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I first noticed it when Ana was little and her well-meaning kindergarten teacher didn't let her have Teddy Grahams because Ana was not having dairy and the Teddy Grahams had added calcium. The teacher was surprised to find out that calcium exists in other places than milk.
And, of course, we've all encountered people who profess not to know how vegetarians survive - those people believe protein only exists in meat and perhaps eggs.
Recently, I've spoken to three different people who stated definitively that oranges are the best source of vitamin C. One of them went so far as to claim that prior to globalization, everybody in Europe must have been suffering from a mild case of scurvy at all times! Point of fact, black currants are a much better source of vitamin C per ounce. Actually, the whole reason we evolved not to produce our own vitamin C is because vitamin C is everywhere in the foods our ancestors ate, and a great many foods are superior sources than citrus. So long as you occasionally eat something other than hardtack and gruel, your gums probably won't start to bleed.
I'm not sure how to formulate this fallacy, exactly, but I think the thought process behind it runs something like "There is one, and only one, optimal source for each nutrient, and if you don't eat that you'll get a deficiency disease and die".
And, of course, we've all encountered people who profess not to know how vegetarians survive - those people believe protein only exists in meat and perhaps eggs.
Recently, I've spoken to three different people who stated definitively that oranges are the best source of vitamin C. One of them went so far as to claim that prior to globalization, everybody in Europe must have been suffering from a mild case of scurvy at all times! Point of fact, black currants are a much better source of vitamin C per ounce. Actually, the whole reason we evolved not to produce our own vitamin C is because vitamin C is everywhere in the foods our ancestors ate, and a great many foods are superior sources than citrus. So long as you occasionally eat something other than hardtack and gruel, your gums probably won't start to bleed.
I'm not sure how to formulate this fallacy, exactly, but I think the thought process behind it runs something like "There is one, and only one, optimal source for each nutrient, and if you don't eat that you'll get a deficiency disease and die".
