You Can’t Debunk Everything: How To Avoid Being Baffled By Baloney - GNOLLS.ORG
How To Avoid Being Baffled By Baloney
Caution: contains SCIENCE!
Anyone who makes a serious effort to understand the science behind nutrition will understand immediately that news items—most of which simply reprint the press release—are usually pure baloney. In order to learn anything interesting, we require access to the papers themselves.
Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the shenanigans. Abstracts and conclusions often misrepresent the data. Data is selectively reported to omit negatives (for example, statin trials trumpet a decrease in heart disease while intentionally failing to report all-cause mortality). And experiments are often designed in such a way as to guarantee the desired result.
Is there any way to deal rationally with the unending onslaught?
