GAIA

Elephants, ivory and science

I am not anti-elephant and I do not endorse illegal poaching, but I do believe the current approach of governments and animal preservation organizations will continue to fail dismally.

Time magazine in its September 8 – 15, issue has a full page ad on page 19 lamenting the slaughter of African elephants. It states that 96 are killed each day!!!  It asks for your support at 96elephants.org.

Elephant tusk ivory is highly prized as a soft material for ornate large and miniature carvings - traditional crafts throughout the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Tusk ivory has also long been used for piano keys, guitar and violin bows -- because of their beauty, malleability and soft touch.  Plastic is a poor substitute.

 

THE DUAL  PROBLEM

The current approach to protecting African elephants in the wild has been a dismal failure while costing multi-millions of dollars.

Poachers are rarely caught while more and more rangers are hired to unsuccessfully patrol enormous, vast open areas.  And the poacher ‘bosses’ --who reap the great profits -- are invisible and untouchable.

When poached tusks are found, they are stored and then, multi-millions of dollars’ worth of ivory are piled high and turned into a huge bonfire -- to be photographed or filmed: to show the world such ill-gotten gains are not socially acceptable.

 

But this mass ivory destruction is simply counter-productive and stupid.  

It violates the first rule of economics: supply and demand.

Solution #1

Instead of destroying the ivory, it should be sold through a UN-like international agency at either a controlled rate or en masse -- to flood the marketplace and drop its market price/value; thereby bankrupting the 'bosses'  and supplying artisan and craftsmen and guitar and piano and other manufacturers with a superior, natural product, without the need to kill hundreds if not thousands of additional elephants.

The ivory of dead elephants should also be saved as well as any tusks that have broken off.

As for the rest of the dead elephants, there is an African market for such bush meat, and their hides and other elephant parts are also valuable and should not be left to rot.

At one time, hollowed out elephant legs were popular as umbrella stands.

 

Solution #2  -- which is much, much better

Apply modern breakthroughs in stem cell cloning and create artificial, identical tusks in the laboratory  -- for legal sale.

Elephants would be saved, related government costs eliminated, and 3,000 year old cultural traditions and skills preserved.

DO THE MATH and Your Health

680News radio needs remediation on Celsius

This morning 680News convinced me that it’s entire on air staff: news readers and meteorologist alike, need remedial education in UNDERSTANDING the Celsius temperature scale.  680News staff have been gripping and complaining as the temperature (before humidity is added) has almost every day been in the high 20's but only rarely in the 30s. 

Today, Friday Sept 5 at 7:30 a.m., while driving and listening to the channel, they forecast a high of 32 C and a humidex of 40 C. Then the newscaster said, "What a perfect patio day ".  This was followed by a street interview where a delighted pedestrian announced,   "I love the heat: bring on 40, 50, 60 degrees!!"

 The stupidity of these two comments is mindboggling, especially when seconds later the channel announced that Environment Canada and Toronto Public Health have BOTH declared an EXTREME HEAT ALERT, advising everyone to avoid staying outside for long due to the danger of heat stroke and dehydration, which can lead to fainting, fall injury, hypothermia, ambulance calls and emergency hospital visits for the elderly , those with respiratory conditions and anyone enfeebled by disease.

According to the Toronto Star, “Toronto weather: Extreme heat alert”, [http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/07/04/toronto_weather_extreme_heat_alert.html] an Extreme Heat Alert is expected to cause 50% more deaths than  the 120 Torontonian who die of heat related death in a normal year!

So why did the 680News newscaster and some delusional street interviewee praise 30+ degree weather?

Because they no longer remember their primary grade lessons in the Celsius system.  They probably remember that 0 C  means water freezes to ice and 100 C is the boiling temperature of water, but for temperatures in between they seem clueless.

 

I used to teach my students a few benchmarks:

 

233 C           book paper ignites  

 

52 C              human cells start to break down/melt

 

40 C                      very, very, very hot

 

38+ C                     fever      

 

35 C                          very hot; should stay in shade 

25 – 28 C                 good for the beach

 

22 – 24 C          nice and warm

 

19 – 21 C        comfortable room temperature if wearing long clothes  

 

10 – 18 C       cool, fall weather

 

    0 C               water freezes

 

- 10 C              nice winter day

 

- 35 C              skin freezes in minutes

 

So, anyone who wants the temperature to be in the 30s is asking for super sweaty weather that is only tolerable if lying in a pool or lake or staying indoors in air conditioning!!!

