For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week we finally have definitive proof that the Biggest Loser and Dr. Oz are pure evil. It was just a matter of time. Also, a thought provoking piece on food prices, more condemning news for diet soda and a new recipe search tool from Google.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Is Food Too Cheap? <<If the price of food actually matched the cost of producing it, our food culture may look very different. (Huffington Post)
• The Biggest Loser destroys participants’ metabolisms. <<I understand why people like this show, I really do. But it’s bad for humanity because it destroys the bodies and minds of people who are just trying to be healthy and happy. Still skeptical? Read this. (Weighty Matters)
• Dr. Oz – so corrupted by fame he even sells himself out <<I can’t believe it, but Dr. Oz beat out Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Michelle Obama’s physique for today’s BS of the week. I haven’t trusted the man behind the curtain since he sold out millions of Amercians on RealAge (plus the dude wears scrubs on tv, isn’t that George Clooney’s job?). And guess what, he even has 2 strikes today. (Weighty Matters/The White Coat Underground)
• Drinking Diet Soda Increases Risk of Vascular Events By 61 Percent << I know, you can’t make this stuff up. (Treehugger)
• Increasing Triglyceride Levels Linked to Greater Stroke Risk <<More evidence that triglycerides, not cholesterol, are most important in heart health. (ScienceDaily)
• Google unveils new recipe search tool <<Google wants to be your go to spot for recipe search. Give it a whirl! (Google)
• Today’s Lab Rats of Obesity: Furry Couch Potatoes <<Fascinating article. Interesting points: monkeys on high fat diet didn’t start getting metabolic syndrome until high-fructose corn syrup was introduced. Also, one of the fattest monkeys was on the American Heart Association’s diet. Oops. (New York Times)
• Markedly Higher Vitamin D Intake Needed to Reduce Cancer Risk <<What I am not yet convinced of is that supplements are the answer. But for now, it seems to be all we have. (ScienceDaily)
• Chinese Fake Organic Grain Certifications…And Worse. <<This is why I never eat anything imported from China, and why I stopped drinking soy milk 2 years ago. (Treehugger)
• Vitamin-boosted black quinoa salad — Salade au quinoa noir vitaminée <<I had a similar flavor combination at my favorite restaurant last week and it was divine. I really want to try this. (La Tartine Gourmande)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I found a stellar collection of thought provoking stories this week. Did you know that the HDL story is more complicated than we originally speculated, even Paleo advocates can acknowledge that how you eat is important and that drinking more can be good for you? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• High Level of ‘Good’ Cholesterol Alone May Not Protect Heart <<Once again science shows that the story is more complicated than we originally suspected. Good cholesterol has a function, and if it doesn’t work having more around doesn’t help much. (Medline)
• The Perfect Posterior: Kettlebell Swings and Cheap Alternatives <<Awesome tutorial and videos on creating sexy booties with kettlebell swings. (Tim Ferriss)
• UK Scientist Suggests Rebranding GM Crops As “Vaccinated” To Win Over Consumers <<BS of the week. Does this even make sense? Would anyone be more excited to eat “vaccinated” food? Nasty. (Treehugger)
• You Are How You Eat <<Props to Mark Sisson for acknowledging that there’s more to healthy eating than choosing the right foods. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• Book review: Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat <<I haven’t read Taubes‘ new book yet, but I really respect Yoni Freedhoff and he had harsh things to say, though strangely agrees with Taubes’ ultimate conclusions. In a word: oversimplification. (Weighty Matters)
• Heart disease risk rises with time spent sitting <<Does TV play a major role in your life? You might be setting yourself up for heart disease. (Los Angeles Times)
• What Do You Want To Be Made Of? <<Lovely and thoughtful piece by Nick at Macheesmo about what and why we eat.
• Men who drink moderately may be at lower risk for Type 2 diabetes <<What I like about this study is they looked at people who increased their drinking as opposed to maintained light drinking, suggesting that changing your behavior may actually help. (Los Angeles Times)
• Have a Food Allergy? It’s Time to Recheck <<More evidence that your food allergies are probably imaginary. (New York Times)
• Winter Quinoa Salad with Mixed Beans and Tahini-Chili Dressing <<I adore tahini, and this recipe looks delicious. (Former Chef)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Good cholesterol (and that means fat) may lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, why New Year’s resolutions are pointless and the benefits of sleep on your appearance. No recipe this week because all my favorite blogs were filled with cookies. Tis the season.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• High Levels of ‘Good’ Cholesterol Associated With Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease <<All fats except processed trans fats raise healthy HDL cholesterol. This strengthens the case, yet again, that fat is good for you, not bad. (ScienceDaily)
• Stop Talking and Start Doing – Screw Your New Year’s Resolutions <<Agreed. (JCD Fitness)
• CDC halves foodborne illness count. But why now? <<I’m calling BS of the week on the CDC, not Marion Nestle. First off, WTF? Second, I’m still horrified that 1 of 6 people gets food poisoning each year, even if that’s better than the supposed 1 of 3. (Food Politics)
• Activia health claims were a little overblown — even for yogurt <<Lawsuit. Surprise! (Los Angeles Times)
• Livestock in U.S. gobble up the antibiotics <<29 million pounds of them. The worst part is when you start thinking about why livestock need the antibiotics in the first place. (Los Angeles Times)
• The Key to Being Attractive (and Looking Healthy)? A Good Night’s Sleep <<I love this study. Let them have sleep! (ScienceDaily)
• Holiday Strategy: Silencing the Food Pusher! <<Grandma forcing you to eat too much? Here’s some strategies to keep her off your back. (Weighty Matters)
• Does snacking from a large bowl result in overeating? <<Yes, it does. Luckily you can use this knowledge to your advantage. (Obesity Panacea)
• Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast <<Interesting study for those looking to burn a few extra calories in the coming weeks. (New York Times)
• US EPA Removes Saccharin from Hazardous Substances Listing <<I’m not sure why you’d want to eat saccharin, but it’s slightly comforting to know that it’s not as bad as we were told it was back in the day. (ScienceDaily)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week I was introduced to the concept of food “ultra-processing”, learned how to best convince friends to eat more vegetables and was re-horrified at a fellow scientist’s ignorance of the relationship between dietary cholesterol to personal health.

