Double Arrow Metabolism

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Links for Tuesday, October 16, 2018: wine cheaters, tainted supplements, and stopping tractor rollovers

23 master sommeliers have been stripped of their title for allegedly cheating on the exam, and is there no one I can trust to tell me whether I’m drinking Mad Dog?

The candidates allegedly had insider info on the tasting portion of the exam, when they were expected to “clearly and accurately describe” six different wines, including grape varieties, origin, and vintage, in under 25 minutes.

I suspect (without any sommelier data to back it up) that this portion of the exam is poorly reproducible anyway. The American Board of Internal Medicine, but not other specialty boards, eliminated oral exams eons ago because of this.

If you’re taking an OTC supplement for sex, weight loss, or muscle mass, it’s astonishingly likely you’re getting a prescription drug mixed in with the sawdust

776 (!) tainted supplements were in the database from 2007 to 2016.

“Of the tainted products in the current study, 45.5 percent were marketed as aids for sexual enhancement, 40.9 percent for weight loss, and 11.9 percent for muscle building. They contained pharmaceuticals such as sildenafil, which is the active ingredient in Viagra; sibutramine, which is the active ingredient in Meridia, a weight loss drug removed from the market because of links to stroke and other cardiovascular events; and anabolic steroids or steroid-like substances.”

Original paywalled article here

Tractor rollovers are the #1 cause of death on American farms, but social marketing is a surprisingly cost-effective way to reduce death

Now if we could only use social media for good in other arenas…