chocolate

How is it that I've never heard of David Avocado Wolfe before?

oracknows — Thu, 28 May 2015 06:00:50 +0000

How is it that I've never heard of David Avocado Wolfe before?

I've been at this skeptical blogging thing for over a decade now. I realize that I periodically remind you, my readers, of this and that perhaps I do it too often, but my reminders generally serve a purpose. Specifically, they serve to put an exclamation point on my surprise when I discover a new purveyor of pseudoscience and/or quackery that I had never heard of before but who is apparently fairly well known in the quackosphere. Such is what happened this week, when I learned of a man who appears to be challenging Deepak Chopra and Bruce Lipton for the title of most annoying mystical quack in the world. He's yet another example of the old adage, "Just when you think you've seen it all, you haven't." I'm referring to a guy who calls himself David Avacado Wolfe, who's shown up in a couple of posts at another blog collective. The only difference is that this guy is not a physician, which, embarrassingly to me, Chopra is, and he hasn't tried to turn his woo into a clinical trial yet, which Chopra has done. Yet he still manages to crank up the pseudoscience to 11 selling everything from a juicer to dear antler extract as magical ways of improving your longevity.

First, let's take a look at David Wolfe's website. If you think Deepak Chopra has a big ego, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Just take a peek at Wolfe's biography:

David “Avocado” Wolfe is the rock star and Indiana Jones of the superfoods and longevity universe. The world’s top CEOs, ambassadors, celebrities, athletes, artists, and the real superheroes of this planet—Moms—all look to David for expert advice in health, beauty, herbalism, nutrition, and chocolate!
David is the celebrity spokesperson for America’s #1 selling kitchen appliance: the NUTRiBULLET™ and for www.LongevityWarehouse.com. He is the co-founder of TheBestDayEver.com online health magazine and is the visionary founder and president of the non-profit The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation charity (www.ftpf.org) with a mission to plant 18 billion fruit, nut, and medicinal trees on planet Earth.
With over 20 years of dedicated experience and having hosted over 2750 live events, David has led the environmental charge for radiant health via a positive mental attitude, eco-community building, living spring water, and the best-ever quality organic foods and herbs.

Heck, it's tempting to wonder whether Wolfe is trying to out-do even that legendary master of quackery and conspiracy theories, Mike Adams, a.k.a. The Health Ranger, who only fancies himself a real scientist and computer genius. Not only is he a rock star, but he's the "Indiana Jones" of superfoods and longevity! Of course, my first thought on reading this sentence—actually, my second thought after, "Man, is this guy a self-obsessed tool!"—was, "What the heck does Indiana Jones have to do with superfoods and longevity?" Is Wolfe picking up a whip, putting on a Fedora, and invading ancient tombs looking for new superfoods and herbs to increase your longevity?

Of course, a man is known by the company he keeps:

David is a highly sought after health and personal success speaker. He has shared the stage with success and business coaches like Anthony Robbins, Richard Branson, Brian Tracy, John DeMartini, as well as acclaimed doctors and health researchers including: Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Dr. Sara Gottfried, Dr. Lissa Rankin, Dr Dave Woynarowksi and many more.

Bruce Lipton and Joe Mercola, "acclaimed doctors and health researchers"? What is this guy smoking? I want some. (Actually, I don't. As I've said many times before, I can't inhale. I start coughing too hard.) You get my point, though. I've documented time and time again what utter and complete quacks these guys are.

So what is David Avacado Wolfe selling? I wandered over to his Facebook page to find out. Wow. The very first thing I came across was this:

Yes, it's infant reflexology! For those of you not familiar with reflexology, it's a form of quackery where it is claimed that different organs map to different parts the soles of our feet and the palms of our hands. It's based on a prescientific idea of how the body works, complete with vitalistic references to “energy” flowing through the body between the feet and various organs as the "mechanism" by which massaging the feet will somehow result in a therapeutic effect to specific organs, depending on what part of the sole of the foot is massaged.

Much of the rest of what's on his page tend to be content-free platitudes about being "natural" and the power of positive thinking, but sprinkled in among the feel-good nonsense are occasional chunks of pure pseudoscience. Anti-GMO nonsense? Check:

"Appeal to nature" fallacy? Check.

Pro-cannabis exaggeration of the sort I've discussed three times before? Check.

You get the idea. I actually thought this guy's name sounded vaguely familiar; so I looked to see if I had ever blogged about him before. I hadn't blogged about him per se, but I had mentioned im in the context of the paean to raw food woo, Simply Raw, where he appeared in one of the accompanying featurettes with Joe Mercola touting some sort of "super immunity" program involving "detoxification" to promote longevity. This trailer for Best Day Ever gives you a taste of what I'm talking about:

I think the end of the trailer tells it all, where Wolfe asks, "Is it possible to never feel bad ever, to never feel sadness, to never feel depression ever, to remove those emotions from our psyche totally? And the answer is yes." To which I respond: Even if that were possible (it's not), why would anyone want to do that? Sadness is part of life. Is he saying that we shouldn't feel sad when, for example, a loved one dies, something each and every one of us will experience at least several times during our lives?

The woo gets more intense in this excerpt:

Notice that right away the segment starts off with a quack Miranda warning in very tiny print (for a video) in which the viewer is reminded that none of the products being touted has been approved by the FDA and that you should consult with your doctor. In fact, it's one of the more impressive quack Miranda warnings I've ever seen, far more detailed than the usual ones I encounter. Then he goes on about how:

Energies are flowing out of the cosmos—or they're flowing out of the earth and up—and they're being concentrated in certain substances, like a deer's antler. So when you take a deer antler product, that's not soms eort of joke, that's not "oh, we're taking some sort of supplement now," that's a very deeply intuitive read that many sages in the history of our planet tuned into, because they know the prana is concentrated right there.

And for some reason this "life energy" doesn't concentrate in lettuce, but does in deer antlers and shagas, which makes no sense. None of which stops him from saying:

Dear antler is not a product. It's a cosmic substance. And it's an androgenic substance, by the way—very androgenic. And it needs to be taken with respect and understanding, which is why we've been getting into this whole thing about estrogenic forces and then androgenic forces. You gotta know that deer antler is an androgenic force. And why? Because it's cosmic in nature. It's elevating. It's levitational in nature. Which actually makes you younger. The forces of levity make you younger. Rudolf Steiner said that we gradually age due to substances in our body that are seized by the earth's gravity. He could have said anything. He could have said anything at all, but he said that. That's amazing. Then he said that you want to use the force of levity to drive the force of levity into your body. Then he talks about silica, that silica can be made to be levitational again.

Like, wow, man. But, wait. I still don't get it about the deer antlers, other than that apparently David Wolfe sells deer antler extract, from the red deer, specifically. He sells them for quite a pretty penny, too, $75 for a mere 2 oz. bottle of deer antler extract. And, wow, the pseudoscience doth flow in his description of the product:

Deer Antler is considered to be one of the "big three" ultimate herbs of China - Ginseng, Reishi Mushroom and Deer Antler. All three are tonic herbs that have been used since pre-historic times to prolong life, improve energy, to protect the body and to promote wisdom. Deer Antler is a Yang Jing herb, but it also tonifies Yin Jing, Qi, Blood and Shen.

Huh? Deer antlers are not herbs.

The actual "science" used to justify ingesting deer antler extract is even more risible. I wish I had found this right off the bat, rather than when I was halfway done with the post, because I could have done a whole post just on this one product. Here's just a taste, though. Wolfe notes that deer antler contains insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which, by the way, is a real growth factor:

Deer antler extract provides minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients including insulin-like growth factor IGF-1.

Clinical trials have shown IGF-1 to:

Promote immune functions

Increase muscular strength and endurance

Possess anti-inflammatory properties

Possess growth-stimulating properties

Help regulate low and high blood pressure.

Promote sounder, more refreshing sleep.

Improve eyesight, including night vision.

Reduce cholesterol and triglycerides.

IGF-1 is causing a great deal of excitement among bodybuilders. According to researchers, IGF-1 increases lean body mass, reduces fat, builds bone, builds muscle, and builds nerves.

IGF-1 is also an important potential nutrient for people interested in reducing the symptoms of aging and for those people interested in living the longest, healthiest, and most active life possible.

"One of the most exciting uses for IGF-1 is that it can repair nerve damage that occurs in injury or illness. These nerves can regenerate to some extent. Severe damage of more than one-half inch may result in permanent injury. However, IGF-1 has repaired and reconnected severed nerve endings up to a distance of six millimeters. This has never, heretofore, been done." This may explain part of Deer Antler's ability to regenerate nerve tissue in deer.

Also, IGF-1 Plus "contains a small-molecular-weight protein that has the unique ability to modulate the immune system. This means that if the immune system is depressed, this protein can dramatically improve it. And if it is overactive, it can reduce it into a normal range."

