soc.men.moderator wrote:
"Western" Diet Linked to Colon Cancer in Women

Mon Feb 24,10:17 PM ET

Women who follow a typical "Western" diet?characterized by higher
intakes of processed and red meats, refined grains, sweets, and
desserts?may be more likely to develop colon cancer, according to new
research.

Teresa Fung, ScD, and colleagues from Harvard University reached this
conclusion after following more than 75,000 women for a period of 12
years. They published their results in the Archives of Internal
Medicine (news - web sites) (Vol. 163: 309-314).

Of All Cancers, Colorectal Most Affected By Diet

I have not done any kind of study but having listened to things related to diet
over decades I suspect there are fewer things which have not been related to
diet than which have been related to diet. Over 12 years national trends change
not to mention individuals.

Because it is impossible to control diet over any significant period of time
save in lab rats almost anything can be connected to anything in the diet of any
population. This is done by emphasizing one component of a diet and ignoring
everything else.

In this example, "characterized by higher intakes of processed [foods?] and red
meats, refined grains, sweets, and desserts" does not say much. Refined grains
is 90% applicable to bread and damned little of that is eaten by weight even in
a MickyD diet. Sweets and deserts means what other than white sugar and maybe
corn syrup? Not much to hang your hat on unless one is predisposed to dislike
red meat.

And what is red meat? Beef? Pork? Chicken? Anything but fish? If beef, rare,
medium or well done? About 15 years ago what had been medium rare became medium
in the Washington DC area. Rare became a crap shoot depending on the restaurant
unless you made a point of blood dripping.

Is it the fat? Fat as in beef, pork or finger lickin's good fried chicken? Or
the fat in Long John Silver's generic deep fried fish?

And then it leaves out herbs and spices. Other than the secret ones in chain
restaurant recipes there are fewer commonly used in the west and other than
Italian and Tex-Mex rarely used in serious quantities.

I can go on for many screens but the entire idea of it being possible to do a
legitimate study involving diet belongs in the theater of the absurd.

--
2003 March 03: Israel murders eight Palestinians.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 2528