As someone noted in the newspaper a while back, if you go to work by public transit, walking or biking in 30+ degree weather, your entire body becomes covered in a slimy layer of sweat that lingers until you bath again; and you smell as well!!!

So 680News staff, stop wishing for slimy and deadly 30+ degree weather and send that person you interviewed -- who likes temperatures in the 40s, 50s  and 60s --  for a psychiatric assessment!!!

YOUR HEALTH
Fat foolishness revealed

We have since 1977 been told by the medical establishment and ‘researchers’ that animal fat – in meat  and dairy products -- is harmful if not deadly – causing hardening and narrowing of arteries, other heart disease and leading to obesity and all the ills those extra pounds produce.

Time magazine, however, has revealed the truth in its June 23, 2014 cover story.

Put simply, we have been mislead for over 35 years due to sloppy, poor science and half-truths.

Sloppy research

Dr. Ancel Keys in the 1950s and 1960s suggested that the high rate of American heart disease and deaths was due to clogged arteries caused by cholesterol build up and that red meat and dairy products were to blame. He advocated based on his studies, the Mediterranean diet.  He used data from southern Italy to show that the people there had far fewer heart attacks than Americans, and attributed it to their diet: fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables and olive oil--  which has monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs).

The problem with his research, as Time points out on page 32, is that he ignored the data from some Greek islands with the same diet but high heart disease rates, and excluded from his study French and German diets which were high in meat and daily and alcohol (wine or beer) but both the French and the Germans had the same low rate of heart disease as the southern Italians.  The French and Germans  and some Greeks were simply left out of the ‘evidence’ database and the fallacy of the superiority of the  Mediterranean diet was born.

More importantly we now know that meat and dairy products not only produce LDL cholesterol but an almost equal amounts of healthy HDL cholesterol – so it balance out as zero. (p.34)

Moreover, recent laboratory analysis has found there are 2 types of LDL particles – those that are  large and fluffy and that easily pass through the body,  and a smaller, sticky particle form of LDL that seems to  be the type that settles and adheres to the walls of arteries.

Meat and dairy contain just the fluffy, harmless LDL.  It is carbohydrates – bread and pasta – that have the small, sticky particle type LDSL. (p.34)

Finally, the fact people seem to have been gaining weight across the board for some 30 years despite the significant reduction in meat and dairy consumption and the proliferation of low-fat foods,  has led to the realization that the brain’s feeling of satiety or “I have had enough to eat, thank you.” is not triggered by either low-fat or artifically sweeted foods and drinks.  Only real, 100% saturated fat (and 100 real sugar) triggers this brain cessation signal. (p. 35)

Put simply, the misguided efforts to make people healthier with low fat and non-saturated fat diets has failed because it misunderstood how the body and the brain work and what triggers satiety.

A  glass of homogenized, whole 100% milk will make you feel full and satiated while almost no amount of skim milk will do the same.

Sugar vs. artificial sweeteners, we have recently learned, is the same situation.

So we have been eating more and drinking more and ingesting lots of unnecessary calories – leading to weight gain – by avoiding saturated fat meat and whole fat dairy products!!!

 

So here is my advice.

Whether you believe in the Bible or Darwinian Evolution, humans have been fruit, berry, nuts and vegetable eaters from the start, soon thereafter we became wild game and domesticated animal eaters – both meat and dairy products. And finally, we added agricultural grains as last.

Our teeth attest to our omnivore biology which is part of our human genetics and history.

So eat fruits, berries, nuts and vegetables and meat and dairy in their natural, high saturated fat forms, and include fish and fowl and grains.

A balanced diet of all food groups is the key, and be sure to get enough saturated fat and real sugar to have your brain signal it is satisfied and you can now stop eating.

You taste buds and figure will love you for it.

