university studies that leave you bemused

This past week, two such studies made the news:

1. A US university study wanting to curtail scenes of actors drinking alcohol on film as this can influence people to become alcoholic!
2. A blacklist of 49 foods from the University of Otago that people shouldn't eat because they contain a lot of fat and/or sugar!

Dealing with the first - there is a big difference between the older movies that constantly portrayed smoking as glamorous (some actors would go though a whole pack in the course of a movie) and showing someone having a drink in a bar or house as a social relaxant.  Unlike nicotine, for most people alcohol isn't addictive.

As for the second, as observed in an earlier post, it's time for the obsession with fat in foods to be dispensed with - the real culprit is excessive carbohydrates, of which sugar is one.  You may well wonder from reading such a list, "our parents ate these foods, so how did they ever manage to live into their 80s and 90s?"   The answer as also observed before is that they did more exercise outside than today's generation and they didn't eat as much.  More calories consumed than burned off means you will put on weight.  Just concentrate on natural foods (including milk, honey and fruit juice!) instead of highly processed foods and you'll be fine.