Nutrition Myths Research Paper

Nutrition Myths and Mysteries

Food nutrition myths have led American consumers to try multiple methods of dealing with an increasingly hectic lifestyle which contributes to an expanded waistline and preventable diseases. Misinformation is everywhere and dieters are bombarded with conflicting information regarding diet and nutrition, leading to confusion about what is truly helpful when it comes to losing weight and optimizing health.

One common nutrition myth is carbohydrate consumption can lead to weight gain. Dieters have their choice of which low carbohydrate diet plans to follow. ”Several popular diets including the Zone Diet, Sugar Busters, and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution claim that carbohydrates are bad for your health. They recommend

Hunt advocates a diet based off of what Paleolithic humans consumed in order to evolve. The film states that anthropologists and scientists have concluded the ancient human diet consisted of mostly lean animal proteins and green vegetation with very little in the way of sugars or grains. They make the claim that it was animal proteins that allowed our brains to grow as we evolved, and humans are primarily built for carnivorous digestion. Adherents to the Paleo diet insist obesity and diabetes can be controlled by eating foods that ancient peoples consumed, while avoiding carbohydrates through added sugar or grains. However, it has been recently proven that wheat and grains were also a part of the Neolithic diet. “Starch analysis on grinding stones from Bilancino in Italy, Kostenki 16 in Russia, and Pavlov VI in the Czech Republic illustrated plant exploitation in the Mid-Upper Paleolithic and demonstrated that the ability to process plants to obtain flour was already diffused across Europe during this period.” (Lippi et al.) Neolithic humans were resourceful and would have consumed any energy sources available to them. The seeds of grasses provided a varied and healthy diet for them that included

Some consumers believe that alternative sweeteners are toxic to humans and that the sweeteners contribute to a host of health problems including migraines and cancerous tumors, however, rigorous testing is performed on alternative sweeteners before they are allowed to be used for human consumption. “Before being used in food—or as a tabletop sweetener— they’re first tested extensively to meet the guidelines and safety standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”(Duyff