Controversy Over Red Meat, Diet Soda Highlights Just How Complicated Nutrition Science Can Be
Does it ever feel like you get whiplash from all the latest nutrition guidance coming out? That's because doing studies in this particular field is quite difficult when it comes to causation and correlation. “People like bumper sticker guidance,” said Dr. Walter Willett, a professor of nutrition at Harvard who has led studies tying meat to bad health. But nutrition doesn't work like that.
The Associated Press:
Who Says You Can't Eat Red Meat? Food Advice Questioned Anew
So is red meat good or bad for you? If the answer were only that simple. A team of international researchers recently rattled the nutrition world by saying there isn't enough evidence to tell people to cut back on red or processed meat, seemingly contradicting advice from prominent health experts and groups including the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. But the researchers didn't say people should eat more meat, or that it's healthy. (Choi, 10/13)
The New York Times:
Five Reasons The Diet Soda Myth Won’t Die
There’s a decent chance you’ll be reading about diet soda studies until the day you die. (The odds are exceedingly good it won’t be the soda that kills you.) The latest batch of news reports came last month, based on another study linking diet soda to an increased risk of death. As usual, the study (and some of the articles) lacked some important context and caused more worry than was warranted. There are specific reasons that this cycle is unlikely to end. (Carroll, 10/14)
