- The high value of free food. “About 1 in 4 doctors take cash directly from drug companies or medical device makers and 2 out of 3 take free food . . . Those who [do so] are more willing to prescribe drugs in unapproved or potentially risky ways.”
- Beware the North Carolina Board of Dieticians.
- Tonsils make T-cells. One more reason cutting off part of your immune system (your tonsils) is a terrible idea.
- Long-term Shangri-La Diet success. “I’ve been doing the Shangri-La “Diet” for over 5 years now (see here, here, and here). My weight went down right away, and it’s stayed down.”
Thanks to Anne Weiss.
Off-topic, but that “long-term SLD success” link points to one of the ugliest websites I have ever seen. I can’t imagine a worse combination of text/background color and font style. Makes my eyes hurt. That blogger could use web design tips from you in addition to the dietary advice.
Excellent post. Most medical doctors know very little about nutrition (or more generally how to interpret the statistical models and graphs commonly used in epidemiological studies), so even those who aren’t lured into giving questionable advice by private companies are still usually not reliable sources of information on these nutrition and diet.
I posted the “doctor gravy train” story on Facebook and two people commented. Both said the story is overblown: one said the dinners are little more than “cold cuts and a boring lecture,” the other said they were nothing but “cold noodles and pens.” Neither seemed to address the fact that those who went to these lectures were more likely to prescribe the drugs in dangerous or risky ways.
Also, incidentally, both are attorneys whose significant other is a doctor: one is married to an ER doc, the other is engaged to a psychiatrist.
Seth: Interesting. Yeah, what about the main finding?