Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience

[wyldwolf]

Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience—so why are some kinds of pseudoscience more equal than others?

From the probiotics aisle to the vaguely ridiculous Organic Integrity outreach effort (more on that later), Whole Foods has all the ingredients necessary to give Richard Dawkins nightmares. And if you want a sense of how weird, and how fraught, the relationship between science, politics, and commerce is in our modern world, then there’s really no better place to go. Because anti-science isn’t just a religious, conservative phenomenon—and the way in which it crosses cultural lines can tell us a lot about why places like the Creation Museum inspire so much rage, while places like Whole Foods don’t.

Nearby are eight full shelves of probiotics—live bacteria intended to improve general health. I invited a biologist friend who studies human gut bacteria to come take a look with me. She read the healing claims printed on a handful of bottles and frowned. “This is bullshit,” she said, and went off to buy some vegetables. Later, while purchasing a bag of chickpeas, I browsed among the magazine racks. There was Paleo Living, and, not far away, the latest issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You. Pseudoscience bubbles over into anti-science. A sample headline: “Stay sharp till the end: the secret cause of Alzheimer’s.” A sample opening sentence: “We like to think that medicine works.” ...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/23/whole-foods-america-s-temple-of-pseudoscience.html

[Democracyinkind]

1. Oy.

[Aerows]

138. You beat me to it

I was just going to post that!

[Democracyinkind]

141. Great minds...

...like it when it gets hot in the Whole Foods parking lot

[proverbialwisdom]

144. BINGO - 'Unacceptable Ingredients: How many groceries sold @Walmart would be banned by Whole Foods?'

Feb 19
Last year revenue at Walmart equalled $466.1B; the largest retailer in the WORLD! Unfortunately, they are selling... http://fb.me/6Ik7Lmc4O

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/whole_foods_and_walmart_how_many_groceries_sold_at_walmart_would_be_banned.html

“Unacceptable Ingredients”
How many of the groceries sold at Walmart would be banned by Whole Foods?

By Ben Blatt
FEB. 18 2014 11:37 PM

Whole Foods, one of the largest health-conscious grocery stores in America, maintains a list of “Unacceptable Ingredients for Food.” The store’s blacklist is 78 ingredients long and contains many well-known villains in the eyes of health-conscious eaters—aspartame, MSG, and high fructose corn syrup, to name a few. Though Whole Foods has grown over the years—it currently boasts more than 300 locations nationwide—it’s still a small operation in comparison to Walmart, which runs more than 3,000 food-selling supercenters in the U.S., making it the largest grocery store in the country and indeed the world. Walmart does not ban any of the ingredients on Whole Foods’ restricted list. In fact, approximately 14 percent of food items sold at Walmart could not be stocked on the shelves of Whole Foods simply because they contain high fructose corn syrup. When all 78 ingredients banned by Whole Foods are taken into account, roughly 54 percent of food items sold at a Walmart would be prohibited at Whole Foods.

Walmart posts on its website the ingredients of 19,900 food products it carries in its grocery sections. To create my data set, I matched the ingredients of each product against Whole Foods’ “Unacceptable Ingredients for Food” list. It should be noted that while 19,900 products constitutes a large sample, it does not represent the totality of Walmart’s food offerings, as there are many products for which the chain does not provide nutritional information on its website, and other products it doesn’t list at all. The Food Marketing Institute estimates that the average supermarket stocks approximately 42,000 items. When I asked a Walmart spokeswoman via email if the 42,000 figure held true for its stores, she responded that the number varies from store to store, based on format, and declined to provide an average.

Many of the ingredients banned by Whole Foods are ones that frequently show up in processed foods, products that have been prepared and packaged in a way that allows them to be sold on a mass scale at a later date. Given the popularity of processed foods among American shoppers, and the disdain for preservatives in health food circles, it’s perhaps not surprising that one out of every two products sold at Walmart has an ingredient banned by Whole Foods. Consider the soft drink category. Of the soft drinks sold at Walmart, approximately 97 percent contain ingredients that Whole Foods considers “unacceptable.” High fructose corn syrup and the preservative sodium benzoate, both on Whole Foods’ banned list, are in the majority of Walmart’s soft drinks.

If you’re trying to avoid unnatural ingredients you may not be a soda drinker. But let’s look at the seemingly more natural category of water. More than 36 percent of drinks that Walmart labels as “water” also have ingredients that disqualify them from Whole Foods’ shelves. While standard Aquafina and Aquafina FlavorSplash Lemon Water have similar packaging and might even be sold on the same shelf, the latter contains four ingredients (sucralose, calcium disodium EDTA, acesulfame potassium, and potassium sorbate) that would prohibit its sale at Whole Foods.

<>

You learn something new every day. BTW, SLATE's 'analysis' is nothing I could agree with and serves to muddy the waters unnecessarily.

[Aerows]

145. Those little shopping carts, they got :D n/t

[tridim]

2. What a load of crap.

I don't shop there, but damn it's not "all pseudoscience". WTF?

I guess it's only the real deal if it comes from big-ag or big-pharma, huh?

[Orrex]

3. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present another sad case of

In any DU thread about medicine or pseudoscience, it is exceedingly likely that someone will invoke the specter of "big pharma" within the first three replies.

[tridim]

5. Close that mind tight Orrex.

And eat your GMO and antibiotics like a good little American.

[Orrex]

12. And you keep worshipping at the altar of pseudoscience

Keep buying your nostrums and snake oil like a good little rube.

[tridim]

15. I don't buy or use snake oil.

I eat healthy food to stay healthy.

You know what genius? It's working.

[Orrex]

19. Seems to have made you constipated, to be honest

Certainly it hasn't helped your hair-trigger temper.

So you like to eat healthy. So what? Is anyone telling you to do otherwise? Any evil western doctor in the business will tell you that a healthy diet is the foundation of good health. You're imagining a controversy where none exists.

