# Sam's Club finds a worse food to promote... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155 "2013-05-23T19:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/21 "2013-05-23T21:27:06Z")
That page does, at least, claim that it’s “a healthy alternative to butter and other cooking oils”. OK, the “other cooking oils” has some slack in it, but don’t they need to be able to support a claim that coconut oil is healthier than butter? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/22 "2013-05-23T21:53:16Z")
Indeed, they would do well to keep the fatty acids in the coconut oil and keep it refrigerated. Then it gets marginally better. Coconut oil was a big problem when they were hydrogenating all the oils to make them tans-fats and act as room temperature creams. As it is, it’s not so bad that used in moderation it’s perfectly fine substitute for butter, which is no longer on the Big Evil list… when used in moderation. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/23 "2013-05-23T21:55:07Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > All this time the N- word was Nutella? > > Man, I had a really wild misconception. "Can’t you see that man’s a nu- " ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/24 "2013-05-23T21:57:02Z")
I use coconut oil all the time, I mean all the time, and I’ll bet my lipids are better than 95% of the population. Don’t believe everything you hear about fat. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/25 "2013-05-23T22:16:58Z")
On my phone so research is awkward, but I got the idea from my crunchy friends that it’s supposed to have some anti-inflammatory properties as well. They’re still somewhat into it but have largely moved on to the fermented food fad now. Makes sense if the plebs at Sams are buying in - everyone knows only fringe foods are really healthy. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/26 "2013-05-23T22:27:10Z")
Since when does any retailer have any responsibility to the consumer to sell only healthy products? If you think it’s unhealthy, don’t buy it. If enough people don’t buy it, they won’t sell it. “Problem” solved. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/27 "2013-05-23T22:34:28Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Since when does any retailer have any responsibility to the consumer to sell only healthy products? If you think it’s unhealthy, don’t buy it. If enough people don’t buy it, they won’t sell it. “Problem” solved. Especially a retailer that sells 20 lb tubs of cheeseballs. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/28 "2013-05-23T22:41:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > All this time the N- word was Nutella? [Michael Richards] I HATE NUTELLA!!" [/Michael Richards] ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/29 "2013-05-23T23:23:01Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I’m surprised more things aren’t flavored with antifreeze. Sure it has a few health drawbacks, but it’s so sweet! Anyway, only losers let “nutritionists” tell them what they should and shouldn’t do with their own bodies. They already want us to give up Red Bull and fried chicken and waffles. Is socialism far behind? > > I think it’s the negative name. Maybe we could market it as “Ethyl-Lean Gee!” Google “sulfanilamide disaster” and learn about when this actually happened (1937). The only thing that the Massengill Company (yes, the same company that makes douche supplies) could get in trouble for was calling it “Elixir of Sulfanilamide” when it contained no alcohol. 😕 The FDA was founded in its wake. More recently, as in within the past 5 years or so, it was used as a flavoring in toothpaste and some other products, mostly sold in Panama. There have been reports that the death toll from that may have been in the hundreds, if not thousands. I’m really surprised we haven’t heard more about it. “60 Minutes” did a story a while back about a similar disaster in Haiti, with acetaminophen elixir. The people who lost their (mostly) children were probably considered wealthy by Haitian standards, if they had it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/30 "2013-05-24T00:28:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > All this time the N- word was Nutella? > > Man, I had a really wild misconception. Their campaign to promote product awareness with the slogan _“Nutella: The Other N-Word”_ never really took off. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/31 "2013-05-24T00:33:43Z")
I’m personally thrilled, because it is great for soap making (along with Crisco and olive oil it makes my favorite soap base) and is now so much easier to find. I have no plans to intentionally ingest it. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/32 "2013-05-24T01:10:59Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Google “sulfanilamide disaster” and learn about when this actually happened (1937). The only thing that the Massengill Company (yes, the same company that makes douche supplies) could get in trouble for was calling it “Elixir of Sulfanilamide” when it contained no alcohol. 😕 The FDA was founded in its wake. > > More recently, as in within the past 5 years or so, it was used as a flavoring in toothpaste and some other products, mostly sold in Panama. There have been reports that the death toll from that may have been in the hundreds, if not thousands. I’m really surprised we haven’t heard more about it. “60 Minutes” did a story a while back about a similar disaster in Haiti, with acetaminophen elixir. The people who lost their (mostly) children were probably considered wealthy by Haitian standards, if they had it in the first place. And in 1985 the Germans discovered a few Austrian winemakers had been adding antifreeze to their products, and were not very **[pleased.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_diethylene_glycol_wine_scandal)** And when German health authorities are not very pleased they show their displeasure. Million mark fines and the destruction of 35 million bottles of wine emphasized this. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/33 "2013-05-24T01:16:09Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > _shrugs_ > > Coconut oil is probably the single most amazing hair treatment you can do. Add in some honey and you’ll look like a hair model in a shampoo commercial after on treatment. > > Seriously, I’ve been doing coconut oil and honey treatments for the last year and even my hair dresser commented on the fact that my color treated, fine, easy to break hair that I use heat on every single day suddenly had almost no split ends. She thought I was using some fancy pants product-- nope! $5 coconut oil. It’s great for my hair too! And I use it for sugar scrubs or rub it all over after a bath and my skin is amazing. I also like cooking with it, and I prefer it to lard in baking. What I’m confused by is the “oil-pulling” thing that got popular on my low-carb board for a while. They would swish coconut oil in their mouths for sometimes up to twenty minutes and spit it out, supposedly with all these toxins. Now that sounds like some bullshit to me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/34 "2013-05-24T01:41:31Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > _shrugs_ > > Coconut oil is probably the single most amazing hair treatment you can do. Add in some honey and you’ll look like a hair model in a shampoo commercial after on treatment. > > Seriously, I’ve been doing coconut oil and honey treatments for the last year and even my hair dresser commented on the fact that my color treated, fine, easy to break hair that I use heat on every single day suddenly had almost no split ends. She thought I was using some fancy pants product-- nope! $5 coconut oil. It’s also one of the best facial moisturizers out there. A $10 jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil lasts me for almost a year. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/35 "2013-05-24T16:06:14Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Since when does any retailer have any responsibility to the consumer to sell only healthy products? If you think it’s unhealthy, don’t buy it. If enough people don’t buy it, they won’t sell it. “Problem” solved. They don’t have a responsibility to only sell healthy products, but they do have a responsibility not to false advertise or make unsupported health claims. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Their campaign to promote product awareness with the slogan _“Nutella: The Other N-Word”_ never really took off. Snerk. I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/36 "2013-05-24T16:15:51Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > It’s also one of the best facial moisturizers out there. A $10 jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil lasts me for almost a year. Interesting. Do you dilute it or just put it on straight from the jar? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/37 "2013-05-24T16:42:52Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Nutella, please! I LOLEd. I wonder if I can use the C word here now. Cracker Barrel will be my excuse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155.md?page=1)