Christopher Labos, a cardiologist with a master’s degree in epidemiology, has written articles for publications such as Science-Based Medicine and the Office for Science and Society. He regularly appears on Canadian television and radio, and co-hosts a podcast with science communicator Jonathan Jarry, called the Body of Evidence. Labos used his insights from those endeavors to create a boldly different kind of popular science book, Does Coffee Cause Cancer? And 8 More Myths about the Food We Eat.
Does Coffee Cause Cancer? is structured as fictional dialogues between fictional characters. Conversations occur between an unnamed epidemiologist and an individual he meets at the airport, a passenger on the plane, an old university friend, and a barista. With each interaction, a medical myth or two just happens to come up in conversation, with the doctor explaining the history and research behind common claims that have made headlines, like hot dogs being as bad for you as cigarettes, red wine being good for heart health, and dark chocolate being a healthy food.
Does Coffee Cause Cancer? tackles common pitfalls that can undermine a study, including p-hacking, sample sizes, and selection of demographics. Labos explores how conclusions can evolve over time as more data become available, leading many to believe they can’t trust science, when that’s actually a demonstration of science working. He discusses how a poor study can make headlines, but when it’s refuted with better science, the new result isn’t reported, leaving people to believe the previous, erroneous conclusion.
Coincidence?!
Does Coffee Cause Cancer? underscores the ease with which accurate mathematics can be used to either exaggerate or downplay a result. If I told you that eating strawberries can reduce a woman’s chance of getting a heart attack by 32%, we might all rush to the supermarket to buy our daily dose.
But if you learned that the study was done over 18 years with 100,000 women who were between the ages of 25 and 42, with only 405 total heart attacks (0.4% had a heart attack), would you feel as compelled to eat strawberries every day? The numbers are already low, so a 32% reduction doesn’t equate to many heart attacks. According to Labos, you’d have to feed 5,000 women strawberries every day for a whole year to prevent one non-fatal heart attack.
Does Coffee Cause Cancer? discusses risk versus hazard, why the cancer rankings from the WHO (World Health Organization) are complicated and often misreported, and the issues with looking at statistics for whole countries versus individuals. The explanations are straightforward, using analogies to help understand counterintuitive reasoning and conclusions, with a good dose of humor intermixed.
There are many instructive graphs, charts, and even cartoons in Does Coffee Cause Cancer? And 8 More Myths about the Food We Eat, but if you don’t mind losing those, Tom Perkins does a great job narrating the audio book. In either case, I recommend you grab a coffee, your preferred chocolate, and some strawberries, and curl up with this informative and fun book, the characters of which you might just become attached to.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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