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Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by Brian_K_White on Saturday October 05, 2024 @11:28AM (#41750556)
But of course can never happen because it only takes a minority to cry about a few factual bad stories and present the fallacious "is it worth it" argument. "Is your epicurian enjoyment worth even one dead baby?" And a majority who have no reason to think much about it go along with it because no one will say "yes it's worth it" and few are able to articulate how the question was invalid in the first place.

The opposite minority argument, that variety, depth, richness, are important, not luxuries, don't have their own dead babies to present. They do exist, but they aren't visible except in aggregate. You can measure a change in average health over the course of entire generations, and from that you can extrapolate the change in number or frequency of deaths, and then you could compare numbers of dead babies. But you can't obviously show any particular cause & effect because there are so many other variables, and even if you could, it took entire generations whole lives lived and died before they could benefit anyway.

Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by tyre on Saturday October 05, 2024 @11:36AM (#41750610)
okay wow deep breath, you can just ferment things at home, it’s fine, I did it twice last week
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by Brian_K_White on Saturday October 05, 2024 @12:00PM (#41750784)
That doesn't actually solve anything.
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by daneel_w on Saturday October 05, 2024 @12:15PM (#41750917)
How do you know until you've fermented something at home and risked life, limb, dead babies etc. by consuming it? I think more people die from food poisoning in restaurants each year than people do from doing something stupid while making sourdough bread, natto, tempeh, kombucha, beer, wine etc. at home.
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by elcritch on Saturday October 05, 2024 @04:19PM (#41752601)
Also, it’s usually pretty obvious when fermenting goes bad. My take is fermentation takes a while which really allows the biological process to become really positive or really rancid.
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by Brian_K_White on Saturday October 05, 2024 @05:15PM (#41752966)
It doesn't solve anything because it's an individual action to a societal problem.
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by daneel_w on Sunday October 06, 2024 @06:57PM (#41761080)
There's no societal problem of hidden deaths because of fermented foods. But assuredly there is because of "safe" ultra-processed convenience foods.
Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by Brian_K_White on Sunday October 06, 2024 @11:56PM (#41762656)
The societal problem is that we have low quality food. Across the board. Every where you go, all that's available is mostly low quality.

The option to spend more money, or have your own garden, or do some kind of home production is a vanishingly insignificant individual action that solves nothing except for like 11 people.

Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by gamblor956 on Saturday October 05, 2024 @02:40PM (#41751963)
But of course can never happen

Home fermentation of foodstuffs is allowed, and always has been.

Lots of people do it. Kits are available on Amazon, and many grocery stores will even sell them in-store. As other people on this thread of have pointed out, they ferment a lot of their own foods and drinks.

What isn't allowed is selling home-fermented stuff to others. When someone goes commercial, rules kick in to protect their customers

Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by Brian_K_White on Saturday October 05, 2024 @05:20PM (#41753004)
What can never happen is the majority agreeing that it's good, and actually doing it, and having this become so accepted that it is no longer disallowed for selling. Without selling, most people will not get it.

It's possible. A wave could go through where it becomes popular and the majority adopt some new attitude on that topic. But it "can never" because of the dynamic I expressed. That works against it. The new thought is not developing in a vacuum.

Re:Popular gut probiotic craps out in randomized controlled ... by gamblor956 on Saturday October 05, 2024 @06:16PM (#41753321)
having this become so accepted that it is no longer disallowed for selling.

This is a nonsensical train of thought that conflates multiple distinct issues.

Fermented products are already widely sold in stores and restaurants. And homemade foodstuffs can already be sold but are subject to the same rules and regulations that govern foods made in commercial facility. These rules generally preclude the sale of homemade fermented foodstuffs, because the risk of contamination if the foods are improperly fermented is extremely high and most home kitchens lack the necessary equipment or facilities needed because this is all very expensive compared to consumer equipment. This is why there are so few fermented foodstuffs available at farmer's markets in the U.S.; the initial capital outlay puts it out of reach.