Anyone know the problem with this? Yes, IGF-1 does a lot of these things, but there's no evidence that supplemental IGF-1 will produce these results. In fact, even if IGF-1 supplementation did these things, consuming it orally wouldn't do a damned thing because IGF-1 is a protein and your digestive tract would break the protein down to its constitutive amino acids long before it could get to any of the receptors that it might bind to in order to exercise its biological effects. As is the case with so many of these sorts of supplements, they include proteins whose biological activity (assuming that supplementing them would even do the things claimed) is destroyed by digestion.

If you want to get an idea of just how dumb the sort of stuff Wolfe is peddling really is, check out this compilation video of his "greatest hits":

I do rather like the part, right at the beginning, where he talks about how chocolate "lines up planetarily with the sun" and "chocolate is an octave of sun energy." What the hell does that even mean? I like chocolate as much as the next guy, but this is inanity. But that's not enough. There's another bit of him saying that it's "same octave" as serotonin, the sun, a smile, and gold.

There's lots more where that came from. ("Bacteria are exceptionally advanced consciousness"?) In fact, I encourage you to listen to the entire thing—if you dare. You might not make it through, because it's nearly 15 minutes of a litany of Deepak Chopra-grade woo. On the other hand, maybe this guy isn't on Deepak Chopra's level. Snake oil salesman that he is, Chopra can at least make his woo sound somewhat plausible to the lay person. I doubt too many fail to recognize this stuff as pure, grade-A nonsense. Unfortunately enough do to keep this guy in business selling deer antler extract.

And Zappers.

oracknows Thu, 05/28/2015 - 02:00

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"Avocado Wolfe"? The man is deeply confused. There is evidence that avocados feature in the diets of jaguars and cougars, but no-one has suggested that they attract canids.

This guy is even deeper down the rabbit hole than Deepak. Deepak's nonsense sounds like it might have some sort of plausibility in some universe somewhere. Not Mr. Avocado Wolfe. I was particularly taken by the zapper video, but then I discovered it was all a fraud .

Yes, only noticed him this month too, now suddenly everywhere (think march against monsatan gave him a boost).

Experiencing levels of frustration I normally don't, so deep is the crap this hack is spouting. Check the recent food hunk facebook quip on him.

Also, too, it seems his first book was straight plagiarism of a 70s raw food book, uncredited. And he dropped his raw foodism vegan thing for that + mashed ants and antlers. Which leans him more towards 'no scruples' than 'bat shit crazy' camp.

Avocado? Where does that fit into the banana/ cucumber scheme of things?

At any rate, Mikey** was also selling deer antler velvet.

** who has -btw- launched his very own search engine GoodGopher.com, today: it won't be biased like g--gle but will censor corporate and government propaganda

Is Wolfe picking up a whip, putting on a Fedora, and invading ancient tombs looking for new superfoods and herbs to increase your longevity?

He's probably just terrified of snakes.

Isn't deer antler made of keratin? Might as well just chew your fingernails.

Energies are flowing out of the cosmos—or they’re flowing out of the earth and up.

As an astronomer, I can attest to the accuracy of this statement. There is a cosmic microwave background, and as we've learned all too well, the only significant loss of heat from the earth is from infrared radiation that escapes into space.

Not sure about the rest of the excerpt, though ...

I loved this:

Rudolf Steiner said that we gradually age due to substances in our body that are seized by the earth’s gravity. He could have said anything.

Indeed, he could have said anything at all that happened to come into his head.

Daniel Guacamole Fox https://www.facebook.com/danielguacamolefox

The invaluable Encyclopedia of American Loons has a good entry on this guy.

Also, if you haven't been following the third pass through the alphabet, the last three articles have been about people in fields of interest to RI readers, namely:

- two major proponents of naturopathic medicine (Mark Bertolini, an Aetna exec; Brian Berman, a quackademic at the U of Maryland School of Medicine), and
- an antivaxx person (Sallie Berman of SafeMinds).

this is like spirit science with food instead of crystals

He has mastered the Facebook way of marketing - send out tons of cute memes that direct traffic back to you. It's a smart marketing machine he runs. And he's a batshit quack.

Dear antler is not a product. It’s a cosmic substance.

*camera pans into a grass field with two bull deer grazing. The deer look up quizzically at each other antlers*

"By Jove, Karl, I believe he is right. You are wearing cosmic substance on your head"
"Oh shut up, Sig, it's just that kids call it these days."

--------------------------------------------
The presence of ladies in the room prevents me from further commenting on the deer's antlers being "very androgenic".

More seriously, I don't think much of people looking after rhino's horns for also being "very androgenic". Not sure I like deer people any better.

jypsy @8 -- That's hilarious!

I watched all 3 videos. Yiiiiii! Mushroom ETs!

He appears to be a salesman above all else.

Like the other loons I survey, he encourages followers to whip up incredible mixtures of liquefied glop which are composed of ingredients he sells. Thus they either sell packaged superfoods ( Mikey) or dried powdered fruits, vegetables and herbs ( Gary)- all of which are composed of purified life essence which will enhance your own.

Rather than a supplement capsule or pill ( @ 500 mg/ 1 g) or powders ( serving size 30 g), the ingredients in these smoothies add up to ounces and can replace meals. Raw food diets can be partially acquired through super markets or even grown at home ( Mike has that covered though, with his mini-farms). Some of these miracle foods originate in diverse and farflung locales rather than garden variety sources.
I once added up ingredients' costs that Mike listed in one of his breakfast smoothies- it's expensive to do. Similarly, creating drinks based on the powdered stuff.

I wonder if his followers ever eat anything? It's easy to get 2000 calories or so by liquid drinks especially if you include powdered nuts or oils.

I blogged about Wolfe and his nuttery nonsense last month. He packs a lot of rubbish into the memes that appear on his Facebook feed. I was really annoyed because he was promoting all sorts of nonsense in the guise of inspiration memes, and then would slip in some health quackery.
http://tysonadams.com/2015/04/13/beware-the-meme/

Helianthus @12 -- Deer antler is surely no more androgenic than rhino horn, but at least in North America deer are not endangered. Far from it -- their natural predators are long gone, and there are far too many of 'em.

Incidentally, one thing that distinguishes the US from Europe are the enormous tracts of essentially untended forests -- they go on for mile after mile after mile in the northeast.

palindrom -- I have seen a statistic that says that there are more white-tailed deer in the US today than there were during the American Revolution, which of course begs the question...did someone count them?

I don't know about cosmic substances, I just know the darn critters seem to have a psychic ability to determine when our sweet corn patch is ready. Them and the raccoons.

I can never keep up with today's woo. I thought we were supposed to avoid milk from cows given rbst because it slightly increased IGF-1 in the milk. This was supposed to be horrible for people t drink.

@#12 Helianthus

The presence of ladies in the room prevents me from further commenting on the deer’s antlers being “very androgenic”.

The ladies in the room would love to know more, so stop being sexist! :-))

I often wonder who supports (literally and figuratively) these goofballs, and then I run into someone who actually does. It ruins my whole day.

I think he cribbed his bio from Buckaroo Banzai.

@ shay:

Aha! I see that your animal guests are into the raw food diet.

Ahhh! That infomercial!

This is the guy who sells the "Nutribullet" blender/juicer* on a half-hour infomercial that's been airing (in the US) for, what--three years now?

Most people quickly change the channel when they realize it's an infomercial on. I work a television job where I have no choice but to watch the whole thing. I have the damn thing memorized. Him and Shaun T (of endless exercise video sets) own the early-morning TV-filler dead zone. (Oh, and that vacuum cleaner guy too.)

*He absolutely insists that its "NOT a blender, NOT a juicer." Oh, and it "turns ordinary foods...[dramatic pause]...into SUPERFOODS!" I'm sure it's sold well. Isn't he rich enough off of that?

As a trained musician, Avocado's misuse of the word octave makes me flinch. (It's worse, content-wise, than the misuse of crescendo, surely the most frequently misused musical term. At least the way people tend to misuse crescendo is closely related to its denotation.)

Deer antlers are actually bone, so different than rhino horn. And yes, they count the deer. Obviously they can't count every one, but statistically they can count the deer. Reams of wildlife publications can tell you how to do it.

"Deer antlers are not herbs."

You just have to find a deer named Herb. Then the antlers are Herb's.

After watching about a third of his zapper video, I'm seriously contemplating building him a 400 volt square wave zapper with convenient in-ear electrodes.

As my favorite Wolfe, Nero, would say: "Pfui."

As my favorite Wolfe, Nero, would say: “Pfui.”

probably with a rebuke for wittering

Composer99: "As a trained musician, Avocado’s misuse of the word octave makes me flinch"

Just like I hate the way they use "frequency" and "energy." In my former life I was a structural dynamics engineer where I was particularly interested in natural frequencies and how they affected structural movement (trying to avoid another "Galloping Gertie", a short lived Tacoma Narrows bridge).

Next time someone pulls the "frequency" of something I am going to demand they show me the eigenvalues and eigenvectors!

(note: kids all got music lessons and they had to endure me geeking out when while one kid was practicing the piano I noticed the snare drum started to rattle)

Severe damage of more than one-half inch may result in permanent injury. However, IGF-1 has repaired and reconnected severed nerve endings up to a distance of six millimeters. This has never, heretofore, been done.”

