Interview: "Seed Oil Research with Prof. Bruce Hammock, Prof. Bruce German, and Tucker Goodrich" on A Neighbor's Choice with David Gornoski

For a change, I'm doing the interviewing, thanks to David who arranged this. A really mind-bending discussion.

"In this special roundtable podcast, David Gornoski and nutritional researcher Tucker Goodrich talk with distinguished professors Bruce Hammock and J Bruce German to discuss what their research of linoleic acid has revealed about our immune system, severe burns, pain blockers, ARDS mortality, mass consumption of vegetable oils, and more. How can we increase Omega-3 fatty acids without increasing Omega-6 in our bodies? Does decreasing Omega-6 in our bodies also decrease the susceptibility to severe cases of COVID?

"Bruce Hammock PhD is the Distinguished Professor of Entomology and UCD Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the NIEHS-UCD Superfund Research Program at University of California, Davis. "J. Bruce German PhD is a chemist and food scientist at UC, Davis. Professor German researches the role of fats and other components in the diet.

(I will update this post if I get any new info, there are a few missing references below.

P.S. Finished the show notes, 32 and above are new. Still missing a few references.)

It's probably better to watch the video if you can, there's a lot of non-verbal communication going on!

Here's the podcast:

And here's the direct link to ANC.

Show notes:

Bruce D. Hammock: Hammock Laboratory of Pesticide Biotechnology

J. Bruce German

References in order of mention (see the names in the references section below for links to the study):

1. Hammock recent research on leuktoxin and COVID-19: (McReynolds, Cortes_Puch, et al., 2021; McReynolds, Cortes-Puch, et al., 2021).
2.  Japanese research on burns and leukotoxin: (Hayakawa et al., 1990; Kosaka et al., 1994).
3. Diols, not epoxides are the actual toxin: (Moghaddam et al., 1997; Zheng et al., 1998)
4. Stearic acid in plaques of American soldiers in Korean war: TK
5. Crocodile oil study: (Watkins et al., 2001)
6. Leukotoxin and brown fat: (Kulterer et al., n.d.; Lynes et al., 2017)
7. N-6 (omega-6) PUFA and ARDS survival: (Bursten et al., 1996)
8. Arachidonic acid metabolic pathways: (Hildreth et al., 2020)
9. "Seventy-five percent, by weight, of the drugs sold in the world: (Rice, 2020)
10. COX and LOX inflammatory pathways: (Archambault et al., 2020).
11. Discovery of soluble Epoxide Hydrolase (sEH): (Kodani & Hammock, 2015)
12. sEH, horses, and tendonitis (laminitis): (Guedes et al., 2013; Rice, 2020)
13. Human trials of sEH inhibitor: (Hammock et al., 2021)
14. Diabetic pain & neuropathy: TK
15. Bill (William E. M.) Lands: (Wikipedia, 2020)
16. Dietary omega-6 fatty acid lowering increases bioavailability of omega-3 [n-3] polyunsaturated fatty acids in human plasma lipid pools: (Taha et al., 2014)
17. Age-related Macular Degeneration and N-6: TK
18. "We're funded by the National Institutes of Drug Abuse"... (Hammock et al., 2021)
19. Excess linoleic acid: (Okuyama et al., 1996)
20. Fred Kummerow: trans fats researcher, on his diet: (Kummerow, 2015)
21. Vernoleate bursting into flames, "another name for leukotoxin": (Bafor et al., 1993)
22. Synthetic n-3 and farmed fish: (Kitessa et al., 2014)
23. "The Environmental Impact of Vegetable Oils": (Nobbs, 2021)
24. Dog study on leukotoxin: (Fukushima et al., 1988)
25. Elevated leukotoxin in CVD and T2DM: TK
26. N-6, sEH, and dementia ("Walter Swardfager in Toronto"): (Yu et al., 2019)
27. HNE inducing amyloid plaque: (Arimon et al., 2015)
28. Unsaturated aldehydes and tear gas: (Corson & Stoughton, 1928)
29. Omega-3 and COVID-19: (Arnardottir et al., 2021)
30. ARDS and trauma victims: (Plurad et al., 2009)
31. John Kinsella and ARDS (may not be right paper): (Riyami et al., 1990)
32. Kathleen Gura and Omega-6 infusions: (de Meijer et al., 2010)
33. K-rations and Ancel Keys: (Oliver, 2004)
34. Ancel Keys and Minnesota Coronary Experiment: (Ramsden et al., 2016)
35.  Seed oils and torpor/hibernation: (Geiser & Kenagy, 1987; Ruf & Geiser, 2015)
36. Linoleic acid diols and hibernation: TK
37. Susan Allport, linoleic acid lowers BMR: (Allport, 2010)
38. sEH and diabetes; sEH with n-3 eliminates T2DM w/ less n-6 (work by "Joan de Clerin"?): TK
39. Mothers and babies: (German, 2011)
40. Generational effects of high n-6: (Mamounis et al., 2020)
41. Breast milk high in omega-6 (Tsimane vs American): (Martin et al., 2012)
42. Bill Lands "NIX6 and EAT3" web site: EFAEducation.org

