Junk in your trunk? Blame junk science.

We all play the dunce once in a while.


Lots of Americans have extra junk in their trunk these days. For that matter, the whole world is getting fatter. If you have too much junk in your trunk, you may what to blame junk science.

Definition for Junk science from Wikimedia:

Junk science is a term used in U.S. political and legal disputes that brands an advocate's claims about scientific data, research, or analyses as spurious. The term may convey a pejorative connotation that the advocate is driven by political, ideological, financial, or other unscientific motives.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_science

Junk science is rampant in the American zeitgeist. Most of us believe nutritional and medical myths, like a low fat diet is heart healthy, because we've heard this nonsense repeated over and over. So it must be based on solid science, right? Wrong. The low fat diet myth is just one junk science myth we intend to cover here. Another will be the high carbohydrate diet pushed by the US government and agriculture. We'll explain why this nutrition advice train wreck is the main reason why we're seeing a sharp rise in obesity and diabetes.

Read "Faulty study on low carbohydrate and heart disease risk exposed by Carol Bardelli."

Junk science is fueled by a gullible media machine that rarely looks at the science behind the medical and nutrition studies they report on. Almost all of the mainstream media, nutrition "experts" and the medical community blindly accept health and diet myths. And when the proven science catches up to their beliefs, they stand fast.

Even Dr. Mehmet Oz, dubbed "America's Doctor" by his popular daytime talk show "The Dr. Oz Show" recently (February 24, 2010) said he was not a fan of low carbohydrate diets. This blanket statement on "all" low carbohydrate diets wasn't exactly a fair assessment of low carbohydrate eating. And it ignored a great deal of scientific studies showing the benefits of low carbohydrate diets. And he said this despite the fact he claimed to approve of low carbohydrate diets on an episode of "Larry King Live" also featuring Dr. Andrew Weil, an advocate of low carb.

Click here to read more and watch the video Dr. Andrew Weil endorses Gary Taube's "Good Calories, Bad Calories" on "Larry King Live."

Fruit Juice Is Bad, Obesity Epidemic Gets Worse, and Sleep Deprivation Leads To Overeating

Dietary Factors Appear To Be Associated With Diabetes Risk

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages or eating fewer fruits and vegetables both may be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas eating a low-fat diet does not appear to be associated with any change in diabetes risk, according to three reports in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Diabetes rates continue to increase, particularly in developed countries, according to background information in the articles. By the year 2030, 11.2 percent of U.S. adults are expected to have the condition. Obesity is the strongest modifiable risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.

In one study, Julie R. Palmer, Sc.D., of the Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University, and colleagues examined the association between type 2 diabetes, weight gain and the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks in 43,960 African American women. In 1995 and again in 2001, the women completed a questionnaire about the types of foods and beverages they typically consumed. A total of 17 percent reported drinking one sugar-sweetened soft drink each day, 32 percent drank one sweetened fruit drink each day and 22 percent had at least one glass of orange juice or grapefruit juice.

Over 10 years of follow-up, 2,713 of the women developed type 2 diabetes. Those who drank more regular soft drinks and fruit drinks—including regular soda, other fruit juices, fortified fruit drinks and Kool-Aid but not diet soda, orange juice or grapefruit juice—were more likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less of those beverages. Read more.


Study Suggests 86 Percent Of Americans Could Be Overweight Or Obese By 2030

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Most adults in the U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2030, with related health care spending projected to be as much as $956.9 billion, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Their results are published in the July 2008 online issue of Obesity.

“National survey data show that the prevalence of overweight and obese adults in the U.S. has increased steadily over the past three decades,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030 with approximately 96 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 91 percent of Mexican-American men affected. This would result in 1 of every 6 health care dollars spent in total direct health care costs paying for overweight and obesity-related costs.”

The researchers conducted projection analyses based on data collected over the past three decades from nationally representative surveys. Their projections illustrate the potential burden of the U.S. obesity epidemic if current trends continue. Read more.

