Paranoid peopleIt may seem easy to dismiss them, but consider that many are actually quite intelligent and “talking down” to them will only make things worse.
Let's recount a few cases I know of:
Maryanne DemasiAs many Australians know, she landed in hot water for her Catalyst episodes on heart disease and Wi-Fi (which were since withdrawn by the ABC).
Frankly, in “Heart of the Matter” she could have chosen better correspondents on
both sides; saturated fat/cholesterol dissenters less-associated with flagrant quackery would have helped (if they exist…), as would mainstream professionals not from the Heart Foundation (which gained some infamy for granting their now‑defunct Tick to some sugary foods).
I'm no medical doctor, but what I can piece together from available information is:
- Saturated fats are indeed the most stable, but their straight molecular chains facilitate the formation of plaques.
(The Heart Foundation would have done far better to explain the latter, rather than resorting to the emotional beat of being “shocked” at Demasi's deed.)
Myristic (14 carbon atoms) and palmitic (16 carbon atoms) acids are the main concern, lauric (12 carbon atoms) is marginally better; however stearic acid (18 carbon atoms) seems to be surprisingly benign, so if it can be economically refined then it becomes a viable solution to the solid-fat conundrum… - Monounsaturated fats are slightly less stable, but have a bend at the double-bond making them much less prone to forming plaques.
So if you have to add extra fat to a meal, they are probably the most healthful (or least unhealthful) overall option there. - Polyunsaturated fats are noticeably less stable again, although omega-3 and omega-6 are essential in some quantity (much less than in the American Diet).
Many seed oils however have an excess of omega-6 (pro-inflammatory) without enough omega-3 (anti-inflammatory) to counteract it; the criticality (or otherwise) of this balance is somewhat contested, but if you use canola rather than (say) sunflower oil it's easy enough to stay on the safe side. - Finally, almost* everyone agrees that trans fats are the worst of both worlds; they are technically unsaturated, but have straight chains like saturated fats.
How much worse they are than saturated fats is subject to debate and/or interpretation, but definitely not something to prefer.
*Sandy Szwarc may herself count as an example here, as she's largely a crack-libertarian although she makes an occasional good point; that 85th and 95th percentile business was/is, at best, a lazy way of classifying “overweight” or “obese” kids.That being said, whether swapping saturated fats for monounsaturated is actually a
sensible exchange is another question; liquid oils are fine for frying in (although unsaturated fats do degrade somewhat from the heat, and the meal shouldn't actually retain that much oil if you're frying it properly), but in baked treats (cakes, biscuits etc.) you're putting the fat in to produce the desired texture/consistency, and replacing solid fats with a liquid oil isn't that
.
Demasi also aimed to draw more attention to side-effects of statins (you may debate if her attention was proportional to reality), but nowhere did she claim that they don't work. My own assessment is that you should take them if you have heart problems
despite living a healthful lifestyle (or as healthful as is practical under your circumstances), although if every available statin causes intolerable side-effects then you might be willing to risk going without them; don't just devour the Standard American Diet and use statins as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Anyway since being booted off Catalyst, she staggered around until getting lost in the
infamous Brownstone Institute.
Graham LinehanBest known nowadays for his all-consuming transphobia (amply detailed elsewhere so I won't repeat that myself), he once directed Father Ted and The IT Crowd.
Of course, these are technically connected in that the IT Crowd episode “
The Speech” contained a tacitly-transphobic subplot (although even some real transwomen admit it wasn't
that bad, at least by 2008 standards), for which Channel 4 withdrew it after receiving some complaints and doing an internal review.
I won't coddle anyone involved here – Linehan's reaction has been massively out of proportion, but at the same time Channel 4 could have better-handled their end of the drama (say by putting The Speech's fate up to an audience vote).
Not that any sane person expects bureaucratic institutions to behave rationally; but given that episode's priceless “
The Internet” subplot, many viewers have been happy enough to forgive its sins. (Although now that the UK has swung so far back in the anti-trans direction, I'm a bit surprised they haven't reinstated it
)
Perhaps the moral of the story is:
Don't treat anybody as an idol, even if they haven't
yet done anything wrong…
That aside, it's often hard not to be paranoid when you deal with things like:
De-Solv-it (basically the Australian version of Goo Gone)They've
really pulled a fast one by boasting about their “Natural Citrus Base” when
their own MSDS admits it's mostly hydrocarbons (and unsurprisingly, burns like nobody's business if you set it alight; but strangely lacks the standard flammability symbol). And it's supposedly “biodegradable”?
- Hitoha hates hypocrisy.png (427.98 KiB) Viewed 3652 times
I know proper orange oil is expensive, so making a cheaper mixture is understandable; just don't make out like it's as eco-friendly or “natural” as the real thing.
by LongRunner » April 10th, 2024, 4:08 pm 
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