References:

Allport, S. (2010, November). One person’s response to a high omega-6 diet [Magazine]. American Oil Chemists’ Society. https://www.aocs.org/stay-informed/inform-magazine/featured-articles/one-persons-response-to-a-high-omega-6-diet-november-2010?SSO=True

Archambault, A.-S., Zaid, Y., Rakotoarivelo, V., Doré, É., Dubuc, I., Martin, C., Amar, Y., Cheikh, A., Fares, H., Hassani, A. E., Tijani, Y., Laviolette, M., Boilard, É., Flamand, L., & Flamand, N. (2020). Lipid storm within the lungs of severe COVID-19 patients: Extensive levels of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase-derived inflammatory metabolites. MedRxiv, 2020.12.04.20242115. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.04.20242115

Arimon, M., Takeda, S., Post, K. L., Svirsky, S., Hyman, B. T., & Berezovska, O. (2015). Oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation are upstream of amyloid pathology. Neurobiology of Disease, 84, 109–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2015.06.013

Arnardottir, H., Pawelzik, S.-C., Öhlund Wistbacka, U., Artiach, G., Hofmann, R., Reinholdsson, I., Braunschweig, F., Tornvall, P., Religa, D., & Bäck, M. (2021). Stimulating the Resolution of Inflammation Through Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in COVID-19: Rationale for the COVID-Omega-F Trial. Frontiers in Physiology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.624657

Bafor, M., Smith, M. A., Jonsson, L., Stobart, K., & Stymne, S. (1993). Biosynthesis of vernoleate (cis-12-epoxyoctadeca-cis-9-enoate) in microsomal preparations from developing endosperm of Euphorbia lagascae. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 303(1), 145–151. https://doi.org/10.1006/abbi.1993.1265

Bursten, S. L., Federighi, D. A., Parsons, P. E., Harris, W. E., Abraham, E., Moore, E. E. J., Moore, F. A., Bianco, J. A., Singer, J. W., & Repine, J. E. (1996). An increase in serum C18 unsaturated free fatty acids as a predictor of the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Read Online: Critical Care Medicine | Society of Critical Care Medicine, 24(7), 1129–1136. https://doi.org/10.1097/00003246-199607000-00011

Corson, B. B., & Stoughton, R. W. (1928). REACTIONS OF ALPHA, BETA-UNSATURATED DINITRILES. Journal of the American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01397a037

de Meijer, V. E., Le, H. D., Meisel, J. A., Gura, K. M., & Puder, M. (2010). Parenteral Fish Oil as Monotherapy Prevents Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency in Parenteral Nutrition Dependent Patients. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 50(2), 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1097/MPG.0b013e3181bbf51e

Fukushima, A., Hayakawa, M., Sugiyama., S., Ajioka, M., Ito, T., Satake, T., & Ozawa, T. (1988). Cardiovascular effects of leukotoxin (9,10-epoxy-12-octadecenoate) and free fatty acids in dogs. Cardiovascular Research, 22(3), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/22.3.213

Geiser, F., & Kenagy, G. J. (1987). Polyunsaturated lipid diet lengthens torpor and reduces body temperature in a hibernator. The American Journal of Physiology, 252(5 Pt 2), R897-901. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.1987.252.5.R897

