Question

"Eating pasta does not cause obesity, Italian study finds"

Tara John of Time reports that a new study on more than 20,000 Italians found that pasta consumption is not associated with obesity, but rather with a reduction in body mass index. The author does note that the study was partially funded by a pasta company, Barilla, and the Italian government.

1. What was the research question that investigators were asking?

2. What was the outcome and how was it measured? What was the exposure or risk factor that they were trying to link to the outcome, and how was it measured?

3. Is it appropriate to infer causality based on this study?

Answer 1

1. Research question : " Does Pasta consumption cause obesity? "

2. Outcome : Presence or absence of Obesity, it was measured via Body mass index.

Risk Factor : Pasta consumption , it was measured through a study report by newspaper "Time" on more than 20000 Italians.

3. No, it is not appropriate to infer causality because of two reasons : i ) It is stated that the Pasta consumption is not ASSOCIATED with obesity, so result statement is about association and not causation. ii) Also, since the study was funded by a Pasta company it is likely that they would report a biased results owing to their commercial interest in mind.