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
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Case counts still matter. “(There) are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalizations and deaths are emphasized.” @garyschwitzer interviewed by @dbauder of @AP. https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76
My friend Gary @garyschwitzer wrote to his city council representative in a Minnesota town about a Viva Las Vegas event scheduled for January.
The response he got seems to perfectly capture where we are now.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/12/2021-ends-with-covid-craziness-in-sports-and-politics/
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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