triggers for RA. Thanks for all the information.

Hello Dr. Davis,

We would like to invite you to summit your exceptional posts to our new ParadigmShift BlogShare at DaiaSolGaia.  
Please check it out! Thank you. http://daiasolgaia.com/?p=2212

... fingers: type "submit"... thank you.

I wish this was the case for me.  I have suffered with IBS for 27 years.  I have gone on gluten elimination diets for up to 30 days twice in the past 15 years with no change.  Incorporating it back in, the only thing I noticed was a little bit of heartburn if I had wheat in the morning. I've tested negative for Celiac's and wheat allergies.
I'm not saying your are wrong. But for me a wheat free diet was no cure for IBS.    (I WISH!)
-Karen

"He also had a dangerous combination of other risk factors: high triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, and a low level of HDL, the “good cholesterol” that can help the body get rid of the bad cholesterol that can damage arteries."

I wonder if he was taking fish oil supplements to try to drive down his triglycerides and niacin to prop up his HDL?

I had a 234 score in 2005 and a 419 score in 2007 - if it wasn't for resources like TYP - I wouldn't have pushed my Dr with questions about Vit D and CQ 10 and Fish Oil...  sit waiting for the next scan to see if things are under control (now - small LDL-P 123 nmol/L).

Just think if Tim R had the time to do a bit of research himself and found TYP - but that is what your physicans should be doing for you.... growing... learning... but as an engineer, I know the spectrum of people calling themselves engineers is a large spectrum... so it is with MDs.

Thanks for what you do Dr D.

Dave

Yes. Fish oil alone could have cut his risk of sudden cardiac death by 45%. It would have cost him all of $3 per month.

I have been wondering if the trans-Atlantic flight several days before his death could have had something to do with it...

Dr Davis I just wonder what you think of this Dr. Mehmet(?) Oz who keeps popoing up on television and writing books talking about the same old stuff, low fat, high carbs blah blah blah . . . I think since Mr. Russerts death I've seen him on tv 3 times and NOT ONCE has he mentioned calcium scoring, vitamin D, fish oil . . .

What a tragedy.  All week long I have been asking myself how such a smart man could be so uninformed about his own health?

With all the resources at Mr. Russert's disposal, I would think he could have easily learned more about his condition, and the measures he might have taken to save himself.  [Then too, he might have also come across the Track Your Plaque website... or the book.]  Instead, he was apparently greatly trusting of his internist and cardiologist, and perhaps thought he was receiving optimal medical management... and nothing more could be done?

Beyond that, I wonder about his Vitamin D status, and whether he was dehydrated from the long flight back from Europe?  I also wonder if the emotional stresses (good and bad) of a quick trip to Europe, his son's graduation from college, and having recently placed his beloved father into a care home, on top of what could only be termed a stressful and grueling work life (no matter how much he may have loved it) might have lead his body to the tipping point on that day.   I suppose we are unlikely to have these answers under the circumstances.

R.I.P. Mr. Russert, but shame, shame, shame on your physicians, IMO they really let you down.

Thanks for this truthful blog, an antidote to all the media nonsense and C.Y.A. I have seen in the past few days.

Terri
madcook

My wife has been to Dr. Michael Newman the internist for Tim Russert.  I don't think she is going back.  I had Angioplasty about 10 years ago with stents put in my right and left artery.  Since then I have the thallium stress test every year, take 1500 mg's of niaspan a day, Lipitor, a blood pressure lowering drug, and aspirin.  Both my cardiologist, and my internist state that a heart scan would not do me any good, and my cardiologist stated that the heart scan would simply confuse the issues.  Are they right? Would the heart scan harm me?  If so, how?

In response to the comment by sschein, I'm not sure it's such a great idea to have a thallium stress test every year.  You should probably investigate the possibility of a CT-angiogram.  

