Wanted: Debatable Nutrition Topics

Food & Nutrition Library Sampler by Elle-Epp.Like last year, I’m teaching a fourth year Food, Nutrition & Health course in which the students engage in formal debates as a way of learning about food science and nutrition topics.  So, like last year, I’m putting this question out to the blogosphere:

I’m looking for topics in the area of nutrition that would make for good debates (specifically, topics that have good scientific evidence to support both sides of the argument).

The topics have to be structured in a “yes” or “no” format as formal debates require that one team agrees with the statement and the other team disagrees with it.

I don’t want to use any of the same topics as last year, as I think it will be too easy to get ahold of the info from the people in last year’s class, so the following topics, which I used last year, are off limits:

  • The Canadian grain supply should be fortified with vitamin B12.
  • Athletes require a higher protein intake than the current protein recommendations from the Dietary Reference Intakes committee to meet their needs.
  • Foods coming from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be labeled as such.
  • Moderate alcohol intake should be recommended for (non-pregnant) adults.
  • Unhealthy foods should be banned from elementary schools in British Columbia.
  • High protein diets are healthy and more effective for weight loss than a standard recommended diet.
  • Bill C-51 “An Act respecting foods, therapeutic products and cosmetics “ should be passed into legislation.

I’ve already put this question out via Twitter, but I’m looking for as many suggestions as I can get, so please add suggestions in the comments!

Image Credit: Posted by Elle-Epp on http://www.flickr.com/photos/92348589@N00/2292371816/.

Comments |6|

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  • Are all organic labeled foods better for you?

    Are organically grown foods really better for you?

    Can your blood type play a part in weight loss?

    Reply

  • Reply

  • In declining order of seriousness . . .

    Agricultural subsidies should do less to control grain prices and more to promote consumption of whole vegetables/fruits.

    Regulatory reforms should favor more labor-intensive and space-intensive approaches to raising livestock.

    School and work schedules should accommodate brief snacking at intervals no greater than two hours apart.

    All oceangoing vessels should carry emergency spinach rations.

    Soylent green should be reformulated with less filler and more of that rich human flavor the public has grown to love.

    Reply

  • The gross rate of succeeder of these weight loss broadcasts which are constantly vying with every other is more or less the identical. And the most amusing part is that these programs all fail at the comparable hurdle in cattiness of making really tall demands. This encounters because the torso gets used to the rigor through which it is position and adjusts itself to the new routine and the metabolic process slows down. You have to be cleaner than nature to be able to trick the body into losing weight. Without coming this measure then you will constantly curiosity why you cannot lose weightiness.

    Reply

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