Malcolm Kendrick

His previous epic reached nearly 1000 replies. Sunshine increasing not only vitamin D but also NO was excellent, this year I feel especially virtuous for getting as much winter sunshine as there has been.

The vitamin C connection is also interesting, excess glucose blockades the GLUT receptors which also channel vitamin C into the cells, one reason diabetics and prediabetics may have higher levels of CVD, but taking extra may not be helpful unless you nail your BG down so it can be utilised. Also what you have can be recycled using various bioflavinoids and stuff which may explain some of the benefits of fruit and vegetables. Not so much fruit for diabetics, obviously, as the excess glucose would wipe out the increased vitamin C DIETICIANS ARE YOU LISTENING???

As for the carnitine, I suspect from its name that meat would be a good source.

Derek, yes I tried niacin. I actually found the "niacin flush" quite entertaining but it did naff all for my lipids. Now I'm wondering what it may have done to Lp (a) or other relevant but unmeasured things like CRP or homocysteine.

Hi Chris,
It is reckoned the winter sunshine is insufficient to fix Vit D! You may be lucky though!

chris c wrote: DIETICIANS ARE YOU LISTENING???

Dream on Chris beside tunnel vision they also have cloth ears 

Derek wrote:Hi Chris,
It is reckoned the winter sunshine is insufficient to fix Vit D!   You may be lucky though!

Well something I do is working! At the end of summer admittedly I measured 95, I blamed the grass-fed butter and cheese which made the GP flinch. How much effect the low winter sun has on NO is another unknown, but I know it is strong enough to readjust my serotonin/melatonin balance as I have missed out of the usual Seasonal Affective Disorder almost completely. A lot of people get dysfunctional in dull winters, I used to do that with a turbocharger. It got a LOT better from low carb/keto (what didn't?)

chris c wrote:He may be right that diet doesn't "cause" CVD but it sure as hell is part of the "treatment". Remains to be seen if he is just being provocative in the face of the likes of William Davis who have had major results in reversing plaque through diet and supplements.

He is trying to point to a direct cause for CVD which you will not find in one thing. But of the many factors diet has to be among the main one. The human body is a factory of chemicals and everything in the environment affect how the body function. One of the main interaction is with food from were the body obtain most of what it need to function. It is not possible that it may not have a very important role in disease. The problem is long term nutrient and diet research is almost impossible. Human are complex, have a long life span and to find direct cause you need to have people controlled for every variable. To that you add genetic variability and it will be very hard to pin point diet as the cause of CVD.

Yes I suspect the point he is making is that there may be a whole bunch of "causes" which end up at the same point, and are not necessarily the reciprocal of the best "treatment".

I have a picture of a railway station where trains arrive from all over the country. The announcer always says they have come from Cholesterol City but in fact none of them have.

Well Malcolm Kendrick posted on February 13th and then another on the 15th ...

The one on the 15th (Today) is

What causes heart disease part XXVI

" [Hold the front page]

Last night I watched a you tube presentation which completely astonished me. It was given by Professor Salim Yusuf, who is as mainstream as mainstream can possibly be. Here, from Wikipedia:

‘Salim Yusuf (born November 26, 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian physician, the Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University Medical School and currently the President of the World Heart Federation, a world-renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist. In 2001, he published a landmark study that proved the benefits of clopidogrel in acute coronary syndrome without ST elevation.’

Here, from Forbes magazine in 2012:

‘McMaster University’s Salim Yusuf has tied for second place in the annual ranking of the “hottest” scientific researchers, according to Thomson Reuter’s Science Watch. Yusuf was a co-author of 13 of the most cited papers in 2011. Only one other researcher, genomic pioneer Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of MIT, had more highly-cited papers than Yusuf.’1

On February the 12th he gave a presentation at a cardiology conference in Davos, Switzerland which can be seen on YouTube. In this presentation, he makes the following points:

1. Saturated fat does raise LDL, a bit, but has no effect on CVD – maybe slightly beneficial. Monounsaturated fats are slightly beneficial. Polyunsaturated fats are neutral.

2. Carbohydrate intake is most closely associated with CVD

3. Fruit and vegetable intake has little or no impact on CVD – nor does fish intake [He wonders where the five portions of fruit and vegetable intake recommendations actually came from]. Vegetables in particular have no benefit.

4. Legumes – beans and suchlike – are beneficial.

5. The recommendations on salt intake are completely wrong, and set far too low. For those who do not have high blood pressure, low salt intake increase mortality. On the other hand, high salt intake does no harm.

6. He recommends higher potassium intake.

7. He criticizes Ancel Keys and lauds Nina Teicholz [Author of big fat surprise].

Well, good for him. It seems to have taken him a long time to get there, but he did in the end. Of course, mainstream medicine will remain in shocked silence, so you will likely hear nothing of this in the mainstream media. But, hey, you get to see it here. Perhaps someone would like to send this presentation to the BHF and the AHA and ask them for a comment?"

