āMarion Nestleā seems a rather unfortunate name for someone decrying the corporate influence over nutritionists.
I am just non-native speaker and I apologize for my stupid question, but there is something I have noticed in several articles recently.
What do you mean by ācorporatismā, @doctorow?
As I would understand the term, the California Dietetic Association sounds like something that is a corporatist entity or at least would like to be one. On the other hand there is nothing especially corporatist about McDonaldās. Am I misunderstanding the term?
Wikipedia: Corporatism.
Loosely, itās the flip side of fascism. In fascism, government initiates a merging of government and corporate interests. In corporatism, the corporations initiate a merging of government and corporate interests.
Each and every day, a new shocking revelation.
The corruption and lies, the torture and tyranny, are shown each day, to the shock of all sensible people.
All the industries and governments are now run by rats, it seems.
We all want to fix it, but it seems so much has already been lost.
It feels so damn hopeless, now. It feels like theyāve won.
How the hell do we fight them, when theyāre everywhere?
I am familiar with that page. The last time I checked that was minutes before my comment to make sure that I am not missing something obvious in English usage. However it seems that many people apply the more restrictive everyday definition of a corporation as an incorporated business to that, which to me misses the point. So I wanted to know what Cory meant and whether my understanding of the term matches current real-world usage in English.
Donāt give up hope. It may be a terribly long battle, and things will surely get worse before they get any better ā but we can still win.
Well, in this case weāre talking about multinational incorporated businesses. so whether corporatism includes other things as well is surely not particularly relevant?
I do believe that this will either get fixed, all of it- or weāll all die, eventually.
The process might take a couple of hundreds of years, but itās either-or.
Itās not a sustainable way of life, and so can not continue indefinitely.
I do believe we live in a self-regulating process, so thereās hope.
I just wish there was some god damn decency amongst these people, you know?
Iām crossing my fingers weāll beat them in the end, but short of a literal and terminal beating, I just donāt see how.
This is only my opinion, but being on the producer and consumer side of products has lead me to this conclusion.
Allowing producers to justify their position with a ānuggetā of truth is the core problem. And this exists in food, software, pharma, etc.
When you say āsunchips provide dietary fiberā and āNorton antivirus stops malwareā its the same argument. Sunchips give you 10% of fiber at the expense of 110% sodium, and AV gives you 30% protection at the expense of 70% exploit vectors.
Its the little truths that hide big lies that are wrecking us. And I have no clue how to solve it.
Food industry coopting nutritionists? I say itās just the opposite. I can remember when a Big Mac could kill a man; now itās just tofu and bean sprouts. They even have salads at Burger King. Salads! I donāt see no sign that says Salad King, do you?
Any changes in menu at fast food joints is purely an attempt to expand market share, respond to a perceived market demand, or to increase profitability.
Mostly that last thing.
It is actually tofuuTM ā processed kangaroo meat and byproducts.
The Burger King salads? Made out of processed cultured fungus that was originally collected from The Burger Kingās toes.
This article seems to be somewhat misleading. A ānutritionistā is NOT a medical professional, and in most states there are no credentials for being a ānutritionistā. In most cases anyone can call themselves a nutritionist.
On the other hand, a āregistered dietitianā or RD is a certified medical professional. Read up here for more information on the big differences between the two ā¦ http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/whats-the-difference-between-a-dietitian-and-a-nutritionist.html
Cory post a misleading article with sensationalist headline, pfft that never happens.
Glad this was said. The field of Dietetics / Nutrition science suffers from brand confusion. The field is populated by a mixture of practitioners ranging from highly trained professionals with vast knowledge on one side, and on the other, hucksters or well-meaning amateurs who decided that their neighborhood market of suckers was already saturated with yoga instructors and life coaches. The term āRegistered Dietitianā could separate the two, if anyone had any idea that it was a thing that existed.
This is a PR battle that is completely lost on the part of the association of registered dietitians. Probably part of the problem is that the word ādietā is irrevocably soiled by the connection to weight loss schemes and body dysmorphia. The word also sounds like beautician, politician and technician, (fine, physician, but most people say doctorā¦) whereas nutritionist sounds like scientist. Hopefully the anti-gluten movement is just ridiculous enough to make people pay attention to the science that is actually out there.
Marion Nestle is a coauthor of the book Why Calories Count which I highly recommend.
Cory is decrying the excessive influence of large multi-national businesses in society as a whole and our government here. Thatās what heās getting at by corporatism. The CDA appears to be a non-profit professional organisation for medical professionals as opposed to a corporation.
Its also odd that he refers us to Ben Goldacre. A guy who built a large part of his public career on pointing out that nutritionists are not medical professionals.
Nutritionists are typically quacks. In the US the term for a credentialed medical professional is Dietitian, although some Dietitians use āNutritionistā as a sort of trade name since the public seems to recognize it more. The Organisation running this event (and the event itself) seems to be a professional organisation for Dietitians, so actual medical professionals.
Meh.
I would be more alarmed were it not for the fact that nutritionists have already steered America (in particular) straight into gaping maw of an obesity epidemic with their extremely outdated (and thoroughly debunked) war on cholesterol, dietary fat, and even protein, all while emphasizing the importance of (spit) āwhole grainsā.
Sadly, 'twas the American Heart Association that fed them that particular message. And notably, the American Heart Association has backed away from that position, though the nutrition community has apparently yet to get the memo.
The moral of the story seems to be that nutritionists will believe almost anything you tell them if you wrap it in a vaguely science-y wrapper.
