Wolfbrother's questions answered.

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Could you provide a link to that interview with Mary Enig
you mentioned? I use a little coconut oil, but even more
shredded coconut, which is much less expensive (I buy 25
pound bags, then grind it down even more, and you can then
add it to all kinds of things as a flavor enhancer). The way
they get away with making ridiculous claims in
epidemiological studies is by using selective endpoints. For
example,I saw a TV commercial for one of the most common
osteoporosis drugs, and they said that this drug increases
bone mass. They did not say that it prevents more fractures
than taking placebo, nor did they say that it increases bone
density, which is the most important thing, to my knowledge.
But because the “endpoint” was determined to be only bone
mass, they get away with telling people how great their
product is. This sort of thing is typical – going on all
around us, all the time. There’s an interesting study I
mentioned in one of the two recent posts about butter being
beneficial to bone growth, whereas arachidonic acid’s
metabolites are inhibitors. In the case of “saturated fat,”
if you classify lard as a “saturated fat,” even though it’s
only 39% SFAs and highly subject to free radical degradation
(due to all the unsaturated fatty acids and no significant
antioxidant content), and on top of that only concern
yourself with whether a food lowers or raises either total
serum cholesterol or LDL (and ignore the reality that only
oxidized cholesterol is the problem, so you can have high
cholesterol as long as it is not oxidized, and this seems to
be the healthiest of all possible situations regarding one’s
cholesterol) as your “endpoint” you can claim that
“saturated fat” is unhealthy. Of course, they look stupid to
those who have read the studies demonstrating how healthy
people are who use fresh coconut as dietary staples, but
most people are unaware of these studies – our great
“science journalists” seem to have someone missed this point
in their rush to tell us how great a new drug that extends
the life of terminally-ill cancer patients two months (18
months instead of 16, though they don’t talk of the side-
effects). – that’s a true story in Newsday newspaper a week
or so ago – it was hailed by the scientist interviewed as a
“major victory.” I’ll take a “loss” with coconut oil (that
is, higher, but non-oxidized serum cholesterol levels) and
let them have as many “victories” as they want, if that’s
what they define as a victory.

Here’s just one of the studies that discusses how dangerous
arachidonic acid can be under normal conditions in your
body, if you eat more than a small amount of omega 6 PUFAs:

Cell Biochemistry and Function Volume 21, Issue 2 ,
Pages 97 - 104

Published Online: 23 Apr 2003

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Review Article

Arachidonic acid cytotoxicity: can arachidonic acid be a
physiological mediator of cell death? Celine Pompeia 1 *,
Thais Lima 2, Rui Curi 2 Abstract: Arachidonic acid is a
polyunsaturated fatty acid that mediates inflammation and
the functioning of several organs and systems either
directly or upon its conversion into eicosanoids. However,
arachidonic acid is found to be cytotoxic in vitro at
concentrations that overlap physiological ones. It is
tempting therefore to speculate that arachidonic acid may be
a physiological inducer of apoptosis and that such cytotoxic
action may be another of its roles in vivo. Nevertheless its
pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress-inducing features are
characteristic of necrosis and pathological conditions. We
hereby review the cytotoxic action of arachidonic acid,
indicate the possible pathways that lead to cell death and
contemplate the cytotoxic role of arachidonic acid in
vivo. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

