Nutrition Studies: p_values_analysis.csv

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This directory contains data and code behind the story You Can’t Trust What You Read About Nutrition.

Many studies of diet and nutrition include multiple variables with vast amounts of data, making it easy to p-hack your way to sexy (and false) results. We learned this firsthand when we invited readers to take a survey about their eating habits known as the food frequency questionnaire and answer a few other questions about themselves. We ended up with 54 complete responses and looked for associations much as researchers look for links between foods and dreaded diseases. It was easy to find them.

Warning: This is evil (statistical) work. Do not go to the dark side. Do not try this at home.

This directory contains three files:

File Description
raw_anonymized_data.csv The FFQ and survey data from 54 respondents
p_hacking.R An R script that performs 27,716 regressions
p_values_analysis.csv The output data file listing the p-values

Note: This is an intentionally shady regression analysis, both because of the "p-hacking" or "data mining" behind running more than 27,000 regressions and because the statistics reported were the p-values of the characteristics (the independent variables).

IN OTHER WORDS: THIS IS NOT AN EXAMPLE OF SOUND DATA ANALYSIS.

Data license: CC Attribution 4.0 License · Data source: fivethirtyeight/data on GitHub · About: simonw/fivethirtyeight-datasette

27,716 rows

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Suggested facets: characteristic

