Figuring out what nutrition information to pay attention to can be extremely confusing. One day, a study reveals that a low-fat diet is the best. The next day, a low-carb diet is better. Even as fitness professionals, figuring out what studies to pay mind to can be confusing. Imagine how your members feel.
In fact, it’s frightening to realize just how easy it can be to get junk science published, and have the media pay attention to it. Recently, journalist Johannes Bohannon wrote an article revealing how simple it was to get major news outlets to report on a study he and other researchers conducted on the slimming benefits of eating a chocolate bar every day.
Although the science conducted was extremely poor, the study still managed to pass the peer review process in some instances, and was picked up by Shape Magazine and many other news companies across the globe.
So, the next time you hear about a ground-breaking study in regards to diet or exercise, before you pass the information on to your members, are there ways to discover if it’s credible?
There are a few key things to pay attention to, outlined below:
- The size of the study. Did more than just a handful of people participate?
- Has the study been replicated? Meaning, has more than one research group seen the same results?
- Who is paying for the study? For example, if a study stating milk is the next big diet aid was paid for by the Dairy Association, you may want to be skeptical. (That doesn’t mean the results are de facto invalid, but you still need to pay attention to this).
- Are the results “statistically significant?” That is, those that are not likely to have occurred by chance?
In the case of “Slim by Chocolate,” there were a lot of red flags to pay attention to. For one, only 15 people participated in the study. In addition, Bohannon explained the study was purposely conducted to result in a great number of “false positives,” by including 18 different measurements.
What’s scary is that despite these red flags and others, the report was still given credence by the media.
So, the next time you hit the share button on the latest “scientific” diet claim, you may want to think twice. Your members are already struggling to figure out what diet or exercise plan works for them. It’s best not to muddy the waters further with junk scientific claims.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
