November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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I had the honor and privilege of being a judge for the annual MedGadget science fiction writing contest. Please check out the winning entries here. We judges were blinded to the author names when reading the selections – though it came as little surprise to me that a professional writer (Charles Pappas) won the contest.
Charles’ story hit close to home – it was the diary of a food-lover slowly gaining weight and watching their health insurance premiums increase as a chip implanted under their skin reported increasing cholesterol and insulin resistance directly to their employer. His struggle with weight gain and its financial implications was both humorous and poignant. Please head on over to Medgadget to enjoy the winning entry. Great timing for those of us recovering from Thanksgiving…
November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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After my recent interview with Dr. David McCarron, I began to think of ways to increase my dairy intake. It occurred to me that I hadn’t had a glass of milk since I was a kid – sure I’d put milk on my breakfast cereal or add it to recipes, but I just never thought of it as a beverage for some reason. I bet many of you feel similarly.
So I went to the store to get some whole milk, and I was almost overwhelmed by the options. There were many different brands (from different dairies) as well as organic options. I wondered if there was a taste difference between them. Which might be the most delicious?
I purchased three different types of whole milk: one from a local dairy, one that was organic, and a generic store brand. I brought them home and asked my husband to participate in a blind taste test. I put samples of each milk in a white, paper cup and asked him which one tasted best.
After several rounds of sipping, my husband confessed that he couldn’t tell a difference between them.
Then an unexpected thing happened. My cat wanted in on the action and jumped up on the table to participate. She had a very clear preference – she chose cup #3, the generic, non-organic store brand. Way to go, kitty – no fancy milk for you!
What’s the lesson of this totally subjective, unscientific study of n=3? Milk is good for you, it’s the best nutritional value for the cost (25 cents/cup – compare that to soda), and there’s no real taste difference between brands. Milk is a legitimate beverage – I’m going to have some more regularly… if I can wrestle it away from my cat.
November 27th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone – I thought I’d blog about food today, and to try to persuade you to trade that pumpkin pie for a glass of milk…
I learned some interesting things at the Dairy Science Forum on November 13th in DC. Dr. David McCarron presented some compelling data on the effects of the DASH diet on reducing blood pressure. The DASH diet is fairly high in dairy products (2-4 servings/day), fruits, and vegetables. In comparison with a low-salt diet (which reduces systolic blood pressure by an average of 1 point), the DASH diet can cause an average reduction in systolic blood pressure of ten points. If you have high blood pressure (and your kidneys are functioning normally) you probably shouldn’t worry all that much about the salt. It’s more important to stick with the DASH diet.
I interviewed Dr. McCarron about the role of dairy in blood pressure management. Here’s what he had to say:
Dr. Val: If salt isn’t the real enemy, and dairy can help to reduce blood pressure, why isn’t that message getting out?
Dr. McCarron: We have national nutrition policies in place that are old and out of date. The healthy eating paradigm – low fat, low sugar, low salt – was established 40+ years ago and when new evidence is obtained, it’s really hard to crack through that illusion of knowledge. There is excessive mistrust of new data because of the attitude that if it conflicts with our previous beliefs, it can’t be true. I believe that the Internet will be critical in allowing the evidence to bubble up. For example, a diet rich in dairy food is absolutely associated with a reduction in virtually all chronic medical conditions. We have data to support this for people of all ethnicities and from around the world. I think that consumers are looking for clarity and simplicity in their nutritional advice – and basically they need to know that a healthy diet requires 3-4 servings of dairy and 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables/day. If you do that alone (along with regular exercise) you’ll be amazed by the results.
Dr. Val: What is the proposed mechanism by which dairy has all these positive effects?
Dr. McCarron: It’s almost impossible to nail down specific mechanisms because milk products contain so many ingredients (electrolytes, key vitamins, bioactive proteins, and essential fatty acids). Trying to understand which piece is impacting very complicated physiological control mechanisms within the body (that have 30-40 different vectors feeding into them) is extremely difficult. In fact, the permeatations make it almost impossible. We can’t come up with the proof that we do for drugs (which contain only one bioactive ingredient). What we do know, though, is that dairy is a vital component for chronic disease reduction and prevention. Unfortunately the policy people say, “you haven’t explained to me how this works, so I’m not going to consider it.”
Dr. Val: But what about the research suggesting that whey protein contains lactokinins that function similarly to ACE inhibitors (a type of blood pressure medicine)?
Dr. McCarron: That’s been known for over a decade. There’s no question that there are small peptides (proteins) in milk that have a positive impact on blood pressure, mood disorders, and weight reduction. The industry doesn’t want to talk about it because it makes milk sound like a drug, which isn’t effective marketing. Also the average consumer doesn’t have enough background to understand what that means (lactokinins have ACE inhibitor-like effects in vivo), so we need to simplify the message and disseminate it via the Internet.
References:
NEJM, 1998 Effects of Dietary Patterns On Blood Pressure
Am J Hyper, 2004 McCarron and Heaney
JAMA, 2002 Pereria et al
Science, 1984, McCarron et al
JAMA, 1996, Bucher et al
November 26th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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I have an artist friend in New York City who is incredibly talented. He (Hanan Harchol) is a professional animator and illustrator with a Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago. Of course (in these economic times especially) making a living as an artist can be a real challenge. Hanan keeps himself afloat by working evenings as a strolling classical guitarist in upscale Manhattan restaurants. I’ve attended several of his shows, and he is super talented. This holiday season he made a compilation CD of lullabies and I highly recommend it.
Supporting my friend does a few things: 1) his CD is an affordable holiday gift for your friends and family 2) his CD is one of the few gifts I can think of that may reduce the anxiety felt by all of us in these challenging economic and political times and 3) your support helps a truly gifted artist continue to do what he does.
So take a listen to his work here – I’m sure you’ll agree, it beats anti-anxiety meds hands down.
