Professor Volek has finally been picked up by the media in a proper manner; he has been referenced before, but this article in the mainstream Telegraph is quite good by media standards for LCHF coverage. I featured his earlier study in the Cholesterol Conundrum seminar, as it was an excellent illustration of the biochemical reality re human management

This issue is the tip of the iceberg when you look up recent research papers – we have a pandemic of Vitamin D Deficiency on our hands, and the implications that several decades hysterically denying our evolutionary history allow; there is a price to be paid for this kind of scientific misunderstanding. In brief, the UV Energy (UVB

Update Nov 23rd: Fascinating further paper from spittinchips this evening – same idea, Low Fat driving oxLDL and Lp(a) :  http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/24/3/498.long Update Nov 22nd: Saucy paper from Dr. Patel this morning: Saturated Fat and Lp(a) . Now read the post below, and come back to the latter link(!) Lp(a) is significantly genetics driven, but interactions with

Thanks Rakesh Patel MD for sending this very recent paper on! http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1409065 – it begins to speak to the heart of the matter; basically HDL Efflux Capacity is showing up as a compelling part of minimizing atherosclerosis and CVD (btw Efflux is HDL particle mediated transport of lipid content out of the macrophage via ATP Binding Cassette

I posted recently on the embarrassing fact that Coronary Artery Disease people piling up in the hospitals generally have LOWER LDL values: http://www.thefatemperor.com/blog/2014/11/12/ldl-its-not-the-bad-cholesterol-thats-simplistic-foolery This speaks to the farce of LDL (i.e. the common measure) as a diagnostic in today’s world.  The reason that the CAD wards are full of lower LDL people, is that the

My attention has been drawn of late to an Irish Charity that is blazing the way in effective identification of GENUINE at-risk people for CVD. They have produced a most excellent documentary, and ignited my interest in the diagnostic sphere: http://ihda.ie/the-documentary/ I have generally focused on the root cause aspects of CVD, as being the most fascinating

Prologue:  Statins are of some use as a part of the inflammation abatement and LDLp reduction approach for secondary prevention, in people with significant Coronary Artery Disease, as mentioned in last post. The latter group have profound damage to their vascular network and are generally in a state of inflammation (including high CRP), making sterol-laden lipoproteins (“Cholesterol”) an aggravating

Aggghhh – new resolution: I’m exempting myself from the statin wars – I’m claiming neutrality! My opinion can be summarized thus: Statins etc are very effective in secondary treatment (e.g. in the recent IMPROVE-IT trial you have a large group of profoundly diseased people – a very “special” group – high CRP also) – here we have

Insulin, Insulin, Insulin…..a billion years of faithful service, but a Rosetta Stone of modern disease….. This Study was published back in 1991, but its first line indicates the phenomenon was well known since 1970. How on earth has decades of mono-focus cholesterol obsession been maintained, with the Insulin Elephant stomping around the room bellowing in pain?  What

Update June 2016, nice piece from Bill Lagakos:  http://caloriesproper.com/non-sequiter-nutrition-iv-in-vino-veritas/ Recently spent a little time checking alcohol out(!), based on a suggestion by Gearoid O’Laoi re the “high HDL bad” mystery – and I found the following little gem referring to the more reasonable application of C2H5OH ( Moderate Alcohol Study ) – a mere 4

Getting back to finishing my 25(OH)D Seminar material, after a busy week or two working, and the evenings being eaten up with a foray back into the Cholesterol Shenanigan Space.  Just a single-slide taster below of things to come; yes, these mortality curves do look as severe as the ones for smokers versus non-smokers, don’t they? Wouldn’t want to

Here is a similar analysis for our old friend HDL – the one that pleasantly goes UP with low carb – as the nasty Blood Glucose, Insulin, GGT, HbA1c, and just about every other danger sign goes DOWN. And with low carb the LDL sometimes goes up a little, yes that’s true. But we covered

UPDATE 9th Oct 2016: Just got this article on the debacle:  https://thefatemperor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/137k-Patients-Low-LDL-high-CHD-Article-UCLA.pdf I had approximated that around 20% of these guys were on lipid-lowering medication, which didn’t change the absurdity of the result. At all. But now this article verifies it – only 21% were on the cholesterol-attacking sauce. Also LDL can drop a bit

Added Note 11th Nov: The below post may stand generally, in terms of APoB/ApoA, and HDL-C  itself being linked to ApoA1 as described – but not always – apparent significant proportions of high HDL people presenting with CHD nonetheless; one possible other factor is the elevated HDL associated with excessive (detrimental) alcohol intake (credit to Irelands foremost

