Assignment
1st Listen to a 6 minute conversation by Dr. Liam A Dodd, Data Scientist and former Physicist. In this discussion from The Dream podcast, he offers some suggestions as to how pseudoscience and misinformation utilizes scientific language to mislead consumers.
2nd Review Figure C1 -1 in your text (1.8 Controversy 1: Sorting Imposters from Real Nutrition Experts). In this figure, review the following techniques that are Earmarks of Nutrition (and Health) Quackery
3rd Peruse online or social media to find a popular nutrition claim, food claim, supplement claim, or diet claim that you want to investigate. Some examples might include:
a) Taking supplement X prevents cancer.
b) Taking supplement X cures...
c) Following X diet cures....
d) Celery juice removes toxins from the body and cures asthma.
4th Once you have found the nutrition claim/food/supplement/diet that you want to investigate, you will conduct a long response answering all of the following questions:
A. Introduction. What is the claim that you are researching? Where did you find it or hear about it? Please provide the link to the website or video (within the text of the paper). If a link is not possible to include, a screen image is sufficient. Are there any of the above techniques of nutrition (and health) quackery used in the claim?
B. Who? Who is responsible for the information or website? Is it staffed by a qualified professional(s)? Look for the authors' name and credentials. Confirm what these credentials mean. If no credentials are listed, how does that affect the credibility of the information? Can the source be trusted?
C. When? When was this information last updated? Nutrition science is constantly changing, so the site or information should be updated often. Do you think this is current information?
D. Where? Where is the information or statement sourced from (i.e., what research paper does it come from?) and is the original research cited? If it is cited, please provide the citation and link. You can use PubMed Links to an external site.to search for any significant published paper.
E. Why? Why is this site or person giving you this information? Is the site providing a public service or selling a product? If they are trying sell something, do you think the information shared is trustworthy?
F. What? What is the message this person is trying to send and can you validate it using Credible Sources of Nutrition Information? What did you learn in this course that either confirms or contradicts the claim you are investigating? In addition to your textbook, you must find at least 1 credible source with information about the claim you chose. Does a credible site confirm or contradict the claim you chose?
G. Conclusion. Reflecting on what you heard in the podcast and what your own research has uncovered, why do you think there is so much misinformation spreading about nutrition and human health? What ideas do you have to curb the spread of misinformation?