originally posted by MLipton:
A bit of an aside here but this exemplifies what I detest about scientific reporting. Though both are broad categories, there are certain commonalities in red wine (various isoflavonoids and protoamthocyanins, all of which come from the skins) that might reasonably be imagined to give rise to a beneficial health outcome. Cheese, OTOH, is so broad a category as to be useless. The commonalities between Kraft singles, Parmagiano Reggiano and Vacherin Mont d’Or are probably limited to water, casein, salt and animal fats, none of which are very likely to be the causative agent. I realize that it’s difficult to get more fine grained in epidemiological studies and that followup studies that look more closely at any such effect will have to be conducted, yet popular media will probably trumpet an extra serving of Cheeze Wiz on your chimichanga as the next magic bullet for dementia.