The article's objection isn't to healthy food but to bullshit pseudscience marketed as (among other things) "dietary supplements" and the like, of which the vast majority have little or no demonstrated health benefit.

There's a lucrative multi-billion dollar pseudoscience industry dedicated to extracting money from the credulous and the desperate, and the article is calling out Whole Foods for facilitating this scam. If you insist on advocating on behalf of these grossly overpaid hucksters, you're welcome to do so.

[Javaman]

42. Hey!!!

placebos work!!

LOL

Cheers.

[Cha]

146. He's all pissed off..

you're healthy. He'd be pissed at me too.

[Silent3]

124. Is a symptom of a tightly closed mind an inability to think without invoking straw men...

...and false dichotomies?

There's no middle ground between calling out pseudoscientific bullshit at Whole Foods and being a robotic consumer of everything else?

[HappyMe]

9. lol!

8 shelves of that stuff is ridiculous.

[Orrex]

13. It's like the "science" section of most book stores

700 volumes by Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra surrounding a handful of books on actual science.

[chrisa]

39. Don't forget Dr. Oz, The Doctors, etc.

Anyone on daytime TV is usually a shill for pseudoscience and the corporations that peddle this crap.

[Orrex]

46. Yes indeed

Very long on gauzy feel-goodism and very short on hard science.

[Javaman]

41. there's got to be name for that...

like goddards law for invoking something about the nazi's, there has to be a "law" for this behavior.

[unc70]

58. Godwin's Law after Mike G of EFF

[SidDithers]

43. Awesome. Haven't seen Threefer Madness in a while...

Sid

[laundry_queen]

4. No kidding. I guess my gastroenterologist was lying when he told me to take probiotics

because studies had showed it improved my particular issue. Guess he was all up in the 'woowoo'.

[tridim]

6. Might as well just dump your Kefir down the drain...

Doesn't matter a lick if it works wonders for you, the Internet has deemed it woo.

Idiots.

[get the red out]

65. Am I allowed to eat yogurt?

Or does the purchase of such immediately register me as a Republican and make a donation to the nearest fundamentalist church in my name?

I like yogurt, FWIW I eat bread too, which means I'm going to HELL according to the Gospel of Gluten-free.

On a serious note, I try to do what works for me and don't sell my mind to anyone's fear mongering of the moment. But, Whole Foods isn't trying to eradicate Science in classrooms or promote forced births in this country so the comparison is not one I buy into either. And I do like a healthy dose of freedom without trying to demonize someone for something as innocuous as choosing to buy probiotics. We can make these false comparisons to "creationism" in order to promote science all day long and all that really gets done is pissing off a lot of good liberals that buy products others don't.

[pnwmom]

73. Yogurt's great but not everyone can eat it.

And not everyone can eat gluten either. I get intestinal bleeding when I do, and I don't appreciate being mocked in forums like this. It's hard trying to find food that is clearly labelled -- Whole Foods is one of the good guys in that respect.

[get the red out]

93. I didn't mock anyone

I'm just tired of everyone having Gluten free shoved at them whether they need it or not, I'm tired of THE NEXT BIG THING that EVERYONE is supposed to jump into nutritionally. I'm not mocking diabetics by not taking insulin.

I am also not MAKING anyone eat yogurt by making a joke in retaliation against the silliness of comparing people buying probiotics to the insidiousness and politically active, anti-science Creationists.

I'll go ahead and piss EVERYONE OFF, I have pro-biotics in my fridge, they have been very helpful to me. I eat tofu (going to hell for that according to one faction), I eat meat (going to hell via another faction), and I drink milk (yes, fire and brimstone). I like Kale but I can't keep up with whether that is evil or not, depends on the phase of the moon or some such, apparently.

Oh, forgot to add, I rather like Whole Foods, so I wasn't mocking them either. I am all for people buying what they please to eat and hardly see it as the equivalent of religious fanatics who seek to destroy education and take away people's rights.

[pnwmom]

95. Who is shoving gluten free at you? Please direct them to me. I often have trouble finding

processed foods that are properly labeled -- for instance, that don't say "contains natural ingredients." Or, "processed in a facility that contains wheat." The worst thing is that I can't even get prescription medications that are gluten-free, unless I pay extra for the brand name -- which almost always is.

And so, while I don't like Whole Foods high prices, I wish all the other stores would copy them in their labeling, even if it made people like you think that everyone was "shoving" gluten free at them.

[get the red out]

100. I'm actually on your side

I am all for correct labeling, I like Whole Foods and stores like it and want people to be able to buy anything they want.

But online nutrition information changes so often that yes, the latest thing always gets pushed and all it's followers (not necessarily those who need to be following it) say it is a must do to everyone else. I've had it pushed at me recently by friends on FB and a co-worker had it pushed at her by someone she knew from her kid's school.

Plus I am irreverent and sarcastic and that is just my sense of humor.

[pnwmom]

102. People who find something that makes them feel better might be forgiven for trying to help others.

For example, when I hear that someone has "irritable bowel syndrome," I do encourage them to have the blood tests for Celiac, if they haven't already. If they test negative, and the symptoms continue, then I'd encourage them to try various foods that are known to cause problems. Lactose bothers some people and gluten bothers another significant group. The only way to test this is through an elimination diet, unfortunately.

Why live with irritable bowel syndrome, as so many do, or take meds for it, when the real solution is figuring out which foods are causing it in the first place?

[get the red out]

104. I've no issue with that

But when people push something at someone who has no issues as "the next great thing" or that gluten is bad for everyone and that the truth of "modern" wheat is being kept from us and a person starts feeling like they will be jumped on if they admit to eating bread, it's a bit too far.

I would be considered "woo" myself since I've found a number of herbals that have helped me more than doctors ever did with various problems. I also take prescribed medications. It seems anymore a person is required to choose a bandwagon and never stray. I am not into choosing up food sides, or in choosing medicine sides. I'm generally as worried about telling one "side" I take herbal meds as I am the other that I take pharmaceuticals and another that I eat bread.