On and unrelated note, I’ll be at the Foodbuzz Festival this weekend. If you’ll be around, come say hi 🙂

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• The food movement’s new frontier: “ultra-processing” <<I know how the media hates subtle nuance, but this is a fascinating analysis of the differences between degrees of food processing. In my experience, this kind of critical thinking is necessary for finding the happy medium between health and pleasure in food. (Food Politics)
• No link seen between high-carb diet, colon cancer <<What I like about this study is that it is in Chinese women, and not American women. This likely pulls out a difference between carbs from regular foods (rice) and highly processed foods (anything American). This may also explain why Eastern strokes are different from Western strokes. (Medline)
• How to give (unsolicited) nutrition advice <<Great tips for those healthy foodies looking to make a positive impact on the eating habits of friends and loved ones. I agree 100% with this advice. (Nutrition Data)
• Learning to Love Veggies: Readers Weigh In <<On a similar note, I’m happy to say I was one of the 600 emails explaining the value as selling vegetables as delicious and wonderful, and not just healthy. This is a great read. (New York Times)
• Egg Yolks Versus Fast Food In Cholesterol Showdown <<BS of the week. Sadly, this is science at its worst. The study clearly finds that eggs are healthier than fast food despite higher dietary cholesterol, but argues that this doesn’t make sense so hand-waves the finding away. Why not just look at the facts about the relationship between dietary and blood serum cholesterol? Yoni Freedhoff also explains. (Slashfood)
• Adding monounsaturated fats to a diet low in saturated fat may improve cholesterol levels <<Speaking of cholesterol, here’s a great reason for vegetarians to make an effort to eat MORE fat. (Los Angeles Times)
• 11 Influential Eco-Chefs Who Are Changing the Way We Think About Food <<I follow food pretty closely, and I learned a lot from this article about sustainable chefs and their restaurants. (EcoSalon)
• 6 Meat-Based Beverages Sure to Make You Queasy <<I realize this sounds gimmicky, but it’s surprisingly interesting. And yes, those are real P2 mice. (TreeHugger)
• An Ode to Brining <<How to make pork even better, by Ruth Reichl.
• Cinnamon tea smoked duck with green mango slaw <<Amazingly, this recipe can be done on a stove top and does not require a smoker. (No Recipes)

