Dietary Fads and Frauds
The folklore and superstition of cultures throughout history have attributed healing or harmful properties to certain foods. This tendency has not disappeared with the advent of the sciences of nutrition and medicine. Food folklore continues today, although in many instances it is inconsistent with scientific evidence.
Nutrition fraud is a comprehensive term used by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to describe the abuses that occur as a result of the misleading claims for traditional foods, dietary supplements, and dietary products and of the deceptive promotion of other food substances, processes, and devices.
Food faddism is a dietary practice based upon an exaggerated belief in the effects of food or nutrition on health and disease.
Food fads derive from three beliefs:
That special attributes of a particular food may cure disease.
That certain foods should be eliminated from the diet because they are harmful.
That certain foods convey special health benefits.
Food faddists are those who follow a particular nutritional practice with zeal and whose claims for its benefits are substantially more than science has substantiated.
Until Einstein's equation, E=mc�, which may also be written Calories=mc� is invalidated the only way to reduce weight (m) is to reduce the amount of calories consumed (E). In other words, to lose weight it is necessary to eat less calories each day than you burn up, and the only way to gain weight is to eat each day more calories than you use. [Herbert, J., (Chief Hematology & Nutr. Lab. Bronx VA Medical Center) : Nutrition Cultism - Facts & Fictions. 1981.]
Food quackery, which involves the exploitive, entrepreneurial aspects of food faddism, is the promotion for profit of special foods, products, processes, or appliances with false or misleading health or therapeutic claims. A food quack is one who pretends to have medical or nutritional knowledge and who promotes special foods, products, or appliances with false or misleading claims, usually for personal financial gain.
Nutrition fraud flourishes today because of the diversity of cultures, the historical tradition of concern for health and the use of natural remedies, and the introduction of advanced communication technologies.
Food faddism has its roots in Great Britain, where patent medicines were advertised and sold by everyone from hawkers to goldsmiths. In the colonies, legal protection of consumers against fraudulent claims was first recorded in Massachusetts Bayin 1630. Nicholas Knopp, was whipped and fined five pounds for selling a cure for scurvy that had "no worth nor value" and was "solde att a very deare rate". [Young, J.H. The toadstool millionaires: a social history of patent medicines in America before federal regulation. 1961.]
One of the earliest nutrition faddists was Sylvester Graham, a "back to nature" reformer who was suspicious of any food altered from its "natural" condition, such as white flour. His legacy continues among those who question whether processed food of any type can provide adequate nutrition.
Although, it must be noted that processed foods should not necessarily be eliminated from a persons diet because of this belief, it is true that without fortification the more a food is processed and thus differs from its natural form the less nutrient dense it will be.
Some groups such as fruitarians actually go a step further, they don't eat processed or cooked foods. The reason being that when a food is cooked it is not able to be digested and becomes toxic. There is no scientific evidence to back this argument to its fullest extent.
Popular interest in nutrition, coupled with concern about food shortages during World War I, was fostered by the increasing promotion of the health properties of foods in the early 20th century. Vitamins, by the very nature of their discovery, became associated with the prevention or cure of disease and were soon promoted as curative agents.
Today the travelling patent medical man has been largely replaced by the highly skilled and organized use of electronic means to promote fraudulent marketing - computers, customized mailing lists, national advertisements, and other mass media. The medium and the details have changed, but the message and the goals remain. It is difficult for consumers to evaluate the validity of the health claims perpetrated by quacks and faddists.
Purveyors of nutrition fraud capitalize on people's desire to be healthy and on the lack of certainty in many areas of nutrition and health. No writer for a lay audience has any special insights into nutrition which are not known by a substantial part of the scientific community. Magic and sensational diets are nothing more than exaggerations of one facet of nutrition at the expense of another, often to the detriment of the willing victims.
Read more diet-and-health.net
Nutrition fraud is a comprehensive term used by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to describe the abuses that occur as a result of the misleading claims for traditional foods, dietary supplements, and dietary products and of the deceptive promotion of other food substances, processes, and devices.
Food faddism is a dietary practice based upon an exaggerated belief in the effects of food or nutrition on health and disease.
Food fads derive from three beliefs:
Until Einstein's equation, E=mc�, which may also be written Calories=mc� is invalidated the only way to reduce weight (m) is to reduce the amount of calories consumed (E). In other words, to lose weight it is necessary to eat less calories each day than you burn up, and the only way to gain weight is to eat each day more calories than you use. [Herbert, J., (Chief Hematology & Nutr. Lab. Bronx VA Medical Center) : Nutrition Cultism - Facts & Fictions. 1981.]
Food quackery, which involves the exploitive, entrepreneurial aspects of food faddism, is the promotion for profit of special foods, products, processes, or appliances with false or misleading health or therapeutic claims. A food quack is one who pretends to have medical or nutritional knowledge and who promotes special foods, products, or appliances with false or misleading claims, usually for personal financial gain.
Nutrition fraud flourishes today because of the diversity of cultures, the historical tradition of concern for health and the use of natural remedies, and the introduction of advanced communication technologies.
Food faddism has its roots in Great Britain, where patent medicines were advertised and sold by everyone from hawkers to goldsmiths. In the colonies, legal protection of consumers against fraudulent claims was first recorded in Massachusetts Bayin 1630. Nicholas Knopp, was whipped and fined five pounds for selling a cure for scurvy that had "no worth nor value" and was "solde att a very deare rate". [Young, J.H. The toadstool millionaires: a social history of patent medicines in America before federal regulation. 1961.]
One of the earliest nutrition faddists was Sylvester Graham, a "back to nature" reformer who was suspicious of any food altered from its "natural" condition, such as white flour. His legacy continues among those who question whether processed food of any type can provide adequate nutrition.
Although, it must be noted that processed foods should not necessarily be eliminated from a persons diet because of this belief, it is true that without fortification the more a food is processed and thus differs from its natural form the less nutrient dense it will be.
Some groups such as fruitarians actually go a step further, they don't eat processed or cooked foods. The reason being that when a food is cooked it is not able to be digested and becomes toxic. There is no scientific evidence to back this argument to its fullest extent.
Popular interest in nutrition, coupled with concern about food shortages during World War I, was fostered by the increasing promotion of the health properties of foods in the early 20th century. Vitamins, by the very nature of their discovery, became associated with the prevention or cure of disease and were soon promoted as curative agents.
Today the travelling patent medical man has been largely replaced by the highly skilled and organized use of electronic means to promote fraudulent marketing - computers, customized mailing lists, national advertisements, and other mass media. The medium and the details have changed, but the message and the goals remain. It is difficult for consumers to evaluate the validity of the health claims perpetrated by quacks and faddists.
Purveyors of nutrition fraud capitalize on people's desire to be healthy and on the lack of certainty in many areas of nutrition and health. No writer for a lay audience has any special insights into nutrition which are not known by a substantial part of the scientific community. Magic and sensational diets are nothing more than exaggerations of one facet of nutrition at the expense of another, often to the detriment of the willing victims.
Read more diet-and-health.net
posted by KBG at
11:15 PM
