#143 - John Ioannidis, M.D., D.Sc.: Why most biomedical research is flawed, and how to improve it

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2021

⏱️ 112 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Ioannidis is a physician, scientist, writer, and a Stanford University professor who studies scientific research itself, a process known as meta-research. In this episode, John discusses his staggering finding that the majority of published research is actually incorrect. Using nutritional epidemiology as the poster child for irreproducible findings, John describes at length the factors that play into these false positive results and offers numerous insights into how science can course correct.

We discuss:

John’s background, and the synergy of mathematics, science, and medicine (2:40);
Why most published research findings are false (10:00);
The bending of data to reach ‘statistical significance,’ and the how bias impacts results (19:30);
The problem of power: How over- and under-powered studies lead to false positives (26:00);
Contrasting nutritional epidemiology with genetics research (31:00);
How to improve nutritional epidemiology and get more answers on efficacy (38:45);
How pre-existing beliefs impact science (52:30);
The antidote to questionable research practices infected with bias and bad incentive structures (1:03:45);
The different roles of public, private, and philanthropic sectors in funding high-risk research that asks the important questions (1:12:00);
Case studies demonstrating the challenge of epidemiology and how even the best studies can have major flaws (1:21:30);
Results of John’s study looking at the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2, and the resulting vitriol revealing the challenge of doing science in a hyper-politicized environment (1:31:00);
John’s excitement about the future (1:47:45); and
More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive Podcast.
0:13.0	I'm your host, Peter Atia.
0:14.8	This podcast, my website, and my weekly newsletter, all focus on the goal of translating
0:18.7	the science of longevity into something accessible for everyone.
0:22.4	Our goal is to provide the best content in health and wellness, full stop, and we've assembled
0:27.0	a great team of analysts to make this happen.
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0:33.2	in depth content if you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level.
0:37.3	At the end of this episode, I'll explain what those benefits are, or if you want to learn
0:41.0	more now, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash subscribe.
0:46.3	Now without further delay, here's today's episode.
0:49.0	I guess this week is John Ionidis.
0:53.5	John is, by all estimates, a polymath.
0:56.4	He's a physician scientist, a writer, and a Stanford University professor.
1:01.0	He has extensive training in mathematics, medicine, epidemiology.
1:05.4	He's just generally one of the smartest people I've ever met, and I've had the luxury of
1:09.5	knowing John for probably about nine years.
1:12.6	Anytime I get to interact with him, whether it's over a meal or more formally through various
1:16.8	research collaborations, it's just always an incredible pleasure.
1:20.6	John studies scientific research itself, a process known as meta research.
1:25.4	Primarily in clinical medicine, but also somewhat in the social sciences.
1:29.4	He's one of the world's foremost experts on the credibility of medical research.
	...

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