HYDROGENATION : DEADLY MANUFACTURED TRANSFATS IN FOOD

A major contributor to artherosclerosis and heart disease are the fats that have been artificially produced in laboratories, known as the hydrogenated fats. Unlike the natural lipid cholesterol found in foods such as egg yolk that is highly nutritious, trans fats are man made fats that the body cannot utilise.  This causes them to be deposited in the arteries leading to heart disease.

These hydrogenated fats have been used to make margarine for many years. The process of hydrogenation involves the use of metal catalysts such as nickel and copper and hydrogen gas. The resultant vegetable oil becomes solidified in the process. Highly injurious trans fats are created via this process and margarine is not such a healthy substitute for butter. The trans fats return to a thick candle wax constituency in the body. Back in the seventies there was a lot of publicity for healthy margarines such as Flora. Many people switched to margarine believing it to be the healthier option. Epidemiological observations eventually noticed a strange anomaly. Those who had switched to margarine were more likely to die of cancer and heart disease. It was realised that the margarine was full of deadly trans fats that the body does not recognise as food. Hence it is dumped in fat cells or inside the arteries.

Today the problem in margarine has largely been rectified and most margarines are now advertised as being non-hydrogenated. However there are still foods that contain hydrogenated fats such as various cakes and biscuits. Due to consumer pressure many supermarkets have now completely removed trans fats from their own brand products. Marks and Spencer is one such leading supermarket. The Linda McCartney brand of vegetarian sausages and burgers were absolutely full of hydrogenated fats. Nearly every meat free product in the range was labelled as containing hydrogenated fats. I first noticed this in the eighties and decided not to buy them. It seemed morally wrong that these so called healthy vegetarian foods were full of a cheap fat known to cause cancer. These days trans fats may still be found in items such as Twix bars. It pays to read the labels. Some countries such as Denmark have completely banned trans fats meaning that the customer can rest assured when shopping. The British Government has decided not to completely ban trans fats as they feel that it smacks of a nanny state and maybe that have not fully grasped the argument for a ban. Trans fats are far more deadly than any other form of fat. Eating plain butter or lard is actually preferable even though they contain saturated fat the body is able to metabolise these fats to produce heat and energy. Fortunately more and more products are now having the trans fats removed. For example Jammie Dodgers are now made without hydrogenated fats. However the public has now spent many decades eating these dangerous foods and Harvard medics feel that around fifty thousand people may have died each year in the United States as a result (Mozaffarian et al 2006). In 2007 New York City caved in to consumer panic and decided to outlaw hydrogenated cooking oils in all its restaurants and fast food chains. They must all now use healthy cooking oil to fry chips and fast food without trans fat. The food industry loves trans fat because it increases the shelf life of their foods.  This enables biscuits and snacks to stay on the shelf for years without going off. They are cheap and maximise profits. American Doctors warned that they are the worst fat to contribute to heart disease which is why New York banned them completely. This cheap cooking oil is still used in the U.K. however and many packaged products contain these fats. It is best to buy fresh foods that consist of a single  constituent such as eggs, fish,  milk, butter, olive oil, fruit, nuts and vegetables. Manufactured foods may contain many undesirable additives including trans fats to promote shelf life. 

Statins and Cholesterol

STATINS, THE WONDER DRUG AND CHOLESTEROL.

Statins have been hailed as the wonder drug of our time and their promotion has been colossal. They are now taken by around seven million people in the United Kingdom and many are taking them as a prophylactic since they are in good health. Statins like the cosmetic drug, Botox also weaken muscles. This can sometimes lead to muscle breakdown and a dangerous condition known as rhabddomyolosis.

