Why are my favourite food bad for me?Why are my favourite things to eat and drink bad for my health? Just a week ago we were told that drinking any amount of alcohol increases your risk of cancer. Do you find that someone is always telling you about a new study that has found that people who eat(drink) XXX are at much higher risk of developing YYY? And of course these foods are not cabbage, brussels sprouts and liver, but your favourite sugary fatty treats - sinful foods. How do researchers reach these conclusions? 

Do they do experiments or observational studies? If experiments, how do they conduct them? 

Do they randomly select subjects and make them eat or not eat certain foods and then track their health for several years? If observational studies, how do they collect the data? How do you control for other variables? 

Are those who drink beer and those who do not the same in all other behaviours except beer?I don't mean to be dismissive of dietary research, if you think about it, dietary research is extremely difficult to do well. 

Can you describe some examples or issues where the observed correlation may not be what you think it is because of other variables you cannot control or because you can think of other causes?

 

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Dietary research is indeed complex and often relies on a combination of experimental and observational studies to draw conclusions about the relations... View the full answer