A Closer Look At: Atherosclerosis & Heart Disease.

Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass 02215-1204, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between male pattern baldness and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study among 22,071 US male physicians aged 40 to 84 years enrolled in the Physicians' Health Study. Of these, 19,112 were free of CHD at baseline and completed a questionnaire at the 11-year follow-up concerning their pattern of hair loss at age 45 years. Response options included no hair loss, frontal baldness only, or frontal baldness with mild, moderate, or severe vertex baldness. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Coronary heart disease events defined as nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), angina pectoris, and/or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During 11 years of follow-up, we documented 1446 CHD events in this cohort. Compared with men with no hair loss, those with frontal baldness had an age-adjusted relative risk (RR) of CHD of 1.09 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94-1.25), while those with mild, moderate, or severe vertex baldness had RRs of 1.23 (95% CI, 1.05-1.43), 1.32 (95% CI, 1.10-1.59), and 1.36 (95% CI, 1.11-1.67), respectively (P for trend, <.001). Multivariate adjustment for age, parental history of MI, height, body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters as a continuous variable), smoking, history of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol level, physical activity, and alcohol intake did not materially alter these associations. Results were similar when nonfatal MI, angina, and coronary revascularization were examined separately, and when events were analyzed among men older and younger than 55 years at baseline. Vertex baldness was more strongly associated with CHD risk among men with hypertension (multivariate RR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.31-2.44) or high cholesterol levels (multivariate RR, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.09-7.12). CONCLUSION: Vertex pattern baldness appears to be a marker for increased risk of CHD events, especially among men with hypertension or high cholesterol levels.

Heart disease is America's number one killer, taking as many lives as almost everything else combined. Every day, 3,000 Americans suffer from heart attacks, and more than 1,200 of them die. Those who don't die often suffer another heart attack later. Because we now know what causes heart attacks, we can prevent them.

Since the early 1970s, study after study after study has implicated cow's milk and other dairy products as a cause of heart disease and clogged arteries. One researcher, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic (the top-rated heart clinic in the U.S.), makes people "heart attack-proof" by putting them on a vegan diet (check out his groundbreaking paper in the American Journal of Cardiology, August 99).

It's not just the fat and cholesterol in dairy products, but also the animal protein and milk carbohydrates that are linked to heart disease, as the following studies show:

"International statistics indicate that there is a close correlation between the consumption of saturated fats (dairy fats and meat fats) and the mortality from coronary heart disease, and this conception has been confirmed by many epidemiological studies," concluded a study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. "Practically total replacement of dairy fats by vegetable oils in the diets … was followed by a substantial reduction in the mortality of men from coronary heart disease. Total mortality also appeared to be reduced." (1)

In a study published in the International Journal of Cardiology, researchers studied seven countries with a high consumption of dairy products and found that heart disease mortality rose as milk supply rose. (2)

In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers wrote, "Much evidence suggests that high consumption of full-fat dairy products is likely to increase coronary heart disease risk" and noted that "there are strong reasons to believe that a causal association does exist." (3)

Researchers who studied dietary links to heart disease in 32 countries found that, of all dietary factors studied, milk carbohydrates played the biggest role in the development of heart disease in men over 35, and nonfat milk played the biggest role in the development of coronary heart disease in men over 45. (4)

Researchers studying 19 Western countries concluded that heart disease mortality rises as consumption of milk protein rises. The researchers noted, "Multiple regression analysis confirmed the importance of the milk factor … as a determinant of variation in ischemic heart disease mortality rates." (5)

"Milk consumption is related to arteriosclerosis," confirmed yet another group of researchers. "Recent landmark studies confirm a previously suspected close correlation between milk intake and arteriosclerotic heart disease."(6)

A study of food consumption and heart disease in 24 countries concluded, "Direct, linear, and reasonably accurate correlation has been found between coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality rates and the consumption of unfermented milk proteins-namely the protein content of all dairy products with the only important exception of cheese." (7)

"It is clear that saturated fats, mainly dairy fats, are closely associated with the mortality rate from ischaemic heart disease," wrote researchers in the Journal of Internal Medicine. (

In a study published in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease, researchers wrote, "a reduction in meat and dairy products … will decrease other cardiovascular risk factors, particularly cholesterol and glucose intolerance. This healthier diet will reduce cardiovascular disease and is similar to the diet now being advocated for the prevention of some forms of cancer." They also noted, "Diet is by far the most important environmental factor determining our longevity, and for those who wish to live longer, a change in diet as early in life as possible will have substantial effects." (9)

