Oh, let me tell you about a month I spent as a vegan, at my girlfriend’s pestering. I lost all motivation in all things, except when I had manic episodes, which were more common. (I’m bipolar. And I really racked up the phone bill calling up my old high school friends and telling them how much I missed them. Wisely, I gave a friend my keys.) As a final test, and here’s the advantage of being a med student, I tested my blood glucose, blood lipids, and homocysteine. My total cholesterol dropped from 137 to 89, but–this is key–my HDL dropped from 61 to 10. VLDL and (as expected) homocysteine and glucose tolerance similarly went in the negative direction; mind, I wasn’t diabetic yet, but I was on the fast track to diabetes. With that, I understood: My steroids were completely out of whack. (One of HDL’s functions is to deliver cholesterol to the testes, ovaries, and adrenals.) I quickly went back to my normal diet before I had a heart attack.

The non-causal correlation thing in “meat and disease” particularly frightens me. It’s logically the same reason we (rightly) disagree with fringe psychologists who talk about race and IQ.

Right now people are just guessing. There is no proof that a vegan/vegetarian diet is immune to cancer. Vegans/vegetarians DO get cancer. The percentage is small because the population of vegans/vegetarians is small.

1. Epidemiology is usually just correlations. Those correlations may mean something more, or something less.
2. It is impossible for me to think of a mechanism by which meat could cause cancer. It’s easy to think of one for how something like carrots could prevent cancer.
3. I’m skeptical of most nutrition research these days. For instance, the “butter” on popcorn was labeled as butter by most dietitians for years. (It’s actually hydrogenated oil and diacetyl, which is grosser than learning that the romantic subplot of the last movie I actually ate popcorn at were brother and sister. I mean, imagine if they’d done it instead of just kissed. But I digress. But that gives you an idea how long it’s been since I ate theater popcorn, even if it was Special Edition.) Anyway, I want to know if it’s meat or fast food. Because if it’s fast food, portion sizes could explain everything. (No dietitian I’ve talked to even notices the 42-ounce infinite-refill sugar water with the burger. Or that most fast food is imitation.)
4. There is clearly a health risk with CAFOs. But here’s the key word: It’s CAFOs.

Key TJ, et al. Cancer incidence in vegetarians: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford). 2009;89(suppl):1S-7S

Compared to those eating meat, vegetarians and vegans turned out to have an increased risk of colorectal (cancer in the colon or rectum). Risk in these people was 39 per cent higher than in meat eaters. They also compared risk of colorectal cancer in individuals classed as vegetarian (vegetarian and vegans) with non-vegetarians (eaters of meat and/or fish). Here, vegetarians had a 49 per cent increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Now, is the study bogus? Does eating vegetarian cause cancer? Is there some confounding here?

Or are these studies mostly statistical static?

Can’t have it both ways.

Didn’t see this study plastered all over AP and the Today show did you? Now this is a ‘man bites dog’ story if there ever was one, but it got zero press coverage, well because everyone KNOWS eating vegetables makes you healthy. Except it gives you colon cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16epidemiology-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=magazine

1. Epidemiology. Statistical analysis of populations. Zero clinical investigation. No controls.

Based on self-reported food questionnaires, recalling diet over the PAST TWELVE MONTHS. Fraught with recall error, ‘pleasing’ the researchers, and bias in

2. Correlation is not causation.

3. Repeat, correlation is not causation.

4. Correlations less than 200% to 300% are impossible to interpret.

(Unless, of course it supports one’s preconceived notions.)

This is what passes for nutrional ‘science’.

Marion should know better.