Pitfalls of low quality weight loss studies and the media

[Trusylver]

I often find myself arguing with members about the latest and greatest diet they have "found" and when asked for some science to back up the claims, most have no science to back them at all, however a few will provide what they think are good studies to back their case, most of which are sponsored by the company producing the product they happen to be trying to sell, in most other cases the science is just bad or even fraudulent on purpose, especially some studies which make it big in the media, and of course so many people do so little fact checking themselves (including journalists) that completely fake science can suddenly become common knowledge that "must be true"

as an example

The Chocolate weight loss hoax

Also worth reading - When To Trust Research Findings

 

[overlandflyer]

it is even more sinister than that. for decades there has never been shown to be any consensus in studies that a diet high in fat and cholesterol will raise serum cholesterol levels and increase the chances of heart disease. it is still also the present view that a reduced calorie diet combined with increased exercise with no change in dietary eating habits will result in a long term weight loss. this has been proven time after time to be false with the result that when the diet fails, the victim (the weight loss candidate) is blamed for their failure.

without considering how the human body processes food and understanding how our own metabolisms work, any caloric restrictive diet is doomed to fail.

 

[Trusylver]

Often it is a case of fighting an uphill battle against mass media I am afraid, anything outside the accepted norms is seen as bad despite those accepted norms often being based on poor science.