26 thoughts on “I Am Not Surprised”

  1. One of the more interesting wrinkles I’ve heard on these stories is that it may be whether some of these things are good or bad for you depends on you — that is, that there are sometimes profound differences between how various elements of a diet affect individuals, determined by your individual genetic makeup.

    For example, I’ve heard that the influence of coffee is unknown in part because it may be that coffee drinking is good for some people but bad for others — and depending on the precise mix of individuals in a given study, the results can be all over the place. Same thing with sugar, saturated fats, and fructose, and various other diet components that have been studied.

    That for which the world is really waiting is an end to trying to determine what is good for an individual by averaging over the results of what happens to millions of others. To be sure, we’re all quite similar, the way all cars are similar, but still, when you fix a Mercedes or a Volkswagen, you certainly need to appreciate the differences between them to do the best job. You can’t just say on average cars behave like this and expect that to be sufficient.

    Fortunately, the tools are at hand: our ability to economically parse individual genomes, and meaningfully interpret them, grows rapidly.

  4. It’s probably been close to half a century since the last time I drank that stuff. Even though it was one of the more crucial spin-offs from Apollo, second only to Teflon (invented in 1937). And the Internet.

  5. “Water, never touch the stuff. Fish shit in it.”

    Attributed to W.C.Fields.

    Even though it was one of the more crucial spin-offs from Apollo

    How can you possibly forget Space Food Sticks™ from that list?

  8. I’ve noticed how fat people often drink diet sodas. Clearly a causal connection there. ; )

    OTOH, the epidemiologists have discovered that coffee causes cancer – that coffee doesn’t cause cancer – that fat will kill you – that fat can save your life – that eating cereals prevents cancer – that eating cereals doesn’t prevent cancer and so on. The one thing you can depend on is that as long as scientists get more money by presenting exciting and interesting results to the press- that science will present more exciting and interesting results to the press.

    =AGW

  9. “… there are sometimes profound differences between how various elements of a diet affect individuals…”

    Or, as the Ninth Law of Thermo states, “Different people react to different things differently.”

    And you can quote me.

  10. I’m with Rand on this — I don’t squander my daily calorie budget on drinks which contain no alcohol. I watch the food for the same reason because while beer has food value, food has no beer value.

  11. People don’t drink coffee because it tastes good, otherwise people who take it black wouldn’t be the smallest of minorities.

  12. Andrea Harris Says:
    “Leave my coffee alone. Sleep is for the weakweek.”

    Does anyone actually rest on weekends?

  13. I must be truly a minority then. I only drink coffee black, and I absolutely love the taste.

  14. And a little googling reveals that about 35% of coffee drinkers take it black, so I guess it’s not that small a minority.

  15. I’m one of those strange people who will drink decaf coffee.. not very often but I’ll occasionally feel like coffee after 9pm and drink decaf for the the taste.

    And yes, black.

  16. Nick B– I too drink coffee black. Starbucks Blackeye (cup of coffee and two shots of expresso), which I drink for the flavor.

    Trent — decaf coffee is like non-alcoholic Everclear.

    Okay, maybe I like more than then taste…

  17. “while beer has food value, food has no beer value.”

    Wise words to live by my friend.

  18. “while beer has food value, food has no beer value.”

    Wise words to live by my friend.

  19. I drink straight up black iced tea, no sweetener.
    My Starbucks order is tenrta iced black tea, not sweetener adn no water. (They usually dilute their tea base 2:1)

    Love the smell, but can’t stand the taste of coffee.

    If I don’t drink enough tea the blood level gets too high in my caffeine system.

    Sleep, a no credit elective!

  20. What I always find funny is when you go into a coffee place and they have 87 different types of beans you can buy, but only one variety to drink there. They’re basically saying you can have a better experience if you stay home. Now and then you’ll hear about “coffee tasting” events.. but it’s actually people learning how to chew beans to pick good suppliers.. or just be pretentious.

    That said, buy a Nespresso machine.. order the general variety pack. If you can’t find a blend in there that you can drink black and love the taste, switch to caffeine pills.

  22. Rand only drinks water and booze? I can’t decide whether that’s totally expected or a complete surprise.

    I drink everything, including, still, a fair amount of milk. Variety’s the spice of life, as they say.

  23. Nick B Says:

    “And a little googling reveals that about 35% of coffee drinkers take it black, so I guess it’s not that small a minority.”

    I am surprised it is 35%, it must vary a lot region to region.

  24. So, Rand only drinks water and booze. Does he mix or take both straight? What about ice? Personally, I drink Single Malts and Coffee with a little water thrown in – if the supply is good!

  25. Heh, just emailed the pundit. Apparently Professor Reynold’s quoted the first draft of the CBS report, in which the University of Texas Health Science Center was located in San Diego, rather than San Antonio.

  26. I love the smell of fresh ground coffee but can not touch the stuff. Seltzer for me.

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