Zoë Harcombe's primary value appears to be providing reading material for a specific audience of anti-establishment contrarians.
118 karma · joined August 30, 2016
I don't mind that contrarians like Seyfried exist and ask questions. They appeal to my contrarian and skeptic nature.
What I have an issue with is a medical doctor/researcher like Seyfried stating that cancer is a solved problem but the medical establishment prefers to keep patients sick in order to sell ineffective/toxic chemotherapy. (Yes, he has said this many times.)
I also erase the credibility of a doctor asked publicly (on Twitter) if his "successful" patients are still in remission, he says "Yes", but then you look them up online to discover they are in fact deceased. (True story.)
Any doctor who acts like this has zero credibility, no business being in the medical profession, and can eat sh*t as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, I don't mean to take you to task over this guy's lack of ethics and poor commitment to science. I'd rather not see someone like that boosted -- i.e., someone who appeals to cancer patients preemptively on social media to talk them out of SOC treatment.
Sure, cancer might be a metabolic disease to some varying degree (depending on the cancer), but it is not exclusively metabolic. It is a very complex disease. biased researchers like Seyfried do a disservice by acting as though they have single-handedly solved the problem of cancer mortality (yet curiously are never able to provide conclusive evidence).
I simply took the next logical step and pointed out that vitamin D has not been proven as a preventative or cure for COVID.
That's right. Vitamins don't prevent or cure COVID.
Really? We're arguing this in 2022? Cartoonist Scott Adams, and 1991 relevant music artist Right Said Fred tweet this study and we think we've got the secret to free, cheap COVID antivirals?
Realistically, I can't argue with your point. It's like giving up. It's sad that many people won't take basic steps to help protect others (including themselves), but I guess that's a reality-check.
Those who are older, with multiple comorbidities, or are immune-compromised, listen-up: More than enough people don't a shit if anyone other than themselves lives or dies that you should probably just isolate yourselves from society indefinitely.
All the more reason to strongly urge people to get vaccinated. Clearly one can't count on neighbors, the community or broader society to take minimumal steps to help protect themselves and others.
So you're on your own, living life at your own risk. There is no "society", just you. Protect yourself and get the shots.
The study itself is a correlation study with a relatively small number of patients... (not that I'm dismissing these types of studies, they have value), and it is in line with what I described above. If you have low vit D levels (for various reasons), your risk of severe covid increases.
That's kind of where the study ends. The study is basic and observational-- it does not show that supplementing with vit D (or consuming foods high in vit D) prevents COVID or improves health outcomes. You'd need a different kind of study for that-- a far more rigorous one. It's probably ok to speculate that normal/healthy vit D levels might indicate better immune resiliance vs covid, given that moderate amounts of supplementation are shown to safely increase serum levels (to a point). But this particular study isn't medical evidence that vit D supplements "fight" covid like a medicine (e.g., Remdesivir) or that vit D is an effective covid strategy worthy of higher prioritization versus other recommendations.
Certainly far and away Step #1 is to get vaccinated and boosted. Period. Step #2 is to practice appropriate social distancing/masking, avoiding infected people and crowds.
In parallel, over the medium and long term it would be beneficial to improve your health lifestyle factors - diet/weight (including getting all essential nutrients such as vit D), sleep, stress, exercise, avoid smoking/excess alcohol etc. These things take quite a bit of time to reap benefits, a few months at minimum. It's not something you'll achieve rapidly and certainly not once you're infected with covid.
But getting these under control will improve your health almost across-the-board. You'll help lower the risk/impact of chronic diseases, improve aging/longevity, improve your immune system, and even lower the risk of serious COVID. But these are things which should be pursued in parallel to and in addition to Steps 1 and 2. Independently it is not likely to save you from covid if you're in a higher risk category (e.g., over 40 years old especially).
And coming back to the misleading title of the article, certainly consuming vitamin D is no covid prophylactic on its own. If you think popping vitamin D or fish oil pills is going to save your ass once you get covid... well you'll likely get about as much benefit from that as you would from thoughts and prayers.
