I guess what I mean is that the results of these types of studies are useful, but only in pointing where to look for a more direct mechanism. In other words, w

I guess what I mean is that the results of these types of studies are useful, but only in pointing where to look for a more direct mechanism. In other words, we found a correlation, now we can look more closely at the elements involved to find causality. Mostly it seems like the correlation is accepted and then untested theory is exposed as fact to explain it.