Healthy, not healthy, the internet is insane!

[TangledTeabags]

I was just googling recent opinions on the health benefits of coffee (I don't drink it much) and discovered a landslide of contradictory results. One saying coffee is great, it contains a plethora of antioxidants, can prevent diabetes, cancer, etc. Next result says no, it raises cholesterol and is bad for the heart. Even decaf.
Next thing, apparently cholesterol (and trans fats) do not affect the heart, then all the way back to Ancel Keys and his 'butter clogs arteries' mantra.

I doubt there is any rational, measured info left on the internet. It seems every writer, influencer or publication has it's/their own bias, it is quite dizzying!

I'm not hung up about food and eat a good diet, but you can guarantee that the incessant levels of analysis online will tie anyone in knots. If you attempt to locate a thorough source, it will usually inform you that, whilst there are correlations to such and such, the jury is still out.

There is a lot of talk that the NHS and other health bodies provide outdated guidance, which I dare say is true, but it does leave the doors wide open for snake oil influencers, which many people blindly trust. And is it surprising since avoiding fats have not quite had the result Mr keys was expecting..?

A lot of us complain about the amount of crazy cure-alls touted online by dubious sources, I can sort of see how we ended up this way considering how confusing and conflicting all of the data out there is.

I love the mediterranean diet personally, it's my favourite, but I might be a fool to imagine Mr Mosley isn't just another potential profiteer in a time of global confusion and fear.

I have no idea what's what, so I opt for moderation and just hope for the best

Remember when they told us in the 80s that eggs were unhealthy - they didn't know then that there was good and bad cholesterol? Remember Rosemary Conley's low fat nonsense from the 90s?

Advice is much more sensible now, sugar is bad and fat is good (although my mother still loves her low fat diet spread on her toast 🤮) I agree with caffeine though, five cups of coffee a day prevents dementia and I'm sticking to that ☕

The conflicting research has exploded though - according to the Blue Zones website, which champions longevity and the Med diet, they says eggs sit around spreading bad bacteria in the gut. It can make your head spin. However, I go by the evidence that eggs are unlikely to shorten life, so will carry on with my 2 per week!

There seems to be a permanent squabble online between plant vs. meat. Exclusionary diets are still on the increase, with many individuals claiming almost miracle cures from IBS, acne, poor concentration, etc.

Problem is, it isn't the same for us all - if I go very low carb I feel rough. If I eat too much fat or cook in oil I get indigestion. We are all so different. On the other hand, I bloat from pasta and bread, but am fine eating rice.

It’s partly because science has evolved, partly because ‘science’ can’t agree as there are so many variables and partly because some fads are marketed/go viral so get more eye balls.

I’m inclined to go with Mosley on this, but I also follow the everything in moderation diet. I eat high welfare/quality meat and don’t eat a lot of processed meals (snacks yes). That’s because we like cooking and cater for a few different allergies so easier to cook from scratch anyway. I drink most days too.

Honestly my view is until someone creates a meal supplement tablet that’s perfectly designed for each one of us with the exact nutrients and minerals, being sensible most days is the way to go. And some exercise.

Nutrition is full of quacks. It's not very sexy to be mainstream with nuanced takes because it doesn't sell or catch anyone's attention.

Far better to demonise food group for the old bank balance and Instagram clout.

So true, I doubt anyone is going to get rich encouraging us into moderation!

It’s partly because science has evolved, partly because ‘science’ can’t agree as there are so many variables and partly because some fads are marketed/go viral so get more eye balls.
This makes a lot of sense, I agree.

Don't like the idea of a meal replacement tablet though (if that's what you meant - just imagine how joyless that would be...good food being oh so pleasurable!

I eat tons of fresh salad and veg, a decent amount of fibre, and tend to cook from scratch, but recently caved in and bought some Young's frozen dusted cod steaks. OMG they are delicious, a perfect accompaniment to a crisp salad with a lemon and mustard dressing. The only problematic ingredient in there was a diphosphate, although I am not so sure how harmful that would be if eaten twice per week alongside a good diet. I am not a fan of meat and good quality fish never tasted this good - shame:(

It is utterly bonkers, but nothing new. Years ago someone did a study on the Daily Mail. They compiled a list of things that the Daily Mail said were causes of cancer, and a list of things that cured cancer (according to the Daily Mail). There was a third list. Things that the Daily Mail had, at some point claimed to both cause and cure cancer.

I think this has always been the case but it is easier to see the madness now as you can call up hundreds of different answers in seconds. Whereas previously as people have said you had one Daily Mail article one week and a contradictory one the next week but you wouldn't see both of them sitting alongside each other.

I find it makes a lot of sense if there is an area that you are interested in the actual research developments on to find an expert or a publication that you trust, and just listen to what they say and tune out all the noise from other sources. In the beginning when you're searching for that expert it can help to look through all the conflicting opinions as you will generally start to see some things that repeat and repeat and repeat and there is generally (not always!) some truth in those or they are the ones with the most accepted evidence. Often there are two "camps" and they advocate for conflicting things. But it helps to get it down from 100 different views to two. Then you can start to search for "debunked" etc.

Amy Brown has a great book called Informed Is Best which is how to understand/interpret research studies and evidence if you are not scientifically trained.

It's my job to evaluate health evidence. I pity people trying to do it who haven't been trained. We have a whole set of rules for how we evaluate.

fwiw, al substances are harmful in the wrong exposure & (probably) all substances have a safe exposure threshold, can be safe.

The "Eat mostly plants, not too much" advice is pretty good.

Agree.. now olive oil is no good as too processed 🙄

@BertieBotts excellent comment!

There doesn't seem to be any ultimate mapping of which additives and ingredients are 'bad' as yet though, apart form the more obvious ones which get the most press.
Impacts on long and even short term health will likely depend upon which are consumed and in what quantity over time.

