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correlation does not equal causation

Posted by dr_ewan_cameron on 03 Apr 2014 at 22:22 GMT

I'm surprised the editors allowed the wording of the conclusion---
"Our study has shown that Austrian adults who consume a vegetarian diet are less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), have a lower quality of life, and also require more medical treatment. Therefore, a continued strong public health program for Austria is required in order to reduce the health risk due to nutritional factors."
---when the authors have admitted earlier in the Discussion that their study has no power to determine the *cause* of the observed effect.

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