Lipid hypothesis-previous sidebar post

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Fun Food Fact:

Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to anything it's added to. Adding whey enhances the enzyme content and increases shelf life.

Commercial sauces and condiments invariably contain neurotoxic additives to make them palatable--MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and related substances--often deceptively labled as "natural flavourings" or "spices."



The theory--called the lipid hypothesis--that there is a direct relationship between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of coronary heart disease was proposed by a researcher named Ancel Keys in the late 1950s. Numerous subsequent researchers have pointed out the flaws in his data and conclusions. Nevertheless, Keys received far more publicity than those presenting alternative views. The vegetable oil and food processing industries, the main beneficiaries of any research that could be used to demonize competing traditional foods, worked behind the scenes to promote futher research that would support the
lipid hypothesis.

The most well-known advocate of the lowfat diet was Nathan Pritikin. Actually, Pritikin advocated elimination of sugar, white flour and all processed foods from the diet and recommended the use of fresh raw foods, whole grains and a strenuous exercise program, but it was the lowfat aspects of his regime that received the most attention in the media. Adherents found that they lost weight and that their cholesterol levels and blood pressure declined. The success of the Pritikin diet was probably due to a number of factors having nothing to do with the reduction in dietary fat--weight loss alone, for example, will lower cholesterol, at least at
first--but Pritikin soon found that the fat-free diet presented many problems, not the least of which was the fact that people had trouble staying on it. Those who possessed enough will power to remain fat-free for any length of time developed a variety of health problems including low energy, difficulty in concentration, depression, weight gain and mineral deficiencies. Pritikin may have saved himself from heart disease but his lowfat diet did not help him recover from leukemia. He died, in the prime of life, of suicide when he realized that his Spartan regime was not working. We shouldn't have to die of either heart disease or cancer--or consume a diet that makes us depressed....

Today the Diet Dictocrats advise us to limit fats to 25-30 percent of the caloric intake, which is about 2 1/2 ounces or 5 tablespoons per day for a diet of 2400 calories. Careful reckoning of fat intake and avoidance of animal fats, they say, is the key to perfect health.


-from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, available at

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  1. Pritikin, like others of fame, are used by less than honorable people to push their own plan of drastically reducing our overall health. This is an ongoing international effort. Not mentioning his sugar free etc. views also avoids reducing major corporations income. Might as well admit this also rduces our health.
    Youhave a good site.

  2. INeverKnewThat - Thank you for your comment! You are so right--it is an organized, international effort designed to move money in one direction--into the pockets of those who already have it! Also, to keep people unhealthy, unintelligent, and unable to think about what's really happening to them.

    Please come by any time.



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