The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study

[alex3619]

Correlation may not even imply an causation in the factors under study. Some other factor could be causing the factors being measured.

 

[MeSci]

Correlation may not even imply an causation in the factors under study. Some other factor could be causing the factors being measured.

That's right. The three main possibilities for a link are (simplistically put, and assuming that the association is not pure coincidence):

• A causes B
• B causes A
• C (possibly unknown factor) causes both A and B

 

[alex3619]

That's right. The three main possibilities for a link are (simplistically put, and assuming that the association is not pure coincidence):

• A causes B
• B causes A
• C (possibly unknown factor) causes both A and B

What about A causes B, B causes C, and C causes A? Complex dynamic systems violate simple causation, and biology is full of them. Simplistic association is the mainstay of psychogenic medicine. They also typically avoid using any methodology that would prove them wrong.

 

[Little Bluestem]

There is also the issue that the favourite type of beef, for example, is grain and antibiotic fed.

I wonder if people really favor it. It may be that it is what is easy and cheap to get.

 

[alex3619]

I wonder if people really favor it. It may be that it is what is easy and cheap to get.

This kind of beef is very tender ... full of fat. That is why its favoured. I think grass fed is better, but at up to ten times the cost I can't afford it.

 

[peggy-sue]

I'm obviously very lucky.
The beef I get from my local butcher is all grass-fed, it comes from male cattle under 18 months of age. (All by "Royal Appointment Seal of Approval" farmers.)
He's cheaper than the supermarket's unethical, factory-raised grain-fed stuff.

He butchers your meat freshly for you, as you stand in the shop and have a chat - all the mince is minced from lean steak, he will even happily put it through the mincer twice if that's what you want.

What I don't understand is why folk pay more for the rubbish in supermarkets.

 

[Little Bluestem]

My local butcher does not do grass-fed beef. There is an out-of-town grocery store that sometimes has it, but it is quite expensive.

It is expensive to raise grass-fed beef here because the land is very expensive and it takes more land/animal to raise grass-fed. The large 'factory' slaughter houses also buy large lots of cattle at lower prices per head. Sometimes they contract the fattening of the cattle. Our local butcher buys one or a few animals at a time.

 

[peggy-sue]

I live in Tayside - the soft fruit area - (tayberries, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries etc.) just "next-door" is Angus, of Aberdeen fame. I live in top quality farming country. I did say I'm very lucky!

 

[MeSci]

I live in Tayside - the soft fruit area - (tayberries, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries etc.) just "next-door" is Angus, of Aberdeen fame. I live in top quality farming country. I did say I'm very lucky!

Where I live used to be a fruit-growing area, but I think that the orchards were all dug up and replaced with pasture. Now the pasture is being replaced by housing estates in places.

You can see remnants of the orchards in some places - single apple trees and a small group of them on a steep roadside bank. It's a great area for fruit, and I have found not only lots of blackberries but also wild raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries, from which I have taken cuttings and grow in my garden (or grew in the case of the raspberries as they became invasive!). Also sloes and elderberries aplenty.

Wild strawberries also pop up everywhere. Lots of delicious free food, not to mention my very generous apple tree.

 

[Little Bluestem]

If you think raspberries are invasive, don't put any blackberries in your garden.

 

[Valentijn]

If you think raspberries are invasive, don't put any blackberries in your garden.

There are some varieties which are very well-behaved. Just not the wild North American one that's trying to take over the world

 

[MeSci]

There are some varieties which are very well-behaved. Just not the wild North American one that's trying to take over the world

So is the wild UK one. I found one in my garden yesterday - they just invite themselves.

 

[peggy-sue]

I have just been "invaded" by some very well-controlled brambles (what we call blackberries in Scotland)

I had a visit from my wee brother, he brought me a pot of spiced brandy bramble jam and a pot of apple and bramble jam he's just made! yummy!