[pnwmom]

107. Until recently, the average person with full-blown Celiac took 11 years

before receiving a diagnosis. So maybe all these people "pushing" gluten awareness will help shorten that miserable experience.

[greyl]

7. You mis-read.

Creationism, climate change denial, and quasi-religious snake oil "are all pseudoscience".

[tridim]

8. The post title: "Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience"...

is pure 100% bullshit.

[greyl]

10. Then you mis-read and mis-quoted,

and are now trying to cover it up!

tridim: "I don't shop there, but damn it's not "all pseudoscience""

[tridim]

14. The first paragraph calls Whole Foods, and creationism "all pseudoscience"

"but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience"

I read the paragraph and quoted it.

[greyl]

16. No it doesn't. Adios. nt

[tridim]

22. Sorry you don't believe in direct quotes.

Bye.

[Orrex]

26. "Don't believe in direct quotes," warns tridim.

And that's a direct quote, folks.

[Orrex]

20. You're either misreading or lying

creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience

"All pseudoscience" in this context clearly refers to creationists, climate change deniers and quasi-religious snake oil. It does not refer to Whole Foods in general.

If you are unable to parse the article's grade school complexity, then you have no credibility lecturing anyone on the evils of organized medicine.

[tridim]

23. It's a direct quote from the article, Orrex.

It's why I called the article bullshit. It is.

You just sound angry that I pointed it out. That would be your problem, not mine.

[Orrex]

25. It's an obvious misreading of a direct quote from the article, tridim

That sort of clear intellectual dishonesty is why sensible people call pseudoscience bullshit. It is.

And why on earth would I be angry about your lack of comprehension?

If you can't parse basic sentence structure, then that would be your problem, not mine.

[pnwmom]

84. Come on, Orrex. I expect better from you.

The title of the OP: "Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience" clearly is referring to Whole Foods in general.

[Orrex]

90. That's one possible interpretation of the headline, but it's a stretch

A local garage describes itself as "Your #1 stop for transmission repair." They're not saying that they only work on transmissions; they're saying that they're the leader in providing that service.

Describing Whole Foods as "America's Temple of Pseudoscience" absolutely doesn't imply that Whole Foods only sells pseudoscience or that everything sold at Whole Foods is pseudoscience. It simply means that Whole Foods is the leading purveyor of that worthless crap. It's an exaggeration, perhaps, but it's hardly the deal-breaker that you and Tridim seem so desperately to want it to be.

And even if it's an overstatement, so what? It's the headline, not the entire article. One hopes that a critic would read past the very top of the page before issuing a kneejerk response.

[Silent3]

125. So that title sums it all up for you?

Nothing we all know about titles being brief, simplified and often deliberately punchy applies?

Further, your unfounded leap of logic that "Temple of Pseudoscience" translates to "each and every product in the store has no possible merit, it's ALL pseudoscience" is the only sensible way to go in interpreting the intent of this article, with no need waste time dealing with the specifics of the articles content?

And anyone daring to argue with your simplistic snap judgment deserves a response like "Come on, Orrex. I expect better from you." for not being so quick to see the "obvious" truth you see?

[pnwmom]

83. No. Tridem quoted the title exactly. You're making no sense. n/t

[Puzzledtraveller]

54. Funny isn't it.

I totally get what you mean, it's like we are all in love with big pharma big-ag now.

[TygrBright]

96. Actually, most of the supplement industry is owned by Big Pharma congloms. Just sayin'... n/t

[tridim]

98. Except there is massive choice in the supplement industry, unlike big pharma's products.

Not worried at all.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

139. Pharma companies are like piranha - DESPERATE to swallow up the names of respected supplements

Recently, Bayer was able to buy the company, Alacer (who make Emergen-C).

Procter & Gamble (hiding behind the name Teva) bought New Chapter, which I used to buy but will cease buying now.

Toms of Maine was purchased by Colgate-Palmolive. I sensed something was wrong right away when suddenly Tom's of Maine began including fluoride in their toothpastes (though this was the primary reason people started buying Tom's, so they wouldn't be brushing with fluoride, and when I researched, whammo, Colgate-Palmolive had bought it out.

Pharma company Wyeth owns Solgar, which I stopped buying of course.

NBTY, a huge corporation, has manufactured Vitamin World, Puritan's Pride, Rexall and MET-Rx, Solgar and Sundown, which are (in my humble opinion) even worse than buying Centrum or One-A-Day.

DSM, another nasty corporation, bought the company that manufactured all vegetarian fish oil.

In the past, pharma companies made the "supplements" no one in their right mind would take - Centrum, One-A-Day, etc., and other such crap that the health-conscious wouldn't buy. Big pharma will NEVER have the customer's health in mind, so the moment they buy a product, you can betcha it's going to go downhill, as what happened with Tom's of Maine that suddenly they were pumping fluoride into "natural" toothpaste.

There has to be some place where we can get the news on who has purchased what, so we know what to stay away from.

[Dorian Gray]

127. I think

there's more to criticize about the expense vs. the "pseudoscience" or the store.

[mainer]

11. Probiotics is definitely not pseudoscience

Our gastroenterologist pal now says it's real science.

Now, as to whether those bottles actually contain the bacteria they claim to contain is a different story. Many of them don't, because they're not regulated by the FDA.

But there's no longer any debate that a gut populated by certain strains of bacteria is essential for health.

Frankly, if you want a good dose of probiotics, avoid the pills and just eat a serving of lacto-fermented sauerkraut every day. Not the stuff in a can, but the fresh kraut that you ferment in a jar on your kitchen counter. Cabbage and salt and a little time is all it takes.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/770468_2

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Or just 4 oz of yogurt

Which ironically was recommended by my pediatrician, he's dead, I have not been a kid for a few decades, when taking antibiotics. My surprise, not, when Mayo clinic started to play with this theory recently and found it beneficial.

