The chocolate study that fooled the world

Executive Summary

* In 2015, three German reporters set about trying to do a study, which would get published in an academic journal and generate global headlines “Chocolate helps weight loss”. They achieved their goal.

* This review of this classic study shows how the journalists achieved their exposé and how results were claimed despite glaring inconsistencies.

* The article was published without peer review. This post goes through just some of the big flaws that should have been picked up in peer review.

* Some of the global headlines have been since corrected; some are still online, reporting this fake study as valid.

* Most diet and health academic papers have at least one flaw in them. This one was in a league of its own.