Tuesday, February 28, 2006
My Kind of Study
It all started so well...
Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate.
[Yay, leaped my chocolate-lover heart with joy. Finally, we have a *scientific* study telling us what we would love to hear and not those stupid high-blood pressure, obesity pseudo-science nonsense.]
A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.
[" a reduced risk of death" is all I payed attention to the first time I read the news, I mean who cares about the rest?]
The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health.
[What? and there was doubt??]
The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier.
[Nawwww. You mean, for example, they were high fibre/low-fat dieters, 60 yr old athletes who can run twice as fast as yours truly?]
Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat _ a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure.
[And there is where reality came crashing in. Aw, and it started so well.]
But then I read the article a second time and what do I notice??? the study refers to:
"those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day"
Who in this entire world eats one-third of a chocolate bar every day?? Was the study based on those people who had stomach reduction surgery?
So I kid, but isn't junk science wonderful? A study that presents a conclusion based on unscientific experiment design (no control of multiple variables that affect the resulting conclusion) and consequently, absolute lack of logic, and they got money for it!!! And it gets published in the WashPo, that is, MSM gives big media space to it!! OK, so you might rightly think, and since when that means minimal journalistic standards?
But now to what really matters, I don't understand why Europeans think Belgian chocolate is the best. Total inept partisan overrating, in my grand chocolate connoisseur opinion. For those with lesser chocolate expertise, please be informed that there is not one nationality that rules in the kingdom of cholocate-making. Fortunately for us chocolate lovers, there are multiple wonderful options for great chocolate from different corners of the world, including within Europe.
Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate.
[Yay, leaped my chocolate-lover heart with joy. Finally, we have a *scientific* study telling us what we would love to hear and not those stupid high-blood pressure, obesity pseudo-science nonsense.]
A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.
[" a reduced risk of death" is all I payed attention to the first time I read the news, I mean who cares about the rest?]
The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health.
[What? and there was doubt??]
The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier.
[Nawwww. You mean, for example, they were high fibre/low-fat dieters, 60 yr old athletes who can run twice as fast as yours truly?]
Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat _ a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure.
[And there is where reality came crashing in. Aw, and it started so well.]
But then I read the article a second time and what do I notice??? the study refers to:
"those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day"
Who in this entire world eats one-third of a chocolate bar every day?? Was the study based on those people who had stomach reduction surgery?
So I kid, but isn't junk science wonderful? A study that presents a conclusion based on unscientific experiment design (no control of multiple variables that affect the resulting conclusion) and consequently, absolute lack of logic, and they got money for it!!! And it gets published in the WashPo, that is, MSM gives big media space to it!! OK, so you might rightly think, and since when that means minimal journalistic standards?
But now to what really matters, I don't understand why Europeans think Belgian chocolate is the best. Total inept partisan overrating, in my grand chocolate connoisseur opinion. For those with lesser chocolate expertise, please be informed that there is not one nationality that rules in the kingdom of cholocate-making. Fortunately for us chocolate lovers, there are multiple wonderful options for great chocolate from different corners of the world, including within Europe.
Comments:
Post a Comment