[pnwmom]

67. I'm lactose intolerant so my G.I. doc recommended probiotics instead of yogurt.

So did my internist when I had to have antibiotics.

[nadinbrzezinski]

80. For the same exact same reason

I had them recommended when I got really sick too.

[mainer]

71. Different types of lactobacilli in sauerkraut and yogurt

Sauerkraut: Leuconostoc citreum, Leuconostoc argentinum, Lactobacillus paraplantarum, Lactobacillus coryniformis, and Weissella sp http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2168044/

Yogurt is primarily L. acidophilus, I believe.

Both are useful, but sauerkraut may have the edge in giving you more diverse gut flora.

[pnwmom]

85. Too bad I hate Sauerkraut.

I don't mind yogurt, but I had to stop eating it.

So I pop refrigerated pro-biotic capsules when I need to.

[Dorian Gray]

128. I hate yogurt

so I'm more of a kimchee of sour kraut fan.

But, yeah, eating foods that have probiotics bc of fermentation makes me feel much better. Bowel health really makes a difference in day to day general mood.

[laundry_queen]

86. I may have to try making my own

I just need to find some really good instructions

Like I said upthread, my gastroenterologist basically prescribed probiotics for me. He was very specific on the brand that had been involved in peer reviewed studies and told me to buy that brand. He said that the other brands may or may not help, and that some were good but some weren't, but that the brand he was telling me to go get was proven to be potent and standardized and had tons of research behind it. Sadly, it's pretty pricey so I don't take it as often as I should but when I do take it regularly it works wonders. I also buy other kinds that I have read were high quality (but cheaper than the one prescribed) and that have different strains, just to keep my bases covered. Intestinal distress is part of my everyday life so it's worth it. And it's why I'd really like to learn how to make my own sauerkraut.

[mainer]

94. It's really easy. Slice cabbage, add salt and water,

let it sit in a glass jar for a few weeks, poke it a bit every day or two, and that's it. Eat it raw. Cooking kills the bacteria.

http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

[laundry_queen]

97. Thanks!

I'll try it. Anything to help my stomach - although lucky me, I do like it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

112. That is easier than making bread. (Yes I bake that for my husband)

Will have to get a jar for that though. If it helps, just add it to some gluten free bagel, with a nice cheese toping instead of I don't know mustard.

Thanks

[mainer]

117. I had to babysit my son's sauerkraut for 2 weeks

which is how I discovered how easy it is to make. He was traveling out of the country and left his jar of kraut for me to stir every few days. It ended up really delicious, and all he did was mix red cabbage and salt. He just used a big mason jar, nothing fancy. He makes it all the time, and his horrible gastrointestinal problems (which had eaten up thousands of dollars of medical tests and had made him miserable for 4 years) cleared up within 3 weeks of eating his home-made kraut. I think he first contracted the problems after a course of antibiotics for dental work. It took something as simple as a few dollars' worth of cabbage to cure him.

Our good friend, who's a gastroenterologist, was amazed by the story and is now recommending kraut to his patients.

[reformist2]

17. I have no desire to set foot in a Whole Foods. I hear it's way overpriced.

[hatrack]

29. More like "America's Temple Of Price-Gouging"

[Dorian Gray]

129. THIS right here

is the real criticism of the place.

[mainer]

18. Current scientific consensus on probiotics

Abstract
The present paper summarizes the consensus views of a group of 9 European clinicians and scientists on the current state of scientific knowledge on probiotics, covering those areas where there is substantial evidence for beneficial effects and those where the evidence base is poor or inconsistent. There was general agreement that probiotic effects were species and often strain specific. The experts agreed that some probiotics were effective in reducing the incidence and duration of rotavirus diarrhea in infants, antibiotic-associated diarrhea in adults and, for certain probiotics, Clostridium difficile infections. Some probiotics are associated with symptomatic improvements in irritable bowel syndrome and alleviation of digestive discomfort. Probiotics can reduce the frequency and severity of necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants and have been shown to regulate intestinal immunity. Several other clinical effects of probiotics, including their role in inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis, respiratory or genito-urinary infections or H. pylori adjuvant treatment were thought promising but inconsistent.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056112/

[Lars39]

36. Thanks for posting that.

Probiotics were highly recommended to me by the doctors when I received massive doses of antibiotics.
C-Diff is something to be taken very seriously.

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. You could have died.

Glad you are ok.

[Lars39]

62. Thanks!

Yes, was very sick. Very fortunate not to get worse.

[hedgehog]

88. But, we have the word of an anonymous biologist that it's all bullshit!

[reformist2]

21. "'This slicer used for cutting both CONVENTIONAL and ORGANIC breads,' warns a sign..." LOL!

[HappyMe]

28. Oh the horror!!1

[Dorian Gray]

130. yeah...

i saw that sign in the store just yesterday. It made me giggle a little.

[brooklynite]

24. No different than any drug store in America

Count the number of homeopathic supplements, alternative medicine products...

[X_Digger]

27. K&R n/t

[Berlum]

30. Ahh - DU's Weekly Woo-Punching Thread, Inc. (R). Right on schedule.

Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 02:07 PM - Edit history (1)

"Let's all get together and kick the crap out of something or someone. Smirk. Sneer. As soon as we finish trashing organic food, we can punch some hippies, and then wham the shit out of the feminine in some other manifestation. Ha ha. Smirk. Sneer." - Woo Punchers, Inc. (R)

[get the red out]

66. Well, it has to be done

Creationists probably won't show up on DU to attack, and someone has to be attacked for "wrong thinking" and some undesirables might show up here of the woo designation. Someone must fucking pay after-all.

[Berlum]

78. Indeed. We must punish WOObees who fail to pay obeisance to Approved Corporate Concepts, Inc. (R)

One can be certain that Woo Punching will continue. As will Hippie Punching. And, of course, the ever-popular War on Women.

