Abstract
To date, nutritional epidemiology has relied heavily on relatively weak methods including simple observational designs and substandard measurements. Despite low internal validity and other sources of bias, claims of causality are made commonly in this literature. Nutritional epidemiology investigations can be improved through greater scientific rigor and adherence to scientific reporting commensurate with research methods used. Some commentators advocate jettisoning nutritional epidemiology entirely, perhaps believing improvements are impossible. Still others support only normative refinements. But neither abolition nor minor tweaks are appropriate. Nutritional epidemiology, in its present state, offers utility, yet also needs marked, reformational renovation. Changing the status quo will require ongoing, unflinching scrutiny of research questions, practices, and reporting—and a willingness to admit that “good enough” is no longer good enough. As such, a workshop entitled “Toward more rigorous and informative nutritional epidemiology: the rational space between dismissal and defense of the status quo” was held from July 15 to August 14, 2020. This virtual symposium focused on: (1) Stronger Designs, (2) Stronger Measurement, (3) Stronger Analyses, and (4) Stronger Execution and Reporting. Participants from several leading academic institutions explored existing, evolving, and new better practices, tools, and techniques to collaboratively advance specific recommendations for strengthening nutritional epidemiology.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3150-3167 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Financial support for this symposium was provided by the Beef Checkoff. For their participation in the meeting, invited guests who were not federal employees or IU employees received a $1,000 honorarium. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, Indiana University, or any other organization. Susan M. Brackney, a freelance writer, provided technical writing assistance for the preparation of this manuscript, and Jennifer Holmes of Medical Editing Services copyedited the manuscript. Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington compensated Brackney and Holmes as private contractors for this service. The authors thank Dr. Cydne Perry with the Department of Applied Health Science and Dr. Arthur Owora with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, both part of the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B), for participating in discussions during the symposium. The authors also thank the SPH-B’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Dr. Justin Otten, who helped facilitate the symposium and assisted with editing the manuscript. The participants, as authors, agree that what is presented herein reflects the discussion during and expands upon the symposium. There may be some minor disagreement on specific opinions, but authors have not identified factually incorrect statements with which they disagree.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Beef Checkoff | |
| Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington | |
| Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington | |
| National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute | R25HL124208 |
| Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco |
Keywords
- Nutritional epidemiology reform
- experimental design and analysis
- scientific rigor