Comments on: The fraud of intention-to-treat analysis

By: When is a high carbohydrate diet not a high carbohydrate diet? Ask a vegan? | En Guzel Populer

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:04:38 +0000

[...] analysis. To appreciate quite how difficult this makes any sort of deconstruction, you have to read Dr Eades on this subject. Much of the HbA1c data are presented as the value before any medication change [...]

By: When is a high carbohydrate diet not a high carbohydrate diet? Ask a vegan? | ONLINE NUTRITIONS

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:46:40 +0000

By: 2Health: How to take care of yourself. » Blog Archive » When is a high carbohydrate diet not a high carbohydrate diet? Ask a vegan?

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:32:22 +0000

By: Kitty

Kitty — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:14:05 +0000

I believe you’re wrong about welfare based on what my mom and my daughter told me. Mom used food stamps for a couple years while my dad was trying to get his degree, and my daughter used them while she was working on HER degree.

both told me that for a person who was well versed in cooking and serving whole homemade foods, food stamps provides so much that you could either buy steak for at least twice a week as well as other meats during the rest of the week (daughter) or (back when you had to pay a percentage of the food stamps to receive them {Mom}) only purchase them only once every two months and stretch them to last two months.
A thinking person who was educated in cooking and eating whole foods could eat low carb on welfare, they’d just have to plan it and work it.

By: Karen Vaughan

Karen Vaughan — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:31:11 +0000

When I went to the original study, it spent much more time looking at the model used for anticipating data than the actual (or actual plus manipulated) data itself. The model they used based on prior studies, I assume, understated the difference between the diets and understated the amount of weight lost especially at the earlier time points of the study (when the low carb group was actually on a weight loss diet.) Using the “minimum trajectory” of that model for the dropouts definitely understated the effect of the two diets.

And that is before considering that most of the low carb group which was instructed to add 5 carbs daily eachr week after week 12, were on maintenance or a weight-gaining diet for three quarters of the study.

I have an analysis of the study with a link to the actual study at http://www.acupuncturebrooklyn.com/alternative-health/two-year-low-callow-carb-diet-study-misleading

By: Bad Science

Bad Science — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:11:48 +0000

[...] Goldacre mentions it only in passing, Michael Eades, M.D., demolishes it in his article on “The fraud of intention-to-treat analysis.” Cherry-picking the data is even more statistical stupidity that Dr. Goldacre discusses. [...]

By: Billy Thompson

Billy Thompson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:32:49 +0000

First one must determine WHY the subjects withdrew from the study. Your assumption was that one diet was more difficult to follow than the other. This may be true, or maybe there was another reason. In clinical drug trials, side effects and tolerance are two factors which impact compliance greatly and as suggested earlier those factors should be assessed early on. Next, I’m not convinced that an ITT was appropriate for the diet study to begin with. Most ITT studies are clinical drug based studies where compliance is not necessarily based upon the subject/patients self motivation. Any study which includes ‘psycological’ factors is very limited in terms of ITT. ITT studies are quite suited for ‘objective’ treatments such as dose response studies but not so for more ‘subjective’ studies. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water but rather let’s use the tool in an appropriate manner. Rather than bashing let’s educate researchers on the appropriate way to use the tool.

I’m all for that. If it truly is a valuable tool. I’m just not yet convinced that it is.

By: Lyn P

Lyn P — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:31:22 +0000

Thanks for the ITT explanation! Like so many, I read medical abstracts (ahh, this strange hobby I've developed since my health starting going 'south') and often find the 'conclusions' at seeming odds with what little methodology is described -- now it will likely make sense...that is, if anyone can say that interpreting results a la ITT makes any sense at all *G*. Thanks for the heads up on this bizarre 'reasoning.' You should never take what the abstract of a medical paper says to be a summary of what the actual body of the paper shows. You might be interested in reading a post I wrote a few years ago called Baboon Business about the art if dissecting medical studies.

By: jonny bowden

jonny bowden — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:28:04 +0000

Mike

Even using the unusually high standards for quality we’ve come to expect from your blogs, this one is a standout.

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

Hey Jonny–

Thanks for the compliment. Realizing this goes on sure makes a difference when you’re trying to analyze medical papers.

Best–

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:40:33 +0000

Hey Doc,
Off subject but I know you are interested in the Laws of Thermodynamics. Here’s an article from Scientific American on it, not sure how accurate it may be but looked interesting. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-nature-breaks-the-second-law

I read it on the plane a few days ago. It was pretty interesting, but didn’t apply much to diet.