The YouTube presentation is on Kendrick's blog here:

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/02/15/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxvi/

All the best Jan

Jan1 wrote:Well Malcolm Kendrick posted on February 13th and then another on the 15th ...

The one on the 15th (Today) is

What causes heart disease part XXVI

" [Hold the front page]

Last night I watched a you tube presentation which completely astonished me. It was given by Professor Salim Yusuf, who is as mainstream as mainstream can possibly be. Here, from Wikipedia:

‘Salim Yusuf (born November 26, 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian physician, the Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University Medical School and currently the President of the World Heart Federation, a world-renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist. In 2001, he published a landmark study that proved the benefits of clopidogrel in acute coronary syndrome without ST elevation.’

Here, from Forbes magazine in 2012:

‘McMaster University’s Salim Yusuf has tied for second place in the annual ranking of the “hottest” scientific researchers, according to Thomson Reuter’s Science Watch. Yusuf was a co-author of 13 of the most cited papers in 2011. Only one other researcher, genomic pioneer Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of MIT, had more highly-cited papers than Yusuf.’1

On February the 12th he gave a presentation at a cardiology conference in Davos, Switzerland which can be seen on YouTube. In this presentation, he makes the following points:

1. Saturated fat does raise LDL, a bit, but has no effect on CVD – maybe slightly beneficial. Monounsaturated fats are slightly beneficial. Polyunsaturated fats are neutral.

2. Carbohydrate intake is most closely associated with CVD

3. Fruit and vegetable intake has little or no impact on CVD – nor does fish intake [He wonders where the five portions of fruit and vegetable intake recommendations actually came from]. Vegetables in particular have no benefit.

4. Legumes – beans and suchlike – are beneficial.

5. The recommendations on salt intake are completely wrong, and set far too low. For those who do not have high blood pressure, low salt intake increase mortality. On the other hand, high salt intake does no harm.

6. He recommends higher potassium intake.

7. He criticizes Ancel Keys and lauds Nina Teicholz [Author of big fat surprise].

Well, good for him. It seems to have taken him a long time to get there, but he did in the end. Of course, mainstream medicine will remain in shocked silence, so you will likely hear nothing of this in the mainstream media. But, hey, you get to see it here. Perhaps someone would like to send this presentation to the BHF and the AHA and ask them for a comment?"

The YouTube presentation is on Kendrick's blog here:

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/02/15/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxvi/

All the best Jan

Thanks Jan , I've posted the video on the blog with a link to Kendrick's post

What causes heart disease ... 6th March 2017 these words (and more) were written

"Lumen: The lumen of the artery is the hole in the middle that the blood flows through.

The artery wall: The artery wall is made up of three layers: Endothelium/intima, media and adventitia

The endothelium: Usually thought of as a single layer of endothelial cells than line the lumen of the artery. [The layer may be more than one cell thick]. This layer of endothelium acts as a barrier to blood, or anything in the blood, leaking from the lumen into the artery wall. There is a bit of space, sometime called the intima just under the endothelial cells.

The media: This layer is mostly made up smooth muscle cells and elastic tissue. The muscle can contract or relax, depending on circumstances

The adventitia: This outermost layer is mainly made up of collagen. It is very strong and keeps the artery in shape.

The atherosclerotic plaque: The areas of thickening and narrowing of arteries (in heart disease). These are usually found between the endothelium and the media – smooth muscle layer. They lie beneath the endothelium – within the artery wall itself. The area often referred to as the intimal layer of the artery.

The elevator pitch
Various people who work in business tell me of something called the ‘elevator sales pitch’. So-called, because of a (highly unlikely) situation whereby you find yourself in an elevator (which we in the UK call a lift) with a rich, famous, person. You have a short space of time to outline your idea to them, what it is, what it means, and why it is of value. They then hand over a hundred million dollars to invest in you, and your idea. Or something like that anyway.

Whilst the elevator pitch is clearly a mythical beast, the general point is reasonable. You should be able – or you should at least attempt – to condense your ideas into a very short space of time, before people get bored and walk away. Well, clearly I have miserably failed on this, as I am now writing part twenty-seven of my idea(s) on heart disease. In truth, I am planning on the elevator breaking down for about ten hours between floors to give me the time needed.

Recently, though, I have been speaking to a number of people who have successful careers in business, music, the arts and suchlike. I have been trying out my elevator pitch on them. Admittedly the elevator I am thinking of is in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but I am trying. So, here goes. Doors close on the elevator. Me and Bill Gates… "

Yes Dr Kendrick is now on Part XXV11

Read more here
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/03/06/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxvii/

All the best Jan

Yes this was a good one in terms of summing up what all the other posts have been about.

