Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [nutrition]

Use this tag for claims regarding the way we eat, and the effects eating has on our bodies.

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthful diet.

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Does the body require essential fatty acids for good health?

The term essential implies that a nutrient is required for the body to work properly and that the consequences of deficiency are serious. Examples are the 13 essential vitamins and the essential amino acids. What evidence shows that "essential fatty…
don't have to believe truth
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Does Jenny Craig's weight loss program work?

Does the weight loss program from Jenny Craig Inc. work in helping people lose weight and keep it off? Borrowing the same criteria as in Does the Atkins diet work?: My question is, does this diet lead to substantial weight loss, say a 25% reduction…
Brian M. Hunt
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Does drinking warm milk help people fall asleep and if so what is it about it that does?

I always thought drinking warm milk before going to bed helps one fall asleep. According to Dr.Oz's friend, it does Dr. Oz talked with a sleep expert who said warm milk will help you fall asleep at night. The milk helps you fall asleep because…
Celeritas
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Does the number of lobes on a green pepper indicate any specific culinary traits about the individual pepper?

I've seen claimed that whether a pepper has 3 lobes or bumps at the bottom or 4 can indicate whether that bell pepper is "sweeter, and better for eating, or firmer, and better for cooking". I've seen this repeated a couple of times on Facebook, as…
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Is Diet Coke 99% water?

I've come across the claim a few times that Diet Coke is 99% water. Examples: RealAge - 8 Diet Coke Claims You'll Want to Know About Freakonomics - Diet Coke is 99% Water (And That Is Now a Good Thing) Partial support for the claim seems to stem…
Sonny Ordell
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Can a single cup of coffee help a person to wake up and be more focused?

There are many examples of people claiming they need their morning cup of coffee in order to be able to function at their normal level: NIC blog: Like many early morning risers, I need my morning cup of coffee to get my brain going. Read This…
Sonny Ordell
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Does removing the seeds and pith from a chilli lessen the heat

Does removing the seeds from chilli actually reduce the heat? Is there any difference to just using less chilli? The claim: The seeds and flesh of the chilli can both be eaten, but cooking chillies does not reduce the intensity of capsaicin;…
Dave Hillier
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Is mycoprotein (Quorn) safe for human consumption?

There have been severe arguments over the safety of mycoprotein: Quorn is considered a healthy food in UK and Europe Some parties in the US have cried havoc It's quite discussed in Canada Quorn claims it's safe and healthy: The main ingredient in…
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Are Vitamins ingested in natural food more effective than those ingested in supplements?

There was a comment in this question saying that he was dubious of claims of the Vitamin C benefits of eating an orange. My gut reaction was to respond that Vitamins taken in food are metabolized better than those from a supplement. But I realized…
Chad
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Are there any toxic or dangerous food pairings?

Are there any foods that are harmless when eaten alone yet are dangerous or toxic when eaten together with another otherwise innocuous food? There can obviously be problems if you combine acidic foods with basic foods. I'm looking more for pairings…
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Does eating white rice regularly increase the risk of diabetes?

I've heard it mentioned regularly that India and China are going through diabetes epidemics. The reason I am given is because of the raised standard of living means people are now eating large quantities of white rice and because of its apparent…
going
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Do pregnant women crave pickles?

In my friend group it is "common knowledge" that pregnant women eat pickles a lot and we sometimes joke that we saw someone's girlfriend eating pickles with the implied consequence that they will soon become a parent. According to information quoted…
Albert Hendriks
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Can the human body absorb calories through the skin?

I have seen some nutritional advice that claims that it is possible to absorb calories through the skin, from face products for example. This sounds like nonsense to me, can anyone confirm that and explain why it would not be possible? Just to…
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Has a meat substitute from human feces been developed in Japan?

A video and some news are spreading like wildfire on the internet about some artificial meat made from human feces. The summary from slashdot, for example, says Hold on to your hamburgers — Japanese scientist Mitsyuki Ikeda at the Environmental…
Juan A. Navarro
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Is any special diet an effective treatment of autism?

Treatment Ratings for Autism claims that basically any special diet is an effective treatment of autism. Is this true? From the study, The following data have been collected from the more than 27,000 parents who have completed our questionnaires…
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