In a study published in The Lancet, researchers comparing heart disease death rates with food intake found that the highest correlation was with milk. "Changes in milk-protein consumption, up or down, accurately predicted changes in coronary deaths four to seven years later." The researchers noted that their analysis "strongly supports" previous conclusions that milk is the principle dietary culprit in hardened, narrowed arteries and that the problematic portion of milk is its protein, not its fat. (10)

A study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology found that butter and milk consumption had a positive correlation with heart disease. (11)

A study that compared coronary death rates with food intakes in 21 countries found that the food most highly correlated with coronary deaths was milk. (12)

"Both cholesterol and saturated fat in your diet may increase blood levels of cholesterol and increase the formation of plaque (blockages) in your arteries," says Dr. Dean Ornish of the University of California at San Francisco, who has demonstrated that artery blockages can be reversed with a low-fat vegan diet instead of expensive and invasive surgeries. "[One] might consider switching from nonfat milk to nonfat soy milk, as I have done. This will give you a double benefit: Soy milk has no cholesterol, and soy products may actually lower your blood cholesterol levels."

The world-renowned health advisor to President Clinton, Dr. John McDougall concurs: "The wisest way to prevent tragedies from a defective blood vessel system is to deal with the cause: Your first-line therapy should be a low-fat, no-cholesterol diet."



1 Osmo Turpeinen, "Effect of Cholesterol-Lowering Diet on Mortality From Coronary Heart Disease and Other Causes," Circulation, 59, No. 1 (1979), 1-7.

2 J. Segall, "Dietary Lactose as a Possible Risk Factor for Ischaemic Heart Disease: Review of Epidemiology," International Journal of Cardiology, 46, No. 3 (1994), 197-207.

3 Lawrence Kushi, Elizabeth Lenary, and Walter Willette, "Health Implications of Mediterranean Diets in Light of Contemporary Knowledge: Plant foods and Dairy Products." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (suppl.), 61 (1995), 1407S-1415S.

4 William Grant, "Milk and Other Dietary Influences on Coronary Heart Disease," Alternative Medicine Review, 3, No. 4 (1998), 281-294.

5 R. Popham, W. Schmidt, and Y. Israel, "Variation in Mortality From Ischemic Heart Disease in Relation to Alcohol and Milk Consumption," Medical Hypotheses, 12, No. 4 (1983), 321-329.

6 P. Rank, "Milk and Arteriosclerosis," Medical Hypotheses, 20, No. 3 (1986), 317-338.

7 S. Seely, "Diet and Coronary Disease: A Survey of Mortality Rates and Food Consumption Statistics of 24 Countries," Medical Hypotheses, 7, No. 7 (1981), 907-918.

8 S. Renaud and M. de Lorgeril, "Dietary Lipids and Their Relation to Ischaemic Heart Disease: From Epidemoiology to Prevention," Journal of Internal Medicine (suppl.), 225, No. 731 (1989), 39-46.

9 G. MacGregor, "Nutrition and Blood Pressure," Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease, 9, No. 4 (1999), 6-15.

10 M. Moss and D.L.J. Freed, “Survival Trends, Coronary Event Rates, and the MONICA Project,” The Lancet 354 (1999): 862.

11 A. Menotti, D. Kromhout, H. Blackburn, F. Fidanza, R. Buzina, and A. Nissinen, "Food Intake Patterns and 25-Year Mortality from Coronary Heart Disease: Cross-Cultural Correlations in the Seven Countries Study," European Journal of Epidemiology, 15, No. 6 (1999), 507-515.

12 S. Seely, "Diet and Coronary Heart Disease: A Survey of Female Mortality Rates and Food Consumption Statistics of 21 Countries," Medical Hypotheses, 7, No. 9 (1981), 1133-1137.

Pasteurized milk is not good for hair, however raw, grass-fed milk is better tolerated.

As far as the cardiovascular link, yes, that was a very interesting study back in 2000, and since that time, there have been many more to prove that association.

However epidemiological studies on milk and cardiovascular disease have not proved to be reliable. In fact, the entire paradigm on the lipid thesis of heart disease was proven to be nothing more than bad science.

http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

However, pasteurized milk not withstanding happens to be one of, if not the very worst food for hair (even though there is no definitive, physiologic link between milk and heart disease).