"monty" <spamorama@spamville.net> wrote in message news:<yT5Fc.1473$Wd.6401@ord-read.news.verio.net>...
> Could you provide a link to that interview with Mary Enig
> you mentioned? I use a little coconut oil, but even more
> shredded coconut, which is much less expensive (I buy 25
> pound bags, then grind it down even more, and you can then
> add it to all kinds of things as a flavor enhancer). The
> way they get away with making ridiculous claims in
> epidemiological studies is by using selective endpoints.
> For example,I saw a TV commercial for one of the most
> common osteoporosis drugs, and they said that this drug
> increases bone mass. They did not say that it prevents
> more fractures than taking placebo, nor did they say that
> it increases bone density, which is the most important
> thing, to my knowledge. But because the ?endpoint? was
> determined to be only bone mass, they get away with
> telling people how great their product is. This sort of
> thing is typical ? going on all around us, all the time.
> There?s an interesting study I mentioned in one of the two
> recent posts about butter being beneficial to bone growth,
> whereas arachidonic acid?s metabolites are inhibitors. In
> the case of ?saturated fat,? if you classify lard as a
> ?saturated fat,? even though it?s only 39% SFAs and highly
> subject to free radical degradation (due to all the
> unsaturated fatty acids and no significant antioxidant
> content), and on top of that only concern yourself with
> whether a food lowers or raises either total serum
> cholesterol or LDL (and ignore the reality that only
> oxidized cholesterol is the problem, so you can have high
> cholesterol as long as it is not oxidized, and this seems
> to be the healthiest of all possible situations regarding
> one?s cholesterol) as your ?endpoint? you can claim that
> ?saturated fat? is unhealthy. Of course, they look stupid
> to those who have read the studies demonstrating how
> healthy people are who use fresh coconut as dietary
> staples, but most people are unaware of these studies ?
> our great ?science journalists? seem to have someone
> missed this point in their rush to tell us how great a new
> drug that extends the life of terminally-ill cancer
> patients two months (18 months instead of 16, though they
> don?t talk of the side-effects). ? that?s a true story in
> Newsday newspaper a week or so ago ? it was hailed by the
> scientist interviewed as a ?major victory.? I?ll take a
> ?loss? with coconut oil (that is, higher, but non-oxidized
> serum cholesterol levels) and let them have as many
> ?victories? as they want, if that?s what they define as a
> victory.
>
> Here?s just one of the studies that discusses how
> dangerous arachidonic acid can be under normal conditions
> in your body, if you eat more than a small amount of omega
> 6 PUFAs:
>
> Cell Biochemistry and Function Volume 21, Issue 2 , Pages
> 97 - 104
>
> Published Online: 23 Apr 2003
>
> Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Review Article
>
> Arachidonic acid cytotoxicity: can arachidonic acid be a
> physiological mediator of cell death? Celine Pompeia 1 *,
> Thais Lima 2, Rui Curi 2 Abstract: Arachidonic acid is a
> polyunsaturated fatty acid that mediates inflammation and
> the functioning of several organs and systems either
> directly or upon its conversion into eicosanoids. However,
> arachidonic acid is found to be cytotoxic in vitro at
> concentrations that overlap physiological ones. It is
> tempting therefore to speculate that arachidonic acid may
> be a physiological inducer of apoptosis and that such
> cytotoxic action may be another of its roles in vivo.
> Nevertheless its pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress-
> inducing features are characteristic of necrosis and
> pathological conditions. We hereby review the cytotoxic
> action of arachidonic acid, indicate the possible pathways
> that lead to cell death and contemplate the cytotoxic role
> of arachidonic acid in
> vivo. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The interview with Mary Enig was actualy on a radio program
called Your Own Heatlh and Fitness on KPFA. Its the best
health program I have found with the most accurate
information, actualy probably the only one with accurate
information. The host is Layna Berman and she has had Mary
Enig on many times as well as many other interesting people
you simply do not hear much of because of their out of the
mainstream views. And whenever she has someone on who has
good information but is still missguided about saturated
fats she always calls them on it and puts out her views.
Unfortunately you would have to purchase tapes of her shows
for 10 dollars. I believe the date of the Mary Enig
interview I mentioned was 12/02/03 however I am not 100%
sure. It is either that one or the 1/13/04. You can listen
to her show every tuesday at 1pm at KPFA.org and download it
for free from archives but only on that same day. Her last
show was very good, concerning the dangers of statins. Her
guest was former astronaut Duane Graveline MD and he talked
about his horrifying experience with lipitor and his new
book "Lipitor, Thief of Memory" The whole situation with
statins is so dispicable and sickening.

http://www.yourownhealthandfitness.com (http://www.yourownhealthandfitness.com/)

http://www.kpfa.org (http://www.kpfa.org/)

Also here is a fairly recent study on arachidonic acid and
atherosclerosis I stumbled apon.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&-
db=pubmed&list_uids=14702425&dopt=Abstract