Why Nutrition Is A "Soft Science"

"Of course, this type of clinical trial isn't suited to most nutritional research. Simply altering intake of one food or another doesn't take into account the rest of the diet, and again, accurate quantities are hard to come by. A well-controlled study of intake on a metabolic ward (a hospital or clinic where participants in a study might live or get all their foods), for example, involves actually weighing the foods, whose composition has been scientifically determined, given to participants. Any foods a person doesn't eat are weighed again, and the amount actually consumed can be determined by the difference. Obviously, this isn't conducive to learning what free-living people really eat.

"Unless and until we develop solid means of determining what people really eat, I'm afraid we're bound to continue to find contradictions in nutrition research."

Reliability of Nutrition Research Questioned

The Canaries In The Coal Mine Are Doing Well

"Amid the scary stories about how the nation's food supply is doomed because of commercial agriculture's use of GMOs and various supposedly deadly chemicals, there's a piece of good news. The littlest among us seem to be doing pretty well, as far as their nutrient intake goes. If our soils were so badly depleted as some organic proponents have claimed, we should be seeing lots of malnutrition among the smallest and most vulnerable in our population. But that's not what some investigators have discovered."

Littlest Consumers Doing Well, Nutrition-wise

Another Reason Not To Eat Organic Food

"Despite the mountain of evidence showing that organic food is basically a gigantic consumer fraud, what explains its increasing popularity? From a farmer’s perspective, he or she can sell the same crop for a higher price. And from the consumer’s perspective, the most likely explanation is the placebo effect."

Organic Farms Yield 20% Fewer Crops than Conventional Farms

Pasteurization Plus

“With the treatment, you’re taking out almost everything, Whatever does survive is at such a low level that it takes much longer for it to multiply to a point at which it damages the quality of the milk,” Bruce Applegate, Purdue associate professor in the Department of Food Science, said in their statement."

Oh, you are not drinking raw milk, are you?

Want Milk To Last For Two Months? Do This For One Second

Diet And Dental Health

"Though Pompeii citizens never used toothbrushes or toothpaste, they had healthy teeth thanks to their low-sugar diet. Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the World Heritage-listed site, said their diet was 'balanced and healthy, similar to what we now call the Mediterranean diet,' according to The Telegraph."

Romans had no need for dentists, because of one food they didn’t eat

An Effect Of Anti-GMO

"Despite the common notion among Americans that Europe is a progressive, technologically advanced utopia, the reality is that the continent — when it comes to matters of science — is rather backward."

Europe Doesn’t Care if Poor Countries Have Food or Money

Government Dietary Guidelines Not Science-Based

"Yet, government agencies continue to spend millions to nudge consumers into following guidelines that may do little to improve health for most and may even result in harm."

I Can't Believe It's Not Science

The Myths Of A Vegan Diet

"Not one respected study has ever shown a long-term vegan diet to be healthier than any other, and most research uncovers troubling deficiencies. They claim meat-free diets are healthier, but healthier than what? Than the typical unhealthy American diet."

Research shows that a mainly plant-based diet is healthy, but the findings can’t be used to justify a plants-only diet.

Weight Loss Myths

"So what is our society doing wrong? Clearly, what doctors and policy makers have been doing for the last 15 years to address this epidemic is not working."

The Greatest Myths About Weight Loss

Why Is Whole Foods Allowed To Act This Way?

"Whole Foods’ disingenuousness in communicating with customers is as bad as its deficient food preparation and storage. Central to the company’s inflated pricing are the misleading representations about its organic food offerings."

Whole Foods Goes From Defrauding Consumers To Endangering Them

THRIVE: Another Masterful Marketing Thingy

"My daughter told me about the latest health fad among her group of acquaintances. She knows people who are spending $300 a month on the THRIVE program and claiming miraculous results. With a skeptic for a mother, my daughter knew enough to question the claims and do her own research; she was not impressed. She concluded that THRIVE was essentially selling caffeine and vitamins at exorbitant prices."

The THRIVE Experience: Masterful Marketing, Short on Substance

There Would Be No Need For A Compromise If All Were Science-Based Thinkers

"The proposed bill will (at least in its current version) give us two years to try to turn public opinion around. We may be seeing a softening of anti-GMO opinions, as the lies and distortions of the anti-GMO crowd are being systematically exposed."

Senate Passes GMO Labeling Compromise

Aspartame

"If all of this seems silly, it’s because the Moroncolas of the world use the same trick —ignoring dose. They dig up studies where an animal is fed a bazillion times more of (name that chemical) than you’ll ever be exposed to. Next is looking for any kind of effect, which in many cases is expressed in data that are not statistically significant. Finally, they imply that the animal model and dose are predictive of disorder X in humans. That’s the big scare."

The Perils of ‘Internut’ Health Advice (Diet Soda Causes AIDS?)

Vitamin D Supplementation

"At present, they stated that the evidence supports Vitamin D to prevent fractures (especially accompanied by calcium), and maybe to prevent falls in older patients. But, they say: 'No other effects are proven. For many other conditions, the evidence for vitamin D supplementation is plagued by the use of small, poor-quality trials.'”

At Last, Some Sense About Vitamin D Supplementation

Avoid These 6 Foods

"So if your company also does not want to be sued for poisoning customers, you might take some advice on what foods he avoids after 20 years of litigation. Just don’t sell this stuff.

The 6 Foods The Lawyer Who Made A Fortune Suing Over Food Illness Won’t Eat

MSG

MSG myth – debunked with real science

An Example Of The WHO Not Doing Its Job Well

"The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says it doesn’t know if coffee causes cancer or not, a switch from 1991 when the agency said it did.

Time To Enlighten Celebrities And Consumers

"According to Dr. Bragg, music celebrities could endorse healthier options, such as lower calorie beverages, 'because that would harness the celebrity’s’ popularity to promote healthy messages to young people. We know from research that adolescents care a lot about brand and really idolize celebrities, so this sort of popularity could be used to encourage healthy dietary habits.'"

Famous Singers Make Your Kids Fat

Gluten-Free ≠ Healthier

"So basically (and ironically), gluten-free diets are associated with increased mercury in the blood, arsenic, obesity, vitamin deficiencies, and metabolic syndrome."

I have a real problem with how the gluten-free industry has gone far beyond what science supports in promoting its product.

Why Many GMO Opponents Will Never Be Convinced Otherwise

- - - Finally, disgust and disgust sensitivity predict support for legal restrictions of GM above and beyond explicit risk-benefit assessments.