Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows • Hacker News Board

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#81

Post by hammock » Tue, Aug 29, 2017, 9:20 PM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #75

hammock wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to the American vegan baby who died in 2004 that I linked above, here are some more extraordinary examples. French vegan baby dead (2008) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/29/vegans-trial-d... Belgian vegan baby dead (2014) http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40274493 Italian vegan baby almost dies (2016) https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/4xkk3n/couple-lose-cu... Another Italian vegan baby…

These are tragic instances of children being underfed or, in the case of the 'vegan babies,' being fed very, very stupidly. Babies should be breastfed and children should get enough to eat. I don't think any mainstream or even oddball medical or dietary understanding is being challenged here. (promulgating the myth that "complete proteins" are an important idea is still bothersome, but now I'm not sure that's what yo…

Do you think someone can survive without getting "complete protein" (aka all essential amino acids)?

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#82

Post by justin66 » Tue, Aug 29, 2017, 10:31 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #81

justin66 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are tragic instances of children being underfed or, in the case of the 'vegan babies,' being fed very, very stupidly. Babies should be breastfed and children should get enough to eat. I don't think any mainstream or even oddball medical or dietary understanding is being challenged here. (promulgating the myth that "complete proteins" are an important idea is still bothersome, but now I'm not sure that's what yo…

Do you think someone can survive without getting "complete protein" (aka all essential amino acids)?

The issue I have is with the dietary trend of pairing foods in order to obtain a "complete protein," which is extremely silly. Dying because one of the amino acids is not represented in your diet is something that basically never happens to a well fed person (it would take an extreme example, and the internet can supply those, but...) so I have no issue with it one way or the other in a discussion about diet.

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#83

Post by justin66 » Tue, Aug 29, 2017, 10:41 PM UTC

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #31

the_gastropod wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm? https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2016/12/19/satu...

There's a difference between dietary and saturated fat.

Saturated fat is specific, "dietary fat" isn't.

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#84

Post by hammock » Tue, Aug 29, 2017, 11:04 PM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #82

hammock wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think someone can survive without getting "complete protein" (aka all essential amino acids)?

The issue I have is with the dietary trend of pairing foods in order to obtain a "complete protein," which is extremely silly. Dying because one of the amino acids is not represented in your diet is something that basically never happens to a well fed person (it would take an extreme example, and the internet can supply those, but...) so I have no issue with it one way or the other in a discussion about diet.

If by "well-fed" you mean getting enough total calories, you are still mistaken.

Kwashiorkor is the condition of not enough protein while actually getting "enough" total calories. What's more, low overall protein intake actually increase your need for essential aminos, due to the body synthesizing non-essentials from its supply of essentials.

There are also serious health effects (eventually leading to death) associated with deficiencies in specific essential aminos. Lysine deficiency is one. You only need 28mg a day but if you are eating mostly wheat it can happen.[1] If you are lysine deficient it comes with its own disorders and it also leads to micronutrient deficiency.

[1]http://www.pnas.org/content/101/22/8285.long

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#85

Post by sebleon » Wed, Aug 30, 2017, 8:56 AM UTC

hammock wrote: post #74

sebleon wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your body has minimum protein [macronutrient] requirements True, but counting macros isn't a practical framework for eating well. Empirically, the US obesity epidemic is not about people missing macronutrient goals; it comes from eating low-quality processed pseudo-foods.

I agree with you, but I'm suggesting hitting (for example) at least 50g complete protein and 50g fat as a requirement of whatever whole foods requirements you want to set. Going on a fruit- or juice-only diet for two weeks could be pretty painful otherwise.

Yeah that's fair - making sure macros are not totally off makes sense.

Re: Low-fat diet could kill you, major study shows

#86

Post by JPKab » Thu, Aug 31, 2017, 7:27 PM UTC

bitL wrote: post #18

Last time I've been to US, in Cambridge, MA, it was next to impossible to buy a decent non-low fat yoghurt. It was like observing shelves full of junk food everywhere. Sigh.

The low-fat myth is still going strong, especially when it comes to consumer products.

My wife has a very hard time fining yogurt with normal fat content. We've settled on a product made with whole milk by Stonyfield that is available in most grocery stores in Colorado.