Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Nutrition bullshit

I want to provide a "skeptics view" of some opinions offered to me by a nutritionist today.  Comments welcome



“The human body hasn’t evolved much since back in caveman days 2000 years ago”  Errrr  caveman or Neanderthals, lived about 20,000 years ago.  Maybe a slip of the tongue on her part but since Christ was said to have lived 2000 years ago it was a particularly noticeable slip to me.   And she is simply wrong about evolution.  There is ample evidence humans have evolved continuously and recently. Read the book “A troublesome inheritance” or checkout the Time magazine article documenting that we continue to evolve.  http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1931757,00.html

“paleo diet is good” because it’s what we evolved to eat.  Maybe that's wrong.  No one knows for sure but see http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/

“Organic foods are good” Did you ever wonder why Chinese drink hot tea?  It’s because fertilizers used are human and animal waste.  Without being boiled, it’s basically a nice big cup of E-coli.  http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4019  Many of the e-coli outbreaks have been traced to organic foods.  When considering how many people have died from organic foods and e-coli in recent years, it is possible to make a real argument that they are substantially LESS healthy for you. Many other issues such as world hunger etc to consider.  Organic foods are, in fact, less “sustainable” planet wide.

“GMO foods are bad”   Very debatable but everyone has different opinions.  At the very least the science is still out but most scientists believe most GMOs are safe.  Take a look at this article on Golden Rice for example. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/sunday-review/golden-rice-lifesaver.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0  Other issues such as the unintended spread of GMOs to consider.

“Certain foods are Toxic”  Sorry but SUGAR doesn’t meet the definition.  Are you saying no 100 year old ever ate sugar?  I guess we have to decide how fast a “toxin” is supposed to kill you.  definition of a toxin is ”a poisonous substance and especially one that is produced by a living thing” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toxin  Medical definition: : a colloidal proteinaceous poisonous substance that is a specific product of the metabolic activities of a living organism and is usually very unstable, notably toxic when introduced into the tissues, and typically capable of inducing antibody formation. 

“Processed foods are bad”  What does “processing” mean? Cutting a tomato up is processing it.  Cooking is processing.  http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4088

“Milk is bad and inflammatory”  Many people are lactose intolerant. But as documented in the book “Guns Germs and Steel”  herding societies developed lactose tolerance and rocketed past non herding societies in anthropological development. “Within a span of 7,000 years, for instance, people adapted to eating dairy by developing lactose tolerance. Usually, the gene encoding an enzyme named lactase—which breaks down lactose sugars in milk—shuts down after infancy; when dairy became prevalent, many people evolved a mutation that kept the gene turned on throughout life.”  I’m sorry, but demonizing dairy shows incredible ignorance of anthropology and evolution.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/


“Red meat digests slower”.  the food that you eat for dinner tonight will be in the form of amino acids (protein), triglycerides and cholesterol (fats) and carbohydrates (mostly glucose), vita-mins, minerals, and water probably by tomorrow evening. Probably some, if not most, of it will also have been absorbed into your body and used in some

“Colon cleansing has benefits” Very debatable.  August 1 in the August issue of The Journal of Family Practice, demonstrates that colon cleansing can cause side effects ranging from cramping to renal failure and death.  http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/colon-cleansing-no-benefit-and-dangerous/

“The colon has sludge & things stuck in it”.  Not unless you’re very sick.  Although doctors prescribe colon cleansing as preparation for medical procedures such as colonoscopy, most don’t recommend colon cleansing for detoxification. Their reasoning is simple: Your digestive system and bowel naturally eliminate waste material and bacteria — your body doesn’t need colon cleansing to do this.

“Twinkies are Toxic” Check out this article below which has this quote:  "On a twinkie diet Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.  " http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/  (also demonstrating my point you could live off them for 30 days)

“Gluten is bad and inflammatory” Debatable except for Celiacs http://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2014/05/15/non-celiac-gluten-sensitivity-may-not-exist/

“Certain foods are inflammatory”  probably not (except for allergic reactions obviously). http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/magic-diet-not-so-much/

“Eating clean tips”  Specific Review of the science behind her recommendations:  http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/should-you-be-eating-clean/

“You are what you eat” More bullshit.  For example doubling saturated fat in diet does NOT double it in blood.  You are NOT in fact what you eat.  Your body converts everything


No comments:

Post a Comment