Health advice

I wish I had been keeping count, over the past couple of weeks, of the number of articles in the news about how current popular health advice is now looking 'wrong' based on new evidence.

Apparently we don't get the benefit from high fiber or low fat diets that we were told we were getting; an-aspirin-a-day doesn't seem to help; the glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate that we were taking for joint pain turns out not to be effective. Palmetto doesn't reduce symptoms of an enlarged prostate after all. Calcium and Vitamin D supplements don't appear to help strengthen bones or protect from colon cancer. And last year a study indicated echinacea didn't prevent or treat colds.

Study designs were flawed, results faked or misinterpreted, benefits overstated or 'subtle but important nuances were lost when trying to communicate the results to the public.' Subjects of some studies were too old, too healthy, too inconsistent in their health habits. Researchers lied, or simply didn't understand what they were looking at.

Good grief.

I'm glad I wasn't bothering to follow all that advice anyway!