Subject: Re: EFA'a
From: Raymond Peat <[email-masked]>
To: "Earl Conroy" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 16:05:11 -0800

Without knowing who wrote the comments, I'm not sure what kind of response
would be appropriate.  There are several issues, since you mention that the
discussion relates to the prostate.  Estrogen is the crucial factor in
prostate degeneration, with both local and systemic effects that contribute
to the problem.  The unsaturated fatty acids intensify the effects of
estrogen.

As I understand the Budwig/Erasmus phenomenon, it seems to have been
instigated by a series of German publications written by J. Budwig
(published by a press owned by a US-based multinational corporation).
Someone sent me the whole package of her weird little books, so I looked at
her previous publications in the soap-science literature.  When she was a
coauthor, the publications were very ordinary reports of research.  But
after a period of several years, the series of little books began.  I have
never seen a more bizarre series of claims, rants, and delusions, published
in any form.  Udo Erasmus' effusive praise of her work, in print and
lectures, certainly calls for some explanation.  My impression is that he
is responsible for the Budwig-based series of events in the U.S.  

Erasmus' first book is the only one of his that I have seen, and besides
the strange praise of Budwig's crazy ideas, he uses, misuses, terms from
chemistry that he doesn't understand.

I'm not sure if the mentioned Donald Rudin is the author of the papers by
D. O. Rudin that I have read, so I don't want to analyze publications for
which he might not be to blame.  If the D.O. Rudin papers on lupus,
membranes, etc., are by Donald Rudin, then I could comment.  Since his
educational background is cited, I wonder if anyone could clarify Budwig's
academic history; about ten years ago, already in old age, she seems to
have become a doctor of several things.

The vast amount of money spent by the soy industry to promote the concept
of essentiality has had its generalized cultural effects.  People who
attend conferences or read symposium reports aren't always aware that they
have been subjected to corporate advertising, and they begin to take the
ubiquity of an idea for its validity.

The operational definition of "EFA deficiency" has become the presence of
the Mead acids.  Since our enzymic constitution is part of our "essential
nature," the evidence that some of our enzymes have been inhibited might
appropriately be considered as evidence of a toxic effect; the presence of
the Mead acids indicates that some of our enzymes haven't been inhibited,
and so is evidence of the absence of a toxin.

When some of my oil articles have been printed, in Townsend Letter or the
NHF magazine, the audience was big enough, that the absence of rebuttal to
any of my points suggested to me that no one really has any evidence to
talk about, or someone would have found it and used it to oppose my
conclusions.

At 10:45 AM 1/20/99 +1300, you wrote:
>    Dear Ray: I posted your reply to the prostate list in  which I
>participate. Here is a reply to that post. I don't know if this controversy
>has a  resolution but should you feel motivated to respond further, it
>would be most  interesting.     The idea  that Erasmus is in it just for
>the money is laughable, and just an oil  salesman----puts me off his
>judgement straight away.   Mighty curious.  "" in human nutrition. Dr. 
>Donald 0. Rudin and nutritionist Clara Felix present scientific evidence,
>based  on Dr. Rudin's pioneering research with forty-four patients over a
>span of  years, that the critical Omega-3 fatty oils have profound effects
>over a broad  range of contemporary health problems. They exert a
>beneficial influence not  just on the heart and arteries but also on the
>brain and the emotions as well as  general body functions. "" Dr. Rudin
>explains how replacing the essential Omega-3 nutrient  that modern food
>processing has stripped from our contemporary diet dramatically  cuts the
>risk of heart disease and many other ailments, such as problems of the 
>skin and bowels, arthritis, tinnitus, hypo- and hypertension, immune and 
>allergic disorders, accelerated aging symptoms, behavior problems, and much
> more. """" your diet with special Omega recipes and a  supplement
>program-with weight reduction as a welcome bonus! Building on his
>successful treatment of patients he has  followed and seen recover their
>health, Dr. Rudin now teaches readers how to  supply the missing link in
>our diets to ensure or help restore natural  well-being.  DONALD 0. RUDIN,
>M.D., received his M.D. from  Harvard Medical School, where he later did
>medical research for eight years.  While director of the Department of
>Molecular Biology at Eastern Psychiatric  Institute, Philadelphia,
>Pennsylvania, 1956-80, he began the sophisticated  research study of
>essential fats he has since carried on independently.  CLARA FELIX received
>her B.S. in nutrition from the  University of California. A consultant and
>lecturer living in Berkeley,  California, she publishes the Felix Letter, a
>bimonthly nutrition  commentary she originated in 1981.       Many people
>are influenced by      this 'distuinguished medical expert' bit, yet so
>many of them are paid to be      experts to pharmaceutical 'science.'    
>It was a bit unfortunate to refer to Udo as an oil salesman and as I     
>recall your reference to Budwig was not particularly charming. I suspect   
>  that in public writings we need to temper our disdain for these folks a
>bit      or reap disdain in return     I look forward to your response to
>this....if you choose to carry it on      any further.     best wishes,      

>