Page 13 - Fall2013

Caustic Commentary

Sally Fallon Morell takes on the Diet Dictocrats

BREASTFEEDING CHALLENGE intake against dental caries in children,” the researchers said.
Lactation consultants and midwives report to us that more In fact, cheese is a perfect food for developing strong teeth
and more women are having trouble breastfeeding. A new (and bones) with its content of vitamins A, D and K, along
study throws light on one of the reasons. Researchers have with calcium, phosphorus and other minerals. There was no
found that milk-producing glands become highly sensitive to evident relationship between maternal milk intake and the
insulin during lactation, with downstream signals for produc- risk of childhood dental caries, suggesting that cheese from
ing proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the biofactory called pasteurized milk is a better choice for pregnant moms than
the breast. Mothers who have poor glucose metabolism, such pasteurized milk.
as being overweight, older or having a large baby, who are
diabetic or pre-diabetic, or have a poor diet in general, may LONGLIFE DIETS
have insulin resistance. The result is that they take longer to Pearl Cantrell, age one hundred five, worked a life of physical
begin producing milk, or may have trouble producing enough labor and raised seven children. She credits her longevity to. .
(www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_138459.html). . bacon! “I love bacon, I eat it everyday,” says Cantrel. Mean-
So a diet high in refined carbo- while, in Peru, Carmelo Flores
hydrates may seriously hamper Luara, the oldest living person
breast milk production. Inter- ever documented, turned one
estingly, soaked grains seem to hundred twenty-three a month
enhance breastmilk production. ago. The native lives in a straw-
roofed hut with a dirt floor near
CHEESE AND TOOTH Lake Titicaca at over thirteen
DECAY thousand feet. Flores is tooth-
Researchers have found that less and has poor vision, but still
babies born to women who con- walks without a cane. Like all
sume cheese during pregnancy the natives living at that height,
are likely to have better dental he chews on coca leaf, a mild
health than babies born to non- stimulant. Flores avoids noodles
cheese-consumers. Research- and rice, but consumes barley
ers at the Fukuoka University, and chuno (dehydrated potatoes).
University of Tokyo and Osaka The water he drinks originates
City University looked at the on a snow-capped mountain
long-term effects of prenatal peak. For meat, he mostly eats
cheese and dairy consumption mutton, which means he eats all
on an infant’s tooth development, tracking three hundred parts of the animal as is the custom in Latin America.
fifteen Japanese mother-and-child pairs, recording prenatal
diets and performing dental examinations of children between BUTTER VINDICATED. . . . AGAIN!
forty-one and fifty months of age. The study found a strong Dietary questionnaires do not provide an accurate indica-
connection between cheese consumption during pregnancy tion of what people actually eat, so researchers often look at
and decreased risk of childhood dental caries, such as tooth clues in the blood. A just-published study looked for markers
decay and cavities (Nutrition Journal 2012 May 17;11:33). of “dairy fat” (that is, butter) in the blood of twenty-eight
Ironically, the results did not seem to be related to calcium hundred U.S. adults and correlated the findings with heart
intake. “Components of cheese other than calcium might disease. Presence of a fifteen-carbon saturated fatty acid
be responsible for the protective effects of maternal cheese (15:0) found in butter had the strongest association with self-
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