Childhood Obesity News has published a number of posts according to the formulaic proposition that “everything you know is wrong.” For the most part, it is a tongue-in-cheek observation. Just as surely as today’s discoveries make yesterdays truths look shabby, the new replacement truths might not last long either.
“Everything You Know is Wrong” is a good place to start, and has seven more parts in addition to that first one. Together they cover opposing views about advertising, product labels, breastfeeding, sleep, fast-food locations, monosodium glutamate, insurance, chocolate milk, food addiction, video games, stress eating, bariatric surgery, and polls.
“Everything You Know Is Still Wrong” is the first of five total parts of the same name, supplemented by “Why Everything You know Is Wrong” and “Everything You Know Is Wrong — Again.” Additional topics discussed by these writings include food and fitness in schools, metabolic risk and societal factors, food deserts, hyperbole, scientific protocol, pre-birth influences, and blood pressure.
Of course there are other reasons than ignorance for holding mistaken beliefs. It is not always the fault of research, for lagging behind. Sometimes, misinformation is knowingly and deliberately spread for dishonorable reasons. The 50-year deception that slandered fat and honored sugar inspired “Everything You Know About Fat is Wrong,” “Everything Else You Know About Fat is Wrong,” and “Everything You Know About Fat is Still Wrong.”
Is everything we know wrong?
Here are some other topics about which opinion has changed or is still being disputed:
— Addiction
— Losing weight
— Summer
— Obesity awareness
— When to eat
— How to eat
Thrown into the mix are a few controversial, obesity-adjacent subjects like “Can Reading Make You Thin?“, “More About Screen Time,” “Sedentary Lifestyle Attacked and Defended.”
A field as large as obesity is bound to attract and generate plenty of theories. A lot of people are called crackpots until they suddenly become geniuses, without having changed in any substantial way. We live in a marketplace of conflicting ideas, and sometimes facts change right under our feet and before our very eyes.
Other times, the truth remains murky. There are very good reasons why almost every report on a scientific study includes a caveat emphasizing the need for more research.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Photo credit: Juliana Dacoregio (judacoregio) on Visualhunt/CC BY
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