Mangos Still Don't Have Lactase, part 2

Examiner.com has become the bane of my life. The site allows apparently any, um, wannabe who can work a keyboard to sign up and become specialist bloggers on any subject they please. The site sorts bloggers by city so you can find many people in different locations blogging on the same topic. They make money by revenue generated by the Google ads that appear next to their columns so they have incentive to write as many columns as possible. Some have been known to generate 100 columns per month. They're lucky if they see a dollar a column for all this work, but they have dreams that they will hit the viral jackpot and see their name and work reverberate through the blogosphere. One or two always do, but the rest give up after a time. No matter. There is no shortage of willing suckers to follow them along.

Obviously, a few people who are expert or at least sufficiently knowledgeable to post on a subject do blog there. The ratio of the expert to the people who think they know something but don't is low, as low as you would expect to find on an unfiltered, unedited medium. Examiner.com is living proof of the worth of the current mainstream publishing world. Crap does get through the filter imposed by a worthy editor, but it's a much lower percentage than on any unfiltered site.

Why is this my concern? Because Examiner.com now seems to generate at least half of the hits I get when I search for lactose or lactase in the news. How am I supposed to filter out the good from the bad?

Sometimes I get lucky and it's obvious. Those are the bloggers who don't know a subject and just do a search and cut and paste any nonsense that they find online.

Example? I knew you'd ask. How to get a gluten-free dessert in almost any restaurant, Part two, by Lorinda Hill. Sounds like a useful and informative title. The text is not as inviting. Specifically:

Mango with sticky rice or Khao Nieow Ma-muang is a very popular favorite with the Thais. It is the mango that is the key ingredient. Mangos are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The magneferin, katechol oxidase, and lactase enzymes in the mango help purify the body.

Lactase in mangos? Why? Lactase is only found in the intestines of mammals, who need it to digest lactose, which is only found in milk. Why in the world would mangos have this property?

Hill is not the first to post this. People have been stealing and reposting it with variations for years. The original is a bit more graphic. Here it is reposted on Wellsphere last year:

The enzymes of the Mango, such as magneferin, katechol oxidase and lactase, clean the bowel of the "filth" within and are an ideal antidote for all toxic effects inside the body.

As soon as you see the word "toxic" or "toxins," run. There are no toxins in the bowel to cleanse. That's quackery of the first magnitude.

Why do I say this is the original? Because you can trace the quotes back in time. They seem to stop at an article by Dr. Martin Hirte, The Benefit of Mango for Human Health, which reads:

The enzymes of the Mango, such as magneferin, katechol oxidase and lactase, clean the bowel of the "filth" within and are an ideal antidote for all toxic effects inside the body.

Seems somewhat similar, see?

That version comes from 2002, although it may updated from an even earlier version.

That's the internet for you. No nonsense ever seems to get lost.

Shouldn't the corrections be equally visible? You'd think so. Until you realize that I already posted on this very quote, finding the same ur document back in 2007. Mangos and Lactose? Don't Think So.

That didn't seem to help. That quote has probably been reused a dozen times since 2007.

Doesn't matter. Don't believe it. Then, now, or in the future.

There's only thing left. Both mangos and mangoes are acceptable spelling for the plural of mango. I looked it up. Yes, on the internet. But that site I trust.