Another great article, this one on the truth about medical research and how you can be a better judge of what you read online and in the media.
That Study Is Wrong: The Truth About Research
By Marlene Merritt, DOM, LAc, ACN
It’s pretty frustrating, isn’t it? Studies on nutrition seem to contradict themselves all the
time, making it hard for us to know what is correct and what isn’t. One day margarine is
good, then it’s bad, but it must be OK because the American Heart Association still recommends
it, right? Eggs are good, then they are bad, now they’re back on the upswing
again. Vitamins are supposed to protect against cancer, but now they seem to cause cancer — with this type of information, how are we to know what to recommend to our patients?
Just to give you some context, it is estimated that 90 percent of the published medical information that doctors rely upon for diagnoses and prescriptions is wrong. 4 That shocking number should make you seriously pause the next time you see a headline in the paper.
If you want to learn how to discern what is true and what is not, the first thing to do is
stop getting your medical information from television and magazines. Reading headlines
or a blurb in the paper, or hearing a 60-second report on television, often distilled
through a reporter who has little medical knowledge, insures you will never get the
complete or accurate story. Read the whole article here (PDF)