[zappaman]

115. We don't have to punch them or punish them...

But we should certainly be able to laugh at them!



Why do you think crap like chemtrails was banned from DU???

[ananda]

31. I shop at WF occasionally ..

.. for certain products I can't get anywhere else.

But that's it... and it's not much.

[DanTex]

32. One obvious difference being that WF is not threatening to collapse the world's ecosystem.

Whether or not Whole Foods is a "temple of pseudoscience", at worst the consequence is yuppies spending too much money on things they think are making them more "wholesome". Is this really any worse than yuppies spending $300 on yoga pants?

Another thing. Whether its "Paleo" or "macrobiotic" or "raw" or whatever other kind of trendy diet that may have a questionable scientific basis, it's almost certainly healthier than the average American diet.

Of course, this all presupposes that there is no actual health benefit to eating "whole foods". In some cases, like homeopathy, we can clearly say that it is useless other than placebo. But in many other cases, all we can say is that we don't know. And, historically, the medical establishment doesn't have an impeccable track record either when it comes to dietary recommendations. By now much of the health establishment accepts that the "official" food pyramid dietary recommendations were significantly flawed.

[Coyotl]

33. Whole Paycheck: America’s Corporate Temple of Emptying your Pockets

Meanwhile, just down the street at employee-owned WinCo Foods, precisely the same loaf of bread costs $2.00 less per loaf.

[BuddhaGirl]

61. does WinCo carry Ezekiel bread

or other good quality sprouted grain breads?

[LeftyMom]

92. They carry Dave's Killer Bread.

I was so excited to find it out of the PNW, they had it well before Safeway did here.

Now if they'd only start carrying Secret Aardvark, I'd be happy.

[frazzled]

34. This doesn't sound entirely like the Whole Foods I shop at

Sure, there are aisles of bottles of stupid stuff, which I totally avoid (except to get a jar of Vitamin D once every few months), and some wacko books and yoga pants. And there are sham health products--which Whole Foods is by no means the only purveyor--but mostly it's vegetables and meats and fish and your baking aisle and fancy cheese setup and wine store, with craft beers. They sell whatever people want and will pay for. They also sell cheap big pizzas they make, which are pretty bad actually (I bought one once).

But really, had this writer never seen a bottle of Dr. Bronner's before? I was using Dr. Bronner's back in the 60s, before the idea of a Whole Foods was ever conceived. Everyone knew the bottle had wacky stuff on it back then. (Actually, a friend of mine from high school was the granddaughter of Dr. Bronner.)

There's nothing new about wacky health food claims. In my parents' generation it was driven by Adele Davis: my mom had the cookbooks. And in the 80s we had Horst Rechelbacher, the father of "safe cosmetics" made of all natural products.

It's always been deluded. Adele Davis died at age 70 of multiple myeloma, and Horst Rechelbacher just died of pancreatic cancer at age 72. Both expired nearly three decades short of my father, who has lived most of his life on salami sandwiches and cola drinks, using the cheapest shampoo he can find at the drugstore. He's 97.

So Whole Foods is not my problem: it's the growing popularity of the idea in our society that you can make yourself live longer if you go back to the way cavemen ate (who probably died before they were 30) or go on cleanses or avoid cosmetics that aren't made of tree bark. It is mostly WOO. But it's not WF's fault if it wants to capitalize on it and sell a bunch of crap. (Except for Dr. Bronner's: it's GREAT soap!)

[mnhtnbb]

55. I buy my fish oil pills at Whole Foods

and not much else because WF is so expensive.

My total cholesterol is in the stratosphere but I refuse to take statins.
My good cholesterol is quite high.

Last summer the new doc I went to suggested I try fish oil pills since
I won't take statins. Taking 2/day lowered my total cholesterol 70 points after 3 months--
and I didn't change my diet or exercise levels. I go back in March
to see what it is again.

[chrisa]

35. The home remedy crowd has the same aspects as The Secret crowd, etc.

It's all about "what they don't want you to know," and very profit-driven. Anyone who even so much as questions the legitimacy of these products is a "big pharma shill."

Science is evil, and we should never question whether or not these products work. All that matters is that you have faith in our sugar pills.

[Adrahil]

37. There is difference between Creationism, Climate denial, and Health Food Woo.

Creationism and Climate denial are actively destructive to our world. Health Food Woo, on the other, is usually quite personal. If someone want to be a vitamin nut, or eat only alfalfa sprouts, or some other nonsense, it may be silly, it may not be scientific, but unless they are trying actively spread the silliness through public policy, I'm not too concerned.

I AM a bit concerned about anti-GMO activists at times, though. While I share some concern over the apparent lack of regulation about GMOs, I also think much of the anti-GMO movement is NOT science-based, and the efforts to promote THOSE positions are potentially dangerous, IMO. GMO crops could mean crops that can survive drought conditions, which could be VITAL if much of the world's poorer population is to survive the effects of global climate change.

[Sgent]

76. The article addresses that issue

(from the article)
The danger is when these ideas get tied up with other, more politically muscular ideologies. Creationism often does, of course—that’s when we should worry. But as vaccine skeptics start to prompt public health crises, and GMO opponents block projects that could save lives in the developing world, it’s fair to ask how much we can disentangle Whole Foods’ pseudoscientific wares from very real, very worrying antiscientific outbursts.

[Adrahil]

81. Thanks. NT

[TlalocW]

38. I went in there once to buy rose water

I wanted to try making Turkish Delight. They didn't have any where I thought they would so I asked a helpful employee, and they took me to their "medicine" aisle. The employee happened to know that they had recently stopped selling whatever brand of rose water went in where I was but knew there was some in the medicine aisle (used as a skin care product). He said, "I can't legally tell you it's the same thing, but it's rose water." Of course, having researched it, I knew rose water was rose water but having to buy it as a skin treatment still made me pause, and I carefully checked the ingredients, and then I saw that it was either from or endorsed by The Edgar Cayce Association.

