I’m going way out on a limb with this post and maybe opening myself up to a bunch of “you are completely nuts” emails, but I think what I have to say really needs to be said. Â So here goes anyway…
Over the years, I have gotten increasingly comfortable with anecdotal evidence as opposed to scientific studies when it comes to health-related topics.
Have any of you noticed that you are starting to feel the same way?
If I notice a pattern where a few of my trusted friends tell me that they have discovered that doing this or eating that is helping their families’ health, I tend to be more receptive to this message than when a big media story trumpets some big new “health breakthrough”.
Health Breakthrough? Â Â Yawn.
It seems that much of the so-called “research” on health these days is really covert marketing by drug companies, Big Food, and others.
Using “science” to manipulate the buying habits of consumers? Â Absolutely!
Anecdotal evidence, on the other hand, is based primarily on personal observation and case studies. Â If this observation comes from a trusted source, then it has much validity in my experience.
Think about the dietary philosophies of ancestral cultures. They did not have the scientific method to lean on.
Anecdotal evidence was all they had to navigate through their choices about what to eat and what not to eat on a daily and seasonal basis.
Health anecdotes were passed down from generation to generation. Â Â Those who did not follow these anecdotes either died or failed to reproduce.
Nature is harsh when her rules are not obeyed.
This is not to say that I do not value the scientific method. Â Â On the contrary, I find truly objective, scientific studies to be a great achievement of our modern culture. Â Done right, these types of studies have the power to identify critical information that is of real value to humankind.
Unfortunately, it seems that the scientific approach to health and wellness is coming under increasing abuse nowadays which partly explains the resurgence and popularity of anecdotal evidence.
Moms seem especially open to anecdotal evidence from those they trust. Â Â Moms networking together and providing support and information to help each other grow healthy children is a very powerful force in the world.
Never underestimate the power of the hand that rocks the cradle.
Wise Traditions is a bit of a watchdog in that regard.
The letters in Wise Traditions are also very interesting, providing one anecdotal story after another about how a traditional diet has helped a person or family come back from the brink of ill health.
Balancing the anecdotes, many of the Wise Traditions articles are extremely detailed and heavily rooted in science – science done right, that is, with objectivity and impartiality.
Anecdotes or the scientific method? Â Which do you value more and why?
I think that common sense goes out the window most of the time when scientific 'evidence' is presented as fact. We're humans…guess what? We mess up! Science isn't always going to be concrete! And those gut feelings/common sense/what-have-you…well, you had better listen to them. When my son was born two years ago after a 27-hour-long birthing ordeal in the hospital (I was induced early as my OB had a Thanksgiving Dinner to get to), I had this terrible feeling about getting him vaccinated, so I filled out the paperwork to exempt. I had no idea why, because "good parents" vaccinate their children, right? Knowing what I know now, I'm sure glad I listened to my gut, and not to 'scientific evidence.'
Yes I have been saying to everyone this exact thing for the last month!! Especially to do with health matters, which medically, is controlled by money money money, I TRUST NOONE! They all have vested interests in the research, and can either slant conclusions to suit their product or only take a small portion of the subjects so that their products look good. Science is seriously flawed nowadays-you only need look at all the parents SCREAMING that their child was injured by a vaccine and then the Dr's and scientists shaking their heads and saying obstinantly, "NOT POSSIBLE!! our research suggests vaccines are SAFE AND EFFECTIVE!…Blah blah SQUAWK! Polly want a cracker!"
Yet these parents know what their child was like before the vaccine and how they are now, sometimes, the change is overnight, and they KNOW it is what caused it, yet because of the "science" they are ignored or made out to be downright crazy.
I also completely agree with the comment about the other toxins that could be present, it is very difficult to get a group of subjects with the same body composition, I mean when they are studying something, who is to say some of the subjects don't have some kind of deficiency and may react differently to something and therefore skew the results? Do they check for these things so that the subjects are as close in age, health status etc as possible? Not usually as far as I can see.
Anecdotal ALL THE WAY!
Thank you Sarah, I love your blog, you have some very interesting subjects to research.
Alyssa
I am loving reading all these well thought out, insightful comments! You guys are brilliant!
I, too, trust anecdotes. How would we know what to study if we didn't look around us to see what appear to be fundamental truths? If a thousand people (or five thousand, or ten) experience the same thing independently, should we not study that situation to see what is occurring?
But scientists don't want to know answers. As others said, they design studies poorly on purpose so they can get their desired result. So many biases. Follow the money, too. Studies which don't produce the desired results are hidden (think popular diabetes and statin drugs…). The whole thing is ridiculous so I just don't trust it.