 

 

YOUR HEALTH and JUST DO THE MATH

Diabetes Type 2 Mania

In a recent article on the Healthier School program in the United States, proponent Michelle Obama is quoted by Time magazine (June 16, 2014, p. 14) as saying:

“The stakes couldn’t be higher on this issue” noting that 1 in 3 U.S. children will develop Type 2 diabetes. [My bold, enlarghed font.]

The Type 2 diabetes ‘scare’ has clearly reached panic mode with such an outrageous and ridiculous statistic.

No disease on the planet affects 1 in 3 humans – not cancer or heart disease or alcoholism.

According to Wikipedia (“Diabetes mellitus type 2”) and other sources, Type 2 diabetes accounts for some 90% of diabetes and occurs when the pancreas produces too much insulin or the body’s blood cells no longer efficiently absorb insulin.  Either way, blood sugar levels rise.

The primary symptoms are excessive thirst, frequent urination, constant feeling of hunger and, surprisingly,  weight loss.  It is common among people who are obese but can, it is believed, be controlled by regular exercise and diet changes to lower blood sugar levels.  Mediation – such as insulin – can also be prescribed if exercise and diet changes are not enough.

Type 2 diabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation and dementia.

Conventional wisdom advises against saturated fat (see my blog trashing this theory) and excessive sugar.

-           -        -        -

Type 2 diabetes is claimed to affect 24,000,000 Americans (http://www.activebeat.co/your-health/10-indicative-symptoms-of-type-2-diabetes/?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_keyword=type%202%20diabetes&gclid=CLeuypH_kL8CFa4WMgodtxYAZQ)

Since the U.S. population is today just over 318, 300,000, (http://www.census.gov/popclock/),  then, mathematically, Type 2 diabetes affects just 7.5% of the population.  That is far, far, far from the ridiculous 1 in 3 listed above.

Michelle Obama or her information source clearly needs a reality check and a lesson in basic math.  So does Time magazine for mindlessly allowing that 1-in-3 figure to go unchallenged.

The actual Type 2 diabetes figure for America at 7.5% translates as 1 in 13.333:  the correct ratio based on the population data.

Someone simply dropped the 1 in front of the 3.33 and suddenly we end up with an ‘epidemic’ and ‘end-of-the-world’ panic.

YOUR HEALTH

Obesity and down the rabbit hole -- again

Are we all living in Alice’s Wonderland where everything becomes weirder and weirder?

Time magazine, June 16, 2014, p. 12, gives new figures from a recent University of Washington study on the increase worldwide in people who are overweight or obese. The total of the two groups is 2.1 billion.

Since the world’s current population is 7,241,027,026 as of 4:27 p.m. June 18, 2014 according to the worldometer clock (www.worldometers.info/world-population/) this means that  28.9% of the world’s men, women, children and elderly have a sweight problem --  or just under 1 in 3 humans on the planet.

How such a ridiculous figure could ever be arrived at or published by a credible university and Time magazine boggles the mind!!!

As the Washington study published in the Lancet is unavailable online, a Reuters summary is useful and fully quoted below with my yellow highlighting:

(Reuters) - Obesity is imposing an increasingly heavy burden on the world's population in rich and poor nations alike, with almost 30 percent of people globally now either obese or overweight - a staggering 2.1 billion in all, researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers conducted what they called the most comprehensive assessment to date of one of the pressing public health dilemmas of our time, using data covering 188 nations from 1980 to 2013.

Nations in the Middle East and North Africa, Central America and the Pacific and Caribbean islands reached staggeringly high obesity rates, the team at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle reported in the Lancet medical journal.

The biggest obesity rises among women came in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Honduras and Bahrain. Among men, it was in New Zealand, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The richest country, the United States, was home to the biggest chunk of the planet's obese population - 13 percent - even though it claims less than 5 percent of its people.

Obesity is a complex problem fueled by the availability of cheap, fatty, sugary, salty, high-calorie "junk food" and the rise of sedentary lifestyles. It is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, diabetes, arthritis and certain cancers. Chronic complications of weight kill about 3.4 million adults annually, the U.N. World Health Organization says.

