Conventional wisdom

The War on Salt

Is salt as unhealthy as you've been told?  Maybe not:

"This week a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease. These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous."

That's from Scientific American, read the whole thing: It's Time to End the War on Salt.

NBA players moving away from hightops

The athletic shoe is having a rough few years.  From best-selling Born to Run, Harvard professor Dan Lieberman's work on barefoot running in Nature, to the success of Vibram Five Fingers.  And now, the NBA: players are moving away from hightops that allegedly provide more ankle support.

"One of the reasons hightops are going out of vogue, players and injury experts say, is that there's some research that suggests they aren't very good at protecting your feet. NBA players missed 64% more games last season because of foot-related injuries than they did twenty years ago, according to NBA statistician Harvey Pollack."

There are multiple reasons why foot injuries could be going up:

"Players have gotten taller and heavier, the pace of the game is faster and the NBA postseason has gotten longer."

But for a piece of conventional athletic wisdom, "ankle support" has surprising little support.

"Craig Richards, a researcher at Australia's University of Newcastle, published a 2008 article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that catalogued academic studies in athletics and found no evidence that sneakers limited injuries. His research actually found that hightop basketball sneakers make players run slower and jump lower."

 

(Thanks to Cheryl for the pointer.)

Red meat for paleos

The conventional wisdom continues to crumble.  Today is red meat's day in the sun.  Read the WSJ article here.  

"A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that the heart risk long associated with red meat comes mostly from processed varieties such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs and cold cuts—and not from steak, hamburgers and other non-processed cuts.

The finding is surprising because both types of red meat are high in saturated fat, a substance believed to be partly responsible for the increased risk of heart disease."

This is the second study in recent months where saturated fat has started to clear its good name.  The conclusion?

"A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD."

Dr. Eades wisely remains cautious of any of these studies, even when it's in line with your viewpoint (especially then).

The Harvard study points to salt as the culprit -- but more sound advice might be: minimize processed foods of any kind in your diet.

 

(Thanks to David and T.J. for the pointers.)

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