Amgen Agrees to Pay $762 Million in Drug Marketing Case !

In recent years, drug companies have paid out billions in fines to settle various federal, state and civil lawsuits.

Among the charges is promoting drugs illegally for off label use, which is common, even when it puts patients lives at risk.

It's been said that imposing fines – even those that approach $1 billion or more – is simply not enough to deter this type of criminal behavior, as the drug company executives sitting at the helm are not held personally accountable (or subject to personal prosecution) and jail time.

This appears to be precisely the case, as time and time again drug companies are allowed to promote drugs for uses that could actually harm patients, or engage in other illegal, criminal activities, and they receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist as punishment.

Two drug giants, Amgen and Sanofi, are the latest to add hundreds of millions in settlement monies to the growing stash …

According to one U.S. attorney, Amgen was "pursuing profits at the risk of patient safety"¹ by selling and promoting the drug for unapproved uses. Prosecutors alleged that Amgen had promoted the anemia drug Aranesp to treat cancer patients not undergoing chemotherapy (the drug is only approved for those receiving chemotherapy). A later Amgen study actually showed that giving cancer patients who were not receiving chemo Aranesp increased their risk of death.

The company also was federally charged with promoting larger, but less frequent, injections of Aranesp as a way to edge out competing drugs – even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had turned down Amgen's requests for this approval, citing inadequate safety studies. In fact, one study actually found giving the drug at higher doses may increase cardiovascular risks …

Other fines and other large settlements.

More here.

Diabetes Remission Possible with Diet, and Exercise !

By Dr. Mercola

It has taken decades, but medical professionals are finally starting to give diet and exercise for the prevention and reversal of type 2 diabetes some well-deserved attention.

"... the new study can give people with the disease hope that through lifestyle changes, they could end up getting off medication and likely lowering their risk of diabetes-related complications," Reuters Health reports.¹

The research,² also featured by MedPage Today,³ demonstrates that diet and physical activity are the answer diabetics have been searching for, which is exactly what I've been teaching since I started this web site, 16 years ago.

It's worth noting that I do not at all agree with some of the dietary recommendations given to the participants in this study. For example, I believeincluding healthy saturated fats and avoiding processed liquid meal replacements would be a wise move.

 Once you understand that, the remedy becomes clear: To reverse the disease, you need to recover your body's insulin and leptin sensitivities. The ONLY way to accomplish this is through proper diet and exercise, as detailed in my free Nutrition Plan. Bariatric surgery, which is being increasingly recommended as a diabetes treatment, will NOT do the trick, and there is NO drug that can correct leptin signaling and insulin resistance... Adhering to the following guidelines can help you do at least three things that are essential for successfully treating diabetes: recover your insulin/leptin sensitivity; normalize your weight; and normalize your blood pressure:

• Severely limit or eliminate sugar and grains in your diet, especially fructose which is far more detrimental than any other type of sugar. Following my Nutrition Plan will help you do this without too much fuss.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, and without it, you're unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance. If you're unsure of how to get started, I recommend reviewing my Peak Fitness program for tips and guidelines.
• Avoid trans fats.
• Get plenty of omega-3 fats from a high quality, animal-based source, such as krill oil.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Recent studies have revealed that getting enough vitamin D can have a powerful effect on normalizing your blood pressure and that low vitamin D levels may increase your risk of heart disease.
• Optimize your gut flora. Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad. Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the better your body will function overall. Fortunately, optimizing your gut flora is relatively easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by eating fermented foods (such as fermented vegetables, natto, raw organic cheese, or raw milk kefir) or by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement.
• Address any underlying emotional issues and/or stress. Non-invasive tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique can be helpful and effective.
• Get enough high-quality sleep every night.
• Monitor your fasting insulin level. This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You'll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 and 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin sensitivity is.

More here.

Diabetes.co.uk Where have all the antis gone ?

For years a small group of lowcarb antis virtually lived on DCUK. Some were logged in 18 hours a day. Over the years they wore down countless lowcarb activists. Many low carbers were banned, it’s all well documented on this blog. Of course the antis weren’t looking to wind up the pro lowcarb diabetics, they were just trying to offer a balanced view and help people. It was those lowcarb fanatics and ‘feorists’ that were the problem.

