Yes, I was going to say this in my previous post – I don’t think the OP picked the best example of the phenomenon that (s)he then goes on to outline. I don’t think people should reject the data of course but there is still room for some degree of doubt or nuance when it comes to a topic like nutrition.
In terms of the more general point about science, I’ve thought about it a bit and my opinion has jumped around.
I think apart from religion, there is also a valueing of tangible over abstract things to many Americans. I rarely hear people describe say, chemistry as if it is just people making up stuff at will. Chemistry has beakers, and bunsen burners, that’s real science, right?
Other fields of science are just equations on a blackboard; they don’t actually test their ideas, do they?