In a previous post, “The Great Unknown: Using the Statistics to Explore the Secret Depths of Unpublished Research,” I discussed one way a study can show something to be true when it’s false, or vice versa. If some nutrient or drug has a “true” biological effect, and we repeat many studies of the phenomenon, we …
Chris Kresser and Paul Jaminet recently posted some sleeping tips. A lot of other great bloggers write about sleep too, like Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, and Stephan Guyenet. I think sleep is really important, and I’ve had a lot of sleeping problems in the past, some of which I still occasionally struggle with, so I’m going to …
by Chris Masterjohn This year has been a great year so far for research into the possibility of non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Most exciting, Stephan Guyenet is now reporting the survey results of participants in Matt Lentzner’s Gluten-Free January (see part I and part II). I’m especially glad that of all people this survey fell into …
Matt Stone is doing an interesting series on the damage to the thyroid caused by eating too much muscle meat instead of the gelatinous materials found in the other half of the animal. Muscle meats and eggs are very rich in methionine, which increases our need for homocysteine-neutralizing nutrients (vitamins B6, B12, folate, betaine, and …
Are high concentrations of LDL-cholesterol a major cause of heart disease? If we are a proponent of the “lipid hypothesis,” we say yes. If we are a “cholesterol skeptic,” we say no — total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, LDL particles, triglycerides, and other blood lipids have little or nothing to do with heart disease. I believe both of these positions …
by Chris Masterjohn Not much, simply because the data are so poor. However, let’s take a look at some data for the very weakly supported hypothesis that people in the 19th century with familial hypercholesterolemia lived longer than other people and perform a little “thought experiment” to see what it could teach us about genetics if …