Well known brand names of statins include Baycol made by Bayer and Liptor manufactured by Pfizer. Statins have been hailed as wonder drugs that reduce cholesterol in the arteries. The premise is that cholesterol build up, known as artherosclerosis can lead to death from heart attack as the flow of blood is impeded through the major blood vessels. These fatty deposits inside arterial blood vessels are known as atheromas and have attracted the attention of many companies eager to produce drugs to dissolve them. The class of drugs designed to do this is the statin group. Cholesterol is lowered by statins but the effects are not all beneficial. This is because cholesterol is a very essential component of the body and brain. Users of statins have complained of memory loss and marked cognitive decline. This is because cholesterol is an essential part of the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibres and helps to produce synapses in the brain that produce and store memory. Therefore far from being a villain, cholesterol is in fact vital to our well being and intellect. Apart from memory problems users of statins may experience severe muscle pains and cramps. This is partly due to deterioration of myelin sheaths affecting the nerves supplying the muscles. Some long term users have ended up needing walking sticks or even wheelchairs due to statin induced neuropathy. Cholesterol is also imperative for healthy muscle function and statins have been shown to induce a potentially fatal condition known as rhabdomyolosis. This condition is caused by the rapid breakdown in muscle tissue and was first noted in crush victims of earthquakes. Damage to muscle fibres causes muscle breakdown products to be released into the bloodstream where they can clog up the fine tubules in the kidneys. This can lead to kidney failure. There are many factors that can lead to this syndrome and statins are now on this list. So if the muscle damage is allowed to progress unchecked it can result in fatal renal failure. The liver manufactures cholesterol to produce sex hormones and statins interfere with this process. This has resulted in problems with sexual dysfunction and low libido in those taking statins.  A little known fact is that cholesterol is essential for the manufacture of steroids found in sex hormones. A rich source of cholesterol is egg yolk. Eating soft boiled eggs will not harm your health but may substantially improve your sex life and cognitive function.

There is a school of respected medical thought that cholesterol is a very important substance in the body and has been wrongly implicated as being a cause of heart disease (Kendrick 2007).Therefore although there is still no absolute consensus that cholesterol is a bad substance to be avoided statins continue to be freely prescribed. The NHS spends one billion pounds a year in the U.K. prescribing statins. Currently there are around seven million people in England who are taking statins. This is an enormous number and recently a study led by Dr. Taylor working in the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine has questioned whether it is advisable that statins are routinely being prescribed to healthy people as a prophylactic. It was also flagged as a concern that nearly all of the trials of people taking statins were sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Astrazenica who make Lipitor and Cresta brand names (Taylor et al 2011).  Industry sponsored trials are more likely to report favourable results for their merchandise and discard the not so commercial negative findings. This means that there is a lack of impartiality in the safety studies. The studies also omitted to include any of the adverse reactions noted and only recorded the positive findings. It is hardly surprising then that there have been some very serious side effects from statins including severe myopathy and kidney failure. There have been a lot of complaints of memory loss and depression among those taking statins. Could it be the case that the money is being wasted and possibly doing more harm than good? The promotion of pharmaceutical products is pervasive and powerful. It seems that evidence of potential harm from pharmaceuticals is being casually overlooked in the pursuit of profits.

A persuasive school of thought believes that inflammation of blood vessels is caused by a variety of agents including infections and exposure to traffic fumes. These emissions from petrol and diesel contain highly noxious components such as benzene, carbon monoxide, and minute ultrafine particulates. Children are especially at risk of inhaling these particles known as PM10 because their height puts them directly in line with the exhaust emissions (Shukman 2009). These are inhaled in the lung and dissolve in the bloodstream where they then cause vascular problems. These can affect the entire body including the brain and over 300 000 premature deaths are caused annually in the EU by this insidious particulate matter (Campbell et al 2009). This finding would explain why artheromas are rare in rural cultures such as the Masai (Kendrick 2007). Despite their very high fat diet people living a more natural lifestyle rarely suffer from the ailments of urban society. Taking a pill to reduce cholesterol may seem an attractive panacea but the implication of these studies is that it is our generally polluted environment that needs attention. A Harvard medical study (Harvard 2008) found that women do not benefit at from taking statins yet G.P. s continue to prescribe them.