What inspired you this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Holy smokes was it a great week for reading around the web. Not only should you read all these articles, I strongly recommend glancing through my StumbleUpon and Delicious lists (see below) to browse all the stuff that didn’t make it here today (feel free to ignore the articles about basketball).

In other news I added Facebook Like buttons to my posts this week, so go nuts 🙂

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• 7 Harsh Truths that Will Improve Your Health <<I really like the points made in this article, even if the writing style is a bit annoying. We all have the power to improve our health, and it can be enlightening to see how lame our excuses sound when spelled out for us. (Dumb Little Man)
• Doubt Is Cast on Many Reports of Food Allergies <<I’ve suspected for quite awhile that this whole food allergy business was being blown out of proportion. If you’ve been “diagnosed,” you may want to get a second opinion. (New York Times)
• Is Free-Range Meat Making Us Sick? <<BS of the week. Of all the sources of dangerous food, the struggling farmers who actually do it right shouldn’t be shouldering any of the blame. How much faith do you put in food studies from China and Mozambique anyway? (The Atlantic)
• Diet and Exercise to the Extremes <<Cool story about a vegan ultra marathoner. I love meat, but I always smile when someone tells me they need it because they workout. Ha. (New York Times)
• Eating Nuts May Help Cholesterol Levels <<I posted about how to optimize cholesterol this week and recommended eating nuts. Here’s some new data that further supports nuts (you probably aren’t allergic to) for heart health. (Medline)
• Red meat and cancer: dumbing down the science <<Watch as Monica Reinagel tears conventional wisdom a new one with her analysis of studies that claim “red and processed meats” cause cancer. Rock on! (Nutrition Data)
• Vitamin D Best Taken With Largest Meal of Day, Study Finds <<Good info, especially since there is a very good chance you are vitamin D deficient. (Medline)
• Rapid weight loss is the best way to keep it off? <<Yoni Freedhoff explains why reading headlines is hazardous to your health. I’d listen to him. (Weighty Matters)
• Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing <<Just this week I discovered how wonderfully avocado goes with chicken salad. Couldn’t resist sharing this recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini.
• My Ikagai <<Mark Bittman recently re-launched his personal blog, and so far I absolutely love it. Thanks to guest writer Pam Anderson for sharing this amazing TED talk by Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+. You don’t want to miss this.

Enjoy!

Enough people have asked me if the kind of cholesterol in egg yolks is good or bad (hint: it’s neither) that I think it is time for a brief tutorial on this misunderstood molecule.

Rather than put you to sleep with a watered down version of a Wikipedia article I decided to explain the interaction of diet and cholesterol in a short video. Hopefully this will help clear up what cholesterol is and how you should eat to minimize your risk of heart disease.

As always, feel free to drop me questions in the comments.

If you like this story follow me on the new Digg!

http://forms.aweber.com/form/30/split_210533730.htm

Further reading:

• How To Raise Your HDL Cholesterol
• Intact Grains vs Whole Grains
• How To Make Eggs Taste As Good As Bacon
• Book Review: Good Calories, Bad Calories

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I’m pleased to inform you that I became an official blogger at The Huffington Post this week. My first article there was my interview with David Kessler, Learning to Eat Less: How Understanding Your Brain Can Make You Healthier. I hope to post many of my best articles there in the coming months, usually in the Living section.

