The Obesity Epidemic — Is Medicine Scientific?

An anonymous reader writes "An award-winning science author, Gary Taubes, has written a book that pans the medical community's treatment of the obesity epidemic. What is interesting is that it looks like the medical community is behaving in a very unscientific manner. Taubes points out that the current medical orthodoxy — that consuming fat makes you fat and exercise makes you thin — has no basis in research. In fact, all the available research points in quite another, and more traditional, direction. Here's the (excellent) podcast of an interview with Taubes on CBC's 'Quirks and Quarks.' So, has medicine become a non-science? Is it mostly a non-science? Somewhat?"

Re:Taubes is a quack.

[kilo_foxtrot84]

Could you live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

As an undergraduate student I did. Now that I have a job, though, I've moved up to bologna and cheese.

after having read the majority....

[russ1337]

After having read the majority of the threads it seems that everyone on Slashdot thinks they are a nutritional expert. Somehow I don't think that is the case.

Re:Ugh...

[Kohath]

No combination of those will result in your blanket statement.

The law of conservation of energy [wikipedia.org] is sufficient to result in that blanket statement.

Re:Ugh...

[Retric]

As for being fat. If you eat like a predator, you'll have a body like a predator. If you eat like a herbivore, you'll look like one.

I agree with my tribal elder's wisdom from the ages. (aka Citation needed.)

Re:Ugh...

[cbr2702]

"If you eat like a predator, you'll have a body like a predator. If you eat like a herbivore, you'll look like one."

Why only eating? Why not acting? Chase down those animals yourself (with no tools); that'll improve your body.

Re:Perhaps it's worth investigating...

[Shinmizu]

This would require human waste to have no caloric value.

Ooh, I smell a new diet fad coming.

Re:Ugh...

[bitt3n]

Calories make you fat, regardless of whether they come from fat, sugars, or starches.

Not if they come from... YOUR OWN ARM. (this diet program is patent pending)

Re:Ugh...

[IllForgetMyNickSoonA]

Well, I actually like my brain being adequately supplied with oxygen, thank you! :-)

Re:Ugh...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you eat like a predator, you'll have a body like a predator. If you eat like a herbivore, you'll look like one.

Then how come all vegans are skinny fucks with almost transparent skin?

Re:Ugh...

[eln]

As for being fat. If you eat like a predator, you'll have a body like a predator. If you eat like a herbivore, you'll look like one.

You're right. I eat just like a predator, meaning I hunt for days to find food, then chase it down for 2 hours before I finally catch it. Then, I tear through it with my pointed teeth and razor sharp claws, eating as much as possible while trying to fend off predators. As a result, I have a svelte physique and a thick, glossy coat.

Re:Ugh...

[TheWizardOfCheese]

I've been following the south beach diet for a couple of months now, and I have already lost a significant amount of weight.

"I've been using Cold FX for a couple of months now, and I haven't had a single cold. I've been investing in winter wheat futures for a couple of months now, and I've made a fortune. I've been watching red-haired people for a couple of months now, and a lot of them seem to be left-handed." Anecdotes like these aren't worthless, but they aren't very conclusive either.

it's basically cutting out all highly processed foods from your diet and to stick to whole grains and whole unprocessed (ie not from a box) food.

Your main problem will be to find someone to dispute this advice. You just need to add lower taxes, increased services, and motherhood to your platform and you can run for congress.

Re:Ugh...

[BenBoy]

Scares the hell out of the cat, though...

Re:Ugh...

[PixelScuba]

When I eat like a Predator, I grow claws in front of my mouth and and have iridescent blood. Also, I click a lot when I talk... I should probably have that looked at.

Re:Ugh...

[Cassius Corodes]

The plant's spiritual energy and karma are getting back at them for eating it.

Re:Medicine was never a 'hard' science

[javilon]

Actually everybody knows that in soviet Russia vodka is ok, but whiskey makes you fat...

Re:Ugh...

[NFNNMIDATA]

Just for starters, when nutritionists talk about calories, they're not really talking about calories like a physicist would. They're really talking about "food calories," which I believe are equivalent to kilocalories. This may be a minor point, but it serves to illustrate that if you think nutrition science maps directly onto physics, you are wrong.

Tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to.

Second, and more importantly, any good college chemistry instructor will tell you that the body does not "release energy" from the chemical bonds in food. Chemicals form bonds because the bonded compounds are the lowest-energy state for those particles. In other words, it takes energy to break a chemical bond, not the other way around. Digestion allows us to extract energy from food because we break down certain chemical bonds and cause those chemicals to form other, different bonds -- bonds with an even lower energy state than the original form. Our bodies can then take advantage of the surplus (and exactly how is still another story).

Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to.