Posted on 12/28/2006 10:03:01 PM PST by neverdem
10. California’s Not-so-deadly Air. Bill Clinton and Julia Roberts stumped for California’s Proposition 87 which would tax oil to fund alternative energy research. Mr. Clinton and Ms. Roberts claimed that California’s air is the “worst in the nation” and that it was linked with more asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, heart disease, lung disease and premature death. But data (as opposed to political rhetoric) indicate that California’s public health is generally better than that of states which fully meet federal air quality standards. Maybe that’s one reason why voters rejected Proposition 87.
9. Food police indict SpongeBob Squarepants. Several anti-fun food activist groups sued Nickelodeon and Kellogg for using cartoon characters to advertise food products to children. “Nickelodeon and Kellogg engage in business practices that literally sicken our children,” the groups claimed. Though the activists attempted to exploit a widely publicized report from the Institute of Medicine concluding that advertising to kids is effective, the IOM report did not examine and, therefore, did not link advertising to kids’ health problems.
8. Woodpecker Racket. The 2005 reported sighting of the thought-to-be-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker in eastern Arkansas raised hopes of bird-watchers everywhere. But a prominent bird expert cast serious doubt on the report in 2006, characterizing it as “faith-based” ornithology and “a disservice to science.” But the debunking may not matter. Environmental groups used the dubious sighting to convince a federal judge in July 2006 to stop a nearby $320 million Army Corps of Engineers irrigation project. Given that the anti-development Nature Conservancy funded the “search” for the woodpecker in the first place, the supposed “sighting” turned out to be quite convenient.
7. Low-fat diet myth busted. The widely-held 30-year old notion that low-fat diets are good for your health went “poof” this year. They didn’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer, according to three large studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Sadly, the lesson of low-fat diet myth seems lost on the media which looked the other way as public health nannies fomented the scientifically dubious trans fat scare.
6. Stem cell fraud and futility. Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to introduce legislation lifting the limits on federal funding of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. But she ought to pay attention to what did, and what did not happen, in ESC research during 2006. What did happen was the indictment of prominent South Korean ESC researcher Hwang Woo-suk for faking his research. What didn’t happen was any meaningful advance in ESC research. One alleged ESC research advance hyped in the journal Nature (harvesting of ESCs without destroying the embryos) had to be corrected to note that none of the embryos in question actually survived the procedure -- oops.
5. Cosmic ray study fails to penetrate lead-lined media. Swedish researchers provided experimental evidence that cosmic rays may be a major factor in climate change. They calculated that just 5 years of cosmic ray activity can have 85 percent of the effect on the Earth’s climate as 200 years of manmade carbon dioxide emissions. Though the study was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the findings went largely unreported by the Al Gore-smitten media.
4. Day of Reckoning for DDT Foes? It only took 30 years, tens of millions of lives lost, billions sickened and trillions of dollars of economic growth foregone, but the World Health Organization finally ended its ban on use of the insecticide DDT to kill malaria-bearing mosquitoes. It’s great news for developing nations that want to employ the most affordable and effective anti-malarial tool. So what should happen to those environmental activists and government regulators who used junk science to have DDT banned in the first place?
3. What Hurricane Season? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s prediction for the 2006 hurricane season was about as wrong as wrong can be. NOAA predicted only a 5 percent chance of a below-normal hurricane season -- but a below-normal season is precisely what happened. If NOAA’s experts can be so wrong about an imminent hurricane season, why have any confidence in far more complex predictions of climate change 100 years into the future?
2. Board of Health or Bored of Science? New York City’s Board of Health banned restaurants from serving foods cooked with vegetable oils containing trans fats. It apparently mattered little to the Board that the Food and Drug Administration classifies trans fats as “generally recognized as safe” and that the sort of “science” the Board relied on could also be used to ban potatoes, peas, meat, dairy products and many other food items from restaurants.
1. Some Real Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore whipped the world into a global warming frenzy with his doomsday documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Milloy personally asked Mr. Gore to help arrange a debate between scientists about the purported climate catastrophe. He declined (twice) without explanation -- leaving me to wonder why global warming alarmists are unwilling to explain why they believe in non-validated and always-wrong computer guess-timations of future climate change rather than actual temperature measurements and greenhouse-effect physics that indicate manmade emissions of greenhouse gases are not a problem.
