Keto News Highlights: Teicholz, PURE and Kerrygold

This week, we summarize the top five news articles and studies in the low-carb realm, plus some success stories.

1. The Wall Street Journal runs an op-ed entitled "Carbs, Good for You? Fat Chance!" by NYT bestselling author Nina Teicholz on the harm done by the recent observational study published in Lancet Public Health (and the misleading headlines that followed). She writes, "defenders of the nutrition status quo continue to mislead the public and put Americans' health at risk." For a longer, fully referenced piece, check out Teicholz's article.
2. More PURE results, this time on whole fat dairy foods, are published this week in The Lancet. This observational data shows better health outcomes for those who ate more full-fat dairy. Both The New York Times and summarize the questions raised by the study. The American Heart Association's dogmatic response is captured in : "Currently with the evidence that we have reviewed, we still believe that you should try to limit your saturated fat including fat that is coming from dairy products." #WillfulBlindness
3. The Guardian reports that Britain's NHS will begin a staged rollout of a trial prescribing a very low-calorie liquid diet to reverse diabetes. While it is terrific to see physicians and health systems treating type 2 diabetes as a reversible condition rather than a progressive chronic disease, remission with this approach is highly dependent on maintaining weight loss. Over the long term, maintaining weight loss by restricting calories has a very poor track record indeed. What makes more sense for reversing type 2 diabetes? Carbohydrate restriction.
4. A new study, published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, reviewed data from over a million individuals and concluded that LDL does not cause heart disease. This is in direct contradiction to a recent publication of the European Society of Cardiology stating that elevated LDL does directly cause heart disease. Who is correct, and how do we know what is best for our long-term health? Cardiologist Bret Scher unpacks this controversy.
5. Doctors Robert Lustig and Peter Attia dig into the details of the problems with sugar (well, fructose) in this ~80 min podcast (it flies by). Lustig makes the case for minimizing ultra-processed and packaged products in favor of eating real, whole foods; he schools parents to avoid "anything with a label."

Want more?

Will Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) benefit non-diabetic users? Are Americans cooking at home more? Is it time for doctors and scientist to be upfront about their ties to industry and potential conflicts of interest? Did the Inuit, who ate almost no plants, have near perfect teeth? Will technology eventually help make real food easier? Maybe - check out Farmers Fridge, putting smart, refrigerated vending machines with whole food meals at convenient locations in Illinois and Milwaukee.

• Actress Kate Beckinsale, 45, maintains her lean look and glowing skin by eating fewer carbs and plenty of natural fats. She even travels with a supply of Kerrygold butter!
• Deputy leader of Britain's Labour Party, Tom Watson, makes a splash with his almost 100 pound weight loss and reversal of his type 2 diabetes diagnosis. He is committed to bringing his success with a low-carb approach to the attention of both policy makers and everyday citizens.
• Nate, a Virta Health patient, goes from hopelessness to lasting success. He's down 70 pounds, and off blood pressure meds. After 15+ years on insulin, his keto diet has lowered his A1c from 8.3% with insulin to 6.9% without it!
• Lovely, 50ish mother-of-the-bride reverses prediabetes and loses 65 pounds; she is still seeing improvements, 3 years in. Her health, and her husband's health, have been transformed by Virta Health.
• Suzie, a physician in the UK, goes from (whole grain breakfast cereals + skimmed milk + low-fat yogurt + bananas + lots of running) to (meat + veg)... and she is looking lean and ready to fight grains and the low-fat diet that failed her.

Tune in next week!

About

This news gathering is from our collaborator Jennifer Calihan, who also blogs at Eat the Butter. Feel free to check out the keto meal-idea-generator on her site.

More with Jennifer Calihan

Top 10 ways to eat more fat How to eat low carb and keto when dining out Living low carb in a high-carb world

Earlier

September 2018 - Week 2: Low-carb and keto news highlights September 2018 - Week 1: Low-carb and keto news highlights

August 2018 - Week 3: Low-carb and keto news highlights