I read a news report today about some research that was recently done investigating the connection between a high fat diet and symptoms of depression. The results indicated that a high fat diet is connected with increased levels of depression, such that those people with more depressive symptoms also tended to eat the highest proportions of fat. The news article suggested that, obviously, a diet high in fat causes depression.
No researcher with even a rudimentary knowledge of statistics would ever contend that the results of this study could even begin to suggest that a high fat diet causes depression (which may or may not be the case, but this research can't prove anything either way); however, the media likes to grab these stories for quick and easy headlines.
Here's a news headline for you: Pirates Cause Global Climate Change. As everyone knows, piracy has been on the rise. So has climate change. Therefore, pirates cause climate change. Right? Right??!!?? But wait, maybe there's a third variable. Maybe there's some other explanation. Maybe depressed people try to make themselves feel better by eating lots of Doritos. What about that? What about that!??
IF ANYONE OUT THERE IS LISTENING, A SIMPLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO VARIABLES DOES NOT MEAN ONE CAUSES THE OTHER.
4 comments:
Does that mean that Al Gore did NOT cause global warming???
Is it happenstance that I have been eating Doritoes lately? I think not. Therefore, I am the cause of global warming. And depression.
Mom
Oh, contrair, my friend I am good looking and eat a high fat diet, therefore good looking people eat high fat diets and are depressed that everybody is jealous of them (us). signed Mr. Variable
Wait a minute. I see a direct cause between "Taco Tuesdays" (six tacos for $2.81) and my happiness!
Jabron.
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