Most of the last wave of the most vocal lowcarb activists were banned a few months ago and set up their own forum. The lowcarb antis had the place to themselves, now they could spread the true word, untainted by those evangelical lowcarb reprobates. But they haven’t, Jopar, Phoenix and the cherub are very rarely seen over there these days. The Bonkers one still wanders in now and again, when his back is playing up, to insult a few people or give the members the benefit of his vast knowledge, and his side kick Nobhead still posts his meaningless one liners. One thing is for sure, DCUK has become a very boring place, and the antis have proved beyond doubt, helping people was never ever top of their agenda.

Eddie

The good guys are now here.

This is not a joke ! Pharmacists should fit IUDs, say MPs.

"Pharmacies should be allowed to provide contraception and fit intrauterine devices (IUDs) in a bid to tackle unplanned pregnancies, says a report from MPs.

The cross-party inquiry of MPs into why terminations have risen over the past decade concluded that CCGs should commission providers such as pharmacies to widen access to long- and short-acting contraception, particularly in older women."

Check out the comments for a larf !

Eddie

More here.

Fat and sugar are just as deadly as cigarettes !

3 January, 2013

Fat and sugar are just as deadly as cigarettes

Camilla Cavendish 

Britain is second only to America for obesity. Relying on education alone has failed – now we must ban trans fats 

Britain is getting bigger: and not in a good way. We’re biggest in Wales, apparently, where I have just spent a few days visiting a sick relative in a hospital groaning under the burden of overweight patients and staff. I felt like the Ancient Mariner, wanting to grab some and say: “Don’t you realise you’re heading for an early death?” Diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer: all we’ve done, it seems, is to replace the miserable diseases of smoking with the grim diseases of obesity.

It has become normal to be fat. That is what I read into a new report by the Royal College of Physicians, which says that the UK is now the world’s most obese country after America. A quarter of all adults are obese and one in five of 10-year-old children. To be classed as obese, a 5ft 6in woman has to weigh 13½ stone. An obese 10-year-old boy weighs 110lb, not the 70 he should weigh. That’s an affront to nature.

The report urges the NHS to tackle the problem by stapling more gastric bands into people’s stomachs; by putting more emphasis on obesity in medical degrees; by confronting patients with information. Yet our society is drowning in leaflets. There can be scarcely anyone who hasn’t heard of “five a day”. In America, the dramatic increase in obesity has slowed a bit, possibly as a result of health education, but is still rising.

Rather than expecting the NHS to pump out more messages to people who don’t seem to listen or to operate on people so grotesquely overweight that extra-large beds must be built for them, we should consider banning some of the worst substances that have insinuated themselves into our food.

One is trans fats. These are cheap industrial substances that prolong the shelf-life of products such as cereal, doughnuts, processed meat, ready meals and crisps, and give them more bulk or texture. Hydrogenation turns liquid vegetable oils into harder substances that clog our arteries and are associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and the increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. They were named as a toxin by the World Health Organisation in 2009.

Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Seattle, California and New York City have banned trans fats or reduced them to an absolute minimum. But the UK Government has merely urged the food industry to act. Waitrose, M&S and other companies have eliminated trans fats from their own brand products. But they remain in other ranges, and in corner shops, kebab stalls, takeaways. The result is an increasing inequality between what the rich and poor consume — where you shop dictates what you eat. This persuades me, as someone who usually loathes banning things, that some people are being virtually condemned to be ill. Dr Alex Richardson, of Oxford University, has suggested that trans fats may even affect mental performance and increase aggression.

I have just looked to see how many trans fats lurk in my kitchen. A packet of crackers states reassuringly that it contains 0g of trans fat. But it lists “shortening” (hydrogenated vegetable oil)” as an ingredient. That is trans fat. If manufacturers are still misleading even conscientious consumers, the Government is being nowhere near tough enough with the food industry.

Low-fat foods are another problem. For years the Government has encouraged people to eat them. Yet many are stuffed with sugar and refined carbohydrates (including, in some cases, those same hydrogenated fats). Many low-fat fizzy drinks and other products contain high-fructose corn syrup, which has been linked to diabetes, insulin-resistance and obesity because people drink so much of it and because fructose is converted to fat quite quickly in the body. Even “no sugar” drinks contain chemical alternatives, designed to satisfy the craving for sweetness: the aspartame in Diet Coke is sweeter than natural sugar and may mimic sugar in increasing the craving for other sweet things.

