Eight of the most outlandish food health claims

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jul/08/eight-most-outlandish-food-health-claims
<snip>

Think today's faddy diets and superfoods are bad? In years gone by, the public was told that Coca-cola cures impotence, biscuits prevent masturbation and pomegranate juice cheats death

Who knows what constitutes a healthy diet any more? The backlash against carbohydrates – and the growing consensus that butter, cheese and eggs might not be so bad for us after all – represents a dramatic departure from the low-fat doctrine of recent decades. Barely a day goes by without new headlines trumpeting the miraculous powers of some food or drink (chocolate, for instance, or red wine), frequently followed by others saying precisely the opposite.

Manufacturers, the advertising industry and the media have long indulged our appetite for "wonder foods". Remember the one about Coke curing impotence? Or sugar as a diet aid? No? For your benefit, then, here is a round-up of some of the most outlandish claims made over the years – a suggestion, perhaps, that today's health headlines may best be taken with a pinch of (low-sodium) salt.

Today, you can buy "low-calorie" Skinny Water at supermarkets – a confusing prospect for those of us who thought all water was calorie-free– and, until a few years ago, sugar-laden breakfast cereals were being sold as a way to improve attentiveness and bolster the immune system. All of which goes to show that miracle claims are far from a thing of the past.
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more at link

[hobbit709]

1. Water isn't "skinny" until it magically becomes transformed through advertising.

the human animal has survived because it's an omnivore-anything above the level of grass we can get enough nourishment from to find something else to eat.

Morning Malaise. Standing Spring this morning.

[malaise]

2. LOL

Good Morning hobbit709 - a delish cup of Cafe Blue

[customerserviceguy]

3. Food faddism

is like either a substitute for or a supplement to religion. There are all kinds of "thou shalt nots" and plenty of guilt when you break the artificial rules.

It seems that some people need ritual in their lives to have something to live by, and chasing the latest "x-free" craze will provide that.

[LiberalElite]

4. Then there's the alternating claims that coffee

is good for us-bad for us-good for us-bad for us-good for us........

[malaise]

5. If coffee is bad for us

I'm in deep trouble - sips some more.

[FSogol]

6. Good article, but they say that you'd have to drink 3 pints of Guinness "to get the same amount of

{iron} provided by an egg yolk" like drinking 3 pints of Guinness is a bad thing.

[malaise]

7. LOL for a Guinness

fan How does anyone drink stout? It's a nice flavor for ice-cream