Myth File #007
Food Myths
Myth: Signal vs. Noise: How to Read a Nutrition Study
A reference post demonstrating MythBox and SignalBox callouts, plus a practical guide for evaluating nutrition research without a PhD.
Examine the EvidenceThe Case Files
Food Myths
Question what you were taught to eat.
Follow the evidence. Ignore the slogans.
Most of what passes for nutrition common sense was never proven — it was repeated. Marketing became guidelines, guidelines became habits, and the evidence got left behind. Each file here reopens one claim and follows the data wherever it actually leads.
Featured Myth
Are Seed Oils Quietly Wrecking Your Joints?
A Nature Communications study just tied linoleic acid to cartilage damage in rats, while a competing review calls seed-oil health fears unfounded. Both are tier-1 sources. Here's what each one actually proves.
Break Down the MythThe Myth Archive
Modern nutrition is full of claims repeated so often they start to sound like facts. This archive collects the ones worth reopening.
Myth File #006
Food Myths
Myth: Chowing Down On Meat, Dairy Alters Gut Bacteria A Lot, And Quickly
NPR's coverage of a Harvard gut-microbiome study got the science right but muddled the terminology — a media-literacy case study in reading past the headline.
Examine the EvidenceMyth File #005
Food Myths
Myth: Just when you finally get that cholesterol level down...
A Jichi Medical School cohort study of 12,334 adults found higher mortality at the lowest cholesterol levels — and no elevated risk at the high end.
Examine the EvidenceMyth File #004
Food Myths
Myth: Sugary Processed Foods Addictive Like Cocaine
Bloomberg's "Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine" headline blamed the wrong macronutrient — the studies were about sugar, not fat.
Examine the EvidenceMyth File #003
Food Myths
Myth: Experts Call Low Carb Paleo Unhealthy
U.S. News ranked paleo near the bottom of its "healthy diets" list — a look at what their own numbers actually show once you get past the ranking.
Examine the EvidenceMyth File #002
Food Myths
Myth: Still Afraid of Saturated Fat?
The 1970s low-fat campaign, four decades of rising obesity and diabetes despite it, and the case — from Gary Taubes' 'Big Fat Lie' to the omega-3/omega-6 ratio — that saturated fat was never the real culprit.
Examine the EvidenceMyth File #001
Food Myths
Myth: Starting at the Bottom... of the Pyramid
Why paleo treats grains, legumes, and dairy as problematic — starting with wheat: gluten, celiac disease, and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) lectin.
Examine the EvidenceNo myth files match — either nothing's been reopened here yet, or the claim survived scrutiny. Check back soon.
Keep Questioning
Stop outsourcing your food beliefs.
Reopen the evidence.
Every myth in this archive was once uncontested common sense. Get new case files as they're opened — no slogans, no sponsors, just the data.