Taking a wee break from endocrinology to share two health stories in the news this week.
Slowly the evidence is mounting
that there is absolutely no need to be afraid of eating eggs, despite the fact
that they are high in cholesterol. Hopefully soon the mainstream medical
establishment will go that one step further and
acknowledge that there is no association between cholesterol levels and heart disease, as is blatantly obvious
in the graph at the end of this entertaining article by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
comparing percent-population with high cholesterol and death rates from CHD in
various countries. That said, eating cholesterol does not seem to increase
cholesterol levels in the body, and eggs are an extremely nutritious food, so
there is no harm in eating them every day if you want to. Hard-boiled eggs can
be packed along as a healthy protein snack - much healthier than those processed protein bars that contain a list of chemicals a mile long, and just as convenient,
and also much healthier than protein shakes made from protein-isolate. So, enjoy your eggs!
The other interesting study
that was publicized this week noted an association between soda pop, both diet
and regular, and metabolic syndrome and heart disease. The association for
regular pop is a no-brainer, but that diet pop is also problematic is
surprising, as diet pop contains no sugar nor high fructose corn syrup, so why
would such an association exist? Perhaps part of the reason for the
association is that when the body detects a sweet taste it expects carbohydrate
nutrition, and when the gut finds none from the diet drink, the brain sends a message to make you hungry so that you will eat more food in the hopes of
getting some nutrition. Consequently, eating "diet foods" may result
in consuming more calories. The second possibility which has been pointed out by others
that have tried to explain the surprising results, is that frequently those that
drink diet pop also eat fast or processed food, and it is the fast or processed
food that is creating the association with heart disease and metabolic syndrome.
A third potential reason that I have not seen suggested anywhere but comes to my
mind, is that aspartame is a toxin and the products it degrades into are also
toxins, which may cause systemic inflammation in the body. Inflammation of the
arteries is an integral part of the cardiovascular disease process, so consuming
foods that cause an inflammatory response would probably be associated with
heart disease. The toxin theory does not explain the association with
metabolic syndrome however.