HEA102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Subcutaneous Tissue, Internal Validity, Recall Bias
Document Summary
Week 8 notes challenges in nutrition research. In vitro (literally meaning "in glass") research is conducted in the laboratory. This phase of research is called "basic" research and involves the investigation of biochemical processes. Such studies provide a basic understanding of biochemical and physiological pro(cid:272)esses (cid:271)ut (cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:374)ot (cid:271)e used to predi(cid:272)t (cid:449)hat (cid:373)ight happe(cid:374) i(cid:374) the (cid:858)real (cid:449)orld(cid:859) of hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)s. Research that uses live animals as a model for humans is also problematic. Evidence shows that the internal validity of these studies tends to be poor (bias is not controlled), and even promising results rarely translate into useful therapies that are effective in humans (pound & bracken, 2014). Animal studies have poor external validity and we cannot assume that the same effects will occur in humans. In nutrition research it is nevertheless very common to read media reports of some "breakthrough" in nutrition research when the study was conducted on mice.
