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The error with lead was the opposite one. It was a moral panic that's lead to the current health crisis, both mental and physical. People need heavy metals, the

The error with lead was the opposite one. It was a moral panic that's lead to the current health crisis, both mental and physical. People need heavy metals, they are essential.

amanaplanacanal 5y ago
I’m going to assume for the sake of discussion that you aren’t trolling. Do you have links to some papers explaining why you think this?
- Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
  The reason why I think so is that the versions of proteins with heavy metals seem to be superior to those with the supposedly "correct" metal, as well as the heavy metal being extremely strongly preferred by the metabolism. In the case of lead, it seems to be necessary for glucose transport, and seems to have effects similar to Rapamycin. It seems that Rapamycin basically only works by compensating for lead deficiency to some degree. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378427419300967 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03784...
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y ago
  They’ve been advocating heavy metals for a while. IT’s a really bizarre infatuation, but far enough from reality that it’s unlikely to make any difference and harm anyone. It’s interesting in that I can’t think of any political or cultural conflict it ties into? They just enjoy their daily cadmium, it appears.
  - Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
    It isn't motivated politically. It just seems to be true and declaring them toxic seems like an error. Anyway, give me a better explanation why people don't look like they did only a few decades ago.
    - amanaplanacanal 5y ago
      Are you talking about the obesity epidemic? There was a recent paper discussed on HN talking about how it was probably an environmental change, but I don’t think they mentioned heavy metals. I think they mentioned plastics and lithium as possibilities. Was lead widespread in the environment before the 20th century? I don’t remember pre-20th century photographs showing widespread obesity.
      - Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
        Yes, it was. That's one of the absurd parts - it does show everywhere no matter how old remnants you look at, but the argument was that all those got recently contaminated.

The error with lead was the opposite one. It was a moral panic that's lead to the current health crisis, both mental and physical. People need heavy metals, they are essential.

amanaplanacanal 5y ago

I’m going to assume for the sake of discussion that you aren’t trolling. Do you have links to some papers explaining why you think this?

Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
The reason why I think so is that the versions of proteins with heavy metals seem to be superior to those with the supposedly "correct" metal, as well as the heavy metal being extremely strongly preferred by the metabolism. In the case of lead, it seems to be necessary for glucose transport, and seems to have effects similar to Rapamycin. It seems that Rapamycin basically only works by compensating for lead deficiency to some degree. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378427419300967 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03784...
IfOnlyYouKnew 5y ago
They’ve been advocating heavy metals for a while. IT’s a really bizarre infatuation, but far enough from reality that it’s unlikely to make any difference and harm anyone. It’s interesting in that I can’t think of any political or cultural conflict it ties into? They just enjoy their daily cadmium, it appears.
- Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
  It isn't motivated politically. It just seems to be true and declaring them toxic seems like an error. Anyway, give me a better explanation why people don't look like they did only a few decades ago.
  - amanaplanacanal 5y ago
    Are you talking about the obesity epidemic? There was a recent paper discussed on HN talking about how it was probably an environmental change, but I don’t think they mentioned heavy metals. I think they mentioned plastics and lithium as possibilities. Was lead widespread in the environment before the 20th century? I don’t remember pre-20th century photographs showing widespread obesity.
    - Gauge_Irrahphe 5y ago
      Yes, it was. That's one of the absurd parts - it does show everywhere no matter how old remnants you look at, but the argument was that all those got recently contaminated.