#nutritional misinformation

[myfandomrealitea]

If you're on TikTok or Instagram and you come across a video of someone standing in a grocery store waving packages around and dramatically telling you how its super bad evil gross fake food, just keep scrolling. Please. I promise you. Just scroll past it.

[madaniss]

damn i wish people who want to debate veganism actually did it in good faith instead of coming up with straw man arguments

[ganja-hq]

Celery is so low on calories that you lose weight by chewing it

Incorrect

Unfortunately there is no such thing as negative calorie foods and celery specifically has DIT of roughly 85% as opposed to the 100+% a food would need to cause the body to burn more than it takes in, there's no known foods that fit that criterion.

Celery is also disgusting

[riverofrainbows]

(please be advised that i am ranting about weird diet myths around sugar and fruit, and also addressing annoying and wrong comments i read recently with a hypothetical "you". I am not talking to you, the reader)

I decided to be mature today and look after my stress level and Not start what is sure to be internet beef by telling people in a comment section that sugar molecules are not magically different when they come out of an orange. I even get worse blood sugar spikes from grapes than from chocolate because that also has fat which slows down metabolisation so blood sugar rises more slowly. "But fruit also has vitamins and fibres wah wah wah" still doesn't mean fruit has chemically different sugar molecules than refined sugar (made from plants btw!!) and also not the fucking point. There is slightly different sugars which have different prevalence but funnily enough fruit has quite a lot of the sugar monomer that has a higher glycemic index, and at the end absolutely every carbohydrate except indigestible ones (mostly cellulose, which we know as fibre!) becomes glucose and gets turned into ATP which fuels your body. "But the fibre in fruit" thats why we eat meals with hopefully all types of nutrients in (including fibre) and then that fucking oreo also has some fibre to accompany it. Besides the fact that it already has less of a blood sugar spike than fruit because of the fat content. "But the vitamins!!!!!!!" I promise you will not die of scurvy if you don't eat 300% the recommended intake of vitamin c every day, you will be fine. Go worry about some vitamins that arent in fruit, or vitamin d. And read a fucking wikipedia article on different sugar molecules and where they are found while you're at it please i am begging. "The evil fructose in fructose syrup is different than good fructose in fruit" please employ one braincell and read that again omg.

(disclaimer fruit is not bad, i do like vitamins too, and if you don't have blood sugar issues the glycemic index of it (how much it spikes the blood sugar) is nothing you need to be concerned about. also reminder that vegetables also contain vitamins and fibre and shit, because sometimes this fact gets lost in the heated discussions around fruits)

[discount-goth-grill]

OH MY GOD, THIS IS SO TRUE!!!!

You can't even search about nutrients on Google, because the only "good" source of information that shows up is fucking Wikipedia and the rest of the results is just pseudoscience or bullshit.

So many bullshit online about magical nutrients that can cure all diseases e evil foods that were created the devil, so many god damned influencers and gurus saying bullshit hacks for losing weight and gaining muscles.

And the worst part is that people hold on that shit so hard. Like why is it so hard to understand that there's no magical recipe that solves all problems??? That each and every person is different and whatever problem they want to solve or goal they want to achieve will require a different strategy????

But noooo, they'd rather believe the fucking bitch on TikTok that drinks borax.

It’s crazy how there’s so much misinformation about Food. The thing we need all the time. Arguably the point of getting up each day. Fucking food. You’d think educating our young on this central component of life would be the sort of thing we’d teach them as kids, but nooo, I have to go reading up on zookeeping techniques for keeping and feeding large primates in captivity to get a straight fucking answer about carbon and phosphorus sourcing instead of a bunch of pseudoscience or fatphobia or classism or racism or just good old fashioned taboos! [Chews furniture] HOW DO YOU DEMONIZE THE POTATO

[h--hannah--h]

my nutrition teacher said that when her son had an earache she warmed smashed garlic in some olive oil and then put it in his ear.

That can’t be safe lmao.

[autumnoakes]

the people in my life who think everyone should eat healthy and that any """junk""" food is disgusting, not worth eating, will destroy your body everytime you even look at it, etc. vs me who just wants food i'll eat honestly

[paradiseismade]

I've gone and found the video

https://youtu.be/hhgXukqIa5U?si=rUQEu64jriLcrrcs

It's a 2 and a half minute long video that spends its entire length pulling quotes from different published medical papers.

It's a little sensationalist but it is reporting actual scientific research. From what I can see the channel is mainly focused on reporting nutrition research with a focus on reviewing different papers and studies on various topics.

It seems to be pro-vegan but coming from actual medical and scientific evidence, which I don't think is a bad thing. Given the general consensus that western society eats too much meat and not enough veggies I generally think that's a good thing.

Certainly I wouldn't call it misinformation.

I think we should call out sensationalists who try to mislead people about health topics but this is quite literally a breakdown of scientific literature. From a cursory watch of a few videos they seem to accurately cite every paper they reference and often the short videos link to longer explanations.

I think there's other YouTube channels out there that push a lot more misinformation and this is probably one of the better channels out there actually trying to educate people.

