Stupid health studies! (BBC mostly!)

[Ripped Barbarian]

What is it with absolutley pointless health studies, expecially reported in media from source like the BBC health section

"Men 'drink far more than women'" is a cracker i have just seen, talk about stating the obvious.

Then there are pointless 'worry' topics stating how something you can't change will affect your life 'people with short legs more prone to liver disease' whats purpose does that? i can understand it being medical knowledge and used potentially for screening but it's of no use to the general public 'oh damn, my inside leg is 26 inches now i'm gonna have to worry about liver disease' when there are 100x more important studies that could be done and advised on lifestyle that would almost gaurantee a liver disease free life!

A lot of the studies are far behind cutting edge knowledge and often tiny stabs at a great problem,
"Broccoli 'fights' heart disease
Eating broccoli may protect against heart disease, US research suggests"
Why do they not do useful articles on a whole range of foods to eat?

The media dosn't do enough on health and what they do is confusing/worrying and generally useless to most people, i know this point is prob well known to everyone who frequents this forum but it's just annyoing!

Studies are often directed at insignificant factors and single facets of lifestyle and little attention is played to the whole picture or 'common sense' rules.

And there's such backwards knowledge as this:

"Some links have been made between stress and coronary artery disease. This could be because it encourages people to eat more, start smoking or smoke more than they would otherwise have done. "

???, and what about direct effects of stress on the heart through adrenal hormones and metabolic systems??

It's easy to have a go at the media, of course but i generally feel that soceity needs to 'get up to speed' on nutrition, i'm not sure how it can be done but something should be done!

[tru]

I believe they sometimes just come out with these studies with BS findings just to get the public to follow suit.

However don't forget, most things need to be oversimplified for the general public to grasp an understanding.

[Dtlv74]

Well there are loads more silly ones you could find I'm sure RC. Part of the problem though is undoubtedly funding. Many researchers cannot get funding/access to labs for the things they want to do, instead they are required to take crappy and irrelevant but well paying studies in the hope they can divert some of those funds to something more useful.

Is just another case of economic factors over-riding all other considerations. This even affects good research - that which contradicts the political view of the time, even if it's valid and water tight research, can often get buried in favour of that which is in vouge. Once again, it's economic influence which often dictates as industries lobby governments. Funnily enough was httk was on about this in an earlier thread today.

Also, even when stuff that's good does get out, it has to go through the media who put whatever slant on it they want to! The truth is out there.... somewhere!

[tru]

Be your own scientist, wanna know something? Research it!

[MikeK]

And to think TV licenses pay for all of this!

[Ripped Barbarian]

Quote

Be your own scientist, wanna know something? Research it!

True, tru

I think it's good to use common sense, and 'mental' research (pseudoscience?) basically get as many sources of information (ANY source, even if it's some crackpot theory about only eating raw kidneys beans for health) then compare all information, find trends and start to form ideas from the many jigsaw pieces, yes a lot of information will be off the mark but as you have more and more information the average will become closer to reality.

I do personal research on my own body (trial and error) and talk to family and friends (and of course you lot) and try to get a picture of what different dietary input does to health and feelings etc.
I also use 'nature' and my instincts as a guide if you know what i mean.
But for the most part i get information from the internet and books as if used right they are fantastic resources in combination (never trust the word of a single author!)