Nutrition Questions and Dietary Fads

[Blarg]

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What about the latest diet fad, the first FDA approved diet pill, Alli?

About Alli
Cost: About 60 cents per pill, or $1.80 a day

What it is: Over-the-counter version of the drug orlistat, which blocks fat absorption in the intestines.

What it does: Helps users lose weight by cutting the calories absorbed from fat.

Side effects: Excessive fat passing through the digestive tract can lead to diarrhea, oily stools, upset stomach and flatulence.

Any overweight Loungers considering trying this?

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I think we're all already on it.

FWIW, when they said things like, I think, Olestra caused this, it made me wonder if it wouldn't be better just to be a little fatter with a little less surprise diarrhea.

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
What about the latest diet fad, the first FDA approved diet pill, Alli?

About Alli
Cost: About 60 cents per pill, or $1.80 a day

What it is: Over-the-counter version of the drug orlistat, which blocks fat absorption in the intestines.

What it does: Helps users lose weight by cutting the calories absorbed from fat.

Side effects: Excessive fat passing through the digestive tract can lead to diarrhea, oily stools, upset stomach and flatulence.

Any overweight Loungers considering trying this?

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seems like this would only work if you are on a high fat diet, which not many people are on...for most people i would imagine sugar is a bigger problem than fat...

[Jay.]

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If you're prone to colds and infections, vit C will likewise work wonders.

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I did a longass research paper on vitamin c in like 7th grade. My research concluded that this claim is BS and has been disproven by many different scientists.

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I've now completely given up on putting any worth in studies, there's just way too much conflicting advice, and i've just gone the testing route. If i hear something that makes sense to me i'll test it for a month and keep or bin it.

Vitamin C is one i kept. I take 1mg each day before i made improvements to by diet and have never gotten a cold since unless i've slept extremely badly in recent days. Sure, this could be down to other reasons but at the cheap price and no side effects i'm keeping it.

This next one is even more radical and based on research with an incentive so buyer be aware. But if i have gotten a cold or mild illness, as said from sleeping poorly, sleeping in the cold, doing something that's lowered my immune system, when the symptoms appear i'll take 4mg of Vitamin C. So far this has only been 3 times (today after my vegas fight) and it seems to work amazingly w/o any side effects. FWIW, i heard that from vitamincfoundation.org (they recommend way higher). Also worth noting that if i take 2mg of vitamin C in good health i'll piss it out right away, with a cold i wont release any of it. It's on wikipedia that some scientists believe that's one indicator as to how much vitamin c we require.

8 glasses of water recommendation i kept, i drink about 6 pints per day. Strangely, most noticeable effect was i don't feel tired waking up in the morning.

[Jay.]

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I'm still very curious how they came up with the daily requirements for vitamins. Anyone know? I read one article that said it was based on very old data having to do with scurvy. I've no idea if that's true or not.

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That's right. A lot of the recommended intakes are based on amounts to prevent disease x. The recommended intakes really are stupid though. Large difference from governments to governments and then huge difference from governments to health books. Even with all that, there's huge difference from person to person. Just eat a good diet.

[katyseagull]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the information. I guess I'm pretty skeptical of all these studies. As a child I was made to take my vitamins every day, as well as other nutritional supplements. I did so obediently. As I grew older I became skeptical.

Is it possible people are getting too much vitamin-fortified food? Say I eat breakfast cereal that's been fortified (is that even the right word?), then I eat a sandwich with bread that's been fortified, then I eat a pasta for dinner that's got fortified wheat products...I mean how do we know how much we're ingesting?

As for vitamins, I agree with you that the whole thing seems arbitrary. The amount I may need is certainly not going to be the amount you need. I find that highly doubtful. I think people assume the government is looking out for us where these pills are concerned but I doubt it. A few months ago they did a report on TV about several popular vitamin brands not containing what was claimed on the bottle. I really believe that no one is even testing these products for safety or accuracy.

[Jay.]

I have completely no idea about fortified foods. That market is a lot bigger in America than England. I just try to eat as whole as possible.

[Blarg]

A big reason to take C is that it helps with the energy cycle, smoothing out highs and lows. I think it tames insulin spikes or something, I forget. At any rate, I have found it hugely helpful in preventing or alleviating the late morning and mid-afternoon dips in energy I typically get. The indirect benefit of that is that these things tie into mood, as well, so I'm happier and, uh, chippier when I just take about a gram and a half when feeling blah and lifeless. So far the intake of about 125 grams a day hasn't had any ill effect.

Just kidding! on the last ...

[Jamougha]

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1) Why do healthy young people need vitamin supplements? In today’s culture don't we get enough vitamins in the food we eat? I’m really curious how the scientists determine our daily requirement and if taking too many supplements could actually be harmful.

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Good questions. The RDAs of the various vitamins and minerals were largely determined some time ago, as a response to widespread diseases of deficiency like cretinism and so on. They're not exact, just what has been observed to be 'enough'.

This is complicated by the relatively recent discovery of low-level deficiency diseases. You may not show direct signs of deficiency but low nutrient intake may substantially increase your risk of heart disease and other illnesses. It's probably that some of the RDAs are too low. No-one is really sure.

Also, one study done on teenagers and their eating habits showed that none were hitting their RDAs in all categories, including the one taking multivitamin pills.

So yes, based on the evidence you should be supplementing with a multivitamin every day. The American Medical Association reccomends it and they were dead set against it not so long ago.

As db notes, Omega 3 is also a big deal. I eat tons of salmon/tuna so I don't supplement, but it's a good idea.

Not quite incidentally, there was an interesting study reported in new Scientist a few months ago. A double-blind study was conducted in a British prison, with half the inmates given nutritional supplements to bring their diet up to 'best standards' and the rest given a placebo. Among the group given the supplements recorded violent behaviour dropped 37%. The control group showed no change. The work is now being replicated in the US and Holland: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1924153,00.html

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On a related note, do I really need to be controlling my free radicals? My mom thinks I should. She’s totally sold on this antioxidant idea.

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I wouldn't loose sleep over it.


The problem for nutrition is that you need many years and studies with thousands of people. There's also ZERO interest from industry. This is a classic tragedy of the commons where the government should be a hell of a lot more active.

[Shadowrun]

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Thanks for your thoughts, Wookie. My concern is that the scientists have a very crude understanding of how the body works and how it utilizes various forms of nutrients.

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Be glad you dont live in a time period where giving birth was a serious health risk, or the getting leeched for any health reason, or even thinking that baths are harmful.

P.S. Basically, im curious if you think we have a very "crude" understanding now, what do you think we had before?

[Jamougha]

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Is it possible people are getting too much vitamin-fortified food? Say I eat breakfast cereal that's been fortified (is that even the right word?), then I eat a sandwich with bread that's been fortified, then I eat a pasta for dinner that's got fortified wheat products...I mean how do we know how much we're ingesting?

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Fortification can act as quite a nice population-wide study. There's good evidence that fortification with B-vitamins was responsible for large drops in rates of death from heart disease. It may also help with strokes. Also it is excellent for pregnant mothers, who require large amounts of folic acid, and old people, who frequently absorb it badly. Google can tell you tons more.

Bear in mind that fortification generally involves adding the same vitamins that were removed by the processing of the food in the first place. We take the bran out of beakfast cereals and bread and rice and thereby loose all of the micronutrients.