FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: A smack down of The Case Against Sugar, how to read animal welfare labels, and how to talk climate change with deniers

For the Love of Food
Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.
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This week a smack down of The Case Against Sugar, how to read animal welfare labels, and how to talk climate change with deniers.
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Links of the week
- In America’s Heartland, Discussing Climate Change Without Saying ‘Climate Change’ <<What I love about this article is that The Times actually went and spoke to real people outside the coastal bubble and focused on practical issues regarding the planet and our food supply. There’s also some great insights as to why they don’t always take warnings from scientists seriously. I think if we see more of this we can start having grown up discussions again about the very real issues we are all facing. (NY Times)
- Bad sugar or bad journalism? An expert review of “The Case Against Sugar” <<Epic take down of Gary Taubes sugar/insulin hypothesis. Taubes is a zealot, not a scientist. (Stephan Guyenet)
- What to Make of Those Animal-Welfare Labels on Meat and Eggs <<Excellent primer (with a handy chart) on the meaning of all those “humane” labels on animal products. This stuff still isn’t officially regulated (aka enforced) by the government so it can get dicey. (NY Times)
- Tomato flavor is broken. Can it be fixed? <<Industrial tomato producers are starting to realize that their grocery store tomatoes taste disgusting. Even more shocking, they are planning on doing something about it. (Vox)
- A way out of the junk-food eating cycle <<Pretty interesting new study shows you can pair a sound cue with healthy food and use that cue to break the automatic pull to unhealthy food (in rats, at least). Triggers are powerful. Time to start playing your favorite song whenever you eat salad? (ScienceDaily)
- France Bans Free Soda Refills in Attack on Obesity <<A few places around the globe have been experimenting with greater regulations on soda sales and for the most part they seem to be working to help reduce consumption. Will be interesting to see how this goes in France. (NY Times)
- Did the US Dietary Guidelines Cause the Obesity Epidemic? <<Probably not. (Stephan Guyenet)
- Fat shaming linked to greater health risks <<Being a jerk to someone doesn’t help them change their behavior for the better, it makes the problem worse. Science shows this over and over again. Don’t be a jerk. (ScienceDaily)
- Court Rules Against Monsanto, Allows California To Put Cancer Warning On Roundup <<A small victory against Monsanto’s pesticides that may start a trend. (CBS Sacramento)
- This is How You Step up Your Guacamole Game <<Just in time for Super Bowl. (101 Cookbooks)
What inspired you this week?
One of several responses to Guyenets “epic” takedown. https://novuelvoaengordar.com/2017/01/15/guyenet-refutes-the-idea-that-sugar-is-fattening/
I have read several post by Stephan regarding Gary Taubes and he comes across as a scorned lover. He should give it a rest.
I agree with Mike regarding Guyenet vs. Taubes. I wouldn’t call this an “epic” takedown either, since some of Guyenet’s arguments are imho bad science on his part as well (looking at cardiovascular disease mortality instead of occurence, etc…there are tons of exemples throughout his post).
Darya, I believe your friend Tim Ferriss is a big Gary Taubes zealot himself, your discussions with him about sugar must be epic! 😀
To be clear, nobody is arguing that sugar is good or that the insulin pathway isn’t involved in diabetes (that’s idiotic). Taubes is making a very specific claim that sugar is the sole cause of obesity and disease, and that it works directly through the breakdown of the insulin pathway to the exclusion of other methods (e.g. hyper-palatability via the dopamine pathway). That is very different, and it isn’t supported by the data.
The fact that individuals all respond so differently to different macronutrient ratios is itself a strong counterargument. Even the hardcore keto docs know that sometimes you just need to put someone on a low saturated fat diet to reign in heart disease markers (this just happened to my husband, and neither of us eat sugar).