Bad Science

[lavendersparkle]

There's a science story doing the rounds and the way that it is being reported is really pissing me off. Here's an example from the Telegraph Vegan Diet Increases risk of birth defects, scientists warnWhat's wrong with this story? Well, the headline and the fist paragraph are both flat out lies. You can tell this because when you actually read the

Comments

[naath]

The intertubes tell me that the only vegan sources of B12 are manufactured, is it possible to eat yeast-things in the right way so as to get B12? or do you actually have to take supplements/eat 'fortified' food?

Of course everyone needs B12, and B12 supplements exist and can probably be taken by just about anyone. And why is this about vegans again? REPORTER FAIL.

(Personally I hate it when people say "you should take suchandsuch supplements" when what I think they ought to say is "you should ensure that you have thismuch of $thing in your diet" for those of us without moral, religious, medical or any-other reason to eat a restricted diet all needed nutrients can be found in, well, food. It might be better to tell people "folic acid is found in spinich and beans and btw if you can't/won't eat those things you can get it in pills".)

[lavendersparkle]

I always thought that B12 occurred naturally in Marmite but a bit of t'internets shows that it's added. Either way 7g of Marmite contains all of the B12 and adult needs. It's also added to stuff like breakfast cereal, soya milk etc.

I don't usually take vitamins as I think I get enough nutrition from my food. If I were planning to have a baby I'd probably take them to be extra sure I wa getting everything I needed.

[fetteredwolf]

Some populations are more susceptible to B12 deficiencies, this despite eating meat and eggs. Should those women not get pregnant? What absurd reporting.

[loveneverfails]

Reporting on anything about pregnancy is going to be sensationalized and sometimes outright inaccurate. It's really obnoxious.

[hatam_soferet]

You are writing to the Telegraph etc, right? Even if it was sexed up before it got to them, they still ought to, you know, read stuff.

[lavendersparkle]

I don't really see the point. The sexing up of this story is quite mild by usual science reporting standards. Given how few science correspondents feel any qualms about spreading health scares which result in children dying of preventable diseases, I doubt they'll care much about the subtle point that 'B12 deficiency causes birth defects' + 'vegans one of the groups of people with a higher probability of B12 deficiency' does not equal 'veganism causes birth defects'. Seriously, whenever you hear a story which you know a lot about you realise that even the BBC's reporting is 50% nonsense and misleading. I've taken to getting my news from blogs and looking stuff like this up myself.

[hatam_soferet]

I suppose the point would be that this one is relatively easy to debunk in a way that even real noodles can understand, but you're probably right. Blehhh.