I’ve been receiving Dr. John McDougall’s newsletter on a regular basis for about a year or so now. Dr. McDougall advocates a low-fat plant-based diet. Because of this, he in in fact promoting a vegan-friendly diet. Based on all evidence at this point, this kind of diet an optimal diet choice for everyone who consumes cooked-foods. One of the nice features of the newsletter is a research highlights section where McDougall discusses his favorite research published in the recent medical literature. Recently he highlighted an article published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Osteoporosis International that concluded that veganism does not have an adverse effect on bone mineral density. However, recently a paper by the same authors made the worldwide mass media proclaim that vegetarian diets “weaken bones”. Dr. McDougall released a article on his site that highlights just some of the problems with this paper. There at least a couple interesting things about this paper hitting the headlines around the globe. The first, is that the authors weren’t able to make any significant conclusions. So the paper was not even news worthy given that there are plenty of other papers out there that do present significant conclusions. Second, this study was funded by a diary products producer and wholesaler, while the previous study which DID show significant results was not. Dr. McDougall is encouraging everyone to write the authors of the paper with their “questions about the two studies and why the one funded by a dairy industry showing no relevance to a person’s choice of a vegan diet and the risk of fracture received so much worldwide attention”. This is yet another example of why you should ignore most media medical headlines — all you’ll get is more confused. I encourage everyone to read Dr. McDougall’s partial critique of the paper.
Another Example of Why You Should Ignore Most Mass-Media Medical Headlines
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