German, J. B. (2011). Dietary lipids from an evolutionary perspective: Sources, structures and functions. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 7(s2), 2–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2011.00300.x

Guedes, A. G., Morisseau, C., Sole, A., Soares, J. H., Ulu, A., Dong, H., & Hammock, B. D. (2013). Use of a soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitor as an adjunctive analgesic in a horse with laminitis. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia, 40(4), 440–448. https://doi.org/10.1111/vaa.12030

Hammock, B. D., McReynolds, C. B., Wagner, K., Buckpitt, A., Cortes-Puch, I., Croston, G., Lee, K. S. S., Yang, J., Schmidt, W. K., & Hwang, S. H. (2021). Movement to the Clinic of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitor EC5026 as an Analgesic for Neuropathic Pain and for Use as a Nonaddictive Opioid Alternative. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64(4), 1856–1872. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01886

Hayakawa, M., Kosaka, K., Sugiyama, S., Yokoo, K., Aoyama, H., Izawa, Y., & Ozawa, T. (1990). Proposal of leukotoxin, 9,10-epoxy-12-octadecenoate, as a burn toxin. Biochemistry International, 21(3), 573–579. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2222499/

Hildreth, K., Kodani, S. D., Hammock, B. D., & Zhao, L. (2020). Cytochrome P450-derived linoleic acid metabolites EpOMEs and DiHOMEs: A review of recent studies. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 86, 108484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2020.108484

Kitessa, S. M., Abeywardena, M., Wijesundera, C., & Nichols, P. D. (2014). DHA-Containing Oilseed: A Timely Solution for the Sustainability Issues Surrounding Fish Oil Sources of the Health-Benefitting Long-Chain Omega-3 Oils. Nutrients, 6(5), 2035–2058. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6052035

Kodani, S. D., & Hammock, B. D. (2015). The 2014 Bernard B. Brodie award lecture-epoxide hydrolases: Drug metabolism to therapeutics for chronic pain. Drug Metabolism and Disposition: The Biological Fate of Chemicals, 43(5), 788–802. https://doi.org/10.1124/dmd.115.063339

Kosaka, K., Suzuki, K., Hayakawa, M., Sugiyama, S., & Ozawa, T. (1994). Leukotoxin, a linoleate epoxide: Its implication in the late death of patients with extensive burns. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 139(2), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01081737

Kulterer, O. C., Niederstaetter, L., Herz, C. T., Haug, A. R., Bileck, A., Pils, D., Kautzky-Willer, A., Gerner, C., & Kiefer, F. W. (n.d.). The presence of active brown adipose tissue determines cold-induced energy expenditure and oxylipin profiles in humans. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa183

Kummerow, F. (2015, February). My Diet. World Nutrition. http://archive.wphna.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/WN-2015-06-01-02-72-78-Idea-Fred-Kummerow-My-diet-JF.pdf

Lynes, M. D., Leiria, L. O., Lundh, M., Bartelt, A., Shamsi, F., Huang, T. L., Takahashi, H., Hirshman, M. F., Schlein, C., Lee, A., Baer, L. A., May, F. J., Gao, F., Narain, N. R., Chen, E. Y., Kiebish, M. A., Cypess, A. M., Blüher, M., Goodyear, L. J., … Tseng, Y.-H. (2017). The cold-induced lipokine 12,13-diHOME promotes fatty acid transport into brown adipose tissue. Nature Medicine, 23(5), 631–637. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4297

Mamounis, K. J., Shvedov, N. R., Margolies, N., Yasrebi, A., & Roepke, T. A. (2020). The effects of dietary fatty acids in the physiological outcomes of maternal high-fat diet on offspring energy homeostasis in mice. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 11(3), 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174419000540

Martin, M. A., Lassek, W. D., Gaulin, S. J. C., Evans, R. W., Woo, J. G., Geraghty, S. R., Davidson, B. S., Morrow, A. L., Kaplan, H. S., & Gurven, M. D. (2012). Fatty acid composition in the mature milk of Bolivian forager-horticulturalists: Controlled comparisons with a US sample. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8709.2012.00412.x

