conference schedule - icelandichealthsymposium .is

Conference
-Schedule
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8:30 Harpa opens up to delegates 9:15 First lady of Iceland Dorrit Moussaieff opens
the conference 9:30
Gary Taubes Break for coffee and refreshments
10:40
Dr. Aseem Malhotra 11:30
Dr. Axel F Sigurdsson Break for lunch
13:00
Prof. Tim Noakes 13:50
Denise Minger 14:40
Dr. Thomas R. Wood Break for coffee and refreshments
15:35
Panel discussions
16:25 Foodloose comes to an end
Speakers and topics
Gary Taubes - Why We Get Fat: Adiposity 101 and the alternative hypothesis of obesity
Since the 1950s, caloric imbalance has been perceived as a driving force in weight regulation. Virtually all
research on obesity and its related chronic diseases is predicated on this notion. Prior to World War II, though,
European clinicians argued that obesity was caused by a defect in the regulation of fat tissue metabolism. By the
1960s, it was clear that fat accumulation is fundamentally regulated by the hormone insulin, which in turn is
secreted primarily in response to the carbohydrates in our diet. As such, a reasonable hypothesis is that adiposity
is regulated by insulin and the carbohydrate content of the diet. This would implicate the quality and quantity of
dietary carbohydrates as determinants of health and disease, more so than the total caloric intake. A simple
revision our underlying assumption about the causes of weight gain has profound and far-reaching implications.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra - Sugar: Advocacy or activism
Does sugar deserve it's title as public health enemy number one in the western diet? Is sugar really the new
tobacco? Is the science implicating the role of excess sugar consumption on chronic disease sufficient to exert
positive changes on population health through education and awareness? What are the obstacles from industry
and how are they overcome? What role does government play? The Big Sugar and Big Tobacco corporate tactics
are very similar, with comparable health consequences, hence the suggestion that “sugar is the new tobacco”.
Aseem Malhotra (Action on Sugar, London, UK) discusses aggressive media campaigns, opposition from industry
to reform and regulation and the role of government insiders with links to industry.
Dr. Axel F Sigurðsson - The Impact of Dietary Fats on Cardiometabolic Health
The results of prospective epidemiologic studies have suggested a relationship between specific types of dietary fat
and risk of cardiovascular disease. The association between blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease has
added further to the belief that fats that raise blood cholesterol may be harmful. Furthermore, due to their
relatively high amount of calories, dietary fats have been implicated as a cause of obesity. However, this
simplified model may be misleading and several questions have to be asked. How do different types of fats affect
heart and brain health? Does cholesterol really matter? Will heart disease disappear if we all go vegan? Should
we continue to measure blood cholesterol to assess risk? What is the role of lipoproteins in atherosclerosis? How
does inflammation come into the picture? What’s the role of dietary fats in the recent epidemic of obesity and
type-2 diabetes? It’s time to redefine the the role of dietary fats in a healthy diet. Prof. Tim Noakes - Low carbohydrate diet in the management of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia
The fatal weakness of modern medicine is that it is largely helpless when treating the chronic diseases of the
modern industrial society - specifically the so-called "chronic diseases of lifestyle" including obesity, diabetes,
atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertension, cancer and dementia. The reason it seems to me is abundantly clear.
These are not separate diseases if indeed they are diseases. Rather they are all manifestations of the same
underlying process - the response of insulin-resistant individuals to decades, perhaps generations, of diets that
contain excessive amounts of insulin-stimulating carbohydrates and too little fat. We will reverse this global
catastrophe only when the majority of us - medical doctors, health and nutritional scientists, dietitians acknowledge our own regrettable contributions. This should never have happened.
Denise Minger - In Defense of Low Fat
In recent years, the anti-fat sentiment that once dominated nutritional thought has shifted towards an anticarbohydrate one—placing excess carbohydrate consumption at the root of our modern disease and obesity crises.
This presentation challenges the theory that carbohydrates are truly responsible for these epidemics, exploring the
paradoxical evidence of very high carbohydrate, low fat diets reversing the very diseases we've come to blame
them for. By questioning ideologies of both the past and present and discarding lingering dogma, we can end our
"macronutrient witch-hunt" and strengthen our strategy for improving human health.
Dr. Tommy Wood - Preventing and reversing chronic disease – it's not (just) about the diet
All you need to do is "eat less and exercise more". For decades doctors and health professional have told us that
this is the key to long-term health and weight loss. But it's not true. We now know that the quality of our food,
and the effect that it has on our biochemistry and physiology, is at least as important as the amount of food that
we eat. Thankfully, this has led to the reversal of previous guidelines that told us to eat less saturated fat, and
avoid cholesterol. But while we celebrate the return of butter to our plates, we continue to be obsessed with rules,
like cutting out gluten, or counting carbs. Though these things are often important, there are many aspects of our
lives that we neglect to think about when we focus so intently on our diet. This is the time when we need to
remind ourselves that there's so much more to life, and so much more to health, than the food that we eat.