This nutrition professor is a throwback to old-time science whereby the researcher used to be really involved in his work. This case study on himself raises some interesting questions that call for scientific studies to determine which variables might be causing his results. It also calls into question, appropriately I think, the value of so-called indicators of health.

My friend Dan sent me an email with this link. I don’t know how he discovered it, although I am grateful that he thought of me to send it to. Very interesting. It poses some great questions, not all of which are obvious in the article itself.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

By the way, this is the response that I sent back to Dan, just as a little window into my thinking on the subject of the nutrition professor’s Twinkie diet:

Hi, Dan:

This is very interesting, although not surprising. As a case study, it is not informative. As a scientific study, well it isn’t scientific. I’m tempted to give this diet a trial myself. I missed the chance at having deep fried Twinkies, though, which were available at the State Fair last month.

At least the professor is clear on the lack of meaning in his experiment, as a scientist should be. The most disturbing aspect of this article is this quote:

“His success is probably a result of caloric reduction, said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian based in Atlanta, Georgia.”

Suggesting cause and effect after the fact is retrodictive, whereas the scientific method is supposed to be predictive. In other words, Ms. Jackson proposed a hypothesis (i.e., a tentative explanation) after the fact. This is, unfortunately, an all too familiar practice by scientists and non-scientists alike. They seem to get their exercise by jumping to conclusions!

Now I’m thinking about Twinkies.

Cheers,
Dennis

Fun with Twinkies,

Dr. D

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