Dr.EndoEP said:

The part it does not cover is what to do when the honest answer is "not enough data", which is more often than anyone likes.

Agreed, and the size of the effect matters as much as its existence. Something real and small gets treated here as though it were real and decisive.

Dr.EndoEP said:

The part it does not cover is what to do when the honest answer is "not enough data", which is more often than anyone likes.

This answered a question I did not know how to ask.

Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice. The honest answer is that the effect is real, the magnitude is contested, and the individual variation is larger than either. Those three things can all be true at once, and most arguments here are two people holding different parts of that.

Moderator note: reminder that nothing in this thread is medical advice, and that clinical claims need a source.

newstart_MO said:

The honest answer is that the effect is real, the magnitude is contested, and the individual variation is larger than either.

There is a second half to this that has not been said yet. It helps to ask what evidence would change your mind before you look at any. If nothing would, the discussion is not about evidence, and it is better to say so early than to spend nine posts discovering it.