Vitality.

One of our favorite Revisionist History podcast episodes is the one about how McDonald’s french fries were ruined by the (ultimately misguided) war on saturated fat and cholesterol. It gets at that uniquely modern idea that there are quick-fixes and silver bullets when it comes to diet and nutrition. Forget committing to a mediterranean diet, can’t we just sprinkle in some omega-3? The massive VITAL trial asked this question in a in a 2x2 factorial design. Over 25K Americans over age 50 were randomized to +/- vitamin D (2000 IU/d) +/- omega-3 fatty acids (1g/d) to determine if either or both reduced the incidence of invasive cancer and/or major cardiovascular event. Sadly there was no reduction in either, nor cancer-specific mortality. TBL: To enjoy dietary benefits, you have to actually eat good (read: real) food. | Manson, N Engl J Med 2018