May 26, 2009
By Kathy Warwick, Special to The Clarion-Ledger

I am anxiously awaiting the first crop of my home-grown tomatoes, and I am sure there are many mouths watering at the thought of this summertime treat.
What if you opened your paper tomorrow and you read a news story that claimed tomatoes were a deadly vegetable? The report explained that tomatoes must be deadly because everyone who eats tomatoes will die. We will all die from something, but making an association between eating tomatoes and certain death is very different from proving tomatoes cause death.

The association is an observation, but does not make a case for direct cause and effect.
I want to highlight this important distinction with my ridiculous tomato example so that readers might understand that associations are often the basis for debate over public health or public policy.

For example, there is a recurrent argument for taxing regular soft drinks and the proponents of this tax use an association to push their agenda. They say soft drink consumption has risen over the last 20 years along with rates of obesity. In effect, they are blaming soft drinks for the obesity problem.

While everyone can agree that drinking too much of any sweetened beverage will lead to weight gain, we cannot make any one food or beverage the scapegoat for our weight issues.
In fact, the February 2009 Mintel report of American’s beverage habits shows regular soft drink consumption has decreased between 2003 and 2008 with 7.8 million more adults reporting a switch to diet and lighter beverages.

Here are some other associations to consider when discussing the increase in obesity over the last 20 years:
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