One of the most outlandish, pseudoscientific, and potentially dangerous ideas perpetrated by the food nuts is that the process of oxidation--the action of oxygen on various molecules--is dangerous. Hence "anti-oxidants" are hyped as the most desirable and health-giving foods in the world. Preposterous!<--This is a molecule of ATP, the most powerful energy-containing molecule known. It is created by our cells and drives all of our living processes. Without it we die. It is created by the process of OXIDATIVE phosphorylation, through which oxygen and glucose are oxidized (lose electrons) to drive cellular metabolism. In the process, "free radicals" (HORRORS) highly reactive molecules that THEORETICALLY can harm proteins, are temporarily created. But the body has evolved ways to handle these reactive molecules, and to date NO RESEARCH has confirmed that any disease is caused by free radicals or oxidation. In fact, excessive intake of anti-oxidants like Vitamins A, D, and E can STOP the process of ATP production and kill; deaths from overdoses of these vitamins are well documented. Well designed studies that test the hypothesis that such anti-oxidants can cure or prevent cancer, for example, have shown the EXACT OPPOSITE EFFECT--they make it grow faster and more lethally.Oxidation is often cited as the rusting of iron, which is accurate. However, iron is INORGANIC and in fact "rusting" is the natural process by which iron enters the environment AND US, where it is a critical component of blood. It is, in fact, the oxidation of iron that allows blood to carry it to our tissues, where O2 becomes THE essential element for life.SO DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE ANTI-OXIDANT FOOLS! Life did not evolve until there was sufficient OXIDATION going on; stop it at your peril. Throw those anti-oxidants away!
This is an ad for the vitamin that is the latest food fad. (I am NOT going to name it because it doesn't matter; there will be a new one in 6 months.)Americans want everything fast and easy, and it has made us one of the unhealthiest as well as uninformed populations in the world. What this ad does not reveal is that excessive doses of this vitamin can kill.Sunup...sundown.Scientific illiteracy is not only stupid, it's dangerous.
One of the arguments against evolution by natural selection is the concept of "irreducible complexity", which means that, using the eye as the most complex example, anything less than the fully evolved organ is useless.As with other arguments based on ideology rather than data, this one doesn't stand up to the science.Starting with a single-celled protist called the paramecium (as well as even some eukaryotes), which has a "light spot", nature reveals a complete spectrum of "eye" designs. In fact, the eye--which is basically just a light-sensing organ--may have arisen more than once during the course of evolution (a process known as "convergence"). We are fearfully and wonderfully made--deep in our DNA, where itreally counts and where the true brilliance and eternal wisdom of our design is revealed.
Of all the nutritional information about which pseudoscience, quackery, and charlatanism abound, that concerning vitamins is the most rampant and egregious.Vitamins are co-enzymes or catalysts that are involved in the production of proteins. They are required only in small amounts., and must be obtained in the diet. There are diseases caused by deficiency of certain vitamins (scurvy, pellagra, beriberi are three examples) AND THERE ARE DISEASES CAUSED BY EXCESS INTAKE OF CERTAIN VITAMINS (hypervitaminosis A, excess vitamin E as just two). They are not magical cures for anything EXCEPT their specific deficiency, which is rarely an issue in the U.S. In addition, as chemical molecules there is NO DIFFERENCE between a "natural" vitamin and one that is manufactured--the structures are, of necessity, identical. Americans spend literally billions of dollars every year on vitamins, most of them not necessary. The science is out there about this issue--look for it!
Suck them up = acid
Spit them out = base
See how easy??
One of the ways in which you can know or suspect that you are dealing with pseudoscience is that you encounter overly complicated or jargon-filled gobbledegook in place of clear and concise language. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in nutrition.A particular area in which the food faddists and poorly educated "nutritionists" excel at the practice of obfuscation-for-fun-and PROFIT is in the area of fluid and electrolyte balance. If it were as complex as these quacks make it we wouldn't have evolved beyond the single cell stage.We need about 3-4 liters of pure water each day, more if we are active. Our body will tell us if we are "dehydrated" or salt-and-water depleted and we just need to pay attention. "Dryness" of membranes, low urine output (less than a liter/24 hours), lightheadedness (especially with a change in body position) all MAY indicate we need more fluids. In order to hang on to free water and replenish the salt water that makes up our body fluid we need to take in a defined array of minerals, most of which are contained in a balanced diet. So-called "electrolyte drinks" need to be considered carefully, as they often contain too much of one thing or another--often glucose, which we need but which in excess brings in too many calories. It's not exactly "common sense" but it is pretty easy, and if it costs a lot of money it's highly unlikely to have a positive cost/benefit.Take it easy! Your body is your friend, not an enemy to be conquered. Salt and water to taste!
.
..to that elixir. Without electrolytes--cations and anions that give our body water its salt and mineral content--we'd melt. Or vaporize. Or freeze. Or simply not exist. That doesn't mean we need EXTRA electrolytes; potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphates, sulfates, sodium, even bicarbonate can be dangerous in excess. A little is good--a lot is not necessarily better. The food nuts don't seem to recognize this.The closest fluid that our body water resembles is ocean water. No surprise there! And it makes us a great conductors of electricity. Be good to your electrolytes today, and watch out for lightning!
