Slashdot Mirror


Popular Belief That Saturated Fat Clogs Up Arteries Is a Myth, Experts Say (independent.ie)

schwit1 quotes a report from Irish Independent: The authors, led by Dr Aseem Malhotra, from Lister Hospital, Stevenage, wrote: "Despite popular belief among doctors and the public, the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong." Dr Malhotra and colleagues Professor Rita Redberg, from the University of California at San Francisco, and Pascal Meier from University Hospital Geneva in Switzerland and University College London, cited a "landmark" review of evidence that appeared to exonerate saturated fat. They said relative levels of "good" cholesterol, or high density lipoprotein (HDL), were a better predictor of heart disease risk than levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as "bad" cholesterol. High consumption of foods rich in saturated fat such as butter, cakes and fatty meat has been shown to increase blood levels of LDL. The experts wrote: "It is time to shift the public health message in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease away from measuring serum lipids (blood fats) and reducing dietary saturated fat. "Coronary artery disease is a chronic inflammatory disease and it can be reduced effectively by walking 22 minutes a day and eating real food." They pointed out that in clinical trials widening narrow arteries with stents -- stainless steel mesh devices -- failed to reduce the risk of heart attacks.

273 comments

  1. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Eat all the Doritos and don't go outside and post about Linux

    then you will be healthy

    1. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I recently switched to cheetos because they are a little less fat.

    2. Re:Good by TheConway · · Score: 1

      Doesn't say that at all. Learn to read.

    3. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Still bitter about Linux being awesome "Anonymous Coward?" Figured I'd join your club for a minute.

    4. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I switched to Linux because I care about privacy and don't have to pay for anything. Screw that PC gaming nonsense.

  2. Who paid for this study? by FrankHaynes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That will tell you the desired results without even looking.

    --
    slashdot: A failed experiment.
    1. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That will tell you the desired results without even looking.

      It's all backed by the sinister agenda of Big "Walk a half an hour a day and don't eat garbage".

    2. Re:Who paid for this study? by skirmish666 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      FTA

      "This editorial is not founded on good evidence. There is no such thing as 'real food' - the authors don't define what it is so it's meaningless."

      --
      Sigger than your average
    3. Re:Who paid for this study? by lucm · · Score: 5, Funny

      They do have an agenda. Big "Walk a half an hour a day and don't eat garbage" wants people to have a longer and healthier life so senior citizens can be milked longer by bingo halls and casinos. This lobby is in a perpetual fight against another lobby, Big "Eat sugar and die in your mid 60s" who want to accelerate the settlement of reverse mortgages.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    4. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The meat industry paid. Malhotra is a schill for them.

    5. Re:Who paid for this study? by exigentsky · · Score: 1

      How can you not see that suggesting it's only about undefined "real food" and exercise is hugely beneficial to the meat industry (among others)?
        Remember the tobacco company motto "Doubt is our product." This is an awful study deliberately created for that purpose.

    6. Re:Who paid for this study? by sysrammer · · Score: 2

      You're a funny guy. Hope your karma can handle it. I was leaning more towards +1 Insightful, myself.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    7. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Big Walking is part of Big Shoes, Big Shorts, and Big Water. I think they also invested in Big Fruit.

    8. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard Big Eating Less In General is also involved!

    9. Re:Who paid for this study? by ninthbit · · Score: 0

      You've got it all wrong... The conspirators are as follows:
      1) Government. They want people to extend their productive years so they can keep taxing the revenue and delay Social Security.
      2) The Farm industry. They want you eating "real food" so they can charge their premiums for organic produce. They need the money to pay John Deer's extortion.
      3) The Shoe industry. I mean, it's obvious. They want you to wear out your shoes so you go buy new ones.
      4) Media industry. With all the commercial free viewing options, a half-hour less streaming is less data they need to pay for. You're monthly rate doesn't care about your usage.
      5) The medical industry. Gotta drag out those Medicare payments.

    10. Re:Who paid for this study? by burtosis · · Score: 1

      FTA

      "This editorial is not founded on good evidence. There is no such thing as 'real food' - the authors don't define what it is so it's meaningless."

      I always have difficulty in understanding what "real food" is as well. Most of the time it seems to exclude food that is inexpensive, requires little preparation and tastes good while at other times it seems to exclude foods that are simply too easy to eat. Much of the time it dosent translate into a rational discussion about a balanced intake of protein, carbs and fats and moderation of salt.

    11. Re:Who paid for this study? by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I always have difficulty in understanding what "real food" is as well. Most of the time it seems to exclude food that is inexpensive, requires little preparation and tastes good while at other times it seems to exclude foods that are simply too easy to eat. Much of the time it dosent translate into a rational discussion about a balanced intake of protein, carbs and fats and moderation of salt.

      I should think 'real food' would be somewhat common sense, but here's some help...

      First, real food needs to be purchased at a grocery store, farmers market, etc...not a fast food joint. If you shop around the periphery of the grocery store, particularly the produce area, you are in the real food zone. Real food is food that is not processed to where most all the nutrition has been thrown out or degraded, and a ton of chemicals added.

      Real food, in general, requires YOU to do some preparation and cooking.

      Those two general rules of thumb will steer you towards 'real food'.

      Hope that helps....

      Cooking real food doesn't take that long and it isn't that difficult.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    12. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sure would suck if food had chemicals in it.

    13. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That will tell you the desired results without even looking.

      It's a 'meta-study', so no experiment required. Accept it at your own risk.

    14. Re:Who paid for this study? by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      It sure would suck if food had chemicals in it.

      Chemicals added there by humans, that don't naturally occur in them if you're going to be pedantic. Chemicals that usually fall into the artificial color and preservative category which are usually again, man made and contribute no nutritional value.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    15. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eat fresh vegetables. This is where this makes sense. The rest of what you write - sorry, I don't think any of this is relevant.
      Frozen vegs are fine too. They can get mushy because ice crystals damage the cell structure, but the chemical composition is preserved, which is all that matters.

    16. Re:Who paid for this study? by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      I also heard the later was secretly funded by an unknown guild of funeral home owners.

      --
      I tend to rant.
    17. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The other day I heard Big "Walk a half an hour a day and don't eat garbage" plotting to overthrow the government.

    18. Re:Who paid for this study? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Whole foods are food. If you look at the ingredients on the side of something in a box, it if full of things that aren't food.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    19. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      egg-sallad ( that is boiled egg with greens) is great... throw in some shrimps and spices too and make it even better.
      Easy and cheap to make.... There are tons of things that are tasty, cheap and easy to make..

      Here you have a few tips.. http://greatist.com/health/52-...

      And btw.. If you want a balanced intake of protein and fats eggs are a great way to go, they basically contain everything you need in terms of nutrition, raw is the best but cooked is ok too but the more gentle they are cooked (less heat) the less nutrients you loose.... add some bread or fruit and you have a good source for carbs...

    20. Re:Who paid for this study? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Chemicals that usually fall into the artificial color and preservative category which are usually again, man made and contribute no nutritional value.

      So your sure that what preserves your food doesn't preserve you as well? I think Polar, and Grisly bears, Man-eating sharks, lions and tigers will be disappointed!

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    21. Re:Who paid for this study? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Actually it does preserve you as well. I was told during the Vietnam war that while Vietnamese corpses would decay grossly within a couple of days, US corpses lasted well for a week. I suspect some hyperbole there, but that's what I was told. The "informant" suspected BHA and BHT, but gave no evidence.

      Now this doesn't say much about being healthy, but it seems to make for a well preserved corpse.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    22. Re: Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, theres nothing like that raw egg salmonelley goodness to start off the day !!!!

    23. Re: Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you ate one raw egg once a day you'd have more than a 50% chance of making it 30 years without getting salmonella from eating all those raw eggs. In healthy adults, salmonella manifests as diarrhea. The cost is risking one bout of diarrhea every 30 years on a coin toss. Just about any (potential) benefit could beat that.

      Non-technical people like you don't think in terms of cost/benefit analysis. That is understandable. You aren't that good at math or logic, and that's OK. That's why we command higher pay, enjoy greater job security and in general lead better lives than people like you. But we need you people to bag our groceries and now our lawns. So it all works out.

    24. Re:Who paid for this study? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Oddly, it also works the other way. If your flesh is already badly oxidized, it's going to resist further decay for a while. Consider beef jerky.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    25. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a funny guy.

      What do you mean I'm funny?

    26. Re:Who paid for this study? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      jerky is primarily dehydrated, oxidation, especially in fats is called rancid and tastes foul. Many of the spices added to jerky have anti-oxidant properties.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    27. Re:Who paid for this study? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      The Authors of the book "Life Extensions" used to eat a teaspoon of BHT every day, but I don't particularly recommend it.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    28. Re:Who paid for this study? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, funny.

    29. Re:Who paid for this study? by ninthbit · · Score: 1

      Wow... some people can't take a joke.... Modded down as Flamebait (-1).

  3. the "belief" is not "popular" by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    it is common, but not welcome.

  4. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/experts-headline-grabbing-editorial-on-saturated-fats-bizarre-misleading/

    "The report was written secretly and released by the National Obesity Forum, for which Malhotra was also a senior advisor. The Forum is funded by the meat industry and drug companies."

    1. Re: No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The steak and fries in the picture in the article look really tasty.

    2. Re:No. by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Their claim largely hinges on a “landmark” 2015 review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

      Translation - claim relies on cherry picking bad data sets to push narrative. Sure, I wish it was true. However, this study is not trustworthy.

    3. Re: No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if they make an xkcd-style hand drawn graph to back up their claims? It worked for climate 'science', so it ought to work for others, too.

    4. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/index.php/about-the-nof/our-partners.html

      All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity
      National Institute of Clinical Excellence
      Royal College of Paediatricians
      Association for the Study of Obesity
      National Audit Office
      Korean Academy of Family Physicians
      National Association of Primary Care
      LighterLife UK Limited
      Roche Products Ltd
      Abbott Laboratories
      Slim Fast Foods Ltd
      Safeway Foods plc
      Tanita UK Ltd
      Sanofi-Aventis Ltd
      Mantis Surgical Equipment Ltd
      GlaxoSmithKline UK Ltd
      Canderel
      British Meat Nutrition Education Services
      Carlton TV Ltd
      The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust
      The British Liver Trust.

    5. Re: No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like climate change!

    6. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So this alternative is just based on alternative facts? After next Saturdays Fox news, Orange baboon will promote author of this paper to be next secretary of health.

    7. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The British Liver Trust and their damn agenda.

    8. Re:No. by OrangeTide · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Under the new administration the only health plan you can afford is the Walk-22-minutes-a-day plan.

      It's not the worst plan, and it's the cheapest, so good !/$.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    9. Re:No. by Bongo · · Score: 5, Informative

      https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/experts-headline-grabbing-editorial-on-saturated-fats-bizarre-misleading/

      "The report was written secretly and released by the National Obesity Forum, for which Malhotra was also a senior advisor. The Forum is funded by the meat industry and drug companies."

      That's funny, because these people (Malhotra, Eades, Noakes, etc.) who get together at conferences, so let's call it a "movement", they say that the lipid hypothesis was pushed by the sugar industry back in the 50s and 60s as a way to push the blame away from sugar -- that the idea that fat might cause heart disease is what the sugar industry wanted to hear. Meanwhile the British scientist Yudkin thought that sugar was the more likely cause of heart disease. But he was disinvited too often and eventually ignored. If you can't eat fat, you will have to eat carbohydrates, and cereals, and so on. So it is the cereals industry which benefits from the "fat is bad" hypothesis.

      Your or my conviction that, gee, fat really is bad, is merely because that's what we have been taught. We did not go out there and like, spend ten years doing a systematic review of all the literature going back 100 years.

      That's what Gary Taubes did, spent 5 years writing a book about this, tracing the history of the hypothesis. And Nina Teicholz, whose recent book was reviewed in the BMJ with words to the effect, "you'd believe that science was a rational objective process, but after reading this book you'll realise that was naive and the science has been perverted..." (words to that effect, in the BMJ). And hea dof world hear foundation (something like that) recently said that the science behind the heart/lipid hypothesis was bogus.

      How the Sugar Industry Shifted the Blame to Fat

      So the plain and rather obvious fact is, EVERYONE has a vested interest, so at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is, on the word of no-one, is the science actually objectively correct?

      We can play the who-funded-it game all day.

    10. Re:No. by jandersen · · Score: 1

      Yeah - why am I not surprised? When I first saw this headline, I thought that this is nothing new; but I think this is part of a coordinated campaign that runs at the moment. I think it was only yesterday I saw another headline saying that salt doesn't cause high blood pressure - despite the fact that the connection is very well established. This is what makes fact-checking so crucial, because there really are these odious interest groups out there, knowingly spreading falsehoods in order to pump up the profits of their employers, and it harms the health and wealth of the entire nation - or now a days, the whole planet. It is remarkable that at present, the only countries that don't suffer from general obesity and cardio-vascular problems, are the ones where the global food companies don't see a profit.

    11. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Three other meta-studies:

      From 2010: Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease
      Patty W Siri-Tarino, Qi Sun, Frank B Hu, and Ronald M Krauss
      During 5–23 y of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. The pooled relative risk estimates that compared extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.19; P = 0.22) for CHD, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.05; P = 0.11) for stroke, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11; P = 0.95) for CVD. Consideration of age, sex, and study quality did not change the results.

      From 2013: Food Sources of Saturated Fat and the Association With Mortality: A Meta-Analysis
      Therese A. O’Sullivan, PhD, Katherine Hafekost, BSc,corresponding author Francis Mitrou, BEc, and David Lawrence, PhD, BSc
      Pooled relative risk estimates demonstrated that high intakes of milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter were not associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality compared with low intakes. High intakes of meat and processed meat were significantly associated with an increased risk of mortality but were associated with a decreased risk in a subanalysis of Asian studies. ...
      We chose mortality as the outcome, as it is generally well quantified and represents a final health outcome. Mortality type included all-cause, CVD, or cancer. Exclusion criteria included animal models and populations defined by preexisting disease or participants younger than 16 years. We did not place any restrictions on follow-up time. We included 26 studies after exclusions, representing data from 1800418 participants.

