So Fat In Our Diet Is OK Now?
The news has been full of commentary on a clinical trial just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It's in the news because the results seemed surprising. Apparently, lowering dietary fat doesn't significantly lower the risk of breast cancer. The study was done on post-menopausal women, a lot of them. Check out the abstract: JAMA. This clinical trial is an excellent example of how medical research is conducted, published and reacted to.
The first thing to notice is that the title does not say anything about the result. "Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Invasive Breast Cancer" tells the reader what the study is about, not what the study shows. If this were a newspaper or magazine article, the title might be something like "Lowering Dietary Fat Does Not Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer." That may be more of a hook, but it's not the way scientific results are published.
Next, take a look at the number of authors - I lost count after 40! Authorship in science is different that in the news media. Everyone who contributes substantially to the research is generally eligible for authorship. Everyone, that is, except for the research participants themselves. In this case, though, there would be an additional 48,835 author...
Next time: how the study was designed.
-Joe
Technorati Tags: lowfatdiet, breastcancer, postmenopause
The first thing to notice is that the title does not say anything about the result. "Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Invasive Breast Cancer" tells the reader what the study is about, not what the study shows. If this were a newspaper or magazine article, the title might be something like "Lowering Dietary Fat Does Not Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer." That may be more of a hook, but it's not the way scientific results are published.
Next, take a look at the number of authors - I lost count after 40! Authorship in science is different that in the news media. Everyone who contributes substantially to the research is generally eligible for authorship. Everyone, that is, except for the research participants themselves. In this case, though, there would be an additional 48,835 author...
Next time: how the study was designed.
-Joe
Technorati Tags: lowfatdiet, breastcancer, postmenopause
3 Comments:
I feel that saturated fat and trans fat do not belong in our diet. And too much animal fat can risk us to diseases as well. But more important is that candies contain hidden fat that can cause health problems later in life. What is more important. Telling the truth about fat or having us investigate on our own whether consuming a little or a lot of fat is healthier as oppose to consuming no fat at all. I'd rather make my own brownies by scratch than bying one from Safeway, for example.
The human race evolved consuming saturated fat and fatty protein. I fail to see how any of these can be unhealthy.
I am not a nutritionist, but I believe that moderate amounts of any natural compound (such as fats) in a balanced diet do no harm to a healthy individual.
-Joe
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