View the complete “Top Ten Junk Science Moments for 2006” report here.
"Lard, the ultimate baking shortening."
I wouldn't touch Crisco with a stick. My non-scientific theory is that anything that doesn't dissolve/melt in the sink under warm water isn't doing any good to the inside of your body. By this measure, animal fats are much better than the synthetic ones.
Oh, gag.
I agree whole heartedly
If mold cant consume it what makes me think that my body can process it?
And you attribute this to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil?
no. cellulose filler
Starches are carbs. How exactly do they raise your cholesterol? Asians consume a diet that is very high in carbohydrates yet they have some of the lowest cholesterol rates on earth. What makes processed carbs any worse for you than non-processed carbs?
prossesed carbs absorb quickly into your system and are converted to FAT.
less refined carbs, ie wholewheat,buckwheat,rye are absorbed less efficiently and at a slower rate.
Im no scientist or dietician but I can tell you highly processed food is not what we were naturally designed to eat
TFA's = plastic??
Where in the world are you getting your information from? You need to find a new source because you are being seriously misguided.
You need to add better texture and flavor to your list (yes, TFA's do improve the flavor of many foods) as well as a higher melting point, greater stability under high temperatures and lower cost. There are many other reasons manufacturers use TFA's than just extended shelf life.
HFCS is also pretty bad for you.
I take it you work in the food industry?
You can lose weight and remain healthy and still eat "regular" food with your tips plus even a small reduction in portion sizes. We eat TOO MUCH as a society more than anything.
I have lost 11 pounds in one month, and the only things I've "cut out" are ice cream, sodas, (will occasionally drink one) sugar in coffee (switched to Sweet and Low) and reduced portion size.
Dont higher melting point, greater stability under high temperatures equate to longer shelflife?
As far as taste goes I think a tortilla made with lard from the tortillerilla tastes better and has a better consistensy than the ones in the store that are mass produced with partionally hydrogenated palm oil
Why should it matter how quickly carbs are metabolized by your system? All carbs are converted into glucose. What's not needed for immediate energy is converted into glycogen, once the glycogen reserves are full it's converted to depot fat. This is true for all carbs. If you eat more fat and protein than you burn they will also be turned into fat.
A body that burns the same number of calories it consumes, or more calories than it consumes, will not create fat. Fat is created when people consume more calories than they burn. It doesn't matter whether it comes from protein, fat or carbs.
highly processed food is not what we were naturally designed to eat
What do you mean by highly processed foods? You make it sound as though we should all be gnawing on cane sugar or chewing on sugar beets. Food is processed for many reasons. You can thank food processing for a much safer food supply today than we had 50 years ago.What is it specifically about processed foods that our bodies are not equipped to manage?
More than likely it will be a modified food starch today.
Any worse for you than table sugar? Both HFCS and sucrose are made up of the same two ingredients in almost identical proportions. How can one be bad for you if the other isn't?
However, I believe that processed food,meaning highly refined carbs and sugars (high fructose) are giving us way more caloric intake than we would normally get. Of course its up to the consummer to decide howmuch he shovels into his piehole.
Personally I prefer fresh tho processed and I avoid Hydrogenated where possible
Educated primarily in Food Science.
Our muscle systems run off of a fuel (energy) known as Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). ATP is created by Glycolysis which converts Glycogen to ATP. Glycogen is the stored form of Glucose in the body. It is stored by both muscle cells and fat cells. Carbohydrates breakdown into Glucose during catabolism. They are either used as energy, stored in fat cells or disposed of. Monosacchardies (simple carbs) catabolize easily and are the first source of energy, polysaccharides (complex carbs) take longer to catabolize and are more likely to be disposed of.
Simply put if you produce more Glucose then you use as energy, it will be stored as fat. If you use more Glucose then you produce, your body will feed off the glucose stores in your cells. Anaerobically from muscles, aerobically from fat.
And no I am not a doctor or a nutritionist either.
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