Ketogenic Diets & Fatty Liver

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease:  NAFLD.  Along with diabetes, a disease on the rise in the US and around the globe where the obesity epidemic is rearing it's ugly head.  Near as I can tell, Peter/Hyperlipid subscribes to a "damaged liver" hypothesis of obesity and diabetes.  That the liver gets damaged, throws your insulin and glucose outta whack, and then you get fat.  There can be no doubt that damage to the liver is an integral part of the metabolic syndrome(s) and the insulin resistance that underlies it.  So the question is, do we take it seriously in all contexts?  Or do we try to explain away inconvenient results when it is one's favored advocated diet that might possibly be a culprit?

Sadly, Peter seems bound and determined to spin ever more far-fetched mechanisms with which to explain away inconvenient results.  Having nothing to do with fatty liver, Peter found himself unable to backtrack on his definitive statement that it was fasting insulin levels that determined fat loss.  So bad was the evidence to counter this that he had to resort to manipulating study data to make his point.    It seems where high fat rodent studies are concerned, Peter was hell bent on blaming transfatty acids.  Now I'm no fan of the transfat, and they are indeed evil doers in any body, but they can't be blamed for everything. Indeed one just needs to look around to find high fat rodent diets that are not high in transfats.  Enter the other bad guy by which we can dismiss inconvenient results ... veggie oil PUFA.   True, many high fat rodent diets are very high PUFA ... but there are many that are based on lard.  You know, the stuff us moist eyed female types should wallow in to enter the glories of Slimville via the Ketogenic Highway?!

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BLOGSCAN - Television Advertising Revenue and the Anechoic Effect

We have often discussed the anechoic effect, how cases involving or discussions of the topics we address on Health Care Renewal, the concentration and abuse of power in health care, fail to produce any responses, or echoes.  Two recent blog posts discussed one way in whicht the anechoic effect might be generated.

A post by Dr Steven Greer on CurrentMedicine.TV, enlarged upon by Alison Bass on the Alison Bass blog, discussed a segment on 60 Minutes yesterday that dealt with the evidence that anti-depressant drugs may not be efficacious for mild to moderate depression.  Since this evidence is about four years old, the question is why it has only made it to the main-stream media now?  Both Dr Greer and Ms Bass think it may be because the patents on most of the newer, mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) type anti-depressants have run out.  Therefore, their manufacturers may no longer be interested in using the clout they derive from paying millions for television advertising to keep programs critical of these drugs off the air.  The implication is that large health care organizations may often use threats to withdraw advertising to forestall criticisms of their products or their agendas in the media, hence increasing the anechoic effect.

ADDENDUM (27 February, 2012) See also comments on the 1BoringOldMan blog. 

Is ONC Stonewalling on the issue of HIT Certification, Safety and Liability?

At my Feb. 16, 2012 post "Hospitals and Doctors Use Health IT at Their Own Risk - Even if Certified" I wrote that an ONC-ATCB (Authorized Testing and Certification Body) replied to my email inquiry about health IT certification, safety and liability indemnification by stating that:

What was suggested in the email below (freedom from liability for users of the system, etc.) would be out of scope for ONC-ATCB testing based on the given criteria.

[That is, the criteria used in testing here - ed.]

What I did not include in that post was the fact that some months ago, I had emailed ONC directly with the same questions, and then called them on the phone with those questions at about the same time as I inquired of the ATCB.

ONC itself never responded.

There are several possibilities:

• They don't know the answer.
• They don't want to respond.
• They don't care to respond.

Dismissing possibility #1, these civil servants appear to be stonewalling on the issue.

It would be nice to hear ONC itself admit the term "certification" is a gossamer guarantee of health IT safety, efficacy and indemnification of purchasers, implementers and users from potential EHR-related liability.

I am not holding my breath.

-- SS

Addendum:

An ONC representative did get back to me on Feb. 27, but I told them my question had already been answered by ONC ATCB's.

Physician Phollies ~ III: Dr. Jack "Leptin Man" Kruse

In  light of recent posts by Melissa McEwen (Hunt Gather Love blog) and Danny Roddy, I decided to dust this one off that got lost in the draft bin.  Melissa's post especially got me to go get this out of storage -- she cites a few quotes from Jack that are rather mind-boggling.  Folks over at PaleoHacks are well familiar with Quiltisms on all manner of things.     It seems that the selection of speakers for AHS12 has caused a bit of consternation in the paleo world, and for good reason, IMO.  I had considered entering a talk on eating disorders but figured it would be dead on arrival when I heard that some presenters from last year were rebuked.  So didn't waste my time.  I'm glad to see that others are speaking up -- hopefully more will -- about this disturbing trend in the paleo community.  Especially, as Melissa put it in her comments, how Jimmy Moore has now become some paleo guru kingmaker.  This as the man has now announced that he's pushing 300 lbs despite going paleo after AHS11.  As the collective communities bemoan how the media is portraying paleo, they need to rethink who it is they support in this community.  Over on PaleoHacks Sean Croxton seemed a bit ruffled that his Paleo Summit has been met with negativity.  Jack Kruse on the docket will, no doubt, add to the behind-the-scenes groaning.  I would like to see the ancestral movement stem this tide as a return to a real foods diet will be the solution for most.  Such a diet can more than be supported by science.  But it has to be science, not the krispie sort.

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