Frostisms

Here's some of the advice proffered by the radio nutritionist, Helen Frost, this week:

"If you put any chemical in the body the body freaks out." EoR doesn't know what the answer is to this problem. Presumably, eating and drinking nothing, and ceasing breathing.

Sweets "rot your joints".

"Caffeine is a toxic and addictive substance" without any health benefits, and the equivalent of 4-5 cups injected straight in to the vein can kill you. EoR doesn't know too many people who take their caffeine intravenously. What's the point of this meaningless scaremongering though? Any substance can be toxic. As we've seen recently, drinking too much water can kill you. By Ms Frost's logic we shouldn't be drinking any water either.

"A lot of kids are dying faster than their parents (because of junk food)". Eor has no idea what "dying faster" means. It's just more scaremongering without any science.

"Candida albicans on the tongue can spread right down to your backside." Eeeeww. Erky perky! Of course, Candida albicans is probably all over the skin, along with a vast number of other microbial organisms. Coffee kills off the friendly bacteria in the gut and lets C albicans overrun the body. C albicans "digs holes in the intestine", "burrowing" like rabbits, and runs rampant in the body. The answer is to starve them out: no sweets, white foods or junk foods.

This sounds like the pseudoscience promoted by William G. Crook, M.D, though with the special "coffee is the root of all evil" twist.

Crook claimed that the problem arises because "antibiotics kill 'friendly germs' while they're killing enemies, and when friendly germs are knocked out, yeast germs multiply. Diets rich in carbohydrates and yeasts, birth control pills, cortisone, and other drugs also stimulate yeast growth." He also claimed that the yeasts produce toxins that weaken the immune system, which is also adversely affected by nutritional deficiencies, sugar consumption, and exposure to environmental molds and chemicals. To correct these alleged problems, he prescribes allergenic extracts, antifungal drugs, vitamin and mineral supplements, and diets that avoid refined carbohydrates, processed foods, and (initially) fruits and milk. Crook's concepts are a mixture of fact and fancy.

Returning to Ms Frost: "Rats fed white bread over 7 days get bloated and die". Ms Frost loves her dead rat studies (she mentioned another study last week where rats were fed either breakfast cereal or breakfast cereal boxes - apparently the first group died earlier, though Ms Frost may be misremembering the experiment described here). True Bread relates that:

It has been reported to us that an authentic experiment was done concerning the difference between white and whole grain bread. In 1970, Roger Williams, a biochemist at the University of Texas, fed "enriched" white bread to rats, and within 90 days two thirds of them were dead, the others quite sick.

That's 90 days, not seven. EoR isn't quite sure why this should be described as an "authentic" experiment, but he isn't that surprised that any animal fed consistently on a restricted diet would show signs of ill health or debility. True Bread then extrapolates rather wildly from that authentic experiment to state:

But the True Bread of pure religion still remains unchanged from its original pure, whole state.

EoR doesn't know if there really was a Roger Williams who did carry out such an authentic experiment. The Common Sense Chronicle quite clearly uses the same text, except it begins:

It has been reported to us that an authentic experiment was done concerning the difference between white and
whole wheat bread. Though we have no dates and places - Common Sense teaches us that this is true!

Roger Williams has disappeared, and Common Sense is all the Authority needed. Common sense also tells us that the Earth is flat, that the Earth is at the centre of the universe, and the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Here's another variant on the "we're all dying like rats" urban myth:

It has been found that a group of rats were fed diet of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains from birth grew into completely healthy specimens and never suffered from any disease. They were never ill. They grew rapidly, but never became fat, mated with enthusiasm and had healthy offspring. They were always gently affectionate and playful and lived in perfect harmony with each other. Upon reaching an old age, equivalent to 80 years in humans, these rats were put to death and autopsied. At that advanced age their organs, glands, tissues all body processes appeared to be in perfect condition without any sign of aging or deterioration. A companion group of rats we fed a diet comparable to that of the average American and included white bread, cooked foods, meats, milk, salt, soft drinks, candies, cakes, vitamins and other supplements, medicines for their ails, etc. During their lifetime these rats became fat and, from the earliest age, contracted most of the diseases of modern American society including colds, fever, pneumonia, poor vision, cataracts, heart disease, arthritis, cancer and many more. Most of this group died prematurely at early ages but during their lifetime most of them were vicious, snarling beasts, fighting with one another stealing one another’s food and attempting to kill each other. They had to be kept apart to prevent total destruction of the entire group. Their offspring were all sick and exhibited the same general characteristics as there parents.

This is not a published study. It is an excerpt from "God’s Way to Ultimate Health" by Dr. George H. Malkumu with Michael Dye. Yet again, there is a clear religious agenda to these rat studies. Apparently, rats fed a natural diet live in a blissful, unfallen state of innocence and eternal life (they had to be euthanased). Rats fed an "American" diet suffer all the slings and arrows of Original Sin, living a vicious, short, dis-ease ridden life. Clearly, eat raw foods, find Jesus, and you'll live forever.

If Ms Frost is going to keep quoting rat studies, EoR wonders if she'll mention this 1912 study when rats were fed a strictly vegetarian diet (pretty much what Ms Frost urges on us all):

The vegetarians were emaciated and skinny. Their back arched and more or less stiffened. The fur was harsh and ruffled, and the tail and nose inclined to be more or less covered with dry scale and sores. The attitude presented extreme lassitude and indifference. They remained in a crouched position most of the time, their legs appearing too weak to support their weight for only a short while. They lacked energy...

While EoR is quoting ancient rat studies, it seems from 1921 that it's not so important to be fed whole wheat bread, but rather that it be made with milk:

When even one-half of the water used in bread-making was replaced by milk, and still more when the bread was made entirely with milk instead of water, the improvement in the food value of the resulting breads (containing 5 and 10 per cent of their calories respectively in the form of milk solids) was strikingly apparent in feeding experiments upon growing animals.

Ms Frost's little radio corner is like an amazing fantasy land of alternative "science' and bizarre urban myths promoted as reality. Oh, and it was a quiet week this time: there were only five mentions of her seminars.