I would say that nutrition falls somewhere between religion - where the facts are all made up - and, say, math or physics where we're pretty damn sure the scien

I would say that nutrition falls somewhere between religion - where the facts are all made up - and, say, math or physics where we're pretty damn sure the scientists aren't making all the facts up. But it definitely leans towards the scientific side where real facts can be known and people who devoted decades of their life to it have a tangible advantage over the layman when evaluating claims about it. I respect a theological scholar or priest's mastery of their religion in the same was as I would respect an ardent nerd's mastery of Tolkein's universe, which is to say it is real respect for studying at length a somewhat internally consistent system of mythology. But no matter how much more that nerd knows about mythology I wouldn't trust his word about how Middle Earth actually existed at some point in the earth's history. As for politics...well that's a huge can of worms isn't it? I would mention that it's not a politician's job to know about politics, but it's their job to get elected and accrue power. A better analogy for you to make might have been political scientist, in which case I would indeed trust their judgement over my own gut feel when it comes to questions about politics like why so-and-so won the election.