Should you judge health value of food based on how it rots?

[pRICE cUBE]

I have cut down on my fast food consumption but not because of social media memes.


http://vitals.lifehacker.com/you-can-t-j...1758056506


Every creature, no matter how noble, is eaten by microbes in the end. It’s the circle of life! So how do we explain the bits of plants and animals that make up a McDonald’s burger, or a Twinkie? Why don’t they rot? It turns out they’re not as immortal as viral Facebook memes would have you believe.

Let’s be clear: McDonald’s burgers and Twinkies last a long time, but it’s not because these items are “not food” or because they’re full of “toxic chemicals.” The truth is far less scandalous. And yet, those are the claims that get passed around every time somebody’s old Happy Meal goes viral. Here’s the latest:

It’s been 6 years since I bought this “Happy Meal” at McDonald’s. It’s been sitting at our office this whole time and has not rotted, molded, or decomposed at all!!! It smells only of cardboard. We did this experiment to show our patients how unhealthy this “food” is. Especially for our growing children!! There are so many chemicals in this food! Choose real food! Apples, bananas, carrots, celery....those are real fast food.

Food blog Noms and Sciunce ran the opposite experiment: comparing a McDonald’s burger kept out in the open with one kept in an airtight container (to keep the moisture in). The dry burger lasted; the contained burger grew mold.

[Racer X]

"The dry burger lasted; the contained burger grew mold."

Well, No S*** Sherlock! Primitive man knew this. That why they invented dried meat and fish.

[pRICE cUBE]

Racer X wrote:
"The dry burger lasted; the contained burger grew mold."

Well, No S*** Sherlock! Primitive man knew this. That why they invented dried meat and fish.

Yes, many people know this. The story is countering the memes on social media that get passed around based on an absence of science.

[OWC Jamie]

OMG, that's exactly what the manufacturer's of Soylent Green would want you to believe.
Heroin is good for you, after all, it's just a chemical and everything is a chemical. What kind of disconnect from fact logic are you capable of believing ?

Abnormally Massive doses of trans fats, salts, super refined grains and high fructose corn syrup are killing people.
While all those things most certainly are found in nature it's not normal to be shoveling them into our bodies like coal into a steam engine boiler.

A loaf of bread that can sit on the counter and not grow mold for weeks is NOT GOOD FOR YOU.

Period.

[TLB]

Eons ago in grade school our science teacher put a stick of margarine and a stick of butter on plates and placed them on the ledge outside our classroom window. Over time all sorts of things feasted on the butter while the oily margarine pool remained untouched.

[GuyGene]

TLB wrote:
Eons ago in grade school our science teacher put a stick of margarine and a stick of butter on plates and placed them on the ledge outside our classroom window. Over time all sorts of things feasted on the butter while the oily margarine pool remained untouched.

Yep, I also don't touch margarine.

I eat only what bugs can eat and still live. I figure if it'll kill them little buggers, it'll kill me.

[cbelt3]

Eh... I figure if a Twinkie will last forever, eating it will help me last forever too. Same basic logic as the other direction, amirite ? :devil:

[silvarios]

"and McDonald’s burgers are no less edible than homemade burgers."

This lady has never eaten at McDonald's.

[freeradical]

TLB wrote:
Eons ago in grade school our science teacher put a stick of margarine and a stick of butter on plates and placed them on the ledge outside our classroom window. Over time all sorts of things feasted on the butter while the oily margarine pool remained untouched.

Butter has water and milk solids in it. Water is necessary for life, and the milk solids are food.

Margarine is just fat.

[pRICE cUBE]

cbelt3 wrote:
Eh... I figure if a Twinkie will last forever, eating it will help me last forever too. Same basic logic as the other direction, amirite ? :devil:

Shhhhhhh! Don't let the secret out!