Newspaper headlines around the world are ablaze with the news that the American Heart Association is recommending people stop taking vitamins for heart health. I know I've covered this in another article on this site, but this news from the AHA is receiving so much attention that it deserves a bit more commentary.
The first thing you have to do to understand this news is put the AHA in perspective. This is an organization that has for decades discredited and fought against the use of vitamins. The AHA has even strongly recommended for many years that people avoid virtually all dietary fats, including healthy fats that are unquestionably shown to enhance cardiovascular health. Why would the AHA offer advice that so obviously makes people ill? One reason might be that the AHA receives tremendous funding from pharmaceutical companies, and recommending nutritional supplements that actually enhance the health of patients would go against the financial interests of the pharmaceutical companies that market and sell drugs used to treat the symptoms of cardiovascular disease.
Thus, I believe the AHA is a highly politicized organization that is heavily influenced by the business interests of its primary financial supporters -- Big Pharma. Accordingly, any health advice from the AHA is tainted. In fact, it's worse that that: it's highly destructive advice that will probably land you in the hospital suffering from one or more chronic diseases.
Consider for a moment that physicians who follow the AHA's recommendations on heart disease have for years actually promoted extremely high-carbohydrate diets to their patients. I've met heart patients who were told to consume less than 10 grams a day of fat, and yet they could eat any amount of sugar that they wanted. Get this -- I've seen heart patients avoiding all fat, including the healthy fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, flax oil and so on, while they were consuming massive quantities of donuts, candy bars, sugars, soft drinks and other sweets. When I asked them why they were following such a ridiculous diet, they would turn to me and say, "Doctor's orders!" That's what you get from following the advice of the American Heart Association.
The bottom line to all of this is when the AHA says people should stop taking vitamins, nutritionists like myself who really know about nutrition and the links between foods and disease can only laugh in response. It is ridiculous advice from an organization that has a long history of offering ridiculous advice, and whose advice is probably responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans who have suffered from heart disease and could have lived much longer if they had ignored the AHA.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body.
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Friday, August 06, 2004
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