Re:There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast
by maxerickson on Monday May 23, 2016 @02:44PM
(#11755886)
People were aspirationally eating the highly processed flour anyway. Adding vitamins made that healthier!
Nixtamalization is an easy example of a process that enhances nutrition. Perhaps the world would be better if people were not constrained to eating so much corn that it mattered, but that isn't the world we have. The list of beneficial processes goes on and on and on, but I like that one because it involves adding caustic chemicals to a starchy grain. Another good one is pickling. Controlled rotting with those hip probiotics!
The issue with modern food science isn't that it is over reductionist nonsense, it's that it is used to decrease satiation and increase palatability. It turns out that when huge resources are devoted to figuring out how to get people to eat more, you get results. I cringe every time I see Sabra Hummus advertise their great new idea, a fourth meal where you and your family cram Sabra Hummus in your mouth.
I certainly hope we can take our medical understanding of diet and nutrition to a place where it is easier to help people lead healthy lives, but I'm not going to sit here and look at the elimination of deficiency diseases as the start of some sort of modern disaster.
Nixtamalization is an easy example of a process that enhances nutrition. Perhaps the world would be better if people were not constrained to eating so much corn that it mattered, but that isn't the world we have. The list of beneficial processes goes on and on and on, but I like that one because it involves adding caustic chemicals to a starchy grain. Another good one is pickling. Controlled rotting with those hip probiotics!
The issue with modern food science isn't that it is over reductionist nonsense, it's that it is used to decrease satiation and increase palatability. It turns out that when huge resources are devoted to figuring out how to get people to eat more, you get results. I cringe every time I see Sabra Hummus advertise their great new idea, a fourth meal where you and your family cram Sabra Hummus in your mouth.
I certainly hope we can take our medical understanding of diet and nutrition to a place where it is easier to help people lead healthy lives, but I'm not going to sit here and look at the elimination of deficiency diseases as the start of some sort of modern disaster.