Food ‘experts’ aren’t always so

?The information on the Healthy Home Economist is provided for informational purposes only. It is in no way intended to substitute for the advice provided by your doctor or other health care professional?. The nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice.? ?HEALTHY HOME ECONOMIST WEBSITE

The above disclaimer, taken from the Healthy Home Econo?mist website, suggests the principal owner and author does not advocate in any way nor advise people on nutritional issues.

Yet, that is exactly what they are doing, and using unreliable research to do so. They have not passed scrutiny by the greater scientific community that relies on peer-reviewed methods to validate their studies.

Sarah, the proprietor of the website, is an economist by training. She is not a home economist, nor has she any experience in the food industry. She is simply a consumer with a passion and knows just enough about food to be dangerous.

Consider one of her latest gems: ?The real reason wheat is toxic.? In it, she claims that a common practice just prior to wheat harvest is that farmers ?drench? the wheat plants with Roundup several days before harvest. In response to this practice, the wheat ?releases? more seeds, resulting in a higher yield.

And that?s just the beginning of the tale she weaves.

A study conducted by two researchers, Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, suggested that glyphosate use appears to be strongly correlated with the rise in celiac disease.

The real kicker is that these two researchers didn?t conduct their own study, but took information from a host of sources that seemed plausible, put them together to fashion their hypothesis and wrote their conclusions as if it were scientific fact.

By the way, the researchers are not qualified to make any study nor any claim regarding nutrition. Seneff has an advanced degree in electrical engineering and is a senior research scientist in the Computer Science and Artificial intelligence Lab at MIT. She describes herself as having ?recently become interested in the effect of drugs and diet on health and nutrition.?

Samsel describes himself as an ?independent scientist and consultant,? and does ?charitable community investigations of industrial polluters.? Meaning, he?s paid to come up with this stuff, according to the Huffpost blog.

The ills reported in this study from the alleged use of Roundup as a pre-harvest desiccant and yield enhancer are a litigator?s dream come true. They cite gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer?s disease, anorexia, Parkinson?s and liver diseases.

To date, no credible scientific journal endorses this study.

So, what?s wrong with somebody speaking up about nutrition? As a spokesperson for agriculture?and specifically, for yours truly, representing the wheat industry?the primary tool for advocacy is credibility when presenting the facts regarding science and research and then encouraging dialogue between farmers and consumers.

That a blogger such as Sarah speaks out against traditional agriculture is one thing. However, it?s another matter to repeatedly use questionable sources that influence people about the nutrition and safety of their food.

The argument, for them, is not about truth telling, but using whatever means to achieve their purpose. Fear is a common tactic to employ when the goal is to change people?s opinion and perception from reality.

Gluten, for example, is the new ?bad for you? food, even though people have eaten wheat products for thousands of years. Today, it?s the cause for ?everything that ails you.?

By the way, that list of diseases caused by wheat or the use of Roundup is growing and endless. According to Sarah, ?the list goes on and on?.?

Even the folks at the Center for Celiac Studies in Chicago are fighting on the side agriculture, debunking the myth that William Davis promotes in his book, ?Wheat Belly.? Fear of wheat and its effects, though only 0.6 percent of the population has celiac disease and less than 6 percent has any sensitivity to gluten, is proving a challenge with the experts that are on the front lines of addressing this phenomena.

Sadly, truth in word becomes relative when it comes to health matters in religious circles as well. Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, refers to Mehmet Oz in his Transformed Bible Study Guide as one of his trusted advisers.

Oz is the television celebrity who hosts Davis while promoting his ?Wheat Belly? book. In 2012, he received the ?Pigasus Award for Refusal to Face Reality? from the James Randi Educa?tional Foundation, for his continued promotion of ?quack medical practices, paranormal belief and pseudoscience.? (Source: Wikipedia.)

The award, consisting of a silver flying pig, is symbolic of the reference to something so doubtful, it will only happen ?when pigs fly.? Oz has been given this award on three separate occasions, more than any other recipient.

So, there you have it. Something to ponder while visiting with family and friends and eating the traditional meal of turkey and stuffing (made from wheat), sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie (the crust being made from wheat flour).

Happy Thanksgiving!

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