I am so endlessly frustrated by the fact that we seem to abandon science in favor of anecdotal evidence or authoritative statements, especially when it comes to food and diets.
Recently an article was written about a 1 year old happy meal. The meal was stored in an office and hadn't shown any signs of rot in a year. It was a well written article to be sure, and it made its way around the internet at lightning speed, as you would expect with such a sensational story. It turns out though, the problem with all of this was the conclusions that not only the author took from this 'experiment', but even more so, the acceptance of these conclusions by the media. The people who should be reviewing blog entries, and pop culture stories and helping us to understand what to take away from them, didn't bother to review the conclusions. They all just jumped on board.
McDonald's food is so bad for you that even microbes won't eat it. McDonald's happy meals aren't food they are chemicals. Fast food is so lacking in nutrients it can't rot. These were the conclusions that were reached and went unchallenged. These are extremely questionable conclusions to jump to without evidence to back them up. Yes, we have a burger that didn't rot, but what were the conditions it was kept in? Was it dry? Did the burger dry out? Was it stored with an identical home made hamburger? What were the condiments, what was the temperature... The questions go on an on, but the real question is where is the science?
At the very least there needs to be a control. There needs to be another burger stored in the identical conditions to see if it is the conditions or the specific burger that is at issue. That is what science does for us, it creates a controlled environment so you can limit the number of variables you are testing and be more sure that the items you vary are responsible for the differences in observation. It is entirely possible that the McDonald's hamburger is whipped up in a factory and has no food product in it whatsoever. It is entirely possible that McDonald's burgers wouldn't rot if you threw them into a bacteria laden cesspool. All of this is possible, but an extreme stretch of all logic given the facts laid out.
It is this same choice to ignore the science that we see nearly daily now with weight loss plans, schemes and scams. The worst of these diet plans without any evidence, scientific or otherwise, is Kirsty Alley's Organic Liaison diet plan. This diet plan offers us no evidence that it helps with weightloss at all. She launched it with all of the testimonials being her employees!! None of them had appeared to lose weight either. One of them was her 'Chubby Buddy' from TV whom she has hired a personal trainer to train.... Almost any diet will work with a personal trainer. Nothing is being isolated here. There is no science behind this diet, and without science, you really have no reason to believe a product works. Why would you believe? Because a celebrity you like says so? Ya, because they never back a ridiculous product for money? They never stretch the truth for a paycheck...
We believe fit people and celebrities all of the time and they keep selling us junk that doesn't work. We replace our rational ability to analyze the quality of a product with the assurances of a person who acts for a living... Even when all evidence is to the contrary that the diet works, for example, the spokes person weighs more than they ever have in their life, we believe. How about when the spokesperson is fit, like Jennifer Nicole Lee, who uses the Ab Circle Pro. We should believe her, she is fit and she used the Ab Circle Pro to get fit, right? Nope, she will even admit when pressed that she was winning bikini contests long before anyone had even invented the Ab Circle Pro...
So, who do we trust? We need to trust ourselves. Do the legwork, look for the science. There has to be studies to support the claims. Ideally double blind, with a control group. You need to be able to read and understand the studies. Without a study, the product may very well be useless, and they are hoping you invest in their product. Make these manufacturers work harder for your money.
What do you think? Do we need more science in our weight loss products? Should we believe experts and celebrities and what is the difference?
By the way, if you want to see an experiment involving rotting hamburgers, you can find one here... It may not be laboratory science, but it is a start:
http://youarenotafitperson.com/2010/05/0...