Great Moments in Medicine: The Heart is not a pump.

[bluedawg12]

I had no idea that blood moved around the body on it's own little corpuscled feet!

If the heart is not a pump, then why does it...pump? :rofl:


http://www.ncahf.org/articles/a-b/anthro.html
Anthroposophical Medicine
William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.

"The heart is not a pump: A refutation of the pressure propulsion premise of heart function," Frontier Perspectives, Fall/Winter, 1995;5(1):15-24 (Frontier Perspectives is published by The Center For Frontier Sciences at Temple University in Philadelphia. It is an "anything goes" forum for crank science. A paper by a group of Steiner disciples. The lead author is listed as being from the Rudolph Steiner Research Center at Royal Oak, Michigan. Others are from various medical schools. This paper seems to be crank science based upon the fact that "in 1920, Steiner, of the Goetheanum in Switzerland had pointed out in lectures to medical doctors that the heart was not a pump...but that the blood was propelled with its own biological momentum."

The international Anthroposophical Society was created by Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925,) who had led the German section of Theosophy but had split off to form a group that would follow his personal revelations of the "spirit world." Anthroposophy was derived from anthropos "man" and sophia "wisdom," in reference to the wisdom that comes to humans when they are able to perceive the spiritual as well as the material world.

In Steiner's doctrine, Christ is a sun god come to earth, not to redeem humanity from sin, but to help the human race balance between the influences of Zoroastrian gods of light and darkness, Lucifer and Ahriman. Steiner's revelations typically blurred religious, scientific, and historical topics. His version of history includes epochs on the lost continents of Lemuria and Atlantis, which he claimed to have read with "clairvoyant vision" out of the mythical "akashic record." Employing the occultist doctrine of correspondences expressed in the formula as above, so below, humanity is positioned below nine classes of supernatural beings in a cosmic hierarchy. Seven planets correspond to seven epochs of history, twelve constellations of the zodiac to parts of the body, four elements to human temperaments, and so forth. Steiner's mystical worldview is deeply pessimistic. Steiner foretold the reincarnation of the dark god Ahriman early in the 21st Century. Steiner was a dogmatist stating emphatically that his revelation is the only truth <1>

[uriel1972]

1. Sometimes loopiness is it's own reward

hmmm I wonder if the adherents believe that a certain president is the reincarnation of Ahriman. You never know.

[TZ]

2. You don't have to back that far to find idiocy

There is that junky study going around that "proves" fructose is more fattening than sucrose that talks about how "fructose is metabolized in the brain" ... Uh. What?

[uriel1972]

3. hnnnh I had a similar experience with a friend

who went to a (grits teeth) naturopath who told her that the sugar from certain fruits was bad, but other fruits were okay. It's all broken down into glucose before it leaves the gut. Blast it sugar is sugar!
/endrant

[bluedawg12]

4. Everything we have never wanted to know about that rascal fructose.

Who knew dear old sugar was this controversial. :shrug:

............
J. S White
No unique role for fructose sweeteners in obesity or cardiorenal disease
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, April 1, 2008; 87(4): 1062 - 1063.
............

I wonder if this is the article that has been cited?

Anyway, for anyone interested in this topic, the entire article looks to be free at this link, plus, links to more updated reviews.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/5/911

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 76, No. 5, 911-922, November 2002
© 2002 American Society for Clinical Nutrition


Special Article

Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome1,2,3
Sharon S Elliott, Nancy L Keim, Judith S Stern, Karen Teff and Peter J Havel
1 From the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis (SSE, JSS, and PJH); the US Department of Agriculture Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, CA (NLK); and the Monell Chemical Senses Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (KT).

2 Supported by the NIH (DK-50129), the University of California Davis Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (DK-35747), the American Diabetes Association, and the US Department of Agriculture.

Conclusion:


>>A considerable amount of research needs to be done to more completely appreciate the effect of fructose in the American diet. In the meantime, a prudent approach concerning recommendations for dietary fructose would consider the following 2 points. First, added fructose (in the forms of sucrose and HFCS) does not appear to be the optimal choice as a source of carbohydrate in the diet. Small amounts of added fructose are probably benign and may even have some favorable metabolic effects. However, on the basis of the available data regarding the endocrine and metabolic effects of consuming large quantities of fructose and the potential to exacerbate components of the insulin resistance syndrome, it is preferable to primarily consume dietary carbohydrates in the form of glucose (free glucose and starch). This may be particularly important in subjects with existing hyperlipidemia or insulin resistance who could be more susceptible to the adverse metabolic effects of fructose. Second, the concerns raised about the addition of fructose to the diet as sucrose or HFCS should not be extended to naturally occurring fructose from fruit and vegetables. The consumption of fruit and vegetables should continue to be encouraged because of the resulting increased intake of fiber, micronutrients, and antioxidants. In addition, the intake of naturally occurring fructose is low, 15 g/d, and is unlikely to contribute significantly to the untoward metabolic consequences associated with the consumption of large amounts of fructose. Certainly, it would be desirable to have more precise data regarding the current amounts and patterns of fructose consumption. Unfortunately, to our knowledge, no accurate data on fructose consumption more recent than 1977–1978 are available. Although fructose disappearance data show a clear-cut pattern toward increased consumption of fructose, more definitive measurements of intake in different populations require large-scale surveys. In addition, it is important to gain a better understanding of the effects and mechanisms of fructose consumption on metabolic indexes such as insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism, including triacylglycerol production.<<