In his book Fat Chance, the US paediatric endocrinologist Professor Robert Lustig argues that sugar, not fat, is the main cause of American obesity. He argues that sugar is as addictive as nicotine, because it switches on the same hormonal pathways that “reward” behaviour. Low blood sugar affects mood, concentration and the ability to inhibit impulse. Eating or drinking something sugary reverses the effect: but if the pattern is repeated for long enough it results in insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Professor Lustig believes that it is not possible for most people to quit through willpower: that has been eroded by the cycle of craving.

This strikes me as extremely plausible. It would explain why so many people trying to do the right thing by eating low-fat products are still fat. It would explain why telling some people to shape up only sends them into a spiral of comfort-eating gloom. We all know how much sugar cravings are accentuated by eating sugar. Since I had my third child I have found myself drawn to the office kiosk most days at around 4pm, staring at the chocolate muffins and no longer finding solace in a banana. I used to be very strict about this and couldn’t understand why other people caved in. But I have got into a cycle that is unstoppable unless I go cold turkey on all forms of sugar for at least two weeks. This is despite my being an educated, genetically thin person with a high metabolism.

The comparison that Professor Lustig draws between nicotine and sugar also leads me to wonder if people who quit smoking have simply turned to sugar for an alternative high. Recent research published in The British Medical Journal suggests that people gain more weight when they stop smoking than had previously been thought. It looks more and more likely that we have simply swapped one vice, nicotine, for another, obesity.

Are we destined to self-destruct? Not necessarily. It seems particularly terrible to me that small children are developing type 2 diabetes because of what their parents feed them.

That must be stopped. And not just through persuasion, but by reducing our exposure to processed foods. There is no reason for offices, schools or hospitals to contain vending machines full of fizzy drinks and chocolate, any more than there is for them to sell cigarettes. There is no reason other than profit for any food to contain trans fats or, I suspect, high-fructose corn syrup. In serving up low-fat meals and artificial sweeteners, the food industry has partly been jumping to officialdom’s tune. But if some processed foods are as addictive and dangerous as nicotine, we must come down much harder on a temptation that is afflicting the nation — and the poor — as badly as cigarettes.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/camillacavendish/article3646395.ece

Graham

'Weight is healthy' study criticised !

A study which suggests being overweight can lead to a longer life has caused controversy among obesity experts.

One labelled the findings a "pile of rubbish" while another said it was a "horrific message" to put out.

The research, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested the overweight were less likely to die prematurely than people with a "healthy" weight.

Other experts criticised the research methods.

"Some portion of those thin people are actually sick, and sick people tend to die sooner," according to Donald Berry, from the University of Texas

Dr Walter Willett, from the Harvard School of Public Health said: "This is an even greater pile of rubbish" than a study conducted by the same group in 2005.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum in the UK, said: "It's a horrific message to put out at this particular time.

More here.

What a difference 24 hours can make !

“You are awesome and you perform a public service. I don't know how I found this website, but finding it saved my sanity.”

"At least when carbsane goes off, we can give  her a pass because she is really fat and has lost some weight, so one might say she is entitled to her perspective even if it may be wrong." 

Same person different blog !

Diana, where would I be without you, Give us a wink and make me think of you ! 


Eddie

http://itsthewooo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/readin-comments-at-omg-pocalypse-at.html

William T Neville, General Practitioner. Another enlightened Medical Professional.

In December 2012 the British Medical Journal published a study regarding weight loss and low fat diets. It is a very detailed study and concluded the average weight loss amounted to 1.6kg. Hardly significant when you look at the growing obesity epidemics in many countries across the world. William T Neville, General Practitioner commented on the study and we publish his letter in full below. Normally we publish a short extract of other peoples work and give a link to the full or main article. For us lowcarb diabetics this letter illustrates concisely and exactly what we believe, and have proved to be successful for controlling our weight and type two diabetes beyond all reasonable doubt over almost five years.

Eddie

The study

Effect of reducing total fat intake on body weight: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies.http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e7666

10 December 2012

The comment

William T Neville, General Practitioner

This study confirms that reducing fat in the diet is of no benefit. A loss of just 1.6kg is of no significance to an overweight person. There is much research evidence that the best way to lose weight is to reduce carbohydrates at the same time as increasing fat from animal sources.

