I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here's How.

“Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted around the internet and beyond, making news in more than 20 countries and half a dozen languages. It was discussed on television news shows. It appeared in glossy print, most recently in the June issue of Shape magazine (“Why You Must Eat Chocolate Daily”, page 128). Not only does chocolate accelerate weight loss, the study found, but it leads to healthier cholesterol levels and overall increased well-being. The Bild story quotes the study’s lead author, Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D., research director of the Institute of Diet and Health: “The best part is you can buy chocolate everywhere.”

I am Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D. Well, actually my name is John, and I’m a journalist. I do have a Ph.D., but it’s in the molecular biology of bacteria, not humans. The Institute of Diet and Health? That’s nothing more than a website.

Other than those fibs, the study was 100 percent authentic. My colleagues and I recruited actual human subjects in Germany. We ran an actual clinical trial, with subjects randomly assigned to different diet regimes. And the statistically significant benefits of chocolate that we reported are based on the actual data. It was, in fact, a fairly typical study for the field of diet research. Which is to say: It was terrible science. The results are meaningless, and the health claims that the media blasted out to millions of people around the world are utterly unfounded.

I got a call in December last year from a German television reporter named Peter Onneken. He and his collaborator Diana Löbl were working on a documentary film about the junk-science diet industry. They wanted me to help demonstrate just how easy it is to turn bad science into the big headlines behind diet fads. And Onneken wanted to do it gonzo style: Reveal the corruption of the diet research-media complex by taking part.

The call wasn’t a complete surprise. The year before, I had run a sting operation for Science on fee-charging open access journals, a fast-growing and lucrative new sector of the academic publishing business. To find out how many of those publishers are keeping their promise of doing rigorous peer review, I submitted ridiculously flawed papers and counted how many rejected them. (Answer: fewer than half.)

Onneken and Löbl had everything lined up: a few thousand Euros to recruit research subjects, a German doctor to run the study, and a statistician friend to massage the data. Onneken heard about my journal sting and figured that I would know how to pull it all together and get it published. The only problem was time: The film was scheduled to be aired on German and French television in the late spring (it premieres next week), so we really only had a couple of months to pull this off.

Could we get something published? Probably. But beyond that? I thought it was sure to fizzle. We science journalists like to think of ourselves as more clever than the average hack. After all, we have to understand arcane scientific research well enough to explain it. And for reporters who don’t have science chops, as soon as they tapped outside sources for their stories—really anyone with a science degree, let alone an actual nutrition scientist—they would discover that the study was laughably flimsy. Not to mention that a Google search yielded no trace of Johannes Bohannon or his alleged institute. Reporters on the health science beat were going to smell this a mile away. But I didn’t want to sound pessimistic. “Let’s see how far we can take this,” I said.

http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800

I’m not so sure that fried olive oil is even as good for you as butter, lard, or other animal fats.

You are free to believe what ever you prefer. The primary issue with lard, butter, and other animal fats is that consumed out of proportion in an otherwise healthy diet they still are associated with cardiovascular disease.

Our friends who have cut gluten out of their diet are ALL having health issues, every one of them. A strange coincidence??? Maybe. Or more likely the foods they are cutting out of their diet have nutrients that are important to their good health.

As far as the “low-card” high protein diets... we know people who have pushed themselves into diabetes, organ failure, cardiovascular disease, and actually have died from their unhealthy choices. Even while their health was failing they continued to spout out diet propaganda from people and companies hoping to profit from their misinformation.

The way the diet charlatans operate is by mixing in a little bit of truth with false logic to come to an erroneous but reasonable sounding conclusion. Most people who are pudgy but basically young and healthy can go off on a diet tangent and stick with it for a few months without causing much harm. The problems arise when older people who are not so healthy to begin with try the same thing. Some of them end up with serious problems.

I believe in moderation in all things which includes a balanced diet and exercise. This is a common sense universal truth which deep down we all know is true. There simply are very few short cuts in life. Cutting out gluten and “carbs” is just silly for most people. Trying to live on mostly meat, protein powder and frozen dinners is also a bad idea in most cases. Yet my wife and I know many people who are doing these things with predictable results that are detrimental to their health.

Gluten is FANTASTIC for holding together and making food containers (pies, breads, tortillas, buns). It is useless for anything else. There is absolutely nothing health promoting in wheat, the current modern form of it.

