Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Eroding public trust in nutrition science

Harvard has responded to new research that red meat is harmless:
[N]utrition research is complex, and rarely do [its findings] reverse so abruptly. That's why it's so important to look beyond the headlines at the quality of the evidence behind the claims. Still, the publication of these new guidelines in such a prominent medical journal is unfortunate as it risks further harm to the credibility of nutrition science, eroding public trust in research as well as the recommendations they ultimately inform.
Funny how new research nearly always causes further harm to the credibility of nutrition science. Others say:
The misplaced low-fat craze of the 80's was the direct result of Harvard Professor Dr. Hegsted, who participated in the McGovern report that lead to dietary recommendation changes for Americans to eat more carbs in place of meat and fat, a recommendation that turned out to be based on "science" paid for by the sugar industry. Those recommendations caused an explosion of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer - all metabolic disorders caused by the insulin resistance that resulted from those recommended dietary changes.
My trust in nutrition science is nearly zero.

What do any of these people know about nutrition?

Physicians get a lot of respect for their medical opinions, and they probably deserve it most of the time. But most of them have never taken a course on nutrition, and don't know more than anyone else on the subject.

Everyone eats food, and so has opinions about food. Child-rearing is another subject where everyone has an opinion, but those opinions have almost no scientific value.

The nutrition research is so confusing that I don't know how to conclude that any food is healthier than any other food.

1 comment:

  1. Roger:

    I agree.

    But do you know about C programming, or C++ (important to get into USA), beyond FoxPro, Gupta SQL, and into Oracle DBMS?? Stored Procedures??? Triggers???? XML?????

    Then how can you pass comments like these? Ummm?

    You first have to study all the nutrition sciences. Journals. Handbooks. Only then are you qualified to make a comment like this.

    But, since, you keep me in your payroll, I should not write further.

    Yours ever so ever very good-songs-singing,

    [Oh well.]

    --Ajit

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