EtAOK: Journal Impact

So for you fans out there of my ramblings, you may have noticed I don't drink. I've actually blogged before about it. Multiple times.

Anyway, the other day I was driving to an interview somewhere and heard a radio ad that reminded me of the whole issue. They were selling a supplement that was "red wine extract pills with no alcohol." So it obviously peaked my interest as knowing what it is in red wine that isn't in vodka is obviously what gives red wine its FDA/AMA stamp of approval over, say, moonshine.

Now I call this update journal impact because I'm all too aware of what journal impact factor is and what it means. So if I were to, hypothethetically of course, cite a study published by FASEB (that's the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) I already know that it doesn't carry the same weight as something in, for example, The New England Journal of Medicine.

That said, the FASEB came out just recently and talked about what exactly it is in red wine that makes the difference. Turns out it's "polyphenols". There's a decent summary you can read about it here. After being tortured through organic chemistry anything with the word "phenol" in it just sounds dangerous, but apparently there's an exception to every rule. You can now buy polyphenol supplements on eBay (not that I am in any way, shape, or form endorsing this product. I personally think most supplements are garbage even more overpriced than the proven pharmaceuticals they "replace" - all without that pesky FDA who is always trying to stamp out American ingenuity).

One thing that's helped me support the belief that alcohol is heart unhealthy is the fact that the mormon population overall has a lower rate of heart disease compared to non-mormon countparts. In the off chance you're reading this and aren't mormon and don't know anything about mormonism, mormons are pretty well known for their abstinence from, among other things, alcohol.

Well, it turns out that it's the abstinence from one of those other things that seems to play one of the biggest factors. While I know that Deseret News is also not exactly a high impact journal, the story actually was broken across the AP wire and showed up on most credible news sites today (i.e. MSNBC, CBC, The London Free Press, etc). The study showed that fasting may actually be more cardioprotective than all that other stuff. Traditionally the first Sunday of every month is "Fast Sunday" worldwide in the LDS church. On fast Sunday, those whose health permits abstain from a meal or two and are encouraged to donate the money saved from not eating those meals to the Church's Fast Offering fund, which is specifically used to to provide welfare to the poor. While the study certainl by no means proves that fasting is cardioprotective, it certainly is suggestive.

But I still think alcohol is not good for the heart.