I hate medical researchers sometimes -

[hedgehog]

Here's an announcement that Yale researchers have indicted excessive salt use as triggering autoimmune disorders:

http://news.yale.edu/2013/03/06/yale-researchers-identify-salt-trigger-autoimmune-diseases#.UTitMhSsUQ0.mailto

Now, maybe the original article answers these questions, but I'm left wondering -

How much salt is "excessive"?

How similar are the mice to humans in their metabolism of salt?

Did you even check to see if people with autoimmune disease use excessive salt and/or have excessive salt in their systems where it would do harm?

Some medical research answers specific questions, some explores general principles, but I hate medical research that ignores important variables and premises.


Another very typical experiment uses supplements of X to treat condition Y because people with condition Y sometimes have a low level of X. Unless you determine that everyone in the experiment is deficient with X to begin with , and that your treatment brought X levels up to normal, please don't tell me that supplementing with X doesn't help with condition Y!