McReynolds, C. B., Cortes-Puch, I., Ravindran, R., Khan, I. H., Hammock, B. G., Shih, P. B., Hammock, B. D., & Yang, J. (2021). Plasma Linoleate Diols Are Potential Biomarkers for Severe COVID-19 Infections. Frontiers in Physiology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.663869

McReynolds, C. B., Cortes_Puch, I., Ravindran, R., Khan, I., Shih, P.-A. B., Hammock, B. D., Yang, J., & Hammock, B. G. (2021). Lipid mediators detected in COVID-19 patients and healthy controls (Version 4, p. 135850 bytes) [Data set]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.25338/B8M92X

Moghaddam, M. F., Grant, D. F., Cheek, J. M., Greene, J. F., Williamson, K. C., & Hammock, B. D. (1997). Bioactivation of leukotoxins to their toxic diols by epoxide hydrolase. Nature Medicine, 3(5), 562–566. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0597-562

Nobbs, J. (2021, March 30). The Environmental Impact of Vegetable Oils [Blog]. Jeff Nobbs. https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/the-environmental-impact-of-vegetable-oils

Okuyama, H., Kobayashi, T., & Watanabe, S. (1996). Dietary fatty acids—The n-6n-3 balance and chronic elderly diseases. Excess linoleic acid and relative n-3 deficiency syndrome seen in Japan. Progress in Lipid Research, 35(4), 409–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-7827(96)00012-4

Oliver, M. (2004, November 25). Ancel Keys, 100; Diet Researcher Developed K-Rations for Troops. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-nov-25-me-keys25-story.html

Plurad, D., Green, D., Inaba, K., Belzberg, H., Demetriades, D., & Rhee, P. (2009). A 6-year review of total parenteral nutrition use and association with late-onset acute respiratory distress syndrome among ventilated trauma victims. Injury, 40(5), 511–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2008.07.025

Ramsden, C. E., Zamora, D., Majchrzak-Hong, S., Faurot, K. R., Broste, S. K., Frantz, R. P., Davis, J. M., Ringel, A., Suchindran, C. M., & Hibbeln, J. R. (2016). Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: Analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73). BMJ, 353. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i1246

Rice, M. E. (2020). Bruce D. Hammock: Science Should Be Fun. American Entomologist, 66(1), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmaa010

Riyami, B. M., Tree, R., Kinsella, J., Clark, C. J., Reid, W. H., Campbell, D., & Gemmell, C. G. (1990). Changes in alveolar macrophage, monocyte, and neutrophil cell profiles after smoke inhalation injury. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 43(1), 43–45. https://doi.org/10.1136/jcp.43.1.43

Ruf, T., & Geiser, F. (2015). Daily torpor and hibernation in birds and mammals. Biological Reviews, 90(3), 891–926. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12137

Taha, A. Y., Cheon, Y., Faurot, K. F., MacIntosh, B., Majchrzak-Hong, S. F., Mann, J. D., Hibbeln, J. R., Ringel, A., & Ramsden, C. E. (2014). Dietary omega-6 fatty acid lowering increases bioavailability of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in human plasma lipid pools. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes, and Essential Fatty Acids, 90(5), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2014.02.003

Watkins, S. M., Lin, T. Y., Davis, R. M., Ching, J. R., DePeters, E. J., Halpern, G. M., Walzem, R. L., & German, J. B. (2001). Unique phospholipid metabolism in mouse heart in response to dietary docosahexaenoic or α-linolenic acids. Lipids, 36(3), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-001-0714-8

Wikipedia. (2020). William E.M. Lands. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_E.M._Lands&oldid=994164694

Yu, D., Hennebelle, M., Sahlas, D. J., Ramirez, J., Gao, F., Masellis, M., Cogo-Moreira, H., Swartz, R. H., Herrmann, N., Chan, P. C., Pettersen, J. A., Stuss, D. T., Black, S. E., Taha, A. Y., & Swardfager, W. (2019). Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase-Derived Linoleic Acid Oxylipins in Serum Are Associated with Periventricular White Matter Hyperintensities and Vascular Cognitive Impairment. Translational Stroke Research, 10(5), 522–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-018-0672-5

Zheng, J., Plopper, C., & Hammock, B. (1998). Leukotoxin-diol produces greater acute lung injury in mice than does leukotoxin. FASEB Journal, 12(5). https://ucdavis.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/leukotoxin-diol-produces-greater-acute-lung-injury-in-mice-than-d

What Prevents Us From Losing Weight?

