“We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine gun.”
From “The Road to Wigan Pier”, by George Orwell, 1937
In February 2019, Science Daily said “Junk food is linked to both moderate and severe psychological distress”.
The author of the study featured in the article is Jim E. Banta, PhD, MPH, who is an associate professor at Loma Linda University School of Public Health.
Jim said “the link found between poor diet and mental illness is not a causal relationship.”
The statement “is NOT” is firm, and unequivocal. Yet there’s nothing in the article, or the second article I reviewed containing the full study, that proves that the link is not causal.
It’s a hit-piece, pure and simple, and Jim’s the guy doing the hitting.
Did you notice how the headline walked “mental illness” back to the Mil-speak “psychological distress”?
(Jim E. Banta, PhD, MPH, associate professor at Loma Linda University School of Public Health)
Hey, Jim! Nice Satanic-purple shirt!
Smiling Face With Horns Emoji – Emojipedia - A face, usually purple, with devilhorns, a wide grin, and eyes and eyebrows scrunched downward in the same manner as Angry Face on most platforms.
Did you notice that the snake took care to say “poor diet”, so the phrase “junk food” would be less-searchable? He’s on staff at Loma Linda, in California. That’s the town next-door to San Bernadino, where both McDonald’s and the Hell’s Angels got their start.
“There appears to be what is called ‘generational satanists,’ and they bring up their children to participate in the way that they themselves have as children,” Farnell said. He alleged that the sisters were abused by their grandparents as well as by their father (now deceased), their mother and other adults in rituals that took place in caves, probably in the San Bernardino mountains.
“These are things that are admittedly quite bizarre, but these things do happen, they have happened and they can be documented by people other than these three victims,” Farnell said. “The people who perpetuate these kinds of offenses should realize that they are not safe from their victims’ remembering and coming after them.”
From “Forced to Kill Her Baby, Woman Says”, the Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1991
The study, published Feb. 16, 2019 in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, revealed that California adults who consumed more unhealthy food were also more likely to report symptoms of either moderate or severe psychological distress than their peers who consume a healthier diet. In their study, Banta and his team reviewed data from more than 240,000 telephone surveys conducted between 2005 and 2015 as part of the multi-year California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).
The study found that nearly 17 percent of California adults are likely to suffer from mental illness – 13.2 percent with moderate psychological distress and 3.7 percent with severe psychological distress.
The article goes on to say “The study revealed that California adults who consumed more unhealthy food were also more likely to report symptoms of either moderate or severe psychological distress than their peers who consume a healthier diet.
A study has found that poor mental health is linked with poor diet quality – regardless of personal characteristics such as gender age, education, age, marital status and income level.”
I had to research a separate article and view a table buried in the study to learn that people who consumed fast food had a 32% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and a 27% higher rate of severe psychological distress. These were the highest of all scores among all food studied, which included cake, ice cream, fruit drinks, french fries, soda, coffee, milk, water, fruit, and vegetables.
“Survey-adjusted regression adjusting for gender, age, race, education, poverty, marital status, BMI, geography and year found MPD and SPD associated with lower consumption of fruits (adjusted odds ratio 0.79 and 0.65, respectively), vegetables (AOR 0.81 and 0.68), and increased consumption of French fries (AOR 1.24, 1.30), fast food (AOR 1.32, 1.27), soda (AOR 1.23, 1.26) and variance-adjusted daily teaspoons of sugar (coefficients 3.05, 4.21), all p-values less than 0.001. In this large population-based sample, moderate and SPD were independently associated with unhealthy diet.”
Vegetables, fruits, water and milk were all negatively associate with moderate and severe psychological distress.
Consumption of vegetables led to 19% less moderate psychological distress and 32% less severe psychological distress.
Consumption of vegetables led to 21% less moderate psychological distress and 35% less severe psychological distress.
Water consumers had 33% less moderate psychological distress and 37% less severe psychological distress.
Coffee drinking was neutrally associated with moderate and severe psychological distress.
Soda drinkers had 23% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and 26% higher rate of severe psychological distress.
French fry eaters had 24% higher moderate psychological distress and 30% higher severe psychological distress.
Fast food consumers had the highest scores of all foods tested: a 32% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and a 27% higher rate of severe psychological distress.
Fruit drink consumers had a 26% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and a 20% higher rate of severe psychological distress.
Cake eaters had a 15% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and a 15% higher rate of severe psychological distress.
Ice cream eaters had a 7% higher rate of moderate psychological distress and a 15% higher rate of severe psychological distress.
The study says “variance-adjusted daily teaspoons of sugar (coefficients 3.05, 4.21)”…I’m not trained in statistics, but I believe this is showing hyper-exponential increase in moderate and severe psychological distress driven by sugar consumption.
Jeff Miller, Pittsburgh, PA, July 30, 2021
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