OP is correct, the video itself mainly addresses the effects of the tapeworms not how they're contracted but that's because it is reporting on a recent study about how widespread these worms are. Also it's from 12 years ago so I suppose it's unlikely to be up to date.

OH MY GOD does it fucking piss me off that some piece of shit owns "nutritionfacts.org" and uses it to spread outright lies about health. Fucking asshole. This video on youtube is over a decade old with countless views, and it directly implies that you can get a tapeworm infection in your brain from eating raw pork.

I've one on this rant several times before but I'll go on it again: Tapeworms have a complex life cycle where every single stage behaves completely different, and is contracted in a completely different way. The simplified version is that you will only get tapeworm larvae in your brain or other tissues if you ingest tapeworm eggs from fecal matter, such as in contaminated water, soil, or unwashed produce. The stage that can be found in raw meat is what becomes the adult tapeworm, which is very easy to treat and not life threatening. This video and many other fearmongering articles on "PORK tapeworms IN YOUR BRAIN!!!!" either does no research or deliberately leaves out the critical details in order to conflate all stages of tapeworm as the same exact thing and scare people into thinking they'll get it from a fucking hot dog. Naturally the comments on these are full of smug veganism of course. Don't tell them all the nastiest, deadliest food-borne illnesses pretty much come from lettuce. If you want to understand why it works that way I'll put the longer technical life cycle explanation under a cut:

So a tapeworm begins as a microscopic egg. It's very sticky, and it can survive a long time "hibernating" in that egg, like a sea monkey! The only thing that will hatch the egg is exposure to stomach acid when it gets accidentally swallowed by something. When this egg hatches, it becomes a specific type of larva that only exists to tunnel out of the stomach, keep tunneling through the tissues of the body, and eventually become a "cyst." This is another "hibernating" stage. It doesn't feed or grow. It just stays there hanging out in the meat, and unfortunately, sometimes hanging out in the brain tissue. The goal of this cyst is to be eaten again, by a carnivore. When this cyst comes into contact with stomach acid again, it begins development into the adult tapeworm, the one that just chills in your digestive tract and absorbs your digested food. This can grow very large and it can cause metabolic problems but it is not very dangerous; some people have one for their whole adult life and never know it. It is extremely easy to treat. The danger of the adult is that it produces the eggs, millions of them, which come out in the host's feces. As mentioned earlier, the only FOOD that might have these eggs on it is food potentially handled by someone who doesn't wash their hands, which unfortunately includes a lot of produce. Fecal contamination is very common in hand-picked vegetables, especially those that outsource to poorly treated, poorly paid labor (which is lots of them)

[bearyhumerus]

I dont want to reblog this post because its like 3km long but it's filled with so many half truths and inaccurate conclusions its crazy 🙏 first red flag for anyone reading it is that it's written by someone who is taking an animal agriculture class and extrapolating information they learned about cows and pigs to human biology lmao

[calsandmemes]

When someone’s spreading misinformation on nutrition and you gotta hold in the fucked up amount of knowledge you have on the subject

[vitos-ordination-song]

I haven’t looked into it deeply but why are ppl so freaked out about oils. When I look at a cheeseburger like that oils are the last health concern I have, lol

[deadbirdlife]

The content and tone of this person’s other post saying that “vets receive royalties for recommending specific brands” (false; what can be true is that vet offices may sell specific brands, which they may then profit on. I don’t love that, but it’s not royalties or a kickback) annoyed me enough that I checked whether they followed up with anything better. Instead, we got this. I’m blocking and moving on - I don’t have the time or inclination to engage with everyone who’s wrong about this topic - but I want to talk about one thing they said.

Specifically:

Do not do this. There’s a fucking reason vets recommend against grain-free diets: they’re linked to dilated cardiomyopathy. Don’t give your pet heart disease because you suspect that grain “upsets your pet’s stomach”. Even if a specific type of grain truly does upset your pet’s stomach, other grains likely don’t. Try several other dog foods with different proteins and/or different grains rather than switching to grain-free (=legume/pea based) dog foods.

Final answers in regards to oversold pet brands like Hill’s science diet etc in vet offices. I’ve seen what I’ve said being misinterpreted + the ‘opinions’ I had (again mostly misinterpreted) being responded to as if I’m demonizing vets/encouraging vet suicides/ a variety of awful things.

My point is NOT that veterinarians are bad. However, a lot of big brands DO give large donations to vet schools/work their way into vet school trainings so vets are instructed to recommend them.

Initially I mentioned payoffs for veterinary offices by pet brands. This was something I experienced in the vet office I worked at - boarding kennel + veterinary workers received a heavy discount along with small compensation by the vet clinic for a certain amount of brand referrals. This led to all staff recommending certain brands even when it wasn’t necessary for the pet. However, the brands also weren’t Harmful for the pets, and I don’t think anybody acted with intent to harm any pets. It just made me distrust the intentions of the brand. I’m not sure where anyone got the idea that I was saying vets are receiving large checks from Big Evil Co. They aren’t. Brands just suck. My phrasing was bad here, though. I apologize for insinuating that vets frequently take payoffs as individuals. It really doesn’t work like that, and my intent isn’t to sound like your local vet office is trying to harm your pet for profit.