WATER.
...the brain is fully complicated and wondrous enough to account for our "minds". Descartes did us no favors. His insistence on the mind-body duality is still a curse, in that it has led people to believe that there are diseases of the mind and diseases of the body. y
There is no distinction, since the brain controls the body and the body is the expression of the brain. The way in which the brain works in and of itself explains why every human is unique. It also explains and puts to rest the nature/nurture issue. Study the brain--you and your brain will be amazed!
As our general level of scientific illiteracy--among the highly educated as well as politicians, not to mention others--increases, we become prey to more and more unscientific food fads that not only do not do what they promise but might in fact be dangerous. As part of my curriculum in NUTRITION, HEALTH, and WELLNESS, I am using material found in popular magazines (usually located at the grocery store checkout stand) and, of course, on the Internet to illustrate the fact that much, if not most, of what is in the media about food and health is BOGUS! These pieces of misinformation usually contain many errors in basic physiology, and are frequently complete fantasy about the actions of various foods and "nutrients".One clue to bogosity (of many): Articles making outlandish claims for foods and diets almost always say that the material is supported by "research" or are preceded by the claim, "Researchers (or scientists) report...." As yet I have NEVER found these statements or articles to have footnotes or actual sources that can be checked. This is a common tactic of pseudoscience peddlers, quacks, and charlatans. Another common tactic is to quote celebrity doctors as if they are fountains of original truth; they are, in fact, often even more scientifically illiterate about the topic at hand than others. There is no substitute for real science or research, which almost anyone can access if he or she takes a little time. DON'T BE A SCIENCE DOPE!
...the NEURON!
How we love thee!
It actually makes sense. Urine is produced by the body and therefore should contain information about that body.Medieval medicine is generally characterized as either hocus-pocus or butchery. While it is true that doctors could do little in the area of diagnostics and treatments, they did the best with what they had. There were complex uroscopy charts that associated diseases with various urine colors (not all of them were wrong) and it was through one aspect of urine examination, tasting, that diabetes was discovered. We still use urinalysis today, and I was taught to do my own, which I can still do. Tasting not required.
...that eating this shrub is not necessary for a healthy diet!
...nor is it "cancer causing" foods nor is it "food allergy" nor "gluten sensitivity" nor lack of vitamins.......it is TOO MUCH FOOD!!!Food is our national addiction. Billboards, books, Internet, TV shows, "celebrity chefs", on and on. The most symbolic act of love and acceptance and bribery and anything else one human wants to do to another is almost always "celebrated" with food. No wonder we are getting fatter and fatter!People with BMIs in the blue area will die earlier than matched controls in the green or yellow; people in the purple area have other problems but also, interestingly, have longevity issues (tho' causality may go either way). I have the secret , magic, fool-proof diet: eat less, exercise more. At the bottom of every single fad diet is the same truth, no matter how cloaked in pseudoscience it may be. Before we get riled up about GMOs, additives, and gluten, we need to get riled up about calories. Less is more (health)!
...in spite of what the food faddists and faux "nutritionists" say.The ability of plants to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen using radiant energy from the sun (photosynthesis) is the most important chemical reaction in the world. The only form in which we can properly absorb carbon from our diet and use it to assemble the proteins that make us carbon-based life forms is, in fact, glucose. The inability to properly utilize glucose at the cellular level results in one of the most devastating of all disease--diabetes mellitus (which is NOT "caused" by eating too much sugar). Like all nutrients, glucose is best utilized through the processes that have evolved over millions of years, and if these are not overwhelmed (as they are with the ingestion of too many calories) or poisoned (as with alcohol), they work smoothly and efficiently to convert the chemical energy of glucose into the kinetic and heat energy that fuels life. Treat carbohydrates well and they will be good to and FOR you.
One of the myriad misconceptions that drive the bogus nutrition industry and food faddism concerns how food is utilized by the body. Most of these people seem to think that food is absorbed directly from the mouth into the cells. WRONG!!
The intestine has evolved such that only monomers or VERY small molecules can be absorbed into the bloodstream, and these undergo further change before they can pass through the cell membrane. Some require special transport mechanisms. Therefore, the myth that the DNA from genetically modified (GM) foods passes into our own DNA space (the nucleus) is totally false. Even small nucleotides (look it up) which contain NO genetic information are broken down before they enter the cell, and they NEVER enter the nucleus. Therefore, the probability that GM foods could affect our DNA is precisely ZERO.
In college biochemistry we were assigned to find "at least one mistake in basic molecular physiology on every page" of a current fad diet book (in this case it was Atkins). Slam dunk--then and especially now.
When I was being oriented to teach in middle school we were subjected to a "nutrition" lecture by the health educators in which 90% of the information they communicated was wrong. Most nutritional "information" on the web and even from supposed experts isn't even based on a knowledge of basic human physiology. Beware the quacks and charlatans--there are more of them than ever, Seek scientific literacy!
One of the most outlandish, pseudoscientific, and potentially dangerous ideas perpetrated by the food nuts is that the process of oxidation--the action of oxygen on various molecules--is dangerous. Hence "anti-oxidants" are hyped as the most desirable and health-giving foods in the world. Preposterous!
