Tuesday Voice: A seventh red herring of the healthcare biz

A cartoon

By Jim Rix

After “Risk factors,” my previous red herring, was published, the editor suggested in retrospect that I might have used this cartoon, which he saw on his doctor’s bulletin board and thought sounded pretty healthy:

Tuesday Voice: A sixth red herring of the healthcare biz

Risk factors

By Jim Rix

The idiom “red herring” is used to mislead, to distract, to obscure the truth. And the truth, sad to say, is frequently not profitable for some businesses. And businesses that do not make a profit do not survive. The healthcare biz is no exception. Curing patients all too often is not profitable, while treating patients forever is. After all, it’s called “healthCARE” not “healthCURE.” As a result, many red herrings abound in the healthcare biz.

Tuesday Voice: A fifth red herring of the healthcare biz

Milk

By Jim Rix

The impetus for this red herring is the commercial I saw this morning on the Today Show. “Start your morning with the power of protein – MILK.” Really? Does protein provide the power/energy for the human body? I think we all know that the body gets its energy from carbohydrates and not proteins. After all, do marathon runners protein-load or carbo-load before a race? Protein builds our muscles but it’s carbohydrates that provide the energy that powers them. In fact, the human brain operates exclusively on carbohydrates. That’s why under periods of starvation the human body will convert its protein (muscles) into carbohydrates to keep the brain and hence the body alive. (This process is called gluconeogenesis.)

Tuesday Voice: A fourth red herring of the healthcare biz

Calcium

By Jim Rix

In the last episode, protein (specifically protein deficiency) was identified as a red herring, because any diet, whether animal-based or plant-based, contains sufficient protein for humans to thrive. Protein deficiency obscures the real problem, which is excess protein. For example, as the discussion of that article revealed, kidney failure is a consequence of excess protein. Are there others?

Tuesday Voice: A third red herring of the healthcare biz

Protein

By Jim Rix

Not infrequently when friends notice that my dinner plate is devoid of animal products and I tell them that I eat a plant-based diet, they ask “Where do you get your protein?” I look over at their plates, observe, say, a nice juicy piece of meat, and answer their question with this question: “Where did the cow that donated your steak get its protein?” Sometimes they figure it out but if they present a dumbfounded look, I reply, “That cow, as well as all large land mammals, like elephants and giraffes, is a vegetarian.” If they still don’t get it, I say “If there’s enough protein in plant foods to build these large animals, there must be enough to build a puny human being, don’t you think?”

Tuesday Voice: Another red herring of the healthcare biz

Sugar

By Jim Rix

The healthcare biz does little to correct the common misperception that “sugar makes you fat” and identify the real culprit because it’s not profitable to do so. While sugar is not a health food and should not be the bulk of caloric intake, a little bit of sugar on oatmeal to make it more enjoyable does little harm, while a Diet Coke with a greasy cheeseburger does little good.

Tuesday Voice: A red herring of the healthcare biz

Salt

By Jim Rix

It is obvious that for a business to stay in business for any length of time it must be profitable. This fact is true for the healthcare industry, which encompasses several entities: health insurance companies vying for your or your employer’s dollars; pharmaceutical companies anxious to push pills upon you; the meat and dairy industries promoting their unhealthy products; government agencies like the USDA setting health policies influenced by the above special interest groups; and last and least the medical doctor, also a puppet of all of the above, anxious to treat you ad infinitum to make a profit rather than to cure you with the truth. To obscure this truth, red herrings abound in the healthcare biz.