Whenever I talk to people about the inherent flaws present in nutritional science, its excessive over-simplification, and the fact that the commonly taught conventional wisdom is so precariously lacking on supporting science; people just seem to act like I’m some crazy mad scientist, and expect me to furnish evidence to back up my claims.  Nevermind the logical fallacy present in their implicit need to take what their fifth grade health class instructor, and every other USDA trained “health specialist” since has told them.  That’s just how it is, right?  What middle-schooler for example, would learn about cholesterol clogging arteries, and then ask the question, “Excuse me, but would you have a citation on that?”  The Heart Association and the government say so, so that’s just how it is, right?

What would happen though if a twelve year old did decide to ask for evidence of the scientific so-called facts presented to him or her in health class?  Would the teacher be able to produce evidence that high blood serum cholesterol results in arterial blockage, or would the instructor likely dismiss and even give a second thought to the child’s inquiry?  Most likely, “that’s just how it is.”

This is the major problem with the way we think about diet, nutrition, and disease prevention.  Everybody trusts that the big agencies and government bodies that advise on these, operate in the interests of greater good, but to follow this logic is utterly unbashedly naive.  For example: The USDA sets forth guidelines on how americans should eat, yet they are responsible for regulating agriculture, one of the few exports the United States has left.  I’m sure there’s no special interest there.  The American Heart Association is supposedly all about heart health and preventing heart disease, yet so called “heart healthy” foods that bear their heart-check logo, are subject to hefty annual licensing fee.  I wonder who their biggest clients are.

The thing that drives me nuts, though, is that when you start raising questions about the validity of the claims made, and the conventional wisdom being preached from the dietary pulpit, everyone takes a position that the burden of proof is always on me.  As in I’m the one who has to provide rock solid hard scientific evidence that there is something wrong with what they think they know to be the truth, but have themselves never seen evidence to support it.  I’m in a biology class right now, and not a single fact presented in the text is backed with citation.  This makes the entire text questionable to me, especially when the section on nutrition makes little scientific sense to me.  Ok teacher, why don’t you go find me inexplicible evidence that eating fat makes you fatter.  For it to be a scientifically valid statement, meta-analysis of all the available data would show a trend line with all the data points falling very close to that line.  There are studies available that would produce a different trend line, or none at all, which fails to support the theory.  Despite this, we are still told fat makes you fat.  Then people try to rationalize it with explanations that ignore the general lack of supporting evidence in the first place.  “Protein and carbohydrate contain 4 calories per gram; fat contains 9 calories per gram (therefore, is more fattening.)”  Interesting rationale, except that it also subscribes to theories that lack the science to fully justify their claims.

Unfortunately, people don’t question these things, and even when they go to their doctor, they just do what they’re told to do, never investigating the science on their own; and then you get jackholes on TV like Mehmet Oz who appears even more to be an authority because he’s a “Doctor” and he’s on tv!  I bet nobody questions his advice.  He could prescribe arsenic, and say it was for asthma, and you would probably end up with a dead asthma paitent instead of a person that asks, “how does this poison help with my asthma, and can you show me studies where it shows evidence to support your claim?”

I cannot stress this enough. YOU MUST BE YOUR OWN HEALTH ADVOCATE, and research for yourself what the evidence shows about what’s good for your health.  Relying on others to tell you what’s good for you and what isn’t is not smart, (see: logical fallacy.)  The government has been telling us how to eat since the 70s, and look where it got us, but at least someone is taking a critical look at those recommendations, and calling them on their B.S.

Tags: dietary guidelines, health, heart association, usda