How Has (What Should Be) Common Sense Become Headline News?

In the Times today, there was a short article discussing how fitness may lower dementia risk.  A few key comments from the piece include:

“After adjusting for age, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol and other health factors, the researchers found that compared with those in the lowest 20 percent for fitness in midlife, those in the highest 20 percent had a 36 percent reduced risk of dementia.

“Dementia is a disease with no cure and no good therapies,” said the lead author, Dr. Laura F. DeFina, the interim chief scientific officer at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. Physical activity may be “a preventive way to address dementia instead of addressing the costs of a disabled elder.”

 They emphasize that the study is observational and does not prove causation.”

OK.   Why is the fact that being active being allegedly (as per the article) associated with lowering one’s risk of dementia, or for many illnesses, for that matter, anything other than common sense?  Is anyone really surprised to read that:

1) If we are active 

and

2) If we eat real food 

and finally

3) If we avoid eating things that are not food

the outcome will be better overall health?

How is this any different from a statement such as, “researchers found that  those in the study who were able to breath the ambient air fared far better than those whose breathing was restricted by having a plastic bag over their mouths and noses”?

Seriously.

How about reallocating funding for studies like this to studies which show how damaging ingesting wheat, soy, dairy and sugar can be?  Oh, that’s right- we can’t do that… it would make the big mega-companies’ products look bad.  

Can’t do that…