Dietary risk versus physical inactivity: a forced comparison with policy implications?

Ding Ding, I-Min Lee, Adrian E Bauman, Ulf Ekelund, Emmanuel Stamatakis

Abstract readLetterComment

In one paragraph

Article in Lancet (London, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

Instability of Global Burden of Disease Estimates of Deaths and Disability-Adjusted Life-Years From Major Risk Factors: A Meta-Epidemiological Analysis.JAMA health forum · 2026
Pooled it
Joint associations of diet and physical activity with incident type 2 diabetes and hypertension: an analysis of 144 288 UK Biobank participants.American journal of epidemiology · 2025
Article
Effects of Different Exercise Interventions on Health Status in Overweight and Obese Children and Adolescents: A Network Meta-Analysis.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2025
Article
Noncommunicable diseases attributed to low levels of physical activity in Brazil: an epidemiologic Global Burden of Disease Study.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2025
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ding DingSydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia; Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia. Electronic address: melody.ding@sydney.edu.au.

I-Min LeeBrigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Adrian E BaumanSydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia; Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.

Ulf EkelundDepartment of Sport Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway; Department of Chronic Diseases and Ageing, Public Health Institute of Norway, Oslo, Norway.

Emmanuel StamatakisCharles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia; School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as

ExerciseSedentary BehaviorDietHumansPolicy

Identifiers

PMID33965086

DOI10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00801-1

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.