

The Biggest Lies of Mainstream Nutrition - rb2k_
http://authoritynutrition.com/11-biggest-lies-of-mainstream-nutrition/

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stiff
Yeah, because citing a lot of papers increases your credibility and you can go
ahead with promoting whatever agenda you had in the first place ("evidence-
based approach", as they call it).

 _In the long term, protein has a strong association with improved bone health
and a lower risk of fracture (18, 19). Additionally, studies don’t show any
association of high protein with kidney disease in otherwise healthy people
(20, 21). In fact, two of the main risk factors for kidney failure are
diabetes and high blood pressure. Eating a high protein diet improves both
(22, 23). If anything, a high protein diet should be protective against
osteoporosis and kidney failure!_

The quoted studies actually question the presence of evidence that a high
protein diet contributes to renal or liver diseases, they do not provide any
evidence of absence of those ill side effects, that's quite a difference.

 _Bottom Line: Newer studies have proven that saturated fat does not cause
heart disease. Natural foods that are high in saturated fat are good for you._

Of course the amount of saturated fats you consume and how the rest of diet is
composed does not matter at all here...

 _The low-fat, high-carb diet is a miserable failure and has been proven
repeatedly to be vastly inferior to lower-carb, higher-fat diets._

And "low-fat, high-carb" is of course a fully accurate and meaningful
description of a diet.

Seriously, do not get your nutrition advice from SEO landing pages with
bulleted lists.

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bcoates
Lots of references, but I checked one at random and the article misrepresented
the content.

Specifically, the claim _"Eating gluten can damage the intestinal lining,
cause pain, bloating, stool inconsistency and tiredness"_. But reference 14
(<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21224837>) is a study of something else
entirely: they studied people who had IBS, tested negative for celiac disease,
but reported that restricting gluten intake helped their symptoms.

The study showed that the patients were right: under double-blind conditions
they had less symptoms under a non-gluten diet. This is an interesting result,
and the authors conclude that _"Non-celiac gluten intolerance" may exist, but
no clues to the mechanism were elucidated._

But converting this into medical advice for the vast majority of people who
are not suffering from clinical levels of IBS is not an honest representation
of the research. Given that the rest of the article makes a lot of bombastic
claims mixed with what I already assumed was "mainstream nutrition" (it would
be nice for them to define this), I think it's safe to put this article/site
in the kook pile.

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bdunn
Not that I disagree, but this is pretty much the paleo/primal/slow carb diet
packaged as "the top 11 lies from mainstream nutrition."

Instead of leading in with "There's a lot of misinformation out there...", say
it like it is "As a fan of low carb diets, here's what I get mainstream
nutritionists get wrong..."

(Disclaimer: I try to follow a low carb diet)

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mark_l_watson
I mostly agree with the article. The bit on too much Omega-6 surprised me (I
like flax seed oil, and after some research I will probably cut down on this).

Sorry for plugging my own stuff, but I like to see the approximate nutrients
in the meals I make so I built a little web site that lets me check the
recipes I use (<http://cookingspace.com> \- still a work in progress).

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seles
Flax seed is much higher in Omega-3 than 6, so it is a very good oil by this
logic.

Source: <http://www.rejuvenation-science.com/omega-3-6-oils.html>

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mark_l_watson
Thanks!! I really like the flavor of flax seed oil (yeah, it is an acquired
taste) so I will continue to enjoy it.

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pyre
I love this comment:

    
    
      | Soy is nasty stuff used in a lot of bread products.
      | It has to be processed to within an inch of
      | destruction to be made non toxic and is incredibly
      | allergenic.
    

Apparently this lady doesn't realize that the 'edamame' you get at a sushi
place is just steamed soybeans with salt.

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waterside81
For more info on this, check out "Why we get fat" by Gary Taubes.

<http://www.amazon.ca/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702>

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dkroy
There may be certain tricks you can use to help you do this, but in the end it
is all calories-in vs calories-out. The hard part is the hunger that results
from this deficit.

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thatswrong0
Actually, it's not that simple. Someone else suggested the book "Why We Get
Fat", which is a good place to start. There is reason to suggest that what we
eat is just as important as how many calories we eat. I think this book
mentions that we don't get fat because we eat a lot, but that we eat a lot
because we are getting fat because of the content of our diet.

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fgliola
Hacker News, well that kind of says it all. self serving article. Enjoy the
bacon fat, gotta be good for ya.

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holri
Nutrion advice is a fashion, not a science.

~~~
ibudiallo
You are right. It's not really about health. Everyone is just trying to fit in
an old pair of jeans. Buy a new pair I say.

