Thread: Nutritionism
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Old 05-19-2009, 12:53 PM   #3 (permalink)
Alan Aragon
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Southern Cali
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Originally Posted by kuri View Post
I'd be especially curious to hear Aragon's thoughts on Michael Pollan.

This talk he gave at Google last year is fantastic, and think his books are brilliant.

Listened to 17 minutes, liked it, will listen to the rest in a bit. I agree with his assertion that a focus on nutrients over food is not necessarily a sound practice for the general population. It's sorta like taking the parts away from the context of the whole, and once the context is altered you don't necessarily have the benefits of the original food matrix. I discussed this in depth in AARR in an article I entitled, "Berried in Hope" which takes a critical look at the peddling of exotic fruit juices based on their antioxidant capacity. One thing I disagree with him on is the citing of ideas which were popular at various points; some of those he cited were just popular voodoo not born from research. I think he may have inadvertently lumped scientific investigation in the same boat as unfounded health faddism. The problem is that the general public doesn't necessarily have the skills to discern the research-based information from the bullshit. All in all, he presents some good points. And, we missed you at the Summit, dammit. Would love to see you & Aya at next year's Summit. This one was focking epic, man.
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