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US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

washingtonpost.com

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Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#3
There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies.

Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co...

Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably be fine.

Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#5
post #3

There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies. Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co... Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably…

'everybody knows' red meat is bad?

Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#6
post #3

There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies. Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co... Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably…

"Just do it right" isn't very good advice.

And what exactly counts as "processed" food?

Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#7
post #3

There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies. Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co... Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably…

Great points, they've misled us for so long about--

>Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably be fine.

Wait, what? Why is the evidence against red meat so much stronger than that against cholesterol or fat?

Edit: or processed food for that matter, although I grant that a higher prior as being bad because of how far it is from what we would have eaten in our ancestral environment (depending, of course, on what you count as processing).

Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#8
post #3

There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies. Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co... Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably…

"Balanced diet" is the terminology that's honestly hard to define. Until we have that definition, "a variety of types of food" seems better to me. Here, let me offer a correction:

"Eat a variety of foods, avoiding large amounts of any one thing, and don't overeat; you'll probably be fine."

Re: US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

#9
post #3

There is so much that 'everybody knows' about nutrition that is pure bullshit peddled by farmers, agribusiness and processed food companies. Just one example-- that fat causes heart disease. Pure nonsense pushed by the soda and sugar industry. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-co... Just eat a balanced diet, don't overeat, and don't eat too much processed food and red meat, and you'll probably…

> don't eat too much ... red meat

I believe everything else you've said is correct. But the health effects of red meat and dietary saturated fats have not been unequivocally established.

There are studies saying it is harmful, there are studies saying it is not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef#Health_concerns

> The Harvard School of Public Health recommends consumers eat red meat sparingly as it has high levels of undesirable saturated fat.[34] This recommendation is not without controversy, though. Another study from The Harvard School of Public Health appearing in Circulation (journal) found "Consumption of processed meats, but not red meats, is associated with higher incidence of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus."[35]

> This finding tended to confirm an earlier meta-analysis of the nutritional effects of saturated fat in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which found "[P]rospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease. More data are needed to elucidate whether cardiovascular disease risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat."[36]

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