this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (7 children)

I've once overheard a conversation in the train where someone said "but cholesterol is good, right? Or are those proteins?" completely unironically. It got a good chuckle from me and several other people in the train.

I eventually learned he was becoming a PE teacher who made diet plans for schools. That was less funny.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Perhaps surprisingly, dietary cholesterol has less an effect on blood cholesterol than a handful of other things. Saturated fat intake/balance in diet correlates more strongly, and vitamin D levels negatively correlates (vitamin D deficiency positively correlates).

Dietary cholesterol is used for a lot of key things such as hormone production, so some people might actually want to increase their cholesterol intake (super active lifestyle people like endurance athletes - can help combat RED-S aka Female Athlete Triad), but the elephant in the room for bad lipid profiles is saturated fats, refined sugars, and sedentary lifestyle

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Dietary cholesterol has little to no effect on blood cholesterol, so indeed cholesterol is good or at least not bad

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

afaik from youtube, HDL is good, LDL is bad.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Yes.

You also need cholesterol in cell membrane structures, hormone synthesis (steroids like testosterone & estradiol), vitamin D, bile acids for digesting fat, and insulating neuron sheaths.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Based on the other responses, better to be asking the question than assume he was stupid for asking it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

a PE teacher

The old gag:

Those who can, do
Those who can't, teach
Those who can't teach, teach Phys Ed

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Those who can't teach phys Ed, administrate.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

High cholesterol is "bad" with too much of other fats in your diet, but you need cholesterol to live so your body makes most of it.

E: Correcting the science there, whoops.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (9 children)

That's not a biochemist, memorizing the amino acids is literally biochem 1 on college. Most people with a biology undergrad take that.

Being a biochemist is more about understanding the whole system of how proteins interact, and not really about memorization of any specific protein.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I had to take a 300 level biochem class and 2 semesters of O Chem and we didn’t have to memorize the structures of all the amino acids. Like we had to know glycine and we had to know about the different amino acids like how proline has a rigid structure but we were never expected to be able to draw an amino acid from memory

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (3 children)

This may be a university to university and course to course difference too. My intro 3000 level biochem class didn't have us memorize structures but my 5000 structural biochem class did and certain nucleic acid structures and stuff. Can't remember shit now but I definitely had to memorize them at some point in undergrad.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Well, biochemists do know the structure of amino acids, so it's technically correct. The fact they know more makes this situation even more probable.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Sometimes followed by the most cursed unit....grams per pound....

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Is that actually a unit that I have just never heard of or am I being dumb and not getting sarcasm? I really hope thats a fake unit

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 days ago (3 children)

i could see it in a dosage situation. like grams of steroids per pound of user. sure, it's goofy to mix metric and imperial, but that's just what those two things are commonly measured with in America. time spent doing unit conversations is time spent not lifting.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah exactly it's often used as grams of protein per pound of bodyweight for recommending protein intake.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

Its a pretty common unit when it comes to discussing dietary protein around bodybuilding and fitness because 1g per lb is a super easy conversion for people to remember. Its kind of the golden number because even for people not getting the best sources of protein 1g per lb almost guarantees anyone other than edge cases and steroid users are getting more than enough to support optimum growth and recovery.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

My favorite stupid unit of measurement is "A gram of protein per cm of height" for protein intake for very overweight people who have no idea what their lean body mass is or should be.

It sounds ridiculous but for 90% of people it puts you within 10% of correct and usually errs on the high side.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 6 days ago

This pic reminds me of a ten-year-old post:

Used to take prework out as a teenager. About a year ago I'd be taking 2 scoops of the strongest shit I could get my hands on. I'd have to spend almost 10 minutes between sets sometimes to keep from puking. Then one day I just thought, what the fuck am I doing. I started lifting to get healthier. And here I am taking in God knows what from a container with a psycho clown that's chewed half his own face off. What the fuck happened. I started with a half a scoop of c4 and now here I am. Who the fuck is this for, am I supposed to be that methhead clown, is that supposed to be appealing? Since then completely gave up prework outs and never looked back

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

The best way to learn something new but maybe not useful or true is to say an obviously wrong fact on an internet forum with a total confidence.

People will step over themselves to explain it like it is a supermarket opening on a Black Friday morning

It’s a never patched CVE-1980-1 in an internet nerd mind that causes a dump of the victim’s volatile memory

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (9 children)

The most infuriating discussion I had online about proteins was with a vegan, their claim was "there is no such thing as essential amino acids". Couldn't get it into their head that a) there are essential amino acids but b) yes, unless you eat so horribly lopsided it's unknown of anywhere but in horribly deprived populations or among some indigenous folks (pretty much only eating manioc or such) there's nothing to worry about, you'll get your essentials. Kinda like Vitamin C deficiency being unheard of in the developed world because even the most gutter-rat of diets still contains enough as an antioxidant. Still not a bad idea to pair beans with rice and lentils with noodles or bread, though, IMNSHO they just taste better that way around.

Especially infuriating as it was a vegan. If you choose to have a diet that requires nutritional knowledge to get right then don't suck at it, and call your fellow travellers out when they're spewing BS. I really doubt vegans are keen on yet another "I stopped being vegan and it fixed my anaemia" story. Take an apple or two. Either eat them, there's your iron, or make a sauce that works with a sour/sweet accent (i.e. chunks of apple) and prepare it in an iron skillet, there, even more iron. It's not hard but you gotta stop pretending that vegans can get by without understanding nutrition.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I know the feeling. I've also been given the stern "don't say anything" look. But joke's on them, because I neither know enough to debunk the most random claims on the spot, nor know how to synthesize a semester worth of college in five sentences and be understood perfectly every time.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Gym bro is just trying to distract the giant standing off camera to the right

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Imma have to hit you with a UAA, UGA and a UAG just to make sure.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Back in my day, we had 20 amino acids and we were happy.

But seriously, what are the other 2, I am presuming we are counting seleno-cystine? and i checked for the other one I had completely forgotten - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrolysine

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

My health teacher wayyy back had an amino acid drink he’d bring in each day.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Haha, I take an amino acid to make me stop biting my nails. Works though, pretty wild.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Wait what? You take a pill, and it stops nail biting???

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (9 children)

https://www.today.com/health/how-stop-nail-biting-supplement-n-acetyl-cysteine-potential-treatment-t206238

It works for about half the people that try it from what I have read. I got lucky. I never had luck with anything else. Mine likely stems from mild hereditary ocd FWIW. It's one of those problems I never thought a pill would fix, let alone a supplement lol.

https://www.bfrb.org/post/n-acetylcysteine-for-hair-pulling-skin-picking-and-nail-biting

You'll want to look at the studies for dosages.

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