Every day, doctors, policymakers and others inform their decisions based on results of nutrition and diet studies. According to a new report published in the American Journal for Preventative Medicine, lawmakers and health professionals should dig a little deeper before making decisions or giving advice based on these studies, as researchers sometimes overstate their findings.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham looked at published nutrition and obesity studies to see how frequently the authors overreached in their conclusions.  What they found was intriguing, and important enough for Reuters to pick up the story.

We thought we would flag this excerpt from the Reuters Health article for our readers:

“Overstating study results can cause problems for professionals as well as the general public, researchers said.

‘I think the study was very enlightening, for sure, and frankly I think the authors have brought attention to an issue that needs to be addressed both within the scientific community as well as within the media,’ dietician Joy Dubost told Reuters Health. Dubost is a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and wasn't involved in the new study.

‘We all have a role to play in ensuring the consumers are getting that evidence-based science to really create trust in their minds,’ she said.

Dubost offered suggestions for people who read stories about nutrition research. ‘Be leery of anything that sounds like a quick fix, or results that are just based on animal studies, or if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,’ she said.”

Check out the full article here.  And leave a comment below to let us know what you think!