Publication at Synapse has also resumed, though I have stepped down as the official science editor to focus on Summer Tomato and (ah hem) finish my lab work.

I’m also excited to announce the creation of the Summer Tomato monthly newsletter! The newsletter will include new content that is not posted here on the blog, and will feature Summer Tomato news, healthy eating tips and recipes. Newsletter subscribers will also have access to exclusive offers and discounts on future Summer Tomato material. Exciting, right?!

http://forms.aweber.com/form/16/1808371216.js

Don’t forget to confirm your subscription by clicking the link in the confirmation email.

If you are wary of entering your email address, rest assured I will never sell or exchange your information and you can unsubscribe anytime. Consider this my personal spam-free guarantee. The main purpose of the newsletter is to reward loyal readers with great tips to upgrade your healthstyle. Feel free to email me any time if you are unhappy with Summer Tomato material.

This week around the web there were some interesting articles about the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis, which you may be surprised to hear is not particularly strong. These stories may renew your interest in my post last week on How to raise your HDL cholesterol. There are also a few pieces on the role of the brain in eating behavior, which I am becoming more and more interested in (shocking, I know).

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

I also invite you to submit your own best food and health articles for next week’s For The Love of Food, just drop me an email using the contact form. I am also accepting guest posts at Summer Tomato for any awesome healthstyle tips and recipes you’d like to share.

This post is an open thread. Share your thoughts, writing (links welcome!) and delicious healthy meals of the week in the comments below.

For The Love of Food

• Why Cholesterol May Not Be the Cause Of Heart Disease <<Fascinating, in-depth look at some of the fallacies in the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis. For an intense analysis of this issue definitely read the book Good Calories, Bad Calories. (The Huffington Post)
• Eating eggs might up your cholesterol. So what? <<Here’s some more info on cholesterol and heart disease, specifically how it relates to dietary cholesterol (as opposed to blood cholesterol). (Nutrition Data).
• Why we eat too much, and how to get control <<Really nice companion piece to my post on Learning to Eat Less, including some additional Kessler quotes. (CNN)
• A Cure For Cancer? Eating A Plant-Based Diet <<B.S. of the week You all know I am a huge fan of the plant-based diet, but this article in the Huffpo goes so far as to claim that all animal protein causes cancer, which is not at all supported by the data. Not surprisingly, this woman turns out to be a animal rights fanatic. I call conflict of interest. (The Huffington Post)
• Request for financial disclosure <<Speaking of conflict of interest, I love this piece by Marion Nestle about how she is in absolutely no way influenced by any outside funding. Oh the irony. (Food Politics)
• Successful Dieters Show Unique Brain Patterns <<I find this  info about dieting and the brain fascinating, but before you jump to any conclusions remember that this does not show cause and effect. (HealthDay)
• Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet Beats Low-Fat For Recent-Onset Type 2 Diabetes <<Just been warned by your doctor about the onset of type 2 diabetes? Your best bet is to eliminate all processed, refined carbs and avoid low-fat diets. (Advanced Mediterranean Diet)
• With Fancy Coffees, Calories Can Add Up <<Have I ever mentioned that I think Starbucks is as bad as soda, McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme? Well I do. (HealthDay)
• Homemade Tomato Soup <<Recipe I want to eat this more than anything. Anything. (Local Lemons)
• Family dinners work some kind of magic <<Again, let’s not confuse cause and effect, but I think this is a great argument for home cooking. (Los Angeles Times)

What great stuff did you read and write this week?

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

The food safety bill finally passed this week, I found 2 fabulous (looking) soup recipes and Lifehacker shares the best tools for storing them.

If you would like to see more of my favorite articles each week or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page.

Submissions of your own best food and health articles are also welcome, just drop me an email using the contact form. I am also currently accepting guest posts for any healthy eating and exercise tips.