      From 2015: Dairy consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease: an updated meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
      Qin LQ, Xu JY, Han SF, Zhang ZL, Zhao YY, Szeto IM
      A total of 22 studies were eligible for analysis. An inverse association was found between dairy consumption and overall risk of CVD [9 studies; relative risk (RR)=0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81, 0.96] and stroke (12 studies; RR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.99). However, no association was established between dairy consumption and CHD risk (12 studies; RR=0.94, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.07). Stroke risk was significantly reduced by consumption of low-fat dairy (6 studies; RR=0.93, 95% CI: 0.88, 0.99) and cheese (4 studies; RR=0.91, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.98), and CHD risk was significantly lowered by cheese consumption (7 studies; RR=0.84, 95% CI: 0.71, 1.00).

    12. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, an industry shill/quack. See Andrew Wakefield and his claims about vaccination; of note, he is not allowed to practice medicine in the UK any more and if this Malhotra chap is involved in any more of these "encouraged" studies he may find himself in a similar position.

    13. Re:No. by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think it was only yesterday I saw another headline saying that salt doesn't cause high blood pressure - despite the fact that the connection is very well established.

      Sorry Bozo, it was always true that salt increases blood pressure in a minority of patients with a particular genetic predisposition to that response. The average patient with hypertension has a very very minimal increase in blood pressure from dietary salt intake, and reducing it in those patients does not improve any of their hypertension-related outcomes. The reason that diuretics lower blood pressure is primarily because they alter the level of salt that your body maintains. Most people's bodies are well able to maintain a fairly steady body fluid salt level regardless of dietary intake.

      The reason you don't know this might be that some researchers publicly accuse people of being murderers for explaining that! Because they fear some ignorant person who didn't get tested will be affected and not go to a doctor to test and then die. This is the nonsense that people face in trying to get medical information generally.

    14. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Murderer!!!

    15. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A shout out to Dr. Bernstein, a type 1 diabetic who also uncovered the facts.

    16. Re:No. by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      Thank you. That was very insightful!

      --
      I tend to rant.
    17. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only fools who believed the "sugar industry" thought that high sugar diets were any better than high fat diets. Both are bad for you, end of story.

    18. Re:No. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      You might enjoy this (90m) video, Sugar: The Bitter Truth by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.

      The video explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009]

      It's pretty technical.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    19. Re:No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most people's bodies are well able to maintain a fairly steady body fluid salt level regardless of dietary intake.

      Exactly. If our kidneys were not very effective and reliable at maintaining critical ion concentrations (Na, K, Ca, Cl) we would probably all be dead within 48 hours. If you are eating a mix of foods that give you those critical elements and drink some water, your kidneys will take care of it -- 100 million years of evolution have honed their skills.

      There are people with specific heart conditions/susceptibilities and kidney conditions, for which high salt is dangerous. But they represent a small minority in the general population. From a cardiologists POV, it sure may look like half his/her patients would live a lot longer if only they changed their diet, including reducing sodium, 10 years ago. If wishes were fishes. But the sickest people in the waiting room of a cardiologist does not necessarily tell us anything about the best health policy for the general populace.

      Keep in mind that Japanese eat significantly more salt than Americans, while the live longer on average. Japanese also have more strokes. Is it the salt that helps them live longer? Is the salt giving them strokes? Both could be true. Is living longer to have a stroke such a bad deal? Hmmm....

    20. Re:No. by HiThere · · Score: 1

      FWIW, my wife is one of those people who are sensitive to salt...only in her case she's DRAMATICALLY sensitive to salt. She tries to keep her salt level at about 300 mg/day. I worried that this was dangerously low, but her doctor, after studying her blood level, said that she was keeping her sodium at precisely the correct level. This despite being on really aggressive diuretics (so much so that she is prescribed potassium supplements twice a day).

      OTOH, I don't follow her diet, and probably had better not. So I use soy sauce and Tabasco sauce (green), and order things with normal spicing at restaurants. Most people would still consider my diet generally low sodium, but there are degrees and degrees.

      My real point here is that different people can have quite different dietary needs. Don't assume that because something works for you it will work for someone else. It might, but it also might not.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    21. Re:No. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Not just more salt; the Japanese have the #1 highest salt intake in the world. And the longest lifespans. And then people presume they must have a genetic protection, but that study has been done, they don't.

      On an individuals basis each of these things does trade off causes, so whatever your personal higher risks are should be important.

    22. Re:No. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Right, that's normal; people who affected at all are generally affected dramatically. So it can be self-tested with a challenge test; check your BP, eat something salty, test it again. If it is close to normal, then reducing it probably will not improve outcomes. If it spikes, then reducing it probably will improve outcomes.

      It is easy to convince people that different people have different needs, but it is harder to convince people to use evidence to decide what their personal needs are. People think about having different needs and instantly turn to their subjective feelings, which isn't what the lesson is at all. There is a tendency to stay all the way to one side or the other of reality.

    23. Re:No. by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Sorry Bozo, it was always true that salt increases blood pressure in a minority of patients with a particular genetic predisposition to that response. The average patient with hypertension has a very very minimal increase in blood pressure from dietary salt intake, and reducing it in those patients does not improve any of their hypertension-related outcomes. The reason that diuretics lower blood pressure is primarily because they alter the level of salt that your body maintains. Most people's bodies are well able to maintain a fairly steady body fluid salt level regardless of dietary intake.

      Says the shill for Big Salt!

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    24. Re:No. by HiThere · · Score: 1

      No, that's not normal. 300 mg/day is well below the normal cardiac diet at a hospital. Every time she's admitted she has to fight with the diet kitchen to get food she can eat. People can have LOTS of variation in their needs, much more than is usually acknowledged even by those who are specialists in, e.g., diet, and certainly more than is usually acknowledged by non-specialists.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    25. Re:No. by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      Lack of salt is far more dangerous than too much, for almost everyone. It can cause blood electrolyte imbalance very quickly, and if it goes too far the temperature stabilization will fail and cause convulsions and death. I keep "Thermotabs" in my med kits

      In hot conditions this can happen very fast. I grew up near the coast and spent the summer on the beach. Tourists sometimes dropped out within hours and the rescue squad trucks had to haul them off. That's one reason salted potato chips became popular on beaches, out there you sweat out salt at a terrific rate.

      If you are going into those conditions, watch your kids. Look for thirst that takes one sip and can't drink more, or headaches in the sun, or general sickness that starts up quickly. Get them salt and water and shade. And good luck.

  5. The saturated fate myth by DatbeDank · · Score: 0

    Was a ploy to get people eating grains and other processed cereals as the main item of their diets as opposed to healthy proteins and animal fats. Nothing more, noting less.

    1. Re:The saturated fate myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You forgot why the shift to grain was considered important. Dr. Kellogg believed it would reduce masturbation, so he made his cereal and did everything he could to change breakfast from a meat/egg/bacon base to a grain base. He also pushed for and successful got American's genital mutilation industry up and running. It didn't take too long to get burning the clitoral hood off with acid labeled as a crime against humanity, but sadly we're still working on the corresponding treatment on males being outlawed (circumcision). The only goal of both procedures and the breakfast cereal was to reduce masturbation. Other reasons were later invented.

      It's amazing how the aversion to sex has shaped the world.

    2. Re:The saturated fate myth by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      As a circumcised male, I hardly find the claim that the presence, or lack there-of, of the foreskin encourages or discourages masturbation.

    3. Re:The saturated fate myth by Dog-Cow · · Score: 0

      ... to be at all factual.

      Sorry, I was, uhm, busy...

    4. Re: The saturated fate myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How would you know? You can't compare before and after with your sample size of one - where the before was likely still struggling to learn how to move.

    5. Re:The saturated fate myth by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      That's because you haven't seen us here in Europe masturbate like there's no tomorrow yet.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:The saturated fate myth by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'll give you the secret: Foreskin means you don't need lube. Anybody with a foreskin can simply hold it in place and compare, but a person without it can't make that comparison. There is a huge difference in functionality.

      This is why historically when circumcision was done by adult males it was a big act of religious devotion. You're giving up a major part of the hedonistic pleasures of life. This is also why it is done to children; in hopes they will grow to be more pious.

    7. Re:The saturated fate myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did eating cereal reduce the amount of masturbation you do?
      These are the same people who thought that circumcision would stop you masturbating.

    8. Re: The saturated fate myth by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

      You can't compare before and after with your sample size of one...

      One? It may be small, but it's not THAT small!

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    9. Re:The saturated fate myth by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      There are probably people who masturbate by putting cereal inside their foreskin. Kellogg would be spinning in his grave.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
  6. 1.38 billion chinese can't be wrong... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Boffins supercharge the 'hosts' file to save users plagued by DNS outages - Chinese Academy of Sciences thinks it has a way to give DNS a backup http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/26/boffins_supercharge_the_hosts_file_to_save_users_plagued_by_dns_outages/

    APK

    P.S.=> & "there ya go" + APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/ ... apk

    1. Re:1.38 billion chinese can't be wrong... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hahaha disregard that, I suck cocks

      APK

      P.S.=> my hostfile generator encourages cocksucking.

  7. Current claim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The current claim being "sugar is bad".

    I remember 20 years ago, nutritionists proclaiming "fat is bad", so everyone switched to sugar. I'm glad I didn't climb on that bandwagon.

    1. Re: Current claim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I only eat fat free and sugar free food. Like the fat free bag of Skittles and the sugar free stick of butter.

      Like the summary says: "eat real food." Virtual butter just doesn't taste the same.

    2. Re: Current claim by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

      I only eat free range sugar and non-conflict butter.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re: Current claim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's unlikely you noticed a switch twenty years ago since it has been the standard advice for about seventy years to reduce saturated fat consumption

    4. Re: Current claim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget to stick to gluten free water.

    5. Re:Current claim by denis-The-menace · · Score: 1

      There's a video called: "Sugar: the bitter truth."

      My take:
      -Sugar and HFCS are virtually the same thing (bad)
      -Glucose is the body's NATURAL sugar. Processed in your stomach.
      -Fructose is processed by the liver because your body sees it as a poison. (Just like alcohol)
      -Fructose is alcohol without the buzz
      -Fructose with Fiber (aka real fruit) Good because of the fiber
      -Fructose w/o Fiber (aka fruit juice) Bad (Fructose tells you body you ate nothing, so you eat more)

      Meanwhile many studies are coming out that say ANY artificial sweetener is bad for you

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
    6. Re:Current claim by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      The current claim being "sugar is bad".

      I remember 20 years ago, nutritionists proclaiming "fat is bad", so everyone switched to sugar. I'm glad I didn't climb on that bandwagon.

      I've never heard anyone say "eat more sugar to be healthy" in my life.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  8. We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's no wonder we're seeing more and more average people question, if not stand against, science. From their perspective, it just isn't reliable any longer.

    It doesn't matter if we're talking about nutrition or climate change. Time and time again average people have been told one thing based on scientific research, but then a short while later they're told that something totally contradictory to the first thing is now correct.

    Science as a whole has a serious boy-who-cried-wolf problem. As scientists we need to be far more careful about the claims we're making, so that people continue to take us seriously.

    We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

    We can't say today that some food or substance is unhealthy and we should avoid eating it, but then a few years from now say it's healthy, and in fact we need to eat more of it.

    While we shouldn't be afraid to chance our conclusions as we do more research and continue to expand our knowledge, we also can't continue to make claims that fall apart so quickly. We need to be far more sure about the claims we make publicly.

    Each time we contradict ourselves we only serve to make our research, our methods, our philosophy, and our entire field look like a joke. We have to stop being wrong so often if we want to be taken seriously.

    1. Re: We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like someone writes a bullshit article to get it to trend. Saturated fat is bad for you.

    2. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by moronikos · · Score: 5, Informative

      More and more information is coming out that "peer review" is sort of a joke. The basic statistics of many studies isn't even verified. Check this on Ars: https://arstechnica.com/scienc...

    3. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Ichijo · · Score: 2

      We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

      Which respected scientists predicted those scenarios?

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    4. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by dbIII · · Score: 0

      Which respected scientists predicted those scenarios?

      The cover artist of TIME magazine :)
      On that note in 2050 people will be talking about the good old days of 2017 when we could solve just about anything with "one weird trick".

    5. Re: We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn right! Only TRUE Scotsmen can do science!

    6. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not the scientific community doing this. The cases where scientists take money from special interests to lie about food (carbs are good / eat lots of sugar!) are usually small amounts of very influential and corrupt scientists, not the group as a whole. Many of the sensationalized journal articles are at BEST one study that gets blown up and popularized by newsmen of some sort, who get paid by the ounce of controversy.

    7. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Quite a few. Try dusting off a text book from that era and you'll find it. Along with all the claims that the world would be out of food by 1977. There will be no oil by 1986. And Florida will be under water by 2005.

    8. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by tsa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's like saying democracy is a sort of a joke. Yes, it has its drawbacks but all the other systems are way worse.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    9. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you are referring to this:
      http://science.time.com/2013/06/06/sorry-a-time-magazine-cover-did-not-predict-a-coming-ice-age/

      Time points out that the cover that says this is a fake

    10. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

      You'll be amazed at what happened next...

    11. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by DarkOx · · Score: 2

      Science as a whole has a serious boy-who-cried-wolf problem. As scientists we need to be far more careful about the claims we're making, so that people continue to take us seriously.

      You are partly right, but science is all about making /testable/ claims. Scientists absolutely need to advance their hypothesis backed up by the research and allow others to find counter or confirming evidence.

      What needs to stop happening is people trying to make public policy based on less proven theory. Climate science is a good example its been used as a basis for policies since the 1970's and its predictions and impacts have changed a lot since that time, it was and is an immature field. As is a lot of this psychology that has us putting in special bathrooms in schools etc. We need to step back and let scientists do the work before we start legislating based on it.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    12. Re: We scientists must improve our reliability. by guruevi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's largely because there is neither fame nor money in peer review. Peer review IS being done though, at least in the harder sciences, many studies that build on other studies will at least attempt to verify the original results. Only when they see large discrepancies will they ever be further reviewed and published and then only if the original paper has been of quite some impact to the field (hundreds or thousands of references to the paper).

      Things like this has been known to the scientific community for a while, the models used to communicate the impact of fats and food on your health to the public are just way too simplistic. It's not just about fats, it's what you eat/drink with those fats. The food pyramid is one of those things that has been known to be false soon after it was introduced but even the food plate is way too simplistic and unrealistic.

