The Weapons Of Mass Deception.. I Found Them

[Guest guest]

The following article just came out promoting olive

oil as heart healthy...

you can read it here...

http://news./s/nm/20060906/hl_nm/virgin_olive_oil_dc_1

here is my response (rough draft)... which we are

turning into a press release today.... but the point I

make is more applicable to us doing CR-ON, than anyone

else.

PS< with all due respect to Francesca and the list.. i

am for warning you... it is long..

This is a news story and old news... there are already

several other studies showing that IF there was any

benefit to olive oil, it was in the phytochemicals in

it and not anything to do with the fat.

Lets look carefully at it...

>>The findings suggest that virgin olive oil has more

going for it than its supply of heart-healthy

monounsaturated fat, according to the study authors.

Mono-unsaturated fat is not heart healthy. When fed to

monkeys in isolated controlled studies it caused build

up of plaque and heart disease. Its less harmful than

saturated fat and that is where the spin is.

Take someone eating lots of butter. Take away the

butter and replace it with the same amount of olive

oil and their cholestrol goes down. So, it appears to

be healthier. But, the cholesterol went down cause you

take out the butter not cause you add in the olive

oil. If you take a healthy Okinawan who has a

cholesterol under 150 and the lowest risk of heart

disease in the world, addding olive oil to his diet

doesnt make him healthier or lower his risk for heart

disease..

>>Polyphenols, they say, may account for some of the

health benefits that have been attributed to the oil.

Amen. But, you get more of them per calorie (important

to anyone watching their weight and trying to get as

many nutrients per calorie) in green leafies

>>In fact, virgin olive oil is the only vegetable oil

that's rich in polyphenols, Dr. -Isabel Covas,

the study's lead researcher, told Reuters Health.

Maybe, but most all plant foods are rich in

polyphenols.

Now watch carefully...

>>For their study, Covas and her colleagues had 200

young and middle-aged men use each of three olive oils

for three weeks apiece. One oil was a virgin olive oil

high in polyphenols; the other two were more heavily

processed varieties with moderate to low polyphenol

levels.

Typical people eating typical diets..

>>The men used the oils in place of other dietary

fats.

There is it..

its only when subsituted for other fats. And, in the

typical american diet, which is usually either

hydrogenated fats, trans fats, or saturated fats.. Of

course it is better.

>>At the end of the study, the researchers found that

the men's levels of " good " HDL cholesterol were

highest after their three weeks on virgin olive oil.

This is only a bio marker and not an endpoint. its

just a number and one number in a risk group of many.

Just because one number goes up does not mean you are

suddenly healthier. What they would have to do is

follow these people for years and prove they actually

have less heart disease. But dont worry, its already

been done. The okinawans and rural japanese have been

compared to those in crete, greece and italy and the

rural asians win every time. And, these rural asians

have extremely low HDLs in the 20s. So, just raising

HDL doesnt always equate to better health. Remember

the monkeys above that were fed the olive oil and had

heart disease ? Well, during their life, and eating

the monkey diet with olive oil added... their HDLs

went way up.. But, in the end, it didnt translate to a

better endpoint.. less heart disease...but the actual

opposite. And there is much other data showing that

HDL is only protective in the presence of high Total

and LDL cholesterol. And that the rise you see in HDL

from eating more fat, may not provide the same benefit

as someone who has a naturall high HDL. In addition,

there are subfractions of HDL and the ones that go up

from eating more fat, may not be the ones that are

beneficial but nore " neutral " .

Numbers are important, as biomarkers but dont let them

fool you when taken out of context of the big picture.

>>They also showed a greater decline in markers of

so-called oxidative stress -- a process that helps

deposit particles of " bad " LDL cholesterol on the

artery walls and can lead to a hardening and narrowing

of the vessels supplying the heart.

Again, lets not confuse biomarkers with endpoints..

they didnt measure the artery walls, only the

oxidative chemicals. And yes, the polyphenols would

have these effects. But, lets say they added 1 TB of

olive oil to the diet and got some polyphenols from

it.. That 1 TB is 120 calories. Instead of the olive

oil, that could have added the same calories of green

leafy vegetables, which would be about 1.5 lbs. Guess

which would have more polyphenols..??? So if the

purpose is to produce more polyphenols, less oxidative

chemicals, than the green leafies win... per calorie.

They would also have every other vitamin and mineral

you need (which the olive oil doesnt) and a lot of

fiber that you need (which the olive oil doesnt).

>>Monounsaturated fat is well known to be a healthier

alternative to the saturated fat found in animal

products like butter,

Again... a " better than " not a " good in and of

itself " . the body has NO need for monounsaturated fat.

The only fat your body needs is the essential (must

have) fat called omega 3s . Olive oil is a very poor

source... in fact, to get your needed amount of omega

3s from olive oil you would need to drink 7 oz which

is 1800 calories and 30 grams of saturated fat. Better

than butter? Yes. Good in and of itself? no.

So, see carefully how the take one aspect of it

(polyphenols) out of context of the whole picture, and

frame the one aspect in a reference (compared to

saturated fat) that is somewhat misleading, and create

a " advantage " that only exists in this out of context,

miopic view.

>>>But she stopped short of recommending virgin olive

oil as a replacement for other vegetable oils, saying

large clinical trials are needed to see whether

there's a health advantage.

Amen!!

120 Calories Olive Oil

Phytosterols 30 mg

120 calories Green Leaf Lettuce

Phytosterols 330 mg

Now, for someone watching their weight, lets level out

phytosterols and compare relative calories..

11 Calories of Green Leaf Lettuce is 30 mg

Phytosterols

120 Calories of Olive Oil is 30 mgs Phytosterols

In addition, the leaf lettuce will win on virtually

every other nutrient.

I rest my case!

Regards

jeff