Nutrition Questions and Dietary Fads

[katyseagull]

Do you ever think certain nutrition claims are ridiculous? I don’t know why but I seem to be the world’s biggest skeptic.

Sometimes I get fed up with all the different studies I read about in the news regarding nutrition and diets. I suspect there’s a lot of misinformation being given to the public. The media can report anything with regard to nutrition and people will buy it every time, no questions asked.


At the moment, here are a couple commonly accepted beliefs that bother me,

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. (One of you scientist types please explain to me how they would go about calculating daily requirement for the average citizen.)

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.

Wow, check out this article I just stumbled on when I googled antioxidants.

antioxidants a myth?


"If it turns out that antioxidants in food work because they generate health-promoting quantities of free radicals, that would be an ironic turnaround. It may also explain why supplements and extracts don't seem to work or may even be dangerous: the doses are too high, and produce too many free radicals. "


Now that’s some good science stuff right there.


2) On a completely unrelated note - Why do people still promote the idea that we need a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day? Is there some reason to believe we are all walking around dehydrated or something? Is this a myth or is this factual? I have a friend who is always telling me that she needs to drink more water, that she's probably getting dehydrated. Why do people think this?

I have plenty more examples of common practices that I believe must be myths but I'll have to save them for tomorrow.


So are there any fads or dietary practices that you think are silly? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Blarg]

Everybody's biology is different. Most people supposedly have a need for one or two vitamins or minerals. The next guy's needs will be different. Things like stress and exercise and alcohol may deplete nutrients. So it's silly to paint everyone's needs with the same brush.

[pryor15]

all i know about the water thing is when i drink water during the day, then drink at night, i'm not hungover the next morning, and that's good enough for me

[Blarg]

On the dehydration thing, I've known many women who tell me they have kidney problems because they don't drink enough water, and that their doctor repeatedly tells them they're in real trouble if they don't. I never see them drinking water, too.

Oddly, I've never had a guy tell me he has this problem.

[ChipWrecked]

I am on a water kick right now because a young guy on the day shift has kidney stones [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
2) On a completely unrelated note - Why do people still promote the idea that we need a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day? Is there some reason to believe we are all walking around dehydrated or something? Is this a myth or is this factual? I have a friend who is always telling me that she needs to drink more water, that she's probably getting dehydrated. Why do people think this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Water is very important to the proper functioning of your body, and it is important to replace your normal daily loss of water.

As with most things, the specifics vary from person to person and is largely influenced by your environment, how active you are, and how much water is in the food you eat.

There are health effects to not drinking enough water, so to provide some guidance, we end up with a rule that likely is helpful to the "Average" person.

In general, if you are not drinking enough water, your body will tell you.

Good article on this topic

[Sniper]

Kellog's under pressure from child advocacy groups has voluntary announced stricter nutritional guidlines for advertising to kids.

"The Kellogg Co. said Wednesday that it would phase out advertising its products to children under age 12 unless the foods meet specific nutrition guidelines for calories, sugar, fat and sodium. Kellogg also announced that it would stop using licensed characters or branded toys to promote foods unless the products meet the nutrition guidelines."

[75s]

Actually, all of these health tips inlcude a 20 min high heartrate workout (resting*2.7). Most people don't get this daily. Also, those are 8oz glasses (kinda small) but yes, people get dehydrated.

[diebitter]

I think vitamins/mineral supplement are important if you do a lot of exercise or manual work, if you have a lifestyle that depletes them excessively (smoking and drinking), or if you're old or pregnant. Doesn't hurt the developing stages of life either (childhood, teendom). Otherwise a reasonable diet is more than enough for anyone.


More important are the water-based vitamins such as B and C. Humans don't have the capacity to store these, so they are needed in a diet. If you have low energy and you have a processed diet or don't each much veggies/fruit, decent vitamin B complex supplements will work wonders for you in a few days of taking (you need to keep taking them though). If you're prone to colds and infections, vit C will likewise work wonders.


These vitamins and their role are well understood by scientists who study metabolism, and they have clear and reasonably understood roles there.

Fish oils I think have proven benefits.

Antioxidants and combating free radicals - yes I do believe this is real - I'm pretty sure this has firm scientific basis.


Where I remain somewhat cynical (though weakly - if a scientist proves benefits by direct analysis of metabolism, or a very strong correlational link) about stuff like ginseng and st johns wort. There might be something there. I remain deoubtful till proper scientific examination shows something.



One of the things that is amusing/irritating about the whole nutrition thing though, is that it seems that one week, one scientist says X is bad for you, and the next, it's good for you. I used to be a scientist, so I'm well aware that science is based on hypotheses that are testable and available for refutation rather than a provider of absolute truths, but even so...it's sometimes a little exasperating.

[diebitter]

This may be good for a whole thread in its own right, but here goes... What's the silliest diet anyone ever heard of?



I knew a girl who did a 'peanut butter and banana' diet once. Just that. She looked pretty ill after a week, and gave up.