One of the biggest failures of the diet and nutritional science worlds is the inability to help people lose weight and keep it off. 

"Treatment of obesity by reducing calorie intake, despite having a good success rate in promoting initial weight-loss, has a generally poor outcome for long-term weight control [7]." (McNay, 2013)

I recently came across McNay 2013, a fascinating study that looks at how this happens (in mice, but seems quite relevant!): "High fat diet causes rebound weight gain."

They used a fairly standard "high-fat diet" (HFD) to induce obesity in mice. The fats in the diet were lard and soybean oil, the usual suspects.

A very busy chart. From (McNay 2013)
Fig. 1 a and b. (AL = ad libitum)

What's interesting is that they then attempted to cure the obesity they had caused, using a variety of approaches: a high-carb diet (HCD), a high-protein diet (HPD), and a ketogenic diet (KD), and calorie restriction (CR)—a "diet" of the eat less variety.

CR worked best, regardless of the composition of the diet—they were under-eating by 30%, and that's easy to do to a mouse in a cage. However, this had a negative effect on the mice's brain.

The other diets also worked for weight reduction, in the order of KD best, then HCD, then HPD. The HFD mice stayed fat (Fig. 1a). For final weight of the mice allowed to eat to their heart's content, they KD also worked best, then the control, the HPD, the HCD, and the HFD was the worst (Fig. 1b).

The HFD also had a negative effect on the brains of the mice, regardless of how much they were eating. This effect also persisted to a small extent even when the mice were switched to one of the other, weight-loss-inducing diets.

However, once the CR mice were again allowed to eat as much as they pleased on their diets:

"As expected, all mice showed significant rebound weight gain after release from CR... However, rebound BW [body weight] was significantly different across treatment groups with obese mice treated with HFD-CR rebounding to a higher BW than controls.... Although DIO [diet-induced obesity] mice treated with non-HFD showed a trend towards higher  rebound BW than controls, this only reached statistical significance at a one point in the case of HCD.... Hence the failure to achieve long-term weight control following CR only occurred in obese mice fed HFD during CR, coinciding with the maintenance of altered hypothalamic remodelling."

So the damage to their brain from the HFD persisted even though weight-loss due to dieting (CR).

However, "The increase in rebound BW in DIO mice treated with HFD-CR was not permanent but resolved after 6 weeks of ad-lib chow re-feeding."

Now the HFD wasn't actually the high-fat diet, here, that's a bit of a misnomer. It was 45 % energy. The KD was 93.4 % energy from fat—that's a high-fat diet!

"It is of particular interest that the specific effect of moderately high fat diet  (HFD) to alter hypothalamic proliferative remodelling is not shared by ultra high fat ketogenic diet (KD)."

So fat alone isn't the problem. It's the combination of fat and carbohydrate, and a good dose in seed oils (provided here from lard and soybean oil), as has been shown in other studies. In other words, the diet we are told to eat by the dietary guidelines.

And the "eat less" advice we constantly hear doesn't work at all, unless you also change your diet.

"These data support the view that treating obesity with CR does not by itself cure obesity despite treating the overt symptom of increased BW."

(My colleague Peter at the Hyperlipid blog also had some thoughts on this paper.)

---

Dobromylskyj, P. (2021, May 19). Of mice and men (2) In the brain [Blog]. Hyperlipid. http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2021/05/of-mice-and-men-2-in-brain.html

 
McNay, D. E. G., & Speakman, J. R. (2013). High fat diet causes rebound weight gain. Molecular Metabolism, 2(2), 103–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2012.10.003

Interview: The Seed Oil/COVID-19 Connection—Discussing Leukotoxin on A Neighbor's Choice with David Gornoski

From last Friday, May 7th: discussing some follow-up data to this post from last year: 

Does Consumption of Omega-6 Seed Oils Worsen ARDS and COVID-19?

