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Author Archives: Audrey Evans
Why Your Food Diary Might Be Tricking You: The Hidden Problem With Self-Reported Nutrition Studies
Every few months, a new headline seems to rewrite the rules of healthy eating. One day coffee is a miracle antioxidant. The next, it’s a stress-inducing villain. Eggs bounce between dietary hero and cholesterol hazard. Even whole grains, long a bedrock of solid nutritional advice, get sideways glances in popular media. If you’ve felt dizzy […]
The Honest Plate: Why Nutrition Studies That Rely on Self-Reporting Often Miss the Mark
I’ve spent years in the lab and the clinic, and if there’s one thing that keeps me humble, it’s the chasm between what people say they eat and what actually lands on the fork. You hear it in the exam room: “Just salads, mostly,” followed by a sheepish smile. That gap isn’t a lie—it’s human. […]
When Our Memories Fail Us: The Quiet Problem With Nutrition Self-Reports
Try to remember exactly what you ate three days ago. Not the broad strokes—the specifics. Was it a handful of almonds or closer to a full cup? Did that salad dressing lean toward two tablespoons of oil, or three? I’m Luz Mendoza, a clinical nutrition researcher, and I’ve sat across from enough patients to spot […]
The Honest Truth About Nutrition Studies: When Memory Fails Science
I still remember a patient from years ago—a gentle man in his sixties who was absolutely certain he ate two servings of vegetables every single day. He wasn’t trying to fool me. In his mind, the tally was precise. Then his daughter, sitting beside him, quietly mentioned the handful of chips with lunch and the […]
A Clear Guide to Understanding Randomized Controlled Trials
You’ve seen it a hundred times. That morning health headline about a new drug, a trending diet, or some meditation hack—almost always with the phrase “randomized controlled trial” tucked somewhere in the story. It sounds serious, maybe even a little intimidating. But that term is actually the closest thing we have to a truth serum […]
A Friendly Guide to Actually Understanding Randomized Controlled Trials
“Randomized controlled trial” sounds like something you’d hear in a windowless conference room full of statisticians. But the truth is, these studies shape nearly everything we think we know about health—medications, exercise advice, which diets stick, and which ones fizzle. Over years of talking with patients and neighbors at community talks, I’ve learned that once […]
Why Most Health Headlines Mislead the Public
Every Monday, my patients arrive at the clinic armed with questions. “Doctor, I read that coffee causes cancer—should I stop?” Or, “They said on the news that a glass of wine is as bad as smoking— is that true?” I welcome these conversations because they mean people care about their health. But I also see […]
Why Most Health Headlines Mislead the Public
Every morning, as I sip my coffee and scan the news, I see them: headlines promising miracle cures, warning of hidden dangers in everyday foods, or declaring that some new study has “proven” something that contradicts last week’s news. As a researcher who has spent decades in public health, I watch this cycle with a […]
What the Latest Research Actually Says About Gut Microbiomes
Why Everyone Is Talking About Gut Bacteria If you have spent any time reading health headlines lately, you have probably encountered bold claims about the gut microbiome. Some articles suggest that your intestinal bacteria control everything from your weight to your mood to your risk of chronic disease. As a researcher who has studied microbial […]
Dark Energy’s Stubborn Refusal to Behave: What DESI’s Year 2 Data Means for Everything We Thought We Knew
The Cosmological Constant Gets Questioned For nearly three decades, cosmologists have operated under a beautifully simple assumption: dark energy is constant. It doesn’t evolve. It doesn’t change. It just sits there at -1 on the equation-of-state parameter w, pushing the universe apart with unwavering mechanical precision. This is the Lambda-CDM model, the standard framework that […]