The preprint also also mentions by favourite spoof paper:

"What's the Deal with Birds" by @evornithology.bsky.social. The abstract is fantastic ....

My kingdom for a community where we can — somehow, incredibly! — condemn the egregious abuse of our most vulnerable, call out the horrific insurance industrial complex, abs also…heartily condemn murder!

FBI Director nominee. Sigh.

HT @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social

Just saw this.

Especially this part, for me.

I really hope this thread helps people understand the perspective I take on food and health.

I think it's important, and I believe that if we were able to recognize the truths that emerge from an honest look at this history, we could work together more effectively towards a healthier future.

You don't need Huberman or Wim Hof or ice baths or carnivore diets or veganism or Bulletproof Coffee or avocado oil...or whatever they will be trying to sell you in 10, 20, 100, 1000 years.

All you need is the knowledge of the history I've laid out here.

The truth is that there is no easy answer. As Michael Pollan put it, "eat food, not too much, mostly plants," is a pretty good start — but honestly, even that is too specific. I think you could probably be fine eating a fair amount of meat!

So when the next monk or Horace Fletcher comes along, mailing envelopes & drinking Bulletproof coffee and flexing his/her muscles and telling you they've got the secret, just remember my motto, which swaps a synonym for thinking in for mastication:

Nature Will Castigate Those Who Don't Cogitate.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

There is no "one easy trick" that the establishment doesn't want you to know.

Everyone's shit stinks, even Horace Fletcher's, and some of those ancient Chinese monks went bald, despite their super-secret dietary principles.

It can't be that they're all right. Instead, it is because they are all tapping into a deep need that humans feel, and providing novel resolutions of that need.

There is, in my opinion, no other explanation for the parade of healers, gurus, and influencers who are all selling the Secret, secrets that often directly contradict each other, but somehow receive the endorsement of entire generations of people.

But it's not because they have discovered some kind of secret. It's not because the wugu are killing you, or Nature Is Castigating Those Who Don't Masticate, or seed oils are the devil.

It's b/c humans need hope and change, and one of the easiest ways to provide it is in the form of dietary ritual.

And sometimes, believing them gives us the motivation we need to change our lives. The hope that finally gets us out of bed and clears up our brain fog.

In addition, we find it difficult to live healthfully. To eat well, to exercise, to break bad habits. To feel hopeful and motivated about our lives.

And so people come along who promise us answers. The ancient monks. Horace Fletcher. We believe them.

The answer, as far as I'm concerned, is pretty straightforward. Humans have ever and always been seeking simple dietary answers to the frightening fragility of the human condition.

We die. We get sick. We age.

Which raises the question: If there are hundreds upon hundreds of secret health solutions that They Don't Want You To Know, and all of them have thousands of people testifying to how effective they are, and the gurus are mailing people envelopes full of shit...

What explains all of that?

They're always beating college athletes (or the equivalent). They're charismatic. Anti-establishment. Confident.

And there's always people testifying that until they tried [INSERT SECRET], they were sick and miserable, and then [INSERT SECRET] changed their lives instantly and effortlessly.