The mechanisms are well described by several authors [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin. Insulin stimulates fat storage. The amount of calories in food is irrelevant. Exercise does nothing for weight loss. Reducing carbohydrate intake reduces insulin levels and this allows fat to be metabolised. The start of the obesity epidemic can be dated to 14 January 1977 when Senator George McGovern announced publication of the first “Dietary Goals for the United States” which advised reduced fat consumption. People throughout the world cut out fat. Instead they ate more carbohydrates and obesity has increased ever since.

Trials comparing different diets show carbohydrate restriction to work best. An example is the Stanford A – Z trial [7]. The lead author, a vegetarian, described the result as a bitter pill to swallow. The success of any diet depends primarily on the degree to which carbohydrate intake is reduced.

There are other causes of obesity. Grains are the main source of carbohydrates and contain built in insecticide anti-nutrients called lectins. Amongst many harmful effects lectins bind irreversibly to insulin receptors and stimulate fat storage. Another action of lectins is to block the action of leptin, a hormone that increases satiety. The protein Gliadin in wheat attaches to opiate receptors in the brain which increases apatite [8]. Vegetable oils cause obesity because they have high levels of linoleic acid, an omega 6 fatty acid. A high ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in cell walls results in stiffening of the cell wall and reduced numbers of insulin receptors. This leads to insulin resistance which causes weight gain. Sugar does not just represent empty calories [9]. The fructose component causes drastic metabolic changes such as hyperinsulinaemia with resulting obesity.

Eating more animal fat may increase cholesterol levels and people wrongly fear this will cause heart disease. Several well referenced books demolish the theory that cholesterol levels are related to heart disease [10, 11, 12, 13]. Meta-analysis confirms that saturated fat is harmless [14]. In fact, throughout Europe countries with the highest saturated fat intake have the lowest heart disease rates. France in not the only paradox [15]. A recent trial in Norway concluded, “clinical and public health recommendations regarding the ‘dangers’ of cholesterol should be revised” [16]. Heart disease is strongly associated with low HDL and high triglycerides. A low carbohydrate diet dramatically increases HDL and lowers triglyceride. Vegetable oils do, however, cause heart disease. A 1965 paper in the BMJ showed a high death rate from coronary heart disease with olive oil or corn oil and a low death rate with saturated fat [17].

An entertaining summary of the evidence can be found in a lecture given at the 2011 Ancestral Health Symposium about the Low Carb High Fat Diet, LCHF, followed by one third of the population of Sweden with good results [18].

The article in the BMJ is an excellent summary of the effect of a low fat diet. An achievement of only 1.6kg in weight loss demonstrates that we have been going in the wrong direction for 35 years. Advising increased consumption of animal fat and reduced carbohydrate to lose weight is probably too much of a paradigm shift for most people to accept. Having advised the opposite for a generation, many health professionals would need to overcome major cognitive dissonance if they were to adopt this change. Increasing numbers are altering their views and it is to be hoped that more will follow.

References:

1. The Diet Delusion ("Good Calories Bad Calories" in USA) by Gary Taubes

2. Why we get fat and what to do about it by Gary Taubes
3. http://vimeo.com/channels/418298/54861706, Talk by Gary Taubes
4. Big Fat Lies, is your government making you fat? By Hannah Sutter,http://www.bigfatlies.co.uk5. The Obesity Epidemic, What caused it? How can we stop it? by Zoe Harcombe
6. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Jeff S Volek PhD RD and Stephen D Phinney MD PhD
7. The A to Z Weight Loss Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA. 2007;297:969-977
8. Wheat Belly by William Davis MD
9. http://uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=16717, Sugar: the Bitter Truth
10. The Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick
11. Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You by Uffe Ravnskov
12. Ignore the Awkward, how cholesterol myths are kept alive by Uffe Ravnskov
13. The Great Cholesterol Myth by Jonny Bowden
14. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease, Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar;91(3):535-46. Epub 2010 Jan 13.
15. http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/10/02/the-french-paradox-is-not-a-paradox, online study by Dr John Briffa
16. Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 study, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical PracticeVolume 18, Issue 1, Article first published online: 25 SEP 2011,http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01767.x/pdf17. Corn Oil in Treatment of Ischaemic Heart Disease, Rose et al, Brit. med. J., 1965, 1, 1531-1533
18. http://vimeo.com/29464690, LCHF diet

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e7666/rr/619241

Being overweight could add years to a person's life, scientists suggest.

