http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/27/scidem127.xml
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2582
http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/0001969/53/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4315609.stm

That’s exactly what Peter on the HyperLipid (high-fat) blog has argued. In fact, he has called Alzheimer’s Disease “type three diabetes.” Do you think that name will catch on? :^)

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/memes-and-g.html
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2006/10/now-alzheimers-disease.html

I suspect that in time the idea will catch on although I don’t know if the name will.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1313537/belly_fat_linked_to_an_increased_risk_of_dementia/index.html?source=r_health

I’m beginning to think Richard Stein — who says this can all be prevented with a lowfat diet — is one of the worst scientists around. Mistakes were made, but not by him.

Jesus wept.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/26/belly.dementia.ap/index.html

John

I just finished reading the study in Neurology that your article is about. Pretty interesting. I’ve long thought and Alzhiemer’s is nothing but diabetes of the brain.

I can imagine and believe me, every public proponent of low carb has my sincerest graditude.

Personally I wish I could do more to help spread the word but doing more than I do now (educating myself and few interested ears) means losing focus both on my work and my children, whom I homeschool.

As an aside, I’ve experienced an occasional response that when you are out of the mainstream that somehow it’s enjoyable, cool, or easy “to be a rebel”. I’ve often thought that people who have that response have never been in a position of opposition of the mainstream. Those who have done it on any level knows being out of the “mainstream” means extra work, awkward social situations, and being at odds with good people you count as friends. In other words, it taint no fun and I don’t think any sane person would choose it unless there was something important on the line.

So thanks to you and others like you. I’ve seen just a small slice of what you put up with and I’m grateful for the sacrifice. There is no greater gift than the restoration of health. Without low carb I’d be the depressed, overweight, mess of a no energy mother I was a few years ago. (Now I’m a high energy mess of a mother. ) Keep up the great work and thanks again.

For instance, my husband caught himself yelling at the radio when a proposal was brought forth and seriously discussed how the state should be spending money on educating pre-schoolers to stop the spread of child obesity. If you’ve met any actual pre-schoolers *grin*, I think you’re perfectly aware that their parents control what they eat. You can spend a day “educating” them and if you offer them a chips and cupcake for a meal the next day, they’d be eating that. I’m not against nutrition education, it was frustration at the idea that educating 4 year olds who pretty much have to eat what’s presented is going to have a serious impact on childhood obesity.

Anyway, I agree that this is on topic as choosing low carb even today is much like converting from “good hearted liberal” (ie low fat and/or vegetarian) to the “evil conservatives” (ie a protein/meat based diet). All I know is that I tend to in social circles minimize discussions of my diet to avoid controversy in a diverse group. Low carb discussions seem to produce anger that I can only explain as “religious zeal”.

You’re only following a low-carb diet and you get grief in social circles. Imagine what I have to endure being a major public proponent of such diets.

Totally unrelated, but every time I try to access past blogs it just keeps kicking me to the latest page.

I’m trying to get the blog fixed so that the archives can be accessed, but so far no one has been able to figure out exactly what the problem is.

One teensy quibble: since Mamet is a man of the theater, I doubt very much that he had any trouble whatsoever sharing his conversion experience with the public. I think David Mamet is *eager* to share just about anything that occurs to him with the public!

Best,
John

I think that issues involving cognitive dissonance and the confirmation bias are on topic as they help explain the seemingly inexplicable: how people can cling to the notion that low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets are healthful.