The other day I was driven to rant on Twitter.
OK, "yet again", I hear you say. Yes I do rant now and then. But this one was special.
It was about some stupid ‘news’ that some American scientists had reported a link between eating red meat and dying. Or words to that effect.
Now if there’s one thing that never fails to get me ranting it is the latest food scare.
Some ‘scientist’, or ‘doctor’, or ‘random person with a vested interest in something’, makes an announcement that some food we’ve always known and loved is suddenly deadly. Mothers everywhere fear for their kiddies’ lives. Health freaks panic and stockpile yet more tofu and soya milk. And half the population wonders what on Earth there is left that is safe to eat.
Personally, I’d have all these people (who make rash pronouncements about the safety of everyday foods) taken outside and horsewhipped in front of their families.
OK, that may sound just a tad harsh, but in fact it’s no worse than what they are collectively doing to millions of vulnerable people. They may think they are doing good, saving animals from fulfilling their place in the food-chain. But in using scaremongering, causing mass public fear and anxiety to put people off meat, they are no better than the Nazis in my book.
Let’s examine the facts.
First, almost every food there is has been accused of being deadly at some time. Fat, especially the dreaded ‘saturated fat’, is accused of being utterly lethal, causing obesity, heart disease and all manner of other problems. Salt is another arch-culprit in the dock for causing high blood pressure, heart attacks and other lethal effects. And of course carbohydrates are universally the cause of excess weight, lethargy and ill health. Those three alone eliminate most foods from being edible, unless you are a fruit bat.
At various times we’ve been told to avoid eggs (too much Salmonella), fish (too much mercury and dioxin), red meat (too much fat), any barbecued food (more dioxins, plus chemicals called acrylamides), coffee, sugar, and of course alcohol. To name but a few. Even our daily bread is, we are told, full of fat and salt (actually without them bread would taste, and in fact be, just like cardboard).
Secondly, it’s the way they ‘test’ these dangers that is stupid. There are only two ways. One is by a statistical method, called ‘epidemiology’. Basically they survey hundreds of people for random facts about their lives, and if they can make a bit of a statistical link between, say, eating red meat and getting heart attacks, then they assume the two are connected. They largely ignore most of the millions of other reasons why those people may have had heart attacks (including what they worry about, or just the fact that they may have been genetically likely to get a heart attack anyway).
The other way they test is by some very dubious experiments. Usually with animals like rats, or sometimes even with cells in a glass dish. They expose these unfortunates to thousands of times the amount of the test food or chemical extract than you could possibly eat in a thousand years. And then see if the test animals or cells get cancer or whatever. The results usually prove that everything causes cancer. Or, in fact, almost nothing does unless you eat it by the truckload every day for decades.
And based on all this nonsense, and keen to make a name for themselves before someone else comes up with their stupid ideas, these peddlers of doom, these food Nazis, trot off and talk to the media. Headlines appear, and a food scare runs away with itself. Shopping parents go hysterical. Supermarkets go into panic mode. Newspapers go into frenzy mode. Forests go into newspaper pulp mode.
And all because some 'scientist' made a speculative and spectacular leap of an assumption. Or more often because some pressure group loony made a wild and sensational claim designed to shock the public into backing their own particular nutty obsession.
The reality of all this is so obvious you don’t need science. Just a measure of common sense. The answer? Eat what you like, but a bit less of it. Or as mum told us “A little of what you fancy does you good”. “Everything in moderation”. Eat a bit of everything, just cut down a bit on how much and how often.
And apart from that plain common sense, we also have another sense to help us too.
Throughout evolution we developed the sense of taste. Taste told us what was good to eat long before we had science, text books, web sites, the BB bloody C or indeed well-fed, bunny-hugging, foodie do-gooders.
When our ancestors were struggling to survive, they had basic needs for all the main food groups and nutrients. But in the absence of the BBC News (nowadays almost as sensational as the ‘Daily bloody Mail’) or the animal-liberation-front-RSPCA-vegan-mothers-against-eating-meat blackshirts, our forefathers and mothers chose what to eat based on their sense of taste.
Our cave dwelling forebears knew through their instinct that a good meal was one that tasted good. Through experience and instinct they knew what kept them alive and healthy. Those foods had fat and salt in them, and important nutrients. Those foods helped them feel well and sustained them.
The big difference now is just that most of us can satisfy that taste to excess. So we have to use our intelligence to control our portion size. Simples!
As a biologist by education and a longish career (yes I even did research a long time ago) I know quite a lot about the scientific process, and about the science behind food and also health. At least more than the average person. And even with all my scientific training and knowledge, there are certain common-sense rules which we should all heed.
Human beings thrive best on a varied, balanced diet, with lots of different foods. If we eat such a varied diet, and get plenty of exercise, we stand the best chance of a long and healthy life. Back in the 1950s diets included such delicacies as beef dripping on toast, yet people of that generation are living longer than any previous generation of humans.
So forget the food scares. Treat them all with a large pinch of salt.
Remember: You are what you eat. Therefore if you eat what you like, you will like what you are.
