Paging the Sisterhood of St. Walburga

[lumineaux]

From today's Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2167537/fr/flyout

Alcohol makers have enlisted nuns to prove that beer can be good for you. Study method: Take 50 nuns, have them drink half a liter of beer daily for 45 days, then keep them off beer for 180 days, then give them 400 milligrams of hops a day for 40 days. The nuns were "chosen on the basis of their steady lifestyle and balanced diet." Selective result: Nuns that began with high cholesterol reduced it by 6 percent. Beer makers' spin: Beer is healthy! Nuns' reactions: 1) Actually, the benefit was in the hops, so skip the alcohol. 2) We'd drink beer as medicine if we had to, but we don't really like it. 3) "We did it for the good of humanity."

Comments

[math5.livejournal.com]

"We did it for the good of humanity."

That's also why we drink.

[rlg.livejournal.com]

(bill cosby voice) Riii-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight ....

[katnboots.livejournal.com]

Love that quote.

The Larch

[rlg.livejournal.com]

and no for something completely different, you might find the Help Desk (http://www.ubersoft.net/) for today amusing, from a legal standpoint.

[delabarre.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be more indicative to have half the nuns drink water and the other half drink beer for some period of time, and then compare the aggregate statistics of the two groups? Just saying.

[lumineaux.livejournal.com]

You're assuming that this study was about science and not about selling beer. :-)