OpenAI's ChatGPT conversational system provides general information but still lacks access to details and context

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The abilities of ChatGPT, a text-based conversation system developed by the company OpenAI, have been running like wildfire on social networks in recent days. Some predict that AI widgets like this will soon end journalism, bibliography-based studies, and ultimately any human activity that results in a text, including literary creation itself. That's why we decided to put it to the test.


This week a study was published in one of the journals of the American Medical Association ( JAMA Neurology ) according to which the consumption of ultra-processed foods accelerates cognitive decline . We ask you to discuss this work, which is relevant because, although many previous studies have confirmed the relationship between these foods and overweight, obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease, there are still little research relating them to cognitive impairment.



A truncated knowledge


Unfortunately, ChatGPT apologizes and says he doesn't have access to the study and that his knowledge goes back to 2021. Is it a matter of time before he gets access? Either way, the widget offers a beginning of a newspaper article on this topic: "Diet is an important factor in people's health, and adequate nutrition is essential to maintaining good cognitive function. However, every time more studies suggest that excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods may increase cognitive decline."



Despite not having access to the study, the system contains general information on ultra-processed foods and cognitive function, which must have come from previous studies. He also knows how to explain well enough what one of these foods is, as he proposes in the second paragraph: "Ultra-processed foods are those that have been modified or treated extensively by adding additives and preservatives, and have lost a lot of part of their original nutritional properties. These foods are often high in fat, sugars and sodium, and low in essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals." And he gives examples: sweet biscuits, salty snacks and sugary drinks.


In the third paragraph he also mentions the relationship between these foods and other diseases. What ChatGPT doesn't say is that the study published in JAMA was done by researchers from several universities and research centers in Brazil in collaboration with Harvard University in the United States. And that has been done from the monitoring of 10,775 individuals from 2008 to 2017, who were between 35 and 74 years old and an average age of 51.6 years, 54.6% of whom were women and 53, 2% of which were white. Nor does it explain, logically, that every 4 years 3 standardized tests were given to the participants to evaluate their memory and the executive function of the brain.




The results, to which the artificial conversation system does not have access, indicate that participants who consume more than 20% of calories in the form of ultra-processed foods suffer cognitive decline 28% faster than the rest. In addition, the effect is also manifested in people younger than 60 years.



The context and the ratings


Although ChatGPT does not have data on percentages of ultra-processed consumption, several studies indicate that, on average, in the United States 68% of a person's calories come from these foods. In the United Kingdom the figure is 57%, and in Canada, 48%. In Brazil, where the study was carried out, the percentage drops to 30%, although it remains at values ​​that, according to the study, can be associated with the acceleration of cognitive decline. According to the CSIC researcher and author of the book ¿Qué sabemos de los alimentos ultraprocesados?(CSIC-Catarata, 2022), Javier Sánchez Perona, in countries such as Germany, Ireland and Belgium, the percentages are close to 50%, while in Spain it remains at 20%, although the trend is on the rise: between 1990 and 2010 the amount of ultra-processed food in each purchase had tripled.




In the last paragraph, the bot includes an expert's assessment, although it does not add anything new to the information: "Scientific evidence suggests that a diet rich in ultra-processed foods may increase the risk of cognitive impairment," it says , according to ChatGPT, nutrition and brain health expert Dr. John Smith. But who is this doctor? A quick search reveals that it could be a dietitian from Malta who is not connected to any university or research center or a cardiologist from Boston, but also an internal medicine specialist from Texas, a gynecologist from Sheffield, an oncologist from Portland or a doctor of Alabama family.


Unfortunately, the widget does not collect ratings like those made by the Science Media Center agency Jordi Júlvez, head of group at the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) and associate researcher at the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal), according to which "the study is very good, with a very large sample and a correct design". Or like that of the professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, Gunter Kuhnle, who emphasizes the limitations of the study when he says that "determining the intake of ultra-processed foods is very difficult, so the authors they have to make some assumptions."



Whether or not the ChatGPT system will be able to incorporate the ability to access and process all the information it lacks, basic in the preparation of a journalistic piece, we will find out soon. The key question, obviously, is whether these types of systems will be able to replace human journalists. While this still has a clear answer right now, it's not as clear how we'll answer it in the near future.