/oss/taxonomy/term/679/all en /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-history/story-linking-nutrition-and-health-has-unexpected-twists <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-nutrition-heart-health-history-tips">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 28 Jun 2024 17:28:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9991 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-student-contributors-health-and-nutrition/taking-bite-out-carnivore-diet <p><b><i>Breakfast</i></b><i>: Bacon with eggs</i> </p> <p><b><i>Lunch</i></b><i>: Ground beef cooked in tallow</i> </p> <p><b><i>Dinner</i></b><i>: Venison steak with a side of bone marrow</i> </p> Fri, 03 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Elliot Durkee 9935 at /oss /oss/article/medical/we-can-mostly-stop-worrying-about-triglycerides <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-we-can-mostly-stop-worrying-about-triglycerides">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9357 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/do-holidays-cause-heart-attacks <hr /> <p>This article was first published in <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/artificial-trees-secular-greetings-and-holiday-heart-attacks-some-answers-to-your-christmas-queries/">The Skeptical Inquirer</a></p> Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:07 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 8966 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/can-avocados-lower-my-cholesterol <p>There aren’t many well-done nutrition studies. Many studies are observational and rely on questionnaires to figure out what people eat. There are very few randomized trials because these are hard to carry out. They take time, cost a lot of money, and the logistical demands are enormous. Even major studies can have problems, as we discovered in the 2013 PREDIMED study, which (apparently) demonstrated a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in people who followed a Mediterranean diet.</p> Wed, 12 Feb 2020 18:09:04 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8105 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/great-cholesterol-debate <p>Before we can talk about cholesterol and how to measure it we need to get some things straight. Cholesterol is absolutely tied to heart disease even though convincing people of that fact has been surprisingly difficult. The cholesterol hypothesis for heart disease dates back to the early 1900’s when Russian physician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Anichkov#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nikolay Anichkov</a><span> demonstrated that feeding rabbits a high cholesterol diet led to the fatty deposits in coronary arteries that cause heart disease.</span></p> Thu, 05 Jul 2018 19:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7157 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-food-health-quirky-science-supplements/miracle-bites-dust <p>It's frustrating, but most scientific studies end with the line, "more research is needed." But not always. We have one of these rare cases in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine about the use of niacin to improve cholesterol profile. Niacin is familiar to many as the B vitamin that prevents pellagra but when it is used to decrease LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) and increase HDL (the "good" cholesterol) it is given in far higher doses than the amount that prevents pellagra. At a dose of 1000 mg a day, niacin is a drug.</p> Mon, 21 Jul 2014 13:35:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2169 at /oss /oss/article/health/pomegranate-frenzy <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?attachment_id=3816" rel="attachment wp-att-3816"><img alt="fruit" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2012/12/Pomegranate-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Get set for a pomegranate frenzy. That’s because a couple of studies have suggested the fruit may have a role in treating breast cancer and in lowering the risk of heart disease. By the time the tabloids got through with their interpretation of the results, pomegranate juice had become the new wonder kid on the block. And, needless to say, pomegranate capsules are now featured in health food stores as cancer-preventatives and as treatments for menopause.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">What did the researchers really find? That there are compounds in pomegranate juice that have estrogenic activity. In other words, they can alter the way that cells respond to the body’s own estrogen. This is certainly of great interest because more than two thirds of breast cancers are estrogen positive, meaning that the body’s estrogen stimulates the proliferation of tumor cells. Any substance that reduces such estrogenic stimulation is most welcome. And it seems that some of the polyphenols in pomegranate can do just that. They block the activity of an enzyme known as aromatase which is involved in the synthesis of estrogen. How did the scientists determine this? By studying the effect of pomegranate juice on breast cancer cells in the laboratory. They found that extracts of the seeds, which is what pomegranate juice really is, reduced the activity of 17-beta-estradiol, the estrogen of concern in breast cancer, by some 50%. And breast cancer cells which experienced this reduction in estrogen stimulation died with much greater frequency than normal cells. Of course this is a laboratory finding and is a long way away from showing that pomegranate juice has any effect on actual cancers in the body. <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2012/12/24/pomegranate-frenzy/">Read more</a></p> Tue, 25 Dec 2012 01:12:13 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1843 at /oss /oss/article/food-health-you-asked/can-nuts-reduce-your-risks-heart-disease <p>One third of North Americans may have high blood cholesterol levels. This of course puts them at an increased risk for heart disease, the number one killer in North America. But cholesterol can be reduced by paying attention to the diet. Cutting way back on fat intake can certainly lower it, but this may not be necessary. Not all fats are equally culpable in boosting blood cholesterol levels. Saturated fats, found in meat and dairy products as well as in palm and coconut oil can do it, as can the “trans fatty acids” that lurk in a variety of processed foods.</p> Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:28:56 +0000 OSS 1759 at /oss