Nutrition Science is a Fraud

Great topic InfraBlue.

I'll be back with my soapbox later.

I only paid casual attention to it, but everyone knew back then Dr.Frederick Stare was an automatic proponent of everything the food industry put out. It was that obvious and well known. The only question back then was if Dr. Stare was taking money on the side or just a deluded true believer.

There are enough real research about sugar and salt without relying on faux PhDs who get paid a few shekels to lie.

Big corporations will do what big corporations do: Anything to make a buck.

How do we distinguish the real research from the fraudulent when the food industry is enmeshed in the process?

I imagine, check out the sponsor of the research. The pomegranate industry-actually a woman named Resnick who decided to create the pomegranate juice industry-sponsored research which showed that pomegranate juice was great for prostate cancer and a host of other things. The studies were sponsored by her or one of her organizations.

PS: Independent research has shown that pomegranate juice might still be better for various important anti-oxidents than other fruit juices, but the claims of the industry-sponsored research are suspect.

Nothing like a few sugary donuts after a nice helping of spare ribs. I always think of Woody Allen's "Sleeper," when waking up in the future he thought of all the foods we avoid now as opposite to what scientists supposedly learned was actually good for us.

That's a decision everyone must make for themselves through common sense.

It's like politics and religion.

The deception is so prevalent that the nation's dietary guidelines are based on this fraudulent science. Common sense would dictate to do away with nutrition science all together.

<listening>

I saw the article too. Important, for sure. I do think nutrition matters, but haven't trusted a lot of conclusions over some decades now.

That sums it up for me. Let's not abandon nutritional science, but for gosh sake, inform us of any connection between 'researcher' and their industry connections.

That's a depressing bit of news.

I read an article in the Atlantic Monthly that was very convincing to me at the time.

http://www.unz.org/Pub/AtlanticMonthly-1989sep-00037

If I remember it was by a Harvard doc. Not too long after, he was debunked. And then at least somewhat undebunked. I haven't kept up....
There's a present bruhaha going on about statins (again, right now), even in the last few weeks.

Quote Infrablue:

Don't throw the baby-and your life-out with the bathwater. Some years ago, when I was heavier than I am now, I was cutting down on salt when my sister visited for Christmas and cooked up all her special dishes. She knew I couldn't have much salt, so she bought all low salt ingredients, (as in the package said lower salt), and cooked for a week and a half. Despite keeping up with my Lasix, I felt puffier and puffier and seemed to gain weight. Then one night I noticed I couldn't quite breathe. The ambulance was called-congestive heart failure, something I had never had. I was in the hospital for a few days.

I told my sister that the package saying "low salt" was not enough, various companies and delis load up on the salt so that "low salt" is still too much salt. In the case of the food companies, research has shown that two identical dishes placed side by side, one with salt and one without, have consistently shown to rate the salted one as tasting better. Hence, all the salt in prepared and packaged foods. Apparently canning, even of such basic things as green beans, beets and garbanzo beans, are also high in salt, it goes with the canning process.

So I just overloaded on the salt so much inthose ten days-despite my sister trying to keep the salt intake "low" - the Lasix I was taking couldn't get it out, and bingo!-congestive heart failure.

Since then I just avoid salt completely. I still take Lasix, have cut down a little on the dose. I don't eat out much because of the salt, and salt substitute, (potassium chloride), works for me quite nicely to impart a little salty zing. My old high school and college chemistry days taught me that when sodium and potassium are substituted for each other in almost any compound, the result produces a very similar compound. Cardiovascular health is almost the only situation where substituting one, (potassium), for the other, (sodium), in a compound actually makes a big difference.

My congestive heart failure occurred six years ago, I kept away from the salt, and haven't had any problems along those lines since. The edema in my shins and ankles is way, way down, when it gets a little larger I increase the Lasix a few days, make sure I haven't been eating any salty foods, (breads and baked goods can have quite a lot of it), and I haven't been bothered since. I have a home blood pressure meter-the kind that automatically inflates-and about the only problem I have is that sometimes the blood pressure gets below 105 occasionally and I feel a little dizzy, so I cut down on the Lasix. Otherwise, the blood pressure / congestive heart situation is completely under control. All from severely limiting salt. So nutrition science still has much to give us.

Many Asian foods have MSG that I'm allergic to. When we go to any Asian market, I always look at the label before buying.
I love kimchi; some have MSG and some don't.

Do you believe that ginseng of any kind has benefits?

Yes, I believe ginseng does have many benefits, but we do not buy it. We try to eat a balanced diet that includes many fruits and veggies.

I basically take Chinese Red Ginseng each day to prevent colds. Also American Ginseng seems to relax me. I read that in China, American Ginseng (specifically from Wisconsin) is taken as a tonic, since it is "cooler than Chinese Red Ginseng and Korean Panax Ginseng.

One time, by accident I took two different types of ginsengs in a short space of time. I started to perspire. I think that was proof ginseng is not a placebo?

First time to hear ginseng might be a placebo. With its historical use, I doubt very much that's even been considered. I do believe it's good for you.