People who pile on the pounds are less likely to die early than their slender peers, the study found.

Researchers said one reason could be that fatter people were more likely to visit the doctor than healthier looking individuals.

However, the study, which examined the cases of around three million adults, found the beneficial effect was cancelled for people who were seriously obese.

Dr Katherine Flegal, of the National Centre for Health Statistics in the United States, found that people who are overweight had a six per cent lower risk of death than normal weight people.

The risk for those with a BMI (body mass index) of between 30 and 35 fell by five per cent. But those grossly obese with a BMI above 35 were 29 per cent more likely to die than slim people of the same age.

More here.

Pass the sick bags around !

From Diana AKA it’s the WOOO at The Scribble Pad blog commenting on Carbsane’s blog today.


“You are awesome and you perform a public service. I don't know how I found this website, but finding it saved my sanity.”

Oh dear, if you need Carbsane to save your sanity, how f**ked up do you need to be ? I love some American blogs.

Eddie

Carbsane, David Duke and other haters !

Evelyn Kocur AKA Carbsane has gone into meltdown, and at the moment is at DEFCON 2, anther couple of days should see DEFCON 1. As reported here, and all over the lowcarb and Paleo blog world, Jimmy Moore is the hottest news around this week. See the post below. I had never heard of David Duke until this story exploded, but I learned of the KKK many years ago. It seems to me the KKK and the likes of Duke are haters. They hate black people, they hate Jews, I expect the list of who racists hate is long. I don’t think it would be wrong to describe them as extreme haters, which brings me to Evelyn Kocur.

Over the last few days she and some of her supporters have taken hatred to a level I have never seen on blogs or forums. One quote from her blog this weekend. "And if you think LCHF-Paleo = the new Hitler Youth sounds inflammatory, that is where this is headed if the supposedly upstanding members don't speak up and speak out for once and for all!" This was a rallying call for Jimmy’s friends and associates to disown him, a big mistake. Evelyn thinks people will feel some sense of guilt by association, that they will be labelled racists and the lowcarb movement will be derailed, and the messengers discredited. Nothing could be further from the truth. For straight thinking people all know, the lowcarb message of salvation is far more important and far bigger than any Doctor, blogger or writers of books.

You can say what you like about Jimmy Moore, and plenty of people over the last few days have had much to say. One thing Jimmy is not, is a hater. Even Evelyn said recently “For the record, I don't believe Jimmy is a neo-Nazi or a white supremacist or any of that.  I don't think he was doing any recruiting or anything like that by going on Duke's show or linking to his blog” that seems to be what most people are saying, and that’s what I believe. One things for sure, I will be eternally grateful I am not inside Evelyn Kocur’s head.

Eddie

Diabetes UK criticises "lost year" of diabetes healthcare

Diabetes UK has branded 2012 a "lost year" for diabetes healthcare after a new survey suggested there has been almost no improvement to people’s standard of care over the past 12 months.

Of the 6,310 people who took part in the survey, 85 per cent said their healthcare had either stayed the same or worsened over the last year, while just 11 per cent said it had improved.

View the full 2012 Diabetes UK care survey results.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" Einstein

DUK do the same thing year after year with their promotion of a high carb low fat diet. The NHS ADA et al also flog the diet of slow death and they are surprised no progress is ever made.

Results for England. The National Diabetes Audit 2010-2011
Percentage of registered Type 1patients in England
HbA1c >= 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) = 92.6%
HbA1c > 7.5% (58 mmol/mol) = 71.3%
HbA1c > 10.0% (86 mmol/mol) = 18.1%

Percentage of registered Type 2 patients in England
HbA1c >= 6.5% (48 mmol/mol = 72.5%
HbA1c > 7.5% (58 mmol/mol) = 32.6%
HbA1c >10.0% (86 mmol/mol) = 6.8%

Eddie

Wishing you a Happy New Year

On behalf of the team at Low Carb Diabetic I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year.

Graham

Please check out our other sites.

