> probiotics being universally healthy is one of the most dogmatic nutrition facts that anyone can recite

Considering that probiotics are formally defined as having a beneficial effect when ingested, there is good reason for this to be "dogmatic".

The question then would be "what's a probiotic and what isn't?"

What isn't probiotic: definitely antibiotics.

But it increasingly seems that inaction is inconsequential. The only dietary information I trust is to keep your weight down. Being overweight puts extra strain on joints, ligaments, as well as internal organs. Everything else just seems like the fad dujour.

Right, what I meant is that you aren't taking the "eh, this is too controversial to make a decisive health decision" route when you're still going out of your way to consume things you otherwise wouldn't.

The parent post seemed to dismiss things as controversial, so I suggest that you can indeed take action on controversy: avoid buying those supplements.

There is a religious aspect to coconut oil. People believe it cures everything. It's just saturated fat.

I heard Coconut Oil was in secret negotiations to develop Half-Life 3. In all seriousness, everyone's always looking for an easy, digestible answer, whether that be diet, politics, or information. This is why engineers and experts who understand the incredible complexities of an issue tend to make poor salespeople, when you know all the edge cases it can be hard to give a simple answer because most people are inherently good and honest. The best sales and support people tend to be those that can distill complex concepts down to meaningful summaries without losing important information.

The only 'controversy' around coconut oil is that it is very high in saturated fat - much more so than lard, beef dripping or even butter.

It doesn't appear to have any mitigating health factors, as had been claimed (a lot, by a lot of people and a lot of the press), that would count against this. So it appears to be a really unhealthy fat, which should be used sparingly.

There is still a debate about how unhealthy all unsaturated fat is - so no, they shouldn't avoid it.

... which is basically making Bucephalus355's point for them. There's too much confusion, too many unsubstantiated claims.

Well it has medium chain fatty acids. Most saturated fats are long chain.

trans-fats are unambiguously bad for you. There's been a lot of spillover demonization of saturated fats which I don't trust at all.