Malcolm Kendrick says "Go for a walk in the sun and eat an orange – you will live forever."

Lots more to read of course than these fifteen words ...

What causes heart disease part XVIII

you'll find his post here

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/03/17/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xviii/

All the best Jan

I'll pass on the orange, but some coloured peppers and greens will probably do the trick.

Just seen this at Malcolm Kendrick's blog ...

"What causes heart disease – part XXIX

Alcohol
Many moons ago when I wrote The Great Cholesterol Con I provided a very short section at the end on what people should do, to avoid heart disease. It went something like this:

1: Do not smoke cigarettes (to which I would now add  – or anything else).
2: Take exercise – that you enjoy. Don’t try to drive yourself into the ground. Walking outside is particularly good, especially on a sunny day.
3: If you don’t drink alcohol, start. If you do drink, drink regularly – don’t binge drink – and make sure that you enjoy what you drink. Drink with friends, drink sociably, don’t drink to get drunk.
4: If you hate your job, get another one – don’t feel trapped.
5: Make a new friend, join a club, find an area of life that you enjoy. Praise other people and try to compliment other people more often.
6: Look forward to something enjoyable every day, every month, and longer term.

Not a very long list I admit, and even at the time I was aware that there were other things that could be done. However, I was reluctant to write yet another ‘ten ways to stop heart disease completely – forever (money back if you die)’ type of book. My sister was critical of my ‘advice free’ book. ‘People want to be told what to do.’was her terse comment. She is good at terse.

My view was that advice should be accepted by the bucketful, but only given out by the thimbleful. People need, I replied with the utmost pomposity, to make their own decisions about what to do with their lives, and not keep looking for some fluffed up latter day prophet to guide them. Not giving direct advice has the added advantage that you won’t get sued, or lose your license to practice medicine. Or at least, it makes it far less likely.

However, in my long and winding series on what causes heart disease I have popped in a few bits of advice along the way. In this particular blog, I am returning to my Great Cholesterol Con advice on alcohol. Whilst writing that book I had noticed, and have continued to notice, that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of dying of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Also, that non-drinkers generally have the shortest life expectancy. In short, if you don’t drink, start drinking.

The rest of the medical profession absolutely hates this message. At heart, you see, most of them are secret puritans. The idea that doing something enjoyable, might also be good for you, is just too much to bear.

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” H.L. Mencken

Which means that the medical profession have done their best to attack any evidence that alcohol may be good for you. The most common argument used to dismiss the fact that non-drinkers have the shortest life expectancy, is that they have some underlying illness that stops them drinking. It is the underlying illness that then causes them to die, and not the fact that they do not drink."

Much more to read here
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/04/01/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxix/

Excuse me as I pour a glass of wine ...

All the best Jan

Cheers!

Now there's a surprise Malcolm Kendrick's last post caused a stir - so he has done a follow up    

What causes heart disease part XXIX, part B.

"Alcohol – an update

My last blog on alcohol caused somewhat of a stir, as I suspected it would. To those who did not read it, I recommended that, from a cardiovascular health point of view, those who do not drink alcohol should start. I recommended this because there is strong evidence that moderate alcohol consumption significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease – and can also reduce overall mortality/increase life expectancy."



"Conclusion: to drink or not to drink?

‘It is not easy to answer this Hamlet’s question, because alcohol consumption is like a razor-sharp double-edged sword. Current guidelines of the American Heart Association (AHA) state that moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial for cardiovascular health, but the AHA clearly states that non-drinkers should not begin drinking alcohol in middle age due to possible counter-balancing ill consequences of alcohol consumption. Before the definitive decision prospective randomized blinded trials would be important: engage a large pool of non-drinkers, half of whom would commence a moderate drinking regimen, whilst the other half remained abstainers.

The two groups would be followed for years in a search for eventual differences in cardiovascular disease and heart-related deaths. First possible data were available in 2008. King et al observed that of 7697 participants who had no history of cardiovascular disease and were non-drinkers at baseline 6.0% began moderate alcohol consumption and 0.4% began heavier drinking.

After 4 years, new moderate drinkers had a 38% lower chance of developing CVD than did their persistently nondrinking counterparts. Those who began drinking moderately experience a relatively prompt benefit of lower rate of CVD morbidity with no change in mortality rates after 4 years. The collected data make a strong case of the cardiac benefit of controlled drinking.’3

Thank you and cheers. Not that I expect I will have convinced anyone who objected to my last article."

The above are just two snippets - read all the article here
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/04/16/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxix-part-b/

I'm still wondering how long these articles from Dr Kendrick are going to run, how many more parts?

All the best Jan

The problem is not all tipples have the same effect? Red Wine was recommended to be benificial but not white and spirits were/are a no no? D.

