On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 12:18 Edward Thompson

>Comments on the following draft ... are welcome.
>
Ed, I'm sure you enjoyed writing it!  I hope the length doesn't - on its
own - rule it out.

>A case in point would be
>the notable reduction in all-cause
>mortality (from fish oil
>supplementation) in the GISSI-Prevention
>Trial1, a trial involving over
>11,000 people with coronary heart disease.

Perhaps one example of fish oil and one example from another, quite
different area, might have been more effective that two concerning fish
oil.

>One is tempted to ask whether Mr. Leonard
>feels restraint or pressure (ie. is "under
 Eduress") from the corporate interests of
>agribusiness, or if he is perhaps
>in cahoots with them to advance interests
>of his own.

Good point.  There are corporate interests that exert direct pressure
(these are well illustrated in the Enig and Fallon paper "The Oiling of
America".  But the real problem is more pervasive - cultural hegemony
quietly rules out of question a serious approach to prevention rather than
treatment.

I am dismayed when I see so often serious articles, even in the top end
popular media, about the perils from diabetes, obesity, sedentism etc.
The articles point to rapidly increasing incidence of pathologies and the
implications for individuals, health systems, insurance, paying for
retired baby-boomers etc.  But the articles almost always end with a nudge
and a wink, to the effect that doing away with fries or exercising more
for the rest of our lives
 is just too hard.  It is as if we were on a
moving pathway to years of pain and disability, but that the ride is so
much fun today that we can't bear to get off or think about tomorrow.
What evolutionary survival trait, I ask myself, is now responsible for
this bizarre phenomenon?

The option we resort to is that promised by big pharma.

Perhaps Leonard's article is not the one in which the start should be made
to advocate Paleo lifestyle changes, such as those you advocated, but I'm
still waiting for a serious article that will do this AND succeed.

Keith