Is he perchance unaware of the relative sizes of one-half inch and six millimeters?

Re: the Indiana Jones bit

Perhaps he means he keeps finding and losing things? Or he engages in a series of short-lived romantic flings? Perhaps he has a child side-kick?

a mission to plant 18 billion fruit, nut, and medicinal trees on planet Earth

A noble effort, so long as he keeps the trees to their native areas and isn't introducing invasive species.

I don't know about deer populations in the mid-1700s, but from the mid-1900s to now, the deer populations have very much grown here in Virginia. I remember the first time I saw a road kill deer in the area in about 1988 or 89, and it was the topic of conversation around the water cooler. About 7 or 8 years ago, road killed deer were only worth bringing up if you had run over the deer, which I did. If there were half this many deer running around back in the day, the Founding Fathers must have been eating good.

Deer antlers are actually bone...

Yep. To satisfy my creative urges, I make pens. Mostly I use wood, but you can also make them from deer antler. You can see a few examples here - http://www.penturners.org/forum/f274/voting-antler-horn-bone-contest-13…
(none of mine are on that page - I've made a few, but they don't look that good)

While I doubt the extract does you any good, the consensus amongst the pen turners is that deer antler powder is to be avoided http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/any-bacterial-danger-deer-antler-12…

I have a few pounds of antler, and at $75 for 60mL, I could whip up a big ol' batch of deer antler stock and be rich, if it wasn't for these darn pesky morals.

Proper Johnny
Accept no substitutes

And yes, they count the deer.

In 1776? I'm having visions of one of the Adams brothers standing out in the back 40 with a tally sheet.

chocolate is an octave of sun energy

I shudder at the thought of what would happen if you ate a minor third of sun energy.

How is this guy successful? I tried watching all three videos and I could not get past the first minute mark. He has a very annoying style that I am surprised that people actually took the time to listen to what he is says. At least Deepak Chopra is good at presenting his material.

This is the guy who tried to explain why he's is/was a vegan while selling deer antlers.So he's quite adapt at mental gymnastics. Scary thing is he's one of the saner ones.

The raw vegan/fruitarian/ whateverelse movement is filled with nuts. If anyone hasn't run across them look up Durian rider & Freelee. They're a special kind of special.

justthestats or #35

I shudder at the thought of what would happen if you ate a minor third of sun energy.

or even worse, a flattened fifth. Anything that involved a quarter tone or three quarter tone bend would would probably be instantly fatal.

For pete's sake, who are the dolts who are falling for such an obvious snake-oil salesman?

"Dear antler is not a product. It’s a cosmic substance. And it’s an androgenic substance, by the way—very androgenic....You gotta know that deer antler is an androgenic force."

I'm going to start bringing home all those moose antlers I find while working in the bush. If deer antlers are dear, then imagine how much I could make with one of our majestik møøse antlers--I could probably pay for another research season. You gotta know that moose antler is much more androgenic 'cos size does matter, donchaknow.

I pay big $$$ for antlers for my dogs putatively to chew, but instead they leave them where I will step on them in the dark. Deer antlers work, but there's a premium on elk antlers. I hate to think what moose antlers would cost me. And the androgenic capacity of the antlers would explain some of their behaviors. :)

Deer antler is surely no more androgenic than rhino horn, but at least in North America deer are not endangered.

Don't go knocking the deer velvet scam, it's a useful income stream for NZ deer farmers.
They're sawn off while still growing and more cartilage than calcified. So full of vascular growth factors, is the theory.

The Avocado-Man doesn't explicitly say he's antivax.

But if bacteria are "exceptionally advanced consciousness", then at least some vaccinations are tantamount to murder.

I shudder at the thought of what would happen if you ate a minor third of sun energy.

or even worse, a flattened fifth. Anything that involved a quarter tone or three quarter tone bend would would probably be instantly fatal.

Somebody needs to hip Avocado to Easley Blackwood before it's too late.

It’s a cosmic substance.

What, pray tell, would a non-cosmic substance be?

Given how weird antlers are when you think about it - living bony structures that grow out of an aminal's head and fall off every year - maybe he's just trying to tell us they aren't, in fact, alien intruders from some Lovecraftian otherworld?

None of his "ultimate herbs of China" is an herb, of course; the ginseng is at least a plant, but the part that people use is the root, not leaves or stem.

Also, nothing flows "out" of the cosmos, because we are within/part of the cosmos. By definition. If I thought there was any sense to be made here, I'd be wondering, if "androgenic" substances are powerful and potentially dangerous, at what point taking "astrogenic" ones would cause a person to start fusing hydrogen, or at least emitting visible light

IGF-1 does indeed promote nerve growth in some in-vitro and in some animal studies. But there are only 2 human clinical trials that I know of, 1 in diabetic neuropathy (PMID:15363067) and 1 in ALS (PMID:8502260) and both studies failed to show a benefit of treatment.

Isn't the word for avocado and lawyer the same in French?

Vicki @46 --

we are within/part of the cosmos.

Whoa, man ... you're blowing my mind here!

For comic relief, I recommend checking out Daniel Guacamole Fox on Facebook. Though this guy could be his own parody.

This guy is a complete wackadoodle. Avacado? Really? Plus if you want deer antler, walk around the woods in the fall and pick some up or talk to your friends who are hunters. I do not understand the current fad of juicing. Calories that are ingested in liquid form aren't as satisfying as eating, and all of these juice fasts people are on about can't be that healthy. Also I am deeply unclear as to how putting food into a glorified blender turns it into a superfood. Plus they all advocate for organic, non-GMO and other qualifiers. Obviously these are not people who have grocery shopped on a tight budget. But he is playing to the whole crowd who want to be young and beautiful forever.

Isn’t the word for avocado and lawyer the same in French?

Google translator translates lawyer to avocat, and avacado to avacado

I am not surprised that Google translate translates "avacado" to "avacado," since it is not a word, but "avocado" does in fact translate to "avocat."

Chocolate is for weight loss:

http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1…

Any, boy do you guys have your work cut out for you.

So, apparently drinking recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) in zero or trace quantities in cow milk is somehow vaguely bad for us because "GMOs" and "chemicals", but drinking/eating uncontrolled quantities of deer antler Interferon Growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is somehow magically good for us because, ummm, "ground energy". Do these quack-meisters and gullible woo-believers ever listen to themselves, or even process language? They're internally inconsistent as well as scientifically illiterate and bat-shit crazy. I'm amazed, but not in a good way.

@palindrom

Rudolf Steiner said that we gradually age due to substances in our body that are seized by the earth’s gravity. He could have said anything.

Indeed, he could have said anything at all that happened to come into his head.

...and, evidently, frequently did.

Shay: Spanish, actually. The French word for avocado translates to "alligator pear".

The Aztec word that the Spanish were trying to replicate with "lawyer" generally translates to "testicle". Which, when you look at an avocado, kind of makes sense.

Theo would like (or not) a bit from article at TrUTH's link:

... We ran an actual clinical trial, with subjects randomly assigned to different diet regimes. And the statistically significant benefits of chocolate that we reported are based on the actual data. It was, in fact, a fairly typical study for the field of diet research. Which is to say: It was terrible science. The results are meaningless, and the health claims that the media blasted out to millions of people around the world are utterly unfounded.

emphasis mine

JustaTech, the Spanish word for "lawyer" is abogado or abogada depending on gender. It is based on the Latin for "advocate." I noticed that in my srea and the one I visited in California last weekend have many storefronts that say "Abogados de inmigracion."

Apparently avocat can mean both avocado or male lawyer in French:
http://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2012/01/19/the-difference-between-av…

It is not like there are not English words that have multiple meanings, sometimes with varying pronunciations. One thing that is very small is minute, and sixty seconds of time is a minute. I often tell folks "I'll be back in a minute minute." :-)

Well, he is an agent for levity, but I doubt that is what he intended.

We never had this problem when they were still referred to as alligator pears.

If ever there was a time to test 1.21 gigawatts on an avacado.....

Shay, well they do look like pears with alligator skin.

@ Chris

Apparently avocat can mean both avocado or male lawyer in French:

Yep.
And if any of the two is "marron", you are out of luck.

A French lawyer has put a few comic strips together to illustrate his daily job, It's over there (in French, of course). I will let you guess which legume he is using to represent himself.

Don't taste like 'em, though.

C'est un cornichon ou .... ?

Dangerous Bacon @ 43

You just need to start browsing his memes.You could fill up a couple of Antivax Bingo Cards from this one post alone.

"Vaccines and Vaccine Safety
(A summary of Internet links to alternative viewpoints on vaccines)
by David Avocado Wolfe
May 20, 2015

Where there is smoke, there is fire. A growing body of evidence indicates that vaccines are not safe and that they can injure or even kill you or a family member. The damage caused by vaccines can no longer be ignored, nor can it be dismissed as a necessary evil. By 2010, the U.S. Court of Claims had awarded nearly $2 billion dollars to vaccine victims for their catastrophic vaccine injuries.

