懂得科学，避免落入健康趋势和时尚饮食的圈套

你有没有尝试过每一种新的时尚饮食和快速修复的健康趋势? 你是否发现它们缺乏效果和长期效益? The latest fads can be enticing but often sound 太 good to be true — and usually they are. 带着一些坚固的工具, you can sort through the pseudoscience and fake health news to identify credible solutions for lasting healthy outcomes. 首先，让我们从Moe的故事开始.

Moe was trying to lose weight and was willing to try just about anything. He consulted his friends who told him about a new craze: the witch diet. 显然, 如果他加了点蝙蝠翅膀的酒, 蝾螈的眼睛和青蛙的腿，他的饮食计划, 他保证会减肥.

为什么我们会迷恋时尚?

The diet sounded ridiculous, but a few things got Moe’s attention:

简单性: 莫伊喜欢阻力最小的道路——我们都喜欢. This survival impulse still remains with us from long ago when every spare calorie mattered to stay alive. Because the witch diet sounded so easy and offered such big results, Moe just had to hear more.

新颖性: 莫伊厌倦了一成不变的饮食计划和日常锻炼. 他的大脑认为女巫饮食是一种新的东西, and it subconsciously compelled him to seek out the unknown rewards. 毕竟，不进行调查可能会导致错失良机.

恐惧: 对错过的恐惧(FOMO)根植于莫伊的心理. No one wants to be left out, especially when you can see what everyone else is up to online. 莫被迫加入他的朋友们，而不是成为一个孤立的人. 

Moe still wasn’t sure — something about the diet set off his spidey senses. 所以接下来，他“研究”了互联网上的说法. 他无法否认他在网上看到的所有照片:很吸引人, 精益, 肌肉发达的人手里拿着啤酒. 节食一定起作用了，对吧?

摇摇欲坠的科学陷阱

嗯，可能不会. It would have helped if Moe had known about a few things to consider when evaluating new information:

确认偏误

甚至当Moe遇到声称新饮食不起作用的时候, 他很快就越过了他们，跳到下一个哨所. 这并不令人意外. Research shows that our brains are biased toward evidence that supports what we want to believe. 例如, one study showed that when two different speeches on a topic were available, listeners overwhelmingly chose the one that supported the view they already held. Why challenge your beliefs when you could sit back and be validated?

真正大数定律

当然，也有成功的例子. Huge sample sizes almost guarantee that every possible outcome will happen. If Moe threw a million pennies into the air, some of them would almost certainly land on their edges. 然而，这并不意味着它们通常会这样着陆. Likewise, way more people will shout about their successes than admit to failure. His online feed was loaded with tales of dieting triumph even though, 统计, 还有更多没有人夸耀的失败.

安慰剂效应

The brew got all the weight loss credit, but the real star could have been the placebo effect. 这是指某人仅仅通过暗示就能体验到结果. 取, 例如, when a headache goes away after you take something (even if you grabbed a breath mint 而不是 of a pain reliever). 你期望头痛会消失，它确实消失了. 以女巫饮食为例, perhaps many people were less hungry and lost weight because they’d been told the brew was supposed to curb their appetites.

相关性与因果关系

Moe didn’t consider that while some people on the diet were losing weight, 不是因为魔药. 也许, 而不是, they’d been chasing down frogs and bats to mix their own brew and in the process were getting way more exercise. In other cases, the brew might have been part of a larger diet and exercise lifestyle change. 真正起作用的并不是啤酒. 是其他所有的事情. So, 体重减轻和巫术酿造是相关的, 也就是说他们是亲戚, 但实际上并不是其中一个导致了另一个.

市场营销

最后, Moe didn’t know that French dining was on the decline and frog leg distributors were looking to unload their overstock. They’d concocted the witch diet and added outrageous claims to lure more people into the scheme. 随着销量的飙升，这种说法变得更加离谱. 营销通常在新趋势的宣传中起着巨大的作用. But all those advertising dollars don’t necessarily translate to the promised results.

In the end, Moe spent good money on worthless supplements for a diet that didn’t work.

那么，我们能从莫伊的经历中学到什么呢? For starters, stay clear of anecdotal evidence and marketing hype. 下一个, look for articles based on current research from trusted sources to report research findings fairly and accurately. 和, 最后, search for cited studies that meet scientifically rigorous criteria, 包括可靠的科学. 

健全科学的特点

大样本量

如果四分之二的人通过某种饮食减肥, 并不是说500除以1,000年, 太. 研究中的小样本量根本不能解决问题. Big numbers are needed to support 统计 significant claims.

控制

Studies should be designed with both control groups and experimental groups. 在这些类型的研究中, subjects are randomly assigned to avoid any selection bias by researchers, 安慰剂效应和其他异常现象.

可重复性

一项研究的结果可能是侥幸. But if results are replicated and repeated a few times, the study is more likely to be trustworthy. Meta-analyses are studies that review and analyze many similar studies. 但如果你感兴趣的话题没有可用的, at least make sure that conclusions haven’t been drawn in a vacuum.

可靠的来源

来源也很重要. A study posted on “Frog-Legs-R-Us” might be suspect if it is expounding on the merits of reptilian drumsticks. 确保消息来源没有(营销)偏见.

The next time a claim sounds 太 good to be true, don’t repeat Moe’s mistakes. Make sure it’s not appealing to you for the wrong reasons, and that the so-called evidence is legit. Find research from a trusted, science-based source to get the real story. 避免成为时尚的牺牲品，这样你才能永远健康!