February 29, 2024 — What could explain the observation that self-reports of exercise predict less of a benefit for men than women? In the Journal of the American College of Cardiology researchers nimbly leap to a conclusion that women get greater gains in mortality risk reduction from “equivalent doses” of physical activity. But would men exaggerate their self-reports? When […]
June 17, 2022 — Objectively, the healthfulness of our diets is poor. This is true for youth and older adults alike. But more people than ever – 52 percent of U.S. adults – say they are following a healthy diet or eating pattern. Yet, new research from the Nutrition 2022 conference tells us that they vastly overestimate the healthfulness […]
January 31, 2022 — Across four millenia, alchemists sought to purify common materials and transform them into gold. In a possibly similar quest, Zachary Ward and Steven Gortmaker wish to assure us they have a reliable method for correcting the errors in data on self-reported height and weight. In other words, it’s no big deal if we don’t have […]
August 12, 2020 — Remember when haircuts were routine? Today, it seems, they’re a bit more special. The close contact they require makes it so. But new research also tells us that hair clippings from these close encounters can be valuable for dietary research. A team of researchers gathered up hair from barbershops and salons in diverse U.S. locations […]
February 19, 2020 — A new study this week in Pediatrics for the first time shows that children with late bedtimes have a higher risk of obesity. That association is even stronger if a child has parents with obesity. It’s not totally clear what this tells us – if anything – about cause and effect. But it’s reasonably clear […]
June 9, 2015 — Today, as the 2015 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans is moving toward completion, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings has published a fundamental debate about adequate evidence for dietary guidelines and nutrition research. In a review of the data on American dietary behavior, Edward Archer, Gregory Pavela, and Carl J. Lavie conclude that it is “pseudoscientific and inadmissible in scientific […]
October 13, 2014 — “Food diaries are important for people trying to improve their dietary health, but the information in them is garbage.” — Professor John P. Foreyt With a new study of the healthfulness of American diets making headlines, it’s worth remembering that all of these studies are based on what people say they eat. A distinguished team […]
