Americans need credible nutrition advice they can trust, not a choice between quacks and "experts" sold out to junk food companies.
By
I ran into an
acquaintance recently and he told me he’d started seeing a new nutrition
expert. “You know what?” he said, “It turns out I’m gluten intolerant.”
OK. Him and everyone
else. I told him I was glad he found an expert who could help him.
A week later I saw him
again. “I went back to the nutritionist,” he said. “I can’t have nightshades
either.” That means no more potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, or eggplant.
The next time I saw
him, he’d given up dairy, corn, black pepper, and sweet potatoes. I’m not really
sure what exactly he is eating at this point, besides cabbage.
He’s also taking a long list of supplements, all on this new nutritionist’s
orders.
I suspected that this
“nutritionist” has no license of any sort. She’s certainly not a registered
dietitian.
I finally asked him how
she tested him for allergies. She had him hold a glass vial of a particular
food in one hand and, with the other hand, hold his thumb to the tip of his
middle finger. Then she tried to pull his finger and thumb apart. If she could,
then she proclaimed him allergic to whichever food was in the vial he was
touching.
Searching the Internet,
I quickly discovered this bogus method of “allergy testing” is actually quite
widespread. Practitioners call it “applied kinesiology.” And, no, it doesn’t
work— unless it provides some sort of placebo effect.
Why are people falling
for this? Funny you should ask.
The answer might lie in
another disturbing trend. The very same week of my acquaintance’s revelations
about his numerous food allergies, Mother
Jones published a hilarious
yet sad account of McDonald’s catering the annual
conference of the California Dietetic Association.
That’s right.
Mainstream registered dietitians attended a conference sponsored and catered by
McDonald’s to earn continuing education credits to maintain their
certification.
There, they listened to
Walmart people claim that Walmart helps keep communities healthy. The Corn
Refiners Association, the high fructose corn syrup industry’s lobby group,
argued that high fructose corn syrup is just fine to serve kids in school
lunches.
With the mainstream
nutrition community under so much pressure from Big Food is it any wonder why
people are looking for alternatives and vulnerable to flaky fads?
And who is worse off?
The person who seeks help from a dietitian who takes nutrition advice from the
corn syrup lobby or the one getting assistance from a quack who believes she
can detect allergies using the “Pull My Finger” method.
In truth, there are
excellent nutrition experts out there. Bestselling authors like Michael Pollan
and Marion Nestle rank among them. Pollan’s advice is right on: “Eat food.
Mostly plants. Not too much.”
Even some registered
dietitians who belong to the corporate-sponsored Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics (formerly known as the American Dietetic Association) are fantastic
sources of nutritional advice.
One registered dietitian
told me she left the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics after it sold her
contact information to McDonald’s. But others prefer to stay in the
organization and work for reform from within.
Melinda Hemmelgarn is
one such dietitian. On her blog and radio show, both named Food Sleuth,
she interviews experts on every aspect of food, agriculture, and nutrition.
We need conscientious,
honest experts like her influencing our national nutrition policy and health
recommendations. And our registered dietitians don’t need any “education” from
the fast food and junk food industries.
After all, if
mainstream dietitians didn’t have to put up with that kind of pressure, fewer
people would fall prey to quacks who want to pull their fingers.
OtherWords columnist
Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe
for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It.
OtherWords.org
