Science

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Chrisull
Chrisull
22 Feb
11:57am, 22 Feb 2024
21,143 posts
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Chrisull
G - Sample size very small - "In total, 26 young healthy adults"

Separately Stuart Ritchie's and Tom Chivers' "The studies show" - a podcast available for free is great on pouring doubt on just about any set of studies that has been done.

But small sample sizes seems to be a recurring problematic issue. I had a look to see if there were any studies to support dietary changes that could be made to help with my arthritis. And the answer was 20 million different things had shown in small studies to have some effect, which meant sadly I had to conclude none of them had any solid evidence behind them.
HappyG(rrr)
HappyG(rrr)
22 Feb
12:00pm, 22 Feb 2024
49,470 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
And it was sponsored by the manufacturer.
George Smiley
George Smiley
22 Feb
12:39pm, 22 Feb 2024
630 posts
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George Smiley
It looks like a small trial that companies use to put "Clinically Proven" on the packet. Doesn't mean it doesn't work, I suspect they won't be keen to fund better powered trials to prove it though.
Chrisull
Chrisull
22 Feb
12:44pm, 22 Feb 2024
21,145 posts
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Chrisull
Yep that's the thing with arthritis trials too, they could all work. I don't know. You can say look at the meta analyses for these things too, but those can also be gamed (or also can reflect the truth).
jda
jda
22 Feb
1:38pm, 22 Feb 2024
16,547 posts
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jda
Frontiers is a junk publishing mill. Doesn't mean it's wrong, but it provides no significant evidence that it's right either.
jda
jda
22 Feb
1:38pm, 22 Feb 2024
16,548 posts
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jda
On which topic:

arstechnica.com
HappyG(rrr)
HappyG(rrr)
22 Feb
2:09pm, 22 Feb 2024
49,475 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Lol, that rat diagram example is egregious indeed! :-) G
Lesley C
Lesley C
22 Feb
3:02pm, 22 Feb 2024
3,676 posts
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Lesley C
I wouldn't trust studies that are sponsored by the product manufacturer or trials with only a small number of participants.

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About This Thread

Maintained by fetcheveryone
I thought it would be cool to have a science thread. The idea being to share cool science that you've found out about. Or maybe to ask science questions that you don't know the answer to. Or science answers that you don't know the question to. It doesn't have to be highly complex stuff, it can just be everyday stuff that you can explain with science e.g. why do we get condensation on the inside of windows? But it can also be complex stuff. Or Youtube videos you've found ...

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