Comments on: Dining-out Danger? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/ Serving up health and fitness insights (daily, of course) with a side of irreverence. Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:43:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mark’s Daily Apple » Blog Archive » It’s My Neighbors Fault I’m Fat http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-75110 Mark’s Daily Apple » Blog Archive » It’s My Neighbors Fault I’m Fat Fri, 16 May 2008 15:37:25 +0000 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-75110 [...] Dining Out Danger? [...] [...] Dining Out Danger? [...]

]]> By: primalman08 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22865 primalman08 Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:09:18 +0000 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22865 These kinds of headlines and studies drive me nuts. Most of the general public does not understand that correlation does not mean causation. Furthermore, the title of the article leads one to believe that they have found a causitive explanation, which of course they have not - not even close. The information borders on useless. Buy hey, if you use a term like "obesogenic environments" you must know what you are talking about. ;) These kinds of headlines and studies drive me nuts. Most of the general public does not understand that correlation does not mean causation. Furthermore, the title of the article leads one to believe that they have found a causitive explanation, which of course they have not - not even close. The information borders on useless.

Buy hey, if you use a term like “obesogenic environments” you must know what you are talking about. ;)

]]> By: hatcher http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22863 hatcher Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:04:06 +0000 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22863 Yeah you can't really say fast food restaraunts "contribute to obesegenic environments." Big selection bias problem here - if you put a dine-in restaraunt in place of fast food restaraunts in poorer communities, people are not going to shrug and start paying $100 to dine out as opposed to $20. Instead they'll buy microwavable high-fat junk that saves them the need to cook, and fits within their budget. To presume that, but for the presence of a McDonald's one block over, people would be eating broccoli is a gross error. Yeah you can’t really say fast food restaraunts “contribute to obesegenic environments.” Big selection bias problem here - if you put a dine-in restaraunt in place of fast food restaraunts in poorer communities, people are not going to shrug and start paying $100 to dine out as opposed to $20. Instead they’ll buy microwavable high-fat junk that saves them the need to cook, and fits within their budget. To presume that, but for the presence of a McDonald’s one block over, people would be eating broccoli is a gross error.

]]> By: Scott Kustes http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22859 Scott Kustes Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:46:02 +0000 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22859 I touched on this article over on my blog a few days ago <a href="http://www.modernforager.com/blog/2008/01/09/does-eating-out-have-positive-benefits/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. My conclusion was much as surplusj has already pointed out. It's more likely an income effect, not a difference in the health aspects of the food. Wealthier people will have more full-service restaurants nearby and wealthier people tend to be slimmer than poor people. This is likely another case of correlation not equaling causation. Scott Kustes <a href="http://www.modernforager.com" rel="nofollow">Modern Forager</a> I touched on this article over on my blog a few days ago here. My conclusion was much as surplusj has already pointed out. It’s more likely an income effect, not a difference in the health aspects of the food. Wealthier people will have more full-service restaurants nearby and wealthier people tend to be slimmer than poor people. This is likely another case of correlation not equaling causation.

Scott Kustes
Modern Forager

]]> By: surplusj http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22858 surplusj Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:33:51 +0000 http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fast-food/#comment-22858 Isn't this a really shady reason to assume any causality? It seems much more likely that fast food restaurants are concentrated in poorer neighborhoods while full-service dining is more prevalent where wealthier people live. Unless that's being accounted for in the data, this just seems like another framing of what we already know - poorer people are fatter. Isn’t this a really shady reason to assume any causality? It seems much more likely that fast food restaurants are concentrated in poorer neighborhoods while full-service dining is more prevalent where wealthier people live. Unless that’s being accounted for in the data, this just seems like another framing of what we already know - poorer people are fatter.

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