The nutrition/fitness industry doesn't help stop these problems. There's a new fad, 'scientific breakthrough', or some other bullshit every week and it completely over writes everything that came before it without deference to actual conflicting research. Hell, this very article that ooli posted today is a perfect example of how gullible people are, and how easy it is to push pseudo-science on those who are looking for an easy out.

The Times article repeats exactly, word for word exactly, the flaw that the chocolate study points out. They used a very, very small sample size (19 people) to see if they got any results. The author then couches this against a starvation study to make it seem like hunger at starvation levels is the same thing as a small caloric reduction. That's like saying being almost dead from dehydration is the same as being thirsty.

So let's the do the second test. Does this author make money form the ideas that I am being asked to believe in? Yep. He wrote two books on the topic yet cites none of his own work in the topic, only the NIH study which is unquestionably flawed. But from that he founded the Nutrition Science Initiative where he serves as Director. Funny thing about that is that even though they say they're a registered 501c3 non-profit, you can't find their filings with the IRS or a rating on Morningstar.