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.
;0) I guessed as much.
Im not the food police. I just think natural is prolly best for us as opposed to modified just my opinion
Yup
Not necessarily. When hydrogen saturates the double bonds is acts as an anti-oxidant. When oils oxidize free radicals are created. When a food rancidifies it tastes bad and no one wants to consume large amounts of free radicals. A higher melting point offer bakers all sorts of advantages and greater stability under high temperatures is why food suppliers who fry foods choose partially hydrogenated oils over other non-hydrogenated oils such as peanut oil. Peanut oil tastes great but it is unstable, oxidizes quickly and, if you've ever cooked with it, you know how badly it splatters. Not fun.
As far as taste goes I think a tortilla made with lard from the tortillerilla tastes better and has a better consistency than the ones in the store that are mass produced with partially hydrogenated palm oil
I agree. Animal fat is the best alternative for flavor. Unfortunately, the same food police who forced us to move away from saturated fats like lard and tallow are the same folks telling us to get away from using trans fats today. Do gooders rarely do much good.
Try frying your tortillas in a fat that isn't partially hydrogenated. I think you'll prefer the hydrogenated oil.
When hydrogen saturates the double bonds is acts as an anti-oxidant.(I did not know that but it makes sense) When oils oxidize free radicals are created( I did not know that). When a food rancidifies it tastes bad(I knew that and thats why I keep the olive oil and sesame oil in the fridge) and no one wants to consume large amounts of free radicals
You might be surprised to learn that HFCS and sucrose have almost identical glycemic indexes (55-60). You probably would also be surprised to know that HFCS has replaced sugar on a nearly one-for-one basis since 1970. Since HFCS and sucrose offer essentially the same caloric content, caloric intake in the U.S. has not increased because of this change.
Refining isn't the problem although I agree with you that we should consume freshly prepared foods whenever possible. The problem lies simply, and to your point, in the fact that we consume more calories than we burn because of our sedentary lifestyles.
The average American eats 7 times more saturated fat than trans fat. Both raise levels of bad cholesterol and both give you 9 calories per gram, which is more than twice the number of calories offered by one gram of carbohydrate. Yet, the conventional wisdom is to demonize trans fats. Like I said, do gooders are more concerned with intentions than they are with results. The food industry isn't all that upset. They're now advertising products that are trans fat free and charging more for them. Now they're making bigger margins selling products that don't taste as good, don't last as long and won't do a thing to improve your health. What a country!
Cost more, taste worse and will make you crap like a goose!
I ate it ONE time L0L
That doesnt really surprise me. its not the fructose or sucrose that are a problem. Its the amount that is found in our food. sucrose doesnt occur in High levels in most natural food except say sugar cane or sugar beets.
I dont eat much sugar.
I dont think it should be regulated by gov. I just dont like sugar all that much
Yes, I'm very familiar with the product. You may enjoy reading this article on Olestra. A lot has changed since it was first introduced. Be sure to read the "What Are the Facts" section.
This includes dogs as well. They do not properly process grains into energy, converting them {instead} into sugar into their bodies. They use fats for energy.
IMO a big part of the problem is doctors )MD's and Vets) do not receive proper nutrition training in school.
interesting article. Sorry for the slow response. My power went out.
Ping
bttt
Some pitiful people on here who don't believe in global warming or stem cell research.
Only adult stem cells have shown any usefulness. They are being used for 72 illnesses in either as proven treatments or FDA approved clinical trials. As far as anthropogenic global warming, I've seen many other more persuasive examples that it's not manmade.
Junk Science bttt
Perhaps the anti-DDT eco-nuts wouldn't mind spending the rest of their lives in jail on 80 million counts of "depraved indifference" homicide.
Fish Oil Linked to Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
In Europe It’s Fish Oil After Heart Attacks, but Not in U.S.
I thought those links were interesting with respect to omega-3-fatty acids.
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