The information and resources provided below indicates that vaccines contain questionable, if not dangerous additives, and in some cases, may be dangerously contaminated (see resources below). Not only that, the efficacy of vaccines has been called into serious scientific debate based on statistical population data (see resources below).

If you choose to vaccinate you and your family, that is your choice. However, to force others to vaccinate themselves and their families is a violation of our basic human right to protect ourselves and our families from danger. The basic and important logic is this: If you and/or your child are vaccinated, then you and your child are supposedly safe, so you shouldn’t be concerned with violating the basic humans rights of another family and their children by forcing them to comply with a vaccination program supplied by a transnational pharmaceutical enterprise.

Basic Human Rights: The right to protect oneself and one’s children from being injected with a vaccine cocktail containing potentially harmful preservatives, heavy metals, animal tissue cultures, aborted human fetal tissue, gelatin, sucrose, MSG, etc. manufactured by a transnational pharmaceutical corporation is a basic human right that cannot be violated by any government or corporation.

Attention Vegans
Many vaccines (if not all) contain animal tissues of one type or another (these may include: sheep blood, pig blood, horse blood, rabbit brain, dog kidney, monkey kidney, chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg, calf (bovine) serum, porcine (from pigs), casein from animal milk), hydrolyzed gelatin, and/or aborted human fetal tissue. This means that these vaccines are not vegan.

How to Protect Yourself from Infections without Vaccines manufactured by Transnational Pharmaceutical Corporations
At this point it appears the best way to protect yourself and your family from infections is a healthy lifestyle including organic food nutrition, immunological (herbal) nutrition, vitamin and mineral supplements, sunshine, fresh air, healthy loving support and relationships, exercise, pure water, and sanitary conditions on the body and around the home and environment. If you feel your family should not be vaccinated, that is your choice and you should be able to exercise it. Homeopathic vaccinations and other alternatives could also be explored.

Acupuncture and electronic medicine systems (zappers, rife machines, frequency generators, PEMF devices, biofeedback machines) are also gaining popularity due to their efficacy in producing health.

Facebook Vaccine Debate Resources (Alternate Viewpoints)"(urls removed)
First thing I thought of.

"Don't ever question me Gordie I know a lot more about nutrition than you do."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PleFw1gZ8GM

@ Shay

C’est un cornichon ou …. ?

If you mean Maitre Eolas, he will be sorry you think he is pickled.

If you mean Mr Avocado, it's one of the words I would use to describe him in French.
To start with, cornichons are much more androgenic.

Whoa, I learned a new word: androgenic. I kind of knew the first part, and the second part... but not the combination.

Helianthus, I confess that my attempt to learn enough French to survive a driving tour through your country was hampered by my mere two years of high school Spanish. I frustrated the teacher by trying to pronounce each letter! My brother did it right by first learning French, and then Spanish.

Okay, I can kind of read French, especially if the word is similar to Spanish and/or English, but that is it. Especially if it is a menu. I kind of understood the lawyer cartoon, but it is not good enough since I don't think a chestnut is a legume. The pun was lost on me.

This is terrible since both my father and my daughter have degrees in linguistics, and they both speak French... and a bit of Japanese and Korean. And while my father knows some Russian (and Spanish), my daughter does Swedish. The "ability to learn language" skipped me completely.

I get back at them by using applied math terms like "Fourier", "Lagrange", "Pascal", "Cauchy", "Laplace", etc. ;-)

(in reality not so much... I lost many brain cells trying to explain to my father how logarithmic scales worked in regards to the Richter Scale after a major earthquake somewhere a few decades ago)

To start with, cornichons are much more androgenic.

And the revolution will not get rid of the nubs.

@jypsy #8

How much did Monsanto pay you to spread that lie? Because I was able to keep my Sun energy focused on positive thoughts, I nearly died laughing.

@ Chris

I don’t think a chestnut is a legume

My apologies, I was caught in my French slang and got carried away.
By "legume", I just mean the lawyer represented himself as an avocado.
And by "marron", I meant the color, brown, as in rotten.

When I was a raw foodist, through Shazzie, he was my "guru", then after reading his positions against medicine and science I found his curriculum vitae (he has studied political science, not nutrition) and it was my last day as a 20 years old raw foodist.

After that period, Theo Colborn has became my hero. She and Richie Havens.

Is killing deer for their antlers natural ? (I mean, like barbaric, cruel, and selfish).

I could not stand the video, my brain was fleeting, I was dying inside, slowly. He should just stop using word because he don't know how to make sentence.

According to the other link, they don't kill the deer for their antlers. I don't know if they saw them off or wait until they naturally fall off every year, but either way I tend not to believe them.

The "deer antler for dog chews" folks I know pick them up after they fall off. So, in theory, no deer were harmed in the deer antler scam. Although people may be...

Helianthus -- to add to the confusion, "legume" in American English refers not to vegetables in general but rather to the class of dried vegetables that includes lentils, split peas and beans.

(That's speaking as a cook. A botanist would undoubtedly correct me).

Legumes (pronounced LEG yooms) are any of the nearly 19 thousand species belonging to the Leguminosae (family). A comparatively small but very important number of species are used for human and/or animal food. Some are quite poisonous - which reminds me, one of my favorites, showy locoweed, will be in bloom here before long. In the meantime early yellow locoweed is quite glorious right now.

Can those deer antlers be processed in that 'famous' nutribullet?
This afternoon I saw a part of the commercial. I want those minutes of my life back. Testimonials like: "I used it once, and I slept amazing well."
And those things are not really cheap.

Cool, thanks doug. I just found out last year that my wisteria vines are also legumes, as they are part of the pea family. The flowers look similar, and they have really cool seed pods.

"Yet he still manages to crank up the pseudoscience to 11"
should say:
"Yet he still manages to crank up the pseudoscience to potato"

@Janet re:41

I dunno what chewing antler goes for, but take a look at
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/WXANTLER.html
and see if they will save you anything.

It is not like there are not English words that have multiple meanings, sometimes with varying pronunciations. One thing that is very small is minute, and sixty seconds of time is a minute. I often tell folks “I’ll be back in a minute minute.” :-)

Though those are both actually the same word, from Latin. A 'minute' was the 'first small part' of an hour, so 'pars minuta prima'. And when you divided it again, you got 'pars minuta secunda', the second small part, hence our word for 'second' as a measure of time. (And according to Wikipedia, Polish and Arabic still have words meaning 'third' used to refer to 1/60th of a second. Hunh. I hadn't known that part before.)

"Though those are both actually the same word, from Latin."

Even though one is an adjective and the other is a noun? Anyway, that is cool, especially the reason for calling the tiny bit of time a "second."

I am open for business for all your non-Big Pharma GMO free, all natural and organic, growth hormone free, free range, cruelty-free, BPA-free, cosmic superfood needs. Just look for the billboard for Old Rockin' Dave Nectarine Spectacled Bear's Miracle Cure Shack and exit right one mile past it. Be sure to bring your checkbook, cash, credit cards, and gold coins - you're going to need all of it. At least I need all of it. It's not like deer antlers are lying around waiting to be picked up.
(Nectarine: "Half a peach, half a plum; it's a hell of a fruit.")
Incidentally, very incidentally, the first known citation of the word "avocado" in the English language was in the writings of that remarkable explorer, pirate, naval officer, and oceanographer William Dampier. Dampier added about one thousand words to the language, including "barbecue" (Thanks, Bill.). He did a lot of other amazing things and is very much worth reading about. I recommend the book "A Pirate of Exquisite Mind".

Helianthus,
OT - I don't know if you enjoy the TV series 'Engrenages' (aka 'Spiral') as I do; even if not you might enjoy this article about the slang used. I'm amazed by how much Arabic has entered the French language. We have just as many Muslims in London as they do in Paris, but I have yet to hear a non-Muslim say, "inshallah" or "elhamdulillah" (apologies for transliteration).

Ha!
I'm rather surprised that neither ORDave nor Kreb caught my banana/ cucumber/ avocado reference above.
Maybe you did but thought it too prurient- or perhaps it was not quite prurient enough.

Denice, I saw it, I got it, but I was offended - I thought I had the monopoly on sophomoric humor here.

Palindrom @ 9: Thanks for the "Encyclopedia of American Loons" reference. I looked him up and found "#1268: David Wolfe."

The "Loons" entry says that Wolfe promotes the idea that "dirty electricity is all around you."

Dirty electricity, eh? Now we know what happened to Wolfie's hair. Bzzzzt!

---

It's hard to tell if he's truly a loon or merely a huckster. But one thing he isn't is mystical. The Dalai Lama is a real mystic and is on record saying that if anything in Buddhism doesn't comport with science, Buddhism will change.

I'm going to guess he's a narcissistic huckster who believes his own BS and also believes he's "special." He's clearly in love with his own image, as shown by the sheer quantity of self-promoting photos in his material.

