Joyce, I'm sorry. I checked my bag and it's already been ground. It's Bob's Red Mill Flaxseed meal.
There is an interesting kind of "cognitive dissonance" that I often feel when it comes to pharmaceuticals. John's has clearly described the life-saving (not to mention quality of life) qualities that drugs can give. As a capitalist, I believe the drug companies deserve every penny they get because of this. The research that goes into developing a new drug is long, tedious, and expensive. Saving a life with drugs is one of the greatest contributions to civilization that science has given. However, there is also the tricksy side- where drug companies delay the public release of long-term studies that show detrimental outcomes, increased mortality rates, or side effects that are worse than the symptoms being treated. Especially in top selling drugs, such as Vytorin.
One example of that is the class of drugs known as statins. It takes 50 people (middle aged male, already had coronary event) to take the drug before ONE person benefits (number needed to treat, or NNT is 49). Nobody knows the mechanism by which they work, but it is not by lowering cholesterol. Yet these drugs are so often prescribed to people who don't need them, it's a multi billion dollar industry, and there are even doctors suggesting we put it in the water! Higher cholesterol levels are protective in post-menopausal women, yet these women are routinely prescribed statins that have dangerous side effects and will increase their risk of all-cause mortality! Cholesterol levels are a meaningless lab value, and lipid levels have been fractionated again and again (LDL,HDL,VLDL, LDL(a), LDL(b)... in the quest to point a finger towards CVD. The only atherogenic lipoprotein found has been LDL(b), and people rarely get tested with that expensive test (gradient gel electrophoresis). LDL(b) levels increase with a high sugar, high carb diet, yet they're still trying to vilify fat. Nobody ever looks at the dangers of low cholesterol levels (below 140), like cancers, depression, and suicide.
The medical industry is also to blame for that, not just Pharma.
There needs to be a higher standard for research scientists. Science (and thus research) these days has become anything but. It's all dogma and bias instead of skepticism and scientific method.
PS, Karen J, there ARE some things better now than 100 years ago, since about 300 out of 100,000 population in 1908 died of tuberculosis.
Credit is of course due to science for increasing our lifespan. We're not necessarily living longer because we eat a healthier diet. We are living longer because of the elimination/reduction of contagious disease (TB, Polio, etc) and lower infant mortality.
Funny when you look at longevity studies. The Okinawans currently have the longest lifespan (and their traditional diet is loaded with fat). The Swiss come in second, but I suspect they have a higher quality of life, but how to compare? Maybe the Okinawans would object. But the Swiss eat an enormous amount of fat in the way of fresh whole milk and cream, real butter, lots of cheese, and tons of fatty meat. Since heart disease is rare amongst the Swiss, there are scientists there now conducting studies to try and figure out why. Forget the fact that the Swiss don't eat processed refined carbohydrates, the scientists are sure that it's in their genes.
Unfortunately, for the first time in history, younger Okinawans are expected to have a lower lifespan than their parents because of the influx of American/Westernized foods.
The French Paradox has been slowly melting away as the new paradox emerges. The American Paradox: why are Americans still alive despite their diet of processed refined starches?
One more thing.
Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize (1931) for his original research that showed that cancer cells rely on sugar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Heinrich_WarburgFrom above article-
"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar." -- Dr. Otto H. Warburg in Lecture
1931. 77 years ago. Not only is that another testament to all the great European research that took place before WW2, it's a horrible indictment of the US government's dietary recommendations.
LeeAnne, perhaps your brother would enjoy this!
http://activenocarber.myfreeforum.org/ftopic22.phpThe Bear (Owsley Stanley) is a 71 year old guy who doesn't like vegetables, and who thinks Humans are actually 100% carnivorous. He actually makes a pretty good case for it, being 71 and all. The interesting part is that he worked for The Grateful Dead on their sound systems, and was a major producer of LSD.