During the 33 years studied, rates of being obese or overweight soared 28 percent in adults and 47 percent in children. During that span, the number of overweight and obese people rose from 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion in 2013.

That number exceeds the total world population of 1927, when it first hit 2 billion. Earth's population now tops 7 billion.

The researchers said obesity - once a malady of rich nations - now grips people of all ages, incomes and regions, with not one country succeeding in cutting its obesity rate.

"Two-thirds of the obese population actually resides in developing countries," said Marie Ng, a global health professor who was one of the researchers.

The problem was most acute in the Middle East and North Africa, with more than 58 percent of adult men and 65 percent of adult women overweight or obese. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait saw big increases.

"We have to remind ourselves that obesity is really not a cosmetic issue. It's a main risk factor for morbidity and mortality," added global health professor Ali Mokdad, another of the researchers.

Obesity is appearing at increasing young ages, rising nearly 50 percent in children and adolescents worldwide.

Men tallied higher rates in developed countries. Women did so in developing countries. There was a possible ray of hope in rich countries, with the rate of increase in adult obesity slowing in the past eight years.

More than half of the world's obese live in just 10 countries: the United States, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan and Indonesia.

                           (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/28/us-health-obesity-idUSKBN0E82HX20140528)

 

The statistics Time highlighted for overweight and obese are:

Saudi Arabia   69.4%                U.S.                67.4%       Germany    61.1%

China              28.3%              India                19.5%

So, the people of the world are –supposedly – ballooning in size over the last 33 years: in all countries rich and poor, and children  as well.

The criteria used, of course, is the BMI, with any rating above 25 as ‘unhealthy’.

Again, I must protest this insanity and use of the flawed BMI standard.

Do the simple reality check i have recommended in the past:

Look at the adults, teens and children around you. Do only 32.6% of Americans or just 1 in 3 look as if they have a healthy weight or are too thin?

If you live in Germany, do only 38.9% , i./e. 2 in 5, look healthy or too thin?

And if you live in Saudi Arabia do only 3 in 10 people and children look healthy or too thin?

The BMI, I repeat, was never meant to be used for growing children under age 18, and is well known to have a white male bias in its original population sample studies.  It does not accurately reflect genetic differences between ethnic groups nor what has been historically diverse cultural norms and ideal.

It is far better to look at longevity tables.

The statistics below for life expectancy are from the World Bank.                                                                                                                                                       [http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.FE.IN]                 

	1980  (World Bank)	2009 (World Bank)	2012 (World bank)
China	69	76	77 years
India	55	67	68 years
Germany	76	83	83  years
Saudi Arabia	65	77	77 years
U.S.	78	81	81 years

 

Every country that has become more prosperous or is living at first world standards has increased longevity since 1980 – the starting point of the University of Washington study.

Reaching age 75 was almost unknown in the 1960s and 1970s but is common by 2012 as seen above, and crossing the 80^th year mark has been attained by Americans and Germans.

Americans, the inventors of fast food in the 1950s and 1960s have managed to live longer even with so-called ‘demon’ French fries, hamburgers, KFC breaded chicken, pizza, pop and chocolate and ice cream galore as their dietary norm.

And the Germans, with ancestral diets high in meat and fat and beer, do not seem to be suffering – contrary to the BMI standard.

Remember, insurance companies advise people to be somewhat overweight if they wish to live longer lives --  as sudden illness or surgery or chemotherapy, etc. cause rapid weight loss and/or appetite loss that alone can lead to death.

So next time you see scary statistics re: BMI and obesity, etc., try not to fall down the rabbit hole into unreality and silliness.

 

 

 

YOUR HEALTH

SUGAR , SUGAR, SUGAR – fed up with Fed Up

I apologize in advance but I cannot ignore the ongoing and misguided attack on sugar.

A few weeks ago, a WHO recommendation that sugar – in the form of granular brown or white sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup and corn syrup fructose and glucose, etc. -- should  be limited to 5% of daily calorie intake from their previous 10% received mass media attention and I responded with a blog to ‘correct’ the record – as I see it.