What's scary is the size of his audiences, and what would be even scarier is the applause if it wasn't overdubbed on the audio track. What's even scarier than that, is the number of people who go to religious-right megachurches every week. Take a look at the size of some of those rooms and gasp.

I just found out last year that my wisteria vines are also legumes, as they are part of the pea family. The flowers look similar, and they have really cool seed pods.

They are indeed a member of the Fabaceae. I don't recommend eating the fruit or seeds though.

I think he shows great self awareness.
Avocado is the Aztec word for testicle and he talks complete bollocks.

Orac--you've never heard of David Avocado Wolfe before?

Neither had I. We should both watch more reality TV. While googling around just now, I discovered that he was one of the "Alties" on a 2004 reality TV show called "Mad Mad House".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Mad_House#Alts

Reviewers were less than impressed. "Get more feral"--was my favorite. (You can find that one in the reviewers link on the wiki page).

For some reason, this foray into the entertainment world does not get prominently mentioned in Wolfe's websites. This is odd, given that his grandiose self-promotional tone reminds me of that classic college admission essay: (http://paws.kettering.edu//~jhuggins/humor/essay.html)

Anyway, I wonder how many people are attracted to "Alties" for the entertainment factor?

How is it that I’ve never heard of David Avocado Wolfe before?

Must be just the luck of the Irish.

O'Rac is an Irish name, isn't it?

Peebs: "I think he shows great self awareness.
Avocado is the Aztec word for testicle and he talks complete bollocks."

Please go to reception to pick up your voucher for the internet.

You should check out the reality show he starred on - Mad Mad House.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Mad_House

I'll admit I only skimmed this but seriously, is this guy actually advocating deer antler extract because it's been used for so long in traditional medicine? (I use the term 'traditional' for 'Chinese' here as this stuff is used in several Asian countries) By his woo philosophy of 'energy flowing' to the pointy bits of things, I suppose he feels the same about rhino horn and tiger penis? *slow claps* well done, aren't you are enlightened.

This David Avocado Wolff has put me off avocadoes forever.

HDB -
“Avocado Wolfe”? The man is deeply confused. There is evidence that avocados feature in the diets of jaguars and cougars, but no-one has suggested that they attract canids.

Oh but they do. The houses whose dogs are so fat, so rotund, that if they can even rouse themselves from their buttery lethargy when approached can do no more than waddle a few steps and bark desultorily - these houses have avocado trees in their yards.
Watching Bassett hounds hunt avocados in tall grass is a marvelous way to spend an afternoon.

he's got a lion on the back of his jacket you can see as he walks up to the stage in the first vid.

is he a Lannister? hmmm....

#24

@composer99

Once had the studio engineer ask if we could play the section an octave louder.

“Is it possible to never feel bad ever, to never feel sadness, to never feel depression ever, to remove those emotions from our psyche totally? And the answer is yes.”
That sounds like something a narcissist would say - in fact, that's one of the things that being a narcissist is all about.

I also just really noticed David Wolfe within the past few weeks. It's his "feel good" posts that have really catapulted him into Facebook fame. There's nothing wrong with many of his "feel good" posts; I believe that I have also shared a few of them my very self. People then become receptive to whatever else he is selling. I was glad to see this article about him because, as I mentioned, I have just noticed his "stuff" everywhere recently. Now I know the context.

It would appear that he's dropped the 'Avocado' from his name on his Facebook profile - his posts (which I see because I seem to have gullible friends) now show up as 'David Wolfe.'

Way way OT ..
@krebiozen

There might be almost as many Muslims in London as there are in Paris, but this is still quiet a different situation, subject to at least three major differences.
1) major muslim immigration is a rather recent development
2) France as a whole, has way more Muslims (around 7.5 Compared to 4%)
3) most importantly : many Muslims in the UK don't speak Arab (since they're mainly from Pakistan or Bangladesh!)at all.*

On the other hand, don't forget the influence of the Indian/Asian language and culture had!
We can talk about yoga, nirvana and karma without the need to look it up in the dictionary.
We can shampoo our dinghy in our bungalow if we're not afraid of the juggernauts :)

*I'm well aware that muslim pakistani might use words like Inshallah too, but you get the idea. .

For now, excuse my French!eh, or English..

and i should stop using my phone to post..
hope you it makes sense to you

Very, very good article. Only one thing... Maybe you could try to split your sentenses into shorter ones? Makes it so much easier to read :)

They called me 'the cucumber' when I was younger. Not for reasons people might be thinking ;) , more for 'he's as cool as a cucumber". Now, avocado??? FFS! :D

I keep seeing friends on Facebook share this guy memes so I googled " who the hell is David avocado Wolfe"? You were on the top of the Google search. Thanks and where to quake this guy is.

How sad! You rip things apart... for fun! David advocates a Healthy Lifestyle. We NEED more people like him. Wake up and stop being blinded by what you are told is science.

@John #110

Having just found David Wolfe covered here, words alone can not express my gratitude. I came across David "Avocado" Wolfe many years ago and have warned people to disregard almost anything he has to say as reliably inaccurate, right down to what claims about medicinal and food-plants, including goji berry; one of a number he has a history of promoting. It's one thing to advocate a healthy lifestyle and quite another to spread falsehoods, inaccuracies, and dangerous misconceptions. Never mind scientific methods and facts, he fails to get traditional, herbal, or ethnocultural concepts of health and medicine correct. But then his captive audience is typically young and evidently unversed in the topics he presents, let alone the need for reproducible, rational methods of critical evaluation called science. Had they spent some time (typically years) in studying what he propounds, they would come to very different conclusions and statements, provided they developed the skill of critical thinking along the way; his claims about deer antler (one of the oldest potions promoted in China for 'long-life') being an apt example. Unwittingly or not, he stoops to one of the earliest tricks of hucksters in the health food market in the U.S. in what was known decades ago as the "contains game". There was plenty of that in the 1960s, and it continues to this day. Here's how it works or doesn't: Even though a product (food, supplement – you name it) contains a substance, but not in a bioavailable form or sufficient quantities to exert a biological effect of any significant benefit, sales are generated on the basis of activity studies using far greater isolated amounts, be they in laboratory animals, in vitro, or in humans. The contains game represents another among many of using science to make a sale, regardless of the pseudoscience it is.

One of the classic examples and biggest 'knee-slappers' of them all is Beta-sitosterol. Nearly ubiquitous in plants, the quantities are so small, they can not be held to account for the consumption of a plant consumed raw or in the form of a crude extract for anti-inflammatory activity. Yet, the same sterol has been widely promoted in the contains game as an anti-inflammatory constituent of one herb, vegetable, or fruit and the next. Even more inane, promoters claim the sterol is an "ingredient" of the plant, as if the plant had added the sterol to itself!

If there's any, the "fun" in pointing out the egregious practices of his ilk comes as a form of comic relief for what is otherwise producing at least two immediate and disturbing effects: further tarnishing the dietary supplement industry with the reputation of ignorant quacks and hucksters, and leading the public so far astray, they would forgo effective treatments for conditions in place of those without adequately demonstrated, objective benefits. A gullible audience, not knowing what it takes to demonstrate efficacy and safety, can be led to believe almost anything, if its incredible enough! Contributing to unsound and false statements and claims, the opinions of law-makers and legislators are brought closer to imposing greater restrictions on the marketing and labeling of dietary supplements. If it keeps up, all supplements will require pre-market approval before they are allowed to be sold, including any label claims and statements on the web by those selling them.

I sure hope he paid for those stock images he keeps using for his quotes, which at times also aren't his own. He has his own watermark all over them like he owns them. Just sayin'.

Does this "man" have the right to essentially talk cancer patients out of often successful radiation and chemotherapy therapies by telling them that "Chemotherapy doesn't work 97% of the time," simply because he says so?? This "man" is dangerous and should be investigated further!
https://www.facebook.com/DavidAvocadoWolfe/videos/10152475486906512/

Nice try. Try this instead:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/09/16/two-percent-gambit-chemoth…
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/12/07/so-chemotherapy-does-work-…
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/10/30/so-chemotherapy-does-work-…

Trying to find out who you are Orac? Not that l am dismissing your views, but if l am to absorb them into my decision making process, then l need to accredit your qualifications to judge different subjects.

There are a few l don't agree with you, that of the cannabis use in medicine. I have found cannabis useful in controlling aspects of my physical and mental health, though l don't partake now due to some very toxic practices by illegal growers and not wishing to contribute to criminal funds. And would like to see some proper research conducted into the plant as a a medical aid.

I don't know much about some of the other subjects. It is hard in the shady Web to find well balanced and qualified opinion, which is why l ask about your background and experience in order to quantify your expertise in these subjects.

Thank you.

Sophia

Foods Fido should avoid on Thanksgiving

dr. dolittle — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 17:41:02 +0000

Foods Fido should avoid on Thanksgiving

I came across this interesting literature on what foods you should avoid feeding a dog from the ASPCA Animal Poison Control:

dr. dolittle Wed, 11/26/2014 - 12:41

Tags

Things climate change may ruin: from allergies to wine

pgleick — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:43:45 +0000

Things climate change may ruin: from allergies to wine

The evidence from real-world observations, sophisticated computer models, and research in hundreds of different fields continues to pile up: human-caused climate change is already occurring and will continue to get worse and worse as greenhouse-gas concentrations continue to rise.