The myth of carbon capture

                    

Sir,

Thank you very much for the recent correspondence explaining the Government’s resolve to utilise carbon capture technology in coal fired power stations, such as Kingsnorth.

 During the industrial revolution, when a great deal of coal was burnt, a lot of carbon dioxide would have been emitted. Scientists have realised that approximately one third of this carbon dioxide is missing and cannot be accounted for.

 Recently NASA launched a satellite to try and determine where the missing carbon might be. Unfortunately the satellite crashed into the Antarctic ocean! This issue of missing carbon dioxide has important connotations.

 The fact is that all life is carbon based on our planet and the Earth is a giant carbon recycling machine. Carbon and carbon dioxide are constantly being recycled and therefore theoretically it is not possible for carbon dioxide levels to build up in our atmosphere.

 Most of the carbon ends up in the soil, sedimentary rocks and of course all plant life recycles carbon via PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Photosynthesis is a very important carbon capture process, crucial to life on our planet.

 Carbon capture technology on the other hand, is presumably very important to the engineers whose jobs depend on exploring this technology! Yes it is important to create more jobs for engineers, but it’s also important to remember that mother nature does the job very efficiently in capturing carbon via photosynthesis.  Therefore it would be very prudent to encourage the preservation of forests, Green Belt land, and of course domestic back gardens.

 Since soil recycles carbon it is important to life on our planet that people do not concrete over their back gardens and driveways. Apparently the back gardens of Great Britain collectively cover more area than all our National Parks combined and therefore pay a crucial part in keeping our ecosystems healthy.

 I feel that too much emphasis has been placed upon the evils of carbon dioxide, which is a very beneficial gas essential to life on this planet. There are far more pressing environmental concerns such as soil erosion and the rapid depletion of Earth’s resources due to the growing population. However, because the Earth is a carbon recycling machine I do not feel that is wrong to use fossil fuels if the alternative is power cuts in the future.

 Recently a lot of big investors have pulled their money out of wind farms because they have realized they will not get a good return for their money. Furthermore during our recent cold winter the wind did not blow for several weeks because of the anti-cyclone. If our country had been solely reliant on wind technology and renewables we could have been in serious trouble. We also came within four days of losing our gas supplies partly due to the Russian dispute with the Ukraine.

 If you stood on top of a tall building and threw 5.5 billion pounds into the wind people would think that you were crazy! Yet that is exactly what the Government is proposing to do by investing this amount of money in wind farms.

 It is economically DEAD MONEY. Furthermore, wind farms in sensitive areas of outstanding beauty, such as Dorset’s “Jurassic Park” have greatly antagonised numerous bodies including the CPRE.

 Certainly these monstrosities creeping over our beautiful green Albion are not a vote winner! There is already a marked tendency for countryside dwellers to vote Conservative (Countryside Alliance) and this will be further exacerbated by pursuing these wind farms.

 THEY ARE BOTH A MONEY LOSER AND A VOTE LOSER.

 The climate will certainly look after itself! I recently watched Al Gore’s film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. It was riddled with so many scientific errors that I spent most of the duration of the film in fits of giggles.

 Faced with the choice of 5,000 wind turbines destroying the countryside or one coal-fired power station, (the equivalent in energy output), it is surely preferable to choose the coal option. These new coal-fired power stations would create infinitely more new jobs than the wind option.

 Our economy needs more help right now than the climate. 

 Because of such issues, it seems prudent to continue the investment in coal-fired power stations, although the EU directive is making this very difficult.

 With a lot of input from Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, the EU decided that coal-fired power stations must be curtailed. While I am not saying that this form of energy is perfect I have noticed a strange conundrum. In the bid to combat “global warming” some scientists have suggested pumping sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. Sulphur particles act as a coolant by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space.

 Paradoxically one of the complaints against coal-fired power stations is that they emit sulphur dioxide and therefore are considered dirty! So we seemed to have gone around in a complete circle here! It seems that coal-fired power stations will both cool the planet via the sulphur emissions, and warm it via the carbon emissions! Something to keep everyone happy! I think I will sign off here because this letter could become interminably long and boring.