      Everything you eat (fat, sugar, alcohol, acids etc) has an impact on each other, the French classical diet of "du vin, du pain et du Boursin" (wine, bread and cheese or alcohol, gluten and fat) does not result in fat Frenchmen even though every doctor will tell you it will blow you up like a balloon.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    13. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by burtosis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More and more information is coming out that "peer review" is sort of a joke. The basic statistics of many studies isn't even verified. Check this on Ars: https://arstechnica.com/scienc...

      While likely true an even more pressing problem is non-scientific clickbait headlines and juiced up summaries and articles about scientific papers/research to simply generate more revenue. No companies seem to care about long term irreparable harm to public consensus. Obligatory xkcd

    14. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by helsinki92 · · Score: 1

      Science only allows us to know what the highest bidder wants us to know especially when it comes to Climate Change, Food and Tobacco. These industries have a history of paying for a study and then paying to suppress the results because they did not show what they expected. The public then finds out years later that what their government had been telling them for decades is all wrong because of shifty payoffs.

    15. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by PoopJuggler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess you haven't noticed that the climate and environment are in fucking shambles. We've killed 50% of the fish in the ocean since the 1970s. We fucked up the ozone layer. We've filled the ocean with plastic and oil. We've raised the global temperature. We've caused the extinction of countless species of animals. We've decimated rainforests. And all these things continue even now. If guess your idea of "doom and gloom" is vastly different from mine.

    16. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      It's no wonder we're seeing more and more average people question, if not stand against, science. From their perspective, it just isn't reliable any longer.

      It doesn't matter if we're talking about nutrition or climate change.

      Negative. The problem with food is that there is a bullshit industry built around it that has nothing to do with science. It has everything to do with blaming, marketing, and agenda.

      I forgot to add lies and bullshit.

      All we have to do is look at advertisement. Today, we are starting to eat the healthy sugar again. A third of Americans are avoiding gluten, when only a small number are actually allergic to it. Remember how eating oatmeal was the great health food?

      Then we need to talk to vegans, vegetarians, atkins and caveman people, the drink a shitload of water people, and all the other people who have decided that something something was going to make them live longer.

      Time and time again average people have been told one thing based on scientific research, but then a short while later they're told that something totally contradictory to the first thing is now correct.

      As far as food goes, precious little is science, and marketing and health shaming takes the lions share.

      As far as science goes, bring up some of these completely contradictory science based sea changes, and we can discuss.

      Science as a whole has a serious boy-who-cried-wolf problem. As scientists we need to be far more careful about the claims we're making, so that people continue to take us seriously.

      And a whole lot of people are looking for an eternal truth, an unchanging universe. Religion is probably better for them, and they can reject any and all science, and that will probably satisfy their need.

      We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

      A couple points on that. A lot of climate deniers like to bring up an article from the 1970's in time Magazine http://img.timeinc.net/time/ma... that they use as proof that scientists believed we were entering a new ice age. Scientists didn't - although I recall a really snowy winter in the Northeast. We've been treated to weird shit like this over the years, attributed to science, but actually designed to sell stuff to people. Imagine if the Cover of time had an article where the headline was "Scientists say we occasionally have a snowy and cold winter. Dramatic stuff indeed.

      Now for ridiculous claims. Very few of the imminent climate doom claims have been put out by people who aren't paying attention, the equivalent of healthy food marketing.

      But somehow that stuff gets translated to "In the 1970's all scientists first believe that we were in a new Ice age, then they all changed their minds and they all said we were going to be dead by the year 2000." Oddly enough, the same people often talk about the controversy in science, seamlessly shifting between the monolithic scientist meme, and the controversy as suits their argument.

      An example not in the weather field is that many young earth creationists use the Piltdown man hoax to discredit all of science. The logic is Piltdown was a hoax, so the earth was created by the Abrahamic god in 4004 B.C.(E)

      We can't say today that some food or substance is unhealthy and we should avoid eating it, but then a few years from now say it's healthy, and in fact we need to eat more of it.

      If you ask a nutritionist, most will tell you that you need a balanced diet, one with sufficient protein and carb mix, and amounts of vitamins and minerals. Its remarkably boring. And while there have been some changes over the years, most of what you are objecting to

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    17. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem isn't publicly-funded, objective science. It's privately funded science with an agenda. Fake truth, based on "alternative facts" (this phnomenon used to be known as lying your ass off to get out of trouble). The most insidious part of the power behind the lies is that they have the balls to come out and say that objective science is the group "with the agenda" (see climate change deniers pointing at allegedly left-tilted global warming research).

    18. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by bjdevil66 · · Score: 2

      Peer reviewed is better than privately funded and vouched for with good marketing (and a wink).

    19. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's like saying democracy is a sort of a joke. Yes, it has its drawbacks but all the other systems are way worse.

      But the alternatives are "science" vs. "magic". There are areas with all sorts of room to improve on how science fits into our social scheme. The current system that creates an environment where publishing and publicizing wowing but dubious results is one of those areas.

    20. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not science that's the problem, but marketroids that want to use premature information to sell products.

    21. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > On that note in 2050 people will be talking about the good old days of 2017 when we could solve just about anything with "one weird trick

      When kids of the future go to roleplay as us, One Wierd Trickster will be an archetype available to add to your Level 20 Intertard.

    22. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

      It's almost like, and bear with me on this one because it requires a real leap of logic, people took those warnings into consideration and prevented the doom-and-gloom scenarios from happening.

    23. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice troll...

      Except for tabloids like slashdot, reputable newspapers and journals have not flip flopped on diets. None of them never have, nor ever will recommend a diet high in fat or sugar.

      Same with climate change. If you read the actual journals they don't talk about doom and gloom.

    24. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

      It's on its way. Maybe you haven't noticed but agriculture has been severely impacted by climate change, as has the water table everywhere along the west coast. Have you not noticed that regions known to be sopping wet have been practically desert for the last couple of decades, while regions of Texas which were previously desert have become downright tropical in terms of climate?

      Go back to the cave you've been living in for the past 30 years, and please, for the love of all that is good and righteous, never, ever walk into a voting booth. The rest of us who are informed and aware of current events will vote sensibly while you're in your batcave in mommy's basement watching infowars and grazing on Doritos and Mountain Dew.

    25. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is not about science.
      From article on ARS:

      "The report was written secretly and released by the National Obesity Forum, for which Malhotra was also a senior advisor. The Forum is funded by the meat industry and drug companies."

    26. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's no wonder we're seeing more and more average people question, if not stand against, science. From their perspective, it just isn't reliable any longer.

      It doesn't matter if we're talking about nutrition or climate change. Time and time again average people have been told one thing based on scientific research, but then a short while later they're told that something totally contradictory to the first thing is now correct.

      Science as a whole has a serious boy-who-cried-wolf problem. As scientists we need to be far more careful about the claims we're making, so that people continue to take us seriously.

      We can't do what climate science did in the 1960s and 1970s, and predict imminent doom-and-gloom scenarios for the 1980s that don't come to pass, and haven't come to pass even 30 years after that.

      We can't say today that some food or substance is unhealthy and we should avoid eating it, but then a few years from now say it's healthy, and in fact we need to eat more of it.

      While we shouldn't be afraid to chance our conclusions as we do more research and continue to expand our knowledge, we also can't continue to make claims that fall apart so quickly. We need to be far more sure about the claims we make publicly.

      Each time we contradict ourselves we only serve to make our research, our methods, our philosophy, and our entire field look like a joke. We have to stop being wrong so often if we want to be taken seriously.

      "Science" get's credit for a lot of misinformation Shitty studies get done all the time both for legit bad scientists and sometimes because a group with a vested interest manipulates things. All a study says us that under certain conditions, certain results were observed and here's why we think that happened. Science will always get things wrong sometimes. Almost all food/nutrition related studies from more than 10 years old are flawed or just plain wrong. That's why we keep doing experiments and studies.

      The problem is people. They don't get their information from science, they get it from information sources like the 24/7 new cycle. Add to that the fact that most people don't understand things outside their specialties past a 6th grade level and you get things like people not understanding the difference between climate and weather. If there's one thing everyone should take way from the OP's post is that most people are not smart enough to make good, rational decisions. They cobble together pieces of things they barely understand and form truly insane opinions, like "science needs to stop being wrong so much" and think they understand when in reality they have a child's understanding of how the world/universe works.

    27. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Straumli+Perversion · · Score: 1

      The covers might be fake (why the hell do people do this?), but there was a story entitled Another Ice Age in Time Magazine dated June 24, 1974.

      It might have been nice if they had mentioned this.

      FTA: "Whatever the cause of the cooling trend, its effects could be extremely serious, if not catastrophic. Scientists figure that only a 1% decrease in the amount of sunlight hitting the earths surface could tip the climatic balance, and cool the planet enough to send it sliding down the road to another ice age within only a few hundred years."

    28. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by TheNarrator · · Score: 1

      The saturated fat thing was started as a response to the big Malthusian freakout of the early 1970s. The science was settled, according to Paul Erlich, author of The Population Bomb, and many others, we were all going to starve to death. Something had to be done to convince people that eating meat was terribly unhealthy in order to save the planet. So what's in meat and not in a vegetarian diet? Saturated fat! So the science was constructed by Ancil Keyes with the end in mind and all the data points that didn't fit the narrative were dropped from his correlational studies and the guy who wrote "Pure White and Deadly" warning about the dangers of sugar consumption was blackballed. It's as simple as that.

    29. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost as if the interactions of 37 trillion cells with who knows how many environmental factors, replicated in various permutations in more than 7 billion instances is a complicated system with lots of variables that is inherently difficult to get right.

    30. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha. I hadn't seen that xkcd before. Sad thing is the subtleties of it are probably still lost on many people. That's going up on the wall, thanks.

    31. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by randallman · · Score: 2

      The only information I see coming out saying that "peer review is sort of a joke" is from propaganda artists like Limbaugh, Hannity, etc in their attempt to discredit real science where is conflicts with their narratives (global warming is a Hoax). People aren't perfect and neither is peer review, but it's a really good process and certainly not "sort of a joke". Also, I can't believe someone made this comment on Slashdot and got modded 5.

    32. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by barbariccow · · Score: 1

      Science goes where the money is...

    33. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many times I see the media playing up a study far beyond what the science says. It's gotten bad enough that I ask people "did you hear that from a journalist?" because that sets a lot of context. Then a discussion of facts not from a journalist are discussed. Answer is always different than the journalist implied. Clickbait advertising metrics have made this worse. This is why I run an ad blocker. Yes, to stop the drive by virii. But mostly because I don't want ad driven sites to succeed. I don't want ad driven content. And this is why.

    34. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by budgenator · · Score: 1

      How do you know?

      We fucked up the ozone layer.

      The first time we saw the ozone hole was the first time we looked, the first time we had the technology to see it. The truth is, we are just assuming that there ever was a time when the Ozone Hole didn't exist. It's just as likely the Ozone Hole exists because it always existed.

      We've filled the ocean with plastic and oil.

      Who's We, you got a mouse in your pocket?

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    35. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

      I vaguely remember (because I was in Elementary School) talk about another ice age in the mid-late 70's

    36. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

      Each time we contradict ourselves publicly by making untested or untestable statements we only serve to make our research, our methods, our philosophy, and our entire field look like a joke.

      FTFY. Do you honestly think that scientists (by whom I am assuming you mean people applying the scientific method to their field of research) are the ones making bold claims with no data to back them up? Or is it people who find tests that have been done for other reasons, retroactively apply a hypothesis they'd like to promote, and publicize that hypothesis as fact?

      Let's be very clear here. Scientists did not claim a damn thing in this article. "Experts" looked at other people's work and decided that they needed to tell everyone that what they think it means is a scientific fact. This is analogous (in more ways than you'd think) to pundits going on television to promote their opinions under the guise of "journalism". That's not journalism, and this isn't science. That some people don't seem to understand that there is a difference is, to me, the bigger problem.

    37. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      One article in the popular press is not science having a credibility problem. Extrapolating that to "science is crap let's believe radio talk show hosts" is humanity having an idiot problem.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    38. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your post is ridiculous. These contradictions are not coming from scientists and real research. This is a paid advertisement for the meat and dairy industry. Its just a way to fight back against consumers realizing that cow milk and red meat are bad for your health. You should at least mention these are just lies. This is not a scientific problem, not the science anyway, this is the age we now live in. Its like the(hopefully) last hooray for old outdated industry that are killing human beings. These lies have been spun for over half a century that dairy is good for you. They dairy industry even had the U.S. government in bed with them, remember those health class posters telling us that we must drink milk everyday and meat? You might be able to make the argument that our own government is responsible for most of the disease its citizens have today. Add in the cost the healthcare, which the health care industry benefits from, you being to see the recurring theme of follow the money. This is the great shame of humanity. Politicians pretend to be your friend, pretend to help you protect you, while behind your back get rich and stay in office befriending industries that dont care that they are killing the very citizens of this country.

      With the Obama admin, it seemed we may have cleared this horrible hurdle. That science was truly going to take the lead. But now with the Trump admin, its business as usual. Trump as we all know him and his ability to lie and misdirect, gives license to lie and misdirect. We truly are set back many years with this administration.

    39. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Thanks - that kind of explains why I wasn't aware of the "global cooling" thing until the anti-science PR machine got going some time after 2000.

    40. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those claims were likely true at the time, based on the circumstances then (such as arable land and proven oil reserves). Things changed. We invented new pesticides, farming methods, and GMOs since then. We also found more oil and gas since then. And who cares about Florida, anyway?

    41. Re: We scientists must improve our reliability. by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      Everything you eat (fat, sugar, alcohol, acids etc) has an impact on each other, the French classical diet of "du vin, du pain et du Boursin" (wine, bread and cheese or alcohol, gluten and fat) does not result in fat Frenchmen even though every doctor will tell you it will blow you up like a balloon.

      I image the typical Frenchman gets a lot more exercise than the typical American, and very seldom "supersizes" a meal.

    42. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      I wonder how many people who complain about peer-reviewed scientific articles have ever read one.

    43. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      And Florida will be under water by 2005.

      They were just being optimistic.

    44. Re:We scientists must improve our reliability. by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

      Democracy is not a joke, but what we got up here is "fake democracy" and a joker.

  9. "popular belief"??? by ooloorie · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's pretty rich, given that government guidelines have been saying for years that saturated fat is bad:

    Saturated fat can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

    The worst part isn't even that they falsely identified saturated fats as bad, but that for years governments told people to eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, which is pretty much a prescription for weight gain and diabetes.

