[kstenerud]

I prefer Occam's Razor. We've already proven that food is one of the largest contributors to heart disease.

Not controlling for this is a HUGE oversight, to the point of invalidating the study.

[mfoy_]

You're saying that the problem is that the Southerners are just eating too much rich food. The article, and I, are saying that that is a symptom of an underlying problem. The underlying problem is the eating habits which are artifacts of growing up in poverty-- Poverty caused by the civil war.

Hence the leap to "Civil War --> Heart disease"

[jacobush]

I think you are missing the point.