I agree with most of the rest of your post, but your vilification of gluten is pure nonsense. You have drank the Kool-Aid on this one and I doubt anything that I tell you will change your mind.

http://www.livescience.com/37855-gluten-free-craze.html

Traditionally no industry spends more money trying to convince us to buy products through advertising containing misinformation than the processed food industry. Think about all the Captain Crunch and other sweetened cereal commercials you watched growing up. It seems odd that these same corporations are now trying to vilify a basic protein found in healthy whole grains to sell more products. But it is all smoke and mirrors brought to you via the great minds from advertising agencies in big cities on both coasts. They think that you will be willing to buy and pay more for rice and corn based products if they advertise them as "gluten free". To do this they have worked hard to convince you that wheat "gluten" is bad.

Anyone who believes this rubbish is hopefully only hurting themselves, but it still is a little scary to read statements like the one you just made about gluten.

No, more likely your friends who are unhealthy are motivated to try to change that with their diets and you don’t have the brightest friends.

I do believe that different people have different metabolisms and different responses to various diets—one size does not fit all.

But in general, the cholesterol/eggs/dairy/red meat/animal fat bogeymen have been exposed as canards. The greatest issue in the American diet is simple carbs. Complex carbs and healthy fats are good for you, as is a good amount of protein.

It’s true. Your body doesn’t need wheat. There are other grains you can enjoy, some with great function, like white rice - zero nutrients for US, but lots for our gut bugs. With just white rice and potato starch (great resistant starch if uncooked) you can make a ton of baked goods if you “want” them. Culturally we do want our birthday cakes and holiday treats. And there are more nutrients in teff and other unfamiliar grains than in wheat.

I went off gluten when I got into the early paleo craze but a year later I thought I could have a birthday treat that was made with wheat. I was up all night with indigestion. Haven’t eaten wheat willingly since (I realize it may have been in small amounts in restsurant food). My gut bugs no longer desl,with it well, and that is fine with me.

It’s not healthy nor good to eat much processed grains. A lot of the problems can be mental, as well. There’s so much research coming out. However, I’m not zealous - my family members eat wheat because they want to. People should eat what they want.

And when you think of why you love wheat, it’s for foods that hold stuff, mostly. And an addiction to bread is often bad gut bacteria and yeasts BEGGING you for it, and you might want to take two weeks and starve them out, and replace the bread addiction with baked potatoes. I know people,who did this and their brain fog (that they didn’t know they had) lifted afterwards!

If you are going to be eating deep fried foods (which is not the best idea to begin with) then it would be better to choose oils that have been shown to help raise your levels of HDL (good cholesterol). Excessive consumption of saturated fats is known to increase your risk for cardiovascular disease. This is common knowledge. If you do an Internet search you literally will get back millions of results that confirm this.

Here is one from the American heart association:

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyEating/Saturated-Fats_UCM_301110_Article.jsp

You can always tell someone who is invested in some kind of weird belief system; one of the first things they do is start hurling insults instead of engaging in meaningful conversation. It sounds to me like you may have been manipulated by advertising execs who are hawking frozen dinners, food bars, snack food and protein powder. Check your sources carefully. The best way to ensure good health is moderation in all things, a balanced diet, and exercise.

I am glad that a gluten free diet is working well for you and you have found nutritional substitutes for wheat products. However, wheat and other whole grains which contain gluten are a healthy source of nutrients for billions of people all over the world and for much of human history. That is not something that fits the word “addiction” in any normal sense. And no, I do not believe that modern seed variants are necessarily any less nutritious than previous varieties.

The friends we have who are serious about eating gluten free for an extended period of time are mostly all having difficulties with weight gain, hair loss, bruising easily, and moodiness. If this describes symptoms you or others you know who also eat gluten free are experiencing, I would suggest that you have some sort of nutrition assessment done by an actual doctor.

That’sold, bad science that has been debunked. Where have you been for the last decade?

The link I shared with you is the current position of the American Heart Association. The link you shared is one doctor's opinion from a country with a broken system of socialized medicine who is hawking the “Mediterranean Diet”. It has some good points but does not say anything that “debunks” what we know about the connection between cardiovascular disease and saturated fats. For instance it is common knowledge that “total cholesterol” is not as important as the ratio between HDL and LDL yet the article doesn't even mention this and sets up a “straw man” argument. It is actually a poorly written article that I assume has misrepresented some of the points that the doctor was probably trying to make.

Why the insults? You don't know anything about me. As it turns out over the twenty five years I worked for a big city fire department I can't even tell you how many people I did CPR on who didn't think that their diet and lack of exercise would kill them. So I take this stuff pretty seriously. When my friends tell me that they don't have to worry about the amount of saturated fat in their diet and the ratio between their HDL and total cholesterol, I let them know that one day it may catch up with them regardless of what they want to believe.

