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US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)

washingtonpost.com

11–20 of 269 posts

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

#12
Here is my paraphrased takeaway:

Cholesterol you see in your blood results is still bad. Whole milk, butter, and fatty meats is still bad. Foods like eggs, shrimp, and lobster might be good.

I don't think this changes any of my mental models. The foods that I always thought of as "probably not great" are still classified as such, according to this article.

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

#15

Here is my paraphrased takeaway: Cholesterol you see in your blood results is still bad. Whole milk, butter, and fatty meats is still bad. Foods like eggs, shrimp, and lobster might be good. I don't think this changes any of my mental models. The foods that I always thought of as "probably not great" are still classified as such, according to this article.

> Whole milk, butter, and fatty meats is still bad

You're sure of that?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/12/275376259/the...

My main takeaway:

> "Almost every single nutrient imaginable has peer reviewed publications associating it with almost any outcome," John P.A. Ioannidis, a professor of medicine and statistics at Stanford and one of the harshest critics of nutritional science, has written.

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

#16
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?

A simple answer is anything with the fibre removed, such as white flour & rice, and with artificial flavours and colours. No risk in eliminating these from your diet...

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

#17
Wouldn't it be nice if there were more government warnings and less restrictions / regulations?

Imagine if the FDA, instead of blocking new drugs for 10 years and $1B, it simply withheld its endorsement until satisfied by the clinical trials. Consumers could then take the government's recommendations into consideration when making a decision and drugs could get to market much faster.

The history of medical reversals -- and in this case, nutrition reversal -- shows that the government isn't magic.

A whole raft of restrictions could be converted to warnings and recommendations, freeing up industry to innovate and consumers to take a little more responsibility for themselves.

Imagine the history of the past few decades if the state had outlawed any foods with more than X% cholesterol. Or trans-fats. Or any of the other food fads over that time. It would have been terrible, especially now that the recommendation is reversed. The whole time, consumers were allowed to factor government warnings into their decisions, but food producers weren't breaking the law by selling foods with (X+1)% cholesterol.

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

#18
post #15

Here is my paraphrased takeaway: Cholesterol you see in your blood results is still bad. Whole milk, butter, and fatty meats is still bad. Foods like eggs, shrimp, and lobster might be good. I don't think this changes any of my mental models. The foods that I always thought of as "probably not great" are still classified as such, according to this article.

> Whole milk, butter, and fatty meats is still bad You're sure of that? http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/12/275376259/the... My main takeaway: > "Almost every single nutrient imaginable has peer reviewed publications associating it with almost any outcome," John P.A. Ioannidis, a professor of medicine and statistics at Stanford and one of the harshest critics of nutritional science, has written.

Even in that article, they say it's just associated with reduced obesity, and saturated fats in dairy are still associated with heart disease.

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

#20
post #10

Let me know when the government wakes up and inverts the food pyramid, so that breads and grains and carbs are scarce, rather than fats.

Carbohydrates are not a bad thing and are indeed an important part of health. The current suggested diet doesn't say, 'bread'. It specifically calls out Whole Grains, which a great deal of evidence suggests are a Good Thing. Suggesting that grains, or even carbs, are somehow worse than literal fat is misleading at best, and delusional at it's worst.
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