Bottom line: For now, embracing vitamins or common-sense lifestyle/wellness tips as a primary covid prevention strategy is at best foolhardy and at worst dangerous and delusional.
Examples: Cheese (generic), for the average person, i.e., overweight pre-diabetic or factors for heart disease: Bad! But: Cheese for a person who is low/deficient in calcium (a very important nutrient) and or at a healthy BMI? Quite likely good -- dairy in general is associated with health benefits.
Sardines (canned, in olive oil), for the average person? Probably a poor score here. But: A person with a healthy body weight who needs omega-3 fatty acids (correlated with 15%-18% lower all-cause mortality!! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22370-2), sardines are very healthy option.
Potatoes, baked. For the average person these are probably iffy; the avg overweight person may struggle to achieve a healthy weight if eating these to caloric excess, with butter/cheese/bacon etc. But this food will likely be labeled as a "vegetable" with a good score. For a healthy/active person with a healthy BMI, potatoes are fine, esp if the person gets exercise. (Low carb dieters may disagree, but baked potatoes in moderation for a healthy person should not be controversial.)
If you want to get a (long) gun or guns quickly, yeah, I can see where that would be a hassle.
Also, whenever a mass shooting occurs, by definition the currently enacted laws failed to prevent it. The same can be said anytime there's murder, theft, rape, terrorism and so on.
Brazil to pass U.S. as world's largest soy producer in 2018 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-soy-usa/brazil-to-...
02-Jul-2019 USDA sees record soybean harvest for Brazil https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2019/07/02/USDA-sees-r...
Brazilian Soybean Production By State https://twitter.com/kevinvantrump/status/956187342150266880?... https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/rssiws/al/crop_production_maps/Bra...
Livestock are part of an integrated agriculture system. Livestock and agriculture depend on one another. Cattle and ruminants, for example, convert low quality wild scrub, fescue and leftover agricultural byprods into high quality human-edible meat and nutrients.
About 50% of the corn in the US is grown not for humans or animal feed, but to produce ethanol fuel. The residual of that ethanol process is then processed into feed for livestock.
Quite a bit of the Amazon region is used to grow soybeans. The soybeans are shipped to Asian countries where they make soybean oil out of it for cooking. The residual soy byproducts from that process is then turned into feed which goes to pigs and chickens in that region.
Also mentioned in an earlier reply that about 50% of all fertilizer needed for crop cultivation comes from animal manure and byproducts. The remainder (and alternative approach) is to synthesize the fertilizer from fossil fuels.
It's important to realize that livestock aren't simply a standalone component in the food system. They are a key part of the total agriculture picture.
Food also isn't simply calories, it's about nutrition-- getting absorbable animal-format vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other key nutrients. There are quite a few nutrients which are essential to the human body and yet are very difficult (some virtually impossible) to obtain from plant-only sources. So reducing meat does come with costs/risks in terms of nutrition, I think that shouldn't be overlooked.
Brazil isn't raising livestock for the US or North America. Not even 1% of their livestock products are imported to the US.
Where does the rest of fertilizer come from? It is synthesized from fossil fuels...
Besides changing your diet there are hundreds of other net positive (yet virtually inconsequenial) steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint.
- Wash laundry with cold water - Hang your laundry on a clothes line to dry - Not manage and maintain a grass lawn - Get healthy enough to get off/reduce perscription meds - Drive a hybrid or an EV - Have no/fewer offspring - Don't have pets - Don't work out or exercise (you'll expend more energy, eat more and breathe more co2) - Don't drink alcohol (wine, beer, spirits) - Don't eat chocolate (if meat is somehow uneccessary, certainly chocolate, wine, palm oil and tons of other nutritionally high GHG foods) - Don't play or support activities which waste land, e.g., golf, football, soccer, graveyards, etc.
