To be a genuine SME on a science topic requires training, lengthy study, an open-minded but skeptical quality, and an enormous amount of objectivity. The last seems to be the hardest to come by. I'm currently reading an anti-vaccine book where the author is presenting basically solid information, but to me, he is undermining his own credibility simply because of his extreme passion on the topic (however, if he didn't have some passion, he probably wouldn't have written the book).
I believe with my chemistry background and extensive reading over the last six years, I am an SME to a degree on diet vs health. I'm fairly knowledgeable on heart disease but not to the same degree. My lipid numbers currently are HDL 126, LDL 73, and triglycerides 75. I believe part of the reason they are that good is that I don't ever eat Oreo cookies, or similar foodstuffs. I tend to think people who do eat large quantities of such things are ignorant at the least, with a good chance of being genuinely stupid, but as I am not going to live forever on my Oreo-free diet and am going to be deprived of all that comfort and pleasure, perhaps it's me who is really the stupid one.
The pediatrician Robert Lustig relates in one of his books a migrant farm worker mother with a six year old son weighing 100 pounds who was as wide as he was tall. The child drank no soda but consumed a gallon of orange juice a day, in part because it was free as part of the WIC program. Dr. Lustig explains in technical detail why this practice is a bad idea, and his arguments are difficult to refute. But this is a case of simple ignorance on the part of the mother, not stupidity, and there are many, many others, some fairly well educated, who may believe the same thing as this mom did.
Related to LMHR, MasterJohn has written about the importance of dietary choline in regulating LDL. This makes sense mechanistically because choline is required to efficiently transport other fatty acids.
Anecdotally (personal-scientifically), I’ve always struggled with slightly high triglycerides and LDL and low HDL, despite healthy diet/exercise, and adding a choline supplement seems to have helped.
This could potentially explain the Oreo observation: Oreos contain a significant amount of lecithin, which contains choline.
But you’d have to eat a whole package of Oreos to get as much choline as a single egg. Adding Oreos to your diet would probably only make a difference if you were initially very choline deficient.
To be a genuine SME on a science topic requires training, lengthy study, an open-minded but skeptical quality, and an enormous amount of objectivity. The last seems to be the hardest to come by. I'm currently reading an anti-vaccine book where the author is presenting basically solid information, but to me, he is undermining his own credibility simply because of his extreme passion on the topic (however, if he didn't have some passion, he probably wouldn't have written the book).
I believe with my chemistry background and extensive reading over the last six years, I am an SME to a degree on diet vs health. I'm fairly knowledgeable on heart disease but not to the same degree. My lipid numbers currently are HDL 126, LDL 73, and triglycerides 75. I believe part of the reason they are that good is that I don't ever eat Oreo cookies, or similar foodstuffs. I tend to think people who do eat large quantities of such things are ignorant at the least, with a good chance of being genuinely stupid, but as I am not going to live forever on my Oreo-free diet and am going to be deprived of all that comfort and pleasure, perhaps it's me who is really the stupid one.
The pediatrician Robert Lustig relates in one of his books a migrant farm worker mother with a six year old son weighing 100 pounds who was as wide as he was tall. The child drank no soda but consumed a gallon of orange juice a day, in part because it was free as part of the WIC program. Dr. Lustig explains in technical detail why this practice is a bad idea, and his arguments are difficult to refute. But this is a case of simple ignorance on the part of the mother, not stupidity, and there are many, many others, some fairly well educated, who may believe the same thing as this mom did.
Great post! Love the TOK (theory of knowledge).
Related to LMHR, MasterJohn has written about the importance of dietary choline in regulating LDL. This makes sense mechanistically because choline is required to efficiently transport other fatty acids.
Anecdotally (personal-scientifically), I’ve always struggled with slightly high triglycerides and LDL and low HDL, despite healthy diet/exercise, and adding a choline supplement seems to have helped.
This could potentially explain the Oreo observation: Oreos contain a significant amount of lecithin, which contains choline.
But you’d have to eat a whole package of Oreos to get as much choline as a single egg. Adding Oreos to your diet would probably only make a difference if you were initially very choline deficient.