Addressing epidemiological and public health analytic challenges in outcome and impact research: a commentary on ‘Prechewing Infant Food, Consumption of Sweets and Dairy and Not Breastfeeding are Associated with Increased Diarrhea Risk of Ten Month Old In

Based on a paper by Conkle et al 2016, in which the authors use a descriptive epidemiological design to examine the relationship of premastication and other dietary behavioral variables to childhood diarrhea in the US, we address larger issues of “plausible causality” and the challenges involved in moving from epidemiological studies to public health policy. Drawing on examples from breastfeeding research and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)...