On Fri, 17 Sep 1999, Susan Carmack wrote:

> Hi Todd,
>
> Ron Hoggan has written an interesting article about cholesterol:
>
> http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/hoggan/icam1.txt

It is an interesting article, and an admittedly speculative one.
The point of the article, however, is not that gluten causes high
cholesterol, but that it might contribute to endothelial damage.

> Also in Adelle Davis' book, Let's Get Well, Chapter 5 - Those 'Cholesterol'
> Problems, she says, 'Adequate protein causes the blood cholesterol to fall
> provided it is not obtained from well-marbled steaks or roasts...'
> Marbling is caused by grains.

Marbling is intramuscular fat, which is caused by cattle being
fattened, or made obese, by whatever means.  I agree that grains
can do this, but they don't have to be gluten-containing grains.
Corn does the job too, and soybeans.

> Re: ketosis
> >Four weeks is the most I've been able
> >to tolerate.
>
> It was recently pointed out to me that cold weather could be a factor that
> combined with ketosis would help stabilize the cholesterol as well as
> extreme physical exercise. Witness the Inuit who eat mostly meat/fish in
> winter and Louis and Clark et al who travelled vast distances in cold weather.

I get plenty of extreme physical exercise in the form of high
intensity weight training, and I do think that this has helped to
raise my HDL somewhat.

> (To lower cholesterol, Ms Davis recommends magnesium, iodine, lecithin,
> yeast, raw whole milk, the supplements A, D, E and the B vitamins as well
> as her antistress formula.
> I'll send it to you if you like.)

Let's see how my experiment turns out first.

> >  I lost weight readily on the Zone,
> >despite eating moderate amounts of grains in the process.
>
> In the case of celiac disease sometimes grains cause quick weight loss.
> There are obese and skinny celiacs.

Until I went paleo, I ate grains my whole life, like most other
people.  That didn't change when I did the Zone, so it's not
plausible that this is what caused the weight loss.  Indeed, I
was eating fewer grains on the Zone, since these are strictly
limited (but not prohibited) on that diet.

> >  In addition, I don't think gluten represents a
> >challenge for a *cow's* disgestive system,
>
> Apparently they are finding that e-coli and mad cow disease can be caused
> by gluten. That is one of the reasons why cows are fed so many antibiotics.
>
> Research suggests grain as source of E.coli problem in beef cattle
> graphic September 11, 1998

[snip]

Susan, I hope you noticed that the article that you posted says
*nothing* about gluten.  You are assuming that it is the gluten
in the grains that is causing the problem, but that is not what
the article says.

I still maintain that gluten is a normal part of a cow's diet,
because gluten is in grass seeds, which are part of the grass
that is the cow's normal diet.  Now I certainly grant that these
seeds probably represent a small percentage of the cow's overall
intake.  Fattening a cow on grains means reversing this ratio by
making her diet "richer" than it normally is.

You mentioned that the cattle in Canada are fed the by-products
of breweries.  I assume that this means they are fed "spent"
grain.  As a former home brewer, I am acquainted with this stuff.
Brewers us malted barley, which is partially sprounted grain.
They then "mash" it at 150% for hours to activate enzymes and
liberate the sugars, making a sweet "wort" that is later yeasted
to make beer.  The used grains are removed, but probably have
some residual starches left in them, as well as the cellulose
that the cows can digest but we can't.  Since the idea of
grain-feeding is to fatten the cattle, this sugar-depleted grain
is a pretty low-grade kind of feed, but I guess it works.  I
don't see any reason to suppose that barley is an unnatural food
for a cow, but once again this represents an unnatural
concentration of it.

Todd Moody
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