Friday 18 September 2009

How to read articles about health

Like many others I have an interest in health and frequently come across health articles in the mainstream media. One of the questions I have recently been asking myself is which stories I can trust, as there are occasionally unusual and contradictory claims (to put it kindly). It then came as a pleasant surprise to stumble across the following PDF article by Dr Alicia White called "How to read articles about health and healthcare".
The article is the kind I like - short and to the point! Here is a taster:

If you’ve just read a health-related headline that’s caused you to spit out your morning coffee ("Coffee causes cancer" usually does the trick) it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: "Keep Calm and Carry On". On reading further you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, like "Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually". (Study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)”.

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2 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

  1. it does really seem kind of pointlessly alarmist, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. that's pretty funny...! Always good to take it all with a pinch of salt.... just not too much eh!!

    ReplyDelete

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