More info on milk here: http://www.immortalhair.org/apps/blog/show/1709687-the-case-for-raw-milk

Raw milk or not...(I believe) any milk is bad for the hair, heart, prostate, and insulin sensitivity.

Milk has no other purpose than to grow a baby calf (60 pounds) into a full grown cow (600 pounds) within 6 months. The way it does this is by increasing serum (free) IGF-1 (Insulin-like-growth-factor-1). Now IGF-1 is beneficial for hair growth (and health) only when it is bound to a binding protein such as IGFBP-3, but "free" IGF-1 or serum IGF-1 has been shown to decrease SHBG [1]. The less SHBG you have the more "free" testosterone you have and the more "free" testosterone you have the higher your DHT and estradiol levels. Serum IGF-1 is one of the most important aspects when it comes to baldness and overall hormone balance, you want to decrease serum IGF-1 as much as possible and you want to increase IGFBP's (Insulin-like-growth-factor-binding proteins) as much as possible, the best way to do this is with a low-fat/high-fiber carbohydrate based vegan diet, because animal protein increases serum IGF-1. [2]

Milk also contains artery clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. Studies show that a high fat diet increases "free" testosterone [3]. And obviously if you eat (or drink) cholesterol, you are going to make extra hormones (like "free" testosterone). Dietary fat also causes insulin resistance and diabetes, both of which correlates with MPB [4]!

To make matters worse milk contains two 5-reduced dihydrotestosterone precursors (5-androstanedione and 5-pregnanedione) [5], which are ready and waiting to be converted into DHT once inside your sebaceous glands.

Also milk increases your estrogen levels [6] [7]! Estrogen indirectly causes baldness; estrogen is beneficial to hair only when it is "free" or not bound to SHBG. Once estradiol binds with SHBG, it exerts the exact same effects as DHT [8]!

So the take-home-message is: stay far away from all dairy products unless you want a nice shiny bald head clogged with sebum.


[1] Kaaks and Lukanova, 2001; Cordain et al 2003.

[2] The effects of dietary protein on serum IGF-1 levels in adult humans.

[3] Effects of dietary fat and fiber on plasma and urine androgens and estrogens in men: a controlled feeding study.

[4] Androgenetic alopecia and insulin resistance in young men.

[5] A survey of the steroids in cows’ milk.

[6] Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract?

[7] Mammary secretion of oestrogens in the cow.

[8] Estradiol Activates the Prostate Androgen Receptor and Prostate-specific Antigen Secretion through the Intermediacy of Sex Hormone-binding Globulin.

a diet high in fiber?
but isnt a high fier diet just a fad ?
i once heard that a stool sample is %50 to
%70 bacteria and not fiber.
So a high fiber diet would only be worse
in the sense of constipation and hemorrhoids.
Now doesnt exercise raise IGF-1 ?
especially high intensity interval training
i can testify that as a heavy milk drinker
as a child it fucked with my body chemistry
in so many bad ways =/ and as for shbg wouldnt
green tea and vit c raise that as well ?
Also i heard a high saturated fat diet is good for humans
in how HDL and LDL play rolls in the body and how LDL
branches into two forms of LDL and a even worse form
of LDL that cant be gotten rid of. Comes from vegetables
and fruits. But these are just my thoughts

Also isnt a high fat diet great for the human body?
Dr.Mercola has many articles on how the body
was made to have a high fat diet ^_^
There is a change on our brain chemistry with a high fat diet also.
But here's one article
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/08/27/calcium-low-fat-diet.aspx

A high fiber diet will increase SHBG. Fiber also slows the absorption of carbohydrates and proteins (thus slowing the rise of blood glucose and insulin) while at the same time binding dietary fat, cholesterol/bile and even excess hormones like estrogen and pulling it out of your body and into the toilet. Plus dietary fiber helps prevent constipation!

Exercise does raise total IGF-1 by increasing IGFBP's. So exercise does increase the good form of IGF-1 (the protein bound type), and decreases the bad type ("free" IGF-1). Exercise will also increase SHBG, which will increase your overall testosterone levels (which is very good). SHBG acts as a reservoir for testosterone; the higher your SHBG, the higher your total testosterone levels. SHBG does not render testosterone and other hormones inactive because SHBG has a receptor called RSHBG or SHBGR!

