As always, the devil is in the details:
http://www.theheart.org/article/372335.do
Firstly, he won the 1998 Nobel Prize for his work in elucidating the
role of nitric oxide in vascular physiology (and rightly so since we now
have Viagra because of his research). The Prize had nothing to do with
L-arginine and heart disease. Seems the good doctor is paid handsomely by
HerbaLife to promote their products.
Regarding Dr. Prendergast, he may be a fine doctor, but I'm immediately
suspicious of anyone who makes grandiose claims of success with a simple
compound that no one else seems to know about. Oh, and the clincher, he
also sells the product on his website.
Brian, I truly wish something like this was legitimate, but I am
unconvinced.
The dietary issue is equally problematic. It is extremely difficult to
do long term diet studies as it relates to a disease condition. Short of
locking subjects in a prison and strictly controlling what and how much
they eat, the only way to track diet is by survey which is notoriously
inaccurate. If you look carefully at studies of diet and HD there is really
very little correlation between the two; and the little difference found in
some studies is often made to look larger by the clever application of
statistics. If you really press the cardiologists, and I have done this
with a number on our staff, they will sheepishly tell you they see little
correlation between serum cholesterol and heart disease in their patient
population. They see plenty of patients with absolutely beautiful blood
lipid profiles as they present with massive myocardial infarction. They
also see patients referred to them for "wretched" lipid profiles who show
zero signs of atherosclerosis. Anecdotally, I have seen this myself: I
have a good friend, 60 yo, who is Hindu and a lifelong vegan. He recently
underwent four vessel bypass surgery after experiencing chest pain. His
total serum cholesterol (mind you, no statins) is 110mg/dl (thats about 2.6
if you're used to SI Units). Then there is my Dad. We recently had a
discussion about his internist wanting to put him on Lipitor. My Dad is 85,
active, sharp as a tack mentally and has no overt signs of any
cardiovascular disease. For the last few years his blood lipids have been
creeping up and his last round of tests showed a TC of 280 (about 6.7 SI).
My advice was to forget about it and keep on enjoying life. They are only
treating a number that obviously does not hurt you.
My personal dietary philosophy (and I don't claim to be an expert) is
simple. After reading one of Jane Goodall's books about chimps, I noted
that their diet consisted of fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, insects and meat.
Conspicuously absent from their diet is starch. Now chimps live about 50
years in the wild if left alone, and they die of a lot of things, but not
heart disease. I have followed their evolutionary lead and eliminated most
of the starch (bread, rice, potatoes, pasta) from my diet. I do eat some
but limit to whole grain. I do pass on the bugs though; hope that's not the
key ingredient to long life.
Charlie
On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 7:24 AM, Brian Swale <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> To my friends who enjoy quibbling over possible exceptions ...
>
> Please load this URL into your browser if you have not already done so, and
> also watch/listen to the several short and informative videos it provides
> links
> to in addition to the text I have written.
>
> http://www.brianswale.com/heart-health/heart-health13.htm
>
> Then come back and tell me why the 1998 Nobel Medicine Prize was a load
> of bollocks, and why Dr Joe Prendergast's successful application of the
> method to himself and 5,000 of his diabetic patients will not also have
> application to about 300 million USA citizens and countless others around
> the world who consume a somewhat similar diet. And in this I include people
> who eat a so-called Mediterranean diet which is just 30% less evil than the
> standard USA "western" diet.
>
> See also
> http://www.brianswale.com/heart-health/heart-health16.htm
>
> or if you prefer it in Spanish, try
>
> http://www.brianswale.com/heart-health/heart-health16-spanish.htm
>
> http://www.brianswale.com/heart-health/heart-health13.htm
> is not difficult read, and you just might benefit from it. You never know
> :-)
>
> BTW. The main reason I bother writing all these pages ( 17 so far), in
> addition to self-interest (and the recovery from stroke of a good friend of
> mine), is that the NZ heart foundation (
> https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/
> ) and countless similar others, most Med Schools, most GPs, and most
> heart surgeons HAVE IGNORED THE (by now) 15 years old Nobel prize
> discovery, which shows without any possible doubt that heart disease in
> its
> many forms can be reversed through eating a slightly larger than normal
> intake of one or two normal human diet amino acids (L-argenine and L-
> citrulline), and these same two acids can prevent atherosclerosis from
> developing in the first place.
> I think their stupid ignorance borders on the criminal.
>
> They continue to behave as though the condition actually is unfixable.
>
> It's a puzzling human trait. Show people something which is really good and
> has great potential for their well-being, and they'd rather go and read
> comics, or do some similar displacement activity. (g) Seriously.
>
> My next posting might even have some autumn shots for a change. And I
> did use my Obsession 6 x 17 camera in the last week. Put a whole roll
> through it. All 4 exposures. Will possibly shoot some 6 x 9 or 6 x 7
> tomorrow. Mamiya Press and Koni-Omega.
> Some aspects of digital are pissing me off. But I also know I make huge
> errors with LF film :-(
>
> PS, I had my eyes tested today. Cataract development is not considered a
> concern - a slow-developing type ( that's what HE said) and has progressed
> from 0 to 1.5 in a scale of 0 to 10. My own opinion is that it has
> progressed
> fat too fast for my liking. But I WILL get some new specs.
>
> Brian Swale
> --
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>
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