Edgar Cayce, known as the sleeping prophet (made diagnoses of people who had written to him describing their ailments and symptoms), is the father of holistic medicine. That was enough for me to put it back - whether it was safe and would have worked for me or not - and leave.

TlalocW

[rickford66]

111. So if Edgar Cayce endorsed chocolate you wouldn't eat it?

If the rose water was actually rose water and you wanted rose water, why would you care who endorsed it?

[TlalocW]

114. Would you buy chocolate that you knew

For certain would put money into the hands of anti-choice groups?

The Edgar Cayce group gets money - either as the manufacturers or endorsers of that product. It's impossible to know where all your money goes, but I have a real hatred of homeopathic and other woo (let's start the woo battles again!!!) so don't want to give money to their propagandist machine.

TlalocW

[rickford66]

119. The people I know who are interested in him are liberal.

Even though they do a lot of Bible study (Search for God groups), they are very open minded. You may believe they are loopy but they know the Earth is much older than 6,000 years. It will be news to them that they are anti-choice.

[TlalocW]

120. Nice intentional misunderstanding

*I* don't support homeopathy and woo. *My* buying something that benefits people trading on the name of a medical quack/bullshitter is akin to a liberal buying chocolate knowing that it supports anti-choice groups. Need anything else spelled out for you, are have we got your head pulled out yet?

TlalocW

[rickford66]

121. I was addressing the anti-choice comment

Any proof about being anti-choice? I used chocolate as an example for something you might like. Anyway, homeopathy is similar to allergy treatments in that the allergen is introduced in limited quantity to counteract the allergy. I have stopped my allergy sneezing fits with homeopathic spray. I know that the stuff is so diluted that it's not supposed to work, but it does for me. So you know everything. Good for you. I think your head needs to be pulled out.

[TlalocW]

122. I'm not saying anyone is anti-choice

I'm using it as a hypothetical (look it up). I'm saying giving *MY* money to Cayce after I read that label is like a pro-choice person wanting to buy some chocolate, looking at the label, and seeing it goes to an anti-choice group. The pro-choice person would not buy it just like I, an anti-homeopathic person, would not support homeopathists.

TlalocW

[rickford66]

123. How far should one take this?

I'm fairly certain that you are using a personal computer of some type. The rare earths used in it's production probably end up in the hands of a dictator some where. The purchase of electricity to run it probably funds ALEC or some other corporate scheme to move wealth upward. I thought rose water was an interesting place to draw the line that's all. As for the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies, we hear quite often that traditional prescribed drugs are either ineffective or counter productive or even dangerous.

[Javaman]

40. I have several close friends that work there.

the woo level is in the stratusphere.

I attribute a lot of this magical thinking to mackey's willful promotion of this.

and as a side note, there are people that work there that don't believe this crap, they just are told to sell it.

[hobbit709]

47. Mackey's always been in it for the money.

Even before Whole Paycheck when he ran Safer Way.

and Airhead 101 thinking permeates the place.

[Javaman]

48. of course he has been...

I recall when whole foods was a tiny shop on Lamar (now cheap-o disks), and back then, it was a "specialty" store and made no bones about it.

and back then, mackey claimed he was a democrat as well.

once he moved to the next store at 6th and Lamar (across from the now located "flagship store&quot things began to change. A number of people on the board were let go and replace with former wal-mart reps.

mackey around this time, suddenly started making serious money, became a libertarian. funny how that works.

then he expanded and opened the flagship store across the street. The first thing I noticed was what made whole foods "funky" was the very casual dress code vanished and things became "streamlined" for maximum consumption on the part of the shopper. Next, the people I know that worked there, had all sorts of changed to their benefits, from good to bad.

then it was around this time, that mackey became Vegan. Don't get me wrong, I could care less if you are Vegan, Omnivore, Vegetarian or whatever, but what happened next was that he started to enforce this on his employees at the massive store meetings. to the point that the hot foods provided at the deli basically stopped selling because it was virtually all or almost all vegan foods. That quickly changed. (I think someone at the corporate office noticed the deli was losing a fortune) And he preached his anti-union rhetoric at these same meetings.

Then recently, he wrote that claptrap bio book that was greeted by the public and by his own employees as shameless bullshit.

Combine this with his crazy "incognito" rantings on websites to lower his competitors stock value so he can buy them out.

And lastly his also roundly ignored screed against national healthcare.

The man is a moron being kept on a tight leash now because with each of his inane rantings WF stock takes a hit.

And at the end of the day, woo science aside, whole foods is about profit and pushing stuff that a certain section of society feels they must have.

Whole Foods does what it does. Ranting against it will always be a national sport, but frankly, just like there will be people who believe we never landed on the moon, there will be those who believe that homeopathics cure things.

Bottom line, they're just another multinational corporation trying to sell things that people think they want.

[SidDithers]

45. DU rec...nt

Sid

[whatchamacallit]

49. According to DU's oh-so-rational "pro science" crowd

all diets, supplements, and naturally occurring compounds have no positive effects on human health, and all GMOs, chemicals, pesticides, and additives have no meaningful negative effects. Do I have it right, science dudes? Good to know. I think I'm going to hit Mickey D's as soon as I'm done typing this.

[Vashta Nerada]

56. Quite the hyperbole there.

[whatchamacallit]

63. No more hyperbolism than that sciencey article

You guys show how little you know every time you post snarky opinion as "SCIENCE!".

[pnwmom]

68. I know. You guys are very hyperbolic. n/t

[X_Digger]

57. Did you stuff all that straw yourself, or did you have help?

[whatchamacallit]

59. You're free to correct me

if you can.

[X_Digger]

60. Here, let me help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

A straw man, also known in the UK as an Aunt Sally, is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of the original topic of argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

You feel free to ascribe whatever positions to your opponent you like. Here in the real world, we'll address what people actually say rather than what you think they said or what you wish they said.

