Two new case studies are on the site.
The first is another in my anti-anti-GLP-1 series. On 29 October, MIT Technology Review’s health newsletter, The Checkup, ran a story headed “Eating disorders are on the rise. GLP-1s could make things worse.” It opens with the drugs as a trigger and then reports a 71% rise in anorexia and bulimia worldwide between 1990 and 2023. The study behind that number never measured GLP-1 use, and the drugs came into wide use only in the last two and a half of those 33 years. The one survey the story cites asked people who already had an eating disorder and had no comparison group. For a piece published under the MIT name, the evidence is remarkably weak. The paper is on the site: GLP-1 Drugs and the Rise in Eating Disorders.
The second takes up creatine, which is getting a great deal of attention online. The Los Angeles Times ran a story headed “Creatine isn’t just for athletes. Here’s who should be taking it (hint: probably you).” The paper checks its claims one at a time against the trials, and then goes through the harms the story leaves out. One claim holds up, for older adults who lift weights. The bone and memory claims do not, and the safety reassurance rests on a tally of studies rather than of people. The paper is on the site: The LA Times Creatine Article Against the Trials.