I've been away from here for a bit, thanks to the holidays and other demands on my time in the past few months. Hopefully, I'm back now, and will be able to continue writing regularly! Among other topics, I was amused the other day by NPR's coverage of a recent study suggesting that low-fat diets don't lower the risk of heart disease and other health problems.
One commentator suggested that consumers (when did we become consumers?) may be confused by the results of this study, given how long the AMA and other medical organizations have been promoting low-fat, high fiber diets to prevent disease. If you actually read any of the many articles online the study, of course, it wasn't all that confusing in the least -- the researchers tracked a large group of women over a number of years, noting total fat intake but not distinguishing between different kinds of fat. Moreover, most of the participants on the "low-fat" diet didn't succeed in lowering their percentage of calories from fat to the target level, so their diets were only slightly lower in fat than the control group. Ultimately, the study concludes that lowering fat in general may not have much of an impact on longterm health, but had little to say on the advantages of a diet low in saturated fat and higher in vegetable oils.
Suffice to say, of course the public finds the study confusing -- reporters all over the country proclaimed "low fat diets have no impact on disease!" and then go on to explain how actually the study is more complicated than that. As far as I can tell, the researchers didn't find the results nearly as surprising as the news outlets, who are selling the story based on its supposed divergence from mainstream medical thought. It's the media creating the story -- and the confusion! So it seems a little ironic for anyone in the media to wonder why the public might be confused. Thanks, NPR!
What do you think?