[whatchamacallit]

64. Your opinion that my post is a straw man

lacks scientific evidence. You could easily prove it by directly rebutting my assertions with some of the facts you believe you possess. But you won't.

[X_Digger]

79. Feel free to quote anyone at DU expressing the opinions you ascribed to them.

Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 11:10 PM - Edit history (1)

I'll wait.

...


as expected. 9 hours later..

[yellowcanine]

99. When you characterize the thoughts of others the burden of proof is on you - not those questioning.

That is how it works, like it or not.

[yellowcanine]

101. There are some actual benefits to "Probiotics" and "antioxidants"....BUT

But the problem is that marketing has completely taken over both probiotics and antioxidants. Include some fermented foods and real fruit juice in your diet and you will have both categories covered without breaking your budget on the fancy packaging. Not to mention that you may actually get some dietary fiber also and so will not have to buy a bottle of that as well. Whole Foods is not the problem. If people wouldn't buy it they wouldn't stock it.

[Puzzledtraveller]

106. It's really weird.

I do not know how or when did some liberals/progressives become so rigid.

[longship]

110. A bit of a straw man there.

I know. Straw men are easier to shoot down.

No science says that "all diets, supplements, and natural occurring compounds have no positive effects on human health". And no science says that "all GMOs, chemicals, pesticides, and additives have no meaningful negative effects".

Straw man arguments are a sure sign of one who may have an ideological objection, one not based on actual results.

Science, however, can inform one which diets, supplements, compounds, GMOs, chemicals, -- BTW, you're made of chemicals, you know -- pesticides, additives, etc. are beneficial or harmful. To ignore the science is to make uninformed decisions about these things.

And by the way, the supplement industry is nearly totally unregulated, thanks to DSHEA (DSHEA, a travesty of a mockery of a sham) and is deeply in the hands of what some call BigPharma.

So... No. You do not have it right.

Best regards,
A Science Dude.

[whatchamacallit]

116. Reactionary Woo Fighters love to post opinion pieces (unscientific sweeping generalizations)

then invoke "It's science, dummy!". Taken together, all of these OPs leave the exact impression you call a straw man. Maybe those wishing to enlighten us should choose better material than 'Whole Foods: America's Temple of Pseudoscience'.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

53. here ya go...

wrong place earlier...

sP

[flamingdem]

69. They are not allowed to prescribe, just had this discussion yesterday

so consumers have to take responsibility for themselves. Science / medicine is behind with nuitritional cures so sometimes a patient has to try things beyond drugs prescribed.

They sell plenty of useful items. The only concern I have is whether their claims about food are honest. Is that really organic 365 milk for $2.99? Some corners were probably cut..

[pnwmom]

70. Plenty of M.D.'s --internists and primary care doctors -- prescribe

probiotics for various reasons. Not everyone can or wants to eat yogurt.

My GI doc suggested it would help with my symptoms after I inadvertently get exposed to gluten, and my PCP has told me to take it when I need to take antibiotics.

[mainer]

77. You probably need to take way more pills than generally recommended

And be sure to check the literature on the brand you're using. Many probiotics don't have the bacteria they say they do:

ConsumerLab.com did just that. When the agency tested 12 popular brands sold in the United States, two—Nutrition Now PB8 and i-Flora Kids Multi-Probiotic—contained only 56.8 percent and 65 percent, respectively, of the cells claimed on the label, though the other 10 contained the amounts advertised. "Like any supplement, it's kind of a buyer-beware situation," says ConsumerLabs' president, Tod Cooperman. "There really aren't a lot of rules from the FDA on how the products are tested." Many probiotics require refrigeration, and sometimes they aren't kept cold during transit or on the shelves of unknowing shopkeepers. Beware of probiotics bought online, warns Cooperman. "The manufacturer should offer to send it to you refrigerated."

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/should-you-take-probiotics-supplement

That's why it's so much more likely you'll get the bacilli you need from lacto-fermented foods. Kimchi, for instance.

[pnwmom]

82. Actually, I do take more. And I only use the refrigerated kinds. No thanks on the Kimchi.

[PasadenaTrudy]

72. I avoid WF

Too pricey for me. I stick to Trader Joe's and Von's. I suffer from major depression, fibromyalgia, CFS. Tried various herbs and remedies for decades, none helped. Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, and Trazodone have been life savers. To each his/her own, I guess....

[polichick]

74. "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Hippocrates, father of medicine, 431 B.C

[whatchamacallit]

91. Foolish woo peddler

[pnwmom]

75. I appreciate Whole Foods for leading the way in labeling.

As someone who gets intestinal bleeding when I accidentally consume gluten, it can be a struggle to decipher food and medication labels. Even now, wheat is required by law to be labeled, but not all sources of gluten.

I wish Whole Foods weren't so expensive, but they can charge those prices because their competitors aren't giving customers what they want: for example, clear labeling.

[Bad Thoughts]

89. An exercise in burying nuance

This entire article is written and organized in order to make the most hysterical impressions about Whole Foods and making the more nuanced aspects of the argument difficult to find. Indeed, calling it a "temple" is outright silly (about as much as calling Richard Dawkins the high priest of atheism).

[djean111]

105. I don't think anything but the usual impression has been made here, anyway - looks

like the usual attacks on supplements and GMO labeling have gotten boring or unproductive, so now entire stores will be attacked.
Yawn.
Or maybe Whole Foods is gaining market share?
Looks like what the Crowd Who Cries Wooooooooo really wants is for us to have fewer choices and less information about our choices.
What puzzles me is do they honestly think they have convinced anybody of anything? For me, the more disdainful and rude someone is, the more I am inclined to believe they are unsavory or have ulterior motives.
No one concerned about my health would be so rude, methinks!
Oh, and conflating a liking for Whole foods-type offerings and chem-trail beliefs is pretty much a lame fail.