Because the climate is connected to every major geophysical, chemical, and biological system on the planet, it should not be surprising that we are learning more and more about the potential implications of these changes for a remarkably wide range of things. And while it is certainly possible – even likely – that climate changes may positively affect some things (like modestly reducing heating bills in colder regions), the planet’s ecosystems and human-built systems have evolved and been built around yesterday’s climatic conditions, not tomorrow’s. Overall, the evidence suggests the bad consequences will greatly – perhaps massively – outweigh the good.

Here is just a bit of what we've learned in recent years, about some of the things that the science community thinks climate change is going to negatively affect, or even ruin. Many of these impacts are now unavoidable. [OK, not all of these come from the science community, like the consequences for Santa Claus of destroying the Arctic, but you get the idea.] This catalog of impacts is incomplete, and growing, and doesn't include some of the most important and dire consequences, such as the acidification of the ocean, the risk of massive population dislocations, threats to national security, and changes to the very hydrologic cycle of the planet. Instead, I've focused on some of the tangible consequences for things in our day-to-day lives.

Read ‘em and weep (or scratch, sneeze, itch, and moan).

Allergies: Some allergies are going to be made significantly worse as climate changes cause pollen counts to increase. There is also evidence that climate change will worsen other factors related to respiratory allergies and asthma, such as summertime ozone concentrations and the growth of indoor fungi and molds. Some references to these risks are here and here and here.

Deadly Fungus Aspergillus: One of the most dangerous fungal pathogens threatening agriculture is a carcinogenic mold called aspergillus (Aspergillus flavus). It poisons cattle, infects grain crops, especially corn, and can be fatal when ingested. It is also strengthened by warmer temperatures and drought. In 2012, it rendered a significant portion of the corn crop of several states unfit for consumption. As climate warms and weather patterns become more erratic, some researchers suggest that aflatoxin contamination may further restrict the area over which crops may be economically grown (see here).

Beaches and Island Vacations: Ok, this one should be self-evident, since a significant amount of sea-level rise is well understood to be an unavoidable consequence of a warming planet. In addition to the serious and massive threats to lives and property, your beach vacations are also at risk. South Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, Florida, Hawaii – all will suffer beach destruction as seas continue to rise.

Chocolate: A detailed study concluded that the areas suitable for growing cocoa in the prime growing areas of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will substantially decrease by 2050 as warming expands. Other research also suggests risks to cocoa production from temperature and precipitation changes. (Some references here, here –a .pdf, and here )

Coffee: Coffee is one of the world's most important and valued commodities, worth tens of billions of dollars annually and employing over 25 million people worldwide. There is now evidence that the spread of a deadly coffee fungus is linked to rising global temperatures and research shows that “nearly 100 percent of the world's Arabica coffee growing regions could become unsuitable for the plant by 2080.” Starbucks is already having to spend money to study and test climate change-resistant coffee varieties.

Coral Reefs: Climate changes in the form of sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and warming temperatures pose a massive global threat to coral reefs. As temperature and ocean acidity rise, mass bleaching, infectious disease outbreaks, and reef destruction from de-calcification/acidification are already becoming more frequent. Why should people, beyond snorkelers care? Coral reefs are among the richest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet. They provide habitat for breeding and survival to uncounted species of marine life. They provide natural protection to coasts. They bring in revenue to local communities through tourism, fishing, and discoveries of new biochemicals and drugs. (See here and here and here.)

Fireworks: 2012 was the worst year for July 4^th fireworks in three decades, with widespread cancellations due to droughts and wildfire risks from Colorado to Tennessee. In 2013, ironically, a combination of both extreme drought and extreme torrential downpours also led to extensive cancellations. As climate changes force temperatures higher and higher, fireworks shows may become more and more dangerous to produce.

Fly Fishing: A 2011 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science “forecast a mean 47% decline in total suitable habitat for all trout” in the interior western United States by 2080 due to warming rivers and changes in river flows. Another peer-reviewed study concluded that “despite the best intentions, we will not be able to preserve all populations of native trout in the Rocky Mountains this century.”

Maple Syrup: Climate changes will affect sugar maples in several ways, including increased tree mortality from soil frost and a reduction in sap yield from warmer temperatures. There will be winners and losers. Among the likely changes are losses of production at the southern edge of the zone where maple syrup is produced and increases near the northern edges, but production losses are likely to occur faster than new trees can grow in the north.

New England Lobsters: The American lobster is both a symbol and an economic mainstay of New England. Lobsters are cold-blooded and temperature is a key factor in where they live and how they thrive. As oceans continue to warm lobsters are likely to move north, and there is already evidence that southernmost lobster habitats are suffering decreases in populations and that rising seawater temperatures are linked “to the spread of lobster shell disease.”

Peanut Butter: Peanut crops require several months of fairly consistent warmth and substantial rain. But too much rain near harvest or too little rain early can cause serious problems, and excessive heat and drought lead to aflatoxin contamination and toxic mold. The 2009 report on Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States stated “even moderate increases in temperature will decrease yields of corn, wheat, sorghum, bean, rice, cotton, and peanut crops.” A study at the University of Florida looked at the combined effect of enhanced carbon dioxide concentrations and higher temperatures. They concluded more CO₂ can help, a little, but these benefits were dwarfed by the risks of higher temperatures. If daytime high temperatures go to 111 degrees F and nighttime low temperature don’t fall below 93, peanut seed production drops to nothing.

Poison Oak/Poison Ivy: Studies (here and here) show that higher levels of carbon dioxide create “bigger, stronger poison ivy plants that produce more urushiol, the oil that causes the allergic reaction and miserable poison ivy rash.” This sucks. Need I say anything more?

Polar Bears: Plenty of real science has been written about this (here and here and here and many more), but polar bears aren’t just a cute symbol, they are a key biological component in a complex ecology that is under severe threat from climate change.

Santa Claus and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude: Ok, this is really about the destruction of the Arctic, and the disappearance of our northern polar ice cap. That will affect global weather patterns, access to minerals, national security dynamics, and much more, but in terms of day-to-day concerns, what will you say when your grandchild eventually asks, “how can Santa and the elves be at the North Pole if the ice is gone?” And Superman’s fortress is thought by some to be in the Arctic, but I guess he can fend for himself.

Skiing and Surfing: Really? Climate change may worsen both? Scientists have known for a long time that climate change, especially the increases in temperature, will badly affect skiing over time, as snowlines rise, snow turns to rain, or it melts faster and earlier. Indeed, the ski industry and the media are already clearly aware of these risks. But surfing? Yes, surfing is threatened by climate change. As noted by Motherboard: “In the future, surfing is going to suck for a quarter of the world. New research from Australia's national science agency [CSIRO] reveals that thanks to warming waters, the height of ocean waves is poised to shrink, on average, across about 25 percent of the ocean. From January-March each year, the figure jumps to 38.5%.”

Texas Football: Drought and high temperatures already affect sports. But now there is worry that climate change “could ruin Texas football” -- indeed all southern U.S. football. A 2011 piece by Matthew Van Dusen notes “climate change will have a terrible effect on communities throughout the cradle of football in the Southern and plains states.” In the later decades of the 21st century, climate models project that southern states such as Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama could experience 150-180 days a year or more (nearly six months a year) with peak temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This level of heat could have devastating effects on the economies and ecosystems of these regions and (worse in the minds of some) “make watching and playing football outdoors almost unbearable.”

Water: I've written extensively about water, climate, and the need for better water management (see here, here, and here). In short, the hydrological cycle is an intricate and key part of our climate system. As climate changes we'll see changes in water availability, quality, and demand, including changes in extreme events, complicating the effective management of our water infrastructure.

Wine: Climate changes can bring both positive and negative impacts for vineyards, so long as they are modest changes. But there is growing evidence that the long-term impacts of expected climate changes for the wine industry could be severe, negative, and widespread (see here and here and here and here). Winegrowers are already seeing changes, such as increased sugar content, decreases in acidity, earlier harvest times, and more. But as temperature continue to rise, some researchers have found that climate changes could mean, among other things, "50% less land suitable for cultivating premium wine grapes in high-value areas of Northern California." Another study suggests there will be “major global geographic shifts in” areas suitable for viticulture with the risk of “substantial economic and conservation consequences.”

As our understanding of the complex and broad impacts of climate changes improves, I’ll try to supplement this list over time, but it’s going to get long and sadder.

Peter Gleick

pgleick Tue, 07/16/2013 - 04:43

Cocoa Madness: aberrant chocolate-seeking mice run rampant!

bioephemera — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:31:42 +0000

Cocoa Madness: aberrant chocolate-seeking mice run rampant!

