How The Manipulation Of Science Makes Us Feel Comfortable Giving Up
There are forces working to keep you unhealthy, stressed, frustrated, lethargic, and miserable. Many people and organizations want to keep you in these conditions because they either benefit from keeping you in these conditions or they benefit from offering ways to cure these conditions.
Many people and organizations don’t care about your welfare and just want to make money, so buyer beware! Dr. Greger addresses this buyer beware issue in his video, by dissecting some unscrupulous people’s and organization’s approaches to designing experiments to end up with the results they want.
They are able to end up with the results they want because they understand in depth the scientific method and how to design a study so the variables play out in their favor. The results of the study will end up being valid but not give a true picture of what is really happening.
Dr. Greger explains that there are hundreds of randomized clinical trials and controlled interventional experiments that have driven a scientific consensus to lower saturated fat consumption. These dietary change experiments are the appropriate experiments to use in determining saturated fat’s effect on cholesterol and heart disease, and has led to basically every major medical authority to recommended the reduction in saturated fat consumption.
Observational studies have been shown to be ineffective in determining saturated fat’s effect on health, which Dr. Greger explains in full detail in the video. Though observational studies are not effective in painting a true picture of saturated fat’s effect on health, these studies are the exact studies used by proponents of saturated fat consumption, like the milk industry, to help sell their products.
The doubt that their studies cause helps to “neutralize the negative impact of milkfat by regulators and medical professionals.” These types of ingenious manipulations cause many people to throw their hands up and give up. Many consumers don’t really want to hear about what they shouldn’t eat, and the confusion these types of studies cause in the scientific community makes it is easier for consumers to continue on with the status quo.
Industry knows that it doesn’t have to convince consumers about what they should eat, because confusion is a powerful tool that is used effectively to maintain the status quo.
“Confusion in the scientific literature on these issues may be easily misused by the food industry to promote their interests.”
