[extropy-chat] Failure of low-fat diet

[Robin Hanson]

At 05:47 AM 2/21/2006, BillK wrote:
>On 2/21/06, "Hal Finney" wrote:
> > We probably all saw the study that came out a couple of weeks ago
> > from the Woman's Health Initiative, which showed that a low-fat diet
> > failed to offer protection from cancer or heart disease.  This was
> > a major blow to the conventional wisdom on this issue and there have
> > been a number of excuses and explanations offered to try to explain the
> > results.  (At about the same time, a different study found that calcium
> > supplementation failed to prevent osteoporosis, further contradicting
> > what public health officials have been saying for years.)
>
>This article seems to be pop-sci journalism at work.
>Try:
><http://www.nelm.nhs.uk/Record%20Viewing/viewRecord.aspx?id=560359>
>and
><http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4690230.stm>
>
>Researchers running the Women's Health Initiative study of
>post-menopausal health asked more than 19,500 women aged 50 to 79 to
>reduce their total fat consumption and eat more fruit and vegetables.
>The women were then monitored over eight years during the 1990s, and
>compared with another group of 29,300 women whose diet was unchanged.
>---------------------------
>
>Ifs and buts.......
>
>Various study flaws have been highlighted, both by the investigators
>and by health professionals in the UK (See BBC news report), for
>example: ....

Every study has flaws one can point out.   The point is that people 
are quick to
use the flaws to dismiss studies whose conclusions they don't like, and they
hardly notice the flaws of the studies whole conclusions they do like.  That
habit allows one to pretty much ignore the evidence in favor of preconceived
expectations.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323