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In this weeks Examiner, part 2 of our nutritional therapist Josh Chanins' article "The War on Fat...." Is it all in the science?

Posted by Eamonn Brady on

Where did it all go wrong?

The war on fat

Part 2

Science is science though?

So what? These ideas are all based on science. Well in science not all data is created equal. There is a huge flaw with “correlational data” such as the data used by Ancel Keys. A good example of why this type of data should rarely be used as a basis for guidelines is the positive correlation between reading ability and shoe size. Now the initial conclusion to draw is that people with bigger feet are better at reading than people with smaller feet. In reality, the participants with bigger feet are just adults who can read more proficiently than the participants with smaller feet who are in this case children. This example highlights the major limitation of drawing accurate conclusions from correlational data.

There is also another big issue with the data Ancel Keys used for his 7 countries study. He actually had access to 22 countries’ data and decided to omit this from his study. Dr. Keys has since been accused of cherry-picking data to support his hypothesis. When looking at the data from 22 countries there was no such correlation between diets higher in saturated fat and coronary heart disease.

The negative influence of Dr. Keys doesn't stop there. When this hypothesis became the basis for nutritional guidelines and was subsequently adopted by all of the Western countries, it meant for decades the majority of research lead with the Diet-Heart or a similar hypothesis. What a lot of people don't know about the scientific community is that if a study does not support the researcher’s hypothesis, i.e. a negative result, the study is not published. This meant any research that would have helped disprove the Diet-Heart hypothesis was never published for peer review.

The Diet-Heart hypothesis recommendations adopted by the US government in the 1960s were described as “The greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American public” by Dr. George Mann in 1977 who was a director of the nearly 60-year long Framingham Heart Study.

 

Nutripharm Nutrition Services at Whelehans Pharmacy

If you are interested in taking back control of your diet and having a healthy relationship with food again then I am available for a no obligation, free consultation at Whelehans Pharmacy on Pearse Street, Mullingar or contact me (Josh Chanin, Pharmacist and Nutritional Therapist) via email: nutripharm89@gmail.com & text: 0873801866. I offer an affordable nutrition advice and one to one consultation service.

 

To be continued: Next week

 

Disclaimer: This article has general information and is not meant as a substitute to medical assessment with your doctor or other health professional

 

This week’s article was written and researched by Josh Chanin Nutritional Therapist and Pharmacist at Whelehans Pharmacy, Pearse St, Mullingar

For comprehensive and free health advice and information call in to Whelehans, log on to www.whelehans.ie or dial 04493 34591 (Pearse St) or 04493 10266 (Clonmore).

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