Well, not quite. I got an intriguing abstract in my inbox earlier today, to this new paper from BMC Neuroscience:

Here using a new conditioned suppression paradigm, we investigated whether the ability of a foot-shockpaired conditioned stimulus to suppress chocolate-seeking behavior was antagonized by previous exposure to a chronic stressful experience, thus modeling aberrant chocolate seeking in sated mice. Our findings demonstrate that while Control (non-food deprived) animals showed a profound conditioned suppression of chocolate seeking during presentation of conditioned stimulus, previously food deprived (FD) animals revealed a clear-cut preference for the chamber containing chocolate, thus indicating that previous exposure to a food restriction experience induces food seeking/intake despite its possible harmful consequences, which is an index of compulsive behavior.

Aberrant chocolate seeking? I plead guilty! Wait, this isn't about me. Actually, all the article shows is that when presented with a chamber containing chocolate, mice were dissuaded from entering by an electric shock - unless they had previously been starved. The mice weren't starving at the time of the experiment, mind you; they'd recovered and gained back the weight they'd lost. But the previous experience of starvation overcame their aversion to the shock, and they continued entering the chocolate chamber despite it. ("entering the chocolate chamber" would be a good band name.)

Of course my cynicism reared its ugly head immediately and said "they totally used chocolate just to get A) internet buzz, B) completely misleading mainstream media coverage, and C) invited to be on Oprah." (Consider this post my contribution to A). But the authors plead innocent, saying "milk chocolate was chosen based on previous studies showing its rewarding properties in animals. In addition, chocolate is the most commonly craved food and chocolate craving and addiction have been proposed in humans."

Uh-huh. Whatever you say, dudes. Mmmmm, chocolate mice.

LA Burdick's Chocolate Mice.

Read the whole article here or a press release here, or just wait until tomorrow for the mainstream media to beat the heck out of this one.

bioephemera Mon, 02/08/2010 - 11:31

Tags

biology

Conspicuous consumption

Is chocolate the most commonly craved food? I get cravings for various other sweet, salty, and/or fatty foods in addition to chocolate.

It's not all that surprising to me that a history of food deprivation would lead mice to ignore electric shocks.

Good question. I didn't look up the article they cited to support that statement, but I suppose it's plausible that someone did a study once and found self-reported chocolate craving was higher than anything else. I can't think of anything obvious that would be more commonly craved - in part because many things would satisfy your salt craving - pretzels, peanuts, potato chips - thus diluting self-reported craving for any one item. Chocolate on the other hand is pretty much the only food of its genre. But this is all just speculation, I didn't look up the reference.

Not sure this study has proved anything except that when mice get hungry they'll put up with all kinds of suffering to get food.

Nothing wrong with chocolate-seeking behaviour anyway!

I will admit to the occasional craving for chocolate (almost always dark chocolate), but much more frequently I really crave bacon.

Generally, in reward related studies, chocolate is used. Basically, when you're working with rodents and food reward, use either sweet or fat, or preferably both. Chocolate fulfills both those criteria and is thus really happy. Also, MANY of the scientists I know personally will use chocolate or some other highly palatable food as an excuse to keep it in the lab ("dang, we're out of Oreos AGAIN! Those mice, they just love the Oreos..."), so keep the whole "keeping chocolate in the lab" bit in mind, which i imagine was a LOT more salient to the scientists than the possibility of media attention. :)

Sure chocolate is used in reward studies - BUT given that BMC Neuroscience is emailing me press releases with "chocoholic" in the title the week before Valentine's Day, methinks there is far more than an optimal self-administration curve at stake here. I'm just sayin', I didn't get an email about crackhead mice.

So do tweeker mice start taking their cages apart in the middle of the night, have greasy tangled fur, and lose all their teeth? (Sorry. Been reading too much local news lately.)

I agree with your assessment about chocoholic papers, though.

Chocolate mice? I could get by with them - at a squeak, but wouldn't they melt after a while due to the heat from your hand as you click around your computer screen?

How It's Made: Chocolate

grrlscientist — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:59:08 +0000

How It's Made: Chocolate

tags: How it's Made: Chocolate, chocolate, food science, technology, streaming video

After watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a kid, I thought chocolate was made by oompa loompas who were employed by a fuzzy-haired man wearing a delightful purple velvet suit. I guess I was wrong.

grrlscientist Thu, 01/21/2010 - 23:59

Tags

Jeffrey Dahmer worked at a chocolate factory.

he was a bad egg.

"he was a bad egg."

Well played!

Dinner of Champions

grrlscientist — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:59:32 +0000

Dinner of Champions

tags: chocolate-covered licorice, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day

Photographed in Helsinki, Finland, after walking to Seurasaari and back.

Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)

I finished writing a book review on deadline that I am proud of for Nature and now I am relaxing whilst I think about a warm sunny day not too long ago, when the man whom I would later marry, fed me this delectable bar of chocolate-covered licorice for dinner. How can a grrl resist?

grrlscientist Mon, 10/12/2009 - 08:59

Tags

Truly, the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach.

Only Yankee grrls like licorice (I make exception for red licorice).

Not only liquorice, there is ammonium chloride ("salmiakki") in that chocolate. Strong stuff.

The quest for good chocolate: Amano

bioephemera — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:00:00 +0000

The quest for good chocolate: Amano

After reading my pitiable lament about the demise of several domestic artisan chocolate factories, my friend wunx sent me two bars of Amano chocolate! Yum! I don't know why it seems so odd to me that good dark chocolate is being made just outside Salt Lake City, but Amano's product is delicious. I highly recommend both the Madagascar and the Ocumare; the Madagascar is sharp with a tangy citrus note, while the Ocumare is smoother. I can tell you that both go wonderfully with a nice pinot noir.

Amano also has a rather nice chocolate blog - check out their historical look at a chocolate factory in 1884, or the detailed post on chocolate roasting. I'm planning to experiment with their hot chocolate recipe as soon as I get more Amano Ocumare!

bioephemera Thu, 03/19/2009 - 07:00

Tags

Conspicuous consumption

I asked at the store where where I got the chocolate bars about the Amano Nibs, and they've gotten some in for me. I'm going on a shopping expedition tomorrow. Watch your mailbox.

In addition to the companies Cybele mentioned in her comment on your previous post, Jacques Torres is also making his own chocolate in his new factory in New York. It's good.

I really enjoy your blog!

And dark, dark chocolate. Why someone doesn't make a dark chocolate peanut butter cup is beyond me...
nothing finer.....

My very favorite hot cocoa is made with nibs brewed like coffee. I don't do it often, because it gets rather pricy, but I absolutely love a cup of unsweetened, uncreamed hot cocoa. I also love to mix some with my coffee beans for a rather succulent cup of "real" mocha.

Ironically, I am not all that fond of dark chocolate bars - I love me some great milk chocolate...

Although I do have to complain that the last thing I needed right now, is the distraction of the unbelievably sexy Amano chocolate site.

Really good milk chocolate is delicious too - most American milk chocolate is unfortunately too sweet for my taste. But mmmmm, hot cocoa. . .

Thanks for the shout out. I honestly didn't expect a review here at Science Blogs. (I read regularly and actually am a physicist - a bit of a change from working at LANL to making chocolate)

BTW - we have milk chocolate now. We're still waiting for the printing on the boxes to be done. But we're doing a "prerelease" of it off our blog. We tried to make a milk that would appeal to dark chocolate lovers but would also be enjoyable by those intimidated by dark chocolate.

A pleasant change to be sure! :) I know another physicist who has made chocolate, actually -physicists appear to enjoy food experiments in the kitchen-lab.

Shrinking snacks? How junk food makers play with portions to fool consumers

sciencepunk — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:00:22 +0000

Shrinking snacks? How junk food makers play with portions to fool consumers

Last month, the UK Government came up with an ingenious new idea to stem the rising tide of obesity that is already spilling over low-slung jeans everywhere: eat less. Health Minister Alan Johnson met with a coalition of confectionery giants including Mars, Coca-Cola and Nestle, urging them to reduce the sizes of their delicious, calorie-laden snacks.

Shrinking portions is not a new idea. Last year, Food Standards Agency formed a panel to explore the role of food portion in our diets after announcing that reducing portions would be one of four key proposals for encouraging healthier eating in Britain. But someone else got the idea of reducing portions years before the FSA drew up their plan. The BBC News website devoted this discussion to the idea way back in 2004, after confectionery giants announced that they would reduce the sizes of their delicious, calorie-laden snacks!

So if the Food and Drink Federation agreed to cut the sizes of their snacks five years ago, how come Alan Johnson still pressing them to do so? The answer is in the alchemy of nutritional labelling and the science of psychology.

Question: how do you half the number of calories in a chocolate bar without taking anything away? Answer: you serve it in two pieces.

