Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Adding to the steaming pile of unsubstantiated hype over probiotics, the New York Times ran an uncritical article this week suggesting that a probiotic of heat-killed bacteria can treat obesity.
Of course, the data behind the story does not suggest that. In fact, the study is so small and the data so noisy and indirect, it's impossible to come to any conclusions about efficacy. There's also the nit-picky complaint that the study deals with dead bacteria, while probiotics are generally defined as being live bacteria. More importantly, the study was authored by researchers with a clear financial stake in the treatment succeeding. They hold a patent on the treatment and have started a company based on it—two details the New York Times seems to have forgotten to mention.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @11:58PM
Yet another fad that did not help the Runaway1956 to shed a bit off the old tare?