What do All Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Have in Common?

What do All Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Have in Common?  And What in the world is this diagram trying to explain?

According to a recently published research paper, from the British Medical Journal in 2011, new data show that all major, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have cardiovascular risks.  Investigators evaluating available evidence report they have found little to suggest that any of the investigated options are safe.

PGAP™

An illustration from philosopher and scientist, Rene Descartes.  The fire displaces the skin, which pulls a tiny thread, which opens a pore in the ventricle (F) allowing the "animal spirit" to flow through a hollow tube, which inflates the muscle of the leg, causing the foot to withdraw.

I do want to return to the topic of inflammation and what I previously referred to as the Other Oil Industry but I just returned from an extraordinary workshop that is worth talking about. 

I just returned from Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley, having attended a training program called PGAP™ (Progressive Goal Attainment Program).  PGAP™ is a treatment program for reducing disability due to chronic pain, depression, cancer and other chronic health conditions.  There are very few providers of this service in the United States who currently offer this program.  As for California, until yesterday, there were only a few providers in northern California.  At the conclusion of the training, I join a growing number to offer it in southern California.  I will be working in conjunction with an organization called LifeTEAM, starting in July to offer PGAP™.   

The Worst Diet! It is What I Eat!

 I originally planned to continue a thread on Inflammation and Dietary Fats but recent news caused me to veer off course.  It turns out that US News and World Report has categorized the best to worst 20 diets.  The diet I recommend as the best for managing chronic inflammation and pain, the Paleo Diet, is ranked a lowly 20^th.  I would be embarrassed were it not for the near complete lack of scientific rigor in the article and my disdain for thoughtless conventional wisdom.

Fortunately, Loren Cordain, Ph.D., one of the foremost authorities on the Paleo Diet, has quickly rebutted the journalistic- nonsense with his usual scientific and evidence-based logic.

First read the US News listing of 20 diets.  Next see their criticism of the Paleo Diet.  Finally, take a look at Dr. Cordain’s well researched debunking of the US News analysis and their near total ignorance on the science of nutrition.

Inflammation & the Other Oil Industry

In about 1980, while I was still a student in chiropractic college, I read an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition about a particular type of dietary fat known as partially hydrogenated oil or trans fat.  I found the article quite troubling.  These trans fats were made by taking ordinary grain, seed and bean oils (such as corn, sunflower, soybean, safflower, peanut oils) and chemically altering them in a way that was mainly intended to extend shelf life.  Another perceived benefit of these fats was that they gave baked goods a texture and consistency similar to animal-based fats such as butter and lard.  The trans fats were considered to be a healthier alternative to the saturated animal fat as well as coconut oil, which is also a saturated fat.  For a quick explanation of how oils are partially hydrogenated, read this.

I do not believe there was any evil intent to create an especially unhealthy product when partially hydrogenated oils were invented.  I don’t believe their increased use was intended to cause harm.  However the research article I first read, which is now over 30 years-old, and almost three decades of more of research have proven these to be uniquely unhealthy.  Predictably, commercial food manufacturers and restaurants tried to ignore the damaging effects of these fats and tried to keep the public in the dark.  The edible oil industry (the other oil industry) apparently did not want to lose market share, even with public health at risk.