Editor's Note: Welcome to Medical Economics' blog section which features contributions from members of the medical community. These blogs are an opportunity for bloggers to engage with readers about a topic that is top of mind, whether it is practice management, experiences with patients, the industry, medicine in general, or healthcare reform. The series continues with this blog by Jonathan Kaplan, MD, MPH, a board-certified plasic surgeon based in San Francisco, California. The views expressed in these blogs are those of their respective contributors and do not represent the views of Medical Economics or UBM Medica.
Become a vegan! That's the message of the recent documentary from Netflix, What the Health.
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This is a purposely incendiary documentary in the same vein as Super Size Me, the documentary claiming-wait for it-that McDonald's food is bad for you! In other words, What the Health tells us some things we already knew (like processed meats are bad) and uses inaccurate comparisons, detailed below, as well as editing interviews in a way to purposely take comments out of context-all in an effort to make us angry and emotional. But look past that. Don't get caught up only on the issue of Veganism. While there are some frustrating aspects of this documentary and assertions that shouldn’t be taken as fact, there are several other messages worth focusing on in this documentary.
Processed meats and dairy
Now, on to the film. We're presented with the fact that the World Health Organization considers processed meats (deli meat, bacon, hot dogs, etc.) as class 1 carcinogens, in the same category as cigarettes and plutonium. They also claim that eating one egg a day is similar to smoking 5 cigarettes per day. While the fact that processed meats are considered bad for you, and certainly not news, the comparison between eggs and cigarettes is outlandish.
Dr. Kaplan
For completeness, what's the reasoning behind the eggs and cigarettes comparison? The claim is that the saturated fat in egg yolks can increase cholesterol and lead to cardiovascular disease in the same way cigarettes can. But according to this study, this claim is not supported. As a physician-viewer, you immediately feel insulted as to the false drama in these claims and presenting old news as if it's hot off the press.
With the help of several experts, we're told how what we eat affects our health-also something we already knew. In the process, they shatter some supposed myths about how sugar isn't really the culprit to a bad diet, but that meat and dairy are the underlying cause of our diseased human state.
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As they promote conspiracy theories and debunk "myths," you quickly realize you don't know what to believe anymore. For example, they claim that carbs and sugar aren't really that bad. The problem is fat.
However, this NY Times story provides evidence that the sugar industry paid researchers in the 1960s to write a paper refuting the concerning link between sugar and heart disease, and instead shifted the blame to fat. But now, most reputable organizations and studies show the risk of heart disease is in fact due to sugars and fat.
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