"David Gornoski is joined by nutritional researcher Tucker Goodrich. The two talk about camping as a break from modern excessiveness; the connection between linoleic acid and COVID; and more. Are people who are high in Omega-6 fatty acids more susceptible to COVID? What is ARDS? Should chicken consumption be decreased? Is butter bad for us as certain “studies” claim? Are peanut and palm oils good for us? Listen to the full episode to find out."

Here's the direct link, and here's the embedded player: 

Interview: "Tucker Goodrich Talks Seed Oils" with David Gornoski on A Neighbor's Choice

 I know, what a shocking topic!

"Nutritional researcher Tucker Goodrich returns to the show and joins David Gornoski in a fascinating conversation on the COVID effects on immunity, the validity of mask mandates, seed oils, and more. Should science be made subject to the whims and fancy of whoever that funds it? Is Fauci’s advice on virology unquestionable?"

Here's the direct link, and here's the embedded player: 

This is, by the way, a radio show released after the fact as a podcast. It's very cool to be getting some feedback from a mass audience.

How the Food Industry Implemented the Dietary Guidelines

"On being challenged on the incompleteness of the science, Senator McGovern said 'Senators do not have the luxury that the research scientist does of waiting until every last shred of evidence is in...'"

Senator George McGovern

That was 1977, at the occassion was the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, which ultimately led to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines under which we continue to live.

The American Medical Association's response was "The evidence for assuming that benefits [are] to be derived from the adoption of such universal dietary goals … is not conclusive, and there is potential for harmful effects," which may be one of the great understatements of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Senator McGovern, having left government and failed while attempting to run a business due in part to excessive regulation, reflected in 1992:

"The problem we face as legislators is: Where do we set the bar so that it is not too high to clear? I don't have the answer. I do know that we need to start raising these questions more often."

It's nice that Senator McGovern, who by all accounts was a decent person, had this revelation later in his life. Unfortunately, we continue to live under the regime of the Dietary Guidelines he implemented. Fuller accounts of those guidelines and the flaws thereof are available elsewhere, what I'd like to focus on is what happened after they were implemented.

In 2011,  the Institute of Food Technologists published an account:

"The American Dietetic Assn., Inst. of Food Technologists, Intl. Food Information Council (IFIC), and the North American branch of the Intl. Life Sciences Inst. convened 2 expert roundtables of rigorous discussions, whose purpose was to enable the 2 key scientific audiences to interact, innovate, and close the knowledge gaps that are crucial to integrating and translating the DGA [Dietary Guidelines for America]. As stated at the outset, the content of this paper is formed from the proceedings of the roundtables held in early October 2010 in Chicago, Illinois, and in Washington, D.C."

Upon reading this, many years later, I was appalled to see what had gone on in the food industry in response to these so-called Guidelines. I published what I will confess was a Star Wars-inspired, somewhat hyperbolic tweet-thread, from which this post is taken.

I've found the Evil Empire (Food Division)'s plans for all of us. The roadmap for the conspiracy is open access, as it happens. First, the marching orders (the Soviets would've loved the tone):

"A coordinated strategic plan that includes all sectors of society, including individuals, families, educators, communities, physicians and allied health professionals, public health advocates, policy makers, scientists, and small and large businesses (e.g., farmers, agricultural producers, food scientists, food manufacturers, and food retailers of all kinds), should be engaged in the development and ultimate implementation of a plan to help all Americans eat well, be physically active, and maintain good health and function...."

"It is important that any strategic plan is evidence-informed, action-oriented, and focused on changes in systems in these sectors (United States Dept. of Agriculture 2010a)." Note well: only "evidence-informed", weaker language even than evidence-based.

Who's the audience? "Food scientists and nutrition scientists (dietitians and nutrition communicators)" The stormtroopers of the New Food Order, in other words.

How are they doing? “What has been done till now isn't working. To do nothing more effective than we have, means that five years from now we'll be in an even worse situation."

That's harsh! Who said that? "Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern Univ. and chairman of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee." Well, she should know! (Van Horn was again on the Advisory Committee in 2020.)

So what are our Food Lords going to do about this "unconscionable" (Van Horn) failure? "Food scientists, dietitians/nutrition communicators, and government representatives" have a plan, with some gobbledygook:

"Reduce the incidence and prevalence of overweight and obesity in the U.S. population by reducing overall caloric intake;" They're going to starve us...