Like I mentioned up thread about my dusted cod steaks - are the diphosphates going to harm me if I ate that food only twice per week? Who knows! I am aware that they are supposed to be harmful to people with kidney issues, and can also affect the general population negatively over time, but they DON'T tell us in what quantity.

@Escapefromhell Ha, I'm sure I noticed a couple of conflicting front pages a few yrs ago; one announcing that the Brits get too much sun and melanoma is escalating, then another a few weeks later saying Brits don't get out in the sun enough, that is why we are depressed!
They do love the word 'Brits' don't they? (not a fan of the dm!).

I recommend "Why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson

It is a summary of much of the current research on diet, all reliable quality sources, all checkable, and none of the snake oil and quackery

It's really bad and confusing but sometimes it get quite hilarious seing what someone confident onlin ecan make people do.
Do you remember famous people drinking their own piss or something like that?

My best healthy diet started when I ignored everything and eat what made my body and mind feel good. 🤷 That includes all types of food including pizza

Surely the best thing is to eat a balanced diet with not too much of anything. And ignore the extreme throw out the fruit bowl keto nonsense.

How much of this 'research' is evidence based, reproducible, scientifically robust and peer reviewed?

Anyone can write anything on the internet that may sound plausible to the lay person but won't stack up to robust scientific study.

Read scientific papers in published journals if you want to know what is most likely to be correct.

Which in many cases will lead you to 'whilst there are correlations to such and such, the jury is still out' because often, that's all anyone can say because it can take years/decades to reach a definitive conclusion.

So anyone telling you that X will cause Y and/or prevent Z is often deluding themselves and/or their audience.

doesn't seem to be any ultimate mapping of which additives and ingredients are 'bad'

That's because everything is safe (used correctly) at the same time that everything is dangerous (used wrong).

I don't think the NHS dietary advice is out of date & wrong at all, btw.

Maybe think about food (and diet etc) in terms of quality for not good/bad. How much nutrition/taste/key micronutrients does it give you for the calories/cost. Similar with things like exercise, how can you get quality exercise benefits with the time you can possibly allocate to exercising. Can you get multiple benefits from exercise (say walk to the train station, which save money & green house gas emissions) at one time.

Honestly I don't pay any attention to it.

Look back over history - there were all kinds of things that were risky and are now banned. Asbestos, indoor smoking, etc. But the majority of people were fine even though these things were commonplace.

And now they are banned and we are all better off for it. So if that gets discovered in the future, something will be banned. Until then, I'll just continue to eat them and not worry about it.

So many fad diets around: cut out this, only eat that, only eat at certain times of the day and so on and so on.

And what is all this juggling of food supposed to achieve.

Meanwhile we have an epidemic of obesity.

And what about the part that genetics play in life span and health?

My late ex MIL lived to nearly 102 she was never heavily overweight but she had a really high fat diet, and did very little exercise. She was, though, in good health and continued to live in her own home and cook for her and her son up until her death.

Her younger sister is now in her very late 90s. She's not in great health it must be said, but she's been a heavy smoker all her life, and rarely walked more than a few yards, but she's still nearly 100 years old.

My family all, slim with reasonably good balanced diets, have mostly only managed to live into their 70s with one or two managing to get into their low 80s. Almost all of them have died of some sort of cancer.

You never really know what all this agonising over what you eat is going to achieve.

Surely a balanced diet is the sensible way to go and hope for the best.

Recommend the podcast Maintenance Phase which is all about debunking the bad science around diet plans. It's also very funny but does have fruity language

I am not an expert, but I think there is a pretty solid body of evidence that a Mediterranean type diet is best for us. Basically "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" - plus a small/moderate amount of lean protein, healthy fats and complex/unrefined carbs.

I wouldn't worry about those Young's frozen dusted cod steaks, @TangledTeabags ! Or a few cups of tea or coffee, and the odd glass of wine or an occasional icecream.

The key is to pretty much cut out UPF, refined carbs and, most importantly SUGAR. I think sugar is more addictive than any other food group. Food manufacturers are very clever and find ever more devious ways of adding sugars - or artificial sweeteners, which are just as bad! - to all kinds of processed cr@p.

The other factor that results in so many people being unhealthy is lack of movement, being sedentary, never doing any meaningful exercise. But people are stressed, working all hours of the day, finding it difficult just treading water.

I don't know what the solution is, but cutting out sugar and refined carbs and exercising 15 minutes a day is probably a good start - and achievable.

I suppose it is about balance at the end of the day - if you are mindful in general, a few treats here and there are great. Life would be awful without strawberries and clotted cream sat atop a delicious shortbread base.

To be honest though, it would be very difficult to avoid ALL processed foods, many of which, like mayonnaise, are a total faff to put together at home. It would be handy if there were public 'guidelines' similar to the nutrition labels so that we could determine a safe amount of UPF to consume per month or something, but I think the issue is a little too complex at present.

Some ingredients come under fire more than others - palm oil, rapeseed oil, sat fat, etc. Personally I would prefer to avoid trans fats. Can I completely avoid them forever and a day? Probably not!

Stress and the environment is going to kill us all anyway, so why not eat what we want?

I was thinking about eggs too! I'm still not sure. 🤣

@PaminaMozart

or artificial sweeteners, which are just as bad!

Isn't Aspartame classed as the same level of carcinogen as hot drinks?

but cutting out sugar and refined carbs

Sounds utterly miserable.

Everything in moderation.

Mass consumerism has seen people lose the ability to control their portion size.

It's ok to have a fizzy drink occasionally but some people will guzzle six cans a day.

Eat some crisps but some people will much down a six packet bag in one evening.

Etc

Dr Wills Avocado oil mayo looks okay