For The Love of Food

• House panel passes food safety reform bill <<A rare helpful food safety bill passed this week. Hooray for functional government! (Reuters)
• Understanding the difference between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol <<Simple, quick tutorial on this important distinction between the cholesterol you eat and the kind you measure in your blood. (Nutrition Data)
• A Slimmer You May Be a Whiff Away <<B.S. of the week Apparently some companies are trying to sell scents to help you lose weight. Seems particularly stupid in this economy. (New York Times)
• Farmers Market by day, tomato soup by night <<This title has 4 of my favorite words in it! And a fantastic looking tomato soup recipe. I can’t wait to try it!! (from Michelle at Find Your Balance @MPfennighaus)
• Five Best Recipe Managers <<For those of you recipe collectors, here are the most popular tools to keep them organized. (Lifehacker)
• Pot Luck: Live Twitter Chat with Food Inc Director <<Today at 10am-noon PST you can participate in a conversation with the Food Inc director!! What a great opportunity for #foodinc fans! (La Vida Locavore)
• A Chicken Soup With a Peanut Crunch <<Did I mention I love soup? Oh, and Mark Bittman? This West African soup recipe sounds amazing. (New York Times)
• Mediterranean Diet + Nuts = Reversal of Metabolic Syndrome <<If you or anyone you know is at risk for metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes (i.e. everyone), this is some interesting research about the potential benefits of nuts. (Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog)
• Cornflakes, White Bread Could Boost Heart Risk <<In case you hadn’t heard, refined carbohydrates (foods made with sugar or white flour) will kill you. (HealthDay)
• Alcohol’s Good for You? Some Scientists Doubt It <<Important reminder to be skeptical of all science reported in main stream media–it contradicts itself constantly. (New York Times)

What great articles did you read or write this week? Leave your links in the comments.

Drug treatments that raise the “good” high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol do not improve health outcomes, according to a new analysis. But some researchers suspect raising HDL through lifestyle changes may still be effective in treating heart disease.

HDL is the form of cholesterol that actively removes dangerous lipids from the blood, and has long been thought to be protective against heart disease. This form of cholesterol is believed to work in opposition to low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which is strongly correlated with heart disease and cardiovascular mortality. Thus the ratio of HDL to LDL cholesterols is often considered the most important indicator of heart disease risk.

Strong clinical evidence shows that LDL lowering drugs like statins can protect against heart disease and cardiovascular mortality. However there is still no effective way of improving cardiovascular outcomes by directly targeting HDL cholesterol.

Pharmacological treatments that raise HDL cholesterol levels include fibrates, niacin and a Pfizer drug called Torcetrapib. However, trials that tested these drugs for improved cardiovascular outcome have yielded mixed results. Rather than lowering mortality risk, evidence suggests that fibrates and Torcetrapib actually increase mortality in patients. Some trials have shown niacin to be effective at reducing cardiovascular events, but the data are inconsistent.

A new meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal asked whether pharmacological treatments that are known to raise HDL can improve cardiovascular outcomes. After adjusting for several known confounders (including the effect of LDL cholesterol) pharmacological treatments that raise HDL were not effective at protecting against heart disease.

Does this mean that HDL is not important for heart disease? Not necessarily.

The original studies that implicated HDL in heart protection were observational. For example, it was shown in the Framington Heart Study that people with HDL levels greater than 60 mg/dL have a reduced risk of heart disease compared to individuals with lower HDL. Likewise, individuals with less than 40 mg/dL of blood HDL are considered at risk for coronary heart disease, even when LDL cholesterol is relatively low.

Additionally, lifestyle choices that contribute to raising HDL are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Examples of these are physical activity, weight loss, not smoking, increased omega-3 fatty acid consumption, decreased trans fat consumption, alcohol consumption and dietary soluble fiber. Also, diets low in saturated fat but relatively high in unsaturated fats have been shown to raise HDL and decrease heart disease risk.