I am not a doctor so I don't want you to think I'm defending them, but there's only so much that a doctor can do in the office visit environment.  It's really up to the patient to do the research and decide on what he believes is the best course of treatment for him or herself and then try to bring the doctor around to his point.  In my own case I refuse to have a thallium stress test and have finally decided to have a 320 slice CT-angiogram when I go to Boston next month.  My cardiologist may not agree that it's the choice he'd choose, but he's going along with it.  Quite simply they don't have the time to convince the patient one way or the other.  We really don't know all the details about Tim Russert's care.  If he had his own private physician who tended only to him or who was consulted extensively I'd probably expect better.  As just one patient (admittedly a famous one) I'm not sure how much you can expect from a doctor.  If he suggests a stress test or an angiogram and you think better of the idea, it's up to the patient to chart his own course.

Andy (the164club) TYP member

Tim Russert and George Carlin

Two beloved American celebrities have succumbed to heart disease before their time.  The national response has been disappointment in a medical system that could allow this to happen.  What could have been done differently to save the lives of both Tim and George, to avoid this fatal outcome?

To read more...Saving Tim Russert and George Carlin by Jeffrey Dach MD


Jeffrey Dach MD
4700 Sheridan Suite T
Hollywood FL 33021
my web site

A simple calculation from known information in 1998 clearly, obviously, and inarguably predicted his death. Recall that heart scan scores of 1000 or greater are associated with annual--ANNUAL--risk for heart attack and death of 20-25% if no preventive action is taken. The meager prevention efforts taken by Mr. Russert's doctors did indeed reduce risk modestly, but it did not eliminate risk.

I assume you don't agree that the cholesterol hypothesis is "wrong," since you recommend reducing LDL to 60.

Fat Head has been in the back of my mind for awhile, but you've reminded to to go ahead and order it.  I think it will be great to pass on to friends curious about paleo/low-carb without having their eyes glaze over.  Very jealous of the cruise -- gotta get on it next year.

Most of the people in extreme high carb cultures are Asians before their food started getting westernized.  And they had very low rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity  It's a population of billions, not a study of small group.  

If carbs are bad for me(and I am more and more thinking they are bad for me) why weren't they bad for them?

I'm not arguing for any particular diet, I'm trying to figure out what to have for dinner.

Most folks who bash Ancel Keys haven't actually opened any of his books.  They would be surprised to discover he advocated eating organ meats, wild fish and game, and real food.  One of his books has a chapter on choosing the proper wines for dinner.  He was a fan of espresso coffee about 30 years before we all started going to Starbucks.  His dietary advice was not ultra "low-fat" a la Ornish.  In fact, he mainly recommended substituting unsaturated fats for saturated, which is advice you hear from many contemporary sources, including the first "Paleo" proponents like Lorne Cordain.  It's advice that has appeared from time to time on this very blog!

Keys undoubtedly got a few things wrong.  All scientists and researchers do.  Their mistakes are corrected by those who follow.  That's the way science works.  To blame him for the obesity crisis, or for the "low-fat" marketing strategy that Food Inc concocted in the 80s and 90s, is silly.  As for the lipid theory itself, the naysayers have their own sorting out to do. Some say it's all bunk, others want to keep bits and pieces of it.   When the science behind one of these camps becomes overwhelming, their view will prevail. This takes a while.  Nutrition is an extremely complex subject!

As for Keys, he lived to be 100 following the Mediterranean diet he advocated for others.  His wife and co-researcher Margaret died at 97. Call that anecdotal evidence if you want.  I call it having the last laugh your critics.

I like this trend of documentaries making it to the cinema, beats the butchered remakes of classic films, and the pomp of it attracts a wider audience.
Michael Moore seems to have started kick-started it all.

Hi, Steve--

Not knowing what to expect when Jimmy Moore invited me to join his cruise, I didn't tell everyone about it.

However, now having had the experience, I can recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone desiring a fun informative experience for the low-carbohydrate eating viewpoint. Jimmy seems to have a talent for appealing to speakers who come from a diverse panel of perspectives, all who contribute something unique to the low-carb conversation.

Too much hype for me, I'm afraid ...
and the "humor" wears thin pretty quickly. The message is obscurred by
this guy trying too hard to be folksy.