                            www.lowcarbdietsandrecipes.blogspot.com                        

                                   www.lowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com

                                 www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk/index.htm

Half of NHS staff are overweight or obese and should consider surgery in order to set a better example for patients, a report will say.

NHS organisations must do more to ensure the health and well-being of their staff as this can impact on patient care, the working group at the Royal College of Physicians said.

Overweight and obesity levels among the 1.4m NHS staff mirror that of the general population in that almost half are considered to heavy.

Yet a recent report found less than one in ten trusts had a plan or policy to reduce obesity amongst staff approved by the board.

NHS organisations should implement guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on health improvement among staff just the same as other workplaces, it said.

John Wass, author of the new report told the Sunday Times: “We want to make sure that people who working in the hospital health service are exposed to the ability to get help where they need it, because a lot of them are overweight.”

More here.

Jimmy Moore, Carbsane and Nazis !

As regulars on this blog know we like and support Jimmy Moore. He helped us dispose of a wacko forum moderator on the UK’s largest diabetes forum. A moderator who attacked and banned a good friend of ours (and many others) Dr.Jay Wortman. Jay is a Canadian Doctor and type two diabetic who uses and spreads the lowcarb word at every opportunity. As Jimmy has helped us we believe in loyalty. Without loyalty, what’s left ?

One of Jimmy’s staunchest critics, Evelyn Kocur AKA Carbsane can hardly contain herself with her latest attack on Jimmy. A few weeks ago Jimmy was a guest on a podcast with a man called David Duke. Duke is racist and in my opinion a complete nutter. He is an ex Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. If you are young and not American you may not remember the KKK. Take my word for it, they were a large outfit and highly dangerous. So warped and twisted Hitler would have been proud of them. The KKK were responsible for many crimes including murder. They were cowards and hid behind hooded masks when holding meetings and carrying out their racist crimes. OK you’ve got the picture, so what was a guy like Jimmy doing getting involved with the likes of Duke ?

In my opinion it was a mistake, a big mistake. Evelyn Kocur knows this and states on her blog “For the record, I don't believe Jimmy is a neo-Nazi or a white supremacist or any of that.  I don't think he was doing any recruiting or anything like that by going on Duke's show or linking to his blog” so why all the excitement and Evelyn’s wet dream ? Because she is a failure. She can’t control her weight or her mouth. She stands for nothing, very much like my nemesis Carbophile. Jimmy is liked because he is a human being that talks openly about his success and failures. He is far from perfect, just like the rest of us. Our money is on Jimmy, he is an open and honest guy. What you see is what you get ! What is Evelyn ? Why is she dedicating her life to the rubbishing of Jimmy and others ? Why can’t she get to a healthy weight ? That’s easy, lack of self discipline and she eats too much ! She can certainly talk the talk, but she can’t walk the walk ! 

Eddie

Carbsane blog here.

From Jimmy tonight.

Let me be VERY clear–I DO NOT AGREE WITH DAVID DUKE ON ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES NUTRITION!

In fact, a couple of weeks after I was on his radio show, the producers of his radio show contacted me again and said they enjoyed having me on the first time and wanted me to come back again to discuss other issues outside the realm of diet and health. I refused because my passion is nutrition and healthy living. In no way does my appearance on “The David Duke Show” imply that I am in agreement with his very extreme and hurtful beliefs about anything else which I have discovered doing research into his work these past few days. Yikes! No wonder people are so up in arms about this which is why I quickly removed links to his web site from my blog as soon as I realized exactly who he was and why I decided to write this blog post today. By no means did I ever intend to promote the non-nutritional beliefs of this man and anyone who knows me personally wouldn’t even question this. Again, those few vindictive Jimmy Moore haters out there will use whatever glimmer of opportunity they can muster up to try to destroy the good that I’m doing.

Jimmy's blog here.

Fontella Bass has died RIP.

The American soul singer, Fontella Bass, best remembered for the hit single Rescue Me, has died of complications following a heart attack. She was 72. A great soul record when I was a kid. RIP Fontella.

Eddie

Saturday night is music night !

Personalized Prediction of Lifetime Benefits with Statin Therapy for Asymptomatic Individuals: A Modeling Study

Abstract

Background

Physicians need to inform asymptomatic individuals about personalized outcomes of statin therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, current prediction models focus on short-term outcomes and ignore the competing risk of death due to other causes. We aimed to predict the potential lifetime benefits with statin therapy, taking into account competing risks.

