EXPLORE SCIENCESNAPS

Links between health and nutrition

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Why do some people who live so-called healthy lifestyles die young and others, who go against all the “rules”, manage to live to a ripe old age? It's often used as an argument to “disprove” scientific evidence. Unfortunately, life is not as simple as following a set of rules, and scientists studying biology or any of the “life sciences” have to be able to explain the variations we see.

That's why we use statistics, to make sure that the patterns we see from our experiments are real patterns, not just freak results. Statistics are also useful to help us understand the probability of something happening and our level of confidence in the conclusions that scientists make. So science is not just about opinion and argument, it is about looking for answers that really stand up to scrutiny.

Although my research about nutrition and health shows that people who eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables are less likely to get cancer, it doesn't mean that by eating them, people become immune to cancer. I use statistics to understand what difference a healthy diet can make, but I can't use them to give people guarantees about their health.

My podcasts will explore some of the philosophical debate behind science, why numbers are important and what this means for you. How does science sound now?

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PROFILE

Brian Ratcliffe

Professor of Nutrition, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

My research interests are in the areas of diet and health and I have particular interests in the role of diet in cancer development. My recent work on the protective effects of brassica vegetables has been funded by the World Cancer Research Fund and the Food Standards Agency.

I am a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the British Nutrition Foundation, and the Scottish Food Advisory Committee to the Food Standards Agency. I have contributed to science education in Universities since 1984.

I first became interested in the philosophy of science as an undergraduate and then developed a more general interest in philosophy after reading Robert Pirsig’s books ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ (motorbikes again!) and ‘Lila, an inquiry into morals’. I recommend these and Jostein Gaarder’s book ‘Sophie’s World’ to anyone looking for a gentle introduction to philosophy.

Be careful, philosophy is addictive! I got hooked and moved onto John D Barrow’s excellent books and harder stuff like Karl Popper’s ‘The logic of scientific discovery’ and now I can’t stop.