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Here’s how public thinking on food gets shaped: Every year, researchers publish hundreds of academic studies about the health effects of various foods - chocolate, kale, red wine, anything. Those studies, in turn, become fodder for newspaper articles, books and blog posts.
But how much of this torrent of information is worth the trouble? Surprising little, according to a number of key researchers.In recent years, these skeptics have caused a stir by poking big holes in the nutritional science behind popular diet advice. Even the findings published in distinguished health journals have come under fire.
Collectively, their work suggests that we know far less than we think we do about what to eat.
[Also Covered By]: http://firstwefeast.com/eat/are-nutrition-studies-complete-bogus/
[Related]: http://firstwefeast.com/eat/new-dietary-guidelines-say-red-meat-and-butter-are-not-the-devil/
(Score: 4, Informative) by physicsmajor on Wednesday May 13 2015, @03:42PM
The majority of this is directly thanks to "journalists" (I use the term loosely) in the mainstream media who blow every new finding out of proportion with completely unfounded speculation. Hypothetical example: Rats who got thinner when fed an all-protein diet, in a sterile microenvironment where their gut microbiome is deranged and non-physiologic, where the authors take pains to qualify their findings, turns into the headline "Scientists say eat all the meat you like to melt away the pounds!"
The entire point of this piece seems to boil down to "science is bad, everything is wrong, FUD FUD FUD." This sentiment is bad, folks. It's what feeds the anti-vaccine movement. It's what feeds the anti-climate change movement. Et cetera.
We can and do know things. When science encounters contrary evidence, it changes its position. This is laudable, and does not weaken the position of all other scientific opinions.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:06PM
I JUST ATE A VEGAN!
Will I starve to death, now?
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:10PM
Cows are good eats, you'll be OK. Look out for those cows who were fed the brains of downer cows. The UK had some fun with that a decade or two ago, didn't turn out well. Then again those were technically cannibal cows not vegan cows.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Wednesday May 13 2015, @05:12PM
Any cow claiming to be vegan should feel a lot of remorse for their past sins.
(Score: 4, Funny) by wantkitteh on Wednesday May 13 2015, @06:01PM
I'm fairly surely the vegan diet does at least give some kind of dispensation for drinking the milk of your biological parent. After all, it's the responsibility of that parent to make you feel hideously guilty simply for being born some way down the road...
(Score: 3, Funny) by Alfred on Wednesday May 13 2015, @08:09PM
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Wednesday May 13 2015, @08:15PM
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2015/05/13/21-guilty-animals-that-are-very-sorry-for-what-they-just-did/ [pleated-jeans.com]
No cows though.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hartree on Wednesday May 13 2015, @05:22PM
There's plenty of blame for the journalists, but the university press release people are guilty too. When I see a press release about research where I work it usually is hyped to the stars about the possibilities. The scientists don't do that. It's usually the people writing the press release.
(Score: 2) by TheB on Wednesday May 13 2015, @05:28PM
Relevant comic
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3732 [smbc-comics.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 13 2015, @05:52PM
How wrong is wrong?
The Food Pyramid is considered wrong now.
However, for a large percentage of Americans, following it with a 2,000 calorie diet would still be a huge improvement.
It is the fundamental nature of science to clarify previous findings.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:26PM
You presume the previous pronouncements were actually scientific. What if they were the results of corruption and lobbying, rather than science?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:30PM
Apparently following it is not quite as simple and easy as it is presented to be.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday May 13 2015, @10:22PM
Unfortunately, it's not all on the journalists. Journalists didn't invent the food pyramid or any of the other government recommendations.
Journalists didn't cause the statin craze or the general hand wringing over cholesterol that drove so many to eat trans-fats as a substitute. Science reporting is often screwed up, but when it comes to nutrition, much of the blame goes elsewhere. There are proper researchers in the field but there is a lot of actual junk science there as well drowning them out.