I’ve written previously about how salt (sodium) only marginally raises blood pressure, and how the evidence that there is any benefit to reducing salt intake in the diet is weak at best. Now it’s time to look at that other salt, potassium. While sodium raises blood pressure, potassium supposedly lowers blood pressure, and many people have been given the recommendation to replace their table … Read more
Tag: Nutrition
The optimal diet for longevity and weight loss?
It started with an experiment on locusts in 1991. David Raubenheimer and Stephen Simpson, two zoologists who were at the time doing research at Oxford University, wanted to know what would happen to locusts if they varied the relative proportions of protein and carbohydrate in their diets. They therefore conducted an experiment in which they fed locusts pellets containing varying proportions of protein and carbohydrate, … Read more
Does omega-3 prevent heart disease?
I have a confession to make. For at least the last ten years, I’ve taken an omega-3 supplement every day. Religiously. Why? I literally have no idea. I don’t remember exactly when or why I started taking it. Presumably I read somewhere that it was a good idea. This was before I started studying medicine, and the decision certainly wasn’t based on any thorough evaluation … Read more
Ketogenic diet safe and healthy?
The ketogenic diet (in earlier iterations known as the Atkins diet and the Low Carb High Fat diet) has been vilified for decades by members of the nutrition establishment, because it is pretty much telling people to do the exact opposite of what the establishment is telling them to do. While official diet guidelines recommend cutting down on fat intake, the ketogenic diet instead recommends … Read more