Walter Willett: Do 2 Wrongs Make a Right?

Do 2 wrongs make a right?

Toast to the Scumbags
Kanye feat. Pusha T
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It is often funny all the things that so-called brilliant Harvard chairpeople say... Dr. Willett MD **like me** studied 'conventional' food science as an undergrad (him, Michigan State; me, UC Berkeley). I would guess that both our studies taught us nothing except he didn't get the low-fat agenda because that was prior to 1977. At least I believe I learned how to read nutritional studies... or in other words learned how to read between the lines. Mmmhh... Willett?? I'm not certain he would recognize 'bad science' since he is a premier epidemiologist... Is epidemiology a lost field?

That Paleo Guy aka Jamie Scott at his (newer) blog recently talked about Dr. Willett's apparent reversal on carbs when he was quoted in the LA Times HERE. I like Jamie's points of contention.

On one hand Dr. Willett defends tropical (fruit) saturated fats like coconut oil recognizing that 'coconut oil has a powerful HDL-boosting effect' (see HERE Harvard letter response #3) yet in half of an instant later he proposes that we 'fatten up our diets' to 40% with [HDL-lowering] PUFAs and monounsaturated oils like soybean, corn and canola and VEHEMENTLY eschews saturated fats to no more than a threshold level of maximum 8% daily. He's a strong proponent of replacing 5% of carbs with more PUFAs like corn, sun, soy, safflower oils and trans-fat free M-A-R-G-A-R-I-N-E. Yes. Lowering carbs will raise HDL. PUFAs on the other hand raise inflammatory and blood thickening markers and LOWER HDL-cholesterol levels. Omega-6 veggie oils are associated with death, all-cause mortality, cancer, infertility, obesity and chronic disease in epidemiology studies (if you are into those).


Eh? OMG Margarine isn't food!!! Even my children can tell you that.

COG DISSONANCE?

Let's blow up his pyramid which he describes in both Harvard literature and in his book 'Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy.' The pyramid on the L-side is from GILLIAN, a paleo blogger; the R-side, Dr. Willett, his book and Harvard propaganda. See below.

[Edit: credits, fixed grudgepudge -- Thank you gilliebean and Sean]


What do you notice?

Things I did enjoy, admittedly, about the Willett The Healthy Eating Pyramid:
--inclusion of alcohol (yes, and not for everyone)
--inclusion of micronutrients and vitamin D supplementation
--daily play and exercise as the base and foundation of good health
--sparing use of sweets, candy, sugar
--mod to heavy use of fish, poultry, eggs (for CHOLESTEROL, CHOLESTEROL, CHOLESTEROL, taurine, omega-3, choline, B-vits, iodine, selenium, minerals, other vital nutrients)



What I vehemently disagree with and that the scientific evidence backs up:
--lack of saturated fats and the brain building block, cholesterol
--lack of saturated fat sources which contain CLA, vitamin A, carotenoids, vitamin D, stigmasterol, and vitamin K2 (e.g. organ meats, red meat, fermented dairy, palm oil, etc)
--lack of saturated fats which raise HDLs and support the nervous and immune systems
--lack of red meat which our carnivore-like hunter-gatherer forebears thrived on
--excessive use of industrial mono- and polyunsaturated fats ('X' WRONG) which are industrial, overheated, over-solvented, pesticide-ridden crop byproducts
--reliance on whole-disease-inducing, gut-dysbiosing, phytate-, lectin-toxic grains ('X' WRONG)



In an article titled Time to Fatten Up Our Diet (Sept 2007), Dr. Willett advocates a higher fat diet of 40% with a maximum 8% saturated, leaving the rest monoun- and poly- (therefore I'd guestimate ~16% and ~16% respectively). WTF 16% OMEGA-6 POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS?? I'd consider max 4-6%/day and mostly omega-3s ALA EPA DHA.



Other resources:

o Epidemiological studies (which I don't like but hey here they are here):

--Higher omega-6 associated with insulin resistance in ACS, omega-3 better HOMA (insulin resistance)

--Higher omega-6 associated with more mental retardation

--Rural Okayama women: in city girls higher omega-6 (lower omega-3) associated with lower HDLs compared with rural women



o Prospective human clinical trials (good studies -- macronutrients carbs and protein held generally constant unless noted):

--n=41 healthy men and women: higher dietary omega-6 oils lower HDLs dramatically, saturated fat raises HDLs (see table 3)

--n=10 septic shock patients in the ICU: n-6 lipid infusion impaired and worsened neutrophil function compared with n-3 lipid infusions. Not good in non-septic individuals either...

--n=26 healthy men: increasing omega-6 (linoleic acid, LA) increases CRP and IL-6 (inflammatory markers) though not statistically significant this time. Raising dietary omega-6 also lowers omega-3 RBC EPA levels (e.g. this is a BAD thing). The high n-6 diet produces the lowest protective HDL2 subfractions compared with n-3 and saturated fat. See table 3, 2nd column is I believe n-6 diet. HDL2 are the large, fluffy HDLs and most disease-protective 'good cholesterol' subfraction. Raising HDL2 is always good (unless it's a drug like the lethal torcetrapib and its cousins). The high saturated fat diet produced the lowest Lp(a) and von Willebrand factor (pro-inflammatory) levels. Omega-3 specifically raises HDL2.

--n=11 healthy men: @constant calories, low fat diet v. high fat raised VLDL and Triglycerides HERE. Low fat however did lowered omega-6 (LA) blood levels which may be the only perceived benefit if you discount the negative consequences (higher sdLDL and Trigs).

--n=58 healthy men and women: high n-6 diet (12.7% sunflower oil) produces the lowest HDL2 subfraction (p < 0.05). Wheras, baseline high saturated fat (19.3%) diet produces the best, highest HDLs. Isn't that a surprise. Authors conclusions [LOVE THIS] 'Both diets [15.1% mono-/rapeseed and 12.7% polyunsaturated/sunflower] lowered the level of HDL cholesterol in men but not in women.' *haa aha!* Sunflower oil will kill men faster than women! These authors are advanced. They also measured stigmasterol dietary content (see Table 2). Yes rapeseed contains stigmasterol. However. I'd prefer to obtain my stigmasterol pre-digested from grass-fed, pastured bovine, porcine and poultry sources (ghee, meat, egg yolks, etc), thankyouverymuchyoudietaryMORONS. See WAPF about stigmasterol=Wulzen Factor: the skinny on fats.

--n=15 Free living, college female students: both mutant soybean and commercial soybean oil diets significantly diminished HDLs compared with coconut oil in 3wk staggered feedings. 35% fat diet; did carbs go down? I dunno can't tell from the abstract. Trigs did so I suspect so. High fat usually translates to lower carbs (which should RAISE HDLs unless you are pounding soybean oil at 10% of dietary energy wtf).


o Good Calories, Bad Calories by G. Taubes -- description of Harvard, a playing field for the stalwarts of the low saturated fat dogma-drama that began with Ancel Keys (and his falsification/omission of critical data) and continuing with Harv-tard Dr. Frederick J. Stare MD, whose bed partners included all the big, refined, processed food industry leaders and lobbyists (Nabisco, Kellogg, etc).

o Interview by Taubes of Walter Willett for ScienceWatch

o Prior animal pharm in support of saturated fats from animals and tropical oils (hey our HDLs increased >> 100 mg/dl -- pharmaceuticals cannot compare) : Benefits of Sat Fats series