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Showing posts from April, 2019

23andMe: Conflict of Interest and Crappy Advice

23andMe, the genetic testing company, sent me a new report saying I have a 64% chance of developing diabetes based on my genetics. Having at least three diabetic grandparents and hypoglycemia from the time I was a kid, I already figured I was a case of diabetes waiting to happen if I didn't take precautions. If I followed 23andMe's crappy advice, I'd probably become one of those cases. GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the diabetes drug Avandia , owns a $300 million share of 23andMe . Some of 23andMe's advice for avoiding diabetes is good--avoid added sugars, refined flour and potatoes. Thanks to the work of journalists, bloggers, podcasters, and a few renegade doctors and researchers who attacked the low-fat orthodoxy, they have to throw that in now to avoid losing all credibility. But their advice on what to eat instead isn't very helpful for filling you up and keeping you from snacking on foods with flour and sugar: Fruit can be very high in sugar; beans are mo