Comments on: “Uncle Sam is a horrible nutritionist”

By: February 19 roundup - Overlawyered

February 19 roundup - Overlawyered — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 05:30:10 +0000

[…] “Worth remembering that, if they had the power in the 1980s, the public health lobby would have forced us to eat a diet they now say is bad.” [Christopher Snowdon, earlier] […]

By: MattS

MattS — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 23:34:56 +0000

@William Nuesslein,

“I understand that reduction of cholesterol is based on the observation that blood plaques have components similar to cholesterol. ”

Actually, blood plaques have actual cholesterol in them. However, cholesterol is ubiquitous in the body, so this is neither surprising nor informative.

Cholesterol is a hormone (a steroid) necessary to proper muscle function. You need so much of it that it is the only hormone in your body that can be manufactured by every cell in your body. There is very likely a point where low cholesterol levels would be immediately fatal but no one is studying that end of the equation.

By: joe crew

joe crew — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:06:14 +0000

Guess Ms. Hari never took high school chemistry. Because, the last I looked, everything is made up of chemicals and some of the naturally occurring compounds she likes to thing are good just because Mother Nature made them are poisonous.

By: William Nuesslein

William Nuesslein — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 16:56:42 +0000

For DEM:

My favorite cartoon shows two matronly women standing outside a car with a flat tire. The car hood is up, and one woman says to the other “There is the air filter, but I don’t know what to do next.”

I understand that reduction of cholesterol is based on the observation that blood plaques have components similar to cholesterol.

I am not surprised that the complexities of digestion and blood chemistry make the cholesterol theory naive. Data should rule. If countries without cholesterol concern have the same heath status as us, then our cholesterol concern was misplaced.

By: MattS

MattS — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:38:37 +0000

“There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever.”

Since all foods, even 100% natural foods are completely made up of chemicals, what does Ms Vani Hari eat, unicorn farts?

By: DEM

DEM — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 14:31:00 +0000

This is really quite silly. There was a consensus that cholesterol causes heart disease. The matter was settled. The debate was over. And now you say we are to give in to some skeptics?

I for one am glad that the government, which of course pushed a carbo-loading food pyramid for many years, is on the case of the “obsetiy epidemic,” and placing the blame where it belongs — on private companies like Coke and McDonald’s, of course.