Comments on: Processed Foods and IQ

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:11:33 +0000

Just how long will it take for this to become a piece of scary misinformation at NaturalNews, or mercola.com?

By: eiskrystal

eiskrystal — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:03:52 +0000

Sonic/cwfong exactly. The food industry is already regulated quite heavily.

There is already food information on all food sold, they even wanted to dumb it down further in England with some kind of traffic light system and more regulation is really just not going to work and further will make us look even more like a mummy state.

By: cwfong

cwfong — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 06:03:04 +0000

sonic, no regulatory system is or ever will be perfect where big money is concerned. But corporations don’t have much use for the honor system either. Nor for the honorable intentions of their customers.

By: sonic

sonic — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:37:39 +0000

eean-
So you are complaining about a study (the type which lead to the realization that smoking causes cancer) by seconding a comment that has no apparent study to back it? (No, really, I’m being a pain in the ass).

cwfong-
I agree that regulation might be what you say. However, as my dear friend works for the largest lobbying firm in the state, I can tell you that the fact of regulation is seldom that sane. It seems more likely and more valuable to have informed eaters than to trust a system that I know is not reliable. (I avoided using the word corrupt, but now I can’t– darn!)

ccbowers-
I’m not sure about the percentage, but much of the year most of what I eat is picked right before eating. I’d like it to be even more, but I have more to learn. My main methods come from
http://www.growbiointensive.org/

By: Donna B.

Donna B. — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:40:00 +0000

It seems that some clarification of terms would come in handy in this discussion.

Highly processed meats (bologna, hot dogs, etc.) seem to me to be code for commercially processed meats. I have a feeling that similar products processed non-commercially would simply be labeled preserved.

Same thing with the vegetables. My Aunt Mary’s canned tomatoes would be preserved, but Del Monte’s would be highly processed.

Further, it’s just “cool” to say McDonald’s or fast food chains are somehow serving highly processed foods. A $25 gourmet hamburger is somehow less processed?

By: ccbowers

ccbowers — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:18:29 +0000

“Of course they don’t compare to fresh picked– sorry if you haven’t had the experience.”

And what percentage of your diet is fresh picked? Eating locally helps, but this also requires limiting your diet to seasonal produce in your area.

By: cwfong

cwfong — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:35:36 +0000

sonic, regulation is primarily about about safety. A shift from buyer beware to seller beware. What’s in the can should safely match what’s written on the label.

Then it will be for you to decide of course the extent to which it might lower your IQ. Otherwise we get closer to a slippery slope, where we might have to match labels to IQs. Like writing, “if you can’t read this, you can’t buy this.”

By: eean

eean — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:53:30 +0000

@sonic when hippiehunter noted that only the ah “non-smart” would fill their kids with mcdonalds, I don’t think he meant education. You didn’t go to college with any morons?

I agree with the general thought of why make such a study when almost any result would turn out to be unclear.

By: sonic

sonic — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:16:20 +0000

ccbowers-
You are correct- it is better to eat something than nothing.
Your comment about frozen vegetables is correct- the sooner they freeze them the better they are.
Of course they don’t compare to fresh picked– sorry if you haven’t had the experience.

eiskrystal-
I agree- to the extent that people know about the food, we don’t need regulation. I would second the motion that we spend time on educating about food and not so much on the regulation aspect.

By: eiskrystal

eiskrystal — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:01:46 +0000

What amuses me is the title. “Healthy eating boosts IQ”. Doesn’t that imply that healthy eating isn’t then the norm. That’s a telling problem in itself.

I think we need to put more energy into getting people cooking and knowing their foods well before we worry about tighter regulation of an industry that we don’t technically “need”.