Now, a documentary, Fed Up, is being released, with Canada’s own bookstore – Chapters/ Indigo -  celebrity Heather Reisman as executive producer.  And of course, the film and its participants preach that the obesity epidemic is due SOLELY to one villain - SUGAR .

Maclean’s made it the cover’s picture labelled “Death by Sugar” and key article “Sugar Overload” May 12, 2014 issue, pp. 40-44.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a key figure, not only  believes its frequent inclusion in manufactured/processed foods of all types supplies us with hidden calories – which is the main complaint of the film and Reisman’s interview, but that sugar itself is harmful. He calls sugar “poison”.  (p.40, column 2).

According to Lustig, (p. 42) before 1977 – why that baseline year is not explained – our consumption of sugars was mostly through fruits and vegetables and about 30 grams per day.  Since 1977, sugar consumption has skyrocketed and continues to rise due to ‘hidden sugars’ (fructose and glucose if labelled)  in processed foods of all sorts : since sugar is a great and cheap preservative and adds flavour.  Since this timeline coincides with the obesity epidemic as measured by the BMI, sugar must be the culprit, argues Dr. Lustig, Ms. Reisman and the film Fed Up .

Maclean’s does not bring in experts to refute the claims but, to its credit, does point out previous ‘single cause’ manias for the Obesity epidemic  have empirically failed the reality – i.e., what happens in the real world of people’s lives and have been abandoned, more or less.. Maclean’s mentions previous attacks on cholesterol, carbohydrates  and fat, and quotes Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto:  “ Sugar, fat and salt are basic drivers for survival. We’ve struggled like mad to get sugar.” (p.42)

Put simply, the above three are essential to healthy survival.  Salt prevents dehydration and is essential to cell metabolism. Fat is nature’s way of giving us energy that can be stored in our bodies for future need, keeps our skin from drying out or having constant acne and pimples,and is essential to the movement of vitamins A, D, E and K through the bloodstream and their absorption.  Some fatty acids also play a role in brain development, blood clotting and managing inflammation. ¹

As for sugar, it  give us an immediate energy boost and gives our brains a serotonin kick: it makes us feel good, and happy.

As for the idea that we ingest too much ‘hidden’ sugar and that we should go back to home-made meals as of old – as Reisman advises, I suggest that this is a delusional reconstruction of the past, a false ‘memory’ of what it was like living and eating ion North America between 1945 and 1977.

Prior to 1960, artificial sweeteners were very limited.  Coca Cola did not introduce Tab – the first non-sugar pop that became mainstream until 1963.

So what was the average person’s sugar intake after 1945, when WW2 ended and life in North America reached a prosperity boom and higher living standard with cars, houses and lots of available food?

As a baby boomer, I remember in the 1950 and thereafter seeing breakfast pancakes and waffles smothered in real, sugar-high maple syrup.  People would have 2 to 4 slices of toast with butter or often sugar-laden jam or marmalade and, of course, wash this down with 1 to 2 cups of  coffee saturated with whole milk and lots of sugar –  usually totalling  2 -4 teaspoons.  If there was hot oatmeal cereal, sugar, honey or maple syrup would be added in large quantity to make this healthy food palatable. If dry cereal were eaten instead, the favorites were Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (invented in 1896: 2 g sugar and 220 mg salt), Rice Krispies (1928: 3 g sugar and 190 mg salt), Cheerios (1941: 1 gm sugar and 186 mg salt) or Frosted Flakes (1951: standard bowl = 17 g sugar and 250 mg salt) . When ingested by kids, you can be sure most had with it a glass of whole (fat) milk spiked with Nestle’s Chocolate powder Quick (1948: 15 g sugar in 2 tbsp), Hershey’s chocolate syrup (1926: 20 g sugar, 15 mg salt)or, when available, real chocolate milk – 100% regular fat milk and super sweet(since 1680 Ireland: 37 g sugar and 180 mg salt).

For lunch kids got sandwiches: often bread loaded with sugary jam (11 g sugar and 10 mg salt) and/or peanut butter (Skippy peanut butter =  3 g per tbsp and l 150 mg salt), and have chocolate or butterscotch pudding for desert – or a few cookies or cake or pie – all sugar laden.

