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Comment by yesimahuman | Hacker News Reader

Bodybuilders have known this for a long, long time.

As Taubes documented, a lot of people have known this for centuries. It's not like it's that hard of an experiment to run, even in prior centuries.

If this fully pans out, as I think it will, nutritionists of the past fifty years or so are going to have the unenviable task of being used as an example of how an entire discipline with billions of dollars in funding and the best possible science apparatus can get it horribly, horribly wrong for a very, very long time.

What will be the most interesting to watch about this is the social reprogramming that will go on.

If history is a guide, within 30 years school textbooks will read as if this was just a logical conclusion and was easily reached -- instead of the brutal infighting and confusion that it actually was.

One of the weirdest things I learned as an adult was that science does not progress linearly like they teach in school. Instead people get emotionally attached to ideas, and miracle of miracles, the evidence shows they are correct.

Until the evidence shows they are not. Then it's this long struggle for changing gears, finally ending up in a spot where nobody ever talks about what went on before.

I think the human part of science is at least as interesting as the science itself. Lots of complexity and randomness, yet parts are very predictable. Neat.

agreed. science has never offered any simple narrative, it's a sprawling, incomprehensible, fascinating mess. it's a human story just like everything else.

That's definitely what I got out of reading bill bryson's brief history of nearly everything. The people involved in most of our scientific discoveries are incredibly fascinating

It reminds of how the cure for scurvy was discovered and then "lost" years later due to bad science. http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm (That article was previously discussed here.)

I think everyone would do well to remember that nutritionists are nuts, and do not belong to any sort of regulatory body.

You, me and my pet monkey can all start calling ourselves nutritionists tomorrow, and charge money for ridiculous dietary advice.

Dietitians, on the other hand, are certified professionals and actually say things worth listening to. Any time I read anything quoting a nutritionist, I stop reading immediately, as all credibility is lost.

It's also well known among diabetics. Managing carbs has been an essential part of treating diabetes since the 90s.

It's also a good strategy for preventing diabetes...

The irony is that I've had a number of times where I've been discussing limiting carbohydrate intake with somebody and they repeat the claim they heard that ketosis somehow puts the body into "diabetic shock."

I'm not even hardcore about it and don't go to the extent of maintaining ketosis, but I've definitely noticed that I feel my best and control my eating easiest if I limit carbs to about 30% of my caloric intake.

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