Baughn comments on Open thread, Jan. 12 - Jan. 18, 2015 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Gondolinian 12 January 2015 12:39AM

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Comment author: sediment 12 January 2015 09:25:20AM *  6 points [-]

Reposting this because I posted it at the very end of the last open thread and hence, I think, missed the window for it to get much attention:

I'm vegetarian and currently ordering some dietary supplements to help, erm, supplement any possible deficits in my diet. For now, I'm getting B12, iron, and creatine. Two questions:

  • Are there any important ones that I've missed? (Other things I've heard mentioned but of whose importance and effectiveness I'm not sure: zinc, taurine, carnitine, carnosine. Convince me!)
  • Of the ones I've mentioned, how much should I be taking? In particular, all the information I could find on creatine was for bodybuilders trying to develop muscle mass. I did manage to find that the average daily turnover/usage of creatine for an adult male (which I happen to be) is ~2 grams/day - is this how much I should be taking?
Comment author: Baughn 12 January 2015 11:28:05AM 2 points [-]
  • You should ask a dietician, not us.
  • There are many other vegetarians; this seems like it should be a solved problem.
Comment author: sediment 13 January 2015 06:09:08PM 5 points [-]
  • You should ask a dietician, not us.

I know plenty of LW people are interested in nutrition; it's within the realms of possibility that one of them might know enough about what I'm asking to be able to give me a quick summary of what I'm after. As for asking a dietician, I've never met one and wouldn't know how to go about getting hold of one to ask. (I'm also not totally sure I'd trust J. Random Dietician to have a good understanding of things like what counts as good evidence for or against a proposition. Nutrition is a field in which it's notoriously difficult to prove anything.)

  • There are many other vegetarians; this seems like it should be a solved problem.

Well, erm, yes, that's why I'm asking about it. (I don't go around making posts asking for proofs that P=NP, for example.)

Comment author: EStokes 12 January 2015 05:17:44PM 2 points [-]

I disagree about asking a dietician and not LW.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 12 January 2015 08:29:07PM 2 points [-]

Can you expand on your reasoning?

Comment author: FrameBenignly 13 January 2015 10:37:06PM 2 points [-]

A dietician can get licensed with just a bachelor's degree in nutrition. A well-informed layman will often have more informed views on the issue. Also, communities like this will select against bad information. However, a fitness forum that also has a commitment to rejecting errors will have even better answers as they will specialize in this area.

Comment author: EStokes 16 January 2015 02:55:37PM 1 point [-]

FrameBenignly's comment reflects my opinion well

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