I sent the following to Dr. Eades at Proteinpower.com the other day but I thought I might as well post it here too since it is definitely war zone material.

Dr. Eades, this story isn't really about me but is in reference to your Vampire Myths blog entry (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...m=49592#respond) and the article by journalist Abby Christopher quoted in it which set the whole blog reply in motion. I read Ms. Christopher's article and saw that her criticisms of low carb diets were coming primarily from one source: Diane Stadler, research assistant professor in the Oregon Health and Science University’s Health Promotion and Sports Medicine Division (OHSU).

I was interested in Dr. Stadler so I googled her and in her OHSH bio found that she was the Principal Investigator in what seems to be a metabolic ward study of low carb versus high carb diets called the Energy Balance Study (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT01029483). The interesting thing is that the study began in 2005 and ended in 2009 according to that link, so when Dr. Stadler was apparently quoted by Ms. Christopher she was in the middle of the study. So much for researcher objectivity.

Anyway what I find even more interesting is that even though the study was completed more than two years ago in June 2009, no results have apparently ever been published.

It is hard to get a read on the motivation of health insurer Kaiser Permanente who funded the Energy Balance Study but a search of "low carb" on their website found this which I've reprinted below the link Is a low-carb diet safe? Carole Bartolotto, MA, RD

"Low-carbohydrate diets have gotten a lot of press over the years. While they can help you lose weight, there are concerns about their long-term safety. A recent study* found a 12 percent higher death rate among those eating a low-carb diet that was also high in animal protein such as beef and dairy. Those eating a lot of animal protein were 14 percent more likely to die of heart disease and 28 percent more likely to die of cancer.
By comparison, people who ate protein from plants (such as beans and nuts) had a death rate 20 percent lower than dieters eating animal protein.

This outcome is similar to the research findings on 2 plant-based diets, both of which are linked to low rates of disease: the Mediterranean diet and a very low-fat vegan diet found in the book The China Study. If you want to eat low-carb, it makes good sense to choose more non-animal sources of protein such as beans, lentils, nuts, and tofu."

The * study mentioned by the way is the Fung observational study on Nurses supposedly eating "low carbohydrate" diets which both Denise Minger and Chris Masterjohn have torn to shreds. Even I can spot the glaring holes in that science, it is so bad.

Another article on the KP website classifies low carb diets like Atkins and South Beach as Fad Diets and recommends against their use.

I've written Dr. Stadler and asked her if the results of the Energy Balance Study will ever be published but as yet have received no reply from her. I just think its funny (the odd kind) that none of her results were ever made public that I can find and I somewhat suspect a coverup of unexpected results occurred.

Interesting. I've got Kaiser and my doctor was happy to hear I was on Atkins! I figured I'd be upfront with him and laid it out on the table right away. He said, "That is a good diet. Stay on it." We talked a bit about the maintenance phase and he said it was very healthy, and repeated to stay on Atkins.

He DOES, however, want me to take statins based on my total cholesterol reading of 317, plus the fact that I am diabetic, plus the fact that my father, who also had cholesterol in the 300s, died of a heart attack when 3 years younger than I am now. In spite of this, he still wants me on Atkins, said the only modification he would recommend would be to choose leaner cuts of beef. I should have asked him why but a little googling around brought up some info that stearic acid in beef is being held suspect in coronary events, but not the beef itself. He just said pick a New York over a Rib Eye, for example.

Anyway I was surprised at his view of Atkins, being a Kaiser doctor!

edit: (OT, apology in advance)

Proposed mechanisms for this positive relation between dietary stearic acid intake and risk of coronary heart disease ... stearic acid's known depression of the protective lipoprotein, HDL (3). Other mechanisms include the activation of factor VII, increased lipoprotein(a) concentrations, and impairment of fibrinolysis (37). Furthermore, the consumption of foods rich in stearic acid and other saturated fats result in postprandial lipemia (chylomicrons). Such lipemia may be associated with a tendency toward thrombosis. In addition, dietary stearic acid has been associated with the progression of coronary lesions (8). In that study, Watts et al suggested that stearic acid is thrombogenic via platelet activity and the activation of coagulation (8). This suggestion is supported by evidence that stearic acid causes thrombosis in experimental animals (9).
William E Connor
From the Oregon Health Sciences University, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition L-465, Department of Medicine, Portland.

When I hear of cholesterol readings like this my first thought is "have you have your thyroid thoroughly checked. My ex-endocrinologist was also RABID to put me on statins because of my cholesterol reading of 295 and also being a diabetic. I told her I was positive my cholesterol would drop if she would only agree to treat my thyroid properly with natural dessicated thyroid hormone, and she told me that was utter nonsense and I *had* to go on statins as it was the only thing for me.

But I think statins are the drug of the devil and nothing on earth would have made me take them. I found another practitioner who was willing to presribe Armour thyroid for me, and in 6 weeks my total cholesterol dropped from 295 to 196.

Yes, I've heard this a lot. But my thyroid is on the hyper side already. I've got the heart palpitations, heat intolerance, etc.

Triglycerides, as a marker of inflammation, is the only part of that "test" I pay any attention to. Mine is like 67 or something. Double digits, which is good.

So, has anybody in the LC community critiqued the article that gonwtwindo excerpted here?

No one is tellin' if the studies were conducted with carbs AND animal fat/beef/meat. ???

Usually, everytime someone is quoting a study that is about heart problems and animal fat, we find out after finding what the 'diet' was, was a high animal fat, put WITH carbs ('whole grains' etc.).

So, that would be interesting to 'see'.

Actually, the palps are usually a combo of Hashimoto's antibodies, and too low progesterone...all together (which is, the most common type of hypothyroidism, coupled with the perimeno ...not a 'hyper finding' actually).

I went through that and it sucks..but it gets a LOT better if you use some progesterone cream...my thyroid doctos actually does that..gives prog. cream, and at the same time, introduces some thyroid hormone just for 'starters'...great combo. Just sayin'. Don't want anyone to have to 'just suffer through'...hint hint...lol