Flavonoid intake is associated with lower mortality in the Danish Diet Cancer and Health Cohort https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11622-x
"Dietary data were collected using a validated 192-item food-frequency questionnaire, mailed out to participants prior to their baseline visit to one of the two study centers. Participants were asked to indicate their usual frequency of intake of different food and beverage items over the past 12 months, using a 12-category frequency scale that ranged from never to 8 times or more per day."
So... 50-65 year old participants in the study responded to an annual 192 item questionnaire for 23 years. Quick: How many blueberries did you eat in the last 12 months and how frequently?
Anybody see an potential problems with this type of survey approach? Virtually guarranteed to be wildly unreliable.
Eat as much fiber as you like. I don't think it's necessary to eat fiber to be healthy, but if you like it, eat it.
Fiber and colorectal diseases: Separating fact from fiction - World Journal of Gastroenterology https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v13/i31/4161.htm
Are Vegetarians Healthier than Omnivores? A Soho Forum Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qDYl4zHmAg
Fiber and colorectal diseases: Separating fact from fiction - World Journal of Gastroenterology https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v13/i31/4161.htm
"This article reviews the physiology of ingestion of fiber and defecation. It also looks into the impact of dietary fiber on various colorectal diseases. A strong case cannot be made for a protective effect of dietary fiber against colorectal polyp or cancer. Neither has fiber been found to be useful in chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. It is also not useful in the treatment of perianal conditions. The fiber deficit - diverticulosis theory should also be challenged. The authors urge clinicians to keep an open mind about fiber. One must be aware of the truths and myths about fiber before recommending it.
... a strong recommendation cannot be made for a protective effect of dietary fiber against colorectal polyp or cancer. Despite a lack of evidence however, current recommendations are still to increase dietary fiber. In the latest position statement of the American Dietetic Association[3], increasing dietary fiber is still promoted to protect against colon cancer despite stating that there is no proof of efficacy in this regard ... Whilst it is not the intention of the authors to totally discourage fiber in the diet and the use of fiber supplements, there does not seem to be much use for fiber in colorectal diseases. We, however, want to emphasize that what we have all been made to believe about fiber needs a second look. We often choose to believe a lie, as a lie repeated often enough by enough people becomes accepted as the truth. We urge clinicians to keep an open mind. While there are some benefits of a diet high in natural fiber, one must know the exact indications before recommending such a diet. Myths about fiber must be debunked and truth installed."
It's a shame from a nutrition standpoint, but veganism is NOT a diet for optimal nutrition. It is an interesting diet from an ethics standpoint, I grant them that. And despite the long-term wasting away effects, veganism is superior to a standard american diet loaded with sugar, heavily processed carbs and vegetable/seed oils.
"This article reviews the physiology of ingestion of fiber and defecation. It also looks into the impact of dietary fiber on various colorectal diseases. A strong case cannot be made for a protective effect of dietary fiber against colorectal polyp or cancer. Neither has fiber been found to be useful in chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. It is also not useful in the treatment of perianal conditions. The fiber deficit - diverticulosis theory should also be challenged. The authors urge clinicians to keep an open mind about fiber. One must be aware of the truths and myths about fiber before recommending it.
... a strong recommendation cannot be made for a protective effect of dietary fiber against colorectal polyp or cancer. Despite a lack of evidence however, current recommendations are still to increase dietary fiber. In the latest position statement of the American Dietetic Association[3], increasing dietary fiber is still promoted to protect against colon cancer despite stating that there is no proof of efficacy in this regard ... Whilst it is not the intention of the authors to totally discourage fiber in the diet and the use of fiber supplements, there does not seem to be much use for fiber in colorectal diseases. We, however, want to emphasize that what we have all been made to believe about fiber needs a second look. We often choose to believe a lie, as a lie repeated often enough by enough people becomes accepted as the truth. We urge clinicians to keep an open mind. While there are some benefits of a diet high in natural fiber, one must know the exact indications before recommending such a diet. Myths about fiber must be debunked and truth installed."
Dr. Zoë Harcombe - 'What about fiber?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KrmpK_Lckg