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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024

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There's an interesting Atlantic article here. I don't particularly believe or disbelieve its central thrust -- that ice cream has a variety of possible health benefits -- for reasons I'll get into later, but one particular quote is rather startling if considered in any serious depth:

Ever since I learned of that fact (and it seems likely to be true), I made it a point to ask the nurses to sneak ice cream to the palliative/cachexic cancer patients on the ward. A bit hard to get away with writing it on the diet chart, but it certainly beats the hospital yogurt, which is about the worst excuse for a dessert I have had the misfortune to consume. Far from being a probiotic, I can feel my intestinal flora die on contact.

As for my patients, they're almost certainly going to die anyway, and at that point their longterm cardiovascular risks are a bit moot, in the face of needing palatable calories in a manner more dignified than a NG/PEG tube.