A high fat diet is not good for humans. The human body makes all the saturated fat and monounsaturated fat we would ever need. The only type of fat humans can't make is the polyunsaturated essential fatty acids called: Omega-3 and Omega-6, both of which are found in raw vegetables and flax seeds. Saturated fat might increase HDL but it also increase you total cholesterol (thus more hormones). A high-fiber/low-fat diet decreases total cholesterol including HDL...The Asian population thrives on having the lowest levels of HDL. It's not the levels of HDL or LDL; it's the ratio between the two, the western diet will increase HDL but it will also lower the ratio between HDL and LDL, while a low-fat/high-fiber starch based vegan diet will lower HDL but it will also increase the ratio between HDL and LDL. A low-fat/high-fiber diet is shown to lower serum (free) testosterone [1]. While a high-fat/low-fiber diet is shown to do the opposite [2].

[1] Low-fat high-fiber diet decreased serum and urine androgens in men.

[2] Effects of dietary fat and fiber on plasma and urine androgens and estrogens in men: a controlled feeding study.

Saturated fat is good for hair. Saturated fat has nothing to do with heart disease in any regard, neither does cholesterol. Please refer to this page for really good science:

http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

Epidemiological evidence is not definitive, although I would very much agree that regular milk is not fit for consumption of human or any other species. Raw milk is a different story. If help keep people alive around the world during times of shortages and it's a complete protein.

The vegetarian argument over humans and cows is more of an opinion than science.

If one looks at farmers who drink real, unpasteurized, pasture-fed milk they will find robust health and long life.

Take a look at the real stories section on this site: http://www.californiarawmilk.org/site/

It shows peoples experiences using real pasture-fed, raw milk. Of course pasteurized milk does just the opposite.

Not everyone will benefit hair wise from this superior milk. I for one can drink all the raw milk I like without ill effect on my hair, but if I drink the regular stuff, I acquire inflammation on the hair line at least on the following day, if not the evening.

Regarding fiber: Not everyone benefits from the same diet, it depends on the ancestral type. If a Polynesian eats fruit all day, they will be fine, their blood chemistry will be excellent, however if a Nordic person eats fruit all the time, their endocrine system will drive in the wrong direction causing problems with teeth and other problems.

http://www.immortalhair.org/apps/blog/show/2827361-fiber-fraud

Well, I guess we have to agree to disagree when it comes to milk and saturated fat. I believe that milk and saturated fat increase the activities of the sebaceous glands. Plus saturated fat is shown to decrease SHBG and increase serum IGF-1 [1] [2].

[1] Determinants of circulating insulin-like growth factor I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 concentrations in a cohort of Singapore men and women.

[2] Dietary correlates of plasma insulin-like growth factor I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 concentrations.

So the take-home-message is: stay far away from all dairy products unless you want a nice shiny bald head clogged with sebum.

So what do we give to our babies? Rice?

Directo wrote:

So the take-home-message is: stay far away from all dairy products unless you want a nice shiny bald head clogged with sebum.

So what do we give to our babies? Rice?

breast milk!

Directo wrote:
So what do we give to our babies? Rice?

No. Human breast milk is the most ideal food for babies. Not formula. But good old fashion human breast milk.

Humans (by nature) are only supposed to drink human breast milk only in infancy, then they are weaned off of human breast milk.

The problem is: humans (or westerners) continue to drink milk well into old age, and they drink milk from another species, milk that is designed to grow a 60 pound calf into a 600 pound cow within only 6 months!

I agree, but for the sake of argument- do we know that the calf won't grow minus the milk? Don't you have to acknowledge genetics?

Cows milk in my opinion is detrimental to human health whether raw or not. Personally I've experimented with this and its always had a negative effect on my health. Raw Goats milk on the other hand is more beneficial as it is a lot more similiar in composition to human breast milk then other types of milk. But above all what takes the icing on the cake is Raw grass fed Goats milk kefir = 110% Goodness. Of course you can't beat breast milk.

If you give a baby cows milk you can expect him to die, give a baby Goats milk then you can expect him to live, give a baby breast milk and you can expect him to thrive!

Silverlin,

You might be able to consume A2 milk instead of the common A1. There is a great site about this but can't find it right now so I guess this will have to do

http://www.naturalnews.com/023752.html

"In other international studies, A2 milk has been linked to a reduction of health risks. It is believed this is due to bioactive peptides that are released during digestion. Thus A2 is recognised as being nutritional as well as having preventative benefits."

When human babies are fed the right milk (raw, pasture-fed), it works well when human breast milk runs out.

