Good, Bad or Ugly in general?
Do the majority of posts and comments even respect the quality requirements of the sub reddit?
What is your perception? Reliable and relevant content?
Personally, I think qualified redditors in the subreddit (dietitians, etc.) should have an exclusive badge so that they are not buried by a vast majority of aficionados and we can keep a quality discussion easier. Otherwise, this is just an echo chamber of wrong/irrelevant beliefs.
It is rife with horrible misinformation. Nutrition science is difficult to parse at the best of times. I would never trust anything on this site at all. Refer to your accredited dietitian or physician (if they actually have expertise in the area). 100% don’t trust anything on this site without further verification.
I think most people come from a good place, regardless of whether their advice is good or bad.
However, I also think that people identify with their chosen diets like religion, and will defend it as such, to the point where they will ignore, or even get offended by science, common sense, and alternative effective methods.
I don’t know enough to know.
I see a lot of questions that suggest tge person asking does not know much about basic nutrition, and they are micro focusing on little stuff that is not going to make much of a difference.
I wish there were not so many nutritional trends that are misinformation. I have a hard enough time finding what I need as it is and stores stock their shelves to cash in on trends.
I really need to talk to a nutritionist…
I’ve been occasionally debating messaging the mods with a recommended ‘how to research’ pin post idea.
It’s very very obvious that when people research for comments here they will literally search for the exact words they want to appear - for example I recently had a discussion about bananas.
My search terms were ‘paper banana gi index’I then looked at multiple studies and chose an range that could be considered average. Then I linked the first 4 results, posted a summary of results and some quotes that supported my* point, while checking for source/journal quality
The person I was discussing with appears to have searched ‘banana high gi’, picked whatever search results agreed with them, posted two more random sources that didn’t agree with them beyond the first sentence, and then refused to look at anything else.
Then you get people from either a non-scientific background, or the wrong type of scientific background, misunderstanding scientific wording that has very specific meanings in a scientific/statistical context (e.g. significant)
Then there’s knowing how to discard a source almost immediately - things like identifying the use of emotional or manipulative language, predatory or fake journals, sketchy quality studies (typos, obvious errors like improper graphs and punctuation), very obvious bias (website url of like ‘meatlover-blog’ or ‘plantbasedlife’ doing a study about the things that would be impossible to discount researcher bias from)
Finally there’s just the ‘read this chiropractors nutrition book’ Or ‘watch this random gurus YouTube video’ advice which.. I don’t even need to talk more about that.
Scientific bias in general could be a good sticky post. This sub could be great, it has the numbers and a decent amount of relevant professionals.
Sometimes I encounter an really interesting discussion or even a real expert sharing some interesting information that can teach me something new.
But way too often I see extreme views that, to my surprise, are supported by others. People often don’t understand the studies they share, cherry pick or they don’t understand basics of chemistry or anatomy and misinterpret what they read.
Too often I see opinions that something is healthy and something is unhealthy. Bad versus good. But thats not how food should be viewed.
What I’m sorely missing here is a consideration of aspects of food other than nutrients - like a healthy approach to eating or the social aspect.
And when talking about any food legislation, manufacturing processes, additives - people should always mention where they are from. People in European countries are often afraid of hormones or antibiotics in meat, for example, even though this is not a problem in Europe.
Very unreliable. In fairness though, nutrition is very much a soft science. There are very few hard facts, and experts say contradictory things all the time, as do the studies (or so it seems to me). Nutrition guidelines change, and you’ll even find so-called experts saying things like corn flakes are healthier than steak. There’s tons of misinformation about nutrition in general, so it’s a guarantee there would be a lot of misinformation on a nutrition subreddit. We all have our ideas about what’s healthy but for the most part that’s going to come from intuition, personal experience, and all the little tidbits of science and old wives’ tales we acquire over the years. Intuition especially is I think what drives most of the comments here, including from myself.
Virtually everyone in this sub talks via motivated reasoning, a process by which people primarily seek out information that’s already in favour of a held belief while ignoring points of conjecture. Motivated reasoning isn’t bad per se because it can correspond to very deep understandings of a certain topic, however the same degree of scrutiny should be applied to anything you read here as you would apply with anyone else. The problem with any sub is that people tend to talk in very absolute tones, failing to simultaneously acknowledge the theoretical pitfalls of their statements. This is something that readers should keep an eye on. I’d recommend that you take anything read on here at face value, moreso using the points you align with as a springboard for further research.
It can be extremely toxic, but there are pockets of great discussions.
