Dedicated to the return of the superior health of our ancestors, by adopting traditional foods that nourished them throughout the ages, and disavowing the modern reliance on the "displacing foods of modern commerce."
Red meat has been maligned for decades as an artery-clogging source of cholesterol and saturated fat. Yet a rare-cooked slab of quality red meat may just be your best defense against heart disease.
One of the main casualties of what we might call the Public Health-Industrial Complex’s war on cholesterol has been a molecule called "coenzyme Q10" (CoQ10). Among its many benefits and functions, coenzyme Q10 is a powerful protector of the heart and blood vessels. CoQ10 is found primarily in red meats, especially organ meats like liver and heart, and is heat-sensitive, destroyed by overcooking. The anti-cholesterol campaign of the government and its associated medical cartels has assaulted the population’s CoQ10 status first through dietary recommendations, and now through the expanding use of CoQ10-lowering drugs, more popularly called "cholesterol-lowering" statins.
Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part III: Insulin
The Kitava study continues to get more and more interesting in later publications. Dr. Lindeberg and his colleagues continued exploring disease markers in the Kitavans, perhaps because their blood lipid findings were not consistent with what one would expect to find in a modern Western population with a low prevalence of CVD.
In their next study, the researchers examined Kitavans' insulin levels compared to Swedish controls. This paper is short but very sweet. Young Kitavan men and women have a fasting serum insulin level considerably lower than their Swedish counterparts (KM 3.9 IU/mL; SM 5.7; KW 3.5; SW 6.2). Kitavan insulin is relatively stable with age, whereas Swedish insulin increases. In the 60-74 year old group, Kitavans have approximately half the fasting serum insulin of Swedes. One thing to keep in mind is that these are average numbers. There is some overlap between the Kitavan and Swedish numbers, with a few Kitavans above the Swedish mean.
In figure 2, they address the possibility that exercise is the reason for Kitavans' low insulin levels. Kitavans have an activity level comparable to a moderately active Swedish person. They divided the Swedes into three categories: low, medium, and high amounts of physical activity at work. The people in the "low" category had the highest insulin, followed by the "high" group and then the "medium" group. The differences were small, however, and Kitavans had far lower serum insulin, on average, than any of the three Swedish groups. These data show that exercise can not explain Kitavans' low insulin levels.
See also: Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6
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Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Kitava, Part II: Blood Lipids
The findings in the previous post are all pretty much expected in a population that doesn't get heart disease. However, things started to get interesting when Lindeberg's group measured the Kitavans' serum lipids ("cholesterol"). Kitavan and Swedish total cholesterol is about the same in young men, around 174 mg/dL (4.5 mmol/L). It rises with age in older Swedish men but not Kitavans.
Doctors commonly refer to total cholesterol over 200 mg/dL (5.2 mmol/L) as "high", so Kitavan men are in the clear. On the other hand, Kitavan women should be dying of heart disease left and right with their high middle-age cholesterol of 247 mg/dL (6.4 mmol/L)! That's actually higher than the value for Swedish women of the same age, who are far more prone to heart disease than Kitavans.
In under two minutes you will learn why high cholesterol levels and the incidence of heart disease are not related. The highest levels of cholesterol in the world are enjoyed by people who are at or near the bottom in terms of the incidence of heart disease.
My name is Michael Miles and I am the founder of Nutrition and Physical Regeneration. I am dedicated to the regeneration of health by pointing people back to the life giving traditional foods of their ancestors, both ancient and modern. I am a writer, research hound, voluntaryist, foodie, wine lover, beer snob, cigar aficionado, and fitness buff. Welcome to my corner of the web.
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The statements on this site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Admini-stration. No writing, product, or service found on or linked to from this site is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I have a number of opinions covering many different areas but none of what I say or publish constitutes advice. The material presented on this site is meant for informa-tional and educational purposes only. It should not be relied upon to determine any course of treatment or medical diagnosis.
I am not a doctor. I am not certified to dispense any medical or health advice of any nature. My calling in life is not to tell people what to do. Seek out whatever guidance you need in your search for optimal health, but in the end always remember your health is in your own hands.
Red meat has been maligned for decades as an artery-clogging source of cholesterol and saturated fat. Yet a rare-cooked slab of quality red meat may just be your best defense against heart disease.
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