What ever happened to the "Keep It
Simple Stupid" approach to things.

"Most of the people in extreme high carb cultures are Asians before their food started getting westernized. And they had very low rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity It's a population of billions, not a study of small group.

If carbs are bad for me(and I am more and more thinking they are bad for me) why weren't they bad for them?"

I lived more than a decade in Korea and China and made several visits to Japan and Southeast Asia.  The only high-carb food on the table is a bowl of rice or noodles.  The other dishes contain non-starch veggies, legumes, and some animal protein.  The liquid on the table is water or unsweetened tea.  Traditionally Asians don't snack between meals and rarely eat sweets although young people are picking up these habits and it shows.  Fruit is expensive, consumed only in season.  The SAD probably contains more easily digested carbs than traditional Asian diets.  

True obesity is rare, but type II diabetes is not, and neither are cardiovascular diseases.  Americans are much more likely to get heart attacks while Asians are more likely to have strokes.

Peter,

You'd have to travel to Asian countries to fully understand what their diet is all about. It's not what you think. The BIGGEST problem is that we eat way too much of carbs.

I just saw documentaries of North Korea and pretty much every single person is skinny. Only the "president" of NK looked to be overweight.

What else... oh yeah, Asian people tend to eat rice, not wheat/corn starch/fructose. Probably not as much rice as you'd think. American people consume unbelievable amount of wheat/cornstarch/fructose. They are everywhere in USA. 95% of food at stores are from them...

Ancel Keys dazzled me as well when I actually took the time to review his work.  Reading his 1385 page The Biology of Human Starvation was quite an enlightening experience, and highlighted the integrity of Keys as a laboratory scientist.  Sure, he rushed to conclusions with the lipid hypothesis, but can you blame him?  I'm sure it seemed obvious and irrefutable at the time that he noticed cholesterol in the arteries of heart attack victims while noticing that fat tended to raise cholesterol levels.

But it wasn't any more flawed than blaming carbohydrates for all of mankind's problems either, as the biggest carb-eaters on earth remain the healthiest and longest-lived peoples, and high-carb/low-fat diets continue to drop fasting insulin and glucose levels in clinical study.    

And Keys lived the good life until the ripe age of 100. It's unlikely that any low-carb author/blogger will live more quality years than Keys.

There were several things I liked about the Fathead documentary. It pointed out the weaknesses of Supersize Me, it outlined many of the problems of the lipid hypothesis, it presented a clear explanation of why low-carb can be effective for both weight loss and cardiovascular health.

Things I didn't like? Fathead had a clear agenda - to promote Libertarian politics and ways of thinking. As such, Naughton was obligated to place primary blame for all problems on government. Sure, government has a role to play. But if the scientific community had it's act together, government would follow. If we talk about other public health issues (smallpox, tuberculosis, goiter), then we must acknowledge that government can do things right sometimes.  

Also, there was a disconnect between the 'common sense' of the people and the scientific explanation that was offered. Sure, people know that fast food meal has more calories than a carrot. So what?  If people have that common sense, why is obesity, diabetes, and heart disease so prevalent? I don't think he really answers that. Does common sense tell people that a large plate of pasta is equivalent to eating a cup or two of sugar? Does 'common sense' also tell them that saturated fat is bad, or that to lose weight, they simply need to eat less and exercise more?

@ Peter
The answer to the puzzle as to why Asians had very low rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity may lie partly in the fact that
Curcumin is a novel nutritionally derived ligand of the vitamin D receptor
So the vitamin D status of Asians may have been assisted to some extent by the use of TURMERIC in their diets.
As urban pollution blocks the penetration of UVB to ground level while hard surfaces reflect the Vitamin D degrading UVA spectrum the urbanization of Asian populations combined with the westernization of their diets has exacerbated the decline in 25(OH)D levels.

This may be a simplification for why Asians may have less heart disease, but it simply could be because of the use of red yeast rice in many of their foods?

