I'm also very skeptical of a lot of studies that discount things that are clearly working for me. For example, a lot of studies that discount fish oil tend to not take an enteric coating and proper absorption into account. Actually, after many years, I'm still waiting for those studies. In the meantime, I've seen the positive effects myself and will continue to use enteric coated fish oil as a supplement.
I've also watched countless friends, family and acquaintances try the Atkins diet only to yo-yo and see later problems develop. So, I'm not going to consume buckets of lard to lose weight. But, if the Atkins thing works for you, more power to you!
My conclusion is what works for me may or may not work for anyone else and vice versa. But, that said, I still look at some studies over time and try to glean some slight insight into what works and doesn't work for others and experiment here and there.