Multiplicity

Recently, a randomized trial that investigated the impact of a low-carbohydrate diet on plasma low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in young and healthy adults was published. The study was done in Norway between 2011 and the end of 2012. A total of 30 participants completed the study, where they were either randomized to a low-carbohydrate group (<20 grams/d) or a control group. Basically, the investigators found a difference between the groups, Read More

Nutritional epidemiological findings are often the studies that generate the most buzz, but they’re also the ones that get harshly criticized. Some folks will even go out of their way to say that the entire field produces findings that are mostly useless. Here’s what one of the leading meta researchers has to say about nutritional epidemiology: “Nutritional Epidemiology is a scandal. It should just go to the waste bin. Read More

If you torture your data long enough, they will tell you whatever you want to hear - Mills (1993) False positives via statistical hypothesis testing are a severe problem in the scientific literature (Ioannidis, 2005). If a statistically significant finding looks real, but it’s not, and we make policy or clinical decisions based on this finding, it can have catastrophic consequences. Unfortunately, many researchers are still unaware exactly why false positives are so prevalent in the scientific literature, so, I’ve decided to explain some of the common reasons for the high prevalence. Read More