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Prof. Timothy Noakes explicates the most persuasive critiques of Ancel Keys’ claim that dietary fat causes coronary heart disease. First among these is one by two of Keys’ contemporaries, Jacob Yerushalmy and Herman Hilleboe, who warned, "No matter how plausible such an association may appear, it is not in itself proof of a cause-effect relationship. ... But quotation and repetition of the suggestive association soon creates the impression that the relationship is truly valid, and ultimately it acquires status as a supporting link in a chain of presumed proof." Noakes claims quotation and repetition became the hallmark of the method by which Keys convinced the world his hypothesis was the singular truth, thereby altering the trajectory of 70 years of medical practice and dietary guidelines and contributing to the global obesity epidemic.

In the final installment in his series on pathological science, Gary Taubes claims institutionalized skepticism is a necessary trait in any legitimate scientific field. He brings this claim to bear on modern research on nutrition and chronic disease and notes a tendency to act on poorly formed or ineffectively tested hypotheses. Scientists who call for the implementation of such hypotheses ask for trust without having performed the rigorous research necessary to earn it, Taubes claims, and when this practice becomes the norm, an entire field of research can become pathological. “A healthy scientific enterprise allows for no shortcuts,” he writes.

Individuals on low-carbohydrate diets have lower levels of ingested glucose and smaller liver and muscle glycogen stores. In this 2016 trial, endurance athletes following a low-carbohydrate diet were shown to maintain energy sufficiency during exercise through increased reliance on fat oxidation.

"In recent years, hospitals and medical centers across the country have stopped selling sugar-sweetened beverages in an effort to reduce obesity and diabetes. Now a new study carried out at the University of California, San Francisco, has documented the health impact of a soda sales ban on its employees. Ten months after a sales ban went into effect, U.C.S.F. workers who tended to drink a lot of sugary beverages had cut their daily intake by about half. By the end of the study period, the group had, on average, reduced their waist sizes and belly fat, though they did not see any changes in their body mass index. Those who cut back on sugary beverages also tended to see improvements in insulin resistance, a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes."

In part two of his series on pathological science, Gary Taubes estimates the extent to which self-deceit has infiltrated scientific research and further investigates whether entire disciplines have become pathological. His inquiries lead to meditations on the necessary characteristics of rigorous scientific study. One indication that health-related research has become pathological, he suggests, is its experts’ tendency to view “placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized-controlled trials as the ‘gold standard’ of scientific evidence.” This view, he argues, represents “a lack of understanding of the scientific endeavor,” because “these trials are simply what’s necessary to establish reliable knowledge.”

CrossFit Open Workout 20.4 featured box jumps, clean and jerks of increasing weight, and single-leg squats. The workout had a 20-minute time cap, which gave most athletes a chance to get as far as their strength on the clean and jerks would allow. CrossFit Beyond the Whiteboard takes a look at participation and performance by country, division, and workout type.

Over the past 40 years, sugar intake (and thus fructose intake) has increased dramatically in Western diets, rising to 15-17% of total daily caloric consumption. This rise comes alongside increasing evidence linking fructose to diabetes, fatty liver disease, and cardiometabolic risk factors. This brief 2019 review summarizes the mechanisms by which fructose drives these metabolic diseases.

Type 2 diabetes is generally thought to be chronic and progressive, marked by an inevitable decline in beta cell function and increase in plasma glucose levels. Current pharmaceutical treatments are fundamentally unable to alter the course of the disease. Bariatric surgery has been shown to rapidly normalize glucose levels, even prior to weight loss. This study tested whether severe caloric restriction — similar to that seen alongside bariatric surgery — could lead to similar glycemic benefits. The study found that a very low-calorie diet rapidly improves liver insulin sensitivity and gradually improves pancreatic function in the process reversing Type 2 diabetes.

“Kellogg, one of the county’s top cereal companies, has agreed to stop using misleading terms such as ‘healthy,’ ‘nutritious,’ and ‘wholesome’ to promote products like Frosted Mini-Wheats. On October 21, 2019, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based corporation, officially known as The Kellogg Company, entered into a settlement agreement with a class of five plaintiffs in California and New York, who alleged Kellogg used deceptive health and wellness claims to market high-sugar cereals and breakfast bars. … The company can no longer advertise certain products, where added sugars represent at least 10 percent of calories, as ‘healthy.’ Nor can it promote them with phrases like ‘start with a healthy spoonful’ or ‘invest in your health.’”