> Schott also notes that the clinical trial didn’t include a control group of participants who got no guidance and made no lifestyle changes. This makes it hard for researchers to pinpoint which aspect of the program might have been responsible for the positive effect. However, Heather M. Snyder, senior vice president for medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, tells the New York Times that the organization thought neglecting to offer an intervention to one group would be unethical.

One might counter that it’s unethical to hinder our ability to understand which interventions are effective by prejudging the outcome in this way?