Sleep Restriction Results In Increased Consumption Of Energy From Snacks

ScienceDaily (June 11, 2008) — Bedtime restriction in an environment that promotes overeating and inactivity is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks. This behavior may contribute to the increased risk of weight gain and obesity associated with short sleep hours, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 11 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

The study authors led by Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago, followed 11 healthy volunteers who each completed two 14-day studies in random order at least three months apart. Studies were carried out in the laboratory with five-and-a-half or eight-and-a-half hour bedtimes and ad lib food intake.

According to the results, when bedtimes were restricted to five-and-a-half hours study subjects consumed more energy from snacks. The carbohydrate content of ingested snacks also increased for this group. Read more.

Dr. Mercola & Hodge Podge Of Links & Videos

I'm off to Carson City for the day to shop, and to tour the house Jerry's been remodeling. He's very happy about how nice it's turning out. People are already showing interest in it although it's not officially on the market. This house is a two-story charmer overlooking the governor's mansion in one of Carson City's nicer historic districts. Seems everyone who enters this house falls in love with it. Now with all the upgrades it's irresistible.

Last night, Bruno and I stayed up late making a trampoline video but it came out sort of dark. We're going to do a remake today. The kid can jump for 30 minutes nearly non-stop. He's a bundle of energy. We'll post the video eventually.

When we get home, we'll make homemade pizza and play Scrabble into the evening. Sunday will be a relaxing day in the swimming pool. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm a fan of Dr. Mercola. He's (almost) always right.

Clearing Up Confusion On Non Sugar Sweeteners mercola.com



Is Whole Wheat Bread Really Good For You? www.mercola.com



Who Else Wants to Painlessly Lose Weight? www.mercola.com/MT



Lose Weigh With The Law of Attraction



Goodbye Gluten. Hit The Road High Fructose Corn Syrup by Dr. Mercola

HEALTH BOMB #1: High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has become a modern-day plague. Not only does it contribute to our obesity epidemic, but it has also been linked to:

* Pancreas dysfunction, diabetes and insulin resistance
* High cholesterol and heart disease
* Cancer
* High blood pressure
* Anemia
* Liver damage
* Infertility
* And more

Sadly, the average consumption of fructose has doubled between 1980 and 1994. Soft drinks and some fruit drinks are a major source of HFCS, but it is also found in many other products, from crackers to salad dressing. Read more.

Fat Friends And Poor Education Helps People Think Thin

ScienceDaily (July 25, 2008) — Research by economists at the University of Warwick, Dartmouth College, and the University of Leuven, finds that people are powerfully but subconsciously influenced by the weight of those around them. Without being aware of it, the researchers believe, human beings keep up with the weight of the Joneses.

For a whole society, this can lead to a spiral of imitative obesity. The researchers will present their results on July 25th at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Cambridge Massachusetts in a paper entitled Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility at the NBER Summer Institute on Health Economics.

Using data on 27,000 Europeans from 29 countries, the researchers find that nearly half of European women feel overweight. Less than a third of males feel overweight.

The authors suggest that whether for reasons of job promotions or finding a mate it is someone’s weight relative to others that matters. They show that overweight perceptions and dieting decisions are influenced by people’s comparisons with others of the same age and gender.

Highly educated Europeans hold themselves to a particularly tough standard, the research shows. For any given level of Body Mass Index (BMI), somebody with a university degree feels much fatter than someone with low educational qualifications.

Overall, the researchers believe that a person’s "utility" (an economic term roughly meaning satisfaction levels) depends on their own weight relative to the weight of those around them. They suggest that it is easier to be fat in a society that is fat.
Read more.

How Cranberry Juice Can Prevent Urinary Tract Infections

ScienceDaily (July 25, 2008) — For generations, people have consumed cranberry juice, convinced of its power to ward off urinary tract infections, though the exact mechanism of its action has not been well understood. A new study by researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) reveals that the juice changes the thermodynamic properties of bacteria in the urinary tract, creating an energy barrier that prevents the microorganisms from getting close enough to latch onto cells and initiate an infection. Read more.

Bruno's Science Project