Healthy Eating Support Group
This community is a forum for people who are determined to improve their eating habits for health, personal wellness and other reasons. What you eat can have a dramatic impact on your life expectancy, your mood, your physical and mental well-being and much more. Share your experience eating healthy, get advice and find others who have similar goals.
Yesterday I was reading the news and saw a headline about a study that found that chocolate lovers can blame a bacteria in their stomachs for their cravings. Immediately I knew a chocolate company had funded this study. As I read on I was not surprised to find that sure enough it was Nestle that had funded this study. It also was interesting to find that the study wasn't sure if the bacteria caused the craving or not. But that of course was said much later in the article.
You can find a study to back up a lot of different claims depending on what financial backer the study has. Campbell's soup did a study that found salt is actually really healthy for you. Granted you do need some salt in your body but that is not what this study was getting at.
A lot of people say to me well this study said it is healthy to eat this and that all I can ask in return is Who paid for the study? So the next time you read a study that says soemthing is healthy or that you need to eat a certain product make sure the people saying that don't have a vested interest in you eating or buying it.
You can find a study to back up a lot of different claims depending on what financial backer the study has. Campbell's soup did a study that found salt is actually really healthy for you. Granted you do need some salt in your body but that is not what this study was getting at.
A lot of people say to me well this study said it is healthy to eat this and that all I can ask in return is Who paid for the study? So the next time you read a study that says soemthing is healthy or that you need to eat a certain product make sure the people saying that don't have a vested interest in you eating or buying it.
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theatre and I are there already. I'm having a very berry tea with crackers, cheese and cherry tomatoes and she's having a joint with some beer and we're both on really comfy recliners on thick pile carpet. we need some help with the decor if anyone is around??
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I'm trying to exercise daily. I was doing fairly well until I sprained my ankle 2 weeks ago but now I'm getting back on the horse. Today I walked over a mile with my arm weights that are about 22lbs total. I was out of shape and it was hard on my arms. I also did my 30 situps. I'm also going to drink a lot of water and try to eat healthy. I do tend to have a sweet tooth but I'm cutting...
The problem was with the way the study was reported by the media. It was silly. The big headline "Craving chocolate? blame bacteria!" was absurd and was absolutely not what the scientists who conducted the study were saying.
I don't think that Nestle is to blame here either. Honestly, I don't see how the "bacteria make you crave chocolate" idea helps them.. its not going to lead to a very appetizing marketing campaign. Really, I respect them for pursuing this research, because while on one hand, I'm sure they're looking for evidence (and found it in a very small scale study) that chocolate confers some health benefit, if they dig into the reasons that people crave chocolate, the practical application of this work would be to find ways to halt cravings to treat obesity.
It's not junk science, it's just been reported that way.
Not to say that there's not a lot of junk science out there. The wine lobby is a gross offender. They've had a campaign to publicize horrible science indicating that people should drink more wine. Their studies are absurd, they don't select control groups in a responsible way, their data is absolutely refutable, but they still get the media to put headlines up saying "2 glasses of wine reduces heart disease risk!" ... absurd. Really, when you see some stupid headline on msnbc or whatever, you should try to find the actual scientific study (not difficult to do if there's a college library nearby) and see what the scientists did and what they say about their data. Sometimes it's bad science.. sometimes it's good science, being reported badly.