Derek wrote:The problem is not all tipples have the same effect?  Red Wine was recommended to be benificial but not white and spirits were/are a no no?  D.

I don't have a problem with spirits in moderation of course, just need to be careful with choice of mixers

graham64 wrote:

Derek wrote:The problem is not all tipples have the same effect?  Red Wine was recommended to be benificial but not white and spirits were/are a no no?  D.

I don't have a problem with spirits in moderation of course, just need to be careful with choice of mixers

I hate that old chestnut saying, all things in moderation, but when it comes to booze, it certainly applies. A couple of glasses of red wine never ever hurt anyone, and a large scotch before turning in ain't gonna kill anyone. It goes without saying, drinking and driving has sent many to an early grave. I'm lucky Jan is happy with non alcoholic drinks, when we are out at a pub or restaurant, and drives home usually. On special occasions like an anniversary or her birthday, she love exotic cocktails and I will have one glass of wine and drive home. The question arises, who is safest at the wheel, a half drunk man or a sober woman.

Getting me coat.

Eddie wrote:I hate that old chestnut saying, all things in moderation, but when it comes to booze, it certainly applies.

I didn't mention portion control though   but then I don't measure the spirits

It's like most things, a J curve or a U curve.

Which is also what you follow if you have one too many scrumpies.

More from the good Doctor!

What causes heart disease – part XXX

"Inflammation – or not
Over the last few years there has been a significant shift, from many researchers, towards the idea that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory process, to a greater or lesser extent. Below is a quote from a cardiac surgeon. A man who admits he was wrong about cholesterol being the main underlying cause CVD, so I can applaud him for that. He goes on to say:
‘Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.’
And so on and so forth. More recently, a friend and fellow cholesterol sceptic, Aseem Malhotra, was lead author on an article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine entitled: ‘Saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions.’

A major statin study called JUPITER, was designed to look at lowering C-reactive protein with rosuvastatin, to see if this would lower the risk of CVD – in those with low or normal cholesterol levels. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a non-specific marker of inflammation. To quote the lead investigator:"

... and to continue reading, use this link
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/06/06/what-causes-heart-disease-part-xxx/

All the best Jan

Can you believe that Dr Kendrick is now up to Part 31 in his mammoth What Causes Heart Disease Posts !!!

In case you haven't already seen it and would like to read further, here's the link to:

What causes heart disease – part thirty one (XXXI)

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/06/21/what-causes-heart-disease-part-thirty-one-xxxi/

From the start
"What is the final event?
(The upside down*)
The final event in most heart attacks, and strokes, is the development of a large, and often fatal, blood clot. If this happens in an artery in the heart, a coronary artery, it cuts off blood supply to an area of heart muscle and can lead to a myocardial infarction (MI) [myocardium = heart muscle, infarction = death of tissue due to lack of oxygen]."

To the end
"In short, there is only one process in CVD. It is the development of atherosclerotic plaques through repeated thrombus formation, followed by the final thrombus formation. As you can see this is actually very close to mainstream thinking. The only difference is that you have to flip your thinking through one hundred and eighty degrees, to see it upside down."

All the best Jan

Have you read Part 32 of Dr Kendrick's epic?

"What causes heart disease part thirty-two (XXXII)

Stress and heart disease
I have drifted around the issue of stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) for some time. For many years I pursued the idea that stress was the cause of CVD. Indeed, I had it all worked out, fitting all facts about CVD within this model. But…

I was at a conference in Saudi Arabia a few years ago, giving my ‘How stress causes CVD’ lectures, to great acclaim, or so I thought. However, Paul Rosch, who was also attending said to me, one evening at dinner. ‘It is all very well to show that stress is associated with heart disease, but you have not really established a mechanism.’

This, I realised, was true. I could show things such as the fact that severe depression can cause insulin resistance, even type II diabetes. Also, that depression is associated with a much higher rate of CVD, as are almost all metal health diseases. On average, someone with a mental illness can expect to die around twenty years earlier than those in the surrounding population.

I could show that psychosocial stress lead to Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal-axis [HPA-axis] dysfunction, which then drove the metabolic syndrome, with a much higher rate of CVD. The HPA-axis is the conductor of the entire ‘stress’ system."

More here
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/07/12/what-causes-heart-disease-part-thirty-two-xxxii/

All the best Jan

Ivor The Engineer Cummins (The Fat Emperor) has joined in. This is going to be good, Real Scientists discuss.

(goes off to prepare intravenous coffee)

chris c wrote:Ivor The Engineer Cummins (The Fat Emperor) has joined in. This is going to be good, Real Scientists discuss.

(goes off to prepare intravenous coffee)

I see it's now up to 134 replies, with many links.
Lots to read and digest ...

All the best Jan