[swsieber]

Golden quote from the comments there:

Re: [comment] touting margarine as a healthier choice.

One thing I've learned is that looking at intermediary effects of food - for instance, lowering LDL cholesterol - is not a good indicator that something is good for you or prevents heart disease.

If you look only at intermediary effects, you might miss some other effects of the food/substance that are harmful. (Cancer lowers cholesterol, but no one advocates getting it.)

I feel like that touches upon one of the problems in diet studies pretty well.