Curcumin is a component of turmeric.  Koreans and Japanese don't consume it, except in fast-food type curry dishes.  Most of China's major cuisines do not use the spice either.  It is South and Southeast Asians who use it, and Indians have notoriously high rates of heart disease and diabetes.

As for North Korea, the semi-starving country dependent on foreign aid isn't exactly representative of Asia.  Prosperous neighbors Japan and South Korea have the lowest obesity rates in the OECD.

Very fascinating info on raising Vitamin D status and CAD below. People who had their 25(OH)D up to 30 ng/ml from 19 ng/ml got the benefits and in the other study 43 ng/ml level seemed optimal yet extra benefits were not seen in, say, 60 gn/ml:

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20100315/vitamin-d-supplements-lower-heart-disease-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC

There was, perhaps, a misunderstanding on Ted's part. We're from England where we term Asian as Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi and call the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans individually.

The core reason of increased heart disease in South Asians probably is partly vitamin D deficiency caused by a conservative dress sense in a sunny climate. India also has a lot of air pollution.

Many Asian foods (and I mean all of Asia now) use similar ingredients; in fact one Japanese dessert looks and tastes exactly like a Indian/Pakistani one (how that came to be - I don't know). South Asians though eat chapattis (wheat) quite commonly, and from what I gather there isn't a large wheat consumption in East Asians.

Yes, as Anonymous above mentions, Naughton's political ideology  
distorts his views. That actually seems more important to him than the issue of diet in Fat Head, which is why he expends so much effort defending Fast Food companies. Witness the part where he holds a huge bucket of French fries
(think about how many carbs are in that!) and rants something to the effect of:
"If they want to sell me a huge bucket of fries for 50 cents, and I want to buy it, it's no one's business to tell
us we shouldn't."
I'd imagine most readers of this blog are interested in diet and health, not political ideology, so overall Fat Head will probably not appeal to them.

"I'd imagine most readers of this blog are interested in diet and health, not political ideology" ~ Anonymous above

I used to be uninterested in anything political until I got interested in diet and health care.  The idea that a nanny government could dictate what I can and cannot eat is quite frightening, especially when you consider what the establishment thinks is healthy.  I personally do not want to eat french fries but if we don't object to the government making french fries illegal, who is going to stop the government from banning "artery clogging" coconut oil or outlawing meat?

>> who is going to stop the government from banning "artery clogging" coconut oil or outlawing meat?

Yeah, that is the paranoia talking. After 40+ years of research showing the dangers of smoking, tobacco is still legal. Government is not going to outlaw meat, and I question the good judgment of anyone who suggests that they might.

I lived more than a decade in Korea and China and made several visits to Japan and Southeast Asia. The only high-carb food on the table is a bowl of rice or noodles. The other dishes contain non-starch veggies, legumes, and some animal protein. The liquid on the table is water or unsweetened tea. Traditionally Asians don't snack between meals and rarely eat sweets although young people are picking up these habits and it shows. Fruit is expensive, consumed only in season. The SAD probably contains more easily digested carbs than traditional Asian diets.

I lean heavily toward low carb/paleo and think the "conventional wisdom" is full of holes, but I don't think "Fat Head" does a good job (at all) of advancing the argument to the uninitiated.

The attack on Morgan Spurlock is misguided, and Naughton's counter-experiment proves nothing.  Spurlock went on an extreme binge which everyone, including Spurlock, expected in advance to cause weight gain and other negative effects ("duh"), which he wanted to document on film.  It was more of an exercise in "performance art" than in science, and meant to simply to provoke the viewer into the thinking a bit about the possible consequences of regularly ingesting the same kind of food over a lifetime.

Naughton, on the other hand, takes in an actual caloric deficit, with restricted carbs, and regular exercise, and then experiences a weight loss.  How does Naughton's experiment in any way "rebut" Spurlock's?  And, given the fact that Naughton goes on to argue that restricting carbs is more important than lowering calorie intake, his own experiment is useless to prove either strategy, since he cut intake of both calories AND carbs.

