Willing the data to fit your model

It strikes me that in medicine, we are stuck with simplistic models - models that use one variable only, and are linear in the response. In short, we are told X results in Y, and the more X, the more Y. Real life often does not cooperate, but many people in medical research hold on to their models for dear life. Exhibit 1 is the disappearing of unhelpful data used to reject the non-linear relationship between BMI and mortality, which I discussed here. There are many myths associated with the obesity epidemic. It is a surprise for me to learn...