Uncle Ben must be crying or possibly laughing
A few weeks ago there were several news reports regarding a possible link between eating white rice and developing diabetes. Since Diabetic Investor is used to reading completely useless research, we ignored these reports hoping people would recognize them for what they are, more useless information that will in no way help the millions of patients with diabetes or the millions more with pre-diabetes. About the only people we thought who might take these reports seriously were the good people at Uncle Ben’s whose white rice is a staple in college dorm rooms across this great country.
Our interest today was peaked today by a story from Medscape entitled “White Rice Intake May Promote Higher Risk for Type 2 Diabetes by Janis C. Kelly and Charles P. Vega, MD. Here are just a few quotes from the story:
“A meta-analysis and systematic review of summary data from studies on diet and type 2 diabetes risk has turned up a possible association between white rice consumption and diabetes, but limitations in the analysis preclude actionable conclusions.” For those who do not understand gobbledygook allow Diabetic Investor to translate; this research is completely worthless as there are so many possible links between food groups and type 2 diabetes that a person who did not eat foods from these various groups in attempt to avoid developing type 2 diabetes would die from starvation.
“Bruce Neal, MB, PhD, director of the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Sydney, Australia, warns against over interpretation of the data: “Although the findings of the current study are interesting, they have few immediate implications for doctors, patients, or public health services and cannot support large scale action.” Dr. Neal would like to see an analysis of the cohorts in the Hu study based on primary, rather than summary, data.” Again allow Diabetic Investor to translate, although this speak should be intimately familiar to anyone who works for a large pharmaceutical or medical device company as it sounds like something that would come out of the mouth of a corporate executive. What Dr. Neal is really saying is he can’t believe someone wasted valuable time and money on performing research which any two year old would have noticed had no chance of revealing any relevant information.
“The real problem for the field of nutritional research is one of attracting the kind of resources that are available for the development of a promising drug treatment. Diet related ill health is now widely believed to be the leading cause of chronic disease around the world, but definitive research that precisely and reliably defines the effects of plausible, scalable, and affordable interventions is almost completely absent…. Until then, the effect of the consumption of white rice on the development of type 2 diabetes will remain unclear,” Dr. Neal concludes. (Bold and underlining add by Diabetic Investor).
Although Diabetic Investor does not know Dr. Neal we believe given his gift of being able to speak corporate BS so eloquently we see a bright future for the Doctor as a corporate executive in the diabetes space. The last quote is quintessential corporate garbage and can easily translated into normal English; “Hey you morons isn’t it about time we did some studies that at minimum had the remote possibility of telling us something we did not already know. Studies that heaven forbid could actually help the millions of patients with diabetes, the millions more with pre-diabetes and the many physicians who must treat these people and whom are becoming increasingly frustrated with studies who’s only use is in the executive restroom or in the executive fireplace.”
Listen if there are researchers out there truly interested in performing even more useless, non-actionable studies can we at least get back to more study on how breast size impacts diabetes or how alcohol consumption impacts diabetes, at least these worthless studies have some redeeming value. Seriously studying white rice and diabetes as stupid as it is doesn’t hold a candle to the many other worthless studies that have been conducted.
Although now that Paula Deen is a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) it would not surprise Diabetic Investor one bite if the company started funding research into how eating a regular diet of Fat Paula’s recipes impacts diabetes. We can only imagine the researchers concluding that it’s ok to eat highly fatting foods everyday as they lead to obesity which leads to type 2 diabetes which helps Novo sell more of the drugs they make.
Truth hurts and it doesn’t matter if it’s exposing stupid studies or the ultimate in corporate irresponsibility.