Should there be scientists who do well-designed, truly impartial studies, and I were able to read the original text (not the media's slant), I would appreciate and trust that.
I think this says it all, ‎"Dr. Marcia Angell in her article, Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption, where after explaining how RCTs [randomized controlled trials] are biased she writes: "It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine."
I always consider the source and anecdotal evidence is soooooo important. How else can we come up with great ideas to test scientifically?
And then there are things to which the scientific method cannot be applied…science is way to focused on mechanism and needs to start looking at our world from a systems perspective if we are ever to find answers that make a real difference in this world…..at some point, regardless of science, we have to think for ourselves.
Those poor vegetarians! Their carb heavy diet has fogged their mind and clouded their powers of observation and judgement.
I really dislike it when you make statements like that. You hate it when people makes remarks about your diet choices. Why can’t you let vegetarians do the same instead of putting them down? You know many religions in India and elsewhere follow vegetarian diets and I don’t think it has “fogged their mind and clouded their powers of observation and judgement.” I know you are just going to say I am just another “vegan” trying to put down your group but that isn’t true. I eat meat almost every day. I have a daughter who has been a vegetarian for 7 years. She’s a very bright, intelligent girl. Please knock off the put downs, it turns people like me, and I’m sure others off. Thanks
Hi Cindy, I’m sorry if you were offended. I will not stop speaking out, however. Your daughter, while I am sure is bright and wonderful person will likely have fertility problems if she continues with her vegetarian food choices. The trend among young girls to go vegetarian is a disaster and a contributing factor to the high rates of infertility even among women in their 20’s. In addition, I am working on a post about this soon about how vegetarianism in young women leads to eating disorders.
I too trust ancetodal evidence, more so thru the passing years. Years ago our daughter had clearly obvious to be variable vision at age 3 that I felt was from a recent high fever/viral illness. NO opthamologist would believe what I was saying was happening to her vision after fatigue. I found a vision therapist and she finished my sentences of what I was observing! 18 months later my daughter had 20/20 binocular vision and does to this day age 24. Let ma also say I'm a Registered Nurse and see the results of bad health, life style and medication side effects daily for 2 decades! Long before I heard of Weston Price we began a journey to better health that started with my hubby and I quitting smoking 20 plus years ago. As 50 and 60 plus we are able to work many young people to fatigue and most people think we are younger. Big Pharm is way to much into research and promoting their bottom line not true health as is our Government, otherwise GMO would not be a worry!!! I could go on forever! Medicine has a place in our lives, when we need surgery or such. I was in Eurpoe in the early 80's and got the flu, the hotel sent me to a herbalist when I asked for a Dr. I learned alot from that experience. I enjoy your blog, keep up the great work!!!! GoatMom
Anecdites – though I prefer to call it experience.
When I was in law school, I quickly learned that you could find an expert to support ANY position, no matter what the issue. In other words, each side would always bring in an expert who would cite studies to support their position, even though the positions of each side were completely opposite. It was all about money. Unfortunately, a number of studies are done for money, and in the hope of getting more work form the company paying for the study.
I consider that kind of study worthless.It is so easy to slant or designa study to receive the desired result.It is done all the time.
The other problem is that scientists do not know everything. In fact, outside of the hard sciences, they know a lot less than they claim.
The final problem is that studies often are so poorly designed as to be worthless. For example, many studies claim to show that meat is bad for health. These people taking part in these studies are eating SAD, processed foods, factory meat, flurodated water, any number of toxins. If the ones who eat the factory meat are sicker, is it meat or the chemicals, hormones and antibiotics? They just choose meat,and ignore the poisons.
I do value an impartial study done by qualified scientists who are commintted to the truth.
However, I find experience to be the best teacher. It is insane to ignore experience just because it is not a scientific study.
Stanley Fishman
Tendergrassfedmeat.com
I had a conversation one time with someone about why I choose to eat the way I do. I told him that it makes me feel better, gives me more energy and I get sick less often. I told him that I had tried his way before(he was a vegetarian) and didn't see those same results. He told me that I couldn't trust my body, and that I needed to go back to his way again because of all of the scientific evidence supporting it. What?!!!
Scientific method. While anecdotes are good, and sometimes they are important, there are just too many factors. For example, you ate dinner at you mother in laws last night. You came home and got sick. You associate getting sick with her cooking. But it was really the lettuce in your sandwhich from lunch that really made you sick. That is anecdotal.
Scientific method has actual guidelines, rules and data. The experiments are the same, each and every time. When looking at specific data and facts I go with science every time.