doreen T
Wed, Nov-01-00, 07:09
1) Several years ago, I was involved in a drug study, ie, as an RN, I was part of the research team - monitoring cardiac/pulmonary function, drawing blood, recording data, etc. The research was completely funded by an international drug giant, even my meals and parking were paid for. The purpose of the study was to find a specific desired result for the new use of an old drug. That's the thing with privately funded research. The scientists are mandated to get specific desired results. All too often, other discoveries made along the way get "brushed aside" or minimized. And researchers know that if they want to keep the funding coming, they had bloody well better find the desired results.
2) As part of a physical rehab. program (I have fibromyalgia and CFIDS) I had to attend "nutrition counselling". A dietician from the local public health unit came in one morning a week and gave generic talks to a large group of people with all variety of health needs, nothing individualized at all. (Ya gotta love insurance companies!!) It was like a mantra "fat kills, eat more fiber, fat kills, eat more fiber" She handed out pamphlets with the red Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation symbol on the front cover. It continued the theme of how eating ground beef, butter or egg yolks would cause instant clogging of the arteries, and we'd all keel over in a second from eating these things. I flipped it over, and there on the back, in wee tiny print, were the words "provided free of charge by the makers of BECEL margarine".
3) Billions and billions of dollars are invested in the lowFAT food industry. Remember when pasta meant spaghetti, macaroni and egg noodles, maybe a shelf or two in the store?? Now, it's like a food fair! And fat-free cookies and crackers, and nachos and chips. . . . Make no mistake, the companies that manufacture these over-refined, de-nutrified foods are spending a fortune to pay for research that will "prove" their products are "healthy". (Personal rant here: Notice that our Canadian wheat farmers, producing the whole, unrefined, natural thing, aren't getting any richer from all this lowfat propaganda? - just the manufacturers)
Just personal observation, thanks for reading this rant. It's so frustrating to read big, loud headlines that shout how the latest research shows this, and another news-breaker study shows that, and when you actually read through the findings, it doesn't show anything meaningful or conclusive at all.
Doreen
2) As part of a physical rehab. program (I have fibromyalgia and CFIDS) I had to attend "nutrition counselling". A dietician from the local public health unit came in one morning a week and gave generic talks to a large group of people with all variety of health needs, nothing individualized at all. (Ya gotta love insurance companies!!) It was like a mantra "fat kills, eat more fiber, fat kills, eat more fiber" She handed out pamphlets with the red Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation symbol on the front cover. It continued the theme of how eating ground beef, butter or egg yolks would cause instant clogging of the arteries, and we'd all keel over in a second from eating these things. I flipped it over, and there on the back, in wee tiny print, were the words "provided free of charge by the makers of BECEL margarine".
3) Billions and billions of dollars are invested in the lowFAT food industry. Remember when pasta meant spaghetti, macaroni and egg noodles, maybe a shelf or two in the store?? Now, it's like a food fair! And fat-free cookies and crackers, and nachos and chips. . . . Make no mistake, the companies that manufacture these over-refined, de-nutrified foods are spending a fortune to pay for research that will "prove" their products are "healthy". (Personal rant here: Notice that our Canadian wheat farmers, producing the whole, unrefined, natural thing, aren't getting any richer from all this lowfat propaganda? - just the manufacturers)
Just personal observation, thanks for reading this rant. It's so frustrating to read big, loud headlines that shout how the latest research shows this, and another news-breaker study shows that, and when you actually read through the findings, it doesn't show anything meaningful or conclusive at all.
Doreen