More more info:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/17/mark-mcafee-interview.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/27/does-drinking-milk-cause-upperrespiratory-congestion.aspx

Silverlin wrote:Cows milk in my opinion is detrimental to human health whether raw or not.

I agree. Cow milk is for (baby) cows! Id don't understand why anyone would want to drink another species milk, especially after infancy...it's not natural. Has anyone ever seen a monkey drinking elephant milk? Has anyone ever seen an adult cow drinking milk?

Silverlin wrote:
If you give a baby cows milk you can expect him to die

Research has found correlations between cow milk consumption during childhood and type-1-diabetes!

Silverlin wrote: give a baby breast milk and you can expect him to thrive!

BINGO!

CausticSymmetry wrote:When human babies are fed the right milk (raw, pasture-fed), it works well when human breast milk runs out.

When human breast milk runs out, it's time to wean the child off of milk, just like nature intended.

Hilarious photo of Tom Green.

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/humans-omnivores.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24HrmPAF6zs

I do believe that humans evolved eating small amounts of animal protein, such as (raw) eggs or small amounts of fish, but the whole persona of humans being natural hunters (I believe) is bogus...in fact quite the opposite, I believe that humans were the hunted, just try outrunning a cheetah or saber-toothed tiger.

Nobody can deny that the main and most abundant enzyme in the human digestive track; amylase, is meant to digest carbohydrates...there's no denying that.

Just like monkey's; our closest relative, thrive on raw fruit and vegetables, so do humans, with the addition of high-fiber complex carbohydrates such as corn, oats, rice, and potatoes. And maybe on rare occasions a little bit of fats in the form of nuts, seeds, or avocado (when food was scarce) all of which are a powerhouse of nutrients, phytonutrients and a good source concentrated calories (fat) which were stored as body fat for the winter months or in times of famine.

What we were told in Anthropology was that we needed meat to fuel the most energy-hungry part of our body - our brains. Apparently there was another intelligent branch of our evolutionary line that derived this energy from nuts and things instead, but they died out.

Personally I can't see why a reasonably sized group of prehistoric humans wouldn't have gotten together and decided to hunt something I mean we have the intelligence to create the weapons to do it.

True we would have had to run from the larger or faster predators, particularly if we were in small numbers at the time, but I can't see how that would affect our ability to hunt other animals!

And fish almost definitely, again, why wouldn't we? And also I believe the theories go that we left Africa significantly by working our way along the shoreline, living off of the fish as we went (again, that is what we were taught!)

So whats the consensus here? Meats, veggies and a little fruit or veggies, fruits and carbs?

Just like monkey's; our closest relative

funny you bought that up..

For First Time, Chimps Seen Making Weapons for Hunting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/carn_herb_comparison.html

I'll try to make a case without too much detail because this has been discussed quite a lot in the past here.

First thing I'll state is that many former vegetarians who are now presently nutritional experts have transformed their diet into omnivores. There is a very good reason for this, namely that vegan-ism turned out to be an unhealthy diet.

Initially many strict vegans do thrive, because they are cleansing, yet there comes a point where the body should be in a building mode, and some individuals require meat for optimal health.

Experts in blood chemistry have taken notice that protein structures in plants are different than of meat, and it turns out, the meat is healthier.

To put it in a more basic way, eating plants is not usually a complete protein. A vegan has to be quite careful to insure they are taking complete proteins, and in the wild this would be difficult to achieve. It also becomes a challenge to take in enough vitamin K2 and B12, as fewer sources exist. Eating bugs is a source of both, but to a strict vegan, this would be out of the question.

Agriculture hasn't been around for much longer than 6,000 years so it would be curious on how we could sustain ourselves on plant life in areas, particularly devoid of it in certain seasons.

Many former vegetarians have made difficulty making full recoveries, because of damage that occurs on those who were physiologically intended to eat meat.

The following book is considered by many well regarded scientists as the best nutritional documentation ever illustrated.
Some 18,000 photographs were taken, showing the clear distinction on how primitives existed on their native diets and how robust their health was. Of the meat eating primitive, they died with all their teeth, free of cavitations.

The health of the teeth is splendid evidence of a health of the entire body. I've mentioned repeatedly in these pages that we are not all designed to eat the same foods. Blood chemistry is simply different from one individual to the next.

For anyone to suggest that everyone should eat a specific diet is sorely lacking some important information.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html