Seems to be quite topical: why I completely disagree with NOVA and UPF

open.substack.com/pub/ggck2/p/...

Because industry followed public health advise and reformulated food. Obviously they wanted to make profit - someone has to pay for example for pensions.

But now: all food is bad (except apparently for Quorn, which he approves of).

The food industry reformulated foods - because public health experts wanted less fat and less sugars, but consumers wanted to eat something that did not resemble cardboard.

That's bad, says Professor van Tulleken:

Why can't UK newspapers call out the key problem with UPF?

It's ideology - not science.

nzz.ch/meinung/fris...

We have compared traditional analysis (based on randomisation) and biomarker based analysis (using actual adherence and background) - and the results are striking: the effect sizes are much larger.

But here comes the hitch: in drug trials, it's very unlikely that people take the drug before the begin of the study - but that's different in nutrition as we all eat.

That has a huge impact on the outcome, because the control group won't be a real control anymore.

We can use biomarkers: blood & urine don't lie. For flavanols, we have developed two validated biomarkers that help us estimate intake.

It is interesting to see that while most in the intervention group did take their flavanols - not all did! And we now know who they were.

A key challenge in all trials is adherence: how do we know whether participants take the intervention? We can ask people whether they followed the intervention - but some people might just forget about it.

Can we really trust results from clinical trials in nutrition?

RCTs are seen as the gold standard in research - but "not all that glitters is gold" ... And there are some unique aspects that we have explored in a brand-new paper. Read on🧵

Flavanols should be used for cardiovascular prevention - because they can reduce blood pressure and improve vascular function.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40126033/

Fascinating - these are exactly the tactics used by @stuartgillespie.bsky.social and Chris van Tulleken against me: vexatious FOI requests, ridiculing in social media and magazine articles.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Merry Christmas to all. Whether you have pigs in blankets or a home made nut roast, organic herbal tea or champagne - I hope you can all enjoy the season.

Tea, berries, pome fruits are sources of flavanols that can be easily incorporated in the diet - this handy table gives a nice summary.
theconversation.com/flavanols-ar...

Really interested in improving health? Ignore processing and simply eat more flavanols. In contrast to processing, there's overwhelming scientific consensus that they are beneficial - and even an RCT showing a reduction in disease risk (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35294962/).

And it's easy and cheap!