There seems to be some confusion about how to appropriately interpret ex vivo studies, which are studies that are not conducted in a living organism. Worse than that, there appears to be a common and rather dramatically misleading presentation of the data in Dr. Allesio Fasano’s excellent study linking gluten to zonulin production. But I’ll …
The Scientific Method
How a Study Can Show Something to Be True When It’s Completely False — Regression to the Mean
In a previous post, “The Great Unknown: Using the Statistics to Explore the Secret Depths of Unpublished Research,” I discussed one way a study can show something to be true when it’s false, or vice versa.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 …
Gluten Sensitivity — Promises And Problems
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 …
The Proper Use of the Term “Lipid Hypothesis”
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of the term “lipid hypothesis” in pop science books, blogs, and other places. Often times, the lipid hypothesis is confused with the diet-heart hypothesis. The two are very different. The lipid hypothesis concerns the role of lipids in the blood. The diet-heart hypothesis concerns …
Wheat: In Search of Scientific Objectivity and New Year’s Resolutions
Well it’s that time again, so Happy New Year! January is a great time for trying new things to improve our lives and make them a bit better than they were the year before. A number of people in the blogosphere have offered some great dietary ideas for January. Stephan Guyenet recently passed on Matt …
Can Christians Be Paleo? Christianity, Faith, Evidence, Dobzhansky, Evolution, and More
Jimmy Moore recently raised the question, “Can a Christian Follow A Paleo Low-Carb Diet?” He raised the question because he has received emails from people who find it difficult to answer why God created grains if they are bad for us, why God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden eating a vegetarian diet if we are not …
New Study Shows that Lying About Your Hamburger Intake Prevents Disease and Death When You Eat a Low-Carb Diet High in Carbohydrates
A few readers alerted me to a new study claiming that a plant-based, low-carb “Eco-Atkins” diet is associated with a lower risk of mortality and disease, while an animal-based low-carb diet is associated with an increased risk of mortality and disease, as well as an editorial by Dean Ornish in the Huffington Post lauding the …
Reductionism and Holism Go Hand in Hand
In a new blog over at WestonAPrice.Org, I argue that reductionism and holism are not at conflict with each other unless they are used improperly, and that for science and any other type of problem-solving we must use both of them together. I also provide a critical analysis of a recent study that used a …
More Attacks on Vitamin A
New post over at Mother Nature Obeyed: More Attacks on Vitamin A And an addendum: Further Questions on Vitamin A
The Importance of Humility in Science — A Philosophical Musing For the Weekend
Socrates once said, “All I know is that I know nothing.” Centuries later, St. Paul, the great expounder of Christian theology, ethics, and mysticism, said that “any man who says he knows something does not yet know as he ought.” A very wise faculty member and department head of a science program I once spoke …