The May issue of Prevention magazine published a brief under the bold headline, “FOODS THAT FIGHT FIBROIDS.” Excerpt: “Milk does a body good – especially the uterus, where it helps prevent benign tumors. Boston University researchers found that African American women who had four or more daily servings of dairy were 30% less likely to develop fibroids than those who had less than one a day.”
Sorry. You’ve gone too far. An observational study can’t prove that any food “fights” fibroids and can’t prove that any food “helps prevent benign tumors.”
Strong statistical association – OK.
Proof to warrant causal, action verbs like “fight” or “helps prevent” – NO.
The words matter. As is, this is not just a matter of semantics – it’s inaccurate.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
Comments (2)
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Robert Blade
May 17, 2010 at 5:49 pmOne other caveat to this: African Americans tend to be far more lactose intolerant than people of Northern European stock. It’s irresponsile to promote dairy (never mind its hormones and other harmful additives) to an at-risk group.
–Robert Blade, Jacksonville, Fl.
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