"Shift food intake patterns to a more plant-based diet that emphasizes vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas," Make us (more) malnourished...

"Reduce intake of foods containing added sugars, solid fats (SoFAS), refined grains, and sodium (USDA 2010a)." And make us hate our food.

"Two well-known successes cited were the consumer switch to whole-wheat products and the move away from trans fats." Who got us to eat trans-fats in the first place?

"Richard Black, PhD, a nutrition scientist at Kraft Foods, offered the group some of his company's insights about the obesity issue:" It's quite sensible, actually, read the whole thing. Let's hear it for industry pushback!...

Black: "Recommending dietary change that is so extreme as to be only aspirational rather than achievable will not serve the greater public need for dietary guidance to address the obesity epidemic.... After all, we are asking people to fundamentally change how they think about food, shop for food, prepare food, and eat food. This will take time, patience, commitment and trust from everyone."

I think he was sealed in Carbonite after. 

Next speaker: "...consumer taste likes and dislikes, some of which are genetically based, are a major challenge to vegetable acceptability." New Food Man is required, in other words. GMO foods are not enough, we need GM people! "Nelson Almeida, PhD, FACN, a food scientist with Kellogg Co." Made it perfectly clear that more plant-based means more carbs: “Currently, the wheat flour tortilla is the fastest growing product line of all grain-based products."

"Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, The Pennsylvania State Univ." advocates brainwashing: "cognitive-behavioral strategies have proved effective in behavior change—notable among these is motivational interviewing, with its well-ordered feedback and monitoring."

"Robbie Burns, formerly of Cadbury" offered more common sense: "Since their inception in 1980, Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have included, in some form, advice to decrease dietary intakes of added sugars, solid fats, refined grains and sodium.... As a result and to meet consumer desires for more healthful products, the food industry has developed alternatives where all these negative components are reduced and in some cases eliminated.”

They called for "Trust and mutual understanding" between parties implementing the DGA; but for, the victims? "Stealth vs persuasion Consumers have been resistant to dietary change, partly because of established food preferences: “stealth” methods of change are... effective..."

"Food scientist participants of the roundtables informed their dietitian colleagues that food companies typically spend 60% to 70% of their research and development budgets on renovation and only 30% to 40% on innovation of new food products." Woah!

"Dietary change advocates have argued that the food industry, with its highly persuasive... marketing departments, can simply produce products with healthier nutrition profiles and “sell them” to consumers. The 80% to 90% failure rate of new products is a sobering reality check."

"A public preference for extremely short ingredient lists on processed food products also poses major challenges to food scientists in renovating/reformulating food."

So if you're wondering why opposition to people like Professor Tim Noakes and Nina Teicholz and the whole idea of Real Food is so vehement, it's literally a conspiracy. 

Read it and weep (Rowe et al., 2011).

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McGovern, G. (2012, October 21). George McGovern in the Journal. Wall Street Journal. https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578070543545022704.html

Rowe, S., Alexander, N., Almeida, N., Black, R., Burns, R., Bush, L., Crawford, P., Keim, N., Kris-Etherton, P., & Weaver, C. (2011). Food Science Challenge: Translating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to Bring About Real Behavior Change. Journal of Food Science, 76(1), R29–R37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01973.x

Who’s On The Guidelines Committee. (n.d.). The Nutrition Coalition. Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/news/2020-dietary-guidelines-committee

Why Does the Federal Government Issue Damaging Dietary Guidelines? Lessons from Thomas Jefferson to Today. (2018, July 10). Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/why-does-federal-government-issue-damaging-dietary-guidelines-lessons-thomas

Experts: Do As We Say, Not As We Do.

This is a little off-topic, but relevant.

I live in Idaho now, and since I'm still into getting out into the wilderness to hike, trail run, backpack, etc., I'm getting up to speed on Idaho issues with being in the wilderness.

One of the issues is predators. Like in the East, there are ticks, snakes (more rattlers than back East, where they are very rare), and black bears; but there are also mountain lions, wolves, and grizzly bears.

Grizzly bears are a particular issue in certain parts of the state. Montana is adjacent, and since grizzlies don't know about state lines, they have a habit of crossing back and forth, especially around Yellowstone National Park.