The film is poorly organized and produced, and is undermined at every turn by the injection of sophomoric humor.  In a typically tedious sequence, the snarky Naughton asks people on the street if they have ever collapsed with a heart attack immediately after eating fettuccine alfredo.  Tres dumb.  Especially when you consider that a plate-full of pasta smothered in cream, butter, and cheese is a food that both low carb and low fat eaters would want to avoid eating often.  In one of his failed attempts at humor (in a scene showing his own wife in bed), she asks if he is a moron, and in that moment she seems to speak on behalf of the viewer.

Worst of all is the ongoing anti-government Libertarian ideology that underscores Naughton's narrative.  He argues that anyone "with a functioning brain" can make proper food choices, but at the same time argues that the public has been deluged with mountains of false information and bad advice for decades.  The film is littered with such logical inconsistencies.  Naughton's gratuitous political agenda shows up in some bizarre assertions, like when he argues that higher tendency toward obesity among the poor is merely the result of a predisposition among non-whites toward "thicker" bodies, and the assertion that court-mandated busing to achieve racial desegregation contributed to overweight school children.  These theories simply detract from the credibility of the diet and health science he eventually discusses.  Naughton is entitled to whatever political views he wishes, but injecting them into a documentary about nutrition and health does nothing to advance an essentially purely scientific subject.

At his blog and in interviews like the one above, Naughton comes off considerably better than in the amateurish film that he actually made.  If you know anyone "with a functioning brain" that is still clinging to the conventional wisdom that you'd like to convert, showing them "Fat Head" may not be the best way to get them to become more open-minded, thanks to the many mis-guided and unhelpful aspects of the film.

But they are trying to shut down raw milk, continue to protect Monsanto and not include GMO in nutrition labeling, and continue to put up barriers and regulations that effectively hurt small local and sustainable food producers.  The result is that soon all food will be GMO/CAFO!

We use an EMR and recently on the online forum for the EMR, an MD posted a question about an error message he received when he transmitted an rx electronically to the pharmacy.

He said he had written for 50,000 IU of Vitamin D (weekly x 8 weeks) and during the transmission, the comma was dropped so the pharmacist received a RX that only read "50 IU."

The MD posted the issue b/c he wanted to know if others were having the same problem with RXs that contained a comma.

I replied to the post and answered his technical question, but was disappointed in his choice for intervention. I didn't reply with any info about D2 versus D3 (who am I to educate a physician about medicine?) but in hindsight, I probably should have. Who knows how many other people will receive suboptimal Vitamin D treatment.

P.S. If you need a good laugh, grab a copy of the latest AFP magazine and read the D article. Their suggested intervention for D deficiency....50,000 IU D2 for 8 weeks. Yauzers.

I might keep the article for historical significance. My hope is that in just a few short years, we'll look back on such non-sense and be proud of how far we've come with treating D.

P.P.S. I'm going to the Vitamin D conf in Toronto on Tuesday! I cannot wait!!

The way the nurse kept asking if it was okay to have the patient take the D2 tablets, I couldn't help wonder if the pharmacist was getting a kick back for those tablets. What also bugged me was how she didn't want to "hear" or honor what you had to say even though you are the patient's doctor. Not good.

I'd LOL if it weren't so sad.

BTW, I've gotten two doctor neighbors and family on vitamin D and probiotics.  One is egotistical, the other grateful.  Thanks for all you do.

So they needlessly increased her costs? Great :/

You know, I don't bother telling doctors exactly how much D3 I'm taking. I just get them to check my blood levels and they see no problems with the results. But they would probably balk at the fact I take 10k per day.

I am a bit disgusted about this whole thing. This shows ones again how stupid the whole industry is… I was just recently at my doctor to take a few tests after some horrible years on the birth control pill Yasmin (it had basically taken me 7 years to put two and two together because no doctor would believe my symptoms well at least not connect them to the birth control). He asked me why I was taking all these vitamins and supplements – Preventive maintenance, was my answer. No comment back except for a smirk. Well yesterday they called me to tell me that everything was ok, but didn’t understand why I wanted to see my own lab results… the woman I was speaking to almost questioned my motive for wanting to see it. What the heck is wrong here… ???