Execs at Atkins Nutritional just spent another $20,000,000 promoting frozen high protein meals, food bars, snack food, protein powder, and numerous other products. The ad agencies they have hired have managed to turn these products into one of the most successful brands of processed foods currently available. Much of what they claim about their products is along the lines of what you profess. But how much do you think the ad execs care about your health? I will give you a clue. Their goal is not to give the best available health information; they want to sell you their products.

The article you linked to was based on the opinion of an English cardiologist. My wife and I have a pen pal who lives in England. Her husband had a heart problem... Over here they would have fixed his problem in a week with a stint and medication even with Obamacare. They put him on medication and a waiting list. They had plenty of money... my wife suggested that they come over here or take a “medical vacation” to Thailand. His cardiologist told him he would be just “fine”.

After 18 months of waiting he had a cardiac event and died... So as far as I am concerned, I would not bet my life on the opinion of a cardiologist from Great Britain. You are free to ignore conventional wisdom and the chances are very good that you will survive if you live in this country. My dad did... he still raises beef cattle and loves butter and beef. He wasn't overweight and has always stayed active. He ignored chest pain for weeks because he believed that he was perfectly healthy. He finally had a cardiac event that put him in the hospital. Emergency surgery was performed and he survived.

My dad was lucky he could have been one of the half of men who die suddenly of heart disease and had no previous symptoms. It is the leading cause of death for men in the United States. 1 in 4 male deaths in the United States are currently from heart disease. That is from the CDC... but I suppose you believe that they are corrupt and behind the times as well. Everything that I have stated in this post is up to date and supported by data from the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_men_heart.htm

As far as the link you provided in your latest post...

It states early on, “However, anyone who does serious research on the best diet for human health will come to the conclusion that a diet lower in carbohydrates and higher in fat is the healthiest diet.”

That is a BLATANT LIE that is easily disproven. The rest of the article is filled with half truths and faulty logic. In short anyone who believes such nonsense is putting their health at risk if they follow advice from this author. It is not too surprising that the author does not identify himself, his background, or his credentials.

I can’t help but add that Dr. Atkins died on April 17, 2003. He was admitted to the hospital on April 7, 2003. Lawyers from the family and the Atkins processed food conglomerate immediately said that he slipped on some ice and hit his head. The only time in the history of the weather record that New York City experienced sub freezing temperatures on April 7 was in 1982 which was a record low. Needless to say temperatures were not any where near freezing the day or the night before Dr. Atkins died.

The autopsy performed on Dr. Atkins after his untimely death on April 17, 2003 was eventually leaked to the press. It showed that he was obese and had advanced heart disease at the time of his death. The family and the lawyers for the company tried to spin this by saying that he gained nearly 70 pounds during the week he spent in a coma in the hospital. Yeah, that happens a lot... Doctors like to pump nearly ten gallons of IV fluid into their unconscious patients in a week. It really helps with their recovery.

The truth of the matter is that Dr. Atkins most likely collapsed from a coronary event and hit his head. It is also possible that a clot from all the plaque built up in his arteries broke loose and blocked circulation to his brain. Either way his poor diet, obesity, and history of heart disease were major contributors if not the direct cause of his demise. Yet you have the good sense to want to follow in his example and indeed encourage others to do the same? What a guy!

Your agenda is showing.

Dr. Atkins did slip on ice because of a widely reported ice storm on April 8th, 2003. He developed a massive subdural and went into autonomic system failure.

Part of the treatment for autonomic failure is the massive infusion of fluids to raise blood pressure. Dr. Atkins was 195lbs entering the hospital and retained 63lbs of additional fluids during the time he was in a coma. The large hematoma was removed from his brain (lapsing into a coma) and he was put a ventilator. Per his pre-accident medical directive, he was removed on the 17th from life support and died.

Dr. Atkins lost consciousness during emergency transport and was unable to talk, however fellow medical staff witnessed the fall.

Dr. Atkins suffered from cardiomyopathy for three years before his death.

Two years earlier, the American Heart Association had pointed out that cardiomyopathies were either confined to the heart or were part of a generalized disorder, both often leading to death or progressive heart failure. Both groups excluded heart disease due to coronary artery disease, hypertension, abnormalities of the heart valves, and heart disease present at birth from the definition.

The autopsy results were illegally obtained by a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The PCRM are a PETA front group.

The PCRM was sanctioned, but never prosecuted for their illegal activity.

The PCRM are a vegan special interest group that used Atkins death as part of a disinfo campaign.

Are you a member of PETA?

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