                                    Best wishes,

                                                            Susan

Looming energy gap

Regarding the closure of our coal fired power stations

The era of power cuts is slowly dawning, and frankly I blame the Green Party’s meddling in Europe for the imminent blackouts.

 During the recent blackouts caused by various systems failures, not one of the UK’s 2000 wind turbines came to the rescue.

 Indeed, if they had managed to input any energy the situation might have been exacerbated. The Greens have been very active in Brussels, and we have now been saddled with a large quota of renewable energy from wind turbines. Every family will eventually pay £1,000 extra in their electricity and gas bills to pay for green subsidies. 

 Although I like the idea of clean energy very much indeed, I am also a realist. The technology is still in it’s infancy and I see problems ahead when the U.K has to close nine coal-fired power stations to comply with the Large Combustion Plant Directive. Gordon Brown needs to keep our coal-fired stations running and ignore the E.U directive or industry will suffer when the power cuts come.

 Caroline Lucas, Green MEP may have had good intentions during her stint in Brussels; but sometimes good intentions are not enough in this world.

Postscript: The Government has recently decided to back the creation of new coal fired power stations to avoid the predicted power cuts. 

Drawbacks of wind turbines

 

Sir,

It seems that wind turbines have other drawbacks that have not yet been considered.

During the cold spell a turbine in Lincolnshire had a blade ripped off in mysterious circumstances. Some speculated that it was a result of an alien encounter.

 Witnesses reported seeing strange lights hovering above the wind farm on the night the blade was damaged. It seemed that a fleet of UFOs were coming to invade our peaceful planet!

However a more prosaic explanation is that turbine gearboxes are prone to failure and need replacing every few years. Furthermore turbines may endanger wildlife and kill bats by causing their lungs to implode. They also annoy so called NIMBYS in the countryside who do not wish to their pristine green Albion tarnished by the imposing structures.

 Still we have a large quota of renewable energy to implement and wind turbines are a good source of clean energy: but only when the wind is blowing.

 During this recent freezing spell caused by an anti-cyclone, the wind has not blown at all in this country for several weeks! Furthermore during the recent blackouts caused by various systems failures, not one of the UK’s 2,000 wind turbines came to the rescue.

 Indeed, if they had managed to input any energy the situation might have been exacerbated.

 Although I like the idea of clean energy, I am also a realist. The technology is still in its infancy and I see problems ahead when the UK has to close nine coal fired power stations to comply with the EU directive on emissions.

Dangers of skunk

Sir

thank goodness our Home Secretary has finally seen the light and sacked the aptly named Professor Nutt.

He should have gone a long time ago   .

His views on narcotic substances never ceased to amaze me with their inconsistency.

Firstly he seemed none to happy about the reclassification of cannabis . He appears blissfully unaware that the genetically engineered super strength Skunk is a completely different drug from the cannabis of decades gone by.

The difference between the two is akin to that of drinking absinthe as opposed to lager.

The psychoactive ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol and has a range of nasty effects on health of mind and body.

THC can cause an instant psychosis by raising dopamine levels in the brain.

This can lead to violent behaviour and several murders have been linked to this drug induced psychosis.

Smoking pot can also disrupt liver metabolim by depleting glucose stores; hence the phenomenon known as the munchies whereby users feel a compulsion to stuff themselves with sweet snacks.

There was a tragic case where a five year old child was made to smoke from a spliff.

A week later the child was dead from low blood sugar and liver failure. 

How Prof. Nutt can state that cannabis is no more dangerous than ciggies is also rather strange as the two substances are often taken together . Their noxious effects reinforce each other in a deadly synergy.

In the hour after smoking a joint you are four times more likely to suffer a fatal heart attackas the untimely demise of a well known pop star recently illustrates.

Downgrading drugs like this make them cheaper and easier for naive youngsters to get hold of.They do not realise the harm they may do to themselves at their age.