    1. Re:"popular belief"??? by moronikos · · Score: 1

      Guidelines in the US have said the same thing. It's only "popular" because the government and "science" has been telling us this for years.

    2. Re: "popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They also told you to exercise, which caused thousands of deaths, especially after the invention of cell phones.

    3. Re: "popular belief"??? by FrankHaynes · · Score: 1

      Well, yeah. When you're staring at the very, very latest reply to your Snapchat video it's tough to notice the 18-wheeler that's about to splatter you into road pizza as you jog across the road.

      --
      slashdot: A failed experiment.
    4. Re:"popular belief"??? by Carewolf · · Score: 1, Informative

      That's pretty rich, given that government guidelines have been saying for years that saturated fat is bad:

      Saturated fat can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

      The worst part isn't even that they falsely identified saturated fats as bad, but that for years governments told people to eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, which is pretty much a prescription for weight gain and diabetes.

      Considering this new research (not by experts, but singular, one controversial expert shill) is complete bunk, it might have been good thing to advise people to do what is good for them.

    5. Re:"popular belief"??? by phantomfive · · Score: 1
      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:"popular belief"??? by slashrio · · Score: 2

      So you missed the three meta-studies mentioned in some post above?

      --
      "Trump!!", the new Godwin.
    7. Re:"popular belief"??? by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      No, sitting on your ass and eating far more calories than you need to sustain said sedentary lifestyle is a prescription for weight gain and all the other problems that go with it. The calorie (or more precisely, kilocalorie) is a measurement of energy. It doesn't matter if it's coming from carbs, protein, or fat. A calorie is a calorie.

      I'm tired of all these idiotic "diets" that tell you to eat this and not eat that and by MAGIC you'll be slim trim and healthy. You can not beat the laws of thermodynamics and conservation of energy. It doesn't matter where your calories come from. If you aren't burning more calories than you take in, you're going to put on weight. Period. End of fucking story.

      That being said, other side effects from what you eat need to be considered. You can get your daily calories from a well balanced diet or by eating a cup of Crisco. From an energy perspective, your body doesn't care. But saturated fats, cholesterol, and all that other crap can and does affect your body. So you can be slim and trim, and still be a cheeseburger away from a heart attack if you've been stuffing yourself with nothing but grease all your life.

      BTW, an editorial from a group of rejects funded by big beef probably isn't the best source of unbiased research.

      --
      ~X~
    8. Re:"popular belief"??? by Bongo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      All else being equal, maybe it is wise to label someone a shill. But this "low fat" thing has been getting severely criticised for a good ten years now. Even the president of the World Heart Federation, Professor Salim Yusuf, has switched sides. Various people/experts have done the work of looking into what the lipid hypothesis was based on, actually, all those decades ago, and how it became dogma. If you want to call someone shill, it is probably the original people who recommended low-fat (it benefitted the sugar and cereals industry).

      Here are just a few of the controversial, but likely correct, quotes of Professor Salim Yusuf:

      “Above 40% carb we see a steep increase in CHD risk. Fats are protective.”
      “Contrary to common belief the current recommendation to reduce saturated fat has no scientific basis.”
      “You must have heard of the book Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz. She shook up the nutrition world. But she got it right.”

    9. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not all calories are equal. If your body needs to produce more digestive enzymes to break down your food, those don't come from nothing; they have to be built up, and that takes energy.

    10. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... The calorie (or more precisely, kilocalorie) is a measurement of energy. It doesn't matter if it's coming from carbs, protein, or fat. A calorie is a calorie.

      ...

      Ok. Since energy is energy is energy... Go ahead and pour some sugar in your gas tank. Doesn't matter, right?
      You clearly have a simplistic and wrong view of human biology, are willfully misinforming people, and I shall ignore you.
      QED

    11. Re:"popular belief"??? by John+Napkintosh · · Score: 1

      This is a decent strategy if you're active. Since carbs are the preferred fuel of your muscles, it would make sense to consume carbs over fats as the primary energy source. Doubly so considering the number of calories per gram of fat, as you'd also be limiting your calorie intake.

      --

      Long signatures suck.
    12. Re:"popular belief"??? by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      Nobody knows whether it's bad or not. In fact, right now, it seems like it depends on your genetic makeup and other factors. That is "what is a good diet for human beings" isn't even a meaningful question.

      What is crystal clear is that government dietary guidelines for the past 50 years were based on bad science, even if they are accidentally right on something. What's also crystal clear is that government dietary guidelines were heavily influenced by industry lobbying.

    13. Re:"popular belief"??? by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      This is a decent strategy if you're active. Since carbs are the preferred fuel of your muscles, it would make sense to consume carbs over fats as the primary energy source.

      If by "active" you mean "olympic athlete before a competition". For almost everybody else, running out of fuel is not a problem, since good nutrition is more important than running another mile. But keeping your glycogen storage full all the time is a pretty sure way of gaining weight.

      Doubly so considering the number of calories per gram of fat, as you'd also be limiting your calorie intake.

      People eat until their brain gets a signal that they are full. High carb diets actually tend to cause people to overeat; the lower energy density of carbs is irrelevant because satiety isn't primarily determined by quantity.

      The very idea of governmental dietary guidelines for the population is stupid. The guideline should be "people are different; experiment and pay attention to what works".

    14. Re:"popular belief"??? by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      No, sitting on your ass and eating far more calories than you need to sustain said sedentary lifestyle is a prescription for weight gain and all the other problems that go with it. The calorie (or more precisely, kilocalorie) is a measurement of energy. It doesn't matter if it's coming from carbs, protein, or fat. A calorie is a calorie.

      You're wrongly assuming there that caloric intake is an independent variable. But caloric intake and activity depend on what you eat and your physiological state, and they are nearly impossible to override through calorie counting and exercise targets. So, if you eat some kinds of food, you'll tend to eat more calories and be less active than when you eat other kinds of food. Calories are not all equal because people aren't simple chemical reactors that you feed with a fixed mass of nutrients every day.

      BTW, an editorial from a group of rejects funded by big beef probably isn't the best source of unbiased research.

      That's irrelevant in this case, because it's a simple fact that US governmental dietary guidelines don't work. How do we know? We look at obesity rates.

      In addition, worrying about whether research is "unbiased" is just a sophisticated form of ad hominem; it doesn't matter whether research is biased, what matters is whether it is correct. In fact, I expect most correct research is done by people who are highly biased in favor of the outcome they found (that's what it takes to persist in science), but have the integrity not to defraud people.

    15. Re:"popular belief"??? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Well you definitely make clear your own personal beliefs haha.
      "What is a good diet for human beings" is definitely a meaningful question.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    16. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's pretty rich, given that government guidelines have been saying for years that saturated fat is bad:

      Saturated fat can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

      The worst part isn't even that they falsely identified saturated fats as bad, but that for years governments told people to eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, which is pretty much a prescription for weight gain and diabetes.

      This is another confirmation that the standard American diet puts most people in a situation of not being able to lose stored body fat due to insulin levels being too high in a chronic fashion for large scale fat metabolism to occur. This is why there is an obesity problem and a type 2 diabetes problem in this country.

      This is due to the fact that Ancel Keys cherry picked his research data and gave the government the conclusion that saturated fat causes heart disease and to avoid heart disease you need to eat a high carb low fat diet. This advice in retrospect is upside down and backwards to what a heart healthy diet or weight loss actually requires to achieve, that is without excessive exercise (anyone can lose weight by burning 10,000 calories per day, but most people are not physically conditioned to do that and to do that much caloric burn on a daily basis is not practical.)

      This is not a big revelation to those of us who have been practicing ketogenic diets, but it is a nice confidence click that we have been doing the right thing all this time despite being criticized for it by the big sugar shills or the clueless doctors who don't know about ketogenic diets.

    17. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go ahead and pour some sugar in your gas tank.

      Let me ferment it first and distill it, then I'll get back to you. Also there is something to be said for fueling a machine with the correct fuel. The human body cannot run on cellulose either.

      A better comparison would be filling a diesel engine with diesel fuel vs vegetable oil, or biodiesel. Each will run the engine, with varying degrees of impact on performance, deposits, fuel mileage(due to energy density differences).

    18. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People eat until their brain gets a signal that they are full.

      I eat until the portion on my plate is finished. Put normal size portions on your plate. That doesn't matter if I'm having carbs, meat, etc etc. The problem is the calorie source, the problem is eating too damn much of it and not having reasonable portion control.

      Really, the problem is psychlogical, don't give me this bullshit that people eat up until their brain says, I'm full. Don't slop food on your plate like you are a pig being fattened up for the slaughter.

      I'm sick of people making excuses for fatties.

    19. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is the calorie source, the problem is eating too damn much of it and not having reasonable portion control.

      That should be:

      The problem isn't the calorie source. Stupid /. and lack of post editing.

    20. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you also believe the Earth is flat because it looks that way to you, right?

    21. Re:"popular belief"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A calorie is a calorie.

      Uh-huh.

      We know, trivially, that just because something releases a calorie of heat when burned does not mean that it provides a calorie of energy to the body; there are all sorts of indigestible fibers and such, like cellulose, that very blatantly violate that.

      So, to start with, "calorie counts" are all estimates based on feeding people food of known burning energy, then burning their feces, and estimating from there. Which is automatically going to be different than actual calories absorbed by the body simply because the energy to keep gut bacteria alive are going to show up on input, not on output, and not be absorbed by the body. And which means if (say) sugars are differentially diverted by those bacteria compared to protein or complex carbohydrates or fats or alcohol, the actual absorbed calories for "equal amounts of calories" of each is going to vary.

      And not only that, of course, it's then going to vary for each individual's gut flora, because one thing we know for certain is that those are not uniform, even over time for the same individual. And then vary again depending on what particular mix of calories you are eating, because bacterial preferences don't just vary with what's offered, but also with the mix of what's offered.

      But then we get to deal with all the complexities of vertebrate metabolism that are not nearly as simple as burning things under laboratory conditions. Most of which are not well-understood, and include complexities where you can indeed cause a body to simultaneously store calories of one type as fat tissues even as the body breaks down muscle tissue to feed the metabolism. Metabolism is fiendishly complicated chemistry.

      Which all boils down to this: No, a calorie is not a calorie. You might as well declare a joule of gasoline is a joule regardless of its octane rating, and a car engine is a vastly simpler system than your body.

      But you know what's even stupider? Moving on from the false empirical claim "a calorie is a calorie" (which at least approximates to almost-true if you're talking about minor variations in a balanced diet) to pretending it's backed by simple, straightforward application of the laws of physics, like there's nothing more complicated than that going on. I mean, hey, what about the Conservation of Mass approach to weight loss? You can't beat the law of conservation of mass, can you? So if you arrange it so that your body expels more mass than it takes in, you'll lose weight, right? Well, then! We'll just stop eating and drinking, and breathe really fast, since the gasses expelled by breathing mass more than the ones the body absorbs. By definition, you'll lose mass! Just keep it up for a week, and . . .

      . . . well, I really suggest you try it before you next open your yap on a subject you very obviously only know your grade school teachers' lies about.

      Incidentally, there's a reason why dietary cholesterol guidelines were completely removed from US dietary guidelines in 2015. Because there is not, and never was, any evidence that dietary cholesterol has any relation to serum cholesterol. It was a half-assed "better safe than sorry" item stuck in them way back when there wasn't enough evidence to tell, but now it's been conclusively shown that it was useless. So you fucked up that bit of advice in your post, too, you ignorant twit.

    22. Re:"popular belief"??? by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      That's irrelevant in this case, because it's a simple fact that US governmental dietary guidelines don't work. How do we know? We look at obesity rates.

      But that doesn't take into account that over the last 50 years, Americans have become lazy, self-indulgent pigs.

  10. I often think dietary "science" is a myth by moronikos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... or at least a religion. In no other field can I find so much contradictory information and research. On the one hand you have Dr. Barnard saying fat is of the devil and on the other hand you have Dr. Eades saying it is perfectly fine. We used to fry foods in lard and tallow (saturated fats). Then the dietary scientists said that was going to kill us so we had to switch to non-saturated fats. Then the dietary scientists said that the trans fats that they recommended were worse than the saturated fats.

    In the 80s and 90s the fat phobic nutritionists and diet gurus said that any kind of fat more than 10% of your total intake of calories was bad for you and they had "medical studies" to back it up. They said it was fat that made us fat. They came on TV and scared moms and the food industry started removing fat from their products. Now, the fat content of many foods is much less. But guess what? We are fatter than ever. They replaced the fat with sugar and other carbohydrates and said that the science showed that was ok because it is not carbohydrates that make us fat, but it is fat. Again, we are fatter than ever. Who is thinner than Americans? Well, practically everyone except Mexicans and Samoans. Who is thinner? Well, the French are. What do they eat? A lot more fat in their diets than us. Asians are thinner too and they supposedly eat a lot of rice which is a lot of carbs.

    Hi fat is killing us--we have studies proving...

    No it's high carbs that are killing us--we have studies proving...
    No it's ...

    Stop drinking that sugary soda, it's bad for your health. Drink a diet soda instead...oh, it will give you alzheimers...

    Stop drinking coffee, the caffeine is bad for you--we have studies. Instead, drink coffee for your health because it contains lots of flavonoids--we have studies.

    If you're a guy...maybe we should figure out the diets of guys like Mick Jagger and Anthony Quinn who fathered kids past the age of 70. For Jagger, maybe it's all the cocaine and other drugs... got to say that it's depressing being 52 and the plumbing not working like it used to.

    1. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you are 52, it is probably time to trade in your 50 year old wife for a pair of 25s. That'll get the plumbing working again.

    2. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I prefer sticking to my Mediterranean diet of copious quantities of red wine and coffee, thank you very much.

    3. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe just ignore all the crap and eat a balanced diet. Not too much of any one thing and exercise a little now and then. All things in moderation. My Grandfather ate lots of fats for his entire life and lived to be 90 in excellent health all but the last 3 years. Of course he worked his ass off farming so he burned that stuff up. He also ate lots of greens and everything else under the sun. If you sit on the couch eating potato chips and watching Ungrateful Bitches of Atlanta then sure, you're probably going to get heart disease and die.

    4. Re: I often think dietary "science" is a myth by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Computers, the internet, space travel, GPS, Large Hadrin Collider, road network etc etc

    5. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by gweihir · · Score: 0

      Science actually works well, if practiced by competent and honest scientists. Unfortunately, there are just as many bad and dishonest scientists than there are incompetent and dishonest people in any other field. The medical fields is an extreme offender here though, probably dues to hugely inflated egos as additional problem.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The medical fields is an extreme offender here though, probably dues to hugely inflated egos as additional problem.