"Angler Killed by Grizzly in First Attack of 2021":

"The first responders transported Mock... to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. Mock passed away Saturday morning in Idaho Falls following a massive stroke."

A very sad incident, the fellow was only 40 years old, with a family. It's relevant because of what he was doing to mitigate his risk:

"According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Mock was carrying bear spray when he was attacked. Although the safety tab was found off, it’s unclear whether he was able to deploy the canister."

Well that's just idiotic. It doesn't take an "expert" to figure out if a can full of fluid is full or empty. If it's full, he didn't deploy it, if it's empty, he did. (It's exceedingly unlikely that he was carrying an empty can of bear spray into grizzly country. We can dismiss that possibility.) 

Given the dishonesty our expert and journalist classes seem prone to, it's safe to assume he used the bear spray and it was ineffective. If he hadn't used it they would have just said so, as there are reasons why he may not have been able to use the bear spray.

So then the experts come in, to see what's going on with this bear: 

"Investigators later found a moose carcass cached within 50 yards of the original attack site, indicating that the bear was defending the food during both incidents."

Well, that's a fine reason to attack a person from a bear's perspective, but not from ours.

The experts, needless to say, didn't rely on bear spray to deter the bear.

"The group attempted to haze the bear away but were unsuccessful. Members of the team were ultimately forced to shoot the bear dead at only 20 yards."

So what is the advice the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks gives after a careful analysis of this incident?

"Carry bear spray. Know how to use it and be prepared to deploy it immediately."

And don't worry, if the bear spray doesn't work, as it didn't in this case, the "experts" will come in with proper tools and dispatch the bear.

Guns aren't the only way to deal with a bear. Pepper spray certainly can be effective.

But it would be nice if our experts would be honest with us about the risks and benefits.

Eckel's Creek Trail:
There's bears up there!

P.S. So after posting this I went camping in the Hell's Canyon area, which is spread across several national forests, national recreation areas, and private land on the border of Idaho and Oregon.

We decided to go for a long trail run, but since there are only black bears in the area, we didn't bother with bear spray or anything else.

Three-quarters of the way through the run, we see a mother black bear with two cubs running down the slope. They were across a steep and rugged ravine, so we stopped to see if we could get a picture of them when they came out of of the copse of trees they had run into. They never did come out, but a very large, light brown bear did appear, running in the opposite direction. Sadly the dash from one copse to the next was too quick to allow for photography!

"That looks like a grizzly...", we said. It was still quite far away, so there was no immediate risk, but we proceeded to high-tail it down the trail back to the car, which was a couple of miles away.

Some of the locals explained to us that there aren't grizzlies in the area, but there are some blond black bears (which do exist) and some bears that might be hybrids of black and grizzly bears (which are rare, but also do exist). Apparently a large blond bear had come down and availed himself of a sprinkler system a couple days prior!

I don't think it was a blond black bear, as it was much bigger than the black bear sow we had seen moments before.

Note to self: The experts may say there are no bears in an area, but the bears don't know where they are supposed to be. 

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Bear spray, like a gun, are both useful tools to deal with the threat of a bear. This isn't an either-or case.

And gun control is rather beside the point here. Norway has strict gun control laws, and has a lot of polar bears, which are even more aggressive than grizzlies.

"The use, trade and import of bear repellent spray and pepper-balls for protection against polar bears in Svalbard is prohibited."

So what are your choices?

"Due to the polar bear threat in Svalbard, anyone travelling outside the settlements must be equipped with appropriate means of frightening and chasing off polar bears. The Governor of Svalbard also recommends having firearms with you."

Pity our "experts" aren't quite so forthright.

H7N9 Influenza Vaccine Trial: Follow-up 1

 So I tracked my symptoms (or lack thereof) for seven days, today is day eight. After the initial, mild symptoms, nothing happened, and happily, nothing continues to happen.

The slight elevation in body temp I had before getting the shot continued for a couple of days, and then disappeared. Although I haven't hit 98.6F at any reading!

I'm due to get the second shot in a couple of weeks, so will post another update then.

Original post: "H7N9 Influenza Vaccine Trial: Being a Guinea Pig for Science"