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Food for Thought: Science and Politics of Nutrition

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nvmomketo
nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
This is not so much a debate topic as watching the "experts" debate diet, nutrition, and sustainability at the Swiss Food for Thought conference.

http://institute.swissre.com/events/food_for_thought_bmj.html?utm_source=Diagnosis+Diet+Website+Subscribers&utm_campaign=af40655fe5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_25_12_51&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c1de9d3bb-af40655fe5-111813681#tab_4

There are two days of presentations. Some are decidedly LCHF but most are not, and tend towards a simple move more eat less approach. What is a LOT of fun to watch are the panel debates on topics such as what to trust and LCHF. The first panel has a lot of known LCHF names like Taubes, Malhotra, and Harcombe. The second panel discussion is on LCHF; most panelist are neutral to higher carb, and then there is Sarah Hallberg discussing her trials. Quite good.

I have not looked at day 2 yet but there are some big names in there too like Salim Yusif.

I found how the experts interpret data was quite interesting. Some consider randomized clinical trials the way to go. Others want clinical trials but people given a choice as to what diet they do to improve compliance, and yet others debate the validity of food diaries in studies.

The only thing they seem to agree on is that introducing a diet high in refined and highly processed carbohydrates tends to negatively affect health, and once that happens then your dietary choices for recovering good health is more limited. They seem to agree that until one becomes ill, there are numerous diets and macros that create good health, and there is mainly one type if diet that correlates with failing health and weight gain and that's the diet high in refined and highly processed carbs.

Replies

  • MadisonMolly2017
    MadisonMolly2017 Posts: 10,975 Member
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    @nvmomketo Thank you so much for this!
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    Honestly.... I'm very skeptical of a conference organized by a re-insurer. Because that's what Swiss Re is... nothing to do with Switzerland or Switzerland's politics and position on nurtition.

    I'm very skeptical of anything involving Taubes. His pet theories have been scientifically torn to shreds, even in studies commissioned by his own organization (NuSI, which is currently crumbling around him), and he has publicly admitted that he himself wonders if he is, in fact, a crackpot.

    At this point he's just riding out the money train until his 15 minutes of fame are over. His True Believers are about all he has left. Maybe then he'll go back to being just a journalist instead of pretending to be a nutrition researcher/authority.

    I can see Fake News peddler in his future.

    Oh, wait...

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ladyreva78 wrote: »
    Honestly.... I'm very skeptical of a conference organized by a re-insurer. Because that's what Swiss Re is... nothing to do with Switzerland or Switzerland's politics and position on nurtition.

    I'm very skeptical of anything involving Taubes. His pet theories have been scientifically torn to shreds, even in studies commissioned by his own organization (NuSI, which is currently crumbling around him), and he has publicly admitted that he himself wonders if he is, in fact, a crackpot.

    At this point he's just riding out the money train until his 15 minutes of fame are over. His True Believers are about all he has left. Maybe then he'll go back to being just a journalist instead of pretending to be a nutrition researcher/authority.

    I can see Fake News peddler in his future.

    Oh, wait...

    It’s all a vast right wing conspiracy!
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Thank you for this thread.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Thanks for sharing, I didn't watch the whole thing yet, but I found what I did watch I found the "food policy and politics" one pretty interesting. I think people should be more focused on calories because what happens is people are told eat low fat, so then just switched to eating more grains, etc. Or they are told to eat low carb, so then they eat more fat. Whatever recommendations are given, people will just eat around them and still take in too many calories, which is what matters in the long run for obesity and thus causes all of the obesity related health issues.

    I think governments should promote counting CALORIES instead of limiting carbs or fat or red meat or whatever because without counting calories, the general population will just eat more of something else, thus maintaining obesity rates (and health issues that come with it). Yeah, maybe we exercise more like they said, but we eat more so it's no surprise there is no improvement in obesity.

    Yeah, my feeling is that no matter what macronutrient is currently out of favor, it isn't going to produce positive results for Americans because we simply eat too much. That's the heart of the problem.