Confectionery manufacturers have long known that less is more. Faced with selling something that most people accepted was an unhealthy indulgence, companies such as Nestle and Mars struggled to make it seem less so. And nothing does this quite so well as repackaging a fattening chocolate bar as two not-so-fattening ones. The Bounty bar above is the epitome of this psychology: as a chocolate bar predominantly marketed at women, it's no coincidence that it also comes in two pieces. Kit Kat, another female favourite, has long been the best-selling chocolate bar in the UK, and for good reason - weighing in at 107 calories, it's a chocolate bar that's light on your conscience as well as your hips. With around 284 calories, the Mars Bar looked like the dietary equivalent of child porn by comparison. Mars knew this, and lo, they created the Mars snack size (163 calories), and the fun size (88 calories). This logic eventually landed us with the Bounty-style Mars Duo, and Mars Planets - tiny chocolates so small that each can only contain two of the four essential ingredients of a Mars Bar. The problem with making chocolates this small is that you need to sell them by the bag to shift any, wherein lies the second part of junk-food vendors' sleight-of-hand.

Legally, nutritional content of food must be given according to quantities per 100g of foodstuff. Food manufacturers, may, in addition, give the amounts per serving. It's not hard to see that this caveat exists to allow makers of sharing food - cakes, pies, etc., to give useful information on the likely amount of calories and so forth one person might expect to receive from their portion of the whole. Now, it's doubtful that anyone could argue that a 50g chocolate bar is a sharing item that contains several servings. But cut that bar in two, and suddenly it really does become two portions. If we look at the nutritional content of a 57g Bounty bar, we discover this is the case: cutting the bar in two allows Masterfoods to give nutritional information per 28.5g - that is to say, half the amount in a Bounty bar as it is purchased:

Let's take Masterfoods' lead here and hold the idea that a 'portion' of chocolate is 28.5g. How does that measure up against other confections? A portion of Mars bar, for example, weighed in at 62.5g (before recently being squeezed down to 58g) - in both circumstances still twice the size of a Bounty portion. And what's more, something strange happens when you start slicing up the Martian snack. When in tiny pieces as a 165g bag of Mars Planets, a "portion" is 25g. But in the Bounty-style Mars Duo, each portion weighs in at 45.5g! In fact, a Mars Duo contains MORE calories than the controversial "King Size" bar it replaced, as the contents have grown from one 62.5g bar to a pair of 45.5g bars - an 8% increase in calories, fat, sugar - well, in everything.

To recap (and remember these are all the same confectionery):
Portion of Mars as Planets: 25g
Portion of Mars as regular bar: 58g
Portion of Mars as Duo: 45.5g

In the face of such shenanigans it's shouldn't surprise us to find some manufacturers giving nutritional information for every bite of their food. And so, I give you Maynards Wine Gums:

Yes, you read right - Maynards give their nutritional content by sweet. And although I don't have a picture of it, cartons of Cadbury's Mini Eggs perform a similar flourish. It's difficult to say whether this is more or less insidious than Mars' mighty morphing portions. On the one hand, it's clearer than a mystery "portion", but on the other, it's an unreasonable way of keeping track of how much sugar I'm consuming.

The crux is this: these packs might say "to share" on the front, but most of us won't. Mars would have us believe that their 165g packet of Planets is enough to feed six and a half people. Really? Here's what a daily portion of Planets looks like:

I ate them in one mouthful. Delicious, but a poor complement to the Grolsch I'm drinking. To their credit, Mars state the amount of my recommended daily intake of calories that mouthful just notched up - 6% - but it's left to me to work out that eating the whole bag (as I will surely do) will give me 39.6% of my daily calorific intake and 52.8% of my daily allowance of fat. Wow. I should probably put these away. According to Mars' calculations, it should take me a week to finish the bag.

In conclusion: it's a fool's errand to demand food producers to reduce portion size, without defining what a portion is. Whether you cut a cake into four, six, or eight pieces makes no difference if the consumer eats the whole thing. And it's we consumers who are deluding ourselves into thinking that two chocolate bars are better than one. Instead of asking the Food and Drink Federation to do something about how fat we are, the Health Minister should be lecturing us to exercise more and quit stuffing out faces with chocolate - no matter how many pieces it comes in.

sciencepunk Sun, 03/01/2009 - 10:00

Tags

This is why America is fat

I read this while eating a Cadbury milk chocolate bar. And I refuse to check the nutrition facts! :)

cracking post - the numerology employed to produce the sleight of hand necessary to keep us chomping is baffling! unless you're a mental arithmetic wizard it's usually very difficult to acutally work out how many calories you've just eaten, despite supposedly informative labels that 'bare all.'

great stuff!

Considering how cereal boxes have been shrinking I expect they'll have to follow this trend next.

Anyone care for a corn flake or a Cheerio for breakfast?

I love Bounty Bars, although they are very hard to find in the U.S. I can only find them at my local hardware store. At this very moment, a half-eaten Bounty is on my desk at home, so maybe two-piece candy bars work. Years ago, I had a craving for those super-sweet after-dinner mints -- the ones that look like little pastel-colored pillows. I noticed that the serving size listed on the box was 38 pieces! Even I wouldn't eat that many at a time.

I hesitate to ask, but what on earth are Maynard's Wine Gums?

Bounty bars are nice battered with a sweet batter and deep fried. Include a little pinapple juice in the batter for extra indulgence.

What gets me is those traffic lights style food ratings. The colour is entirely based on unrealistic portion sizes sometimes, which, bear with me, is a stroke of genius. Take a pizza - the portion size is often half a pizza. Who the swear word eats half a frozen pizza?

Now lets say that some of the ratings on the box may be green for salt or yellow for fat... looks okay, but that's only half the pizza. How do you multiply a colour??? Brilliant! Who ever came up with that scam must have got a big fat bonus.

Mrs. Grackle (love the name):

To try to put this into American candy terms, Wine Gums are a sort of super-gelled candy; not as hard as Jolly Ranchers, but not exactly squishy, either. I have known three people in the last decade who lost fillings or crowns trying to chew these things, as they are stickier than salt-water taffy once you get your teeth into one. The descriptions of the flavours on the Wikipedia page is fairly accurate.

Sunday Night Movie: Chocolate Moose

awild — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:16:31 +0000

Sunday Night Movie: Chocolate Moose

awild Sun, 02/15/2009 - 13:16

Tags

I would like to try that Moose.

Muppets rule!

Chocolate-Covered Ants

awild — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:06:48 +0000

Chocolate-Covered Ants

In the comments, blogger Huckleberry Days asks:

Speaking of tasty, what about chocolate covered ants: which ants are used?

Having never made chocolate-covered ants, I am not the best person to be opining about formicine confections. Â I do, however, have many years' worth of mostly accidental ant ingestion experience, enough to offer the following advice for choosing a species to coat in chocolate.Â Here's what to look for:

Medium-large species at least 6-10 mm in length. Smaller ants won't give your candy any noticeable crunch.
Species with a strongly acidic chemistry will yield an appealing sweet-and-sour taste.Â Ants in the subfamily formicinae should be ideal.
Species without noxious or odd flavors.Â Very important!Â Make sure to squish and smell any candidate species before adding it to the recipe.Â Many dolichoderines may impart an odd cheesy flavor, for example, and some Pheidole and nearly all army ants have a fecal odor that smells like, well, feces.
Species that are locally abundant.Â Since your chocolate-covered ants will soon be the talk of the neighborhood you'll need a steady supply.

For many of us in the northern hemisphere, the above criteria make Formica or Camponotus an obvious choice.Â Common, big, and acidic.

Different parts of the world host different types of ants, though, so the best species to use will depend on where you live.Â As far as I know, there aren't any that are unsafe to eat.Â Apparently, some of the Pogonomyrmex are hallucinogenic if taken in doses of several hundred, but that takes an extreme level of dedication.

Tropical ant aficionados should have good pickings.Â Some South American leafcutter species have a lemony flavor, as do the Australian Oecophylla. Indeed, at least one of the commercially available ant candies uses Atta queens.

Finally, if any of my readers have real chocolate ant experience- and I'm sure some of you do- please share your stories and recipes in the comments.

awild Sun, 02/08/2009 - 05:06

Tags

ants

chocolate

entomophagy

well you could take a ball of small ants (argentines) and dip that in chocolate make a rice-crisp-like treat!

The various Eciton species smell a lot like meat in various states of preparation/decay. Eciton hamatum smells a lot like beef and potato stew, but I'm not sure that goes well with chocolate!? Perhaps they are better as a sandwich filling.

Thank you Alex. That was informative, as are the above comments. A new recipe book in the making.

I ate such stuff once, quite tasty. They advertised it as made with leaf-cutters, but in fact the ants were some Polyrhachis...

Hmmmmm ... what would you think about some of those Lasius (Acanthomyops) that smell like citronella? Would they impart a pleasantly herbal flavor to the chocolate, or would they be utterly noxious?

I'm curious about the taste of those dolichoderines that smell like bleu cheese and coconut. Maybe not good with chocolate, but I've long been tempted to sprinkle bleu cheese and coconut on a salad to see if I could duplicate the sensation. (Yum -- Tapinoma gorgonzolae!)

What's next? Chocolate covered frogs?

Yeah, I wondered about Acanthomyops. They might even be *too* strong. Maybe we'd stick just one for flavor into a nugget with a couple of Formica.