On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 05:30:38 -0400, "Dr. James Alpigini"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>>>It is my understanding, from Lyle's book, that neoglucogenesis only occurs
>>>when the body does not have sufficient glucose.  I could be wrong, and I
>>>suppose he could be.
>>
>>My direct experience of Lyle is that his business is to be a "Professional
>>Person Who Looks Like He Knows Something To People Who Will Pay For That".
>>
>>In contrast to people like Loren Cordain or Mary Enig, who actually know
>>something....
>
>Well, that is not totally correct.  Lyle is not an MD, nor does he claim to be
>one.  His degree is a BS in Physiological Sciences, meaning that he is
>essentially a sports trainer.  He is quite open with his knowledge and has
>helped me to sort out my own workout and supplements.  He has written a book,
>"The Ketogenic Diet: A Complete Guide for the Dieter and Practitioner".  This
>is an outstanding body of work.  It is the most thoroughly researched "diet
>book" I have ever seen.  It is less a diet book than a reference manual!  It
>deals with all major aspects of the low carbohydrate diet and backs up
>virtually every statement with appropriate citations.   To make his "diet"
>paleo simply requires the deletion of dairy products.  My personal opinion is
>that Lyle's book and Ray's book belong on your shelf side by side.

I don't doubt that he is doing a GOOD JOB of being a "Professional
Person Who Looks Like He Knows Something To People Who Will Pay For
That".

Of course, this begins with getting a BS somewhere, and continues with
Writing a
Book, and Always Citing Something -- regardless of whether the
citations are
actual studies (as opposed to simply opinion articles in journals) or
- even if
they are studies - whether they really support what he is saying.

A couple of examples of how you can get the wool pulled over your eyes
by people
who "back up their statements with citations":

- The low-carb diets are continually attacked in the major media, on
the web,
and in professional journals by medical people who are employees of
the top
entirely-carbohydrate sports "performance bar" and the top
mostly-sugar sports
"performance drink".   Their articles always have citations with those
little
footnote numbers that make people think that the statement is the
truth.
However, their citations are always opinion articles in professional
journals
like "Tuft's Letter" ( because, of course, there are virtually no real
studies
that they can cite. ).

- The cholesterol myth has been supported over the years by a variety
of
citations that do not support the statements that cite them, and you
can find
many of those at:

http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-25775/myth8.htm

Here is the most flagrant example from that page, where the citation
demonstrates just the opposite of the statement! :

" Here is another example. A common message from the American Heart
Association
and The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to doctors is that
there exist
a close correspondence between degree of cholesterol lowering and
degree of
mortality reduction. Listen for example to the words from The
Cholesterol Facts
(114): 'The results of the Framingham study indicate that a 1%
reduction of
cholesterol corresponds to a 2% reduction in CHD (coronary heart
disease) risk.'
This statement was followed by a reference to a paper which reported
the 30
years experience from Framingham (115).

But in that paper you can read the following statement: 'For each 1
mg/dl drop
of cholesterol there was an 11% increase (!) in coronary and total
mortality.' "


--
Cheers,

Ken
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