# Unsupported Science Beliefs You Hold **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2023, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365 "2023-11-19T11:40:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/201 "2023-11-23T18:33:45Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > The K-T extinction rate is estimated to be about 2.5 species per million species-years, which means 2.5 out of every million species on Earth went extinct every year during that event. Possibly, but most of the megafauna may have died out in a single year. I suppose the other species may have taken longer to disappear, making the overall rate longer. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/202 "2023-11-23T18:34:05Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > For just one example, walk down the cereal aisle some time and try to find an option that has less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Be sure to check out all of the “healthy” options. **And count the total _before_ adding the milk (which adds another coke can’s worth).** [bolding mine - BD] This isn’t correct. A 12-oz can of Coke contains 39 grams of sugar (source: the Coca-Cola Company). Milk contains about 1.54 grams per ounce (source: USDA), so 18.48g per 12 oz, less than half as much as Coke. I’ll admit that’s still kind of a lot of sugar, but sugar isn’t added to (plain) milk the way it’s added to, say, Stove Top Stuffing. I’m not sure if milk consumption is really contributing to the explosion of sugar now being added to our diets overall, not that you said it was of course, or that milk should be thought of as something as bad as Coke. Maybe it is, but surely not because of its sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/203 "2023-11-23T18:35:54Z")
I think this thread is useful to sure just how many food myths exist out there and how they propagate. They’re essentially immune to fact checking. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/204 "2023-11-23T19:58:38Z")
Yes, food myths are really tricky. There are things like the @RivkahChaya’s sugar high, which was never much of anything, yet is a cultural touchstone. Then there are things like @DrDeth’s rat HFCS study, which regardless of how scientifically rigorous it was, may not (or may) hold up in humans. Which is the old joke among scientists of adding “in mice” (or “in rats”) to the end of _any_ food or diet popular press headline: “Red wine increases life span (in mice);” “Chocolate is healthy (in mice)”; etc. As usual, the impression left by the original viral story lives long after the results fail to reproduce in humans, or (more likely) are never even tested in humans. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/205 "2023-11-23T20:36:15Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Which is the old joke among scientists of adding “in mice” (or “in rats”) to the end of _any_ food or diet popular press headline: “Red wine increases life span (in mice);” “Chocolate is healthy (in mice)”; etc. Which prolly should be; “Red wine increases life span (in mice, also, it gives them cancer)” “Chocolate is healthy (in mice, also, it gives them cancer)” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/206 "2023-11-23T21:07:32Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Then there are things like @DrDeth’s rat HFCS study, which regardless of how scientifically rigorous it was, may not (or may) hold up in humans. I concur, But don’t you find it at least a _teeny bit_ suspicious that all those other studies were funded by Coke, et all? Anyway, the study I read was older and I cant find it anymore, the “Am J Clin Nutr” studies- funded by _includes [Coca-Cola](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola), [PepsiCo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PepsiCo), The [Sugar Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Association), The [National Restaurant Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Restaurant_Association), [ConAgra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra), [McDonald’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s), [Kellogg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Company), [Mars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Incorporated),_ etc have taken over. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/207 "2023-11-23T23:51:08Z")
I still believe milk is not as good as the tale we’ve been told. Humans have bought into the milk myth far too long. It was June telling the Beave to finish his milk 3 or 4 times a day that made my own Daddy do the same thing. Til he understood how much milk is sugar. And children’s cereal is candy in a box. Ok, they get something from it but only covered in sugar. Negates it’s worth IMO. I’d rather my kid eat 3 crackers and hydrate with a bottle of water before school. A fruit would be nice. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll have a milk product, yogurt, or cheese on occasion. It’s just not the end all, be all. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/208 "2023-11-24T00:56:16Z")
Milk products are excellent food for those who can digest them. There’s nothing wrong with complex sugars found in minimally processed fruits, vegetables, grains, milk. If that’s what we mainly ate, we wouldn’t be having these conversations about why people are suddenly so fat and sick. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/209 "2023-11-24T01:15:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It was June telling the Beave to finish his milk 3 or 4 times a day that made my own Daddy do the same thing. Til he understood how much milk is sugar. Sugar is not evil. It’s good for you, it provides needed energy. TOO MUCH sugar is bad for you, which is why hidden added sugar can be bad. You expect to find sugar in Sugar frosted flakes- but not in McDs burgers, or many canned goods. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > There’s nothing wrong with complex sugars found in minimally processed fruits, vegetables, grains, milk. If that’s what we mainly ate, we wouldn’t be having these conversations about why people are suddenly so fat and sick. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/210 "2023-11-24T01:17:51Z")
I know sugar is important. I prefer to get it without cow milk. Mostly. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/211 "2023-11-24T03:29:12Z")
I believe there is a mischievous entity which amuses itself by jumping into fitted sheets any time I try to fold one. Filled with Puckish glee it foils my every attempt to fold the sheets neatly. Despite careful attention to every available youtube on the subject, and even personal instruction by a professional housekeeper, I have never once defeated this particular imp. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/212 "2023-11-24T11:37:44Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Possibly, but most of the megafauna may have died out in a single year. I suppose the other species may have taken longer to disappear, making the overall rate longer. Yes, but _small lives matter._ ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365/213 "2023-11-25T01:58:11Z")
Have you tried closing the door while the little imp is outside? …Oh, wait, I’m confusing your problem with the one about making up a bed while there’s a cat anywhere around. No, there’s no way to fold fitted sheets by oneself properly. Accept defeat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsupported-science-beliefs-you-hold/993365.md?page=10)