A new study performed by public health researchers at the University of South Carolina asserts that 40 years of government data on American eating habits is flawed.
A new study performed by public health researchers at the University of South Carolina asserts that 40 years of government data on American eating habits is flawed.
Upon reviewing the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reports, which are funded by the CDC, and methodologies used in assembling them, the team declared them to be inaccurate.
In fact, one of the researchers went so far as to say that they “are physiologically implausible , and therefore invalid.”
Among the larger issues is the way in which the data was collected.
Participants in the surveys were left on their own to fill in the reports on what they ate in a day.
In combing through the individual records, the research team found that based on height and weight many of the reported daily diets were impossible.
For example, they estimated that among obese people, women reported consuming 25 percent fewer calories than their weight would indicate.
Men shaved over 40 percent off of their totals.
The new study raises very serious issues as the numbers in the government reports are used to find correlations between nutrition and health and to establish public policies.
