Ok team, it’s time for another Rapid Response. If you’re new around here, let me explain.
In the scientific community a ‘Rapid Response’ (RR) is a commentary published online in response to a scientific study that has been published in a journal and gone through the peer-review process. The RR is written as an expert comment or reaction to the published article, usually dissenting, but critically, has not gone through peer review.
By comparing this to a journal article I’m indulging in delusions of grandeur. What I’m trying to say is this is a clap-back to something I’ve read online that annoyed me. It’s written somewhat hastily (i.e. not up to ’s editorial standards), to respond to a ‘moment’ on the internet.
And I’m sorry to say, but Kids Eat In Color are in the hot seat again (I promise I’ll lay off after this).
If you’re unfamiliar with the Kids Eat In Color brand of fuckery, catch up here.
Alright team - we’re trying something new here. For now I’m calling it a ‘Rapid Response’. In the scientific community a ‘Rapid Response’ (RR) is a commentary published online in response to a scientific study that has been published in a journal and gone through the peer-review process. The RR is written as an expert comment or reaction to the publishe…
Well, it’s not something entirely new - a post that they regurgitate every so often is doing the rounds again (and a bunch of you tagged me in it). It gives common examples of phrases we might use to encourage kids to eat fruits and vegetables, and then some examples that are somehow meant to be less pressure/goading.
Except, they’re not.
The offending article
The post is a carousel, with slides that further spell out what you ‘should’ say about these foods to kids of different ages. With the idea that as kids get older they can handle more complex nutrition information. They’re sharing the post this time around because they’ve developed a set of print outs to use with your family. I didn’t download them, because I do not want to waste two whole American dollar bucks on this charade, but I’m working on the assumption that they’re fairly similar to what’s on the slides.
So what’s the problem?
Well, there’s a lot of stuff here that gives me the ick. But like I said last time, this is my (off-the-cuff) opinion. As always, feel free to ignore me. If this works for you then that’s cool. But I’m guessing you’re here because you want me to go hard, so let’s do it!
It’s Straight Up Misleading
As with Jen’s does a little/does a lot binary, some of the nutrition information here just doesn’t add up. The idea that one food (or compound within a food) can prevent or cure disease is an example of nutritional reductionism. In other words A + B = C. But our bodies are complex systems, within complex systems. It’s more Schrödinger’s equation than simple algebra.
To start with I just looked at that first cover slide and I spent longer than I care to admit trying to decipher WHAT THE FUCK she was talking about. Yellow foods help your skin heal? Did she mean vitamin C? But all of those foods pictured have vitamin C. Maybe she meant some obscure phytonutrient like beta cryptothanxin which is found in yellow foods but isn’t (as far as I know) responsible for wound healing. But protein is, and I don’t see that listed here. So is zinc and iron. Wuuttt??
And green foods help prevent you from getting sick? Genuinely, I was stumped. Even with three nutrition degrees, I could not figure this out. What is the mechanism here? Has there been some leap in nutritional sciences that I’m unaware of? WHAT THE FUCK HAS TIM SPECTOR SAID NOW??
Then I clicked through.
Green foods have…prebiotics?
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME.
I’m going to get up on my soap box here because this one really fucks me off. My BSc honours project and a gooood chunk of my doctoral work was studying the gut microbiome. I taught microbiology lab as a grad student. If you have a question about intestinal failure, I’m your girl.
And lemme me tell you, that green veg is not going to be the best source of prebiotics in the diet. And that ‘feeding your gut microbiome’ is one tiny tiny piece in the overall puzzle of health. It’s not that green veg won’t have any impact on the gut microbiome, it’s just that they are overall low in complex carbohydrates and fibre (relative to grains like oats, nuts, beans, and seeds). Like I would sooner suggest a bowl of Weetabix than a pile of spinach for ‘gut health’ (which let’s not even get into that). Tl;dr saying that green foods stop you from getting sick is a pretty big leap in logic.
Likewise, for heart health, a tomato isn’t going to counteract the effects of systemic oppression or the stress of traumatic events - things we know have a major impact on cardiovascular disease. Eating blueberries and red cabbage doesn’t guarantee that someone won’t get Alzheimer’s or dementia.
My point is that these statements are sort of tenuous at best. It’s pretty clear that she has retrofitted these seemingly robust claims to her ‘eat the rainbow’ framework.
No individual food has a singular function in the body and no function in the body can only be accomplished by a single food. WE ARE SCAVENGERS. It would be evolutionary disadvantageous to only be able to get an essential nutrient from only one food. Like my inner nutrition nerd is laughing so hard at how ridiculous that idea is. Can you imagine an early subsistence farmer saying to their crew, ‘OK guys, that carrot crop failed so we’re not going to be able to see in the dark again until next year’s harvest’. Lolololol. GTFO.
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