Okay, I’ve been banging on about Serum Ferritin and Iron toxicity w.r.t. Coronary Disease to anyone who’ll listen – and maybe the horses are finally beginning to come in – enjoy: Iron Control versus Statins for Coronary Disease “in the youngest quartile at entry there were highly significant reductions in all cause mortality and in combined death

Had great fun in past couple of days wrangling about the root causes of Atherosclerosis and Vulnerable plaques with @PauliOhukainen  and @brianedwardsmd; from-the-hip, freestyle and in-yer-face stuff – these guys are great sparring partners! I drafted out the above Root Cause Diagram to pictorially represent a personal view of Atherosclerosis, and perhaps help with the discussion; there are copious references

Really enjoyed this chat with Vinnie, and let’s just say we covered………rather a lot of topics! http://vinnietortorich.com/2014/10/angriest-trainer-313-ivor-1-1/   http://traffic.libsyn.com/angriesttrainer/Ivor_1on1-BM.mp3  

Is Vladimir incorrect? Surely he must be, in spite of his apparent erudition in the sphere? ALL of the masses can’t be wrong, right? Oh wait – they were wrong about Fat. And Dietary Cholesterol. And Sugar. And Salt. And Vegetable Oil. And Trans-Fats. And the relevance of Total Serum Cholesterol. And LDL-C. And smoking, way back. So

I’ll take a brief time out this evening to congratulate yet another person who has transformed his risk profile with the engineering-level science of Low Carbohydrate – fueling the human machine appropriately, and reaping the substantial benefits sans drugs.  The person in question is James O’Callaghan, and he’s kindly given permission to present his transformative

Instructive video on the habit-forming nature of sugar via dopamine receptors – short and……….sweet. Worth remembering that refined wheat grains (loaded with glucose) can have similar effects depending on one’s makeup – and with their gliadin, WGA, gluten and other nasty proteins never intended for humans, they’ll undermine your gut health also…. …and it’s not

What a conversation; really gets to the “heart” of the matter.  Listening to Ted’s clear pattern recognition and instinctive drive to the root cause of a complex issue, focusing always on the data, researching avidly, and capturing the technical inferences from the empirical observations, all the while free from inappropriate bias – bloody hell, you’d almost think he was

Just perusing the BHF report from 2012; this is not an analysis, I don’t have the time or the energy especially as the dataset is limited in ways – this is just a bit of Saturday night fun with figures:   http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/view-publication.aspx?ps=1002097 From the 1980’s until recently, the rate of smoking (a major driver of coronary disease)

Just watched a recent lecture by Prof. Ken Sikaris, which brought me down memory lane to my time preparing the Cholesterol Conundrum seminar. Ken has the core of the issue down pat, and in this performance manages to summarize the key aspects most admirably. No doctor should be assessing and advising on cardiac risk without internalizing this content

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17 Attended a talk by Professor Peter Gotzsche last night, and as expected it was excellent; Peter combines extraordinary expertise, incredible erudition, a palpable feeling towards the victims, and a visceral anger at the dangerous disgrace that the modern pharmaceutical

Right, I’m only 15 minutes into this Documentary, and so far it appears to be perfect to get across the reality of the High Carbohydrate Diet Debacle to the layperson – at $2.99 to rent, it’s a steal:   http://www.yekra.com/carb-loaded/#!/deployment_code=34068851ncs79h

I like the way this hypothesis is put together – very logical, and there are a few other works that indicate same phenomenon;  why is there not more discourse in the literature around this mechanism?  Why indeed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492120/pdf/1742-4682-9-11.pdf And another one below in similar vein – or maybe that should be…….artery? Vasa Vasorum Am J Med

…don’t need much commentary here – a comprehensive explanation of optimized low-carb health and performance from the original of the species: Dr. Stephen Phinney.  Excellent summary of the right way to live, and indeed live most vigorously.

Just a quick post this evening on an avoidable epidemic of our times, which has reached disgraceful levels, and is proceeding towards unforgivable ones.  Type II Diabetes Mellitus is essentially a disease of Carbohydrate intolerance, driven unsurprisingly by the excessive ingestion of carbohydrate over ones lifetime in today’s unnatural food environment.  Interestingly, it used to

Uffe has kindly made one of his original books available for free – engineers, scientists and indeed anyone familiar with problem solving logic will find their interest piqued. Always, always question hypotheses and interrogate exceptions, before coming to a proven rule.  Foreword by Michael Gurr PhD, who wrote a defining text on Biochemistry, and an excellent

I generally focus on the raw science of human health, but I went through a brief period of being interested in some of the major medications out there; to wit – how they compare in efficacy to a properly constructed diet, and the maintenance of critical parameters for healthy physiology such as w6/w3 balance, and 25 Hydroxy