Patrick Holford

rantyface

I don't know if anyone has heard of him, but if you have, do you think his advice is good? I once followed a diet of his designed to make you cleverer, and I swear it worked. I couldn't be bothered most of the time. Anyway, his diet is low GI, lots of plant based protein, fish etc which I agree with, but he also recommends taking LOADS of supplements. I don't know if that is good advice, or if he's just trying to make money on them.
I've heard of people losing lots of weight using his weight loss diet too, and he has diets for depression and all sorts. His qualifications are dubious.

What does everyone think?

EileenG

Well, he had a huge line of supplements, so I'd be slightly skeptical of that bit. You will probably find you don't need all the supps, and you definitely don't need to buy his brand.

Personally, I think that supplements worth taking are a good multi-vitamin, some extra vitamin C, a cal/mag, and some fish oil. That should cover all the bases and everything else you should get from your diet. Ideally, you should get all this from food, but if you are cutting calories, it's harder to get the right amount of your micro-nutrients from your food.

g_dog

I'd check out www.badscience.net and search Patrick Holford. Should give you all you really need to know about "Professor Patrick Holford".

El_Dangeroso

EileenG wrote: »

Well, he had a huge line of supplements, so I'd be slightly skeptical of that bit. You will probably find you don't need all the supps, and you definitely don't need to buy his brand.

Personally, I think that supplements worth taking are a good multi-vitamin, some extra vitamin C, a cal/mag, and some fish oil. That should cover all the bases and everything else you should get from your diet. Ideally, you should get all this from food, but if you are cutting calories, it's harder to get the right amount of your micro-nutrients from your food.

Vitamin D3 too! Vitamin D3 is probably the most potent anti-cancer substance you can consume it is essential and most of us are very deficient living as far north as we do.

I'd skip the cal in the mag/cal supp if you eat any amount of dairy or eat sardines.

Back on topic, he is right about some things but as Eileen says he does have his own vitamin line with made to match price-tags which undermines his credibility slighty.

Plus he makes statements in his books about saturated fat that are patently untrue and no sources are provided for his statements.

EileenG

Definitely agree about the Vit D, though it often comes with your fish oil, especially if you take cod liver oil. I do think most women could do with supplementing calcium. We tend to avoid a lot of dairy because of the fat/calories, and really, how many people do you know eat a significant amount of sardines? Osteoporosis affects one in three Irish women, and one in ten men, and it will affect your quality of life much worse than heart disease.

My mother in law has very mild osteoporosis, but otherwise good health, but she's housebound. She's terrified of going outside unless the weather is perfect in case she falls, and she's stopped travelling except by taxi.

Also, if you are dieting, your calcium demands are much higher than if you are eating maintenance calories. Most women are on and off diets all their life.

El_Dangeroso

EileenG wrote: »

Definitely agree about the Vit D, though it often comes with your fish oil, especially if you take cod liver oil. I do think most women could do with supplementing calcium. We tend to avoid a lot of dairy because of the fat/calories, and really, how many people do you know eat a significant amount of sardines? Osteoporosis affects one in three Irish women, and one in ten men, and it will affect your quality of life much worse than heart disease.

My mother in law has very mild osteoporosis, but otherwise good health, but she's housebound. She's terrified of going outside unless the weather is perfect in case she falls, and she's stopped travelling except by taxi.

Also, if you are dieting, your calcium demands are much higher than if you are eating maintenance calories. Most women are on and off diets all their life.

Agreed that low-fat dieting is a disaster for bone-health. Did you see this study showing that gastric bypass patients have a drastic increase in bone fractures after surgery?

http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_12594487

That's because vitamin D3 is fat-soluble, meaning you can't utilise it if you don't eat enough fat.

Calcium is no good unless you can absorb it, which is where the vitamin D3 comes in, but there won't be nearly enough in cod liver oil. If you don't spend all day out in the (mostly non-existant) Irish sun, then 4,000IU is a must.

Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in the gut and maintaining adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany. It is also needed for bone growth and bone remodeling by osteoblasts and osteoclasts

Circulating Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is elevated in people with osteoporosis. In fact, one of the new drugs for osteoporosis inhibits excess PTH. High serum levels of PTH means the parathyroid glands are overactive. Surgery and drugs can address symptoms, but that would be ignoring that hyperparathyroidism is found to be secondary to Vitamin D3 deficiency. The parathyroid glands get pretty tired from being overworked. Its not unusual for this condition to take 30 or more years to manifest in actual diagnosed disease. Osteoporosis is but one of them.

I think I'm lucky that I looove sardines!

Oops, I digressed a bit there!

*Hank Scorpio*

holfordwatch.info.

Holford is a hack. Try reading the chapter in the book 'Bad Science' about him. Most of the good stuff he says is well known but he has a few gems alright - that oranges contain lil vitaminC, so buy my vitaminC supplement. Pfft.

stauntj

ive been a huge fan of his for many years. Used his arthritis protocol to resolve my dads arthritis and he no longer suffers pain.

I personally take a multivitamin only, have taken fish oils and vitamin c at other times on his recommendations but did not personally feel a benefit but Im sure others do.

Patrick Holfords qualifications are dubious but I suppose how do you qualify in something when there is no course for it? He set up a nutrition college in the UK called the ION and they later gave him an honorary qualification. Guys knows his stuff and like I said in the title, the proof is in the pudding, his protocols work for many people.

Transform

his protocols work because in general they are getting people to eat more e.g. veg and fruit, drink more water, move more and cut out the sh1te in their diet.

he is terribly biased towards vegan/vegetarian which is a total disaster for many

He has a new book out every 6-12months promising a better sex life, less joint pain, weight loss etc and any time i have gone to see him live (i have gone many times) the rooms are jam packed with people that are overweight, eat terribly, dont drink enough water and are not sleeping enough

Buy the primal blueprint or the paleo solution wayyyyy better and you wont get a big push to buy a ton of supplements also