It was also the height of irresponsibility of Oxford Green Party to hold a demonstration in Broad Street calling for the legalisation of cannabis for the above reasons.

Finally both the Green Party [London Mayoral candidate] and Prof, Nutt would like to see ecstacy legalised.

It has been discovered that certain individuals are unable to metabolise this manufactured drug. This can result in fatalities.

one has to be suspicious of this unpaid Tsars agenda and I am glad that our Government made the decision to oust him.

Post Script

I read today that Prof. Nutt worked for Glaxo Smith Kline, a company that makes a drug called Seroxat. It is well known that taking ectasy that deplete the brains store of serotonin in the long term.

Seroxat is a drug that raises serotonin levels in the brain. Therefore I think there is a substantial conflict of interest and for that reason he should never have been in his position as an advisor. Young people who are taking ectasy today are at greater risk to depression in later adulthood. This will make them a good market for the drug Seroxat.

Amanda Knox is Innocent

Amanda Knox is Innocent

Sir

as a postgrad. criminologist I have recently been researching gendered justice and the differential treatment often meted out to women who are portrayed as doubly deviant by a patriarchal sentencing culture.

Often women are sexualised in a babes behind bars fashion and given such huge  coverage by a media keen to sell newspapers that their trial becomes seriously prejudiced . This scenario has occurred in the Amanda`s Knox case which has degenerated into a witch hunt. It suits a lot of people to believe that she is guilty as a lot of money has been made out of her as a media subject. Her trial in Italy was completely prejudiced as a cartoon in the media had already appeared showing the murder with three people present.

I believe that she is totally innocent for numerous reasons, not least the forensic evidence which completely removes her from the crime scene. Her case was badly presented the first time, focussing on emotional appeals to the judge instead of presenting the hard facts.

Some of these facts are as follows:

1. The main suspect ,Rudy Guede had recently been apprehended twice armed with a knife having broken into a school and an office to steal laptops.

2. Guede gained entrance on both occasions via a window he had smashed with a rock.

3.In the Knox case a window was similarly smashed with a rock in an adjacent room to Meredith`s room.

4. The Italian Judge decided that this was a "staged break in" by Knox and Sollecito.

5.A criminologist would think otherwise. This clearly was a genuine break in by a drug dealer looking for money.

6.The Italian Judge says the motive for murder is baffling but probably has sexual satanic undertones.

7. Wrong again; there is a clear motive of THEFT as Rudy Guede left his fingerprints on Meredith`s handbag and also stole 300 Euros from it.

8. At around 10 o clock in the evening Meredith noticed the missing money and tried to phone her bank .(evidence found on her phone records). Guede is in the bathroom at this point using the lavatory(evidence later found).

9.Between 10 and 11 pm. she is murdered and raped, by Rudy Guede.

10. He takes her mobile phones and throws them in a neighbour`s garden where they are later found.

11.He then runs away to Germany: another indication of guilt.

12.He says in his police statement that he left the front door open

13. Amanda Knox states that when she arrived at the murder house the front door was wide open, arousing her suspicions.

14,Amanda hardly knew Guede and could not have conferred with him. Therefore she is telling the truth about the wide open door.

15. Meredith`s door was locked from the outside by the killer and therefore these keys need to be found as they will provide crucial DNA evidence.

 16. Guede said that he had consensual sex with Meredith on a date arranged previously at the Halloween party. Witnesses said he was not at the Halloween party and did not meet Meredith. It was clearly a rape.

17. Guede stated that he returned to the room to find Sollecito stabbing Meredith. This is clearly an amateurish attempt to frame another man for his heinous crime. Amazingly the prosecution fell for this shabby lie resulting in Sollecito`s arrest.

18. If Guede`s story is true why did he not call an ambulance??

To conclude, two innocent people have been wrongly incarcerated and received longer sentences than the real culprit who is only serving sixteen years.

The trial to date has been an absolute shambles and is reminiscent of the days of the Witch Finder General and the Malleus Maleficarum,
I have said a prayer for her in my local church in Oxford