Nutrient Biomarkers Analytical Methodology: Vitamin D Workshop
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) is sponsoring the Nutrient Biomarkers Analytical Methodology: Vitamin D Workshop on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, Bethesda, Maryland.


Workshop Summary
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. It is also produced endogenously when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D obtained from sun exposure, food, and supplements is biologically inert and must undergo two hydroxylations in the body for activation. The first occurs in the liver and converts vitamin D to 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], also known as calcidiol. The second occurs primarily in the kidney and forms the physiologically active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D], also known as calcitriol.

Serum concentration of 25(OH)D is the best indicator of exposure to vitamin D from all sources. It reflects vitamin D produced cutaneously and that obtained from food and supplements. There is considerable discussion of the serum concentrations of 25(OH)D associated with deficiency (e.g., rickets), adequacy for bone health, and optimal overall health. In fact, different assay methods are used to assess 25(OH)D. The methods themselves vary and there are considerable differences among laboratory results even when they use the same method.

Given the uncertainties in vitamin D measurement, the NIH/ODS will host this one-day workshop to evaluate the state of analytical methods. The intent of the Nutrient Biomarkers Analytical Methodology: Vitamin D Workshop is to develop strategies for resolving inconsistencies between results obtained following quantitative determination of selected nutrients in biological materials such as serum when different measurement techniques are used. The desired outcomes of this meeting are to identify strengths and weaknesses of analytical approaches available for the quantification of the nutritional biomarker of Vitamin D status, circulating 25(OH)D in biological samples and to discuss analytical methods, including criteria for selection of method(s); role of reference methods and samples; sample preparation and interpretation of results.

The workshop will consist of a series of short, focused podium presentations interspersed with open discussion sessions on the currently available analytical methods and interpretation of findings. A final session will summarize the discussions, identify knowledge gaps, and suggest a research agenda for future studies.


Registration
Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. There is no registration fee to attend the workshop. To register please forward your name and complete mailing address including phone number via e-mail to Ms. Tricia Wallich at twallich@csionweb.com. Ms. Wallich will be coordinating the registration for this meeting. If you wish to make an oral presentation during the meeting, you must indicate this when you register and submit the following information: (1) a brief written statement of the general nature of the comments that you wish to present, (2) the name and address of the person(s) who will give the presentation, and (3) the approximate length of time that you are requesting for your presentation. Depending on the number of people who register to make presentations, we may have to limit the time allotted for each presentation. If you don't have access to e-mail please call Ms. Wallich at 301-670-0270.


Workshop Details
Agenda

Meeting Location:

Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Road
North Bethesda, MD 20852
Phone: 301-822-9200
Website: http://bethesdanorthmarriott.com

http://ods.od.nih.gov
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself? Luke 9:25

Dr. Davis,
Great post, I enjoyed the way you wrote the dialogue between you and the nurse at the hospital--very, very realistic, and kind of spooky at the same time.  Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg--from my own personal experiences with my type 2 diabetic father in the hospital, getting insulin right is a total nightmare.  They use this arbitrary sliding scale which in some cases is totally ineffective and makes for unnecessarily high sugars--I remember how my father was merely 2 days post-op and was sitting there furious because the staff thought it was okay for him to be lying there with sugars in the low 200's, based on their scales and protocols.  
You've got to stay out of hospitals.
Great post.
Adam

Well good luck getting anything "health promoting" while in a hospital!

Last year, while hospitalized for a bout of Takotsubo syndrome,  they wouldn't let me use my own: fish oil, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K, multi-vitamin, compounded bi-est or progesterone, and so on...

They did manage to have Armour thyroid available to dispense to me.  Instead of the bi-est and progesterone they offered me Prempro... shudder, and these two meds could be had at the hospitals nifty pharmacy prices.

