When I finished my training as an Endocrinologist, my knowledge about Nutrition was biblically minute, it could have been written down on a grain of rice! Very little training about nutrition, all through the years of medical training, I do not remember receiving detailed education about nutrition apart from some very quantitative information from Dieticians who were much more interested in hospital kitchens. Also at that time, “peripheral practitioners” were looked down upon in academic circles, such as Podiatrists or Nutritionists.
I am happy to say that the environment has changed and because of my association with some excellent Dieticians and Medical Nutritionists, and independent readings in Microbiome and Nutrigenomics, I no longer feel ignorant. It is not education that opened my mind but association with excellent nutritionists. Becoming an anthropologist helped immensely as it placed FOOD in the context of our societies rather than micro molecules and ingredients and calorie centrism.
Published: May 3, 2018
How much does your doctor actually know about nutrition?
By American Heart Association News
Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Cut down on sweets and processed foods. Increase consumption of fish, nuts and legumes.
This rudimentary advice has been dished out to the public for decades, yet soaring rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other chronic illnesses linked to poor diet – and which increase risks for stroke and heart disease – fail to reverse.
Part of the problem stems from the fact that doctors don’t know how to provide information beyond the basics.
(below roadside eating in Phnom Penh Cambodia)
(KFC in Phnom Penh, opened in 2008 by 2010 they had 10 outlets)
The cultural aspects of nutrition was brought to my attention in Cambodia which has its share of Type 2 DM, defying all the western notions of aetiology. Cambodians were thin, they ate rice and fish and steamed vegetables. At that time, it was known that Indians from India had a high rate of Diabetes, so the western reductionists pointed a racial connection to India. Khmer people are not racially related to people from South India, even though Hinduism was the state religion when the construction of Angkor Wat began 1100 years ago.
Kentucky Fried Chicken had recently arrived in Phnom Penh and of course, the local people were educated on the “benefits” of KFC and paid peons from Australia educating the doctors about avoiding RICE..
Recently I asked a Jamaican friend of mine, what if your doctor said, do not use Coconut Oil, what would you say. My friend replied, he would inform the doctor gently that he does not know much about Jamaican cooking and that he rather change the doctor than the Oil ..
A good Lesson in Culture and Nutrition.
I am a Physician-Anthropologist who travels (will resume my trips when I can be vaccinated for Covid-19). I have been in remote islands, Tokelau in the Pacific, where people had lived on fish, coconut and root vegetables and they were quite healthy until New Zealanders arrived with their tinned spam and highly processed food and visitors visas to Wellington. Now one in three living in Tokelau Islands have Type 2 Diabetes, Fakafetai Aotearoa (Merci, Nouvelle Zelande).
{Fish and shellfish are an important part of the Tokelauan diet. Chicken and pork are also eaten. Breadfruit, sweet potatoes and taro are traditional foods. Coconuts, bananas,
pandanus fruit and papayas are grown.
A traditional garden in Nukanonou Atoll, Tokelau Islands)
(Ultraprocessed food being loaded in Apia, Samoa and offloaded in Nukanonou Atoll)
.So, please don’t come to Cambodia and tell them they have Diabetes because they are related to Hindus a millennium ago; please do not tell Polynesian people that Coconut Oil is not good for them…
My ancestry is strictly east of Jerusalem (No Arab, African or Chinese blood so please do not ask me not to eat RICE, give Coconut Oil a miss..
Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations: JACC State-of -the-Art
Review
ArneAstrupMD, DMScaFaidonMagkosPhDaDennis M.BierMDbJ. ThomasBrennaPhDcMarcia C.de Oliveira OttoPhDdJames O.HillPhDeJanet C.KingPhDfAndrewMentePhDgJose M.OrdovasPhDhJeff S.VolekPhD, RDiSalimYusufDPhilgRonald M.KraussMDj
Show more
Abstract:
The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke. Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk. It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution. Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of CVD. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.
I was anxious to return to Melbourne to do my Housemanship when I qualified in Medicine in London. I mentally calculated, it would take me three years of being a Junior doctor and there are 250 vineyards in my state (province). I have to get to know as many as possible.
I a proud to say I did.
Such delicious Australian wines..
(Seppelt wines, Victoria, Australia)
RESVERATROL. Is the active ingredient in the skin of red grapes that protects your heart.
Another important nutritional lesson.. No amount of Resveratrol in a pill is going to help you .. If you want the body to benefit from an ingredient please take it in the natural form. If the body is lacking in Selenium or Magnesium for various medical reasons, you may need to supplement it with pills but otherwise eat nuts and get your selenium (one brazil nut a day would give you all the selenium you need!). No Probiotics from your favourite (not so favourite) Vitamin Store, toda rabah, Eran Elianav and Eran Segal from Weizmann!
Eat Food Please .. A colleague of mine takes ProBiotic tablets specially “formulated” for women and she claims her bowel actions have become regular, and looking at the ingredients I see there are at least three digestive enzymes included in the pill!
June 29, 2020
Association of Low to Moderate Alcohol Drinking With Cognitive Functions From Middle to Older Age Among US Adults
Ruiyuan Zhang, MD, MS1; Luqi Shen, MS1; Toni Miles, MD, PhD1; et alYe Shen, PhD1; Jose Cordero, MD, MPH1; Yanling Qi, PhD2; Lirong Liang, PhD3; Changwei Li, MD, PhD, MPH1
JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(6):e207922.
Key Points
Question Does an association exist between current low to moderate alcohol drinking and cognitive function trajectories or rates of cognitive decline from middle to older age among US adults?
Findings In this cohort study of 19 887 participants from the Health and Retirement Study, with a mean follow-up of 9.1 years, when compared with never drinking, low to moderate drinking was associated with significantly better trajectories of higher cognition scores for mental status, word recall, and vocabulary and with lower rates of decline in each of these cognition domains.
Meaning Current low to moderate alcohol consumption among middle-aged or older adults may be associated with better total cognitive function.
Please bring me a glass of Luigi Bosca Malbec from Argentina or a Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough valley!
If you do not know who Michael Pollen is, you need to know him..
Here is a comment on his three pronged dictum:
Michael Pollan doesn’t expect you to be perfect, and he’s not judging you. He can't even see you. I promise. Just try to eat as much real food as you can, and try not to eat too much of it, and try to eat mostly plants. It’s easier than you think and the more you do it, the easier it gets.
