IDOF - ch.9: bad science Flashcards
Describe some of the inherent problems with nutritional science. Provide some examples of these
problems.
scientific tools are ill suited to understand complex food diets
thinking food as a sum of it’s nutrients instead of a system because of our idealogical environment
the problem starts at the nutrient: by taking one nutrient at a time, it takes it out of the context of food, diet and lifestyle
scientists need to isolate a variable to see if the absense or presence is meaningful
Describe what the terms ‘reductionist science’ means
breaking food down into its component parts and studying those one by one, even if that means ignoring subtle interactions and contexts and the fact that the whole may well be more than, or maybe just different from, the sum of its parts
pg62
Describe the basic logic used in studying food nutrients and provide an example of how that can
backfire
by the sounds of it, everything is interconnected. by removing a nutrient, or adding too much of it, can mess with how your body metabolises food properly
How many antioxidants have been identified in a leaf of thyme (circle one):
<5 5-10 20-40 40-60 100+
20-40
Explain “parking-lot science”.
we have a tendency to assume that what we can see is the important thing to look at
the vast attnetion paid to cholesterol since the 1950s is largely the result of the fact that for a long time cholestrol was the only factor linked to heart disease that we had the tools to measure
pg66
What are some of the confounding variables that are probably responsible for increased health of
people who consume supplements?
their health has little to do with the supplements they take
supplement takers are better educated, more affluent people that take a greater interest in personal health
Describe the flaws in each of the main research approaches to nutrition research: case-control, cohort,
and intervention trials.
case control: diet of someone with chronic disease. one problem is that when ppl get sick they may change what they eat, so the diet they report may not be the diet responsible for their illness. ppl blame our health probs on lifestyle choices
cohort study: studies are prospective rather than retrospective: they begin by tracking subjects before they become ill. they have data on one hundred thousand women over several decades $100,000,00 work of study. considered the best study BUT flawed becuse of type of people in the study, mainly using a western diet. every cohort is consuming a high risk diet
intervention trial: womens health initiative. divided ppl into 2 groups. one group changes diet, one does not. they observe for several years. $415,000,00. 49,000 women.they were studying women 50-79yrs and risk of breast and colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease.
