Clearly a PhD would not be awarded on the basis of experiments performed on my own body! :-)

But it is worth trying to verify hypotheses postulated in the literature wherever one can get fresh data and understands and is honest about its limitations.

It is not unheard of that scientists sometimes conduct experiments on themselves as well as on other subjects. In food related experiments, a true case of putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.. ;-)

Some hypotheses can be tested on oneself, others cannot. Hopefully grounding in one’s field teaches one to distinguish between the two. The experiments were purely for my own interest and to see if some proposed outcomes held true and if not, why not. Which opened the door to many a wonderful conversations with other researchers.

Thanks.

The formalisation of a socially constructed and highly personal set of preferences in tastes and components, into dietary guidelines does no favours to anybody seeking to enjoy a healthy relationship with food.

I should know – I spent the last four years conducting every experiment on my own body with foods varying from Michelin starred fare to American ‘food court’ gunk in an attempt to verify some or more of the hypotheses abounding in food-and-health literature. All in an academic pursuit, of course, and the emerging things still manage to surprise me.

(Link not the same as the comment on your Music and Politics post; this is another blog I write where food features in a very clinical and academic, though not exclusive, setting).

Thanks.

I came across it via a post about the Black Swan. Art Vaney is 70 years old.

Very telling!

What would probably be worst is if you could see the percentage wasted