Posts Tagged ‘causal inference’

A new study in JAMA yesterday gave us a smug feeling about our coffee habit. Researchers found that drinking two to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily has an association with an 18% lower risk of dementia and a 15% lower risk of subjective cognitive. But decaffeinated coffee had no such association. This does not […]

Observational studies have suggested for some time that obesity might raise the risk of dementia for a person with obesity. But observational studies have limitations. They can suggest a hypothesis. Not prove causality. So the news of evidence from a Mendelian randomization study that obesity can cause vascular dementia is important. Methods and Findings This […]

“Supportive human relationships, particularly high-quality marital bonds, may regulate obesity risk through oxytocin-mediated alterations in brain and gut pathways.” This is the bottom line on a fascinating exploration of the biological relationship between emotionally supportive marriages and obesity published this week in Gut Microbes. This finding is not entirely a surprise. Nor is it the […]

Honestly, we share the underlying concern. Rising global temperature are a threat to our health and welfare. But twisting a scientific paper to make the point doesn’t help. It actually hurts the cause. New research in Nature Climate Change documents an association between added sugar consumption and rising temperatures. That’s a fair question to study. […]

It is eye-popping really. Novo Nordisk issued a press release from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress over the weekend, with extravagant claims for Wegovy versus tirzepatide. Specifically, the claim was that “Wegovy cuts risk of heart attack, stroke or death by 57% compared to tirzepatide.” This is quite an amazing claim to make. […]

Making America Healthy is an industry with very low barriers to entry. Lots of people have fun with it. They also make lots of noise. The trouble is that because of those low barriers to entry, most of them, including some academics, do very little to actually make Americans healthy. Instead, they generate headlines and […]

It is easy to find advice to cut red meat consumption for quite a variety of reasons – including to reduce a person’s risk for weight gain and obesity. AARP advises that “meat is particularly problematic for putting on pounds because it contains protein and saturated fat, both of which promote weight gain.” Obesity is […]

“This study confirms what I’ve been saying, which is that diet is the key culprit in our current epidemic,” says Barry Popkin. He’s talking about a new study in PNAS. With a giant leap of faith, one can use this study for a perfect expression of confirmation bias about the role of diet and exercise […]

To be sure, exercise has many benefits – including the widely accepted benefit of fitness and a longer life. But a new study of causal inference linking fitness to reduced mortality suggests those benefits have been exaggerated. The problem is an old one: Confounding. The senior author of the new study, Marcel Ballin, explains: “We […]

Coffee and chicken are fueling nutrition headlines this week. “Black coffee improves insulin sensitivity in women,” say headlines sparked by one study. “Eating chicken could shorten your lifespan, raise cancer risk,” according to headlines from another study. Coffee good, chicken bad. Got it. Eating Chicken Isn’t Killing You Please, don’t hit the panic button if […]