smartpeoplepodcast
Ann Louise Gittleman – “The First Lady of Nutrition”
Consider your typical day. You cook in your microwave, you call people on your cell phone, you work all day on your laptop – wirelessly connected to the world of the interwebs, you read books on your kindle, you listen to the radio in the car, you relax in front of the TV…the list goes on and on. Electronics are an integral part of our lives, and we rely on them more and more every day. There’s no denying that these gadgets and gismos make life better; however, can all of this electronic pollution have a negative impact on our health? We here at SPP believe the jury is still out on this one, but it never hurts to get a little more information. Take a listen to this week’s episode and make the decision on your own.
This week we speak with author and nutritionist, Ann Louise Gittleman. Ann Louise received her Master’s degree In Nutrition Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned a Certified Nutrition Specialist credential from the American College of Nutrition, a non-profit nutritionist organization, in 1993. Ann Louise has appeared on: 20/20, Dr. Phil, The View, The Early Show, Good Morning America, Extra, Fox News, PBS, CNN, Good Day New York, 700 Club and more. Her most recent book is titled Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution.
Guys, this one was painful! Ms. Gittleman is a smart marketer of her not-so-smart “science.” I wish you had questioned her faulty reasoning and conclusions more. You were too nice in the wake of some conclusory, unsupported assertions. Ms. Gittleman often begged the question, prefacing her support of more research on electromagnetic pollution with, “As we all know, x causes y…” Really? She compared the electronics industry to Big Tobacco (industry bias or financial interest does not always translate to fraud or conspiracy, as is the case with tobacco). And correlation or coincidence (with what seems like every malady short of snakebite) is not evidence of causation. Her biological explanations had some nice $10 scientific phrases but were so logically incoherent it hurt. Maybe electronics exposure from electromagnetic sources has some untoward effects, but I’ll wait for this additional (hopefully double blind and methodically sound) research Ms. Gittleman is so excited about to yield meaningful results, whether positive, negative, or a mix. In the meantime, I’ll continue to sleep well with my iPhone/alarm clock and keep Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit (http://www.carlsagan.com/index_ideascontent.htm#baloney) handy.
Stay nice but above all stay smart! Wishing you the best!