On Jun 5, 3:22*pm, Dogman wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/op...y-think-we-kno...

This is what happens when researchers use "biological plausibility"
rather than The Scientific Method.

--
Dogman

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty
about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything" - Richard Feynman


I think in certain instances Mr. Taubes might be just as guilty of
only looking at what he wants to look at and ignoring what
is right in front of him. Case in point:

"Instead, the organizations advocating salt restriction today — the
U.S.D.A., the Institute of Medicine, the C.D.C. and the N.I.H. — all
essentially rely on the results from a 30-day trial of salt, the 2001
DASH-Sodium study. It suggested that eating significantly less salt
would modestly lower blood pressure; it said nothing about whether
this would reduce hypertension, prevent heart disease or lengthen
life. "

From the DASH study:

"The DASH diet was associated with a significantly lower systolic
blood pressure at each sodium level; and the difference was greater
with high sodium levels than with low ones. As compared with the
control diet with a high sodium level, the DASH diet with a low sodium
level led to a mean systolic blood pressure that was 7.1 mm Hg lower
in participants without hypertension, and 11.5 mm Hg lower in
participants with hypertension."


Now it would seem to me that if the study shows that you can
lower blood pressure by 12 points in people with hypertension,
then you have in fact demonstrated that in can reduce
hypertension. Clearly it shows that the extent of hypertension
has been reduced in those patients as a group. And if you
have a person who is say 145 systolic and they drop just
6 points to 139, they are no longer hypertensive.

Not saying what all the evidence from all the studies really says.
Just that in this case Taubes appears to have adopted the
tactics of those he rails against. He's also wrong on the length
of the study. They were on the salt comparison diets for 8 weeks,
not 30 days.