      I think it is due to misplaced beliefs by doctors that they have been trained as scientists and that they understand statistics.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    7. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

      Going by the name of the show you mention, I'm not sure whether it's more to do with sitting on the couch, the things you eat or your subconscious using suicide to get away from the shit you're exposing your brain to ;).

    8. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      - Memory foam mattresses

    9. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I prefer my Scottish diet of haggis, whisky, and playing the bagpipes at sunrise.

    10. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's honestly not that hard to figure out. Like with anything else, extremes are bad.

      Is it fine to have a soda every now and then? Yeah. Is it fine to drink one or more every day? Not really.
      Is eating red meat and diets high in fact ok? Of course. Is it ok to eat every meal? Of course not.
      WIll eating pasta hurt you? No. Will eating a bag of potato chips every day hurt you? Yeah.
      Is a daily cup of coffee and/or wine good for you? Probably. Is becoming chemically dependent on either one good for you? Probably not.
      Do humans need some exercise to be healthy? Yeah.

    11. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oops. I guess "Diets high in fact" are actually probably best ingested daily. I meant "foods high in fat" though.

    12. Re: I often think dietary "science" is a myth by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

      That's all engineering progress.

    13. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Arrhenius wasn't a government scientist the last time I checked. Some of the other things don't seem to make sense either.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    14. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      You eat people who play the bagpipes at sunrise? Or do you eat at sunrise people who play the bagpipes? Your comment doesn't seem to be very clear on that.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    15. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Who's Balanced diet?
      USDA HTML Images All of the USDA postings are from special interests, many by food marketing people.
      UK NHS Eating a balanced diet
      wikipedia HTML Images
      JapanDietary guidelines for Japanese (Japanese: ), Basic Law on Shokuiku
      or traditional japan dietJapanese Traditional 5 color diet
      Or do you follow the latest fad - seems like a personal choice. I prefer to vary my diet and not over do highly processed foods,

    16. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Aighearach · · Score: 2

      There is nothing contradictory in soda being bad, and then "diet" soda also being bad.

      Water is still good, 100% juice is still good. Always was.

    17. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by gweihir · · Score: 4, Informative

      Quite possibly that as well. MDs are not scientists. That requires an actual PhD.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    18. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My doctor said in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to drink fruit juice, because the sugar content is way to high, I can have two pieces of fruit a day. But a glass of fruit juice is like having 6 pieces of fruit in one glass.

    19. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. https://vimeo.com/45485034

    20. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In no other field can I find so much contradictory information and research.

      Clearly you are not familiar with economics.

    21. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by judoguy · · Score: 2

      100% juice is still good. Always was.

      Not really true. Very little difference in a Coke and apple juice. Really. One apples worth of juice, not too bad but worse than just eating the apple.

      A 16 oz glass of apple juice can have as many as 12 apples. Taken as one huge sugar hit to the system.

      Not good for you in any way. Just sugar water from apples instead of corn syrup.

      --
      Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
    22. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      No, you're wrong. Water was always considered good, 100% juice was always considered good.

      If you can't understand it and get confused just by mixing in an example of over-eating, which is a different issue, there is no solution for that.

      Mainstream dietary advice does not tell you to limit fruits and vegetables. Your wild theory that the sugars in juice is the same as sugar water made from corn syrup is just pap that you got from the sugar lobby, it was not and is not part of mainstream dietary advice.

    23. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A PhD is not required to be a scientist. All you have to do is follow the scientific method.

    24. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're out of date here. There are many mainstream concerns about the healthiness of 100% fruit juice. Just google it.

      Fruit juice is NOT the same as eating a piece of fruit. As GP mentioned, its caloric density is near that of soda. You can eat an apple and be full (somewhat), or you can drink the juice which won't satisfy, doesn't provide the extra nutrients or fiber, spikes the blood sugar more, causes more sugar cravings, etc... Seriously, avoid 100% fruit juice and eat the fruit.

      Btw, 8 glasses of water day is a myth too. Drink until you're not thirsty is what they say now.

    25. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by robkeeney · · Score: 1

      Are you really that dumb? The sugar in fruit juice is fructose, the same sugar as in the corn syrup used to make soda (and the same as in agave nectar).

    26. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% juice was always considered good.

      I'll note that you used the past tense, which is actually correct. 100% juice used to be considered good, but it is no longer. Glasses of sugar water regardless of the sugar source are still sugar water.

    27. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, it is just yourself you want to convince, sure. But for others, you sort-of have to have demonstrated skills and that is where the PhD comes in. After all, you cannot just call yourself a surgeon or a pilot or the like either. Well, you can, but it will be meaningless. Although almost all self-styled "scientists" have no clue what they are doing and due to Dunning-Kruger are in addition unable to see that. The scientific method is a bit more involved than most people realize and that includes some pretty smart people. For example, "following the scientific method" is necessary but not sufficient. And even that part is actually pretty difficult to do and takes a lot of different forms. A single life is too short to find out all that by yourself.

      Hence assuming that somebody without a PhD is not a scientist is a pretty safe bet.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    28. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Yes, I really am so dumb that I was able to understand that fruit juice is not the same as water with corn syrup added.

      You swallowed some propaganda, and now you go around questioning of the intelligence of anybody with more or better information than you.

      If you think about, (yes, yes, I understand, you won't) that attitude leaves you unable to ever correct false ideas you hold, because anybody with more knowledge is just an idiot to you.

      For your next trick, you'll start blathering about Chemistry, even though chemists already know that fruit juice is different than corn syrup. You won't be able to comprehend that, because you don't understand that the listing of sugars on the label doesn't actually list all the different forms in the plant; the list is just a proxy. Furthermore, you'll fail to understand that it is known to medical nutritionists that fruit juice creates a different set of affects in the body when consumed as pure juice than it does when the same amount of processed fructose is eaten. The processed fructose is one of the worst forms of sugar to eat, it has considerably worse healthy effects than processed sucrose, and yet when eaten as fruit or fruit juice it is not associated with the same bodily responses. Why? That is still not settled. What is known for sure right now is that fruit juice is not corn syrup water, in chemistry or in bodily response.

    29. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by robkeeney · · Score: 1

      You seem to be of the belief that drinking unlimited amounts of fruit juice will have no negative health outcomes, which is prima facie moronic. The science on how the body deals with fructose vs. sucrose is pretty well understood. The bodily response to drinking corn syrup water is very similar to drinking the same volume of fruit juice at the same sugar concentration level-- same insulin spike, etc. You seem to be the one who swallowed the propaganda, probably with a big glass of apple juice.

    30. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      You're an idiot.

      Traditional nutrition advice does not limit fruit or fruit juice consumption.

      It does limit total calories.

      If you were capable of applying logic, you'd understand that I already said I was referring to traditional mainstream dietary advice, which has not changed on any of those points.

      If you look at traditional advice, sweets (including sugar water) are recommended to be very limited. Less than a serving in some cases, or "0-2" in other cases. Whereas fruit juice can represent all your fruit servings. If you're also eating the recommended number of vegetable, grain, and meat/protein servings, you can eat all the rest of the recommended calories as fruit and that is totally OK by these recommendations. Whereas, with soda or candy it is telling you to limit consumption, and it doesn't count toward fruits or vegetables.

      No, I'm not the one who swallowed propaganda. Yes, I can operate using multiple constraints on the same data set in the same series of evaluations. No, you were not able to do so. Sad, really.

      BTW, your original theory that drinking fruit juice and drinking corn syrup have the same effect on insulin levels is funny. You should look that one up, because you might find that others have had that idea before and some of them did studies to check. There are a wide variety of long-chain carbs in most fruit juices, and they affect digestion of the rest. It is not all the same, different chemicals are different. Fruit and fruit juice contain vastly more compounds than we've even isolated, much less established the affects of on digestion. What is known is that: whole fruit and fruit juice have the same affects on the body as each other, and that processed sugars (even when removed from fruit) are much more harmful. Clearly the presence of undetermined water-soluble nutrients in the fruit aids in healthy digestion.

      Basics are only basic if you understand them.

    31. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by robkeeney · · Score: 1

      You're right, I am an idiot. I argued with a moron on /.

    32. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 1

      Some say 100% apple juice is worse than soda.

      As someone who doesn't give a fuck, it's amusing to see everyone argue about what food is healthy or not. Just eat whatever you want, there'll be some study to back it up, and chances are the lower stress you feel regarding something you do 3x a day will do more for your health than any diet.

    33. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by HiThere · · Score: 1

      There is a significant difference. Fizzy drinks chemically dissolve the teeth as well as feeding bacteria who do the same thing a lot more slowly.

      Cokes are worse than fruit juice, and, unless you are on certain medications, unsweetened grapefruit juice (made from white rather than pink grapefruit) is probably good for you...in moderation.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    34. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Traditional advice says fruit juice is ok, but the newer advice says, "eat the fruit, skip the juice".

      I'll summarize: Eating an apple will satisfy your hunger (somewhat). Also, it has fiber and nutrients not in the juice. Also, it won't spike your blood sugar as much. (Look up the glycemic indexes). Also, the sweetness of the juice may cause sugar cravings which you won't get from the fruit.

      So, if you're comparing the fruit juice vs a coke, maybe the fruit juice is a slightly better choice, but the fruit itself is a MUCH better choice.

      Also, 8 glasses of water a day is a myth. The current advice is to drink until you're no longer thirsty.

    35. Re: I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surgeon and pilot are registered professions, and yes if you are flying a plane you are a pilot regardless of whether or not you are licensed. You can also be an unlicensed surgeon. Claiming that someone has to have a PhD to be considered a scientist is elitist bullshit and such a requirement excludes a number of great historical scientists.

    36. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% juice was always considered good, but it isn't. The high sugar content (30 grams per serving, more than many types of candy, and many juice bottles have more than one serving) quickly spikes your blood sugar levels. When your blood sugar levels spike, your body pumps out insulin. The insulin removes the sugar from the blood stream by storing it as fat. Since it was only a rush of sugar from juice instead of a sustained extraction from digesting food, your body pumped out too much insulin and your blood sugar levels drop too far. Then not only have you just tossed most of that drink's energy into fat, but you're now hungry again as your body needs you to eat anything to get those blood levels back up! It's a vicious cycle. Drinking lots of juice eventually leads to wait gain and diabetes. Eating candy is healthier by this metric because the candy will fill you up more than the juice and doesn't spike your blood level as hard as the juice does.

      Or are you referring to actual fruit juice squeezed from a fruit instead of the concentrated fruit juice found in everything that advertises "100% real fruit juice"? That claim only means the product contains 0% fake fruit juice (is there such a thing?). It doesn't mean 100% of the product is fruit juice. There was a lawsuit about that and the companies won with their misleading description. If you think the orange juice you buy at the store is anything but slightly nutritious candy, you're solely mistaken. And just because the juice may have more nutrients than candy doesn't mean it won't still make you fat.

      Your argument about overeating is invalid. No one opens a juice pouch, takes two spits, then throws the whole thing away. If you drink more then that, then you're over eating. Everyone who drinks store bought juice over eats it just like everyone over eats nuts (you'll only supposed to eat a few of them, not multiple hand fulls)

      judoguy is correct. You're not. The type of sugar doesn't matter. That's a bullshit argument designed to keep you looking in the wrong direction. The juice spikes your blood sugar higher and faster than anything else. Eating the fruit as a whole means you'd have a lot of fiber to deal with which'll slow the sugar release into your blood stream. For juice as far as your blood is concerned, all you did was eat sugar (unless you had juice with pulp, but that only slows things down a little bit).

      Go buy a blood sugar levels test kit and test yourself every 10 minutes after drinking a serving of apple juice. The next day, do the same thing but after eating a whole apple. The results are different.

    37. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Someone once told me if it comes in a box or bag from the store avoid it. That might be a little broad but it might be a good rule of thumb.

    38. Re:I often think dietary "science" is a myth by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      My doctor said in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to drink fruit juice, because the sugar content is way to high, I can have two pieces of fruit a day. But a glass of fruit juice is like having 6 pieces of fruit in one glass.

      Bingo! You've exceeded your five a day at breakfast time, and can concentrate on burgers and pizza for the rest of the day.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    39. Re: I often think dietary "science" is a myth by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Who paid for them again?

  11. Sleeper by RoccamOccam · · Score: 1

    Just as Woody Allen predicted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  12. Clickbait premise by MrKrillls · · Score: 3, Informative

    Cherry picked data can prove the moon is made of green cheese: arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/experts-headline-grabbing-editorial-on-saturated-fats-bizarre-misleading

    --
    Don't step on the baby.
    1. Re:Clickbait premise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cherry picked data can prove the moon is made of green cheese: arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/experts-headline-grabbing-editorial-on-saturated-fats-bizarre-misleading

      Interesting that the results I have gotten from this, even with incurable health problems (type 1 diabetes) has completely turned around my situation regarding my weight, blood lipids and athletic performance over two years with very subtile changes to my lifestyle and a large reduction in the amount of insulin I require to survive. I have done this over the last 2 years and have improved all my numbers on less insulin while losing weight and increasing my energy and athletic performance. SO yes the article claims cherry picked data being misleading, but the result of actually following the diet debunks that rather thoroughly. Almost impossible to make that argument to someone who has been following the diet and seen the benefits of it over time. Expect more evidence of this to come out as time goes by...

  13. Don't get your health advice from Newspaper articl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heart-disease-hypothetical-david-l-katz-md-mph-facpm-facp-faclm?published=t

    A new commentary just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine contends that saturated fat is uninvolved in coronary artery disease. Before you get too excited: the commentary is comprised only of theory and opinion, none of it new, all of it expressed by these same authors before. The cited support involves no new research either.

    I confess I don’t understand why hypothesizing by several cardiologists who have expressed this opinion before, involving no new research, citing review articles from two and three years ago on the causes of coronary artery disease should be worthy of publication in the peer-reviewed literature. Generally, it requires more than mere speculation, let alone repeating prior speculation, to clear that bar. I further don’t understand why, in light of all the new research coming out weekly, a commentary lacking both novel comments and new research should be newsworthy. But the media picked this one up just the same.

