The Latest Scare Study: Or Why Eating Meat Does Not Cause Diabetes

This article is summarized here:http://www.medindia.net/news/higher-dietary-acid-load-increases-diabetes-risk-127666-1.htmDr. Weil, who has earned millions promoting his own brand of faddish health advice summarizes it here: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02378/Surprise-Diabetes-Threat.htmlI went and read the actual study, which you can find in its full form here:Dietary acid load and risk of type 2 diabetes: the E3N-EPICcohort studyHere's my take on it:I am always very suspicious of the findings of any large study that draws its conclusions from questionnaires purporting to measure what people are supposed to have eaten over a set period of time. And it turns out that this is exactly what was done here.The measures of blood acidity used in this study, PRAL and NEAP, are not determined by measuring blood acid in the participants. Instead, they are computed using a formula which was  applied to the answers given in response to a standardized dietary questionnaires filled in by study participants.  You can read a critique of the methodology used to establish the forumulas used to convert these questionnaire responses to estimated blood acidity here: Critique on equations of net endogenous acid production (NEAP) and indirect proof of constant organic acid excretionBut even if this study is wrong that the formulas are flawed, since the level of blood acids are not actually measured, the reliability of the study result all comes down to the quality of the questionnaires ...
Source: Diabetes Update - Category: Diabetes Source Type: blogs