Worming your way into the vet industry for profit is an insidious move on the part of brands. I don’t believe this makes vets bad. Vets do have your pet’s best interest at heart! I just believe that you should do your part to inform yourself on your pet’s individual needs as well. For example, most vets will recommend against grain free food, but if grain upsets your pet’s stomach, you should take that into account when receiving recommendations.

That’s all! All my respect to veterinarians.

[catmask]

honestly if i could absolve everyone of one thing it would be any lingering shame about not knowing how to take care of your body/health because of a home environment that didnt teach you how to or prevented you from doing so. i wince every time i see people snap at strangers online with 'how DIDNT you know that!?' to like, basic hygiene or nutritional information. or hell even just for having believed misinformation... i do think its important that, once youre an adult to form a curiosity about these things and i cheer everyone on who's still learning. i wish the world were gentler to us all, its difficult to know what it is you're lacking if you were never shown how to or taught the importance of how to care for yourself. i think we can all get there someday

[homeofhousechickens]

I saw this chart being shared around which was either made by an AI/bot or a very misinformed person (notice how it keeps repeating high nutrition value on colors that should def give you the ick) so I'm going to share my egg yolk color post from my patreon.

And here is my 2 year old patreon post if you want to learn what yolk colors really mean/ I think it covers everything besides blood/meat spots which are just due to the oviduct or blood vessels getting damaged in the egg laying process

"Its uncommon but sometimes egg yolks can come in a variety of colors besides shades of yellow and orange. Egg yolks are usually various shades of orange and yellow due to Xanthophylls, specifically Lutein. Xanthophylls are a yellow pigment and a type of carotenoid mostly found in leafy green plants. These pigments are what give free range chickens such a nice rich orange color to their yolks. There is a catch though, us humans know that lutein is what makes egg yolks that nice color so sometimes companies add it into their feed to give the impression that their poultry feed is healthier then their competitors. Sadly this also means that nice orange egg yolks don't necessarily mean the chicken that laid it lived a nice lifestyle. There are other egg yolk colors besides orange and yellow, such as white for example. This only happens when the hen in question is on a diet severely lacking in sources of Lutein, so no corn, leafy greens, grains, ect. So it usually means a chicken is lacking nutritionally and will be fixed immediately when on a better diet. Bright red is another color that can be caused by a variety of reasons. Red yolks can be from a hen eating a lot of sources of lutein and red pigments, such as nice green grass. peppers, or it can be from trauma in the oviduct which led to blood being in the yolk. Sometimes its just nutrition but its always safe to check your eggs over in case this is unusual for your hen. Another interesting color is black and green. These egg yolks are usually caused by cottenseed meal. They are this color due to an overabundance of Gossypol a yellow and brown pigment that is toxic in high amounts to both humans and chickens and very abundant in cottonseeds. Cottenseed meal is sometimes used in some poorer quality feed and silage as filler and as a protein source even though it has anti-nutritional properties. Sadly this can have a negative effect on chickens who eat to much causing long term damage to their digestive health and physically changing their crop. It can also cause eggs to become rubbery in texture and have pinkish egg whites. For these reasons you never want to eat egg yolks of this color. Lastly we have olive green. Olive Green egg yolks are most commonly caused by curious chickens eating acorns or by being fed acorn meal. Not only do acorns cause the bizarre change in color they also cause the eggs to taste weird. Acorns have a high amount of tannins in them, just like tea and just like tea they tend to have a naturally bitter flavor, not something you want to taste in your eggs! Tannins can also be toxic in high amounts so be mindful of your chickens diet if you see them. I think that covers most varieties and the reasons they happen. Its generally a good idea to not eat eggs that are questionable or a weird color in anyway, especially since some dangerous bacteria can change the color of the egg yolk or even the egg whites. So if your eggs arent the usual yellow and to reddish orange shades it may be a good idea to throw out the egg." https://www.patreon.com/posts/64183457

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

hey john, whats your favorite taste? or smell? or activity to do? lot of misinformation on tumblr about this and i want the truth

Hi, pissbong. Thank you for your questions.

My favorite taste is coffee, especially coffee that donates 100% of its profits to battling the global maternal mortality crisis.

My favorite smell is freshly ground coffee beans sourced directly from small farmers' collectives in Colombia.

My favorite activity is reading about the history of human responses to tuberculosis. The ways we symbolize illness have such a profound effect on the ways we understand and treat illness. Can we even REALLY say that the 100 million people who died of TB between 1951 and 2022 died as a result of tuberculosis?

For all that time, TB was usually curable and could also frequently be prevented through safe housing conditions and adequate nutrition. And so is TB *actually* caused by a bacteria, or is it actually caused by the injustice baked in to human-built systems that value some lives over others, and do not accept that universal access to healthcare, housing, and nutrition must be acknowledged as human rights?