Hi Sandy,
re:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/high-saturated-fat-intake-damages-sperm-2117667.html 


I haven't seen the study so I'm about to make some an assumption that is 
as large as some of the assumptions I'm taking exception to:

1.The title claims that saturated fat is causing a change but we find 
out in the first paragraph that the change has been attributed to a 
combination of two variables. This is a sloppy research strategy that is 
typical of anti-saturated fat research. It is impossible to say which 
variable has caused a particular effect or if it is the combination of 
variables that has caused the effect that has been measured. A more 
likely scenario is that the difference did not reach statistical 
significance without combining the two factors.

2.The article generalizes the results of this research, saying: "dietary 
modifications could be beneficial for global health as well as 
reproductive health."

3.Yet the group being studied is quite a select group. They have all 
sought reproductive treatment. The world's burgeoning population clearly 
demonstrates that fertility problems are not typical of the race in general.

4.We are given no indication what other dietary, environmental, or 
lifestyle variables were investigated or controlled. This is reminiscent 
of Burkitt's formulation of his dietary fiber hypothesis to explain 
diseases of civilization. It turns out that the same data could more 
accurately be interpreted as showing that refined carbohydrates caused 
these diseases.

5.It is also unclear whether these men were asked to describe their 
cooking methods and daily intake of fats retrospectively, or if they 
were asked to report on their current consumption rates. While cooking 
methods do tend to remain fairly stable, recall of dietary intake has 
been demonstrated to be notoriously inaccurate. Just try to remember 
each meal and snack you have eaten over the last two weeks and you will 
see why studies based on such recall are working with inaccurate data.

6.If the data from this study were available, one might be able to make 
a case for low saturated fat dieting interfering with sperm morphology 
because even the highest level of saturated fat intake is, according to 
this article, 13% of the diet. But such an argument would be flawed 
because of the sloppy methods mentioned above.

I'd be thrilled to see the supporting data and the whole presentation 
but that isn't possible. In the interim, these articles may sell 
newspapers but they seem to be reflecting the current bias rather than 
legitimate, well implemented research.

Best Wishes,
Ron Hoggan

-- 
PK