Methods and Findings

A microsimulation model based on 5-y follow-up data from the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort of individuals aged 55 y and older living in the Ommoord district of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was used to estimate lifetime outcomes with and without statin therapy. The model was validated in-sample using 10-y follow-up data. We used baseline variables and model output to construct (1) a web-based calculator for gains in total and CVD-free life expectancy and (2) color charts for comparing these gains to the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) charts. In 2,428 participants (mean age 67.7 y, 35.5% men), statin therapy increased total life expectancy by 0.3 y (SD 0.2) and CVD-free life expectancy by 0.7 y (SD 0.4). Age, sex, smoking, blood pressure, hypertension, lipids, diabetes, glucose, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and creatinine were included in the calculator. Gains in total and CVD-free life expectancy increased with blood pressure, unfavorable lipid levels, and body mass index after multivariable adjustment. Gains decreased considerably with advancing age, while SCORE 10-y CVD mortality risk increased with age. Twenty-five percent of participants with a low SCORE risk achieved equal or larger gains in CVD-free life expectancy than the median gain in participants with a high SCORE risk.

Conclusions

We developed tools to predict personalized increases in total and CVD-free life expectancy with statin therapy. The predicted gains we found are small. If the underlying model is validated in an independent cohort, the tools may be useful in discussing with patients their individual outcomes with statin therapy.

Full article http://www.plosmedicine.org/article

Graham

Seasonal greetings and peace to all.

Seasonal greetings and a healthy and happy New Year

Thank you to all the people that take the time to read our blog. A special thank you to the people that take the time and trouble to comment, much appreciated.

The lowcarb diabetic team.

                        

Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Bob Dylan - It Must Be Santa !

Not what you would expect from Bob Dylan but hey it's Christmas.
Graham

Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends

Saturday night is music night. Check this out, one of the all time governors still going strong playing with the best musicians around. Check out the drummer, certainly no slouch and one of  the best live snare drum sounds I have ever heard. Eddie

Quotes of the year !

Looking back at some of the great quotes of the last year.

“The attacks are from a certain quarter and certain people.....I will always go on the offensive where they are concerned. They are SCUM......and why any right minded person would want anything to do with the idiot Eddie Mitchell and his pack of rabid Dog's is beyond me.” Ken aka Cugila aka too many names to mention.

"There's a faction on the forum trying their best to disrupt the forum and spoil it for the many, hopefully the Admin will remove these threads and we can all get back to normal and begin helping one another and welcoming newbie’s to the forum, goodness knows what the forum looks like today for people looking in for the first time" Nobhead

"Choking the chicken won't satisfy all my paleo needs...." Borofergie at the forum of flog.

"I wouldn't discuss food with most dieticians, let alone drugs" Grazer on the flog.

“I grant that this does seem to be one of the biggest forums. But it isn't the best forum at all... IMHO it's far from it. As to a doctor recommending this site. If my diabetic team or my GP recommended me to join here. I resign from their care from immediate effect as I would have no faith in them at all.” Jopar at the flog.

And the quote of the decade goes to Borofergie talking to Kenny boy aka Angeleyes. On the flog.

“Please accept my profuse apologies Angeleyes. I was confusing you with a fat ex-copper that used to be a mod on here”

Paul DeFeo wins Time Magazine Man of the year award

The world of diabetes was left stunned today, when Time Magazine, rolled out their annual man of the year award in New York. Regarded by many, as one of the most prestigious awards, this year went to relative newcomer Paul DeFeo. Although beset with some major personal battles this year Paul found time to take on lowcarb anti miscreants and help others. At the award ceremony today, Roger ‘Keto Warrior’ Jenkins stated “Paul is always cheerful and making a major contribution in the fight against dietary stupidity” 

Jenkins long time sidekick Monty Beantipper could not attend due to him being on remand and currently residing in Brixton Prison. It is alleged Beantipper masterminded the recent arson attack at the Celebrations Chocolate Factory in Barrow-in-Furness. Long term anti and Celebrations aficionado Sid Bonkers said, “due to Beantipper my Christmas has been completely knackered” However Sid’s mates at DCUK have sent him a pallet of Hobnobs to help him through the Yuletide holiday.

The Sun