Beware the Mirage

Hello, it's Karen here! With the barrage of nutrition headlines we encounter on a daily basis, it can feel like the ground is shifting underneath your feet. One day, eggs are good. The next day, they're bad. Now they may be good again. You drank whole milk as a kid, then they told you to drink skim milk. Now you think you should avoid cow's milk altogether and drink almond milk. I could go on, and on, and on, and on. But I suspect many of you know the feeling of confusion, anxiety, and exasperation that comes from this kind of information.

What if I told you that what we know about nutrition isn't changing as quickly as it seems? In fact, the basics haven't really changed in the last few decades. It is a mirage. What we know about good nutrition has been known to us for a while: Emphasize fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins (including plant-based sources), and heart-healthy unsaturated fats. It really is that simple (although "simple" is not the same as "easy" when it comes to actually following that guidance!)

It is a tremendously tedious and lengthy process to produce evidence-based information about food's impact on human health. You need controlled, longitudinal studies with humans that can show cause-and-effect. And you need to be able to reproduce those results. This is a high bar. You also have to consider that humans are a not a heterogenous group - they are unique and will respond differently to interventions.

I hope you will keep this in mind the next time you see an eye-catching nutrition headline. I hope you will ask yourself if the information is consistent with the fundamental tenets of good nutrition. And most importantly, I hope you will feel empowered to ignore the sensationalism and find peace in trusting the basics.