Science, Not Policy.

                                                                  Albert Einstein

"Doing the same thing, over and over again and expecting different results". That statement made by my friend Rohen Kapur on his blog rang such a bell with me, I decided to use it myself. I'm sure that Rohen, now shorn of his disguise as Henry will not mind. He has, as you will see, cast his lot and a good slice of his dosh, into standing in the Election, which apparently is happening quite soon. Although I sadly cannot vote for him, I do urge those that can, to do so

It continues a theme of mine about the use of  'junk science' by the Politicians, Media and scurrilous members of the scientific community, who peddle 'advocacy research' as truth, to press home their politically correct viewpoint at the expense of both the truth and the health of the Nation.

We have been bombarded by the view, that we are killing ourselves and our children, with the wrong food and drink. Opening ourselves to Heart Disease, Stroke and Cancer, together with Diabetes and Obesity is all laid at the door of the Citizen, who it seems are all 'couch potatoes'. We are never talked to, we are only talked at, by the Agencies of the State, who, almost universally, advocate we should eat fruit and vegetables at the expense of proteins, and fat: well that's poison and is responsible, virtually on it's own for all the Heart Disease in the World. If such a simplistic view on Nutrition had any merit, surely after 20 years of peddling the same wares, we would have expected a sea change in the health of the Nation. Make like the three wise monkeys at the sight or mention of lard, of dripping or coconut oil otherwise you will die !

Fat people are now 'obese' and it is always their own fault, or in the case of their children, their parents. They are always told they are complicit in their own demise and virtually never believed when they relate how dedicated they are to their diets and their offspring. It is always assumed that the proletariat does not posses the brains they are born with. That they are incapable of adhering to simple diets, or have the welfare of their children at heart. Politicians, after seeking the vote of their electorate, whom they imbue with enough sense to make a choice between candidates, then deprive them of  commonsense in the execution of the simple protocols, given them by dietitians. It seems to never occur, to these architects of the disaster of Change 4Life,that they could be getting it wrong !

Twenty years is more than long enough, for the experiment in the diet that the exercise and '5 a day' guru's propound, as being the way to a long and healthy life, to yield at least some fruit (sic). We in the West and now in the East as well (because they have listened to us) continue on a downward spiral of obesity, diabetes, and cancer. We fail to heed any of the study results that refute the 'fat-diet-heart hypothesis' as being unproven even faulty and continue as Einstein said in the quotation I started with, to do the same. We have now recruited the Food Lobby to join in the advocacy of lunacy that Change 4Life is with promotion of 'smoothie' consumption, and heart 'friendly' breakfast cereals, all of which are laden with fructose, or worse that cheap sugar substitute, High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Is it not part of this madness that they tell you to cut your sugar intake, but also advocate consumption of smoothies ? Does it not impinge on those that peddle this nonsense that they are laden with sugar:  fructose. Fructose is a Sugar, worst it is a simple sugar that does not require insulin to be metabolised in the human. It does as a consequence, convert to fat more readily than almost any form of sugar available. HFCS has been attributed with other dangers, both to the liver and to high outputs of uric acid, an excess of which causes gout. There has been some small retreat from its use by Pepsico, who have stopped using it in Gatorade under  consumer pressure, but as its costs are half that of sugar (sucrose), use by the soft drinks industry remains almost universal. Perhaps its most insidious trait, is it does not evoke a response in the body to 'switch off' the need to stop eating or drinking. Most 'natural' foods sate the appetite and the brain tells us to stop eating, this does not occur with fructose. We have all felt the urge to eat, very quickly after the consumption of fruit, especially sweet fruit. This is a problem, as we then consume extra calories, all of which go to fat storage.

Similar reactions take place with breakfast cereals as HFCS has almost been universally adopted as the sweetening agent. Who could complain about using corn syrup to sweeten corn ? Well er... me! Intuitive statements in science, the most intuitive of all of course being that 'fat makes you fat', are nearly always WRONG. Science knows it, most of those making the products know it, I'm sure even some in the Food Standards Agency do, but are perhaps like many. It is not in their interest to 'rock the boat' of conformity. They've been doing the same thing for twenty years and there would be a lot of egg on a lot of faces to effect such a  change.

The truth is at last coming out but it's a long tunnel and as yet the light at the end is very dim. We need to rethink many things about our lives but most, of all we need to take possession of our own health and stop listening to the Food Industry Lobby it's called the Government !