    But perhaps we can account for it after all. The authors make a theoretical argument to contend that saturated fat is not a cause of heart disease. There is nothing we seem to like better in the nutrition space than hearing that everything we thought we knew was wrong, and renewing our license to procrastinate and eat whatever we want. This particular scientific journal’s parent has earned a dubious reputation for favoring dietary dissent over consensus, for whatever reasons. As for the media, there is nothing they tend to like better than an endless sequence of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, because perpetual confusion means you will need to tune in tomorrow for the newest “truth” populating the most recent 20-minute news cycle.

    There’s just one problem with all of this theorizing: there is nothing theoretical about coronary disease. Heart disease remains the leading cause of premature death among men and women alike in the U.S., and increasing portions of the world. Heart disease is not hypothetical- it is an almost entirely unnecessary epidemiological scourge siphoning years from lives and life from years.

    The new commentary is, in a word, wrong. It is not necessarily wrong in every particular about saturated fat- there are some legitimate uncertainties there. It is wrong in the whole, because it commits the willful deception, or classic blunder, of conflating the part for the whole.

    Whatever the specific, mechanistic involvement of any given saturated fatty acid with atherogenesis and coronary disease, the reliably established fact is that diets high in the foods that are high in saturated fat lead to high rates of heart disease- while many variations on the theme of diets low in saturated fats, whether low high or middling in total fat, are associated with lower rates of heart disease, lower rates of all chronic disease, and lower rates of premature death.

    The choice of citations in this commentary is highly selective, very limited, and the interpretation of the studies is flagrantly biased. These authors didn't 'happen upon' this opinion because they just reviewed the literature and found a surprise. They are well established, even famous, for espousing exactly this opinion- so they knew the answer before ever they posed a question. Science tends to be better when the question precedes the answer.

    Their conclusion that saturated fat is exonerated is based on straw-man arguments. For one thing, it is very hard to isolate the effects of saturated fat. This is because saturated fat is a diverse class of nutrients with differing effects; because saturated fat is consumed in foods, not by itself; and because more of THESE foods in one’s diet ineluctably means less of THOSE foods. Consequently, the attribution of health effects to just one dietary factor is very difficult. The more enlightened researchers in this space have long shifted their focus to ove

  14. More bunk media-hyped "science?" by Hugh+Jorgen · · Score: 1

    It's a screwed up society in which we live where "scientist" falsify or out right lie to fuel an agenda, often funded by corporations and their lobbyists. We're all going to die. Fuck it, do what makes you happy as long as it does not infringe on others. Want an oreo, fucking eat it! Want a big gulp in NYC, fucking drinking it and flip the bird to socialist fear mongers.

  15. PUUUUBLISSSHHHHHH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or perishhhhhhhhhhhhh!

  16. Re:Don't get your health advice from Newspaper art by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    While the submitted Slashdot story is highly suspect, I would also assume an ersatz science commentary posted to LinkedIn should be ignored with great prejudice.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  17. She is starting to look pretty chunky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flo, that progressive insurance girl on TV, is starting to look fat. Not just plump. But a real porker.

  18. Not this shit again... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 5, Informative

    What's with Slashdot and the recent unbalanced biased snippets that are being posted all the time?
    If you are going to publish a story about something, why not post both sides?

    From the article:
    Leading the the (sic) critics was Professor Alun Hughes, associate director of the Medical Research Council Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at University College London.

    He said: "This editorial is muddled and adds to confusion on a contentious topic. The authors present no really new evidence, misrepresent some existing evidence, and fail to adequately acknowledge the limitations in the evidence that they use to support their point of view."
    Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the claims about saturated fat were "unhelpful and misleading".

    He added: "Decades of research have proved that a diet rich in saturated fat increases 'bad' LDL cholesterol in your blood, which puts you at greater risk of a heart attack or stroke."
    Dr Amitava Banerjee, honorary consultant cardiologist at University College London, said: "Unfortunately, the authors have reported evidence simplistically and selectively".

    His view was echoed by cardiologist Dr Gavin Sandercock, director of research at the University of Essex, who said: "This editorial is not founded on good evidence. There is no such thing as 'real food' - the authors don't define what it is so it's meaningless."

    Here's another take:
    http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04...

    1. Re:Not this shit again... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      If you are going to publish a story about something, why not post both sides?

      That's what the comment section is for.

    2. Re:Not this shit again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  19. bull by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no such thing as a universal "good" diet,there are such things as "good" diets for individuals,select the diet that matches your lifestyle or needs..
    My old working diet would have killed lots of people in a few short years,but it suited my metabolism and needs perfectly,at one point,I was getting through close to 22.000 calories A DAY,this was worked out by an ex nhs dietary specialist nurse who saw me twice a day,everyday.
    My diet was 3-4 while chickens + bones,massive fried breakfasts, huge lunches,two huge evening meals,usually based round rice and fresh veg with pounds of meat,large amounts of strong beer all day,but very little sugar like sweets/chocolate.
    Our 8 man group could out-work any other 2 x8 man groups and did so for months,we worked ten+ hour days,partied for 6 hours(mostly eating !) slept about 6 hours and started again,7 days per week,months on end..
    If it didn't move fast enough,one of us would eat it,whatever it was..
    For us doing very hard physical job,that diet was perfect, but would have killed pen pushers,but then a pen pushers diet would have left us exhausted by 9am everyday..
    And please,not loads of comments that it's impossible to get through 22k calories a day,try it and see, it's expensive and you spend a lot of time eating but it's easy done,at the time I had about 4-6% yellow fat and basically no brown fats about 1-2%,cholesterol levels were so low I was re-tested time after time to find why I was still alive,averaged about 4.5 I think.I weighed precisely the same all the time I was on that diet..
    Find YOUR diet and stick to.it until your circumstances change...

    1. Re: bull by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, I had no idea gay orgy porn was so physically demanding ....

      How did your butthole hold up ? No signs of prolapse ?

  20. Meanwhile choline... by TheSync · · Score: 1

    "[Volunteers] given an oral choline supplement for 2 months have a more than tenfold increase in trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite derived from the gut microbiota that has previously been linked to the development of cardiovascular disease.

    The increase in plasma TMAO levels is also associated with a corresponding increase in platelet aggregation."

    "aspirin attenuated the rise in TMAO levels as well as reduced platelet hyperresponsiveness"

    1. Re:Meanwhile choline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Platelet aggression is not cardiovascular disease, and does not cause cardiovascular disease. If you think about it for a minute, that much should be obvious. However, platelet aggression can severely worsen a heart attack, even thought it does not CAUSE a heart attack. A heart attack is caused by injury to the plaque lining a coronary artery. Platelets stick to this injury as they are SUPPOSED TO. The resulting clot reduces blood flow to the coronary muscle, which is a heart attack.

      But, the ROOT CAUSE of the heart attack is the injury to the plaque, not the platelet aggression, not by any stretch of the imagination.

      Having good clotting factors is a GOOD THING, because it means you won't bleed to death from a superficial injury. It does not mean you have or will get CV disease.

    2. Re:Meanwhile choline... by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      Uh, therefore?

  21. psst by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Several things happened during the 20th century that might make you want to think about nutrition. First, early in the century the US moved away from natural saturated fats found in lard and butter, and began to use hydrogenated vegetable oils. Thirty years ago we discovered that the hydrogenation process produces lots of trans fats, and trans fats are a direct cause of heart disease.

    Smoking also became socially acceptable, and even women started to smoke publicly from the 20's. Smoking is a significant cause of heart disease and lung cancer.

    The biggest tipping point for bad nutritional science was the switch from sugar (beet and cane) to high fructose corn syrup in the late 70's. The increased average weight and rising obesity rates directly correlate with the amount of HFCS consumed by American consumers.

    Bad nutritional policy was introduced in the 1970's, and that bad policy was prompted by increases in heart disease in the 50's and 60's. But rising heart disease can be explained by tobacco use and the introduction of trans fats.

  22. Time to take a dump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will be low in saturated fat. I will send some to everyone.

  23. News Flash! by sims+2 · · Score: 2

    Experts Are Crackpots, Experts Say.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  24. Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    It's a pretty UNCOMMON belief that saturated fat clogs up arteries. What "clogs up" arteries is PLAQUE or THROMBUS. Fat does NOT accumulate and "clog up" arteries, you STUPID IDIOT, and NO ONE that I know actually believes this.

    1. Re: Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Until some years ago nearly everyone believed that plaque forms due to high cholesterol levels in the blood. Therefore the simplified saying that the cholesterol blocks the arteries

    2. Re: Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dir sir:
       
      In which universe do you exist where fat and cholesterol are the same material?

    3. Re: Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dir sir:

      In which universe do you exist where fat and cholesterol are the same material?

      42. And watch me be modded up for it too.

    4. Re:Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Chewbacon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The belief is diets high in fat contribute to coronary artery disease, not necessarily because fat floats in the blood stream and sticks to your arteries.

      Evidence suggests there are actually a lot of mechanisms at work there. Hypertension causes arteries to harden, salt may exacerbate this. Genetics are an underrated contributor. A cardiologist had explained to me some people are just more genetically predisposed for atheroma than others as he was cathing the coronaries of a former fighter pilot, now airliner pilot, in excellent health who ultimately needed coronary artery bypass grafting. This pilot had excellent HDL and LDL levels, no history of high blood pressure, just chest pain. His father had a heart attack before the age of 55: premature coronary artery disease.

      Biggest problem is the high mortality of post MI patients even with stents. We don't want to talk about it, but it is almost a dirty secret about stents and MI that kills a lot of people. Why would we? It would make having an MI sound like a death sentence despite medical advances. They can die for a myriad of reasons: heart failure or in-stent re-stenosis. Post-MI sudden death can be due to ventricular arrhythmia that has NOTHING to do with the stent, but because of surviving, yet sick, cells in an area of MI scar.

      My point? It is still not fully understood. We have a lot of indicators in evidence that do a good job, but more work has to be done.

      --
      Chewbacon
      The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
    5. Re: Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by burtosis · · Score: 1

      Whew, was afraid it might be C-137

    6. Re: Lick my balls, MILLENIAL BeauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's just being pedantic. Plaque is a mixture of stuff including fat. Outside from the article which actually have been much criticised (RTFA), the generally accepted message is that eating too much saturated and trans fat can cause Plaque buildup.

      I would not give anyone a hard time if they say fat builds up in the arteries. It's not technically correct but it's not wrong. Fat does build up as part of plaque....

      So stop being an ass

  25. About time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Anyone here heard of John Yudkin? British scientist who was saying pretty much this in the 1970's - see https://goo.gl/vIR4Ju. Also more recently Robert Lustig: https://goo.gl/XBEQ3l Both rather long but well worth taking in. Sadly this was all known about years ago, but one way and another it was successfully suppressed. The constant, but wrong, message over the last 40 years to reduce fat intake has had and continues to have disastrous consequences.

  26. This study was flawed... by exigentsky · · Score: 1

    and incapable of truly deriving the conclusion it suggests. An explanation of a similar study can be found here: https://nutritionfacts.org/vid...

    Dietary science isn't as contradictory as it seems. A lot of industry-sponsored science just tries to manufacture doubt in order to make it harder for consumers to be decisive in their dietary choices.

  27. This is why science has a bad reputation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For the past 20 years all the experts were saying the eating sat fat would lead to instant death. Anyone who questioned the 'experts' would be called a faggot and a science denier. Normal people were not allowed to examine the evidence of their own eyes and ask why is it people were healthier in the 70's when we all ate bacon and eggs. Now these 'experts' saying exactly the opposite. Fuck experts.

    An expert is someone trying to sell you something. There are experts who tell you to buy their gold. There are experts who tell you to invest in their stocks. There are experts who tell you to invest in the road construction and infrastructure development. There are experts who tell you to buy their pharmaceuticals.

    Fuck experts. Relying on the infallible authority of experts and ignoring your own senses and thoughts is a sure way to ruin.

  28. This isn't new by TheConway · · Score: 2

    There has never been sufficient evidence that eating fat clogs your arteries, aside from the logical conclusion that 'it makes sense'. I watched a lecture last year where this was being said, and the lecturer wasn't giving out new information. This is all left over fallout from the Ansel Keys (spelling) Seven Nation Study that was essentially debunked as soon as it was released.

  29. The stents do actually work by PsyMan · · Score: 2

    As someone who suffered a heart attack in 2014 at the age of 45 due to clogged arterys and subsequently suffered 6 cardiac arrests on the way to and in the hospital (I still have the paddle burns to prove it) I can confirm that so far the stent they had to fit to allow my heart to continue working does appear to be doing its job. I was informed at the time that the main contributor to the artery clogging was smoking so I gave up there and then. As much as everyone would love to have a diet that required no excercise to keep healthy I think that is only available in a coma or stasis, the rest of us really need to think about what we eat and excersise enough to burn it off and stay fit. Stop being told what to and what not to eat and simply use a little common sense.... oh and stop smoking, it really is pointless.

    1. Re:The stents do actually work by dwywit · · Score: 1

      My GP said that stopping smoking was the biggest factor in reducing my cardiovascular risk profile, even though I subsequently put on 10 kilos in 6 months. He said (being an ex-smoker himself), that if you're going to smoke - and of course you should *never* start, but if you're going to do it, quit by your 50th birthday. At that point, your body still has the capacity to heal the damage, and he's quite pleased with the sound of my lungs now, four years since my last cigarette. If you keep smoking after 50, it's all downhill - you keep doing damage, and lose the ability to heal it.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  30. 9 out of 10 AC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    9 out of 10 Anonymous Cowards agree,

    Main post is either wrong or right.

  31. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can eat stocks of butter for fun again?

  32. Basic Rules of Nutrition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Human Beings survived many years before so-called food "science" existed. Here is what they did:

    1) If it grew out of the ground and didn't make people sick, then it was okay to eat it.

    2) If it was something that ate stuff that grew out of the ground, and didn't kill you first, it was okay to eat it.

    3) If it was something that ate things that ate stuff that grew out of the ground, and didn't kill you first, it was okay to eat it.

    Guess what. These are still pretty good ways to know if you are eating something healthy. Do you know why? Because natural evolution knows way more about what human bodies need than does food "science."

    All food "science" really is, is "how do we break these rules and make money by destroying peoples' health?"

    So, just eat stuff that grows out of the ground. Eat things that eat stuff that grows out of the ground. And, eat things that eat other things that eat stuff that grows out of the ground.

    The only areas of the farm co-op store I shop in are the produce aisle and the raw meat aisle, with only occasional excursions to the local farm for raw dairy products like cream and butter for cooking. (You have not lived until you've had real raw cream or real raw butter in your cooking). It's a little inconvenient to have to buy food every couple of days, but it's worth it. Oh, and NO ALCOHOL.

