The wrong end of the wrong stick

From Marie Claire:

Just over 250,000 people took part in the US study, which looked at people's consumption of soft drinks, tea and coffee. Ten years later 11,311 participants aged between 50 and 71 at the start of the study were diagnosed with depression.

Researchers have said downing four cans a day raised the risk of depression by 30 per cent, with diet versions presenting the biggest problems. In comparison, drinking four cups of coffee a day makes you 10 per cent less likely to develop mental illness...

OK, these findings might be correct or not; statistically significant or not; and they say nothing about cause and effect, but hey.

Emer O’Neill, from the Depression Alliance*, said: "We’re really pleased to see that research continues to be done in order to raise awareness. Diet has a huge impact on mood and fizzy drinks, alcohol, caffeine can have a negative impact on a person’s health when consumed excessively."

Well duh.

"Excessively" means that something has a negative impact, so that's meaningless, but the survey does not mention alcohol and actually says that people who drink four cups of coffee a day are less likely to develop mental illness. Not more. Less.

* Interestingly, less than half the DA's income appears to be from the Dept of Health or NHS trusts, and they have genuine members (although it's not clear how many of their members are Big Pharma), so are they a fakecharity or not?

The DA also gets £50,000 a year from The Tudor Trust, which has £250 million of investments and splashes the cash on various righteous causes. The joke is that this trust was set up by an early owner of "the construction company George Wimpey Ltd" so it's a conscience-salving exercise as much as anything.