New Study: No Link Between Fat and Cancer, Heart Disease

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New Study: No Link Between Fat and Cancer, Heart Disease

Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 | Science |

A new study published in JAMA finds no reduction in heart disease and several kinds of cancer from a low-fat diet.

The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.

“These studies are revolutionary,” said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. “They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy.”

As I’ve said before we should be careful about using science to set public policy. Science takes time to reach definite conclusions, and public policy often has to be set before the science is well-established. That means that science will sometimes be wrong about the very things that we as a sociey are most intensely interested in. In the case of nutritional science and public policy, politicians should realize that nutritional science is some of the worst science we have.

2 Comments to New Study: No Link Between Fat and Cancer, Heart Disease

Chris Wage
February 8, 2006

In the case of nutritional science and public policy, politicians should realize that nutritional science is some of the worst science we have.

No kidding.. One of these days I am going to find someone with an actual degree in nutritional science and back them into a corner and make them explain to me why any fucktard (pardon my french) can present a bunch of unsubstantiated BS as theory and no one calls them on it. It’s like there’s no peer review, or no peer review anyone pays attention to. I’m sure the media has its fair share of blame to go around for presenting random schmoes as “nutritional experts” where the “expert” means “has something to sell”.

R. Neal
February 9, 2006

And just a day or so after this news, McDonalds announces that they were mistaken about how much fat is in their french fries and that there is actually a third more trans-fat than previously disclosed.

Coincidence?