I got an e-mail from a blog reader who prefers to remain anonymous who said “My mom just told me that studies show that dust makes you fat. I’m freaking out and I’m too scared to Google – do you know anything about this? Is this really a thing? WTF?”
I did some Googling and found that the source is likely an article posted on a diet site that claims it can help people lose weight by showing them pictures of things they could eat instead of other things. The article (which I’m not linking to – if you want to give them traffic you can Google it,) was called “The Weird Way Your Dirty House Is Making You Fat.” After spending the first two -thirds of the article suggesting that this is based on research and evidence, they admit that the research team has, in fact, no idea if it’s true. Further, if it is true they don’t have any idea how much dust exposure might cause what amount of weight gain. The research team themselves say is it is only “a potential novel threat.” This article does not smack of scientific rigor.
This is incredibly common. When it comes to weight and health – whether it’s a discussion of what makes people fat, or a discussion of what might make us thin, or if fat makes us “unhealthy” by some definition, scientific method seems to fly (or, perhaps more accurately, be thrown) right out the window. Sometimes it’s studies that are embarrassingly poorly designed (often for profit.) Sometimes it’s research that isn’t so much research as it is finding commonalities among outliers. So-called research on the efficacy of weight loss is even worse – as Lucy Aphramor clearly showed,
My point here is that a combination of scientific illiteracy among reporters, a 24-hour news cycle that too often cares more about eyeballs than getting to the truth of the story, and the profitability of anything and everything anti-fat, it can be absolutely impossible to get any kind of true information about weight and health. So we have to be smart about this. In the case of the fat and dust article they eventually came right out and said that their claim was ridiculous, but it’s not always that easy. We need to ask questions about things like who funded the research and how they are using it., how the study was designed. Regardless, we should start with the knowledge that there is every possibility that these studies are bullshit.
UPCOMING WEBINAR – Size Acceptance and Eating Disorders – A Critical, Crucial, Core Conversation.
June 5th, 11am Pacific
If you’re interested in the use of the Size Acceptance and Health at Every Size paradigms in Eating Disorder treatment, then check out my webinar with EDRDPro. The webinar is June 5th from 11am-12pm Pacific time, and there are CEUs for RDs!
Get all the details here (scroll down to find me)
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Wellness for All Bodies Program: A simple, step-by-step, super efficient guide to setting and reaching your health goals from a weight-neutral perspective. This program can be used by individuals, or by groups, including as a workplace wellness program!
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Book and Dance Class Sale! I’m on a journey to complete an IRONMAN triathlon, and I’m having a sale on all my books, DVDs, and digital downloads to help pay for it. You get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! If you want, you can check it out here!
Book Me! I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!
I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com or on Instagram.
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