Maggie's Farm

What disease epidemics? Cancer rates are unchanged or slightly down except for smoker caused lung cancer. Heart diseases are unchanged but early deaths from heart disease is down. Strokes are slightly reduced and survival rates are better. Diabetes is unchanged. What epidemics unless you mean aids and other sexually transmitted diseases. We are healthier then ever and life expectancies improve every year in spite of what some claim is unhealthy food. We have al been eating transfats for over half a century GMOs for over 20 years, HFCS for six decades and we are thriving. Where is the disease epedemic? Do you mean obesity? In 1998 obesity was redefined in a way that made normal weight people obese and almost everyone overweight. Their weights didn't change but the way we defined overweight changed. This was done for political reasons and the groups behind it have an agenda. Obesity is a person who is 5'3" weighng 350 lbs not someone 5'3" weighing 170 lbs. Over weight is 5'3" weighing 170 lbs not 5'3" 145 lbs.

The diabetes lie is as good as any place to begin this:
About half of the people with diabetes do not know they have it. That is because what most of us think is diabetes is in fact the symptoms of diabetes. Most people with diabetes get through their teens symptom free and many get past their 20's symptom free. But sooner or later the lifestyle changes that come with settling down as an adult allow the diabetes symptoms to appear. This fact leads to the first lie about diabetes and that is the idea that it is "caused" by our diet. It is not of course daibetes is genetic either you hae it or you do not. It is only when the symptoms beging to bother you that discover it.
The second big lie about diabetes begins with an incredibly good idea. The medical community realized that if they could identify more people with diabetes earlier that treatment could help them live longer and healthier lives. So in fact the medical community embarked on a nationwide effort to test symptom free people for diabetes. This had the predictable result of identifying more people with diabetes. Not that more people HAD diabetes but more people with diabetes were identified. Then something bad happened; the groups with a vested interest in diabetes used the raw stats to imply that diabetes was epidemic. After all we did indeed have more people with diabetes right? And a second confounding factor was that for some races/ethnicities diabetes is much more common then for people of European extraction. And coincidently those races were becoming a larger percentage of the American population. This was a win/win for those groups trying to raise awareness and money for diabetes and they jumped on it. So THAT is why you and others think diabetes is on the increase, not because it's true but because someone benefited from pushing the MEME.

"Cancer cases on the rise"
Well, yes and no. Indeed cancer cases are on the rise and that is a good thing! "Good thing"! How can I say that? Wel because mostly cancer is a disease of old age and we are living longer. If our average life span were to increase by a mere 5 years our cancer rate would double. In third world countries people die young from diseases we can prevent or cure and they don't generally live long enough to get cancer. But the rate of cancer by age hasn't changed (with the exception of smoking caused lung cancer).

Mercola: What can I say. He is a quack. If you believe Mercola and get your information from him and people like him it is very unlikely that there is anything I can say to change your mind.

Dr Greger is a vegan and not just a vegan but a religious zealot proselytizing vegan. Isn't it interesting that a person who eats a more common diet like most Americans do could care less what someone else eats but someone who eats a fad diet cannot stand it that you or I eat what we please. And that explains his crusade. He finds statistical "proof" where there is none and exaggerates data where he needs to if it willsupport his biases. People like Dr Greger, Dr Oz, or Dr Mercola use wishy washy language like "may affect" or "could improve" etc. because there is no definitive studies and results tosupport their biases. Will eating more fiber prevent heart disease? Of course not and no serious doctor will say that it does. But a vegan who happens to be a doctor will say this because he is a "vegan" first and that is all that matters. Will eating one egg a day cause heart disease? There is no evidence to support this. BUT! What there is that the crazies all jump to trumpet is a genetic "disease" where some people have way to much cholesterol and they do indeed suffer much higher rates of heart disease. combine that with the simple fact that eggs are high in cholesterol and Voilà! You have something to hang your bias on. Never mind that science has proved this wrong because as Gruber says "Americans are too stupid to know any better". Never mind that too little cholesterol can cause serious health problems. Never mind that for heathy people dietary cholesterol doesn't increase blood cholesterol. You can't let the facts stand in the way of a good fraud.
I challeneg people like Dr. Greger or Dr. Oz to take their wisdom and actually cure heart disease. Don't just preach, walk into the hospital and take away the eggs and "cure" these poor people. If what they say is true prove it and end the pain and sufferring and cure 100% of heart disease by substituting a salad for the egg. Wouldn't it be great if it were that easy? But it isn't of course. In fact we all now this but what is in play here is "hope" and hope trumps logic sometimes. Perhaps it's just human nature to hope for magic in the face of bad news.

"simple research data"? No. The simple research data refutes their wild claims. What it is, is a data dredge where anything that even remotely supports their bias is trumpeted and enhanced if need be and anything that fails to support their bias or even worse refutes their bias is hidden. This dr. isn't trying to improve health he is trying to force everyone into becoming a vegan. Did veganism cause his bias? I don't know but since you are so good at "predicting" I'm sure you know.
Most heart attacks happen to people with normal cholesterol levels and most people with elevated cholesterol do not have heart attacks or die from heart disease. A simple but very confounding fact. The answer to the confusion is simply that some people are genetically predisposed to have high cholesterol and heart disease. Now before you try to use that for another of your famous predictions you need to understand that it is also true that some people are genetically predisposed to have high cholesterol and do not die of heart disease AND some people are not genetically predisposed to have high cholesterol and do die of heart disease. What this means is the data is ripe for twisting to whatever you want it to say. But what the good vegan doctor is trying to say is we should all eat vegan. Other quacks are driven by an inordinate fear of HFCS and still others fear GMO so bad they would prefer that people (not them but others) die of starvation then be feed GMO food. There are more moonbats invested in the good food bad food meme then you can shake a stick at.
Here's the good news (which I'm sure you have already predicted); for most of us with normal health you can eat what you want to eat. It's just food and won't kill you. And for people with specific health conditions that benefit from specific diets they are free to eat those diets and improve their health. Isn't science great? I mean when it's not misussed.