A great piece in the Globe and Mail, brought to my attention by André Picard (@PicardonHealth), on vitamins, antioxidants, and other “scientifically-proven wundersupplements”. Are they worth the hype?

“As Mr. Archer writes in an opinion piece published in The Scientist, “there is a large body of evidence demonstrating that the systematic misreporting of energy and macronutrient intake renders the results and conclusions of the vast majority of federally funded nutrition studies invalid.” He blames a fatal combination of incompetence and self-interest. Nutrition “science,” he charges, is rife with bias. Its research techniques are deeply flawed and the researchers know it, but no one will rock the boat because everyone’s livelihood depends on their next government grant.”

Of course, the indefatigable John Ioannidis is quoted in the article. All of this reminded me of what Timothy Caulfield said at the Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium: ignore the hype and stick to the basic facts. A lot of fruits and vegetables, some whole-grain cereals, some dairy, and some meat or meat substitute. Beyond that, it’s poorly-charted territory. Stick to the coast line.

Go read the whole article here.