Here are newer ones:

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 86, No. 4, 899-906, October 2007
© 2007 American Society for Nutrition


REVIEW ARTICLE

Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease1,2,3
Richard J Johnson, Mark S Segal, Yuri Sautin, Takahiko Nakagawa, Daniel I Feig, Duk-Hee Kang, Michael S Gersch, Steven Benner and Laura G Sánchez-Lozada
1 From the Division of Nephrology and Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (RJJ, MSS, YS, TN, and MSG); the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (DIF); the Division of Nephrology, Ewha Woman's University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (D-HK); the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, FL (SB); and the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia Ignacio Chavez, Mexico City, Mexico (LGS-L)


Currently, we are experiencing an epidemic of cardiorenal disease characterized by increasing rates of obesity, hypertension, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease. Whereas excessive caloric intake and physical inactivity are likely important factors driving the obesity epidemic, it is important to consider additional mechanisms. We revisit an old hypothesis that sugar, particularly excessive fructose intake, has a critical role in the epidemic of cardiorenal disease. We also present evidence that the unique ability of fructose to induce an increase in uric acid may be a major mechanism by which fructose can cause cardiorenal disease. Finally, we suggest that high intakes of fructose in African Americans may explain their greater predisposition to develop cardiorenal disease, and we provide a list of testable predictions to evaluate this hypothesis
...........

Am J Clin Nutr 89: 1037-1042, 2009. First published February 11, 2009; doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27140
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27140
Vol. 89, No. 4, 1037-1042, April 2009
This Article


ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION

Sweetened beverage consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in women
Teresa T Fung1,2,3,4, Vasanti Malik1,2,3,4, Kathryn M Rexrode1,2,3,4, JoAnn E Manson1,2,3,4, Walter C Willett1,2,3,4 and Frank B Hu1,2,3,4
1 From Simmons College, Boston, MA (TTF); the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (TTF, VM, WCW, and FBH); the Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (KMR, JEM, WCW, and FBH); the Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (JEM); and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (JEM, WCW and FBH).

2 Partial results of this analysis were presented as a poster at the 2007 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

3 Supported by NIH grants HL60712, HL34594, DK58845, and CA87969.

4 Address reprint requests and correspondence to TT Fung, Department of Nutrition, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115.


Background: Previous studies have linked full-calorie sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with greater weight gain and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Objective: We prospectively examined the association between consumption of SSBs and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women.

Design: Women (n = 88,520) from the Nurses' Health Study aged 34–59 y, without previously diagnosed coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, or diabetes in 1980, were followed from 1980 to 2004. Consumption of SSBs was derived from 7 repeated food-frequency questionnaires administered between 1980 and 2002. Relative risks (RRs) for CHD were calculated by using Cox proportional hazards models and adjusted for known cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Results: During 24 y of follow-up, we ascertained 3105 incident cases of CHD (nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal CHD). After standard and dietary risk factors were adjusted for, the RRs (and 95% CIs) of CHD according to categories of cumulative average of SSB consumption (<1/mo, 1–4/mo, 2–6/wk, 1/d, and 2 servings/d) were 1.0, 0.96 (0.87, 1.06), 1.04 (0.95, 1.14), 1.23 (1.06, 1.43), and 1.35 (1.07, 1.69) (P for trend < 0.001). Additional adjustment for body mass index, energy intake, and incident diabetes attenuated the associations, but they remained significant. Artificially sweetened beverages were not associated with CHD.

Conclusion: Regular consumption of SSBs is associated with a higher risk of CHD in women, even after other unhealthful lifestyle or dietary factors are accounted for.

[Warpy]

5. Medical journals also have a silly season

I remember some years ago a protracted discussion about various types of feces, part of the discussion degenerating into some really good scatological poetry.

I'm sure they all got a laugh out of Steiner an his modified Qi pushing blood around the body independently of the heart, which, after all, is really a pump.

[bluedawg12]

6. Fun with feces. LOL.

Steiner sounded a little off his rocker. Or he was a genius and imagined nanobots before their time!?! :P

[nickgutierrez]

7. For some reason, I was reminded of Ted Stevens talking about the internet.

"It's not a big truck, it's a series of tubes!"

[bluedawg12]

8. That was classic!

The intertubes. :rofl: