Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Progression of Disease According To Oriental Medicine: Part 2


1. Normal discharge and elimination
2. Abnormal discharge and general fatigue
3. Aches and pains signalling sluggish blood circulation
4. Blood quality decline with chronic discharge
5. Accumulation of excess nutrients in circulation
6. Storage of excess nutrients in various compartments
7. Nervous system disorders
8. Delusion


3. Aches and pains signaling sluggish blood circulation






High-fat blood sample. Source: Case Reports in Medicine







muscle pain and tension
menstrual cramps
moderate aches and pains
intermittent abdominal discomforts
sleep disturbances
breathing problems
heart disturbances
chills and fevers
motion and coordination problems




4. Blood quality decline and chronic discharge





2. eczema, psoriasis
3. skin cancer
1. chronic infections
2. blood malignancies







nothing91 said...

Wow, how did those fat-happy Inuit manage to get such healthy cholesterol levels? Amazing!

Oh well -- outliers don't disprove anything around here.

Their blood must have been thick as mud though, I can tell you that. :-)

Erik said...

Hi Don,

What do you think of the argument that low cholesterol in hunter gatherer populations stems from infections and parasites? The Jaminets from the Perfect Health Diet blog make a very convincing argument that low cholesterol may not be so healthy and that it is likely due to infections. Scientists like Cordain may have misinterpreted past studies if this is the case. Not to mention that the highest mortality rates around the world are from populations with low cholesterol levels.

Shouldn't we be more concerned about oxidized cholesterol than the actual concentration if we are to prevent heart disease and other western diseases?



Bog said...

The good cardiovascular health of inuits is a rather myth.


"Low incidence of cardiovascular disease among the Inuit—what is the evidence?"

Moreover, traditional choletrol profile is not perfect indicator of cardivascular disease risk.

“..a recent study by Foo and colleagues shows that HPLC diets may accelerate atherosclerosis through mechanisms that are unrelated to the classic cardiovascular risk factors”.

Clinical Implications of Basic Research. A Look at the Low-Carbohydrate Diet"

nothing91 said...

"Mortality from stroke, however, is higher among the Inuit than among other western populations".

That's also true of the Japanese. Uh oh! :-)

Don said...


Inuit have an unusual diet, extremely high in marine omega-3s, enough to give them a high incidence of bleeding disorders and hemorrhagic stroke. A diet very high in PUFAs increases excretion of cholesterol. Marine oils reduce coagulant activity.

So these outliers prove that if you have a very high intake of PUFAs from marine oils, and live in the Arctic demanding an extraordinary caloric intake, you can eat a high fat diet and have low blood cholesterol. But not avoid strokes or hypertension or severe osteoporosis, all of which occurred in isolated Inuit.

Stroke, 4 times greater among Greenland Inuit than among Caucasians:

Hypertension in isolated Inuit aged 40 y or more:

You can't generalize from outliers to general population because they have unusual environments and diets.

And did you notice, the Inuit have cholesterols of ~140, about 17% higher than the other H-Gs which have levels more like ~120?


Mean total blood cholesterol of healthy human neonates is about 72 mg/dl:

Is this due to infections and parasites?

The Mattson study lowered serum cholesterol by lowering dietary cholesterol, not by giving the people infections and parasites.

Don said...


Yes, it is a myth. As I noted, they have hypertension and stroke.

The mechanisms of atherosclerosis in HPLC diets may include hemostatic factors. Elevated Fibrinogen and blood viscosity increase IHD risk by ~4 times:

I think it possible the chronic vascular ischemia due to chronic hemostasis is one if not the major driver of arterial inflammation leading to atherosclerotic changes.


Stroke incidence in Japan not much different than the U.S.:

"Average annual incidence per 1,000 in resident greater than or equal to 20 years was 2.61 for all strokes (3.42 for males; 1.88 for females), 0.20 for subarachnoid hemorrhage, 0.61 for cerebral hemorrhage, 1.51 for cerebral infarction - rates similar to those reported 10-20 years previously for the United States."

Probably due to too much sodium relative to potassium, and too little magnesium (due largely to eating white rather than brown rice). (I never said typical Japanese diet was ideal, it contains too little fresh produce and too much white rice.) But ischemic heart disease much lower in Japan, so overall CV mortality is lower in Japan.

nothing91 said...


"Stroke, 4 times greater among Greenland Inuit than among Caucasians:"

These were not isolated Inuit. "The study comprises only patients admitted to a Neurosurgical Department." It sure seems likely that western foods had made their way into their diet, so surely we can't assume that this reflects the health of pre-westernized Inuit. (Also, we're talking about incident rates of under 1 per 10,000 here.)

"Hypertension in isolated Inuit aged 40 y or more:"

Yet, per the study, "a low occurrence of ischemic heart disease."


So what? You said (pretty much) that less than 150 is good. You even included "Caucasian men eating macrobiotic diets" at 147 mg/dl as a part of your argument.

Here's the point. Taking extreme positions such as "low-fat is best" or "high-fat is best" requires cherry-picking the evidence. It requires ignoring some evidence but not other evidence. That's why we can argue all day about H/G's like the Inuit and get nowhere.

No one who is truly unbiased can get sucked into such extremes, because the evidence doesn't support either one.

When it comes to H/G cultures we often see this in the blogosphere with the Kitavans and Inuit. The "high fat is best" folks harp on the Kitavans' shaky CVD markers (while ignoring low CVD incidence) and say things like "Well just because they ate that way doesn't mean it's optimal." The "high carb is best folks" do the exact same thing when discussing the Inuit, while also referencing data regarding Inuit whose diets have been infiltrated by Western foods (as if it somehow applies to the Inuit of old).

Both sides make the exact same cognitive errors. Both sides recognize that the other side makes these errors, but neither is able to see it in themselves.

To someone like me who recognizes this and is capable of not getting sucked into extremes, it can all be very amusing to watch. (Add the extra excitement in this case of someone flipping from one extreme to another while continuing to make the same cognitive errors, and things really get fascinating.)

I really wish we could all just stop it, but there's no indication of that happening.

Jaana said...

Don, your latest posts on TCM have been very interesting. But this seems oversimplified to me. I mean, only excess cases are discussed.

Many people who end up broken after paleo/low-carb often have a deficiency condition. I ended up with a severely deficient yin after ketodieting for 6 years. Most of it was maintenance, so I was not deficient in calories, but the constant stress that it caused depleted the yin (kidneys, heart).

Also most of the diseases of civilization have a component of deficiency, i.e diabetes.

As it is not always easy to differentiate deficiency heat (caused by too little yin) from excess heat (caused by too much yang), I was kind a hoping that would be included in your first articles about TCM.

Maybe in the future?

Sue said...

Re neonates: