Why aren't the informed scientists demanding to be heard by the established page

[Scott Ludwig]

A question that has no real answer and so you may not have time for. I having been eating Primal, Paleo, PHD, whatever you want to call it for 5 months now. Feel better, look better, but I made the change because the science was solid. My degree is in nutrition and i am a small gym owner. Now, I feel the right thing to do is to educate my clientele about the truth so they can be healthier. They know I have their best interest in mind and they trust me, but this is hard for a lot of them to swallow. With the news, just this morning, saying to avoid saturated fat at all costs, some of them are thinking I may have been hit in the head by an Atkins book falling from the top shelf. I feel like Copernicus saying the Earth revolves around the sun. More meat, red meat too, no polyunsaturated oils, use cream, no grains! "But Scott, they're at the bottom of the Food Guide Pyramid!"
You've heard all this before.

If it's true (and I know it is), why aren't some scientists demanding to be heard so that we can get this information to the masses? People's health is at stake.
It's just very frustrating.

Scott Ludwig

[activia]

same as with Copernicus.. Politics & Money...

[1949katie]

I'm so sorry that I can not provide a link but : Gary Taubes addresses this (sort of) in the author's note section of his Why We Get Fat book. And another point he made is that after an 90 minute presentation to a collection of doctors at an obesity research institute the only question he received is "Mr. Taubes, do you think we are a group of idiots?" This from doctors studying obesity for over 30 years. You are taking on 30-40 year old nutritional dogma. The contemporary doctors and other scientists writing books, posting blogs, giving lectures aren't hiding the research that supports primal, paleo, and there are a LOT of them. They are trying to get the word out. But, there's more money to be made from the lobby for pop tarts than from grass fed cattle.

[cantare]

I doubt it's for lack of trying. At least in a free society the information is out there for anyone motivated to look for it.

You can't force enlightenment on people who aren't receptive. The real problem in breaking down misconceptions is that summary assertions about nutrition all sound alike. Grains are healthy! and Grains are poison! can both be shouted with equal fervor. Examining the underlying evidence (or lack thereof) requires acute focus and enough training in logic and basic science to make sense of the data and conclusions, which are routinely misrepresented and distorted by interested parties. Best you can do is to find books or resources that resonate with you and present well-supported arguments for Primal--and also good counter-arguments to competing hypotheses like Campbell's The China Study--and recommend them to people who take an interest or ask for help.

[DigitalSurgeon]

Why? It's like a wounded seal swimming with a great white. That is why.

[jammies]

There is no funding to do the research. You need a few smaller studies to squeak through review process so you can site them as justification for your study. Tough going in the era of low fat, statin-based medicine. It takes time and scientists who are informed enough to be interested and willing to chance trashing their careers.

[RitaRose]

I think there is just a ton of "facts" that people have been taught over the decades, and it's really hard to just throw it all out the window and say "It's all wrong, so let's just start over from square one." That doesn't go over well.

Throw in that recommending it can actually get you in trouble (as a medical professional) or destroy any chance at a grant or a decent appointment as a scientist, and you'd have to want it enough to bail on years of expensive education and start applying at Burger King if you spoke up in many circles.

[JoPaleo]

I think there is just a ton of "facts" that people have been taught over the decades, and it's really hard to just throw it all out the window and say "It's all wrong, so let's just start over from square one." That doesn't go over well.

Throw in that recommending it can actually get you in trouble (as a medical professional) or destroy any chance at a grant or a decent appointment as a scientist, and you'd have to want it enough to bail on years of expensive education and start applying at Burger King if you spoke up in many circles.

Thank you for posting this!!!! Why would any scientist destroy any chance at a grant or a decent appointment? It's just not worth it. I say, live by example. Eat paleo and show the results. But then again, that may not be enough right? I see some threads on here where people are following PB and their cholesterol is sky high. I don't know...it is frustrated indeed.

[AlicecFrerichs]

There is no funding to do the research.

[Chaohinon]

There's no shortage of scientists out there who are incapable of thinking scientifically. Just look at how many physicists are shilling for kooky new age religion.

And the state-capitalist "science" cartel is certainly not above killing, beating, and robbing its way to its goals. Just ask anyone who's attempted to approach cannabis as a medicine.