And when adults weren’t around, we would drink pop – good old 100% sugar Coke (1886; 1 can = 39g sugar, 45 mg salt), Pepsi, Dr. Pepper( 1895: 1 can = 44 g sugar and 65 mg salt), Orange Crush, Hires Root Beer (30g sugar and 65 mg salt) and any other brand around and available.  NO ONE DRANK BOTTLED WATER OR WATER period unless all other alternatives were absent – and your mouth was as dry as sand!

As for family home-made meal time: lunch and/or dinner, coffee and tea for adults were sugar laced, and, except for the Italians who had fruit for desert, we were all “mangia cakes” and would have amply servings for desert of home-made or bakery made cake, cookies and pies --  all loaded with sugar (and whole fat butter or lard)!!! 

If you check 1960’s home-made cake recipes, 2 cups of sugar was the norm in the flour mix alone, with extra sugar for any icing! (See http://www.twisted-candy.com/1950s-cake-recipes.html)

And 2 U.S. cups = 96 tsp U.S. or 403 g of sugar!!!!!

Even today, ready-made frozen Mrs. Smith apple pie has 18g sugar per slice and cherry pie 32g!!!

 

During the 1950s and thereafter, snacks were, beside potato chips (high in salt and fat), candies and chocolate bars – all 100% sugar!!! (Aero bar = 24 g sugar and 20 mg salt).  In the summer, ice cream – sugar laden  (Breyer’s strawberry- ½ cup = 16 g sugar, 47 mg salt) -- was added to our almost daily routine.

And don’t forget Jell-O at 19g a serving!

Grocery stores also carried Oreo cookies (3 cookies = 14g sugar and 190 mg salt), Twinkies (each 16 g sugar and 220 mg salt) and Hostess chocolate cupcakes (each 20 g sugar and 240 mg salt)  -- all of which would also show up in a lunchbox.

When we became teenagers and the local soda shop or Dairy Queen arrived, ice cream sugar heaven ensued: Sundays, parfaits and my personal favourite – because it had healthy fruit – the banana split: 3 scoops of ice cream, three sugary toppings, chocolate syrup and cherries to boot (Dairy Queen:  large banana = 17 g sugar; rest = 75g sugar and 160 mg salt). And then in 1964, Tim Horton’s opened donut heaven to Canadians (chocolate dip  = 17 g sugar) copying that American staple since 1937, Krispy Kreme, whose ‘original glazed donut’  still has 11g sugar and 105 mg salt! 

 -  -  -  -  -   -   -   -   -

So, if the ‘golden age ‘ was before 1977 when, according to Dr. Lustig, sugar consumption was     BELOW 70+g per day (p.42), then no one I know or grew up with was part of that universe.         Not my family, cousins, schoolmates and certainly not the kids and adults who bought into the foods marketed by TV ads!

Adult daily coffee and/or tea – 6 to 8 cups with 1 to 2 or more tsp each of sugar– would alone be 25g to 70 g or more!  ( 1 tsp = 4.2g)

Add cake, cookies, pies, chocolates, ice cream, donuts, banana splits, maple syrup, jam, etc. and there is no way the average North American adult ingested under 70 g of sugar a day. 

As for kids or teenagers, 2 cans of Coke + 1 Areo bar alone would be 102 g of sugar!!!  If we had had to cut back, we would have had trouble reducing our sugar fix to under 140 g per day!!!

So the idea that sugar was limited in the average diet of the 1950s and 1960’s in North America may have been  true for those on isolated farms, but it was not so for anyone living in a town or city -- even when mom did the cooking and baking: because sugar made everything taste better, and helped preserve food when refrigeration was in its infancy and hot weather made things spoil or dry out quickly.

Put simply there was no shortage of sugar consumption.

Sorry Heather and Dr. Lustig, your historical memory (and the facts) have failed you.

 

PS:  I am not repeating at length my criticism of the BMI and its misguided, athlete-thin ideal as the norm and how it overnight declared millions obese. New research by Dr. Carl Lavie , The Obesity Paradox, and life Insurance actuarial charts that go back decades do not see an obesity epidemic – just increased life spans.

 

1.  http://www.livestrong.com/article/43948-fats-important-diet/