    I also exercise every day - road or mountain biking. At least an hour, but usually a little more. Basically 10 hours a week total. Nothing crazy, just moderate pace with occasional sprints.

    Last checkup my total cholesterol was 110, my HDL was 55, my LDL was 71, and trigs were 53. Doctor basically said I would be eaten by a sabre toothed tiger before I had a heart attack.

    I'm in my 40s and don't have a single chronic condition. My health care expenses are just my annual checkup (which is zero) and my biannual class 3 flight medical (which is about $250).

    Folks, being healthy is EASY. Eat real food.

    1. Re:Basic Rules of Nutrition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With the exception of fish, carnivorous animals aren't particularly tasty, so you can eat things that eat other things that eat stuff that comes out of the ground, but you generally wouldn't.

      Also you are a totally amazing and awesome person with your habits and your medical stats. You are a big hero to us all. Do you have an Instagram or a Patreon account where we can shower you with money and affection? Do you like butt stuff?

    2. Re:Basic Rules of Nutrition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fowl are carniverous and are very tasty.

    3. Re:Basic Rules of Nutrition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, c'mon, this is bullshit. Look at your first sentence.

      "Human Beings survived many years before so-called food "science" existed. Here is what they did:"

      Guess what? Human beings are surviving just fine now. Average life expectancy is high, low infant mortality. We are taking over the planet, and in a much more dramatic fashion than insects. So long as you get enough food (not difficult in the relatively rich societies in which we live), you'll make it to reproductive age. Which means the species will continue and human beings will survive.

      The question is not about surviving as a species, it's about increasing the odds that any one person will live longer, and have a higher quality of life. And that is where the science comes into play.

  33. Michael Phelps diet by ThatNakedGuy · · Score: 1

    It really doesnt matter what you eat. All diet fads are bullshit.
    The important thing is burning off what you consume. Farmer John could eat lots of fat and meat then work the fields for 12 hours, and be thin and healthy. But if Desk Jockey Julie does that she'll weigh 400 pounds and be sick.Common sense.
    Swimmer Michael Phelps ate 12,000 calories a day, consisting of fried-egg sandwiches, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, mayonnaise, coffee, omelets, grits, french toast, powdered sugar, pancakes, pasta, ham, 2,000 calories worth of energy drinks, and pizza.
    I'm no doctor, but he seems pretty healthy.

    1. Re:Michael Phelps diet by slew · · Score: 1

      It really doesnt matter what you eat. All diet fads are bullshit.

      The important thing is burning off what you consume. Farmer John could eat lots of fat and meat then work the fields for 12 hours, and be thin and healthy. But if Desk Jockey Julie does that she'll weigh 400 pounds and be sick.Common sense.

      Swimmer Michael Phelps ate 12,000 calories a day, consisting of fried-egg sandwiches, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, mayonnaise, coffee, omelets, grits, french toast, powdered sugar, pancakes, pasta, ham, 2,000 calories worth of energy drinks, and pizza.

      I'm no doctor, but he seems pretty healthy.

      Maybe Michael Phelps' isn't the best example here.

      As to the extreme nature of his diet, he's a known pot head and has been diagnosed with ADHD so who knows what part of the calorie consumption is cause and effect (some drugs that are used to treat ADHD are basically stimulants)... As to "health", he also is a recovering alcoholic and likely suffers from Marfan Syndrome...

      Of course he does burn a lot of calories, but most people aren't training for the olympics (nor does Mr. Phelps eat that much anymore since '08 and now that he is older, and he never at that much unless he was actively training). Given all that, I don't think he's anywhere near the center of any bell curve that is relevant to other people's metabolism...

      Besides, the relationship between weight and calories is complex. What specific foods you eat and the schedule that you consume food can greatly effect this relationship (as with the standard obvious stuff like metabolic rate)...

  34. I would not call this a "belief" by gatkinso · · Score: 2

    This notion was firmly implanted by education health classes, media, and medical professionals for decades.

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  35. Questioning Dogma and Authority by Ulfilas2000 · · Score: 1

    With all this question authority and the dogma they spout, where will it end? Next thing we know people will be questioning things like whether the Minimum Wage actually helps people...

  36. Cherry-picked data? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    It appears that the study used cherry-picked data to achieve the results they wanted. So the question lingers, who wanted the study to come out in the way it did?

  37. Settled Science... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...is never really settled, it seems.

    Hey! What about the huge consensus about fatty foods over the last 30 years?

    1. Re:Settled Science... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... therefore, we should eat nothing but foods high in fat.

  38. 22 minutes by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Although 22 minutes seems like an awfully specific number so it must be true!

    It is also the exact same time of a TV show minus commercials... coincidence? I think not!

    Anyway I think common sense is more insightful that a lot of the rhetoric.
    I've always subscribed that butter was better for you than margarine. I mean come on.

    As for sugar, I've always thought that was by far the more dangerous dietary issue.
    Bodies just not built to handle the amount of refined stuff we pump into it on a regular basis these days and it is hard to avoid.
    As the saying goes, everything in moderation.

    1. Re:22 minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking the same thing. Anytime I see something that specific, I think of the study needed to determine this. Let's see: Maybe gather several thousand people, put them in groups. 1. control - no exercise. 2. exercise 10 minutes a day. 3. exercise 12 minutes a day . . . going up by 2 minute increments. Observe over 5 years and see where the benefit pays off.

      Somehow, I don't think that study was done, and the "22 minutes" is probably about as credible as the rest of the commentary.

    2. Re:22 minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's so specific because it was converted from metric for readers used to imperial units and subsequently also had the margin of error dropped. This happens all the time in science journalism.

  39. This has been life changing for me by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

    I have a long time friend who has been harping on the benefits of a low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet for over a year now. As skeptical as I am I dismissed him since he was selling a product that purported to induce ketosis (when the brain switches from sugar/carb for fuel to fats). After watching friend after friend start losing weight and proclaiming how much better they feel now I decided it was at least worth trying. That was a little over a month ago and I have lost 20 lbs. But even if I hadn't lost a single pound I would stick to this new lifestyle. The mental clarity and increased energy is amazing. And I haven't slept this well in years! I highly recommend it. The science behind it is solid and contradicts what we've been told for decades. Hopefully more doctors will do their due diligence and start helping their patients make the switch.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  40. This was on Drudge last week by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No F'ing way!!! I read this from Drudgereport... LAST WEEK! /. is useless...

  41. Enjoy your triple bypass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's more complex than that, unfortunstely. Are these 'experts' working on their college thesis, by any chance? I am never going to a doctor under the age of 50 again.

  42. Re:Maybe it's the arachidonic acid by davebtown9 · · Score: 2

    Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the claims about saturated fat were "unhelpful and misleading".He added: "Decades of research have proved that a diet rich in saturated fat increases 'bad' LDL cholesterol in your blood, which puts you at greater risk of a heart attack or stroke." Knapton states a fact coupled with an assumption. It's a fact that three chain lengths of saturated fat (12, 14, and 16) raise LDL cholesterol somewhat. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/cont... It is also a fact that 18 carbon chain stearic acid, which has no affect on LDL cholesterol levels is the most prominent fatty acid in unstable arterial plaques. http://circgenetics.ahajournal... I mention unstable arterial plaques because of this. "Numerous studies have demonstrated that coronary atherosclerosis affects all eutherian animals with a body mass comparable to or larger than humans, regardless of diet specialization and LDL levels. Surprisingly, in these mammals, lipid accumulations in arterial walls were more common in herbivores than carnivores." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... So the debate should not be about LDL levels. It should center on what causes plaque build up and what generates unstable plaques. It's peculiar that nobody mentions mercury toxicity. Quite likely mercury toxicity contributed significantly to heart attack risk among middle aged men during the first half of the 20th Century. "Mercury activates phospholipase A2 (PLA-2) which increases the risk for coronary artery and cerebral plaque rupture with MI and CVA. In addition, mercury induces formation of arachidonic acid metabolites such as total prostaglandins, thromboxane B2 and 8 isoprostane in vascular endothelial cells and activates vascular endothelial cell phospholipase D. Even very low levels of chronic mercury exposure promote endothelial dysfunction (ED) as a result of increased inflammation, oxidative stress, immune dysfunction, reduced oxidative defense, reduction in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. Many of the cardiovascular consequences of mercury are mitigated by concomitant intake of fish containing omega 3 fatty acids and by the intake of selenium. All of these pathobiological findings will increase the risk of hypertension, CHD, MI, CVD and CVA." https://www.esciencecentral.or... Note the mention of arachidonic acid metabolites. Why it that important? "Arachidonic acid (AA) in the diet can be efficiently absorbed and incorporated into tissue membranes, resulting in an increased production of thromboxane A2 by platelets and increased ex vivo platelet aggregability. Results from previous studies have shown that AA is concentrated in the membrane phospholipids of lean meats." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... "The highest level of AA in lean meat was in duck (99 mg/100 g), whereas pork fat had the highest concentration for the visible fats (180 mg/100 g). The lean portions of beef and lamb contained the higher levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) compared with white meats which were high in AA and low in n-3 PUFA. The present data indicate that the visible meat fat can make a contribution to dietary intake of AA, particularly for consumers with high intakes of fat from pork or poultry meat." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... It is unfortunate that scientists debating the saturated fat issue ignore endocannabinoid system (ECS) research. "We now know that major changes have taken place in the food supply over the last 100years, when food technology and modern agriculture led to enormous production of vegetable oils high in -6 fatty acids, and changed a

  43. Settled science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I thought the science was settled?

  44. Just ask Dr. Lustig by h4x0t · · Score: 1

    The bitter truth is a nice 90 min lecture that touches the topic. Biochemistry and all.

    Summary:
    Fructose, and therefore sucrose, generates fat in the liver and blocks leptin recognition in the brain. Avoid all sugared beverages, and avoid products containing added sugar.

  45. Good luck with that by zerofoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nutrition information and guidelines are bad due to the LACK of scientific rigor in the supporting studies.

    The lack of rigor isn't due to some vast conspiracy - it's just really hard to perform controlled experiments on large groups of people with regard to diet and lifestyle.

    Does anyone here want to volunteer to be locked in a room for a few years while a group of researchers strictly controls what you eat, when you exercise, and how often you sleep?

    Worse still, does anyone want to volunteer to be the control group that gets little to none of those things?

    I'm afraid correlation studies are the best we can do here.

    1. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nutrition information and guidelines are bad due to the LACK of scientific rigor in the supporting studies.

      The lack of rigor isn't due to some vast conspiracy - it's just really hard to perform controlled experiments on large groups of people with regard to diet and lifestyle.

      Does anyone here want to volunteer to be locked in a room for a few years while a group of researchers strictly controls what you eat, when you exercise, and how often you sleep?

      Worse still, does anyone want to volunteer to be the control group that gets little to none of those things?

      I'm afraid correlation studies are the best we can do here.

      Are you talking of jails?

  46. This is ridiculous! by friesofdoom · · Score: 1

    "They said relative levels of "good" cholesterol, or high density lipoprotein (HDL), were a better predictor of heart disease risk than levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as "bad" cholesterol. High consumption of foods rich in saturated fat such as butter, cakes and fatty meat has been shown to increase blood levels of LDL."

    "relative levels of 'good' cholesterol" means, the ratio of 'good' to 'bad' cholesterol, which doctors have known for ages... my doctor has been telling me this for a decade. Then the next sentence confirms what everyone knows, 'bad' foods increase 'bad' cholesterol, and hence worsen the ratio of 'good' to 'bad' cholesterol. How can they then conclude that 'bad' cholesterol isn't bad for you? It's insane...

    1. Re:This is ridiculous! by minstrelmike · · Score: 1

      It's not insane. It's looking at _both_sides. Right now, the fad is to decrease all cholesterol, but decrease the worst stuff mainly. since the worst stuff tastes worse than the good low cholesterols, you end up cutting fat but making the relative percentages of cholesterols worse instead of better. Think about it without getting angry first.

    2. Re:This is ridiculous! by friesofdoom · · Score: 1

      Re-read what I wrote, because...

      1. You said the same thing that I did, albeit in a less thorough and thought out manner, and completely ignored the flaws that I'm trying to point out in the summary/article. Good job!
      2. Nothing in what I wrote indicates that I am angry, having the opinion that something is insane is not the same as being angry.
      3. As I said, my doctor has been telling me this for a decade, so its not new information.
      4. Donno what fad you're talking about, must be among dumb people, as if you read 3. above, my doctor has been telling me this for a decade.
      5. The problem IS related to 'bad' cholesterol, it is still a variable in the equation, just because there are other variables does not make this one invalid. The impression that this summary is giving is that 'bad' cholesterol doesn't even factor into the equation, when it clearly does.

  47. My BS detector is going off like crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gee, without a stent I would be dead since your coronary collapses and without it your heart dies.
    So I guess I and other stent recipients are alive for some other reason such as __ fill in the blank.

    I notice also our media is telling us that fat and sugar are good for us, you can only suspect food industry involvement.
    Specifically the corn sugar and beef industry which have the worst possible products.

    Red meat, lots of sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, butter, bacon, lots of salt, will kill you dead.
    Half the population will die of this condition and you have been poisoning yourself since birth.

    The fast food industry is the culprit and absolutely don't eat at Wendy's, McDonalds, Strabucks, or DD if you can help it.

    They have found the best way to create food addictions and sell more products is starch, fat, salt, sugar in high amounts.
    They pack it into your fast food and snack meals, pastry, meat sandwiches by the ton.

    1. Re:My BS detector is going off like crazy by slew · · Score: 1

      Gee, without a stent I would be dead since your coronary collapses and without it your heart dies.
      So I guess I and other stent recipients are alive for some other reason such as __ fill in the blank.

      __LUCK__

      Unfortunately, a stent is often kind of a stopgap which can be used in some situations to attempt to avoid bypass surgery. Your cardiologist should have told you that stents are primarily inserted to provide symptomatic relief from angina and chest pain related to coronary artery disease and blocked arteries. Medical studies like this one have not shown that they actual reduce the rate of Myocardial Infarction (aka heart attacks).

      Also, long term studies of stents show that 35-40% suffer restenosis (a bit better with a drug-eluting stent). The jury is out if a stent will actually save your life in the future or not relative to this risk.