So 4 days without the vitamins probably did no harm... but the hormones???  Yikes, by the 2.5 day mark my husband was forced (by me) to become a criminal and smuggle the compounded meds in to me during the night.  What could they do to me that would be worse than hormone withdrawl on top of Takatsubo syndrome?  HA... don't answer that!

I got better as quickly as I could, and got the Heck out of there.  BTW, I don't think anyone on the nursing staff understood the difference between a heart attack and Takatsubo syndrome... BIG difference!

Oh... and I got rid of the "precipitating event" that caused the whole thing, and that has greatly de-stressed my life.

My advice: stay away from hospitals if at all possible... unless you are a doctor, nurse or hospital administrator.

madcook

Great post, and great comments, especially this one from Helena:
"Well yesterday they called me to tell me that everything was ok, but didn’t understand why I wanted to see my own lab results… the woman I was speaking to almost questioned my motive for wanting to see it. What the heck is wrong here… ???"

That sounds so familiar. If I could just go directly to a lab without doctor's orders, I would almost drop completely out of the whole doctor and hospital system.

I hope I never have to go in the hospital.  They will probably feed me the standard "diabetic diet," low fat-high carb, and send my blood sugar into orbit.

They do seem very reluctant to tell you the numbers.  After my last blood test, the nurse called and said my cholesterol was "high" and the doctor prescribed simvastatin.  I had to pry the numbers out of her:  LDL - 128, trigs - 55.  I consider the "high" LDL to be a case of skewed freidenwald and haven't bothered with the simvastatin.

Note to Jim Purdy:  You can get your own tests.  
www.MedLabUSA.com
www.MyLab.com
www.HealthCheckUSA.com (I think the .com is correct but not sure.)

Jim-

Try these self-directed lab test companies:

www.directlabs.com

or

www.privatemdlabs.com

I've used both of them a lot.  PrivateMDlabs even gives you a 15% discount on top of their reasonable lab test prices.

Rich

JPB,

You make a good point.  In most states, it is possible for people to go directly to labs.  However, I want to point out that a few states, including NY, prohibit people from dealing directly with labs unless you are a licensed medical practitioner. New Yorkers can't even participate in the Vitamin D project.  It's infuriating, and I think it encroaches on basic liberty.

Any guess on how much the hospital charged the insurance company for that single pill of second rate Vit D?

Living in New Jersey, I too suffer from "nanny-state" laws which prohibit me from getting my blood drawn for direct-to-consumer testing in New Jersey.

However, it is perfectly legal to order the tests and get the labwork done at a Labcorp (usually the draw site used) in a neighboring, less-restrictive state.

I am fortunate to live in southern New Jersey 20 miles from Philadelphia, so I get my lab draws by going over the bridge to Pennsylvania.  BTW, the other nanny-states which restrict direct-to-consumer lab tests are New York and Rhode Island.

New York even restricts "blood-spot" testing (finger-prick) done at home and mailed in, which can be used for HbA1c, vitamin D, and other tests. To get around that, folks have had the tests mailed to friends or family in other states, who then forward it.  Our politicians are truly moronic.

Rich

Jim, I am right there with you... and Rich - thanks for the links I will be taking a look at that since I want to make sure I stay in good range without over doing my supplements.

Thanks Dr Davis for a great post, once again.

I'm a little concerned (as an RN), that the RN and the Pharm were under the impression D affected coagulation. Working in managed care, I see a ton of misconception. Im always astounded at how much a non issue nutrition is, with the exception of diabetics, renals, and your bariatric surgery patients. The only places that get it are centers like Memorial Sloan Kettering, taking a whole body approach. But even there, wrong MD on your case, and your sunk. Do not get sick, and if you do, don't try to heal in the average hospital.

I'm allergic to corn so I live in fear of having to be hospitalized. You can't even imagine all the ways they could make me sicker. The worst part is that my own doctor has told me that I couldn't possibly be reacting to a corn derivative because all the corn protein had been processed out. I can almost guarantee that they wouldn't have a medicine to treat me that didn't contain corn.