Reader Beware--- of
WWW.com
The
world wide web is a wonderful source of information, even more so than going to
a reference library in any major city.
However, there is no such thing as modern day internet information
police, no one to say, whoa, if you break the law by publishing untruths as fact,
you go to jail. No, in this amazing
America, we have the freedom to do just that, publish untruths, that is. For that reason, it is reader beware.
I
was recently disappointed by a site that generally gives good advice regarding
nutrition, when I read an article that argued the merits of dining on foods
made with enriched all purpose white flour.
The article argued that using the enriched flour would give you the
important b vitamins (stripped out
with the fiber then added back in) that you might otherwise be missing from
your diet.
What
it did not mention was that eating foods made from refined flour (enriched or
not) which has no fiber to slow the digestive process, has an immediate effect
on blood sugar level. Because there is
no fiber to slow down the release of sugar, the body responds to the spike in
sugar by releasing insulin. The insulin
secreted by the pancreas does its job, reducing the blood sugar level which
then causes a tired feeling and makes the person crave more sugar. Eventually the cycle results in overload to
the pancreas, weight gain, obesity and diabetes. The more refined the carbohydrate, the faster
the release of sugar and insulin, the higher and lower the peaks and valleys of
energy and mood.
So
telling the reader it is okay to eat white flour because it will provide
beneficial b vitamins is like telling someone it is okay to eat Pufferfish (the
second most poisonous vertebrate in the world) because it is one of the best
sources of omega 3 that you might otherwise be lacking in your diet. Your autopsy will show you died of
tetrodotoxin poisoning, but that you had excellent levels of omega 3.
Still more untruths from well known sites:
Non-sugar sweeteners may help control weight and blood sugar by reducing caloric intake
This assumes the calorie in calorie out basis of weight
control is valid. It is not. Furthermore, artificial sweeteners are highly
acid forming in the body. The best way
to control blood sugar is to eliminate all added sugar, refined grains and avoid
acid producing foods including artificial sweeteners except for Stevia which
has been shown to be alkaline producing.
Tart cherries have the highest
anti-inflammatory content of any food
This article stated that according to researchers, cherries may help individuals
suffering from osteoarthritis manage their disease. But, tart cherries are NOT the highest
anti-inflammatory food. Cucumbers have
ten times the anti-inflammatory content.
Researchers arrived at their conclusions based on a study of 20
women---20 subjects! Really? Scientific study? And this was allowed to be presented at a
medical conference.
Fat makes you fat
This statement was from a popular food network star and
later reprinted on the corresponding website.
True that excess intake of saturated animal fat is nutritionally bad,
BUT the fat known as omega 3 is GOOD.
Grains, sugar and refined flour make you fat, not fat!
Low Vitamin B6 Linked to Inflammation
In this study, researchers looked at 2,229 adults. That is not bad! However, the only vitamin looked at was
B6. If B6 was low, you can bet that
there were other B vitamins equally low since B vitamins are never all alone in
their food sources. And maybe they
should have looked at each vitamin and mineral to rule them out as possible
links to inflammation. The fact is that
inflammation is the result of a diet of acid producing foods. Food is
linked to inflammation! The only
conclusion I draw from this study is that the researchers took a giant leap of
faith.
One
of the many ways in which I earn a living is writing. I recently began writing articles, op-eds and blogs for businesses who sell articles to their customers
who have websites covering the whole spectrum of topics that one finds on the
world wide web. I, as most content
writers do, subscribe to writing job boards and obtain writing assignments
through a bidding process. Personally, I
never bid on a job unless the subject is one in which I have some level of
expertise, such as food, or based on personal experience, such as my personal health
and wellness. Being part of the process
has provided me with knowledge of how the articles come to be on those sites,
and furthermore, explains why so many of them are misleading and unreliable,
not to mention inaccurate.
Without
naming names, the process goes like this.
A writing service, Words and More Words (fictional name) contracts with
the website owner of ABC Financial Services (also fictional name) to provide 5
articles per week on any subject of interest to its readers, with a length of
500 to 700 words each. Words and More
Words advertises for a writer on a job board who can write in good English, the
only qualification. The advertisement
asks the writer to bid for 5 articles with 2 rewrites of each for a total of 15. There is no specific topic mentioned. The writers bid. Lowest bid (usually from outside the U.S.
where they can afford to charge much less) gets the job.
Does
it matter to Words and More Words that the subject matter was not specified? No. Does
it matter to the writer? No. Why?
Because everything the writer needs to know is already written on the
web. The writer simply searches to find
information for the article, writes it, rewrites it 2 different ways and
submits 15 finished articles to Words and More Words. The writing service then submits 5
of them to ABC Financial for posting to their website. The other ten are sold
to various other customers or to another provider of content who maintains a database
of rewritten articles for sale. And the same
misinformation that was already on the web spreads like a rampant virus. No one is an expert on everything and few are
experts at some things, but web content providers have their own version of a don't ask, don't tell policy and just don't care.
The conclusion is this. As my logic professor of many years ago often
said to me and my equally naïve classmates, “question authority”. By that he did not mean just government,
church, or parental. By that he meant,
consider the source of information. Question the authority of the writer, the
expertise, the veracity, the reliability, the source! Reader Beware!
Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB
P.S. My
current book EAT SMART, AMERICA, AN ANTI-AGING DIET PRIMER $ 2.99 is available now for Kindle on
Amazon
and for NOOK at Barnes & Noble