  48. how many people have died from this lie? by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

    How many people got in trouble by following a high fat AND high sugar diet, AKA the Western Diet, and then were told by their cardiologists that "you need to follow a low fat diet, low cholesterol and low salt" and then died of stroke and other problems because the human brain is MADE OF FAT AND CHOLESTEROL and our cells rely on salt?

    Come on, this is a disaster. They were fattening people up like feed lot cattle for decades. A bowl of raisin bran cereal has the same glycemic index as a can of pepsi. (or coke, if that's your brand). But that box of raisin bran has a "heart healthy" logo doesn't it?

    There needs to be lawsuits. How many of our grandparents and parents were killed by this lie?

    People who go "low carb" or at least avoid blatant and hidden sugars but eat high fat foods see improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol ratios, weight, triglycerides and blood sugar levels.

    --
    Flappinbooger isn't my real name
  49. Only Partially True by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

    While some say you can eat a stick of butter and nothing will happen to your arteries. (I wouldn't try that much a day myself..) If you mix the butter with sugar the rules are thrown out the window, and plaque is created. You can't eat any sugar with fat. Sad part is, in restaurants and snacks, they mix those 2 ingredients and salt. Ends up being and addictive combo.

  50. So eat those donuts cops and truckers! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    It's not the donuts that are killing you, it's the stress of your jobs.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  51. ZOMG, the corn and sugar industry must hurry by filesiteguy · · Score: 1

    Otherwise people will eventually find out that sugar, not fat, makes people fat.

    This is news?

  52. People really need to educate themselves... by gosand · · Score: 5, Insightful

    THIS is why science is important. The whole "eat less" or "eat less fat" or "exercise more" or "" needs to stop. There is actual science behind our bodies and how they work, but so many people are just looking for the quick answer. Empty your cup, forget what you know, and look at what the science tells you. That include doctors as well, they need to get back to science and rely less on what they were taught in medical school 50 years ago.

    My father just had two stents put into one artery - it was 99 percent blocked and 50 percent blocked in another area. He is in his 70s, and has always been in pretty good health. I asked him to find out what his cholesterol levels were from the tests, and they were exactly what I expected - they were great. Just as they had been his whole life.

    For four years now I have been following a paleo/primal diet. I have never felt better! I lost some weight and haven't even had to think about it since. That wasn't my goal, as I was about 173 at the time, I am right at 160 now, and have dipped to 155. I have learned so much about cholesterol, fat, and diet even though I thought I knew a lot before. I've read books by Mark Sisson, Gary Taubes, and some others, as well as articles/talks by Dr. Peter Attia. Attia had some really in-depth blog posts on cholesterol that were very enlightening, and his vimeo video on the limits of scientific evidence is really great. The other thing to be aware of around artery "hardening" is with oxidation. It's not really cholesterol clogging your arteries, it's is more like your arterial walls thickening, oxidizing and lesioning, and your body repairing them. So not clogging, more like spackling. :)

    My diet has essentially been no calorie restrictions at all, but no grains (included corn) or grain based products (including oils, and beer), extremely low sugar, low carb, no legumes or legume products (soybean/peanuts), and high saturated fat. The only thing in my bloodwork that didn't improve drastically was my cholesterol. It is still high. However, what I've learned is that isn't a bad thing! My father has always had low cholesterol, and my mother's is high. After his near miss this year, my mother got a battery of tests too - she has no significant blockages, with her cholesterol nearing and sometimes over 300! They've tried to put her on meds, but they make her ill.

    A couple of years ago I tracked what I ate for a week. Daily I was 2258 calories, 54 grams carbs (18 were sugars), and 186 grams of fat.
    I have wanted to write down all of my experiences with this over the last few years. I know that this is all heresay and circumstantial, but to ME it's relevant and real. Here are some of the benefits I had:
    - no nagging joint pain (less inflammation)
    - skin was better (same)
    - no bloating or tired feeling after eating - EVER
    - no craving for sweets or that "blood sugar" high
    - my teeth are better - I still brush and floss, but my semi-annual cleaning takes about 10 minutes.
    - better lung capacity
        -- there is a story here that I still find hard to believe. At the time I started this, we had a swimming pool (I lived in AZ). Every year when I first got in the pool in the spring, I would attempt to swim down and back under water. I could usually do it, but sometimes not. I started this diet in November, and when it got to May/June it was time to go swimming again. I went down, and back... and wasn't even wanting for air, so I went DOWN again. So 50% better than I had ever done before. And when I came up, I wasn't gasping either. I was baffled, and still am quite frankly. I think it has to do with less inflammation, and that my body overall is just more efficient because it's fighting less and less against what grains/carbs do you our bodies.

    It's really about health. I had to break my body's physical addiction to the blood sugar roller coaster. Once that was done (about 3 weeks) it's effortless, and I am healthier for it. I am in my upper 40s, and have a 32" waist. I didn't consider myself unhealthy before, but I can feel a difference and it's all better.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    1. Re: People really need to educate themselves... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you write down three days of meals? Weekdays preferably.

    2. Re:People really need to educate themselves... by arnott · · Score: 1

      Am in a similar path. I have lost 10 lbs in 2 months, planning to loose 15-20 lbs more. Paleo is good. Does your dad have Type 2 diabetes ? My dad has T-2 and has stents put in too. Am trying to get him to eat less carbs and switch to Paleo as much as possible. But is not easy.

    3. Re: People really need to educate themselves... by arnott · · Score: 1
    4. Re:People really need to educate themselves... by gosand · · Score: 1

      Nope, doesn't have diabetes, he quit drinking 15 years ago, and isn't overweight.

      The biggest hurdle is the mental one, where they feel they are being deprived of something. (They ARE - bad stuff) And there really is a physical addiction too. I know people who are trying too, and they are "cutting back". I found that I had to attack it 100% for the first month, and after that it was very easy.

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    5. Re: People really need to educate themselves... by gosand · · Score: 1

      I cook all the time. Here are some off the top of my head.

      I don't eat breakfast, just black coffee. If I do on weekends, it's some form of eggs/bacon/sausage.

      Lunch - mixed greens salad, (arugula, kale, romaine, chard, etc), homemade dressing (5 parts olive oil, 1 part balsamic, or 6 parts olive oil, 1 part lemon juice), parmesan cheese... some turkey/ham/salami slices, cheese. 2 hard boiled eggs. (put them in water, bring to a boil, boil for 4 min, put on lid and take off heat, let sit for 10 min). Maybe some large curd cottage cheese sometimes. Dill pickles.

      Had one of my favorites last night for dinner
      Cook up some italian sausage. When it's done, remove the sausage and any excess grease, add some mushrooms and olive oil on med-high heat, when they are about half-cooked, throw in some garlic. After it is good and warmed up, pour in some half-n-half (or heavy cream)... let that bubble and cook, then add in a handful of raw spinach leaves and toss them a little until they start to wilt. Add in parmesan cheese to thicken some. Add the sausage back in and mix it up. Spoon onto plate. I like to serve it with some tomatoes, and zucchini (cut in half lenthwise, pour olive oil over them, salt, pepper, and parmesan and cook @ 425 until just past firm). Glass of red wine.

      Other mains... omelettes/frittata/quiche (no crust) for dinner is always a fave. Seasoned and grilled chicken wings. Chicken thighs (crock pot) with green salsa, cheese, sour cream, lime, cilantro, avacodo, tomato served in a bowl. Burgers, sausage, fish, mealoaf (I use parmesan instead of breadcrumbs). Meatballs and homemade tomato sauce over zucchini sliced ribbon thin and dropped in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Tuna (can use regular mayo, or they have avocado mayo) served in romaine lettuce leaves. We order pizza - and just eat the toppings. If you go out, some places will serve burgers/sandwiches in lettuce wraps.

      Sides: Kale (sauteed in olive oil and garlic, pour in chicken broth, lid, and let cook on med-low for about 15 minutes, salt/pepper), mashed sweet potatoes (not often) in butter and cream. zucchini, salad greens, carrots, peas and green beans on occasion, cauliflower, broccoli. Whatever veggies you like really, as long as they aren't really starchy.

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    6. Re: People really need to educate themselves... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please post more recipes.

    7. Re:People really need to educate themselves... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      I had a similar experience recently, but with diabetes: three months ago blood glucose was 310-450, A1C 10.5. I've yet to do my second fasting test (playing phone tag with doctor's office) but according to my Accu-Chek Connect cloud service, I've been under 160 for two weeks and my A1C should be in the 5.5 range now.

      Metformin and a paleo diet is what did it.

      What a shock it will be next week when I finally get that 2nd blood test and go to see my insurance company's required diabetic support group for the first time.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    8. Re:People really need to educate themselves... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I need to go study for my ACLS recertification, but I wanted to take a quick break from studying to address this. There is a definite limit on our current knowledge, but it is constantly evolving and progressing far beyond what most anyone can imagine -- like anything, the more you dig into the basic science the more you realize you do not know. Indeed, certain things that were once dogma (high blood pressures >220 are just fine!) are no longer the case. The same might be said for our knowledge of diet and cardiac disease as well, and this "cited a "landmark" review" may exonerate some viewpoints. Or it might not. I have not read it yet.

      I am glad you are feeling better by eating a healthier diet and presumably exercising regularly. But to suddenly be entirely skeptical of an entire body of knowledge, centuries of observation and research, and what can be very scientific modern research is ludicrous and dangerous. Such avenues have lead my mother to try to treat her breast cancer with dairy-based anecdotes she found online, Jenny McCarthy to popularize antivaxing, Steve Jobs using holistic therapies and missing his surgical window, and Trump misleading the country on so many levels.

      So again I am glad you are healthier than you were. I understand the consternation with your family's lipid panel's and father's CAD. Keep doing what it is that keeps you healthy. Keep looking into the world with curiosity. But please do not throw out medicine like that.

      -some young physician

  53. the moderation gap by epine · · Score: 1

    Almost any controlled diet (short of rice-cakes and water) improves health outcomes over what people eat when they're paying less attention.

    Almost every controlled diet excludes most of the same extremely suspect foods (high-fructose bonbons, anything out of the smokey, rarely replenished deep-fat frier from hell).

    It probably is true that inflammation is the underlying malady. High LDL levels probably exacerbate the negative effects of inflammation. Refined-carbohydrate–rich diets combined with a sedentary lifestyle are known to be inflammatory.

    As I recall, studies of hard-working farmers who ate six eggs a day (with bacon) and not much sugar haven't shown unusually high rates of coronary heart disease. Thus I've begun to suspect that the problem comes from overloading the metabolism on two axes at the same time (lipids and carbohydrates) while also tying one-hand to the sedentary-lifestyle bed post.

    In paleolithic times, it was possible to gorge yourself (from time to time) on one food group or another (bananas or bison), but rarely both at the same time (and certainly not without taking a long hike at some point either before, during, or afterwards, plus there's no shortage of labour involved in harvesting a side of bison with a stone axe, or spending an entire day climbing banana trees). These days we hang around in coffee shops playing chess, and the forty-move time control rarely elapses without inducing yet another mocha frappe and a "small" serving of cheesecake (it sure looks small beside that sugary 20-ounce drink).

    It seems like any one of three corrective actions: elimination of excess sugar (rice cakes are 100% sugar), elimination of excess fat, or a vigorous physical lifestyle has an enormously beneficial effect. I suspect that any change will do, just so long as your metabolism is not confronting the triple-risk zone on a regular basis.

    Of course, if they convince you to stay out of all three risk zones at the same time (carbs from green vegetables only, no animal fat, high exercise) your risk of crossing through the triple-risk zone at any point in time goes almost to zero. I tend to think of that as the belt and suspenders and sneakers approach. Or, if you convince someone to achieve a half-hearted three days of out seven compliance on each of those, he or she is probably mostly out of the weeds, as well.

    Evolution tends to make us pretty adaptive. Two out of three stress factors poses only a moderate problem. Three out of three stress factors (a condition almost impossible to achieve in our evolutionary history) and now you have a big problem.

    Pure approach to at-worst two-out-of-three:

    * farming with ox and plow (always work hard, eat whatever you damn well want)
    * total elimination of refined carbs (it's not easy to get or stay fat on this diet, unless you've already got metabolic syndrome)
    * total elimination of animal fat (combining balanced nutrition with a green lifestyle is now your biggest challenge; almond production requires six-times more water than industrial chicken meat, per delivered ounce)

    Impure approach to mostly at-worst two-out-of-three:

    * vigorous exercise two days a week (with sustained spurts of 8-10 METs, ya lazy yoga-pant moron)
    * complete elimination of sugary beverages (requires moderation of alcohol, too)
    * plenty of animal fat, but not in the form of steak and cheesecake dinners (bad fat+ sugar), or all-you-can-eat fettuccine Alfredo buffets (also bad-fat Hoover Dam + sugar Niagara)

    Of course, in any controlled study, interventions that ask for the moon have more margin for non-compliance, and that effect will definitely be measured, and found statistically significant.

    That doesn't mean that impure moderation doesn't provide 80% of the benefits for 20% of the religious conviction.

    But our research is never geared to tell us this.

    1. Re:the moderation gap by subnomine · · Score: 1

      Problem: people eat too much and they are lazy
      Solution: eat smaller portions and exercise

      Science: Let's figure this shit out! People need to maximize their intake of Cokes and bags of Cheetos. That's a worthy goal!

    2. Re:the moderation gap by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      Problem: people eat too much and they are lazy
      Solution: eat smaller portions and exercise ...

      By George, I think you've got it! 8-)

  54. That's what *you* think real food is. by HiThere · · Score: 1

    That's what *you* think real food is, but what did the authors of the study mean by it? They're the ones that need to define it as they're the ones reporting on its effects.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  55. LIES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only reason they are saying this now is because the FDA outlawed the use of Transfat and they all want to keep using it.

  56. Real Food by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Posting a/c so not to link to my /. account

    My wife (and our family) has had some great results from the 'Real Food' lifestyle.
    So much so, She wrote a book and manages a small website
    http://whatannabelcooks.com.au...

    In fact, eating at restaurants can be a bit dull now! And its really not that hard!
    I think what's most important is getting the texture right, which means getting a few tools like a spiraliser and shredding peelers. This renders many veges in a much more chewable form, and helps with blending salad leaves, nuts etc.

    Thus we eat a lot less sugar, pasta, gluten: and lots of veges, nuts and meats.
    One surprising result, is my wifes thyroid is starting to heal itself after 20 years!