There’s a handful of people in this sub that are real experts in the field. Dietitians, food scientists, people with degrees in nutrition, etc. However, many of them seldom comment anymore because of the general hostility of the sub.
There’s ton of “social media” experts & people who cherry pick studies that support their side on a topic, but not many people who actually understand how to read research papers & that there’s tons of poorly done research out there. Nutrition is a highly debated field, simply as there aren’t any right or wrong answers as nutrition is extremely personal. It’s very difficult to prove with certainty that X causes Y, as there’s so many variables in a person’s diet that you can’t isolate one singular thing
I think people are too focused on minute details where there’s a lot of conflicting information and rumours instead of getting a good grasp on fundamentals. This results in a lot of obscure unpractical advice as well as a lot of solid advice getting shot down because one study someone’s aunt read one time said bananas are gonna kill you.
My perception as someone in the field is many people here are influenced by the pop nutrition stuff that the fungs, bergs, aspreys say. It’s just plain nonsense. The anti carb, bio hacking community is a business model. Not a nutrition philosophy. We have to think big picture about all this. We generally know what humans need to do but everyone is bored and can’t accept the reality because it can’t get them paid or followers.
It honestly sucks sometimes but sometimes it’s good. As someone with a degree in dietetics it’s really obvious as to who knows what they’re talking about. Unfortunately, even the bad claims or advice “sounds good” and scientific but it can be kind of an outrageous claim(s). I think one problem is that people want randomized control trial studies or metabolic ward studies to “prove” something. However, the best studies in nutrition are prospective cohort studies
My experience with /r/nutrition is that 90% of the answers are absolutely terrible advice, 9% are common sense, and about 1% of the comments are posts that are actually good information that is high quality, properly researched, and not just the poster’s “opinion”.
TL;DR: Dont trust the nutrition advice you receive here
Each topic has a full range from bad to good advice. Worth skimming for information but I have a pretty solid grasp on what I think is healthy eating so I’m really just here because the topic is interesting.
Every single comment needs to be taken with the biggest possible grain of salt, I’m talking 100% daily value of sodium
That’s not to say that there’s not good information here, there definitely is. Generally the most trustworthy comments are humble; nutrition is far from an exact science, meaning anything that somebody tries to make look like an absolute truth is likely far from it.
Some good, but still too much bad.
Some people are very knowledgeable and helpful. Unfortunately, I’ve seen some here who use anecdotal experience, pseudoscience and/or poorly conducted studies to make claims about nutrition repeatedly. I like to think people are just trying to help, but I figure some purposely spread misinformation for personal gain or to push an agenda.
Maybe more aggressive modding is needed to, if not remove, at least label a post as not valid, as quackery, etc etc. I think the exclusive badge for qualified experts is a good idea.
It’s delusional and hilarious. Most of the questions on here can be googled. Yes there is misinformation via Google too, but people need to learn to how to see if a study or article has good science. Don’t know how to do that? Google it! Some people on here really go to the extreme end like asking if plain carbonated water is bad. That’s why I subscribe to this subreddit, to get a laugh at the stupidity.
I have honestly wondered if this sub made up of people that deliberately obsfucate even fairly straight-forward nutritional info to justify their lack of dietary choices that would lead to a lifestyle and physique they really want.
Like are y’all really that hyper focused on freezing methods of veggies and the impact of micronutrient values or are you tryng to wind yourself up into a paralysis so you can keep making choices you know won’t help your goals? Unless you’re a Nike sponsered athlete, just eat your damn veggies.
Since I’ve found volumeating, I really don’t come here as often.
As someone who cherry picks studies to support my claims, I’d say generally the information is unreliable and should be treated at best as informed opinion when studies are provided and when studies are not provided, it should be treated as uniformed opinion.
This sub has some serious issues, many of which I think would be fixed, or at least improved, if the absolute lack of modding was fixed.
People often throw around personal attacks, insults, etc. with no issues from the mods. This is completely inappropriate. These comments should be removed, and their authors should face some form of consequence upon repeated infractions. Due to lack of proper modding, these comments generally go completely unchecked.
There’s a tendency on this sub to ignore facets of health that are not physical, which results in a very slim view of nutrition. This is also inappropriate and even potentially dangerous.
I think proper modding, a bigger emphasis on providing sources and user flairs would help with this, but the fact of the matter is that nutrition is a rapidly developing field rife with misinformation, and this sub isn’t immune.