Link rowid ▼ food characteristic p_values
1 1 GROUP_COOK_FAT_ANIMAL_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 3.73929e-09
2 2 COOKINGFATLARD smoke_often 3.73929e-09
3 3 MILKONCEREALQUAN smoke_often 3.73929e-09
4 4 SOMEJUICEQUAN smoke_often 3.73929e-09
5 5 MINERALSYESORNO smoke_often 3.73929e-09
6 6 ALLBRANORIGTYPE Jewish 3.73929e-09
7 7 GROUP_ALL_BRAN_ORIGINAL_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 3.73929e-09
8 8 GROUP_LOW_CAL_KOOLAID_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 9.45303e-09
9 9 GROUP_ICE_CREAM_FROZEN_YOGURT_LOW_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 2.86564e-08
10 10 GROUP_STEAK_ROAST_FAT_ON_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 5.22033e-08
11 11 GROUP_RAW_TOMATOES_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 5.99175e-08
12 12 GROUP_CORN_FLAKES_CORN_PUFFS_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 6.02678e-07
13 13 F18D1TN7 smoke_often 4.51821e-06
14 14 SUP_ALA smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
15 15 CHEXOTHERTYPE smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
16 16 LIFETYPE smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
17 17 FLAXHEMPSEEDOILTYPE smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
18 18 GROUP_LIFE_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
19 19 FIBERONETYPE smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
20 20 GROUP_CHEX_OTHER_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 8.04994e-06
21 21 GROUP_PORK_FAT_ON_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 8.80307e-06
22 22 F18D3CN3 smoke_rarely 1.14464e-05
23 23 GROUP_SOY_MILK_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 1.61582e-05
24 24 SUP_OM_6 smoke_rarely 2.19454e-05
25 25 EGGROLLQUAN dog 2.84762e-05
26 26 F20D3N3 smoke_rarely 3.14475e-05
27 27 GROUP_BAGELS_WHITE_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 3.91567e-05
28 28 GROUP_HOT_DOG_BEEF_OR_PORK_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 5.44728e-05
29 29 V_REDOR_TOMATO Jewish 5.49763e-05
30 30 ENERGYDRINKSQUAN currently_smoke 6.6642e-05
31 31 CAMD5 smoke_rarely 7.22552e-05
32 32 LATINO smoke_often 7.72997e-05
33 33 BUTTERQUAN smoke_often 8.13207e-05
34 34 BEERQUAN currently_smoke 0.000106824
35 35 GROUP_WHOLE_GRAIN_CRACKERS_LOW_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS quit_smoking 0.00012496
36 36 OTHERCHIPSFREQ mathReading 0.000138618
37 37 F18D2CLA smoke_often 0.000144681
38 38 SODAQUAN rash 0.000177172
39 39 GROUP_CHEX_OTHER_TOTAL_GRAMS right_hand 0.000197298
40 40 SUP_ALA right_hand 0.000197298
41 41 CHEXOTHERTYPE right_hand 0.000197298
42 42 LIFETYPE right_hand 0.000197298
43 43 FLAXHEMPSEEDOILTYPE right_hand 0.000197298
44 44 GROUP_LIFE_TOTAL_GRAMS right_hand 0.000197298
45 45 SHELLFISHQUAN right_hand 0.000203126
46 46 GROUP_SPECIAL_K_PLAIN_TOTAL_GRAMS right_hand 0.000224383
47 47 GROUP_CORN_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 0.000231304
48 48 CORNFLAKESTYPE smoke_often 0.000233528
49 49 WHITE smoke_often 0.000233528
50 50 VARIETYMEATQUAN smoke_often 0.000233528
51 51 GROUP_ICE_TEA_HOME_NO_SUGAR_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_often 0.000240465
52 52 LEMONADEFREQ yesCrash 0.000240925
53 53 GROUP_POPSICLES_SHERBET_ICES_JELLO_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 0.000241422
54 54 VEALLAMBGAMEQUAN readingMath 0.000253928
55 55 BAGELQUAN smoke_often 0.00031923
56 56 F18D3CN3 right_hand 0.000329997
57 57 GROUP_SOY_MILK_TOTAL_GRAMS right_hand 0.000342389
58 58 SHELLFISHQUAN left_hand 0.000352826
59 59 SOMEJUICEFREQ yesCrash 0.00035358
60 60 GROUP_SALAD_DRESSING_LOW_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 0.000386511
61 61 POPSICLESFREQ smoke_rarely 0.000394662
62 62 GROUP_YOGURT_PLAIN_FULL_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 0.000396222
63 63 GROUP_CANNED_FRUIT_APPLESAUCE_WITH_CANNED_CITRUS_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 0.000412279
64 64 GROUP_SANDWICH_BUNS_MIX_TOTAL_GRAMS quit_smoking 0.000422726
65 65 F18D2TT quit_smoking 0.000432487
66 66 SUP_OM_6 right_hand 0.000433907
67 67 PORKCHOPSFREQ smoke_often 0.000435439
68 68 SAUCEICECREAMQUAN heart_disease 0.000451531
69 69 GROUP_CHEESEBURGER_MEAT_AND_CHEESE_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 0.000472015
70 70 GROUP_DRINKS_WITH_SOME_JUICE_TOTAL_GRAMS yesCrash 0.000559722
71 71 F20D3N3 right_hand 0.000677674
72 72 FRIEDORBREADEDFISHQUAN Dems 0.000735258
73 73 CAMD5 right_hand 0.000771611
74 74 COOKIESTYPE belly 0.000934571
75 75 F20D3N3 currently_smoke 0.000979702
76 76 GROUP_COOK_FAT_CANOLA_SAFFLOWER_OILS_TOTAL_GRAMS Jewish 0.000985028
77 77 SALSAFREQ rash 0.00116168
78 78 CHEXOTHERTYPE currently_smoke 0.00117358
79 79 LIFETYPE currently_smoke 0.00117358
80 80 FLAXHEMPSEEDOILTYPE currently_smoke 0.00117358
81 81 SUP_ALA currently_smoke 0.00117358
82 82 GROUP_CHEX_OTHER_TOTAL_GRAMS currently_smoke 0.00117358
83 83 GROUP_LIFE_TOTAL_GRAMS currently_smoke 0.00117358
84 84 COOKINGFATLARD currently_smoke 0.00117358
85 85 GROUP_COOK_FAT_ANIMAL_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS currently_smoke 0.00117358
86 86 FIBERONETYPE currently_smoke 0.00117358
87 87 MILKONCEREALQUAN currently_smoke 0.00117358
88 88 SOMEJUICEQUAN currently_smoke 0.00117358
89 89 MINERALSYESORNO currently_smoke 0.00117358
90 90 GROUP_CAKE_LOW_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS belly 0.00117358
91 91 GROUP_COOK_FAT_OTHER_OIL_COCONUT_VARIOUS_NFS_VEGETABLE_OILS_TOTAL_GRAMS belly 0.00117358
92 92 FIBERONETYPE belly 0.00117358
93 93 COOKINGFATOTHER belly 0.00117358
94 94 BEERQUAN smoke_often 0.00128534
95 95 GROUP_SALAD_DRESSING_LOW_FAT_TOTAL_GRAMS belly 0.0013232
96 96 GROUP_TORTILLAS_CORN_TOTAL_GRAMS smoke_rarely 0.00133174
97 97 F18D3CN3 currently_smoke 0.00136139
98 98 SALTFREQ favCable 0.00140221
99 99 SUP_OM_6 currently_smoke 0.00142396
100 100 GROUP_CHOCOLATE_MILK_COCOA_HOT_CHOCOLATE_TOTAL_GRAMS right_hand 0.00148978

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CREATE TABLE "nutrition-studies/p_values_analysis" (
"food" TEXT,
  "characteristic" TEXT,
  "p_values" REAL
);