Fake study chocolate certainly does not make you thin

Studies on diets and healthy eating are often less meaningful
"Who eats chocolate, stays slim," headlined the "Bild" newspaper in March. The magazine, like many other magazines and magazines, drew on a fictitious study that chocolate can help with weight loss. Journalists Diana Löbl and Peter Onneken had published a press release from the Institute for Diet and Health on the alleged sensational diet. But neither the institute nor the study actually existed. The two journalists wanted to draw attention with the action on the credulity of the media.

Chocolate is certainly not thin, but sometimes happy. (Image: Knut Wiarda)

Media are often overly reckless with press releases
The news about the alleged dietary wonder weapon "chocolate" even reached Australia and Nigeria. On Wednesday, the fraud was resolved: All fake. Some newspapers had printed the press release of the non-existent institute almost word for word. It would have been enough to have a look at the website of the diet institute to make attentive journalists sit up and take notice. The website is anything but serious. In addition, it contains virtually no reliable information. Apparently the headline was that chocolate makes it slender, but too tempting for many newspapers to be questioned critically.

Löbl and Onneken have achieved their goal. They have shown how easy it is to get into the media with a good headline, even if the content behind it is quai-free. "The business stinks, and we journalists are involved," quotes the online edition of "TAZ" Onneken. The fake study is part of Onneken's and Löbl's new documentary "Slim by Chocolate", which airs on "Arte" in early June. In it they show how easily people are deceived by dietary promises and that from the desire to be slim, mercilessly capital is hit.

Many people deal too uncritically with media reports
The health scientist Ingrid Mühlhauser supported the two journalists in the preparation of the fake study. Speaking to the online edition of Stern, she talked about the danger of good faith of many people. "It is so often premature causal relationships are established without questioning them further. That's when a cell scan of five people eating an apple a day proves that one apple per day extends life. What we as scientists have been complaining about for a long time - and what Onneken also wanted out of: there is a lack of critical analytical competence - in the population anyway, but also among journalists and scientists, "explains the physician. "This lack of competence in correctly interpreting results leads to messages such as 'Chocolate makes you thin' or 'Coffee protects you from cancer.'"

Mühlhauser recommends teaching people as early as possible, questioning statements and critically analyzing them. So healthy food is already an issue at school. A study that claims that chocolate helps lose weight must immediately make you suspicious and raise questions: "How did you find that? How many people were examined? Was this an experimental clinical study or a laboratory study? "

The chocolate study was conducted with one handful of subjects during a three-week observation period, according to the Fake press release. It should be clear to every journalist that the quality criteria of scientifically meaningful studies can not be met. (Ag)

/ Span>