'All things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose that makes a thing poisonous.' - Paracelsus, father of modern toxicology (1493 - 1541)
- The default setting for the human condition is now widely seen as being in a state of vulnerability and victim hood. The autonomous individual who stands on how or her own two feet appears to be an endangered species. Instead, the assumption is that we are pretty pathetic specimens who must need professional intervention and advice to protect us from the problems of everyday life. We are a society on the couch, under the supervision of the therapeutic state.
- There is no such thing as junk food. All food is composed of carbohydrate, fat and protein. An intake of a certain amount of each is essential for a healthy life. In addition, a supply of certain minerals ... and fluid contribute to health. Once the necessary amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein have been taken, any long term surplus is stored as glycogen or fat in the body. Protein is protein, whether it comes from an Aberdeen Angus steak or a McDonald's hamburger. It is broken up in the gut in to its amino-acid building blocks, which are identical in both the hamburger and the steak ... Any excess ends up as fat. One source of animal protein is not necessarily of better value to the body than another, nor is it more fattening.
- It is not the particular food that makes people fat, it is the amount they eat.
- The most oft-quoted clinical trial in the last few years is the UK-based Heart Protection Study (HPS). A veritable triumph for statins, demonstrating protection in almost every group studied. What is most intriguing, however, is that the protection was apparent if the starting cholesterol as high, average or low. … So, if statins do protect those … there must be some other mechanism of action, unrelated to cholesterol lowering. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence to support the idea that statins have a whole series of protective actions.
- There are few studies of the long-term consequences of a low-salt diet in terms of mortality from cardiovascular disease. … In a study in 1995, of the relationship between dietary salt intake and heart attacks among men with high blood pressure, Michael Alderman and colleagues followed up 2,937 subjects for an average of nearly four years. The frequency of heart attacks was lowest in the group with the highest salt intake. … These studies do not prove there is a hazard associated with a low-salt diet but they give cause for concern.
Without adequate randomised trials to show that it is effective and establish its long-term safety, in particular to show reduced mortality, the imposition of a low-salt diet by government diktat appears particularly foolhardy and without any scientific basis.
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