There is a lot of untrained, Googled, overconfident folks on almost all of these subreddits dealing with health and medicine (not so much in r/medicine or r/askadoctor as they’re heavily moderated and frankly maybe too much so but you’re less likely to see crazy stuff there!). I haven’t seen much here that is just ungodly bad but the subs for depression and on specific drugs are rife with misinformation and just utterly stupid comments that sound believable. Just informed enough to be dangerous. I think folks are safe here and on the various types of diets I haven’t seen that much. HOWEVER if I see a post on these I skip right on over it as anything outside basic healthy meals automatically is fringe to me. Balanced meals and generally balanced diets are the best and how to do it creatively and tastily are why I am here.
If you’re prediabetic, have high cholesterol or heart disease etc etc then your insurance will likely encourage, and pay for, you to see a dietician. I’m a MD and recently did with two good take aways. One is too complex and esoteric to share but the other is psyllium fiber capsules. Can I take those with a meal…hell yeah. And I give myself one soda serving as a treat now and then (and during migraines it is soothing) and I experimented and found that if you take a few ounces of soda and add dextrin fiber (Benefiber or generic) it does fizz up. Dissolve thoroughly. Add ice if you use it. Add the rest of the soda and it retains some carbonation so it is enjoyable and just another route for more fiber (and slowed sugar uptake from this sugar loaded treat). Oh I know you could find this in capsules too but that is more expensive. In tea and coffee I don’t mind Benefiber but I loathe LOATHE psyllium fiber so it is capsules or forget it!!.
I treat it like i treat a conversations with friends or strangers, ie interesting things to look more closely into.
I dont think think “qualified users” should be tagged. Experts are every bit as liable to bias as casual posters. Too many forums/subreddits have died by giving “experts” special tags because it kills discussion and creates a clique of users who stifle any content they dont agree with.
Well many statements are controversial so it’s hard to find consensus opinions. Unfortunately it’s very hard to find reliable unbiased information on nutrition even from so called ‘qualified’ responders. Bias is the rule in all of biomed and nutrition is no exception. The problem really goes down to the research level where economic interests of various industries have distorted studies and publications and hence influenced and confused even the ‘experts’. The alternative nutrition ‘gurus’ are really no better. They are all over the place in terms of opinions with many contradicting one another. It’s a minefield! Experiment is the true path to knowledge so you will likely need to do some personal experimentation and a lot of critical thinking to find what works. The field of Open Science is working to gain acceptance of higher research standards to try and address these issues.
I think you should ask questions and consider the information you get in the comments but always always double and triple check the information you get before making changes to your diet. Also take into consideration your own personal circumstances before making any changes. Like if you ask how to increase potassium in your diet, people might suggest adding grapefruit to your breakfast on a regular basis. Sounds like good advice but if you take certain medications this can be really bad advice. Search out reputable sites to confirm any information you get here, and if you are already in precarious health, consult your doctor (most know what they are doing re nutrition unfortunately there are a lot of clueless docs when it comes to the impact of nutrition on your health).
My problem with this sub is that I see contradictory information in every thread, which means if I want to know the truth I have to research it on my own anyway. I followed this sub to get quick nutrition advice but it hasn’t really done that for me
I think it’s good to share ideas. But the only thing that matters is your own experience and implementation.
I don’t think having a title matters. I know plenty of dog shit dietetics in person. You also have to go into the argument of what each person selflessly believes should be allowed to make X statements.
There’s also very few 1-1 facts and few studies are really valid for making statements on anything.
Honestly, I tend to be very skeptical of nutritionists and dieticians, because most are just spewing out the stuff they learned in school. If the average Joe says something but backs it up with a peer reviewed clinical trial or study, that’s something I have more faith in.
Its all about perspective. What people are doing with their diet and for why. Like Celiac disease, like other in the gluten free crowed that will tell you its bad for you.
Or people on the paleo diet and so on. Iv seen some good advice here. But ultimately its like life and you cant trust anyone and find out for your self. Take pieces of advice here and there and back them up with clinical data maybe?
That “badge” belongs to a doctor or nutritional. That was the first time I learned oil is bad for you as your liver and organs have a hard time processing it and weakens it, them.
any threads/comments about veganism, cow milk, or keto diets are toxic but there are a lot of people making reasonable statements.
I like this sub because i end up looking up sources to see if my pre-dispositions are right or wrong.
This is tough. A lot of the questions on this page are absolutes, but nutrition is nuanced with a lot of dependant variables, so making a generalized or absolute recommendation based on variable information is impossible leading to quite a bit of misinformation 🙇♂️
It’s mostly all right.
Just ignore the veganjerking and carnivorejerking and realize these aren’t oil and water but a great combination.
Other than that. Eat real, whole foods. People make this way more difficult than it needs to be.