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Comment by perlpimp | Hacker News Reader

Wonder if diet high in refined processed carbohydrates is a factor. I've switched to paleo-like with fat no-carb/less protein(and somewhat calorie restricted) days and much of that anxiety is gone. Can sugar be literally murdering(some) people?

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As an inanimate object, sugar cannot be literally murdering people. It's possible that it's killing people, but "murdering" is both incorrect and unnecessarily emotive language that looks like it's being used in an attempt to bias the discussion.

google literally.. ie. informal - used for emphasis while not being literally true.

The problem is more the "murdering" than the "literally". Even if you read it as "figuratively murdering" it's still excessively emotive language.

I would argue that literally here is a modifier to murdering, and in fact both are used here in an intentionally excessive (or emotional if you prefer) in order to underline a point. By all means disagree with the point, but sugar can actually be figuratively murdering people.

As an aside, to suggest that someone is using words to bias a discussion pretty much misses the whole point of mounting an argument, does it not?

Personally, I think it is because people stopped taking cod liver oil.

Also, people nowadays seem to be afraid of fats in their diets. But your brain needs (good) fatty acids to function properly.

Also, people nowadays seem to be afraid of fats in their diets.

That might be because of a full 6 decades of propaganda against them, weakly if at all supported by legitimate science.

The powers that be are only now starting to admit that they might have made a catastrophic mistake, e.g. https://www.google.com/#q=cholesterol+is+not+a+nutrient+of+c...

Diet certainly affects mood, but I'd say the suicide trend is probably more connected to the isolation of modern life. i.e. Can connect to anyone via FB yet not speak to anyone for days (if so inclined)

Not sure about carb and suicide but I agree that there is a linear correlation between carbs and anxiety. If you carb in-take is higher than what you need and then you get anxious. Add processed carbs like sugar and wheat the effect is even stronger. I did many tests isolating different carbs over days and yes sugar and wheat based stuff like bread and pasta are worst. Rice and cooked potatoes and fruit are ok but here it's very important to keep the volume low. Once you pass a given threshold you feel the same effects.

> I agree that there is a linear correlation between carbs and anxiety.

That's a rather specific thing to agree about.

Health-wise? Sure. But you may be less anxious due to the novelty of your new diet and the conviction that it's healthy, reinforced by the trendiness of "paleo" diets. You should be at least a little suspicious of the powerful placebo effect before jumping to bizarre theories.

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