All these HDL raising activities can improve cardiovascular outcome. However, this does not mean that HDL itself prevents heart disease. Rather, it seems to be a good biomarker (observational correlate) of heart disease.

Why are pharmacological methods of raising HDL not helpful (and possibly even harmful) at treating heart disease?

One possible explanation for this discrepancy is the observation that HDL has different forms, some that are protective and others that are harmful. For instance, some interventions may raise HDL cholesterol by limiting its breakdown (harmful), while others raise it by increasing HDL production (more beneficial). Also, some methods that increase HDL do so in a way that creates new problems, such as increased blood pressure.

The complex interaction between pharmacological interventions, HDL metabolism and cardiovascular outcome may have made it difficult to detect any benefit of raising HDL cholesterol in this meta-analysis. Since pharmacological intervention for raising HDL does not consistently help (and sometimes harms) cardiovascular outcome, lifestyle changes remain the most promising target for raising HDL to protect against heart disease.

Anyone want to guess how high my HDL cholesterol is??

Today I have an article out in Synapse called “Wine May Increase Heart Healthy Fats in the Blood.” I am making an executive decision that it is too science-y for this blog, so instead I would like to open a discussion about how doctors should treat information like this.

For you uber-nerds (like me), here is the PubMed link to the original paper.

Let’s start with some excerpts from my article:

• “The beauty of this finding is that the improvement in fatty acid profile from wine consumption seems to be clinically relevant. Based on the current consensus, small dietary changes in fatty acid consumption have a large clinical effect, so a 38% to 50% increase in EPA levels among moderate wine drinkers is noteworthy. Similar levels of improvement in lipid profiles from studies of fish consumption have shown considerable benefit for cardiovascular outcome.”

• “Thus, the present finding may offer dietary intervention as a possible method of cardiovascular protection, particularly when combined with increased omega-3 consumption.”

• “In the present study, the difference between participants in the low fatty acid group who did not drink and those in the high fatty acid group who drank the most was an 83% increase in blood EPA, a change associated with a 50% to 75% reduced risk of heart attack. Such a dramatic difference represents a useful alternative to fish consumption for those who may not have access to seafood for whatever reason.”

• “Thus, increasing both dietary omega-3 fatty acids and wine consumption may be helpful to protect against cardiovascular events. Plant-derived omega-3 fatty acids are abundant in walnuts, soy, flax and canola oils, and one gram per day is the current recommendation for heart protection. “Moderate” alcohol intake is one glass per day for women and two for men.”

From a clinical perspective, the evidence that alcohol provides a tremendous protection against mortality from heart disease is undeniable. It is thought to work by both raising good HDL cholesterol and reducing blood clotting.

This effect is not limited to red wine, all spirits elicit substantial protection.

Despite these benefits, there are also a number of obvious reasons to avoid alcohol, particularly excessive consumption. Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with addiction, liver disease, stroke and can cause accidents and other behavioral problems.

Notably, benefits similar to those seen with alcohol can be conferred by increasing exercise amount or intensity.

If you want to experience the benefits of alcohol you need to use it in moderation, which is 1 drink per day for women and 2 for men, or possibly slightly more. More than one drink per day for women is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, however this effect is attenuated by sufficient folate intake.

Doctors have been recommending increasing exercise for decades, but only a small percentage of the population makes an effort to get enough to make it as valuable against heart disease as alcohol. Also, there is a large population of individuals that have physical ailments that prevent them from performing vigorous cardiovascular exercise.

But to this day the American Heart Association–the same agency that recommended the low-fat, high-carb diet that many argue actually promotes heart disease–refuses to recommend moderate alcohol consumption. The basic tenet of their argument is that alcohol is not necessary because heart protection can be achieved in other ways, and the risks outweigh the benefits.

Is this right? I’m not so convinced.

Do you think doctors should discuss the potential benefits of alcohol with their patients? Should the AHA change their recommendation?