[sadoldgirl]

103. My dog had very thin stool and the probiotics helped, but

she had to take them, because she cannot take yogurt. So, perhaps they are useful.
I went only once to WF to get chantrelles, but they were so expensive ($33/lb) that I went to a whole seller and they were half the price. I think that you can get a lot of the desired items cheaper somewhere else. To me WF is a fad.

[Puzzledtraveller]

108. I'm allergic to cow's milk, tomatoes, corn, soy, peanuts, strawberries, lemon, cayenne, paprika..

natural vanilla and watermelon. I am 40 years old and throughout my childhood and adult life I have had numerous health issues and mental difficulties manifesting in ADHD and depression. Once I began to eliminate these foods from my diet and began using alternatives my physical and mental health improved greatly. Prior to making this change I was on Adderall and various depression medications. I do not take them anymore and I have never felt better.

[nadinbrzezinski]

113. I will not complaint, I am only allergic to gluten

and that is bad enough. Though it has pushed me to cook a lot of fresh food, and experiment with it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

109. It's obvious this guy had a deadline and couldn't think of anything to write about

Good heavens. The thing is not researched or anything. It's just a mishmash of rants and opinions he threw on the page and that's that.

[pothos]

136. i think he went into the store

and saw a few "weird" things he doesn't see at whatever big box store he shops at and like.. theres his article.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

137. That's about it. He did display some excellent ignorance though!

Maybe it's an article about the impressions of those who know absolutely nothing about health, the science behind what's natural and what isn't, natural healing, and health food stores.

[mainer]

118. Michael Pollan's article on probiotics -- it changed my son's life

A few years ago, my son was treated with antibiotics for a dental problem. Sometime around then, he also traveled abroad to third-world countries. He ended up with GI problems so severe he was afraid of going anywhere too far from a toilet. My healthy, handsome, muscular son transformed into a GI cripple. He was tested repeatedly by gastroenterologists, endured thousands of dollars of tests (for parasites, etc) and was scheduled for a colonoscopy and biopsy.

Then I read this article by Michael Pollan, and told my son to try a few weeks of sauerkraut.

It changed his life. He has gained back all his weight and is healthier than ever.

His gastroenterologist was amazed, and now recommends sauerkraut.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?pagewanted=all

[polichick]

131. Glad you posted this and that your son is healthy! Yes, sauerkraut is awesome...

NPR recently did a show about the balance of good and bad bacteria in our systems and the connection to health/illness - fascinating.

[Dorian Gray]

126. I love Whole Foods

New One opened in my neighborhood, and it has a BEER GARDEN!

All the nonsensical stuff... homeopathy and stuff... I ignore. It's a for profit supermarket. I like what they offer. I love their sushi for a quick lunch. And their salad bar. I love the produce and the fish and butcher. I don't give a shit if my organic coffee is ground with unorganic coffee. I'd rather buy fair trade, anyhow.

[fascisthunter]

132. Read the Comments at the End of this Article.... they are Awesome, DU!

and here's more from the same writer:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/05/the-bill-nye-ken-ham-debate-was-a-nightmare-for-science.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/15/when-creationists-collide-with-stephen-colbert.html

[Arcanetrance]

133. Not to start an argument but basically all modern grocery stores have aisles dedicated to the same

things that the author is ragging on whole foods for. Personally I don't go to whole foods anymore cause when I moved to Houston I found a place called central market which I really like. But when I did go to whole foods it was because they had a better produce selection than any of the grocery places around me.

[fascisthunter]

134. yep

[pothos]

135. Trash.

I'm not fan of whole foods and i don't shop there because their CEO is a right wing douche, but its like the author of this story has never stepped into a health foods store before. does he really believe that people buy dr bronners because of religious or pseudoscience reasons? or that people buy ezekiel bread for the same reason? people buy these products 'cause they dont want to eat high fructose corn syrup or to wash their body with animal fat.

asking shoppers to separate gmo and organic produce has more to do with the cashiers ringing up the correct prices rather than some kind of contamination...

also the fact he pushes the debunked myth that GMO products are gonna save the world and cure hunger is enough to make you want to stop reading right there.

[Silent3]

140. Yes, if you're immune to nuance, you might "want to stop reading right there".

About GMO, the author writes: "GMO opponents block projects that could save lives in the developing world" (emphasis mine).

That equates to "push(ing) the debunked myth that GMO products are gonna save the world and cure hunger"? What is it about this topic that brings out whole platoons of straw men?

If you're afraid that GMO products haven't been tested sufficiently to be sure of safety, and erring on the side of caution you'd rather not eat them, that's one thing.

But when you fiercely hate the basic idea of GMOs, any and all GMOs, when you can't be bothered to distinguish one genetic modification from another, as if they're all of a kind, all something contaminated with one unified, distasteful, evil, unnatural taint -- that's where it becomes pseudoscience.

My biggest problems with the current use of GMOs are (1) Using it for making crops more immune to pesticides, so you can sell more pesticide and throw more pesticides into the environment without regard for environmental impact, (2) the business model of patents, restrictive contracts, suing farmers when GMO seeds spread to the land of farmers who never wanted them in the first place, etc., pushed by Monsanto and the like.

None of that, however, makes all GMO inherently bad or dangerous or unhealthy, nor does it mean there isn't a lot of potential, even if it hasn't yet be realized, for great gains in areas like increased yields and better drought resistance.

If your world view boils down to "natural = good, artificial = bad", and your reaction to artificial ingredients or processes starts to mirror religious reactions to things that are supposedly "sinful" or "unclean", that's where it becomes pseudoscience.

[pothos]

142. oh fucking spare me.

if you think the author is using nuance in that article then maybe you need to reread it yourself.

[Silent3]

143. Spare yourself

Sure, the author is being hard on what he sees as a lot of pseudoscience, and rightly so, but that doesn't mean that he means the straw man you can't help yourself from invoking.