[net.veg] FLAME:FLAME:FLAME:Nutrition Puzzle Solved

carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) (10/09/84)

> 
> All this information is based on burning food in a Calorimeter.
> The experts could be somewhat wrong to believe the body behaves
> exactly  as  a  Calorimeter.    After all, isn't protein really
> meant to build and maintain the body?  
> 
> That is, when the  amino acids  pass into the  circulation they
> are  used to  reconstruct  more than  1,600 different  kinds of
> protein  that make up  muscle tissues,  hormones, enzymes, etc.
> Why would the body use  amino acids as fuel?   Except if forced
> to?
> 
  Now don't take this personally.  I'm really mad about this and 
  have lost all control, so please don't hold me responsible until
  after this episode has subsided.



Really,
  Before you say anything in net.med that is intended as information
  you should at least be qualified first.  Have you ever heard of 
  Biochemistry, the Krebs Cycle?  Have you ever had a Biology course 
  before? in a college? in high school?  in grammer school?

  I would like to think that this news group could be a source of GOOD
  information and discussion about current topics in medicine.
  IF YOU DON'T KNOW SOMETHING, ASK.  MAYBE SOMEBODY KNOWS AN ANSWER,
  AT LEAST A REASONABLE ANSWER.

  JUST DON'T TAKE A POSITION OF AUTHORITY IN THIS NEWS GROUP UNLESS YOU 
  KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

 "Nutrition Puzzle Solved" was and still is the biggest bag of garbage 
  I have ever read.
  

  
-- 
Carter Bullard
ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:Carter @ Gatech	ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa
uucp:...!{akgua,allegra,amd,ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!carter

thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (10/11/84)

In article <10440@gatech.UUCP> carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) writes:
> "Nutrition Puzzle Solved" was and still is the biggest bag of garbage 
>  I have ever read.
>  
The information in the referenced article is almost verbatim from "Fit
or Fat" and its sequel (I can't remember the title, but it's the one
with most of the information about fat) by Covert Bailey.  I found them
both well written, informative, correct (within the state of current
knowledge at the time they were written) books.  More importantly, my
wife, who is a PhD student in Biology/Biochemistry agrees.  She pointed
out only one flaw that she could see, which was only proven false very
recently - that is the myth that complex carbohydrates digest more
slowly than simple ones (bet you didn't know that was a myth, did
you?).  Turns out it's much more complicated than that, and I think
"they" don't have a good correlation with anything at this point.  (This
myth was information that was considered "obvious", so nobody tested it
until recently.)

So my advice to you is don't flame if you don't have all the facts.

=Spencer

carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) (10/15/84)

> In article <10440@gatech.UUCP> carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) writes:
> > "Nutrition Puzzle Solved" was and still is the biggest bag of garbage 
> >  I have ever read.
> >  
> recently - that is the myth that complex carbohydrates digest more
> slowly than simple ones (bet you didn't know that was a myth, did
> you?).  Turns out it's much more complicated than that, and I think
> "they" don't have a good correlation with anything at this point.  (This
> myth was information that was considered "obvious", so nobody tested it
> until recently.)
> 
> So my advice to you is don't flame if you don't have all the facts.
> 
> =Spencer

Its not that they digest more slowly, its that the blood glucose level changes 
after ingestion are not what some people would expect.  Along with the fact that
glucose level changes are altered by the concurrent ingestion of other
carbohydrate stuffs indicates that there is competitive absorption of specific
carbohydrate complexations.  Ask your wife how much amylase is in human
saliva and then ask her to calculate how many moles of say dextrose can be
"digested" before it gets to the stomach.  Anyway, I am a PhD student in
Pharmacology on leave from Temple University School of Medicine.  I may not
be a nutritionist but at least I feel that I am qualified. 


-- 
Carter Bullard
ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:Carter @ Gatech	ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa
uucp:...!{akgua,allegra,amd,ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!carter