On That Fake Chocolate Study
Posted On August 10, 2015
I find myself in an awkward position.
Journalist John Bohannon wanted to show that the scientific review process can have huge holes in it. He also wanted to show that the media review of scientific (sounding) stories is often completely uncritical.
Because of these two factors, what gets to the public can be anything from true, to benignly misleading, to flat out false.
So he designed an intentionally shoddy study that happened to show a relationship between chocolate and weight loss. As part of his ruse, the result was trumpeted as a legitimate outcome and many in the media presented it without checking sources, the “institute” they fabricated for this, or the conditions of the study itself.
Mission accomplished.
But why is this awkward?
Because he did it using chocolate as the variable and weight loss as the outcome. And I wrote a book entitled Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight! This work draws from 121 references, along with scientist interviews on the impact of high cocoa chocolate, cocoa, and the catechin polyphenols found in cocoa on cellular and organ levels, in humans and experimental animals. In writing this work, I know how to be restrained when interpreting results. I know the difference between correlation and causation and the need to replicate research because one result does not a conclusion make.
And yet, despite this leg work to make sure the scientific Ts were crossed and Is were dotted, Bohannon’s reporting on the fake study projected an image that linked together the ideas of chocolate and diet and hoax.
For example, when he revealed that he had lied, headlines largely reported on it by linking the words chocolate and weight loss to words like fake and hoax.
- “How the ‘chocolate diet’ hoax fooled millions – CBS News”,
- “The study that claimed chocolate helps you lose weight? It’s fake – Marketwatch”,
- “A bogus study of chocolate and diets — LA Times”.
A reviewer on Amazon actually cited his intentionally fraudulent study as evidence that my entire body of work on this was a sham. “So in the end, eating chocolate IS NOT proven to help you lose weight. In fact, the opposite is the case.”
Ironically, one of the points of the Bohannon spoof was that once the idea gets out into the media, it takes on a life of its own as the most dramatic headline gets passed forward with little scrutiny. It’s promoted because the headline is one that people want to read.
This is exactly what has happened with reporting of his own study.
Bohannon’s main outcome (some media outlets provide unreliable information because they’re uncritical) shared equal billing with the much more clickable notion about the failure of the chocolate-weight loss connection. And this connection was just as uncritically delivered.
Just to be clear, substantial and broad ranging research shows that cocoa consumption benefits many factors involved in maintaining health, and a healthy weight. This aspect of the story was never mentioned.
For this reason, even his news story — itself designed to reveal that the media often report skewed versions of the news, — has done just that. The main result was presented as it was because some headlines are just more likely to get more views. It has become a cartoon of itself.
For more information: Click here to visit Will Clower’s website.
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About The Author
Will Clower
One Comment
I love your book. The key really is the kind of chocolate you eat. You can lose weight with chocolate, I have but I only eat healthy cold pressed Xocai chocolate. Best decision I ever made.