Class Replay

The Flexner Report (1910)

A Carnegie Foundation report funded by Rockefeller redirected medical education exclusively to pharmaceutical-based schools, closing over 50% of medical schools in North America.

Flexner, A. (1910). Medical Education in the United States and Canada. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Sugar Industry Purchased Science (1965)

The Sugar Research Foundation secretly paid Harvard scientists to publish research shifting blame for heart disease from sugar to saturated fat. Published in NEJM in 1967 with no funding disclosure.

Kearns CE, Schmidt LA, Glantz SA. Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2016;176(11):1680–1685.

Low-Fat Dietary Guidelines & Rising Sugar Intake

1980 US Dietary Guidelines recommended reducing fat. The food industry replaced fat with sugar and refined carbs. Type 2 diabetes rates and obesity rose sharply in the decades that followed.

US Department of Agriculture & HHS. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 1980. First Edition.

Tobacco Companies Acquiring Food Companies

Philip Morris acquired General Foods (1985) and Kraft (1988). RJ Reynolds acquired Nabisco (1985). These acquisitions are documented in public corporate filings.

Moodie R, et al. Profits and pandemics: prevention of harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink industries. The Lancet. 2013;381(9867):670–679.

Sugar Damages Blood Vessels

High added sugar intake is associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. Participants consuming 25%+ of calories from added sugar had more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.

Yang Q, et al. Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2014;174(4):516–524.

Statins Block CoQ10 Production

Statins inhibit the mevalonate pathway, which produces both cholesterol and CoQ10. Every statin user experiences CoQ10 depletion as a guaranteed biochemical outcome.

Langsjoen PH, Langsjoen AM. The clinical use of HMG CoA-reductase inhibitors and the associated depletion of coenzyme Q10. BioFactors. 2003;18(1–4):101–111.

Statins Increase Diabetes Risk

Statins carry a 10–12% increased risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes. An estimated 5 million Americans have been affected. 62% of new-onset cases occurred in people who were already pre-diabetic.

Sattar N, et al. Statins and risk of incident diabetes: a collaborative meta-analysis of randomised statin trials. The Lancet. 2010;375(9716):735–742.

Statin Guidelines Expanding to Age 30

2022 ACC/AHA guidelines expanded statin eligibility, with some risk calculators now flagging individuals as young as 30 for statin consideration.

Grundy SM, et al. 2018 AHA/ACC Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2019;73(24):e285–e350.